Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 16h

The psychology that twists coverage in Trump’s favor is transparent, once you accept that psychology plays a role. They want to be perceived as neutral by their peers, and they know their peers suspect them of anti-Trump bias. So they demonstrate independence by scrutinizing Dems and praising Trump.

Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 16h

There were at least two ceasefires under Biden! In which more than five times as many living Israeli hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinians! Has everyone forgotten this?

Coffee Indiana @coffeeindiana.bsky.social · 16h

Also, ceasefires have happened under prior Presidents! The day he gets Palestine their own country he can be told he's the most special boy deserving of a shiny prize.

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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 18h

Special education isn't a "nice thing to have." It isn't "charity" or doing something to make us feel better. It is a right. The right to a Free Appropriate Public Education is codified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, signed by a Republican president.

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 1d

U.S. Department of Education fired nearly everyone in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in a wave of new layoffs that began Friday, according to the union representing the agency's employees. www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

www.usatoday.com

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Erik Hoffner @erikhoffner.bsky.social · 21h

Bloomberg analysis reveals that electricity in areas near data centers has risen, a lot: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Energy is up to 267% costlier in areas w/ a data center nearby:

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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 1d

Um. There’s a woman presenting this too.

ok.co.uk @ok.co.uk · 7d

Rylan Clark is set to delve into the eerie world of witchcraft in his new show, The Witches Of Essex.

Rylan Clark slams 'misogyny' in British witch hunt as he fronts new Sky show

Rylan Clark shares the spotlight with professor Alice Roberts in The Witches Of Essex, where the pair delve into the dark history of witch hunts - and one discovery rattled Rylan.

www.ok.co.uk

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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 1d

I’m sure they didn’t mean to eliminate the woman in this image.

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Prof Nisreen Alwan @nisreenalwan.bsky.social · 1d

Do you know who makes a dictatorship? It’s not the racists. It’s not the criminals. It’s not even the idiots.

It’s the sycophants.

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Tade Thompson @tadethompson.bsky.social · 23h

Remember: Just because you like [famous person] doesn't mean they're right. It doesn't mean they're wrong, either.

It means you like someone whose primary quality is charisma (or some other quality unrelated to the matter at hand) and you're in the Halo Effect blast radius.

Because you are human.

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Refugees @refugees.skyfleet.blue · 23h

Mali: Maldives becomes the first country to achieve ‘triple elimination’ of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B #Refugees

Mali: Maldives becomes the first country to achieve ‘triple elimination’ of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B

reliefweb.int

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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · 3d

*FIFTEEN THOUSAND JOBS LOST*.
If this were in a sector in which the PM could go and do a photoshoot looking like One Of The People, we’d have had a government intervention by now.

LopaLeach @lopa.bsky.social · 3d

Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU www.timeshighereducation.com/news/cuts-eq...

Cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs planned at UK universities – UCU

Proposed job losses almost triple since March as unions prepare to vote on nationwide industrial action

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 1d

Friday night: ~1,250 fired in CDC, immediate pushback.

Saturday: administration says layoffs were in 'error'.

*But* does not specify how many.

Now, @axios.com reports ~600 remain RIFed by an admin that blends incompetence & malice to public health.

Mismanagement should have consequences.

Axios @axios.com · 1d

About 600 CDC staff in offices dealing with health statistics, injury and violence prevention, congressional outreach and human resources are out of work as a result of the Trump administration's mass layoffs of agency workers Friday, sources familiar said.

CDC purge hits 600 workers in key offices despite reversals

The casualties include employees working on health statistics, injury and violence prevention, congressional outreach and human resources.

www.axios.com

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j-salvo.bsky.social @j-salvo.bsky.social · 1d

Word to the wise: do not fly internationally into Logan. All of the major public detainments of Legal Residents and Citizens at airports have been out of Logan.

Kat Stuart @luckykatstuart.bsky.social · 1d

Anyone in Boston an immigration lawyer or know one who can help this woman? Her husband is detained at Logan over a dismissed misdemeanor from 2017. He’s a legal resident of the US. She just asked for help an hour ago.

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Ariel @sycoraxpine.bsky.social · 1d

Isn’t imputed income usually about employer-provided benefits that relieve you of costs like transit or housing as another type of remuneration rather than social services provided by the government?

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Ariel @sycoraxpine.bsky.social · 1d

I haven’t encountered a situation in which social services are taxable imputed income in the US, perhaps because when I’ve accessed those services (during paid parental and pregnancy leave, for instance) I didn’t exceed the foreign earned income exclusion. Can you say more?

