Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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umsonst.bsky.social @umsonst.bsky.social · 3h

Fiction meats reality:

"Markets were rattled in August after researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said that 95% of firms surveyed have not seen returns on investments into generative AI."

They will improve yes, but by how much?

AI Promises Productivity. It's Delivering ‘Workslop’

Most of us have encountered “AI slop,” the deluge of low-quality content produced by generative artificial intelligence tools that has inundated the internet. But is this computer-made hogwash taking ...

www.bloomberg.com

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Doug @dougincanberra.bsky.social · 4h

Politics of resistance being rewritten in Portland - a most encouraging sign

Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 12h

Portland continues to amaze me 👏

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Climate Analytics @climateanalytics.org · 4h

“The IEA has, consistently over the last couple of decades, way underestimated how fast renewables are growing,” our senior climate and energy adviser Dr Robert Brecha told @grist.org, “I don’t see any reason to believe that renewables won’t double by 2030.”

As Trump champions fossil fuels, the world is betting on renewable energy

Despite a U.S. retreat, solar and wind are overtaking fossil fuels globally, according to two reports published this week.

grist.org

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Reposted by Doug

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 5h

A reminder.

Humanity has never removed an atmospheric pollutant at a global, continental or, even, regional scale — we have only ever shut down the source and let nature do the clearing up. This is the case for chlorofluorocarbons and stratospheric ozone destruction, for sulfur dioxide and acid rain, and for sulfur and nitrogen oxides and photochemical smog. We must be prepared for CDR to be a failure, leaving us to rely on the environment to stabilize atmospheric CO₂ over thousands of years. This is another argument for rapid decarbonization.

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Kriszta Satori @fulelo.bsky.social · 7h

#BBCNews - 'It's going to be really bad': Fears over AI bubble bursting grow in Silicon Valley
www.bbc.com/news/article...

A tangled web of deals stokes AI bubble fears in Silicon Valley

Some are worried that the rapid rise in the value of AI tech companies may be a bubble waiting to burst.

www.bbc.com

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Doug @dougincanberra.bsky.social · 4h

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Green party reaches 100,000 members for first time after Polanski becomes leader

Green party in England and Wales has had near-50% rise in membership since since Zack Polanski took over last month

www.theguardian.com

Doug @dougincanberra.bsky.social · 5h

On revealed form the Minerals Council, the fossil fuel industry, the Gambling industry all seem to have a policy veto over the ALP Federal government actually delivering on its promises to the Australian community

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Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 6h

If government bailouts of miners and steelmakers are the new normal, Australia needs a better strategic vision | John Quiggin for The Conversation

It is one thing to abandon the dogmas of neoliberalism. It is quite another to develop a coherent alternative * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The federal government’s announcement of a A$600m rescue package for Glencore’s copper smelting and refining operations in Mount Isa and Townsville marks a definitive shift in Australia’s industry policy. The announcement follows the $2.4bn rescue of the Whyalla steelworks, and a smaller assistance package for metals smelter Nyrstar. What are the criteria for such a bailout? What, if anything, should the public receive in return? What (presumably) unintended consequences arise if failing operations receive assistance while their competitors do not? Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Doug @dougincanberra.bsky.social · 7h

Christian churches face a similar challenge

Doug @dougincanberra.bsky.social · 8h

Shaul Magid "... without repentance, Judaism becomes uninteresting, just a series of tribal rituals and myths to keep a group together."

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Reposted by Doug

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 23h

Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."

www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Pope Leo calls for news agencies to stand as bulwark against "post-truths," lies and manipulation

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the "ancient art of lying" and manipulation.

www.cbsnews.com

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Doug @dougincanberra.bsky.social · 8h

October 12, 2025
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

October 12, 2025

On October 9, President Donald J.

open.substack.com

Doug @dougincanberra.bsky.social · 8h

Shaul Magid "... without repentance, Judaism becomes uninteresting, just a series of tribal rituals and myths to keep a group together."

Reposted by Doug

Tim Lyons @picketer.bsky.social · 12h

(One of Alinsky's dictums was that a great tactic - done well - available to people with little power is to just take the piss out of the people who do have it. Mock them. It's great fun and they reeaaallllyyyy hate it.)

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Reposted by Doug

Nick Casmirri @ncasmirri.bsky.social · 11h

Just in time for reference if you're still mulling over registering a political party to contest the election.

