Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Emily L. Hauser (she/her) ❌👑 @emilylhauser.bsky.social · 29m

Uline's owners "have used their wealth to funnel millions of dollars into the most extreme RW politicians & mvmts... contributed $144 million to conservative groups in the 2024 election cycle... donated $4+ million to bankroll anti-abortion groups who pushed to overturn Roe v Wade."
refuseuline.com

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Nothings Monstered @nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social · 1h

Sirens — Stanisław Hiszpański, 1963

A couple of fish-headed mermaids playing harps made from human skulls and spines. In the background Odysseus's ship rows by with its captain tied to the mast.

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Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH @geauxgabrielle.bsky.social · 1h

Someone asked what happened to the casual Nazi at the end of WWII. The people who supported the Party

The answer? Suicides and murders. If they weren’t beaten to death or shot in the streets, they killed themselves

There’s a book called Promise Me You’ll Shoot Yourself by Florian Huber about it.

The mass suicides by ordinary citizens in the last days of Nazi Germany
Historian Florian Huber's book examines how civilians took their own lives in greater numbers than military and government officials as the Third Reich collapsed
Soviet Army officers observe the bodies of women who committed
suicide in a Vienna park at the end of World War II.
CORDON PRESS / YEVGENY KHALDEINULL

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Dr. Damien P. Williams Wants A Better Sociotechnical Paradigm @wolvendamien.bsky.social · 1h

2021, MSFT claimed a Teams app could read emotional affect & I's like "holy shit this will fuck over so many Black & autistic & otherwise neurodivergent & women & non-binary ppl & ppl w/ chronic pain & … like Everybody at any of those intersections."

This PainChek thing is that, but a doctors' tool

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 12h

Facial expressions common to all humans! 🙃

PainChek is one of these behavioral models, and it acts like a camera‑based thermometer, but for pain: A care worker opens the app and holds a phone 30 centimeters from a person’s face. For three seconds, a neural network looks for nine particular microscopic movements—upper‑lip raise, brow pinch, cheek tension, and so on—that research has linked most strongly to pain. Then the screen flashes a score of 0 to 42. “There’s a catalogue of ‘action‑unit codes’—facial expressions common to all humans. Nine of those are associated with pain,” explains Kreshnik Hoti, a senior research scientist with PainChek and a co-inventor of the device. This system is built directly on the foundation of FACS. After the scan, the app walks the user through a yes‑or‑no checklist of other signs, like groaning, “guarding,” and sleep disruption, and stores the result on a cloud dashboard that can show trends.

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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 1h

BREAKING via WSJ

The Trump administration is planning sweeping changes in criminal division at the IRS.

Full Story: on.wsj.com/3LbVFtK

The Trump administration is preparing sweeping changes at the Internal Revenue Service that would allow the agency to pursue criminal inquiries of left-leaning groups more easily, according to people familiar with the matter.
A senior IRS official involved in the effort has drawn up a list of potential targets that includes major Democratic donors, some of the people said.
The undertaking aims to install allies of President Trump at the IRS criminal-investigative division, or IRS-CI, to exert firmer control over the unit and weaken the involvement of IRS lawyers in criminal investigations, officials said. The proposed changes could open the door to politically motivated probes and are being driven by Gary Shapley, an adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 1h

Been dreaming of this for a decade. 🙏🏽

kukuwa. @kukuwa.blacksky.app · 10h

@nhannahjones.bsky.social is opening a literary salon & bookstore two blocks away from me and I’m unwell 🤧🥹 #forusbyus

www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn-lif...

Bookstore to Open in Former Macon Hardware Digs

Pulitzer-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones is teaming up with Bed-Vyne's owners to create a literary salon in the Bed Stuy building.

www.brownstoner.com

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ashley scarebanks 💀🕯️ @ziibiing.com · 4h

i feel this on a soul level

handmade poster with a ton of handwritten copy
MENTOR WANTED: quesrionsTIONS FOR AN ADULT PERSON WITH NO RELIGIOUS PROCLIVITIES?
HAVE WISE INSIGHT? CAN YOU FURNISH ANSWERS TO BIG QUEStions SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT TO DO: DO YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW LOOKING FOR A WELL-ADJUSTED PERSON OF DISCERNMENT ADULT LIFE IS TOO AMBIGUOUS

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Jen Bendery @jbendery.bsky.social · 5h

The installation, called “Last Call – DemocracyICED,” is plopped down by the U.S. Capitol and is expected to slowly disappear over 10-12 hours.

Local writers are on site reading entries from Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters from an American” every half-hour til "democracy" is gone.

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Jen Bendery @jbendery.bsky.social · 5h

A 3,000-pound, 17-foot-long "DEMOCRACY" ice sculpture is melting away on the National Mall today, a statement from activists and artists on the weakened state of American democracy under the Trump administration.
www.huffpost.com/entry/democr...

A 3,000-Pound Ice Sculpture Of 1 Word Is Melting In Front Of The U.S. Capitol

“It's time for all of us to resist, speak up and save our democracy before it's too late,” artist Marshall Reese said of his 17-by-5-foot installation.

www.huffpost.com

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STAT @statnews.com · 3h

#Breaking: Medicare payments to doctors paused as government shutdown drags on www.statnews.com/2025/10/15/c...