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Ariel @sycoraxpine.bsky.social · 1d

Just for clarity, the 2025 Foreign income exclusion (before you begin being double taxed by both nations on the excess) is US$130,000. It adjusts annually with inflation, so has been rising substantially in the last few years.

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Ariel @sycoraxpine.bsky.social · 1d

Plus paid parental leave and lower risk from guns, and knowing that your taxes are paying for none of your family or neighbours to go bankrupt from illness or injury….

All quite apart from civil liberties that are rapidly disappearing in the US.

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 1d

Sign that your 9YO may have two lawyers for parents:

Me: “You’re not complaining, are you?”

9YO: “No. I’m just stating my feelings in an aggravated tone!”

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Ariel @sycoraxpine.bsky.social · 1d

As an American academic in Canada, it’s always worth considering how much of the difference in taxation you get back in social services (i.e. healthcare) that you would have to pay for separately in the US.

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BronSays @bronsays.bsky.social · 1d

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

"A prominent anti-DEI campaigner appointed by Meta in August as an adviser on AI bias has spent the weeks since his appointment spreading disinformation about shootings, transgender people, vaccines, crime, and protests."

Meta AI adviser spreads disinformation about shootings, vaccines and trans people

Critics condemn Robby Starbuck, appointed in lawsuit settlement, for ‘peddling lies and pushing extremism’

www.theguardian.com

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Marco Rogers @polotek.bsky.social · 1d

I want to take this opportunity to connect some dots. This is not a mistake. This is on purpose. The right wing ethos hates government oversight. They try to take over government precisely so they can make it less effectual. We see this everywhere that has Republicans in charge.

George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 1d

Last I checked the GOP controls all branches of our government.

Tweet from MeidasTouch: “Wow that’s crazy. Who’s running the federal government?”
Below, Acyn’s tweet quotes Rep. Mike Johnson: “If you look at polling, people’s faith in the federal government is at an all-time low. Why? Because they don’t see that it’s being done well.”
A C-SPAN screenshot shows Johnson speaking with another man standing beside him.

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Mallory Harris, PhD @malar0ne.bsky.social · 1d

"The administration may claim that some of these RIFs were ‘errors’. By extension, they may try and argue that many RIFs were ‘correct’. We should assume otherwise: the wholesale use of RIFs is a form of political retribution that does not serve federal agency missions. This is a failure by design."

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 2d

New post:

With Malice Toward All and Charity for None:
Oct. 10-11 CDC (Un)Firing Edition

joshuasweitz.substack.com/publish/post...

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

Hi Sally. When Weiss published a supposed expose on the death of George Floyd, a veteran criminal justice reporter showed in deep detail that the piece was not just wrong but filled with falsehoods and misrepresentations. Weiss did not retract the piece. What do you think of that?

Sally Jenkins @sallyjenx.bsky.social · 1d

This is really smart. Amazed at the hysteria over the ascendance of a woman entrepreneur who clearly knows how to cover and sell news and who's not afraid to take on a mob. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Don’t Bet Against Bari Weiss

The new editor in chief of CBS News triumphs over her critics.

www.theatlantic.com

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Ariel @sycoraxpine.bsky.social · 1d

“Democrats see”? “Allegations of”?

He said it on camera!

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 1d

President Trump’s move to cancel projects in Democratic states during the government shutdown has prompted allegations of partisanship.

Democrats see a pattern of inflicting pain on places that are politically unfriendly.

Trump escalates his use of federal power to target Democratic states

Democrats see a clear pattern of inflicting pain on places that are politically unfriendly, while Trump has declared his intent to hurt liberal areas and policies.

www.washingtonpost.com

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 1d

What he’s railing against is a profound shift in culture, status… He’s obsessed with the idea that America is controlled by a leftist “ruling elite” - but “elite” isn’t defined socio-economically or by political power, it means something like: Getting to define “real America” and who gets to belong.

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Kevin Reuning @reuning.bsky.social · 2d

Trump straight up murdering people in the Caribbean and the NYT writes this

The Trump Split Screen: A Peacemaker Abroad, a Retribution Campaign at Home

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Ariel @sycoraxpine.bsky.social · 1d

I’m teaching The House of Bernarda Alba next, and am always surprised by Lorca’s emphasis on how *white* that prison of a house is, when I imagine it as shadowy.

So now I’m imagining a production that stages it in the abusive interior-designed world of trad-wife influencers, à la Ruby Franke.