Ben Raue @benraue.com · 13h

I've published my full guide to the 2027 NSW state election. Yes, it's a while away, but if you're trying to wrap your head around how it might go, you'll find it useful. www.tallyroom.com.au/62772 #nswpol

NSW election guide now live

As part of my efforts to prepare election guides for all of the upcoming elections, I have now published a guide to the 2027 NSW state election. While that election is still almost a year and a hal…

www.tallyroom.com.au

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Reposted by Doug

GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 14h

the inflatable costume thing is an extremely smart tactic

GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 14h

my father (a retired white engineer who has been in oklahoma for 40 years) is my weathervane for what normal people who just watch the news periodically think, and he was like “so, they want to call the guard out on a bunch of kids wearing frog suits? is that true?”, the admin is losing the PR war

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22h

WELKER: Are you looking at invoking the Insurrection Act?

VANCE: We have to remember we are talking about this bc crime has gotten out of control

W: Crime is down in both Chicago & Portland

V: Crime is down bc they are so overwhelmed at the local level they are not even keeping stats properly

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Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 11h

Two legal challenges to Woodside’s North West Shelf extension filed on environmental and cultural grounds

Australian Conservation Foundation and Friends of Australian Rock Art want Murray Watt’s decision to approve extension of gas plant in northern WA overturned * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Two groups have filed separate legal challenges to the federal environment minister’s approval of Woodside’s North West Shelf extension, one of the world’s biggest liquified natural gas projects. The Australian Conservation Foundation and Friends of Australian Rock Art have commenced federal court proceedings in a bid to have the decision overturned. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Doug

André Brett @drdrehistorian.bsky.social · 11h

Genuinely the worst thing about Dunedin is arriving and departing

The Spinoff @thespinoff.bsky.social · 14h

Dunedin has a new regional council but still no public transport to the airport

Cities like Hamilton, Palmerston North and Nelson have public transport to the airport. Why can’t Dunedin?...

thespinoff.co.nz

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Reposted by Doug

Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 10h

As of now there is nothing Albanese's govt has done that has changed the country in any structural way.

No change at all to how the fundamental debates of the nation are addressed.

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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 12h

The ALP might as well merge with the Minerals Council of Australia

Miners to get an early look at Labor’s new green laws

Tom Rabe
WA political correspondent
Oct 12, 2025 – 3.26pm

The Albanese government will give mining companies and other stakeholders draft extracts of its environmental protection laws before they go to parliament, as Environment Minister Murray Watt tries to rebuild trust after earlier negotiations on the reforms collapsed in acrimony.

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Reposted by Doug

Tim Lyons @picketer.bsky.social · 12h

This is a superb use of Temu crap by protestors. (The DHS will now procure 500 units @ $200,000 a unit of the 'Palantir AI-Power Smart Tactical Dirigible Threat Eliminator - it's a box-cutter with an app.)

amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 19h

The inflatables have made it to Broadview.

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Doug @dougincanberra.bsky.social · 11h

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’

Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Doug

Refugee Action Campaign CBR @raccanberra.bsky.social · 14h

Join @amyremeikis.bsky.social, Prof Alan Gamlen from ANU Migration, and Prof John Minns as they tackle myths, misinformation, and scare campaigns against migrants, refugees, and multiculturalism.

Wednesday, 15 October, 6:30pm, Copland Theatre, ANU. refugeeaction.org/20250910/deb...

Banner with text says: Debunking racist myths about immigration.

Date: 15 October
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Copland Lecture Theatre, ANU

With bios of Amy Remeikis, Alan Gamlen, and John Minns, full text available at included link.

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Reposted by Doug

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 14h

This is a fantastic statement from the governor of Washington, but I can't get past the fact that the man who's standing up to the right-wing anti-immigrant machine is named ...

Bob Ferguson?

Seriously?

Does he have a daughter named Willa?

CajunBlueAZ ⚜️🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @cajunblue.bsky.social · 16h

🚨🚨🚨WA Governor Bob Ferguson responds to a letter he received from AG Pam Bondi in which she threatened to place him in jail. 🧯He is on fire! 1/2

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Reposted by Doug

Barbara Pocock @barbarapocock.bsky.social · 14h

Unless we have a properly built debarment regime we will be back here again. The Govt must have the power to impose appropriately apportioned bans (for up to 5 years) from Govt contracts for bad behaviour.

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Doug @dougincanberra.bsky.social · 14h

www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...

The passion – and politics – of Peter Combe: ‘Children are wonderful critics because they’re very intolerant’

Wash Your Face in Orange Juice, Newspaper Mama, Toffee Apple … the children’s entertainer who has sold more than 1m albums and DVDs reflects on his 40-year career, childhood and speaking up

www.theguardian.com