Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Brad Bolman

Seth Klein @sethdklein.bsky.social · 1d

Solar and wind are growing so quickly that they outpaced all the growth in electricity demand this year. Which means they started eating into fossil fuelled power, leading to a modest drop in fossil generation. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/13/o...

Our friendly neighbourhood fireball

Solar and wind are growing so quickly that they outpaced all the growth in electricity demand this year. Which means they started eating into fossil fuelled power, leading to a modest but significant ...

www.nationalobserver.com

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 1d

Ok, since many people are obviously not reading the article, here's a pertinent figure from it showing the top actions to reduce emissions.

A horizontal bar chart titled “19 climate-friendly choices, ranked” shows actions individuals can take to reduce their carbon footprint, ordered from most to least impactful. The x-axis represents projected impact in tons of CO₂ equivalent per capita per year (tCO₂e/cap/yr), ranging from 0 to about 2.5. Each action is color-coded by sector: transportation (blue), energy (orange), and food (green).

Go car-free – highest impact (blue bar extending to about 2.5 tCO₂e).

Fly less (blue, about 1.5).

Shift to renewable home energy (orange, about 1.4).

Switch to EV or hybrid car (blue, about 1.2).

Go vegan (green, about 1.0).

Walk, bike, or take transit more (blue).

Make energy-efficient renovations (orange).

Use clean cooking equipment (orange).

Go vegetarian (green).

Shift driving habits (e.g., carpooling) (blue).

Increase telecommuting (blue).

Shift to regional/seasonal diet (green).

Move to energy-efficient home (orange).

Decrease food waste (green).

Eat less meat (green).

Use less energy at home (orange).

Reduce packaged food, dining out (green).

Use energy-efficient appliances (orange).

Compost – least impact (green, under 0.1).

A note clarifies that these are meta-analytic estimates of greenhouse gas reduction potentials, drawn from 659 estimates across 47 academic journal articles. The average person emits 6.28 tonnes of CO₂e per year, though this varies widely by income and country. Wealthier populations may emit up to 110 tonnes per year, while lower-income populations may emit as little as 1.6 tonnes.

Source: WRI, based on data from Ivanova et al., 2020.

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Philadelphia Inquirer @inquirer.com · 1d

Every day at noon, no matter how busy, Johny Merida Aguilar left his construction job and hurried to his 5-year-old son's school to feed him. His son has brain cancer and generally only accepts food from his father.

Merida Aguilar was arrested by ICE in September and faces deportation to Bolivia.

He was caring for his 5-year-old son with brain cancer. Then he was detained by ICE.

A court has temporarily blocked Johny Merida Aguilar's deportation to Bolivia.

www.inquirer.com

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Brad Bolman @bolman.bsky.social · 3d

More of this, please

Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 3d

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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Rebecca Charbonneau @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social · 5d

🚀 We’re hiring a 3-year Postdoctoral Fellow in history of science/STS to join my team at the American Institute of Physics! If you're looking for a fellowship opportunity in the history of the physical sciences post-1850, please see our ad for more details: workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...

Recruitment

workforcenow.adp.com

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Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 3d

ICE left David, a 17-year-old boy, stranded on the side of Interstate 20 after pulling over his immigrant father, Hector, in Mississippi.

David began running in the scorching sun after the car and watched as it disappeared from sight—soon headed to a Louisiana ICE prison.

Here's their story.

ICE Stranded a 17-Year-Old on I-20 After Arresting His Father. The Mississippi Dad Now Faces Deportation.

A 17-year-old watched as ICE arrested his immigrant father, Hector, on I-20 in June. The family faces mounting legal fees and the risk of deportation.

www.mississippifreepress.org

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Brad Bolman @bolman.bsky.social · 4d

Would love one of these

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Reposted by Brad Bolman

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 7d

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Brad Bolman @bolman.bsky.social · 5d

It’s a huge day for guys who named their dog after Krasznahorkai years ago (me)

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 5d

László Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel prize in literature 2025

The author was announced as winner at a ceremony in Stockholm • Nobel prize in literature 2025 live: László Krasznahorkai wins ‘for his compelling and visionary oeuvre’ The Nobel prize in literature for 2025 has been awarded to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, the Swedish Academy has announced. The Academy cited the 71-year-old’s “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 6d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Jennifer Smith Richards @jsmithrichards.bsky.social · 5d

To understand the Trump administration’s vision for American education, @megomatz.bsky.social and I studied dozens of hours of political appointees’ speeches and podcasts and essays. What emerged is a desire to dismantle the nation’s system of public schools.

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department.

Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

www.propublica.org

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Patrick De Klotz @patdeklotz.bsky.social · 5d

American citizen, read this. www.koin.com/news/portlan...

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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 6d

If the regime does go after DSA, the appropriate response will be for as many people as possible to become dues-paying members.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Jonathan Choe to Trump: "Another group right now that is behind antifa and working with antifa very closely based on the research that we have right now that we're gonna give to you and your team are the Democratic Socialists of America."

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Stephen Totilo @stephentotilo.bsky.social · 6d

SCOOP: Last year, Ubisoft cancelled an Assassin's Creed game set during Reconstruction. Was to feature a Black Assassin who, among other things, fought the rise of the Klan

Sources: Leadership nixed it over concerns re: U.S. political climate, backlash to Yasuke

www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...

Scoop: Ubisoft cancelled a post-Civil War Assassin’s Creed last year

Company leadership deemed the project too controversial for the moment, sources tell Game File

www.gamefile.news

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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 6d

Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 6d

The First Amendment explicitly guarantees:

-the right of the people peaceably to assemble
-to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
-the free exercise of religion
-freedom of speech

If this priest had also been press, ICE would have violated all five 1A freedoms at once.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 6d

Here’s video of the incident

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 7d

NEW: David Adler—a Jewish American on the Gaza aid Flotilla—details Israeli detention.

At one point, he says, he was forced to his knees for a photo op with the Israeli flag, as Ben Gvir yelled in his face, calling him a terrorist.

Says US "hung up" on families of Americans, veterans seeking help.

EXCLUSIVE: Freed Flotilla Activist David Adler Details His ‘Violent Abduction’ by Israel

The Jewish American writer says Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir specifically targeted him, forcing a photo op with the Israeli flag and calling him a “terrorist.”

zeteo.com

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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 7d

The US government has acquired stakes in a 3rd mining company, Trilogy Metals. The Trump admin now owns equity in rare earths (MP Materials), lithium (Lithium Americas), and copper (Trilogy). This "right-wing resource nationalism" derisks mining assets, inflates share values & deregulates governance

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Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 8d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · 9d

They’re using American tax dollars to fund infrastructure in Argentina because that’s where they’re all going to flee when we kick them out of office

Ryan Grim @ryangrim.bsky.social · 13d

After announcing a $20 billion bailout of Argentina, the White House now says it's pausing $18 billion in funding for NYC infrastructure projects

Russ Vought would love nothing more than to tear this country down to its studs

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Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 10d

I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America

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Brad Bolman @bolman.bsky.social · 10d

projects.propublica.org/trump-food-c...

Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived.

ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cut...

projects.propublica.org

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Eric Reinhart @eric-reinhart.com · 11d

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.

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Brad Bolman @bolman.bsky.social · 11d

One Battle After Another was really fun! Our little theater crowd was hooting and hollering in a way I haven't experienced in a long time at a movie

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Brad Bolman @bolman.bsky.social · 12d

And his first term, too! Sisyphean journalism

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