Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Connor Stedman @connorstedman.bsky.social · 2h

I’ve done a mixture of physical labor and knowledge work for my whole working life, and yeah this is an important question and a good thread.

Snowden St. @snowden.st · 2h

In this reckless spirit: if you consider “technology enabling people to move off subsistence farming and hard labor” a good thing*, I think you have an obligation to take the question of “what’s a good amount of physical labor for us?” seriously^.

*I’m in this group
^also in this group

Snowden St. @snowden.st · 3d

Can’t remember for the life of me which Chinese poet/sage started off his book with something like “I’m gonna say some reckless things, so you should listen recklessly” but damn if that isn’t a Poster’s Creed

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 8h

Vibe shift in the culture towards earnestness

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Connor Stedman @connorstedman.bsky.social · 2h

to be fair the book is structured top to bottom around weird extra metatextual layers. but also agree (and I still loved it)

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Connor Stedman @connorstedman.bsky.social · 3h

I got to see Byrne in concert earlier this month and it was pretty transcendent. What a body of work, just one banger after another over so many years.

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Connor Stedman @connorstedman.bsky.social · 3h

What a fascinating joy of a performance to watch.

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Odd Thomas [redacted] DO 🪓 @tom.medsky.social · 3h

Dear @nytimes.com

The white house deputy press secretary just confirmed on X that this brown substance represents shit. Please update your headlines accordingly.

A tweet from Steven Cheung white house deputy press secretary. He is retweeting rapid response 47 which shows a video of Trump flying a jet and dumping pop on no kings protestors.

The text says " 😂 shitting all over these No Kings losers!"

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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 10h

once you get rid of the pollutant sources, lakes and rivers in particular recover astonishingly fast. The Thames, for instance, was biologically dead in 1957, now it's thriving. oceanographicmagazine.com/news/river-t...

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Josh Zingher @zingherpolisci.bsky.social · 9h

What are we doing here, folks? Why can’t the NYT describe events in a straightforward way. “Trump shares a video where he dumps shit on protesters,” what is so hard about that?? What is this “appeared to be” business. This sane washing has gotta stop.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 10h

President Trump posted what appeared to be an A.I.-generated video on social media showing him wearing a crown and flying a jet labeled “King Trump” that dumps brown liquid on protesters. He shared the video on Saturday, the same day that protesters participated in mass “No Kings” demonstrations.

Trump Posts Fake A.I. Video of Himself Flying a ‘King Trump’ Jet Over Protesters

President Trump shared what appeared to be an A.I.-generated video on social media. It shows Mr. Trump wearing a crown and flying a jet that dumps brown liquid on demonstrators.

nyti.ms

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Connor Stedman @connorstedman.bsky.social · 3h

It really was.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 9h

he posted an AI video of himself flying a King Trump plane and dumping shit on the protests

that’s the bare bones factual description of what happened, no editorializing involved

publishing that is the absolute bare minimum if you want to call yourself the news

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Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · 5h

The tendency not to cover what the president says and does is a bias. A fairly strong one. The public statements of any other president would get covered by the press.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Not a single mention of this across the Sunday shows as far as I could tell

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 23h

Trump posts AI video showing him literally dumping shit on America

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karl rove knausgård @uhactually.bsky.social · 5h

Could not be clearer that we’re in a moment of almost universal elite rebellion against any kind of restriction or limit. You saw this shift in all the rhetoric too; Trump I was all about the little guy but everyone dropped that and started talking about grindset and being “aristocratic.”

rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 5h

one interesting thing is the collapse of mass support for trump before he took office. his in-person events were sparsely attended. his conventional fundraising (donations in the dollar to thousand dollar range) was more or less nonexistent.

Trump I was a grassroots phenomenon. Trump II was elite.

Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 6h

Republican rhetoric all week was clearly aiming to either depress turnout or inspire visible maga pushback. Neither happened and the press doesn’t seem particularly interested in exploring the implications of that.

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rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 5h

one interesting thing is the collapse of mass support for trump before he took office. his in-person events were sparsely attended. his conventional fundraising (donations in the dollar to thousand dollar range) was more or less nonexistent.

Trump I was a grassroots phenomenon. Trump II was elite.

Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 6h

Republican rhetoric all week was clearly aiming to either depress turnout or inspire visible maga pushback. Neither happened and the press doesn’t seem particularly interested in exploring the implications of that.

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 7h

You know, I’m actually pretty upset that the leader of my country has no regard for the laws that are supposed to protect my rights, my free speech, and my tax dollars, that he seems disinclined to ever cede any power, and that he regularly insults and demeans half the country, including me.

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Connor Stedman @connorstedman.bsky.social · 7h

Good short thread on what the heck is going on at the Times.

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 10h

the NYT decides on its narratives and really, really has a hard time adjusting coverage to reality. it was the biggest pusher of 'resistance is dead', reflecting the general desire among the US establishment for Trump to be a punitive force against their critics. #nokings doesn't fit its story

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 11h

Those with sharp eyes might detect a subtle difference in NYT play last month of an event in one city, w 100,000+ attendees, versus play this morning of some 2500+ events w many millions of attendees, in all 50 states.

See if you can spot it! /s

Then you can find today's story on p A23

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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 9h

as far as just messaging goes that video is probably the most embarrassing thing any president has done on the world stage in my life

and the fact that the sunday shows wont even describe it? total abdication of their responsibility

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Brian Guilfoos @guilfoos.com · 10h

If you can't report on what the President is doing because it is "inappropriate", maybe that's exactly what you *should* be reporting?

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 10h

Oh it’s not appropriate for your program to air the president wearing a crown and shitting on American citizens?

You’ll talk about it in euphemisms? Maybe call it the “crown video” and ignore the shitting part? Because that’s appropriate?

Tell me, was it appropriate for the president to do it?

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 7h

The president of the United States is destroying constitutional government and literally calling himself a king and the pathetic journalistic and political class of this country is busy winding itself into circular meta-debates over the correct way to perform their reaction or nonreaction to it.

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Jamison Foser @jamisonfoser.bsky.social · 8h

It is not honest for the New York Times to pretend not to know what that video is. They are lying to their readers.

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Fryda Wolff @frydawolff.bsky.social · 8h

Loads of people were fired for quoting Charlie Kirk verbatim.

When Trump posts anything, it's just a joke and unworthy of reporting.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Not a single mention of this across the Sunday shows as far as I could tell

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 23h

Trump posts AI video showing him literally dumping shit on America

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Connor Stedman @connorstedman.bsky.social · 8h

Incredible stuff here.

Erin L. Thompson @artcrimeprof.bsky.social · 10h

Today's theft from the Louvre (
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/jewe...) is making me think about my favorite series of museum heists. Buckle up for a 🧵 on priceless porcelains, the Dead Zoo Gang, a Pekinese named Looty, and the unsolved mystery of who's stealing Chinese art from European museums.

Jewel Heist at the Musée du Louvre

"A blog about art crimes, illicit trafficking, forgery, art theft and cultural heritage protection."

art-crime.blogspot.com

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Connor Stedman @connorstedman.bsky.social · 11h

I’ve been saying I (with regrets and very mixed feelings, yes) wanted to see Markey primaried on an age basis alone. But he’s still got my vote given who his challenger ended up being, and how he’s continuing to meet this moment with so much integrity.

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Connor Stedman @connorstedman.bsky.social · 11h

If that’s not the explanation, the onus is on them to demonstrate it. They have lost the benefit of the doubt through these repeated framing and presentation choices.

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