Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

svl @droseph.bsky.social · 1m

@jwdwerner.bsky.social hosted a good roundtable weeks ago, about a recent article prof. Kang co-authored w/ Jackie S. H. Wong & Zenobia T. Chan looking at 'What China Wants' this was CONTROVERSIAL. Think about that. and follow these scholars for sober, fact based analysis.

What Does China Want?

YouTube video by Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

www.youtube.com

svl @droseph.bsky.social · 1m

TBC, there are analysts and academics, experts out there who DO think about these things, and do talk about them: Like @daveckang.bsky.social and the @quincyinst.bsky.social through their journal Responsible Statecraft, et al; however, their fact based approach is controversial... somehow!

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Jewish Voice for Peace @jvp.bsky.social · 26m

Rest in power Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. May your memory be for a revolution.

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svl @droseph.bsky.social · 30m

They're doing that, menacingly according to the Times. Those sneaky little commies...

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svl @droseph.bsky.social · 32m

"the experts and analysts agree, that we should do this thing that benefits nobody but the Merchants of Death and deluded Imperialists"

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svl @droseph.bsky.social · 34m

Excuse me, sir. Who are these analysts who do not consider very basic things? Oh, virtually all of them? What use are they, exactly? what's that you're saying sir? are you saying they give the answers war mongering MIC donors and other ideological allies want them to give? no! not in Washington!

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svl @droseph.bsky.social · 37m

Disturbing that this sort of approach to war gaming: putting yourself in the assumed adversary's shoes and imagining how they might do it, if they do it, is such an innovation in practice. The 'Great Power Conflict' drones in DC are so up their own ass it seems downright novel. read this and marvel:

"Calculated Restraint

Participants quickly discovered that when confronted with the decision to attack U.S. forces, this seemed to make little strategic sense when they attempted to look at it from Beijing’s perspective. A typical assumption held by many analysts, including most participants prior to the game, and one that features prominently in American wargames, is that China will simply launch a preemptive surprise strike against U.S. forces in a manner somewhat analogous to Pearl Harbor. But why start a war with America when you might avoid one? As the game participants soon found, there is no guarantee of U.S. military involvement, nor Japan’s, nor other countries‘, if China refrains from attacking them in an opening round. By placing themselves in the shoes of Chinese planners — who in real life are presumably familiar with the contemporary American political scene and the historical record of how Washington reacts to unprovoked attacks — participants recognized there would almost certainly be a natural hesitancy to initiate a war against the United States. In other words, rather than assume Chinese planners simply ignore the difficulties any U.S. administration would face in starting a war with China if American forces are not attacked first, they might instead use these difficulties to Beijing’s advantage and design their war plans accordingly. Indeed, it is precisely because of these difficulties that most U.S. wargame designers wanting to get a war going between Chinese and American forces begin with the Chinese attacking American forces rather than the other way around."

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 19h

i don't have the words to emphasise how seriously bad things are gonna get

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Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 5h

“There are few things more dehumanizing than being told by a machine that you’re not real because of your face"

For the last month, I've been speaking to people living with facial differences and disfigurements about how face verification tech is failing them. Spoiler: things aren't going well

When Face Recognition Doesn’t Know Your Face Is a Face

An estimated 100 million people live with facial differences. As face recognition tech becomes widespread, some say they’re getting blocked from accessing essential systems and services.

www.wired.com

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svl @droseph.bsky.social · 4h

Cigs, this is dumb.

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svl @droseph.bsky.social · 4h

This is what we pay taxes for in the USA

AHHH! real meghan!! 나영지 🇵🇸 @ruemcclammyhand.bsky.social · 4h

this should really help that psychosis thing

The Verge @theverge.com · 22h

Sam Altman says ChatGPT will soon sext with verified adults

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 14h

The official government account for DHS appears to be run by far-right trolls deliberately trying to provoke a response by using a term openly associated with ethnic cleansing. They will attack anyone who points this out and express faux outrage at the suggestion. They know what they are doing.

Remigration Wikipedia Page.

Not to be confused with Return migration.
Remigration is an originally European far-right proposal of ethnic cleansing via the mass deportation of non-white immigrants and their descendants, sometimes including those born in Europe, to their place of racial ancestry.
It is popular especially within the Identitarian movement. Some proponents of remigration suggest excluding some persons with non-European background from such a mass deportation, based on a varyingly defined degree of assimilation into European culture.

