Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 2h

This is what it looks like. Human cargo.

Image: three men surrounding man lying on floor, in full-body restraint. Hood over head.

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 2h

This is what you do when you fundamentally believe you are not dealing with fellow human beings. Just inconvenient cargo to be neutralized and jettisoned.

ICE's use of full-body restraints during deportations raises concerns over inhumane treatment

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been using a full-body restraint device called the WRAP during deportations.

apnews.com

2 20 34

Reposted by Michael Feola

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 7h

Definitely nothing can go wrong with OpenAI having a full record of your sexy chatbot interactions.

11 72 290

Reposted by Michael Feola

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 10h

To anyone who studies the new right, this is absolutely no surprise. A movement forged in the edgelord chambers of online cruelty and malice. What happens when 4chan becomes the soul of a party.

‘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

12 28

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 10h

To anyone who studies the new right, this is absolutely no surprise. A movement forged in the edgelord chambers of online cruelty and malice. What happens when 4chan becomes the soul of a party.

‘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

12 28

Reposted by Michael Feola

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 1d

This is it. This is the moment for full, industry-wide co-ordinated action. From the rarefied air of the elites to the community colleges to the regionals. One word in response: absolutely fucking no.

Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT

The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in re...

www.bloomberg.com

2 53 190

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 1d

This is it. This is the moment for full, industry-wide co-ordinated action. From the rarefied air of the elites to the community colleges to the regionals. One word in response: absolutely fucking no.

Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT

The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in re...

www.bloomberg.com

2 53 190

Reposted by Michael Feola

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 1d

Also, now that you mention it, maybe those non-real-workers didn’t deserve “real wages”. Or “real healthcare”. Or “real food”.

Your latest reminder that the TechLords despise you.

Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 1d

"Let them deep fake." futurism.com/artificial-i...

Sam Altman Says If Jobs Gets Wiped Out, Maybe They Weren't Even "Real Work" to Start With

Worried that AI will destroy work? Well, Sam Altman asks if you've considered what a farmer from half a century ago thinks of your job, first.

futurism.com

10 23

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 1d

Also, now that you mention it, maybe those non-real-workers didn’t deserve “real wages”. Or “real healthcare”. Or “real food”.

Your latest reminder that the TechLords despise you.

Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 1d

"Let them deep fake." futurism.com/artificial-i...

Sam Altman Says If Jobs Gets Wiped Out, Maybe They Weren't Even "Real Work" to Start With

Worried that AI will destroy work? Well, Sam Altman asks if you've considered what a farmer from half a century ago thinks of your job, first.

futurism.com

10 23

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 4d

Help!! My kid used a barrel of hair gel for a school project and now every square foot of my house smells like the 80's.

1 5

Reposted by Michael Feola

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 4d

"Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it." *winkwink* *cracks knuckles*

Your first amendment rights to assembly in MAGA times.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Sen. Roger Marshall: "October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We'll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it."

4 10 23

Reposted by Michael Feola

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 4d

The Gospel of Thiel: the ANTICHRIST is when anyone tries to moderate/regulate TechLord efforts to remake our world in the service of their financial interests. PROGRESS is when the TechLords get to do what they want, without the little people in the way. 🧵

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction

In leaked recordings of private lectures by tech billionaire Peter Thiel he argued that “the Antichrist” is likely to take the form of a critic of technology.

www.washingtonpost.com

6 18 47

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 4d

"Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it." *winkwink* *cracks knuckles*

Your first amendment rights to assembly in MAGA times.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Sen. Roger Marshall: "October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We'll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it."

4 10 23

Reposted by Michael Feola

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 4d

FFS. I regret to inform you that the NYT is NYTing again. Turning over the opinion page to a billionaire financier who helped craft the proposal that he is here shilling. It is not too late to cancel your subscription.

Opinion | Academia Is Broken. Trump’s University ‘Compact’ Can Help Fix It.

www.nytimes.com

8 18

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 4d

FFS. I regret to inform you that the NYT is NYTing again. Turning over the opinion page to a billionaire financier who helped craft the proposal that he is here shilling. It is not too late to cancel your subscription.

Opinion | Academia Is Broken. Trump’s University ‘Compact’ Can Help Fix It.

www.nytimes.com

8 18

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 4d

Behind the paywall, 3. Financial oversight on the megawealthy is apparently *also* a portent of the ANTICHRIST!!

