Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 16m

It's decision time. Do I call up a couple old acquaintances and see if I can get a tour of this place next week before the coal plant officially closes?

It's a mere 2 hours' drive away... (P.S., anyone wanna come with?)

Sammy Roth @sammyroth.bsky.social · 12d

In today’s @latimes.com: My column on California’s last coal plant, which is finally closing next month. It’s located in Utah and operated by the city of Los Angeles. I spent a few days poking around: www.latimes.com/environment/...

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 49m

I have bad news for you 😔

The song has 38,339,134 plays on Spotify.

David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 3h

You know what, go wild

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 3h

Well, yeah

I guess that might not be a given anymore though I don't think I've come across much audioslop yet, if I've come across any at all

David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 3h

Alright, folks. I need some music recommendations, STAT!

Here's the criteria, though: it needs to have less than 100,000 plays on Spotify.

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 3h

And boy are Utah Republicans throwing everything against the wall right now to try and stop it

Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 21h

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Exactly two weeks after the Utah Republican Party endorsed map C in Utah’s court-stipulated redistricting process, the party has filed paperwork to run a referendum to repeal map C and an initiative to ask the legislature to repeal Proposition 4.

www.abc4.com/news/politic...

www.abc4.com

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Reposted by David Haralson

Noah @ncallaway.bsky.social · 20h

The feds that did this must go to jail.

If they don’t go to jail, our society is going to go to a very bad place.

We’re going to learn that the justice system exists for a very pragmatic reason

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 20h

Yeah, that is a tear gas canister being fired toward the retreating couple holding the baby

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Reposted by David Haralson

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 1d

X post today from Homeland Security @DHSgov that says "Remigrate."
3:06 PM · Oct 14, 2025

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Reposted by David Haralson

isaac @sevier.io · 17h

Lessons from Connecticut should be applied here and then some, for the context in the South. Many people told me I was being too skeptical about this regulator’s potential, but she resigned exhausted and emotionally done after just one term. ctmirror.org/2025/09/19/m...

Marissa Gillett to resign as PURA chair amid growing scrutiny

Gillett was controversial among utilities and lawmakers, and critics accused her of wielding unilateral control over the ratemaking process.

ctmirror.org

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 16h

Piano will do that too, I can reach a whole white key farther with my left hand than with my right

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 18h

Go Jerry! I agree!

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 18h

I hadn't seen this yet, but hey would you look at that. They want to get around having to draw a fair electoral map, by whatever means possible. They are seriously throwing *everything* at the wall for this, because they know exactly how much gerrymandering gooses up their supermajority.

Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 21h

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Exactly two weeks after the Utah Republican Party endorsed map C in Utah’s court-stipulated redistricting process, the party has filed paperwork to run a referendum to repeal map C and an initiative to ask the legislature to repeal Proposition 4.

www.abc4.com/news/politic...

www.abc4.com

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 18h

Ugh

Republicans in Utah love to talk about "The Utah Way" and being different from the national party, but when you look past the talk you can see they're clamoring for unchecked power just as strongly as any other Republicans.

David @dkuofu.bsky.social · 19h

Cox is going to pack the court.

I've said it before—Cox is happy to do almost anything the legislature wants, but he's very conscious of appearances so they have to sell him on some veneer of an excuse he can parrot to the media. In this case? "He's giving the court more resources"

Cox said Tuesday he may now support a dead proposal from earlier this year to expand the number of justice on the Utah Supreme Court. The Utah Constitution says the court must have "at least five" justices.

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 18h

I mean, what if he means an actual ape that he keeps bored

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Reposted by David Haralson

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Speaker Mike Johnson just said he's completely fine with ICE agents shooting priests in the head with pepper balls and roughing up journalists.

I'm sure he'll tell us soon about how it's the Democrats who are waging a war on religion and free speech though.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Q: We've seen images out of Chicago of federal agents shooting faith leaders with pepper balls and arresting journalists. Where's the limit for you on what's acceptable conduct by federal agents?

MIKE JOHNSON: I've not seen them cross the line yet.

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 21h

And vacuuming right before will generally make things worse by kicking things up into the air!

Reposted by David Haralson

rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 1d

This is some excellent aviation (check thread for recording playback)

ℳatt @matttomic.bsky.social · 1d

A pilot out in Nova Scotia seems to have had some fun yesterday.

www.flightaware.com/live/flight/...

C-GZPT Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware

Flight status, tracking, and historical data for C-GZPT including scheduled, estimated, and actual departure and arrival times.

www.flightaware.com

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 1d

Does it have to be willful for them to be traitors, though?

Reposted by David Haralson

Aaron Leong @aarondleong.com · 3d

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Reposted by David Haralson

Micah @rincewind.run · 1d

I know the headline everyone's running with is "erotica" but "we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues" and "we are putting personality back in ChatGPT so it will act like a friend" are diametrically opposed statements

that's the cause of most of the mental health issues

Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 1d

Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year

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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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 1d

This is why my wish-casting scenario for getting out of fascism has us under the control of another country or coalition. Hard for me to picture the level of political will that thorough reform would require unless that will comes from outside our nation.

David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 19d

War happens, and quickly ends—our military falls apart thanks to incompetence on the part of fascist leadership. We end up occupied by a democratic country (or coalition) that oversees constitutional reform and a thorough Reconstruction (a la post civil war, but this time seen to better completion).

Tzfardea b'Yachad Chazek 🐸 @jsx.bsky.social · 19d

What is your most plausible but extremely unlikely wish casting way out of fascism? Here's mine:

It's 2026. AOC is Speaker of the House. Trump dies of natural causes. In the ensuing GOP infighting chaos impeaching Vance is easy and swift. Madame President packs the court.

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 2d

Oh noooo I did a collateral damage, didn't I 🫣

You are definitely well past Mrs. H's 22yo classmate, though, who actually said this out loud and consciously

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 2d

Perfectly hinged, sorry Micah

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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 2d

"Why do you have aspirations? My boyfriend does that for me"

Girl, run (from yourself)

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Reposted by David Haralson

John Muller @mrjohnmuller.bsky.social · 2d

The US right-wing used to flip out over stuff like gay wedding cakes or people saying "happy holidays", because they said it was a war on Christianity .

Now, there are masked goons camping outside of churches to try and kidnap parishioners. An actual war, on actual Christians.

And they love it.

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