Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 10h

"I wrote a book eight years ago. I consider myself politically an anti-fascist - I detest fascism... I’m a professor. I’m just trying to live my life here. Because the far right is trying to create a bogeyman term in “antifa” to equate protests with terrorism, I got caught up in the middle of this."

Truthout @truthout.org · 12h

"I published this book, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, in 2017. But after Trump’s executive order, a series of far-right trolls, online influencers started attacking me. I received a number of death threats. Someone published my home address on X. I started to fear for the safety of my family."

Anti-Fascism Scholar Who Fled US After Death Threats Discusses MAGA’s Fascism

If we don’t organize and take action in the streets, says Mark Bray, “we’re going to end up somewhere really bad.”…

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Truthout @truthout.org · 12h

"I published this book, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, in 2017. But after Trump’s executive order, a series of far-right trolls, online influencers started attacking me. I received a number of death threats. Someone published my home address on X. I started to fear for the safety of my family."

Anti-Fascism Scholar Who Fled US After Death Threats Discusses MAGA’s Fascism

If we don’t organize and take action in the streets, says Mark Bray, “we’re going to end up somewhere really bad.”…

buff.ly

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Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 20h

"China Has Overtaken America--And Trump’s policies guarantee that we will never catch up"
by @pkrugman.bsky.social
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/china-has-...

China Has Overtaken America

And Trump’s policies guarantee that we will never catch up

paulkrugman.substack.com

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PJ 🇮🇪☘️ @knotweed-ireland.bsky.social · 1d

Sunset Ireland (West Field, Galway, Ireland) #Sunset #Ireland #Scape #Landscape #Sky #Clouds #SkyScape #Photography

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David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 1d

"The vast accumulation of evidence shows that the human impact on Planet Earth has attained geological scale. We have become an ‘event’ with the destructive force of a supervolcano or large asteroid impact, but one that appears to be happening in slow-motion in terms of our own limited perceptions."

Julian Cribb @juliancribb.bsky.social · 2d

“Down to a sunless sea...”
open.substack.com/pub/cribb/p/...

“Down to a sunless sea...”

Climate change and human activity are causing the health of the world’s oceans to decline at an alarming rate, the UN has warned.

open.substack.com

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David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 1d

#philosophy #cosmology #humanity

What does it mean to live in an infinite universe? w/Brian Cox #universe #astronomy #philosophy

YouTube video by Astrophilesz

youtube.com

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Saganism @sagan.bsky.social · 1d

"Many religions have attempted to make statues of their gods very large, and the idea, I suppose, is to make us feel small. But if that's their purpose, they can keep their paltry icons. We need only look up if we wish to feel small."

-Carl Sagan, The Varieties of Scientific Experience.

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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 1d

"We always think about America’s postwar role in Europe as an act of great generosity, the defense of allies from Soviet aggression. But by putting democracy at the center of our international identity, we also helped strengthen our own political system"
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

The Beacon of Democracy Goes Dark

For nearly 250 years, America promoted freedom and equality abroad, even when it failed to live up to those ideals itself. Not anymore.

www.theatlantic.com

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Julian Cribb @juliancribb.bsky.social · 2d

“Down to a sunless sea...”
open.substack.com/pub/cribb/p/...

“Down to a sunless sea...”

Climate change and human activity are causing the health of the world’s oceans to decline at an alarming rate, the UN has warned.

open.substack.com

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f16col.bsky.social @f16col.bsky.social · 5d

grist.org/internationa...

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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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 5d

Record high temperatures are currently being set across the northernmost portions of the #Arctic. In fact, it is effectively ice-free on the Atlantic side of the Arctic all the way up to about 85°N latitude! This includes record low sea ice around Svalbard.

Graphic by zacklabe.com/arctic-tempe...

Line graph time series of 2025's daily 2-m temperature in the Arctic compared to each year from 1958 through 2024. There is a long-term warming trend for every day of the year. There is also large interannual variability and a clear seasonal cycle.

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Not A Bot A Lot @notabotalot.bsky.social · 5d

And the Hoover Dam is drying up. They need more sustainable energy in Nevada:

climatecrisis247.com/news/the-hoo...

The Hoover Dam May Be Useless by 2043 - Climate Crisis 247

Straddling the Colorado River on the border between Arizona and Nevada, the Hoover Dam is one of the largest hydroelectric plants in the United States. A

climatecrisis247.com

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David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 6d

"2 + 2 = 5”

"That this is false would be apparent to most first graders. Yet this is, in effect, what Donald Trump wants us to believe when he tells us that the United States is in the midst of an “insurrection” and that there is an “invasion from within” that requires US troops to quell."

Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 6d

The Trump administration is aggressively attempting to use every legal artifice it can to exert authoritarian control.

Trump’s Orwellian Militarization of American Cities

By Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan By the end of “1984,” Winston is brutalized into accepting the lies. This need not be our fate. Trump’s attempt to send troops into American cities can and must be resi...

www.democracynow.org

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Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 6d

The Trump administration is aggressively attempting to use every legal artifice it can to exert authoritarian control.

Trump’s Orwellian Militarization of American Cities

By Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan By the end of “1984,” Winston is brutalized into accepting the lies. This need not be our fate. Trump’s attempt to send troops into American cities can and must be resi...

www.democracynow.org

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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 6d

The federal government shutdown is raising anxiety levels among service members and their families because those in uniform are working without pay.

