Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

@allisonbetus.bsky.social

4K followers 620 following 1.4K posts

Quantitative social scientist. PhD in Communication. media effects | intergroup dynamics | white supremacist extremism Pubs: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=l-41bdcAAAAJ&hl=en Rgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Allison-Betus

scholar.google.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈 @allisonbetus.bsky.social · 18h

The Cramps - Surfin' Dead

11/31

Surfin' Dead

YouTube video by The Cramps - Topic

youtu.be

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Bria "tries to write a book" Horses @thevoidencore.bsky.social · 5d

The "cognitive decline and brain damage from repeat COVID infections" and "easy to use robot that makes slop and melts your critical thinking skills" is a hell of a combo in a post-fact media ecosystem

4 910 2.8K

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 5h

There's one huge difference between the 2025 Portland protests & the ones in 2020. Today, the ~100 anti-fascist protesters at the ICE facility are sandwiched between the feds who have MAGA-friendly media embedded w/ them, and ~15 MAGA-friendly content creators/counter-protesters out in the crowd.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 6h

As President Trump tries to send the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, conservative influencers are working to support his claim that the city is burning with viral clips from one block. https://wapo.st/4q5HM0n

11 180 540

Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈 @allisonbetus.bsky.social · 5h

If my message has offended
think but this & all is mended
that you have but slumbered here
while those dick pics did appear
& I say of this vulgar theme
My bro sent those, I swear, not me

1 1 8

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 8h

How Trump plays you:
He posts a claim undermining the facts about January 6.

YOU ALL DISSEMINATE IT!!!

You don't mock that he's complaining that the FBI responded to a terrorist attack. You instead "fact check" re his claim that Joe Biden was in charge of the FBI--which is abt tribalism, not truth

27 180 700

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 8h

Populism was never the issue

The issue was calling far-right politics "populism" which was not only inaccurate but euphemised and legitimised them as a so-called alternative to the status (while they aim to take the worst of it and push it further)

Yes, I'll keep banging on about this

17 120 500

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

shaunt @shaunvids.bsky.social · 9h

thinking about the liberal politicians willing to try to compromise with fascists by abandoning minority groups they don't really like - i wish they understood that fascists will come for everyone eventually. even themselves. fascism unopposed is a ruined state with everyone dead

29 410 2.3K

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 11h

The regime gets more deranged every day. A rightwing conspiracy theorist assassinated a Democratic lawmaker - which the attorney general presents as an example of leftwing political violence in order to justify an authoritarian crackdown on the opposition…

We’re in incredibly dangerous territory.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Bondi: "We've been living through a horrific cycle of political violence in this country ... night after night antifa wrecks havoc on the streets of our cities. In Minnesota, a gunman murdered a state lawmaker and her husband."

38 550 1.6K

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 11h

Men like Piers Morgan have found women in trans women who it is socially acceptable to abuse.

Every time they do this stuff they are telling you how they'd treat cis women if they could get away with it.

4 110 490

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Anna O. Law @unlawfulentries.bsky.social · 1d

Rotisserie chickens cooking

4 14

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 18h

The more I talk to people the more I hear stories about how much harder everything is getting. Check on your people if you can. ❤️

3 29 190

Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈 @allisonbetus.bsky.social · 13h

🧵

Justin @sitkaworldsfair.bsky.social · 19h

So there’s the billionaire in the White House who was born very rich and is now carrying out the pinnacle of his career as a fraud.

His campaign was largely funded by a billionaire who was born to owners of an emerald mine and made billions by lying for a decade about what his products could do.

1 13

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Sunny Moraine @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social · 1d

Like I know there are edgelord leftists out there who look down their noses at shit like No Kings but sorry you guys, the more mass protest looks fun and family-friendly, the bigger it gets and the better its chances of being broadly effective

Sunny Moraine @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social · 1d

Portland does not own the patent on inflatable animal costume protests, come on people

42 430 2K

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Ify Nwadiwe @ifycomedy.com · 21h

I think we really should stop using antifa and just fully say anti-fascist and get them saying they are against anti fascism. Using antifa is giving them some distance and I genuinely think some of their base don’t even know that’s what it stands for.

