Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Kara Swisher @karaswisher.bsky.social · 18h

I thought they said it was wrong for an administration to ask a social media platform to take stuff down.

350 1.5K 5.9K

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Dan Tuke @danieltuke.bsky.social · 22h

It should go without saying that on the other side of everything, tech companies and their employees absolutely need to be held accountable for their role in all of this.

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 1d

I seem to recall that it was the biggest 1st Amendment attack in American history when the Biden admin alerted social media companies to some content and said "hey does this violate your policies?" Will Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger and (lol) CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss call this out?

Tweet from Pam Bondi:

Today following outreach from
@thejusticedept
, Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target
@ICEgov
agents in Chicago.

The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.

4 2 2

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Karly Kingsley @karlykingsley.bsky.social · 18h

Hey. Hi. Tom Homan is on camera taking a $50k bribe and no one knows where the money went. If this was any other administration, this would be non-stop on the news. Why are we normalizing this stuff?

530 3.7K 14K

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 21h

Look, we can lose our minds in a depressing way or a fun way

50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 @50501movement.bsky.social · 1d

The Portland Frog army has now infiltrated Tulsa, OK and they’ve made an unlikely alliance with the T-Rex infantry and Sharks on Hoverboards mercenary forces.

This is truly terrifying.

13 140 760

Sacha Haworth @sachalouise.bsky.social · 1d

The day after Gavin Newsom vetoed AB1047, which would have mandated AI chatbots to prove they were safe, Sam Altman tweets this flat-out lie about OAI's safety guardrails.

Very clear that OAI is doubling down on the “f u everyone, especially kids!” approach pioneered by meta.

Tweet from Sam Altman: We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.

1

Sacha Haworth @sachalouise.bsky.social · 1d

something is happening all over the country: local communities are pushing back against AI data center development.

because a data center is one of the only physical manifestations of Big Tech -- it's one of the only ways the people can fight back its expansion

John Kostyack @kostyack.bsky.social · 1d

The data center boom is a real estate story, with developers often using their large war chests to overwhelm local opposition. This tiny Michigan town was forced to cave to Related Digital's demands because it couldn't afford a lengthy legal battle.

Towns are saying no to AI data centers. One got sued over it.

A developer sued a Michigan township after it voted against a data center proposal. Cities in Ohio and Missouri have explored data center bans.

www.washingtonpost.com

1 2

Sacha Haworth @sachalouise.bsky.social · 1d

The chatbot bill that @gavinnewsom.bsky.social vetoed wouldve made Big Tech make chatbots w/ the equivalent of child-proof caps on pill bottles. The gov said the bill might lead to a total ban for minors...well, yes! If Big Tech can't make their products not kill kids then kids shouldn't use them!

California governor vetoes bill to restrict kids' access to AI chatbots

The veto came hours after he signed a law requiring platforms to remind users they are interacting with a chatbot and not a human.

www.nbcbayarea.com

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

John Kostyack @kostyack.bsky.social · 1d

The data center boom is a real estate story, with developers often using their large war chests to overwhelm local opposition. This tiny Michigan town was forced to cave to Related Digital's demands because it couldn't afford a lengthy legal battle.

Towns are saying no to AI data centers. One got sued over it.

A developer sued a Michigan township after it voted against a data center proposal. Cities in Ohio and Missouri have explored data center bans.

www.washingtonpost.com

13 21

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Nick Pettigrew @nick-pettigrew.bsky.social · 2d

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 · 2d

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

68 140 770

Sacha Haworth @sachalouise.bsky.social · 1d

“I'm still in touch with many of those soldiers and Marines we met long ago. I'm having a beer with one of them the end of this week. They want the truth to get out, too.”

NPR @npr.org · 1d

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 scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says. n.pr/4q87Jwb

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 scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says.

n.pr

2

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

"We have an economy where a handful of modern-day robber barons wield extraordinary power. They hold enormous control over our paychecks, our bills, our time, and our futures.

...But the good news is that nothing about any of this is inevitable." - Lina Khan

87 1.4K 6.6K

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 1d

ICYMI — with electricity rates already skyrocketing, Trump just canceled the largest solar project in North America.