Troops will miss paychecks next week without action on the government shutdown

The federal government shutdown is raising anxiety levels among service members and their families because those in uniform are working without pay.

bit.ly

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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 6d

One of world’s biggest wind farm developers to cut quarter of workforce

Ørsted plans to shrink company after Trump administration causes share price to plunge to all-time low One of the world’s biggest windfarm developers will cut its workforce by a quarter in the next two years after a series of setbacks for the industry. Danish wind giant Ørsted plans to remove about 2,000 positions from its 8,000-strong workforce by the end of 2027 through a combination of redundancies, natural attrition and selling off parts of its business. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 6d

President Trump's push for a Gaza ceasefire deal comes out of his desire for a Nobel Peace Prize. Will he get one?

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David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells.bsky.social · 7d

“‘We must stop expecting carbon offsetting to work at scale,’ said Stephen Lezak, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Smith School. ‘We have assessed 25 years of evidence and almost everything up until this point has failed.’” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

www.theguardian.com

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Nature @nature.com · 8d

Antimicrobial resistance is projected to cause 39 million deaths worldwide over the next 25 years

go.nature.com/42x5KHD

The rise of ‘nightmare bacteria’: antimicrobial resistance in six charts

Data reveal how the global challenge to reduce deaths and infections from drug-resistant bacteria is not going according to plan.

go.nature.com

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KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 8d

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
@aoc.bsky.social

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amandaunderwood.bsky.social @amandaunderwood.bsky.social · 9d

A reminder to those who wonder at the cruelty, lack of moral justice & steely determination of the current administration that their methods come from a deeply religious zealotry.

Trying to attribute reason to their behaviour is pointless. They believe they are right.

Opus Dei and Project 2025

The relationship between religion and politics has been and continues to be a toxic and dangerous relationship. A key U.S. player in that relationship today is Kevin Roberts and his Heritage Founda…

foranothervoice.com

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David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 9d

“And if America continues down this path of anti-science, constituting an existential threat to the rest of the world, then other nations will have to make difficult decisions about what they choose to do about this..." - Prof. Michael Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social

‘US anti-science stance poses global existential threat’ - Research Professional News

Author of Science Under Siege warns that disinformation around science puts humanity at risk

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 9d

October has observed some of the largest warming trends in the #Arctic. This is greatest over areas with a lack of sea ice cover (nearly all of the Siberian Arctic). Arctic amplification is largest in the boreal fall.

Data: doi.org/10.24381/cds.... Info: doi.org/10.1175/BAMS....

Polar stereographic map of 2-m temperature trends in units of °C per decade over the Arctic for the month of October. Trends are calculated over the 1979 to 2024 period using ERA5. The largest warming is an areas of open water that were previously sea ice covered along the Siberian side of the Arctic. These trends exceed 2°C/decade in these areas.

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New Scientist @newscientist.com · 10d

Antarctica may have passed a climate tipping point of no return, scientists are warning, with mounting evidence that a sudden slump in sea ice formation since 2016 is linked to human-induced ocean warming.

Antarctica may have crossed a tipping point that leads to rising seas

Scientists are beginning to understand the sudden loss of sea ice in Antarctica – and there is growing evidence that it represents a permanent shift with potentially catastrophic consequences

www.newscientist.com

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Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 10d

"The Five Most Powerful Forces That Threaten Our World" | My interview about @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social & my new book, #ScienceUnderSiege, with the legendary Ralph Nader on the #RalphNaderRadioHour: www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/p/the-five-m...

The Five Most Powerful Forces That Threaten Our World

Ralph welcomes Michael Mann, Professor in the “Department of Earth and Environmental Science” at the University of Pennsylvania and author along with Dr.

www.ralphnaderradiohour.com

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 10d

Happy October! 🍂 Like other times of year, our planet is heating up this month… but some regions warm faster than others. Arctic amplification especially ramps up in October.

Maps show the changes in October temperature over the last 4 decades. Data used from @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social ERA5.

Four global maps showing near-surface air temperature anomalies for the month of October in 1985-1994, 1995-2004, 2005-2014, and 2015-2024. Most all areas are observing long-term warming, which is largest over the Arctic region and Asia. Anomalies are calculated relative to 1951-1980 from ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis.

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David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 11d

"Discrediting science and scientists is an essential first step for authoritarian regimes to discredit any other forms of learning and truth and destabilize societies to keep them under control."

Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 11d

"Who is leading the war against science and what interest do they have" | Nice review of #ScienceUnderSiege by #SpotMedia: spotmedia.ro/en/news/soci...

Who is leading the war against science and what interest do they have

spotmedia.ro

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Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 11d

"Who is leading the war against science and what interest do they have" | Nice review of #ScienceUnderSiege by #SpotMedia: spotmedia.ro/en/news/soci...

Who is leading the war against science and what interest do they have

spotmedia.ro

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Covering Climate Now @coveringclimatenow.org · 11d

@UNESCO.org has designated 26 new biosphere reserves, including forests, savannahs, and estuaries, in 21 countries, and instituted a 10-year strategic action plan that includes studying the effects of climate change in the reserves... by @tjwebber.bsky.social

UNESCO designates 26 new biosphere reserves amid biodiversity challenges and climate change

The UN cultural agency UNESCO has designated 785 sites in 142 countries, since 1971 — that are “home to some of the planet’s richest and most fragile ecosystems.”

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David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 12d

youtube.com/shorts/mm5bV...

WHAT a B

YouTube video by PoliticsGirl

youtube.com

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