Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 3h

There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
A-telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

Trump confirms he authorized CIA action in Venezuela

Trump's comments were an extraordinary acknowledgement from a president, and they step up the administration's pressure campaign against Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

www.nbcnews.com

Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 12h

Racism is a malignancy that has made real democracy and real justice an ever-elusive aspiration rather than a reality in America.

Generations of resentful, quietly racist conservatives have produced a legion of loud, enthusiastic racist young people eager for a return to 1825 America in 2025.

Sean Casten @seancasten.bsky.social · 1d

This is disgusting. And I can GUARANTEE you that lots of dumps are going to come out about lots of Republican electeds who are way too close to the people in these texts. 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

Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 12h

I was raised to distrust people in power. By the time I was a teen, powerful people were gluttonous, cannibalistic monsters to be leashed and caged, lest they escape and run amok...Jurassic Park meets Hannibal Lecter.

Dad aged and slipped, succumbing to MAGA, but mom held fast to the end.

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 1d

America 2025, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Great Depression 2, Authoritarian Boogaloo

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 1d

a man with a mustache is being projected on a screen .

ALT: a man with a mustache is being projected on a screen .

media.tenor.com

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 1d

For some reason, I feel relieved that I have never noticed this despite watching way too much mGP! 😆 Surely this can’t be weight or aero driven? I’m assuming every fastener in those pictures is titanium and out of the airflow. Maybe recessing the head prevents walking out from vibration?

Reposted by Erik Frechette

Comic Book Club @comicbookclub.bsky.social · 1d

Drew Struzan, iconic poster artist of Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, and Star Wars, among others, has died at age 78.

Drew Struzan, Iconic Poster Artist Of Star Wars And Indiana Jones, Dead At Age 78

Drew Struzan, iconic poster artist of Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, and Star Wars, among others, has died at age 78.

comicbookclublive.com

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 1d

Had to look up the specs - that engine made ~850bhp, roughly 300 more than the Cosworth it replaced. Eventually, they could turn the wick up to 4bar/1350bhp! Those numbers boggle the mind when watching videos of Senna going hammer and tongs in qually on youtube. One of the greatest F1 engines ever.

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 2d

Yep, odds would seem very long at this point. I’m sure he would very much want to do the Valencia test, but no rushing back at this stage. Imagine the mathematical nonsense of this crash had happened one week earlier! 😆

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah, he probably came to the premier class at the perfectly wrong time for a rider with his style and physical stature.

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 2d

This is the real Civil War. People who just want to live their lives and experience a little joy once in a while versus people devoid of joy who just want to dominate and impose their magical thinking and cruelty on others.

Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 2d

I was not a fan of Dani Pedrosa’s, but any fan of the sport had to respect him. He was so quick and so determined and of course, so damn small! In another era, he would have won multiple rider’s championships.

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Reposted by Erik Frechette

Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 28d

Freelance illustration gigs drying up. Ad agencies using Midjourney instead of hiring human artists. Costume design turned over to AI wholesale. Good work vanishing.

These are the stories of working visual artists, who describe losing jobs, wages, and hope as their clients and bosses embrace AI.

Artists are losing work, wages, and hope as bosses and clients embrace AI

Visual artists, illustrators and graphic designers share their stories about how AI is being used to lower wages, degrade work and even replace it altogether, in this installment of AI Killed My Job.

www.bloodinthemachine.com

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 3d

Forget being dragged back to the Gilded Age, we are being pulled into the dark abyss of pre-Civil War America.

This is not justice, this is evil, pure evil.

Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 3d

The deportation order derives from the crime of which he has now been exonerated.

www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him

Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam now faces deportation.

www.miamiherald.com

Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 4d

By all accounts, Marini is one of the genuine "good ones" in the paddock, so it would be good to see real progress from HRC, but it seems like they would need another significant step to get on a level with Aprilia and Ducati.

Hopefully, Gigi and his crew don't miss two seasons in a row!

Marini: Honda 2026 MotoGP bike already better than 2025 version

Honda can become regular victory contenders next year if development continues at current pace, reckons Marini

www.motorsport.com

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 4d

As someone who would love to abandon Windows once and for all, it's a use case and convenience problem. If you use your machine for programs like Rebelle, Clip Studio Paint, or Corel Painter, you either run it through Wine and hope for the best re: performance, go Krita-only, or you run Windows. 🫤

Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 4d

They are being encouraged and they will comply. AI is a poison people drink willingly.

AI:Intellect::Cigarettes:Breath

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 4d

The administration “is currently pressuring OpenAI and other AI companies to make their models more conservative-friendly.”

OpenAI is trying to clamp down on ‘bias’ in ChatGPT

GPT-5 is better at resisting liberal ‘pressure,’ the company says.

www.theverge.com

Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 4d

Cory has been at this for decades. Funny that enshittificatiin caught fire, but there are few words that so fittingly describe the end stage capitalism we are all experiencing in the “West” today.

"Enshittification": Cory Doctorow on Why Big Tech Sucks, Keeps Getting Worse & What to Do About It

YouTube video by Democracy Now!

youtu.be

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 5d

Was disappointed to see this yesterday. Dude's "curious", but I bet most of his fans could not be less curious.

‘Mad Max’ Director George Miller Reveals “Intense Curiosity” About How AI Will Disrupt Filmmaking: “Art Has To Evolve”

George Miller, the feted Australian director behind the Mad Max franchise, has said that he welcomes the disruption AI will bring to the movie business. In an interview with The Guardian, Miller said ...

www.yahoo.com

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 5d

I imagined that the Trump administration would be capable of just about anything, but allowing a foreign country to build a military base on US soil was absolutely not something I would have imagined possible!

We're transitioning to a depth of Idiocracy heretofore unknown to humankind.

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 5d

Going to engage in an overt act of rebellion and ensure that I find myself on a watch list, possibly even disappeared into a gulag.

We're going to get our kids their annual flu vaccines this afternoon. If we're never heard from again, please keep our family in your thoughts and stay brave!

a woman is covering her mouth with her hand in front of a green field

ALT: a woman is covering her mouth with her hand in front of a green field

media.tenor.com

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 5d

"With half the race gone, there is half the race still to go!" 😆

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 5d

I still believe the Aprilia is second to the GP24, but I understand the argument that the RS-GP is the superior bike. That said, I do not think Alex Marquez is a double winner and running a strong second in points on an RS-GP. Fermin Aldeguer is likely not a rookie MotoGP race winner on an RS-GP.

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 6d

How someone could become so detached from reality and their own humanity is stupefying. Andreessen and his ilk are profoundly disturbed. They hate and fear humans so comprehensively because they see us all as something other or less than themselves.

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Erik Frechette @erikfrechette.bsky.social · 6d

a man says negative i am a meat popsicle in front of a sign that says keep out

ALT: a man says negative i am a meat popsicle in front of a sign that says keep out

media.tenor.com

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