Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by David

Jesse Mostipak @kierisi.bsky.social · 1h

one of the most memorable experiences I had in college was asking my organic chemistry professor a question and him saying "I don't know - let's find out!" and then talking me through a lab experiment.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2h

If you think that professors exist as repositories of knowledge that students ask for answers, you’re missing the entire point of a college education.

We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.

Vlad 🐸 Țepeș @porcupunk.bsky.social · 15h

Wow. Just wow.

"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."

7 18 250

Reposted by David

Eric Klinenberg @ericklinenberg.bsky.social · 40m

For those of you keeping score, 18-22 year-old students calling for an end to slaughter in Gaza are so racist they need to be expelled or deported, but 24-35 year-olds celebrating Hitler, rape, and, um, racism are just kids being kids so chill.

Also, racism is over so no need for Voting Right Act.

JD Vance brushes off racist texts by adults in Republican group chat as ‘what kids do’

Vice-president downplays messages such as ‘I love Hitler’ in chat by 24 to 35-year-olds to ‘stupid jokes’

www.theguardian.com

2 44 86

Reposted by David

Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 1d

Everything about John Roberts's approach to the Voting Rights Act makes sense when you remember that John Roberts has has always been hostile to the Voting Rights Act, never believed it was appropriate, and has spent most of his 45-year legal career working to hollow it out.

One of the Biggest Cases of the Supreme Court’s Term Is John Roberts’ Decadeslong Pet Project

If there’s one thing the Roberts court has been consistent on, it’s this.

slate.com

44 420 1.2K

Reposted by David

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 4h

roberts’s constitution allows for racial discrimination as long as you don’t say you’re racially discriminating, because in a classic bit of racecraft, roberts’s constitution forbids acknowledging race but has no particular issue with racism.

39 330 1.7K

Reposted by David

Kevin Young Propagandist @jfloyd314.bsky.social · 11h

We cannot exist as a free country with half of the electorate drunk on ragebait and white nationalist fearmongering. We cannot have a functioning republic if half of the electorate is shamelessly civically illiterate and believes literally anything they like, even if it's transparently false.

1 4 19

Reposted by David

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 5h

"We are a decade into Trumpism. These Young Republicans have never known any other type of Republicanism. We’re talking about a full generation of Republicans who only understand politics in the context of an authoritarian project."

www.thebulwark.com/p/all-the-pr...

All the Pretty Little Nazis

The shape of things to come.

www.thebulwark.com

61 380 1.1K

Reposted by David

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 21h

And the craziest part is this was needless. Congress would've passed a military pay bill with near unanimous support! Congressional Ds have been begging Rs to bring a bill to pay the military to the floor! But Johnson refuses to gavel in because he doesn't want an Epstein vote.

Johnson wearing a jacket that's photoshopped to say "this has nothing to do with epstein"

9 250 1.1K

Reposted by David

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 21h

Trump's mechanism to pay the troops during the shutdown is by far the most illegal budgetary action he's taken as POTUS, potentially setting the stage to break everything.

It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.

Long thread.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/10/national-security-presidential-memorandum-nspm-8/

84 1.8K 4.5K

Reposted by David

Tom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 21h

Hakeem Jeffries posted pictures of two Rep. Members posing with “Young Republicans” who were part of a racist text thread (as reported by Politico).

In response, Mike Davis (well-connected in Trump World & on the Hill) called Jeffries a “house slave” for George Soros - proving Jeffries’ point.

150 1.2K 3.3K

David @dkuofu.bsky.social · 13h

We had a crafty squirrel on a job site that somehow knew how to bypass every live trap we threw at him and get the bait out without us catching him

1

Reposted by David

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 13h

Trump says he is considering strikes on Venezuelan soil on.ft.com/4nW0Ah4

Trump says he is considering strikes on Venezuelan soil

The US president also authorises CIA to conduct covert operations in the country

on.ft.com

13 17 40

Reposted by David

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 13h

Again, it is a full-blown federal felony crime for anyone in the White House or Executive Office of the President to order tax investigations into anyone.

And it's not just a crime to DO it, it's even a federal crime for an employee not to REPORT such an order to the Treasury Inspector General.

26 U.S. Code § 7217 - Prohibition on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations
U.S. Code
Notes
prev | next
(a)Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for any applicable person to request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.

(b)Reporting requirement
Any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service receiving any request prohibited by subsection (a) shall report the receipt of such request to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

(c)Exceptions
Subsection (a) shall not apply to any written request made—
(1)to an applicable person by or on behalf of the taxpayer and forwarded by such applicable person to the Internal Revenue Service;
(2)by an applicable person for disclosure of return or return information under section 6103 if such request is made in accordance with the requirements of such section; or
(3)by the Secretary of the Treasury as a consequence of the implementation of a change in tax policy.
(d)Penalty
Any person who willfully violates subsection (a) or fails to report under subsection (b) shall be punished upon conviction by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

(e)Applicable person
For purposes of this section, the term “applicable person” means—
(1)the President, the Vice President, any employee of the executive office of the President, and any employee of the executive office of the Vice President; and
(2)any individual (other than the Attorney General of the United States) serving in a position specified in section 5312 of title 5, United States Code.

