Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

Our maples were at peak just before Halloween - very beautiful this year! 🍂🍁

November 3, 2025 at 8:04 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

Camping life!

August 7, 2025 at 5:38 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

Word meme:
When Trump's tariffs cost
MAGA their jobs, they'll have more free time to own the libs.

August 3, 2025 at 5:41 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

I paid $564 INCLUDING tax for this chair last year (I have receipt still!)
I wonder what the hell changed since last year?! 🤔🤔

My chair that I’ve had for a year. I paid 564 dollars for it.

The same chair for sale today after tariffs listed for 889.99 dollars

August 2, 2025 at 4:20 AM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

Weak.

News organizations are too fraught over showing Trump’s real face anymore due to its disgusting nature. They have now been reduced to showing shadow or silhouette images.

August 1, 2025 at 5:15 AM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

A sense of peace and accomplishment from finishing a yard just mowed and tidied up. 😌

A freshly mowed green lawn in suburban Chicago.

April 18, 2025 at 4:49 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

Marco Rubio might just be the most dispiriting of them all.

From Jay Kuo: @nycjayjay.bsky.social

But what about NATO and the role of the U.S.?
Yesterday, Elon Musk signaled that he agreed that it was time for the U.S. to abandon both
NATO and the U.N.

X..com post: Elon Musk l agree
X @elonmusk
It's time to leave NATO and the UN

So will Rubio fold himself in half yet again to go along with this? To do so, he would need to abandon his core principles once again. As Rep.
Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) noted, in December of
2023 Congress passed a bill outlawing unilateral withdrawal from NATO without either a two-thirds Senate vote or an act of Congress. The
point was to prepare for a possible Trump presidency where he would try to simply order us out of NATO.
The GOP lead on the bill? Marco Rubio.

March 3, 2025 at 3:59 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

This is messed up, but they will suffer zero consequences.

From @404media.co :

404 Media: THE DEATH ALGO
An "error" in Instagram Reels caused its algorithm to show some users video after video of horrific violence, animal abuse, murders, dead bodies, and other gore, Meta told 404 Media. The company said "we apologize for the mistake." Sometime in the last few days, this error caused people's Reels algorithms to suddenly change. A 404 Media reader who reported it happening to them said, "I had never seen someone being eaten by a shark, followed by someone getting killed by a car crash, followed by someone getting shot."

February 28, 2025 at 5:47 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

This sounds like a really great program that
@govpritzker.illinois.gov
has implemented in Illinois - Actually helping citizens!

From WTTW Chicago:

$From WTTW Chicago: A statewide medical debt relief pilot program has erased more than $345 million in medical debt for nearly 270,000 Illinoisans since its launch last year. The Illinois Medical Debt Relief Pilot Program, modeled after a Cook County medical debt relief program, aims to erase $1 billion in medical debt for residents statewide. In the third and latest round of relief, the program erased more than $220 million in medical debt for approximately 170,000 individuals in the state. Recipients should receive letters in the mail within two weeks, according to Elizabeth Whitehorn, director of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which administers the program. "We started this program with a simple premise: In a healthy and functioning society, no one should fall into financial ruin simply because they got sick," Gov. J.B. Pritzker said during a news conference. How does it work? The state partners with the national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt to implement the program. The nonprofit uses state funds to buy the medical debt in bulk for a fraction of the face value from hospitals, health systems and collection agencies. After the debt is acquired, it is then erased at no cost to individuals. Illinois has spent about $2 million on the program to relieve a total of $345 million in debt for residents, according to a Wednesday news release.$

February 27, 2025 at 4:18 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

Look at him holding onto that lil airplane! Looks exactly like a photo op in any nursing home across America - He’s had a really big day! - You can tell they let him pick his own shade of make up today too. This *all* feels like a corrupt GOP make-a-wish-a-thon for Trump. We could be so lucky.

Donald Trump hold onto a model airplane sporting a giant smile, looking very old, orange, and ready for a nap.

February 25, 2025 at 10:56 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

Let’s get to work and get something like these in yards on signs and flags across Illinois and the country 👏👏
@jbpritzker.bsky.social
@adamkinzinger.bsky.social
#ihateillinoisnazis

Blue brothers poster “I hate Illinois Nazis”

February 20, 2025 at 1:34 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

From @404media.co:

Government contractor seeks phone hacking software

On January 24 we received a pretty unusual email. The sender, a procurement officer from government contractor Cirrus Systems, wanted to buy multiple licenses for Graykey, the iPhone and Android hacking technology widely used by U.S. law enforcement and agencies.
"Hello sales Team, I hope this email finds you well," the email started. "I would be grateful if you provide us with best/lowest price quote for the following items for Federal's demand. Please assist in me in the below."
This was a government contractor trying to buy a phone hacking tool directly from a group of journalists. So, pretty weird.
We can only do these sorts of articles with the direct support of our paying subscribers.
If you found this article interesting or helpful, and you want us to keep producing journalism like it, please consider subscribing below. You'll get unlimited access to our articles ad-free and bonus content.

