Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alan Boyle @b0yle.bsky.social · 8h

How many times is Charlie Brown going to stand for Lucy pulling back the football? The CR is the only way to have leverage on the health care crisis, and even then, there has to be a way to guard against rescission.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

"To try to win the support of Senate Democrats, Republicans have suggested they’d promise to *hold a vote* on extending the ACA subsidies after the government reopens, which is very different from actually extending them." — @paulwaldman.bsky.social

Republicans are completely full of it on healthcare

And it becomes more obvious every time they talk about it.

www.publicnotice.co

Reposted by Alan Boyle

Tim Shaw @wdncnu.bsky.social · 10h

"Today, NPR will lose access to the Pentagon because we will not sign an unprecedented Defense Department document... Signing that document would make us stenographers parroting press releases, not watchdogs holding government officials accountable."

www.npr.org/2025/10/14/g...

Opinion: Why I'm handing in my Pentagon press pass

Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scen...

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

Our Revolution @our-revolution.bsky.social · 1d

Anti-Mamdani super PACs have joined forces to try to stop Zohran from becoming the next Mayor of NYC.

Oil industry heir and director of Chevron John Hess has donated $1 million alone. But all their money means nothing when the people are united.

Keep up the momentum for Mamdani 💪🏾

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 11h

c.w. torture

Torture device manufacturers in the U.S. stay innovating.

ICE has chosen the "Wrap" a full-body restraint device, to use for removals of people to 3rd countries. (Not being taken to home countries, other countries.)

@apnews.com: one man says ICE kept him in the Wrap for 16 hours.

[So disturbing. I'll do my best to describe.]

Video still:

This appears to be a video created by the company to demonstate the product, not a real prisoner. The whole lower body of a man is placed in almost a blanket that is strapped around him. There are multiple straps the size of large seatbelts with big buckles. There are straps that go over his shoulders. He is also back-cuffed. This video is a still from the moment when a helmet the size of a motorcycle helmet is being placed on his head and strapped on under his chin. he is also wearing a pale blue lightweight surgical mask.

caption:
1 of 5 | US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been using a full-body restraint device called the WRAP during deportations. That continued despite concerns about safety from a watchdog division of its parent agency, the US Dept. of Homeland Security. (AP Video/Allen G. Breed)

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 17h

"We always think about America’s postwar role in Europe as an act of great generosity, the defense of allies from Soviet aggression. But by putting democracy at the center of our international identity, we also helped strengthen our own political system"
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

The Beacon of Democracy Goes Dark

For nearly 250 years, America promoted freedom and equality abroad, even when it failed to live up to those ideals itself. Not anymore.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

TheCatMan @bigbrohem.bsky.social · 1d

"In fact, a review of activities performed by him in 2025 yields only three: sending co-workers home on an extended vacation, refusing to swear in a new co-worker, and praying for the Rapture."

Americans Mystified Why Nonessential Federal Employee Still Has Job

The still-employed man performs no identifiable function, Americans noted.

www.borowitzreport.com

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Alan Boyle @b0yle.bsky.social · 1d

#SpaceX closed off one chapter in the development of its #Starship super-rocket with an 11th flight test that previewed some of the developments expected in the next dramatic chapter. cosmiclog.com/2025/10/13/s...

SpaceX flies Starship to get ready for the next generation

SpaceX closed out a dramatic chapter in the development of its super-heavy-lift Starship launch system today with a successful flight test that mostly followed the script for the previous flight te…

cosmiclog.com

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

The Onion @theonion.com · 1d

Nation’s Indigenous People Confirm They Don’t Need Special Holiday, Just Large Swaths Of Land Returned Immediately https://theonion.com/nation-s-indigenous-people-confirm-they-don-t-need-spec-1839033177/

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: More than 150 top researchers from 23 countries now, for the first time, say coral reefs, which half a *billion* people rely on for food, have reached a point beyond which recovery is irreversible—unless we halt greenhouse gas emissions AND cool the planet. global-tipping-points.org

Global Tipping Points | understanding risks & their potential impact

Harmful tipping points in the natural world threaten humanity by disrupting life support systems and societal stability.

global-tipping-points.org

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

Liz Dye @lizdye.bsky.social · 1d

We dove into that Tish James indictment and ... we're not saying Lindsey Halligan is an unethical idiot.

But we're not NOT saying it.

with @andrewtorrez.bsky.social

www.lawandchaospod.com/p/the-tish-j...

The Tish James Indictment Looks Like Country Fried BS

Yeah, don't faint.

www.lawandchaospod.com

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Alan Boyle @b0yle.bsky.social · 1d

New podcast: Long before the Roswell UFO Incident, Native Americans were telling tales about space aliens. Now there's a new one by Cherokee sci-fi novelist Daniel H. Wilson, "Hole in the Sky," which blends ancient legends with the latest buzz about UFOs (a.k.a. UAP). cosmiclog.com/2025/10/13/n...

