Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 13h

“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

390 2.9K 6.2K

Reposted by Dan Libertz

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 1d

“Don’t let them get to you!” another mom wrote. “Only moms know what’s right for their monkeys!! Bumping your head is actually GOOD for you!!! Why is no one talking about this???”

I’m a MAHA Mom, and Here’s Why I Won’t Stop My Monkeys from Jumping on the Bed—No Matter What the Doctor Says

I’m a proud mother of five who is obsessed with keeping her monkeys healthy. Some people think it’s crazy how much time I spend making sure everyth...

buff.ly

1 13 49

Dan Libertz @dlib24.bsky.social · 1d

[being hyperbolic! Tho to revise to mainstream press is mostly not hyperbole]

1

Dan Libertz @dlib24.bsky.social · 1d

The only respectable journalism happening in the US right now folks. Love it

Pablo Torre @pablo.show · 1d

1 2

Dan Libertz @dlib24.bsky.social · 6d

It's not just that David Simon rather put a gun in his mouth than use AI--it's that he discovered his true passion for the written word.

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 7d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

1

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Zach Halper @zanath.bsky.social · 7d

"We took freedom of speech away" should be in every campaign ad moving forward.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7d

Trump: "We took the freedom of speech away because that's been through the courts and the courts said you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds."

73 1.3K 4K

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Caddie Alford (she/her) @caddiealford.bsky.social · 7d

Crowd-sourcing: any recommendations for a student interested in pursuing a UX/technical communication/rhetorical analysis of patient portal design (in this case, MyChart)?

#TeamRhetoric
#TechComm
#AcademicSky

2 2 2

Dan Libertz @dlib24.bsky.social · 7d

Do you mean recommended readings? If so, I would use “critical interface analysis” as a keyword. There’s a handful on a variety of interfaces that might be good models

1 2

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Dan "Deal Guy" Ancona @danancona.bsky.social · 7d

Big improvement here. The only problem is, they're still 100% defending the status quo, which is NOT WORKING FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE. Everyone knows these are health insurance company subsidies and this is an insane way to fund health care. They could tweak it a bit and improve it even more!

Charlotte Clymer @charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 8d

"So, Democrats have three words for this: no fucking way. It's literally life or death. We will not let Republicans blow up our health care system."

This is, hands down, the best comms work Chuck Schumer has done in YEARS. Surprisingly good.

1 2 12

Dan Libertz @dlib24.bsky.social · 8d

www.northjersey.com/story/news/c...

1

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Leporello @sigill.bsky.social · 8d

1 44 340

Reposted by Dan Libertz

David Moore @davidrussellmoore.bsky.social · 9d

Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic insider, and his firm Avoq lobby for Amazon against federal labor protections supported by the Teamsters.

Elmendorf bundles six-figure sums for the DCCC and DSCC; reformers urge Dems to reject lobbyist cash, but that's not going to happen under current party leaders.

Top Dem Bundler Lobbies Against Worker Protections for Amazon

Steve Elmendorf, a major DCCC bundler, is lobbying for Amazon on the Warehouse Worker Protection Act that is championed by the Teamsters union representing recently-striking workers.

readsludge.com

15 24

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 9d

Reading the Hobbit to my daughter. Every passage is like:

"The goblins were upon them! Gandalf did something magic and there was a cloud of smoke or some such. Who cares? Anyway the important thing is..." ::several pages on goblin anthropology::

8 7 130

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Nathan Newman- ANTIFA Since Nazis Murdered Family in Death Camps @nathansnewman.bsky.social · 10d

Where are the media headlines on whether JD Vance and Catholic Supreme Court Justices are betraying their faith like the endless stories over the years on pro-choice Catholic Dems?

11 17

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 11d

Noem was banned from every reservation in her home state. Every single one.

Lakota Man 🪶 @lakotaman.bsky.social · 11d

I hope everyone sees and understands why my tribe banned Kristi Noem from our reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

13 170 680

Reposted by Dan Libertz

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 18d

Part of ICE’s efforts will be setting up random traffic stops and checkpoints throughout the city and making educated guesses about who to detain and who not to detain. These 'Guess Stops' will be staffed by special agents known as Guess Stop Officers, or 'Guess-Stop-O for short.