Utah’s Republican governor seems to understand this is probably not the best idea: “This is how we lose the AI/energy race with China” 👇🏽

140 1K 2.7K

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 3d

Lots of attention on this Marc Benioff article, which is excellent and full of jaw-dropping quotes.

It reminds me of how he was when I did a story for NPR about him secretly buying hundreds of acres of land in rural Hawaii. Things got weird.

www.npr.org/2024/02/28/1...

9 62 140

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 4d

As I wrote today, it's not cool to be with the Empire; it's cool to be with the Rebellion. Especially when the Empire's approval ratings are slipping:

paulwaldman.substack.com/p/why-trump-...

That's not the entirety of why Tucker Carlson is doing this, but it's definitely part of the story.

9 21 96

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Amanda Marcotte @amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 3d

What's important here is that it's the ICE raids that are capturing their attention.

This is why the reliance on focus groups and polls and the inevitable claim that voters only care about "kitchen table" issues misses the mark.

paulwaldman.substack.com/p/why-trump-...

Why Trump Lost the Podcast Bros

It's cool to support the Rebellion. It's not cool to support the Empire.

paulwaldman.substack.com

5 81 340

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 4d

22 130 500

Sacha Haworth @sachalouise.bsky.social · 5d

JGL coming out for AB1064 - you love to see it!!! x.com/hitRECordJoe...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt on X: "Governor @GavinNewsom, please sign AB 1064 to protect kids from predatory AI "companions" 🫡 @CAgovernor https://t.co/K1fvUqgVB1" / X

Governor @GavinNewsom, please sign AB 1064 to protect kids from predatory AI "companions" 🫡 @CAgovernor https://t.co/K1fvUqgVB1

x.com

2 2

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 5d

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

96 3.2K 11K

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 8d

this is literally stuff King Charles did, like not only did the American colonists have a revolution to not have this happen, but they did so in the wake of the English revolution, which was about not having stuff like this happen

George Pearkes @peark.es · 8d

Well that's not how appropriations work at all

*WHITE HOUSE TO TRANSFER TARIFF REVENUE TO FUND WIC: LEAVITT

41 660 2.4K

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 9d

Delighted that Cory is having a moment with "Enshittification," because it's an accurate word for what's happening in tech and he's the right person to describe it.

(Gift link)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/b...

A Powerhouse Writer Found One Word to Change the Debate About Tech

www.nytimes.com

34 270 1.5K

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Grudgie the Whale @grudgie.bsky.social · 9d

Look. Invading our own country is about as straightforward a case as you can have for impeachment. The GOP abandoning the Constitution is kind of the only story there is and it gets no coverage.

Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 9d

Guys. I just had a crazy idea. What if the President DIDN’T deploy troops in American cities. Just a thought. Have we tried that before?

74 2K 7.5K

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 12d

1. This is one of the most insane statements ever delivered by a presidential spokesperson in U.S. history. Totally disconnected from reality.

2. There is either going to be a civil war or abject Democratic surrender to autocracy. They are telling this you, to your face, in explicit terms.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 12d

Leavitt: "President Trump will end the radical left's reign of terror in Portland once and for all. The president has directed Secretary Hegseth to provide all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland."

330 1.8K 5.1K

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 12d

The government is in full shutdown and the Republicans are refusing to call the House back into session.

Want to know why?

Because we have secured the final vote on releasing the Epstein Files and they don’t want it out.

Call GOP and tell them to swear in @adelitaforcongress.bsky.social.

460 5.8K 20K

Sacha Haworth @sachalouise.bsky.social · 12d

Look at this clown getting so mad that someone doesn’t do as he says and then satisfying his urge for violence by aggressively cuffing them. He’s so happy afterwards when he gets to prove his dominance.

Eric Reinhart @eric-reinhart.com · 12d

ICE just blatantly violated the law and arrested sitting Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes while seeking to illegally arrest a patient in a hospital. Fuck these fascists.

2 1

Reposted by Sacha Haworth

Eric Reinhart @eric-reinhart.com · 12d

ICE just blatantly violated the law and arrested sitting Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes while seeking to illegally arrest a patient in a hospital. Fuck these fascists.

850 4.7K 9.9K