Native American legends get woven into an alien tale

Centuries before the Roswell UFO Incident, Native Americans had their own stories to tell about alien visitations — for example, about the “Sky People” who traveled from the Pleiades st…

cosmiclog.com

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

Dominica Phetteplace @fetaplace.bsky.social · 1d

Found this at the Little Free Library!

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 1d

Millions of people will take to the streets again this Saturday to protest the autocratic regime of President Donald Trump. @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social talked to organizers of the Oct. 18 No Kings protests, which are expected to be bigger than the first set in June.
prospect.org/politics/202...

Still No Kings: Millions to Protest Trump On Saturday

A coalition of civil rights groups expects the turnout on Oct. 18 will be even bigger than the first nationwide protest held in June, which by some counts was the largest in U.S. history.

prospect.org

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 2d

“With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing,” he said. “You can be a bulwark of civility against the quicksand of approximation and post-truth...”

apnews.com/article/pope...

Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation.

apnews.com

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

Amy K @pubdef4thepeople.bsky.social · 3d

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 2d

Listen to the response to this and look how easy it is to say it.

Graham Platner for Senate @grahamformaine.bsky.social · 2d

We have armed secret police kidnapping people off the street based on the color of their skin.

When we win: we will haul them before a Senate committee. The masks will come off. There will be consequences.

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells.bsky.social · 3d

“Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an ‘astonishing rate,’ scientists have found.” www.cnn.com/2025/10/10/c...

Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica | CNN

Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate,” raising fears that future global warming predictions may have been und...

www.cnn.com

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

Blake Leyh @earlofedgecombe.bsky.social · 3d

If you think you know why US newspapers died, this feature documentary now streaming for free on PBS might surprise you. It wasn't the Internet. Newspapers were specifically targeted by vulture capitalists.

I composed the score for the film, which features electric cello & Crowfoot guitars.

Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink

A handful of journalists rebel against a hedge fund that is gutting newspapers nationwide.

www.pbs.org

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 2d

My cartoon for this week’s @newscientist.com

A comic strip in six panels. The panels inerlock like a jigsaw with knobs and sockets. Two stick figures walk right to left through all the panels.

Panel 1: Person 1 says "I hear you're working on a new theory."
Panel 2 & 3: Person 2 says: "Yes, I'm calling it the jigsaw model. I think it could change our whole View of reality."
Panel 4: Person 1 says "When Will you publish?:
Panel 5: Person 2 says "But a couple of things are still bothering me." (this piece/panel is a bit squint)
Panel 6: This piece is rotated ninety degees and fits to the others very badly. Person 2 is saying "Soon. I feel like I'm really close"
A second look at the whole comic shows that the last two panels read in the wrong order because the jigsaw has been put together incorrectly.

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

CNN @cnn.com · 2d

China warns US of countermeasures if Trump does not walk back 100% tariff threat https://cnn.it/4obv9yR

China warns US of countermeasures if Trump doesn’t walk back 100% tariff threat | CNN Business

Beijing has vowed to take countermeasures against Washington if US President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to impose new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods.

www.cnn.com

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Alan Boyle @b0yle.bsky.social · 3d

I see what you did there… and I love it 😻

Jeremy Littau @jeremylittau.com · 4d

Pope Leo DESTROYS clickbaiters with this one weird trick.

You won’t believe what degrading practice the pope just condemned

Communication must be freed from clickbait and misguided thinking, head of Catholic church tells journalists

www.theguardian.com

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Alan Boyle @b0yle.bsky.social · 3d

Cruelty + Stupidity

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 3d

The mass layoffs of federal workers on Friday night swept up dozens of scientists with expertise in infectious diseases that have pandemic potential. But after The New York Times reported the dismissals, a federal health official said many of them had been fired in error and would be brought back.

Trump Administration Will Rehire Scores of Experts Fired in Error

Friday’s layoffs swept up scientists involved in responding to the measles outbreak and running an influential journal. An official acknowledged the mistakes on Saturday.

nyti.ms

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Reposted by Alan Boyle

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 3d

The mass layoffs of federal workers on Friday night swept up dozens of scientists with expertise in infectious diseases that have pandemic potential. But after The New York Times reported the dismissals, a federal health official said many of them had been fired in error and would be brought back.

Trump Administration Will Rehire Scores of Experts Fired in Error

Friday’s layoffs swept up scientists involved in responding to the measles outbreak and running an influential journal. An official acknowledged the mistakes on Saturday.

nyti.ms

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