Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mike Roberts @miker66.bsky.social · 7h

Legitimate sabotage

Reposted by Mike Roberts

Nick Pettigrew @nick-pettigrew.bsky.social · 1d

The veneration of Books As Objects misses the point entirely. If you're reading a book, turn the corners down, break the spine, spill soup on it. It's your book, go nuts. A pristine, unread book is a tragedy in a way that a beloved, much-read book that looks like the dog's been at it could never be.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Reposted by Mike Roberts

Carla Denyer @carladenyer.bsky.social · 18h

Yesterday, many Palestinians (some children under the age of 18) who had been held without charge & denied their basic rights by the Israeli government were finally released

But thousands more remain in arbitrary detention under appalling conditions and must not be forgotten

Screenshot of an article about the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, with the full article linked in subsequent post

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Reposted by Mike Roberts

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d

Man, I miss when the forces of bullshit and fabrication were one single evil external, like the climate denial lobby of the 2010s.

Right now it feels like lies are seeping up from the floorboards, infecting everyone regardless of ideology, education, or any demographics

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Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 4d

One curious thing on this site about speaking out against the encroachment of LLMs is that inevitably you get accused of being anti-tech. I don’t hate technology. I’ve used machine learning in my own code before. But I also recognize that oligarchs are so hellbent on pushing this tech for a reason.

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stranger @strangerous.bsky.social · 1d

So is ABC or any media going to show us or spk to any Palestinians who are miraculously still alive after 2yrs of daily bombings by Israel? Seems pretty one sided at the moment. Palestinians wrongly held captive by Israel are also being released today, barely a mention.

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Mike Roberts @miker66.bsky.social · 1d

Solidarity with @nickriemer.bsky.social, @professorjkeane.bsky.social and @sydney.edu.au for standing up to another Zionist attempt to silence opposition to their genocide.

University of Sydney argues academic’s article not racist against Jewish people as ‘Zionism is a political concept’

Case taken by academics against two colleagues and the university is considered a major test case for hate speech in Australia

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Mike Roberts

Dr Ingrid M @ingridm.bsky.social · 2d

poor old Tony Abbott is on the public broadcaster dismissing the oldest and longest continuous oral histories in the history of humanity as “hearsay” how’s your morning going.

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Melissa Chemam @melissaontheroad.bsky.social · 2d

How disconnect is this? I can't speak for the whole of Europe, but France had elections and the President keeps ignoring the results!
But for this columnist, it's 'Macron est triste' & people have abandoned democracy?

Leaders are the problem not the cure.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

France is not alone in its political crisis – belief in a democratic world is vanishing | Simon Tisdall

The populist right offers a solution in the form of turning back the clock. Macron and his counterparts need to find a different answer fast, says Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Mike Roberts

Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 2d

Every day is a good day to point out that 92% of Reform's donations were found to come from figures and groups linked to the fossil fuel industry. @desmog.com

Nigel Farage’s Reform Party Has Accepted £2.3 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests, Climate Deniers, and Polluters Since 2019 Election

Reform UK has received more than £2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers since December 2019, amounting to 92 percent of the party’s donations...

www.desmog.com

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Raimo Kangasniemi @rk70534.bsky.social · 3d

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Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 3d

This aerial image from the 1960s shows that the 'yellow line' of Israel's redeployment in Gaza is roughly matching with the border of the area's coastal sand dune, leaving Gaza without the absolute majority of its agricultural areas on the fertile soils in the east.

@forensicarchi.bsky.social

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Mike Roberts @miker66.bsky.social · 3d

7 October 2023: What really happened? Part 1

At dawn, on 7 October 2023, Hamas fighters blast over 100 holes in the walls and fences that separate the Gaza Strip from Israel.

johnmenadue.com

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Reposted by Mike Roberts

Peter Murphy @peterwmurphy1.bsky.social · 6d

Palestine Action Group's Rally
Nationwide March for Palestine
Sunday 12 October 1pm
Hyde Park North, Sydney
Note: The court has ruled against a march to the Sydney Opera House, so the march will be through the city along George St to Belmore Park. #auspol
#FreePalestine #SanctionIsrael

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Reposted by Mike Roberts

Jenny Frecklington-Jones #IStandWithWatermelon🍉🍉 @joneshowdareyou.bsky.social · 4d

"Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong are craving the moment Netanyahu falls. They are craving the moment they can start rolling out the post-Netanyahu discourse package to the Canberra Press Gallery and Australia’s tabloid press."
johnmenadue.com/post/2025/10...