10:15 M
The email included a table laying out how many licenses Cirrus Systems is after (it looks like four). A statement of work (SOW) then lists what specific capabilities the desired system must be capable of doing.
They include "full forensic acquisition capability for the latest generations of iOs as implemented on the latest iPhone (iPhone 16 at this time) cellular telephones," and the same for "the latest generations of Android."
Graykey, owned by the company Magnet Forensics, is a staple across local, state, and federal U.S. law enforcement agencies, with officials using it constantly to unlock and extract data from seized mobile phones.
Recently 404 Media published a never-before-seen list of what specific devices Graykey was able to access. On its website, Magent says that "Graykey is restricted to select countries. Graykey is not available to the private sector."

Email to 404 media:
Hello sales Team,
I hope this email finds you well.
lease be an i you per poun best lonest price quote for the following heme tor Federal's demand.
Subject: GrayKey or Equal Software License
Items for quote:
Here An Excel table is shown with requested details.

The end user, the email said, would be Washington Headquarters Services (WHS), an agency that provides human resources, personnel security, and other services to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other Department of Defense components. The date of closing was February 13, the email added.
The contractor does business as Cirrus
Systems but the company itself is called
FSR Consulting LLC, according to the email.
FSR Consulting's customers include the U.S.
Coast Guard, the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Navy, the Air Force, and other government agencies, according to public procurement records.

Do you know anything else about Graykey? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at +44 20 8133 5190. Otherwise, send me an email at joseph@404media.co.

February 18, 2025 at 4:20 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

Republicans: “WE DEMAND KNOWING IN ADVANCE WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO START OVERTHROWING DEMOCRACY DON!”

Headline: Trump 'burning up political goodwill at an alarming rate' as
GOP lawmakers fume: report

Partial Article text from Raw Story:

"More than half a dozen GOP members and staffers told NOTUS that Trump's sudden moves have yielded thousands of questions from distressed constituents, with congressional offices receiving an unusual influx of calls and emails in response to the president's executive orders," Gorman reported before adding one GOP aide said of the Trump White House, "They need to get their s— together."
The report notes that the president has shown little concern or compassion for his caucus when making controversial decisions such as setting even the most violent of the Jan. 6 free from jail to shuttering government departments with no notice.
"A number of Republicans have expressed concern to the White House about the lack of communication, two sources told NOTUS," Gorman explained.

February 7, 2025 at 6:31 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

Removing DEI policies / initiatives will affect so many more people than MAGA thought - this is terrifying and horrible.

From autism community on Reddit
jesstella
I just boarded a flight for a workshop that was cancelled mid-flight (via email)
very clearly because of NEW GOVERNMENT POLICY.
Luckily, I got into a hotel so I am not completely stranded at 10pm when I land.
But I want to be really clear. In case you don't know, MY DEI AREA IS AUTISM.
DISABILITY. Getting folks with autism into jobs and work.
So before you think that it's about
'wokeness' or whateverthef ck, it's not.
I help disabled folks live independent lives.

February 7, 2025 at 2:49 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

You’re a hypocrite, plain and simple!

A social media post by Khanna from January 2025 criticizing his political party for missing a procedural vote and allowing MAGA a win. This is being shared in response to Khanna missing a vote to subpoena Elon Musk this week, then having the audacity to fundraise off his own blunder.

February 6, 2025 at 11:56 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

We vacationed in Panama last week - traveling nerves were worse than usual because of the tension Trump and Rubio were causing, but we knew everything was going to be OK when we departed the plane and found the restroom at the airport and this is the first thing we saw:

Word Graffiti written in English on a bathroom stall door at Tecumen International Airport in Panama City stating that Panama owns their Canal and they will not turn it over to anyone, also stating that Trump is a Mother fucker. A second person wrote in English stating that they agree with the original message on the bathroom stall door.

February 6, 2025 at 9:33 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

There it is: “The pain is coming” and Donald Trump just told you himself.

February 2, 2025 at 3:03 PM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

It’s not often that I post things like this, but I’m actually thinking about putting this in my yard for the summer!

February 1, 2025 at 6:17 AM

Gary ‘GareBear’ T.

@gary0410.bsky.social

Panama has been amazing so far! Nothing happened as planned and David is home with our dogs holding things down instead of here on vacation as he could be - Being here during this time is eye opening. We’re prepared for protesting tomorrow as Rubio arrives. The Panamanian people are amazing! #panama