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Luke Plunkett @lukeplunkett.com · 8h

kids teacher just sent this home as part of an assignment he's doing and i want to smash every computer at the school

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Annette Gordon-Reed @agordonreed.bsky.social · 7h

1)You may remember the articles criticizing liberal students for their hesitancy to make friends with conservative students—alleging that they were less open-minded than their conservative counterparts.

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 14h

Here are the little darlings they’ve created. Horrifying.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Nisrin Elamin @nisrinelamin.bsky.social · 4d

The Sudan Solidarity Collective is doing a big fundraising push to support our partners in El Fashir to support food distribution, evacuation and medications.

Please help us boost our support. Please share and donate 👇🏾 .

sudansolidarity.com

Home - Sudan Solidarity Collective

Solidarity with Sudan! Support the Emergency Response Rooms doing life saving work in Sudan by donating to the Sudan Solidarity Fund. Workshops4Sudan is a new fundraising initiative of the Sudan Solid...

sudansolidarity.com

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Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 16h

Hey look, Israel broke the cease-fire, twice, in two different ways, within 24 hours - again.

Mondoweiss @mondoweiss.net · 22h

NEW: Israel informed the UN it will permit only 300 aid trucks into Gaza daily, not the 600 mandated by the ceasefire it just signed.

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Lora Kolodny @lorak.bsky.social · 10h

as the story correctly emphasizes: *the Trump administration* canceled a $20 million grant intended to protect this community from extreme flooding.

Maxine Joselow @maxinejoselow.bsky.social · 17h

Before catastrophic floods swept through the Alaska Native village of Kipnuk on Sunday, the EPA canceled a $20 million grant intended to protect the community from extreme flooding. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/c...

Before Alaska Flooding, E.P.A. Canceled $20 Million Flood Protection Grant

www.nytimes.com

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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 9h

I just checked and this is real. It's on Border Patrol's official Instagram (I don't see it on Facebook) and is being celebrated by Nazis on Twitter, as you can see in the screenshot.

The clip is just 13 seconds long too, so it's a very intentional thing. We've got a Nazi government.

Twitter account: Uncensored @HmanQuotes1945: Official border patrol Facebook page is posting with the banned lyrics of Michael Jackson's song.
"Jew me sue me... Kick me k*ke me."
Epic

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svl @droseph.bsky.social · 6h

Mehdi Hasan and Sam Seder sat down with young Republicans who said this stuff out loud, on that YouTube show.

Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 22h

this reminds me of the almost exact same racist content that was in the TPUSA at Virginia Tech chats

www.collegiatetimes.com/news/student...

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Peter Jacobs @pjacobs.bsky.social · 13h

We're totes on the verge of AGI that will rocket society into a new golden age. But first! We're bringing back the stuff that had absolutely 0 utility but hooked mentally & emotionally disturbed people who used the product compulsively. And! We're going even more deliberately after the gooner crowd!

Sam Altman writes: We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.

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svl @droseph.bsky.social · 6h

and it certainly wasn't Cory Booker

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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 16h

President Cyril Ramaphosa says progress and healing hinge on the case against Israel being heard.

South Africa says ICJ genocide case will continue despite Gaza ceasefire

President Cyril Ramaphosa says progress and healing hinge on the case against Israel being heard.

bit.ly

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more mr. dice guy @juniorhoncho.bsky.social · 16h

oh AI chatbots are useless? bro i'm literally having cybersex with walmart

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Karl (sad trombone noise enthusiast) @brainnotonyet.bsky.social · 15h

Most Americans are truly not prepared to live in a country where the government and police openly manufacture evidence and lie to the courts in an effort to justify their increasingly brutal and lawless behavior against the population

The Boston Globe @bostonglobe.com · 20h

City officials said an Everett 13-year-old in ICE detention was arrested with only a knife, not a gun, which federal officials previously claimed.

Everett teen detained by ICE was in possession of a knife when arrested - The Boston Globe

An official from the Department of Homeland Security previously said that the teen was in possession of a gun when he was arrested.

trib.al

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Leah Millis @leahmillis.bsky.social · 15h

The @chicago.suntimes.com photographer who risked their personal health and safety to take this photograph is Anthony Vazquez. Please credit photographers and media outlets. In this age of misinformation, a photo with no context could be anything at all.

50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 @50501movement.bsky.social · 16h

Please remind us who the domestic terrorists are again.

Photo from Chicago: DHS militarized agent holding a gun up directly in someone’s face as the victim has their hands up, pleading for them not to shoot.

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