Screenshot from article: " Thiel, whose net worth is around $27 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, also used his private talks to criticize financial regulations. He said such rules were a sign that a singular world government has begun to emerge that could be taken over by an Antichrist figure who could then use it to exert control over people.

“It’s become quite difficult to hide one’s money,” Thiel said, according to the recordings. “An incredible machinery of tax treaties, financial surveillance, and sanctions architecture has been constructed.” Wealth gives the “illusion of power and autonomy,” Thiel added, according to the recordings, “but you have this sense it could be taken away at any moment.” "

1 9 35

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 4d

Behind the paywall, 2. Sure, this stuff might be bad, but stopping it is way worse!

Screenshot from article: " He acknowledged that technology could have negative effects on people and society, but argued that constraining its development would be more harmful.

“Maybe these things are good or bad — stopping them seems far, far worse,” he said, according to the recordings. “If the internet or the AI deranges some people but we have to shut it down altogether, that feels like out of the frying pan into the fire — a cure that’s far worse than the disease.”

A threadbare patchwork of state laws imposes limits on AI development, requiring California companies to safety-test products and preventing Texas companies from discriminating against protected classes. Despite a flurry of activity in Washington in recent years, no federal law has passed.

Thiel argued that critiques of technology and calls for stricter regulation by Thunberg and others appear to echo biblical interpretations of an Antichrist who will win power by offering the world “peace and safety” from apocalyptic destruction, according to the recordings. He previously cited Thunberg in a June interview with the New York Times "

1 4 12

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 4d

Behind the paywall, 1. Regulation is basically global totalitarianism!

Screenshot from artice: " In the four, roughly two-hour lectures, which began last month and culminated Monday at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Thiel laid out his religious views to a sold-out audience told to keep the contents “off-the-record,” according to an event listing. He argued that those who propose limits on technology development not only hinder business but threaten to usher in the destruction of the United States and an era of global totalitarian rule, according to the recordings.

“In the 17th, 18th century, the Antichrist would have been a Dr. Strangelove, a scientist who did all this sort of evil crazy science,” Thiel said in his Sept. 15 opening talk, according to the recordings. “In the 21st century, the Antichrist is a Luddite who wants to stop all science. It’s someone like Greta or Eliezer,” he said, referring to Thunberg and Eliezer Yudkowsky, a prominent critic of the tech industry’s approach to AI. "

1 4 12

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 4d

The Gospel of Thiel: the ANTICHRIST is when anyone tries to moderate/regulate TechLord efforts to remake our world in the service of their financial interests. PROGRESS is when the TechLords get to do what they want, without the little people in the way. 🧵

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction

In leaked recordings of private lectures by tech billionaire Peter Thiel he argued that “the Antichrist” is likely to take the form of a critic of technology.

www.washingtonpost.com

6 18 47

Reposted by Michael Feola

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 6d

A fine example of how quickly *anything* can be recuperated as grist for the far right idea mill. Here, a minister pepper-sprayed in the face by masked ICE agents. The take: "When Christianity in America became so compromised that God had to use the state to put the communist clergy in their place."

Tweet from Joel Webbon. Image, Presbyterian Minister pepper sprayed in the face by masked ICE agents. Text: "This photo will indeed go down in history…

As a powerful reminder of one of the darkest times in our country: When Christianity in America became so compromised that God had to use the state to put the communist clergy in their place."

11 35 86

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 6d

A fine example of how quickly *anything* can be recuperated as grist for the far right idea mill. Here, a minister pepper-sprayed in the face by masked ICE agents. The take: "When Christianity in America became so compromised that God had to use the state to put the communist clergy in their place."

11 35 86

Reposted by Michael Feola

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 6d

Research question. I'm looking to build a reading list for the best books/articles on the Freikorps (you know, seems maybekinda relevant). Any and all recommendations welcome! Please distribute widely!

1 6 7

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 6d

Research question. I'm looking to build a reading list for the best books/articles on the Freikorps (you know, seems maybekinda relevant). Any and all recommendations welcome! Please distribute widely!

1 6 7

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 7d

(I'll post this on your comment, too. Can never remember how bsky notifies people on chains): This raises the question (totally useful for my current research project): what are the best books/articles on the Freikorps? Any recs? Looking to build a reading list.

1 2

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 7d

This raises the question (totally useful for my current research project): what are the best books/articles on the Freikorps? Looking to build a reading list.