ICE’s Training Manual for Determining Who to Terrorize

“The Supreme Court on Monday lifted a federal judge’s order prohibiting government agents from making indiscriminate immigration-related stops in t...

buff.ly

7 220 670

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 12d

🚨🚨 My dear friend and fellow academic, the Palestinian American sociologist @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social has been taken by the Cook County Sheriff near Chicago. They have not mirandized her. Please signal boost. All eyes on Broadview for Eman and the community she was defending 🚨🚨

16 1.2K 1.5K

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 13d

Washington Post dismantled the platform Jamal wrote on. Discarded the fellowship they created in his memory.

They fired me unjustly for speaking the truth.

But I’ll never stop talking about my friend, writer, and amazing human, Jamal Khashoggi.

RIP, Jamal.

open.substack.com/pub/karenatt...

Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post, and the Cost of Speaking Out

As Saudi Arabia hosts comedians and courts gamers, the silenced voice of Jamal Khashoggi still echoes.

open.substack.com

170 3.7K 11K

Dan Libertz @dlib24.bsky.social · 13d

Not the whole story, but Kinkead has a really great sounding class on the history of writing in this post about students' relationships to analog writing and implications for teaching writing. Read it, it's good!

Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 13d

New on the FEN blog: Joyce Kinkead’s collaboration with student researchers explores pens, pencils, and even quills in the classroom.

🔗 bit.ly/Zen-Pen-Blog

3

Reposted by Dan Libertz

William Orchard @billeo.bsky.social · 14d

You’d think that such a value would be fully funded but alas

www.cuny.edu/news/cuny-co...

CUNY Colleges Take Top Seven Spots in Wall Street Journal ‘Best Value’ Colleges Ranking – The City University of New York

The City University of New York claimed the top seven spots on The Wall Street Journal's best value colleges list, with Baruch College ranked first for the third year running due to its affordable cos...

www.cuny.edu

5 11

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 14d

But also we’re terrified of the subway

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 14d

Stephen Miller: "All that bullshit is done, over, it's finished. The gangbangers you deal with- they think they're ruthless? They have no idea how ruthless we are. They think they're tough? They have no idea how tough we are. They think they're hardcore? We are so much more hardcore than they are"

190 940 5.4K

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 14d

Mamdani, @gregsargent.bsky.social writes, is campaigning on opposing Trump’s authoritarianism and on economic issues. Both. At the same time.

It’s not either/or. The notion that working class Americans don’t care about rights violations, or can’t handle two things, is condescending and inaccurate.

Trump’s Rage at Zohran Just Backfired in a Surprisingly Revealing Way

The Democrats who are breaking through are the ones who talk about Trump’s disastrous economic record while also leveling with the public about our slide into authoritarianism.

newrepublic.com

4 43 150

Dan Libertz @dlib24.bsky.social · 14d

Results are results. And, honestly, analytics in sports is MUCH more scientific than relying on polling in a constantly changing political environment!

1

Dan Libertz @dlib24.bsky.social · 14d

I remember sabermetrics and analytics rising in the 2000s and 2010s. It was exciting and useful. But then many people failed in sports who did too much of it. You gotta watch the film, too. Mamdani and others like him just so clearly "show up on film" and it could not be more obvious.

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 14d

One reason the Dem establishment hates Mamdani is that he's just *better at this than they are*. He just talks like an authentic human about things that matter & people respond & it breaks their poll-tested, consultant-cooked brains.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 14d

There's a strange tendency in center-left discourse to treat Zohran's focus on cost-of-living as the *only* reason he's succeeding. Yes, it's critical. But that overlooks the other big thing he's doing: Relentlessly highlighting Trump's authoritarian abuses.

newrepublic.com/article/2011...

1 1

Reposted by Dan Libertz

Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 14d

If your institution requires you to use Blackboard for teaching (like me), be aware its parent company is broke and it's getting new private equity owners whose plans for the platform, and how they'll capitalize on it, remain unknown (bet it includes "AI") onedtech.philhillaa.com/p/anthology-...

What This Means for the LMS and EdTech Markets

For campus leaders: Blackboard will continue operating through the case, but the ownership and investment thesis behind the LMS are changing. This could affect long-term product direction and stability.

For EdTech executives: This is a textbook example of distressed-debt control in our sector. It shows how private equity cycles, first driving aggressive expansion, now dictating asset sales, reshape vendor landscapes.

2 41 71