160 3.1K 7K

David @dkuofu.bsky.social · 14h

Mismatched link & caption?

2 4

Reposted by David

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 17h

“If you get hit by a car travelling at 50km/h, you’ve only got a 1.5-in-10 chance of surviving. If it’s going 30km/h you’ve got a nine-in-10 chance.”

“But it was not enough to put up a sign that says 30km/h…there also needed to be design changes to slow down traffic.”

Speed is always a factor.

Switching 50km/h speed limits to 30km/h would protect cyclists while barely affecting commutes, research finds

One expert says a cyclist hit by a car travelling 50km/h has about a one-in-10 chance of surviving, while at 30km/h it is a nine-in-10 chance

www.theguardian.com

10 85 280

Reposted by David

ProPublica @propublica.org · 16h

Nearly 6 billion people live in the 101 countries that a recent study has identified as confronting a net decline in water supply — signaling enormous challenges for food production and a heightening risk of conflict and instability.

(Published July)

“Staggering” Water Loss Driven by Groundwater Mining Poses Global Threat

A new study finds that freshwater resources are rapidly disappearing, creating arid “mega” regions and causing sea levels to rise.

www.propublica.org

11 230 450

Reposted by David

Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 17h

Remember, brown 13-year-olds are hardened menaces to society, but 30-something Republican Hitler afficionados in positions of power are just li’l guys.

Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 17h

These. Were. Men. In. Their. 30s.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

No one in the GOP Hitler chat was a "kid"

We checked. Sorry, JD Vance.

www.motherjones.com

14 1.1K 3.7K

Reposted by David

Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 18h

What do I know and I'm not saying it's a magic bullet or anything like that but it sure seems to me that Dems should run hard on the Argentina bailout. Not anywhere near the worst thing Trump has done, but i suspect it's unusually clarifying.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h

Jeffries: "It's perplexing to us that Rs refuse to spend a dime to protect the healthcare of the American people, but somehow the Trump admin found $40b to bail out a right-wing wannabe dictator in Argentina in ways that are also going to continue to hurt our soybean farmers in Iowa & the Midwest"

130 1.2K 5.1K

Reposted by David

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 17h

“the protests don’t count if they happen in blue cities.” so, what, they aren’t americans? their voices don’t matter?

71 210 2.4K

Reposted by David

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 18h

That’s $5 billion more than the entire annual USAID budget. All to one country. To rescue one friend of the president’s.

Ilhan Omar @ilhanmn.bsky.social · 18h

Trump found another $20 BILLION to give to Argentina, totaling their bailout to $40 BILLION.

Yet we can’t afford to prevent millions of Americans from losing their healthcare.

Shame.

67 1.3K 3.2K

Reposted by David

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 19h

last i checked these young republicans were like 25 years old. but this is a classic case of infantilization to diminish the significance of the offense. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Vance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’

The vice president called the texts "edgy, offensive jokes."

www.yahoo.com

370 1.2K 6.1K

Reposted by David

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 18h

The Supreme Court’s majority right wing indicated in oral arguments that they think racism is over on the same day that the vice president defended the “I love Hitler” guy, and that the NYT reported that the current administration plans to accept only white, English-speaking refugees.

64 1.8K 4.6K

Reposted by David

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 20h

He still had this up *after* the story about the Young Republicans group chat with the Hitler praise was released.

Santiago Mayer @santiagomayer.com · 21h

Holy shit. This is Angelo Elia, a legislative correspondent for Congressman Dave Taylor.

According to @rooster.info, during a Zoom meeting today, he had an American nazi flag displayed in the background.

120 870 2.7K

Reposted by David

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Hey, so this is a bit terrifying

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 1d

This entire argument by Louisiana and the conservatives questions are premised on an erasure of Congress’ enforcement power under the 14th & 15th Amendments.

Literally swinging for the fences to wipe out the premise for the legitimacy of Congress’ power to enact civil rights statutes.

16 100 430

Reposted by David

Jesse Dollemore @dollemore.com · 1d

Currently on a flight to Japan watching a Pentagon Assistant Press Secretary (Riley Podleski) work on a document in the open on her laptop. She spent the last hour copy and pasting headlines from articles critical of the Administration’s hostility toward the 1st amendment.

100 880 3K

David @dkuofu.bsky.social · 1d

Also worth noting that their verification process for finding "Tren de Aragua" members in other instances has been as little as:

1. Is this person Venezuelan?
2. Do they have tattoos?
3. Book 'em.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 1d

As I've noted, central to Stephen Miller's propaganda is the claim that the Chicago complex targeted by ICE was "filled" with Tren de Aragua "terrorists."

Now @jacobsoboroff.bsky.social reports that the number of TdA members netted in that raid is down to *one.*

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

1