Medicare payments to doctors paused as government shutdown drags on

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is pausing Medicare payments to doctors, as negotiations tied to the government shutdown drag on.

www.statnews.com

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 4h

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 · 4h

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.

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Task & Purpose @taskandpurpose.com · 3h

Coast Guard and National Guard crews have now rescued 51 from Alaska floods trib.al/Bk2ULQq

Coast Guard and National Guard crews have now rescued 51 from Alaska floods

Roughly 90 members of Alaska Army and Air National Guard and Coast Guard units have scrambled to remote towns where homes have floated away.

trib.al

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schrunglowe.bsky.social @schrunglowe.bsky.social · 3h

-1 to "they love trump and want him to win" theory

+1 to "this whole thing was/is a fucking game to them" theory

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3h

that they left em masse, at least, seems like a good sign

Scott Nover @scottnover.bsky.social · 3h

NEW for @washingtonpost.com:

Pentagon reporters exited the building in unison Wednesday after turning in their badges, having refused to sign the Defense Department's press policy.

@nancyayoussef.bsky.social called it a “sad day for those who support a free press.”

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andré carrington @andrecarrington.bsky.social · 4h

Quick shoutout to Julie Phillips's bio James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, which I refer to whenever I teach Tiptree's fiction. It's really useful work that happens to come from outside of SF studies.
(I may or may not have told my class that Alice B. Sheldon had that shit on)

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webwidget @webwidget.bsky.social · 3h

Something something sunk costs.

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WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 3h

This is Dumbo, Mela, Peaches, and Chiquis. They are a championship napping team. Their built-in sleep masks give them that competitive edge. 13/10 for all (TT: brokeboilopez)

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Kelly Sue DeConnick @kellysue.bsky.social · 3h

"The city of Portland unveiled it's five newly named snow plows yesterday: Brrrrnside, The Big Snowplowski, Beverly Clear-y, Salt & Thaw and, of course, Plowy McPlowface." #pdx katu.com/news/local/m...

Meet Beverly Clear-y and friends: Portland's newly named snowplow fleet unveiled

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) unveiled the five newly named snowplows today at Portland International Raceway.

katu.com

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webwidget @webwidget.bsky.social · 3h

Moot Issue

Nothings Monstered @nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social · 3h

Front page of the second section of the New York Tribune in 1910 looking ahead to the launching of the liner Titanic which is two to happen not too long from the time this issue is published and the headline
"Where are we going to dock this Marine monster when she reaches the port of New York?"
There is a large illustration with a cutaway view of the Titanic which also shows off how high it is relative to buildings in Manhattan and finally also shows that Henry Hudson's ship the half moon with which he explored New York Bay when entirely fit inside the Titanic sideways , from bow to Stern,

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GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 3h

[low whistle]

Distinguished Herbert West Fellow, Miskatonic Institute Gigan @gigansprogress.bsky.social · 3h

How much more illegal can we get? lets find out together!
www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-f...

FBI agents will get paid despite government shutdown, Patel says

The Trump administration will continue paying FBI agents despite the ongoing government shutdown that has frozen paychecks for nearly all federal workers, FBI Director Kash Patel announced.

www.cbsnews.com

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Alan @gammacounter.bsky.social · 8h

Shown this one before over the years at the old site, but once again for Bsky, CT scan images through a live pumpkin scanned at 600 micron thickness, w/ lots of post processing, video flythrough, etc. The detail is exquisite. Best seen not on a phone. (🔖 it) randomfootage.homestead.com/pumpkin.html

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Anne-Marie W. Clark 👩‍👧‍👦🐶⚖️😷🌎🚢📚🌦️⚜️ @amwclark.bsky.social · 4h

SCOTUS:
university admission - race not ok
disappeared by ICE - race ok

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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 4h

I think we need to talk more about entitlement in the “do fascists feel shame?” debate.

Fascists aren’t ashamed of oppressing people. But they do feel entitled to adoration for their oppression.

When we reject them, they act like an abusive parent, mortified that their kids don’t really love them.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 9h

some colleagues have suggested to me that shame is irrelevant because the people on the "other side" don't know or care what "we" (on whatever "this side") think of them. I have...not gotten that impression

Kurtbert Barlowko @albertburneko.bsky.social · 10h

"disliking me is persecution" describes so incredibly many people's entire outlook these days defector.com/free-press-r...

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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 7h

started / going

DHS Says Social Media Will Be Screened for ‘Antisemitism’ as It Purges Pro-Palestine Immigrants
Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem says people shouldn't try to "hide behind the First Amendment."

Border Patrol Posts Instagram Propaganda Video Featuring Antisemitic Slurs
The video was pinned to Border Patrol's Instagram Reels.
By Matt Novak
Updated October 15, 2025

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 4h

“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said

Oct. 15, 2025
PENTAGON PRESS ASSOCIATION
STATEMENT
Today, the Defense Department confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America. It did this because reporters would not sign onto a new media policy over its implicit threat of criminalizing national security reporting and exposing those who sign it to potential prosecution.
The Pentagon Press Association's members are still committed to reporting on the U.S. military. But make no mistake, today, Oct. 15, 2025 is a dark day for press freedom that raises concerns about a weakening U.S. commitment to transparency in governance, to public accountability at the Pentagon and to free speech for all.
PPA

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6h

Trump: I never thought we'd go into every city and make them safe. Now it's like a passion for me and it's a passion for the people behind me.

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