How the West will package the genocide after Netanyahu

In the not-too-distant future, the Netanyahu Government will fall. When this happens, it will become politically fashionable (and indeed necessary) for Western leaders outside the US to intellectually...

johnmenadue.com

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Reposted by Mike Roberts

The Scales ⚖️ @shakethescales.bsky.social · May 30

Here's a fuckwit sandwich from the BBC climate tab...

A screenshot of three BBC climate story previews stacked one above the other - the top image shows apocalyptic Canadian wildfires blazing across the breadth of the horizon pouring thick black smoke into the air so that the sky disappears entirely with the caption 'Western Canada wildfires emergency hits another province as thousands flee.' The second, middle image shows two people sitting in deck chairs in their simsuits on a sandy beach, one shielding her eyes from the sun as they contemplate the unseasonably warm temperature of the heatwave sea spread intingly before them. The caption reads 'Sunniest spring on record for Wales, says Met Office.' The final image, at the bottom of the stack, shows a reservoir partially drained of water with the caption 'Drinking water shortage in decade without new reservoirs, minister says.'

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Mike Roberts @miker66.bsky.social · 4d

1st 4 words would have done

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Ronni🧂Salt @ronnisalt.bsky.social · 4d

The Aust Parliament Sports Club (the one that ditched David Pocock) is now formally registered as a lobby group👇🏽

Anthony Albanese is the President of the Aust Parliament Sports Club.

That means the Prime Minister of Australia is currently the president of a lobby group.

Just utterly unbelievable.

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Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 4d

The more we use this technology, the more we necessarily turn over not only our data and our privacy but the basic things we need to survive. Meanwhile, reality is totally reshaped by LLMs as increasingly authoritarian media is pumped out as training data. Nothing could be more useful to them.

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Andy Brown @andybrown1951.bsky.social · 5d

Perhaps the bbc will report on the green surge with the same enthusiasm with which they promoted farage?

Election Maps UK @electionmaps.uk · 5d

Westminster Voting Intention:

RFM: 32% (-3)
LAB: 17% (-2)
CON: 17% (+3)
GRN: 15% (+4)
LDM: 12% (=)
SNP: 3% (=)

Via @findoutnow.bsky.social, 8 Oct.
Changes w/ 1 Oct.

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Matt Ryan @mattdjryan.bsky.social · 6d

This is incredible news, and shows the incredible power of collective action. The fight against the neoliberal university (my own included) goes on, but its nice to hear some good news for a change.

Dr Liz Allen @drdemography.com · 6d

#Breaking | ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences will not face structural changes at this time. No renaming, merging, or disestablishment of areas. Change management appears to have been halted, even walked back completely. It’s unclear the impacts of this announcement on the school of music.

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Mehreen Faruqi @mehreenfaruqi.bsky.social · 6d

In the last hour, the brave humanitarians aboard the Freedom Flotilla, which includes at least one Australian, Madeleine Habib, have reported being surrounded and intercepted by the Israeli military in international waters.

This is direct contravention of international law.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 7d

If Labor wishes to reclaim its moral authority, it must break with the consultant paradigm: rebuild public governance, fund socially vital disciplines and restore universities as places of learning, not revenue streams. #auspol #universitiesAU

How the ALP outsourced the soul of higher education

For most of its history, the Australian Labor Party spoke of education as a public good, the light on the hill, a vision of collective progress through strong institutions, universal access, and the elevation of ordinary citizens.

johnmenadue.com

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Mike Roberts @miker66.bsky.social · 6d

Great curtailment explainer from @dylanjmcconnell.bsky.social

Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM) @ceemunsw.bsky.social · 6d

💡🔌A new article from Ben Potter explores curtailment of renewable generation in the NEM with the help of CEEM's Dylan McConnell and some illuminating charts, as spring rolls on and curtailment reaches new peaks. ☀️

🔗 Check out the full piece here: theenergy.co/article/lear...

Learning to live with curtailment

Rising curtailment is playing havoc with the economics of new wind and solar projects

theenergy.co

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Esther Schindler @estherschindler.bsky.social · 8d

I just saw someone use the abbreviation “AI;DR” and I’ll be laughing for a while.

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