420 5.9K 20K

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Vivian Moira Vampire @itsviviactually.bsky.social · 17h

A thing I think a lot of cishet folks don't appreciate is how reluctant many of us are to trust these days

And how much harder it gets when the few we do let us down

"If [NAME] could turn on me, so could anyone"

4 21 96

Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈 @allisonbetus.bsky.social · 16h

If white supremacy can be fought with large bags of water softener & you need someone to carry them for you, I'm your woman

Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈 @allisonbetus.bsky.social · 16h

If I had a good job or a large stock portfolio, I'd be worried

In the meantime, we will always need box movers & I move the boxes better than average 💪

NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · 2d

“Concerns over an AI bubble bursting have grown lately, with analysts recently finding that it’s 17 times the size of the dotcom-era bubble and four times bigger than the 2008 financial crisis.”

Hang onto your butts. This “correction” is gonna hurt.
futurism.com/artificial-i...

Bank of England Warns of Impending AI Disaster

The Bank of England has sounded the alarm, warning of an intensifying risk of a "sudden correction" due to an AI spending frenzy.

futurism.com

1 5

Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈 @allisonbetus.bsky.social · 16h

I started putting a link to the job listing at the top of my draft cover letters

My biggest problem is that I struggle to apply to jobs in time & this seems to help me from missing the deadlines

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 17h

Multi billionaire conducts months of historical and theological research into the Antichrist. Discovers, shockingly, that one thing the Antichrist would definitely do is tax billionaires. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Done
theguardian.com
呃
Jump to
He believes the Armageddon will be ushered in by an antichrist-type figure who cultivates a fear of existential threats such as climate change, Al and nuclear war to amass inordinate power. The idea is this figure will convince people to do everything they can to avoid something like a third world war, including accepting a one-world order charged with protecting everyone from the apocalypse that implements a complete restriction of technological progress. In his mind, this is already happening. Thiel said that international financial bodies, which make it more difficult for people to shelter their wealth in tax havens, are one sign the antichrist may be amassing power and hastening Armageddon, saying: "It's become quite difficult to hide one's money."

52 240 910

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 18h

There was a period in history during which full-plate armour was so impregnable, and ransoming back captured nobles so lucrative, that the knights could treat warfare as a game while their men-at-arms got slaughtered in the mud.

I think about that a lot when I look at modern politics.

Jason Karsh @jkarsh.bsky.social · 19h

If we survive this, and Democrats are able to take back power, I guarantee you we will have to endure think-piece after think-piece that demand the rest of us reach out, stop shaming, and forgive fascists and the crimes they’ve committed. I absolutely guarantee it.

Ari Cohn @aricohn.com · 20h

Some weirdo on Twitter has been absolutely melting down for like 36 straight hours because I posted:

When this is over, do not forget what ICE did, and what ICE is. And do not make room for them in society. Make sure they know that they are, and will continue to be, reviled and beneath contempt.

5 39 180

Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈 @allisonbetus.bsky.social · 18h

Side note: That gift is only cute if 1) it's the first date & she definitely owns a horse or 2) it's accompanying a larger related gift, like riding lessons or something like that

Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈 @allisonbetus.bsky.social · 18h

If someone I knew was this willing to give up their own mind, I'd be profoundly concerned

Why don't these people want to be humans? Why don't they want their own personality? Why are they so afraid of their own thoughts?

There's got to be something deeper here. This is weird & bad & bad for us.

Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 19h

I am straight-up going to have nightmares about this

In the video Smith posted online, he said Neuralink engineers had started using language models including ChatGPT and Grok to serve up a selection of relevant replies to questions, as well as options for things he could say in conversations going on around him. One example that he outlined: “My friend asked me for ideas for his girlfriend who loves horses. I chose the option that told him in my voice to get her a bouquet of carrots. What a creative and funny idea.”

These aren’t really his thoughts, but they will do—since brain-clicking once in a menu of choices is much faster than typing out a complete answer, which can take minutes.

2 2 13

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 1d

Tokens get spent.

Solomon @solomonmissouri.bsky.social · 2d

3 85 440

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 22h

Never forget this: The forces rigging our economy, undermining our democracy, polluting our planet, and stoking hatred are counting on you to give up. Cynicism is how they win. Stay clear-eyed and ready for the fight ahead.

410 5.3K 16K

Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈 @allisonbetus.bsky.social · 18h

The Cramps - Surfin' Dead

11/31

Surfin' Dead

YouTube video by The Cramps - Topic

youtu.be

Reposted by Dr. Allison Betus (she/her) 🌈

Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 1d

every single tech idea is like “soon our robots will be capable of playing catch with your kid, freeing you up to spend more time working on your employers’ spreadsheets”

120 2K 9.1K