Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Cady

Al Jazeera English

@aljazeera.com

The proposal has been widely rejected, including by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who said they would “never leave, no matter what”.

🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/uwsfoz

February 6, 2025 at 6:31 AM

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Katie Mack

@astrokatie.com

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service.

“Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.

White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion

The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.

www.washingtonpost.com

January 28, 2025 at 3:03 AM

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Alyssa Keene

@alyssakeene.bsky.social

Hey! Gender affirming care is life saving and life affirming! Oppose this bill and let your voice be heard!

app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/103...

Washington State Legislature - Public Bill Comments

app.leg.wa.gov

January 28, 2025 at 6:54 AM

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Asha Rangappa

@asharangappa.bsky.social

FINALLY we are seeing some pushback from SOMEBODY! Lawyer up, Donnie

January 26, 2025 at 2:46 AM

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The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv)

@theserfstv.bsky.social

Great news everyone. Not sure if you've seen but the US empire essentially let evil nerds become the richest most powerful humans on the planet in exchange for leading the tech race.

Well turns out China just beat all their AI models by 50x with a fraction the energy cost and made it open source

January 25, 2025 at 8:17 PM

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CryptidAmara

@cryptidamara.bsky.social

There's no version of Magneto that told a lie

January 25, 2025 at 6:47 PM

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Dr. Zachary Rubin

@rubinallergy.bsky.social

Raise your hand if you are a believer in evidence based medicine and want to learn more about your health!

January 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM

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Block Club Chicago

@blockclubchi.bsky.social

Five things to know about Illinois and Chicago policies to protect immigrant students:
https://buff.ly/4h6xrMR

January 25, 2025 at 12:00 AM

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Yell In a War

@jelenawoehr.bsky.social

remember, the blitzkrieg is intended to make you feel like there is nothing you can do about it; that’s the only reason to go forward in this haphazard and sloppy manner all in the first week

and the choice of that strategy tells you they are afraid you *will* do something about it

January 23, 2025 at 5:01 AM

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The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv)

@theserfstv.bsky.social

An alleged X whistleblower has revealed how programmers were instructed to directly manipulate the app to destabilize democracy globally for the far right.
Having read this and now seeing how pro-Trump politicians posts from foreigners fare against anti-Trump ones it's pretty crystal clear

To Whom It May Concern,

I'm writing this with a heavy heart and no small amount of fear. As a former X (formerly Twitter) employee on an H1B visa, I can't reveal my identity without risking everything, but I can't stay silent any longer about what I saw and was made to do.

When Elon Musk took over, everything changed. What started as a social media company became something much darker. I was part of a team that was directly ordered to manipulate Twitter's systems to influence the 2024 US presidential election. It wasn't subtle, and it wasn't ethical.

We completely changed how the algorithm worked, pushing pro-Trump and right-wing posts to the top of people's feeds. To make it look balanced, we also boosted some left-wing critics of Democrats, but it was all carefully calculated. These changes didn't just affect Americans - they impacted users worldwide.

One of the most disturbing things we did was create thousands of fake accounts using advanced AI systems called Grok and Eliza. These accounts looked completely real and pushed political messages that spread like wildfire. Havn't you noticed they all disappeared? Like magic.

We also knowingly allowed foreign governments to manipulate the platform. State-backed groups from Israel, Iran, and Russia were running their own influence campaigns, and because their goals aligned with ours, we looked the other way. Even when they clearly broke the rules, we didn't stop them.

Perhaps the most unethical part was how we manufactured news stories. One team would write completely fake articles, while another team would artificially boost their engagement metrics to make them go viral. We specifically targeted certain groups of people, knowing exactly how to manipulate their views and emotions.

The moderation team became a tool for our agenda. We systematically silenced anyone who got in our way, enforcing the rules when it suited us and ignoring them when it didn't. Elon Musk himself was deeply involved in these decisions, often joking about being "Black Hat MAGA."

What started as US election interference has now spread to other countries. We're currently doing the same thing in Germany and other European nations. The damage we've done is immeasurable, and I don't know if it can ever be fixed. People don't know what's real anymore, and that's exactly what we wanted.

The pilot program for the Eliza AI Agent, was election interference. Eliza was release officially in October of 2024, but we had access to it before then thanks to Marc Andreessen.

I'm terrified to be writing this, but I had to speak up. I just hope that someone with the power to do something about this sees this letter. You'll know what i’m saying is the truth by Elon's actions to the news someone spoke out. For more evidence look at the docs of Eliza AI Agent software. We left bread crumbs.

Yours sincerely,

A former employee who can't sleep at night.

Danielle Smith with over 16,000 likes on her post: It is a far wiser approach, and a much more Canadian one I might add, to diplomatically identify their concerns through face-to-face engagement and work with them on negotiating a win-win for both the U.S. and Canada.

The U.S. President is clearly concerned about border security, achieving energy dominance and strengthening the shared defence of our continent. Our two countries clearly have shared interests in all of these areas. So let’s start there and move forward with a mature discussion as friends should.

We need to lead with diplomacy rather than bravado, bluster and escalation. I will continue to do so.

David Eby with 344 likes on a video that talks about how Trump's tariffs need to be met with retaliatory ones "@Dave_Eby
·
4h
This morning, I met with premiers & the prime minister and once again, I raised the need to break down trade barriers within Canada.

The challenge posed by the tariff threat is also an opportunity to focus on growing our economy here at home."

January 23, 2025 at 2:46 AM

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Dr. Zachary Rubin

@rubinallergy.bsky.social

Withdrawing from the World Health Organization is a terrible idea.

If you want to be “America First” or “Make America Healthy Again” you have to address global health issues.

Pandemic preparedness involves global surveillance of emerging infectious diseases. We will be left flat footed.

January 21, 2025 at 2:41 AM

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He’s A Rickkkk House

@rickykavin1213.bsky.social

I love black women for real 😂😂

January 20, 2025 at 5:38 PM

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Sheryl Weikal, still saying Free Palestine

@leftistlawyer.com

We really can fight for Black rights and liberation, for trans rights and liberation, for immigrant rights and liberation, for Palestinian rights and liberation, for Indigenous rights and liberation, for disability rights and liberation, all at the same time.

January 20, 2025 at 8:25 PM

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Joe Berkowitz

@joeberkowitz.bsky.social

So yeah, it’s real bad. Just remember:
1) they’re going to fuck it up
2) but not all of it
3) do what you can when you can
4) do nothing when you need to
5) posting is not doing something

January 20, 2025 at 5:45 AM

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Persephiroth~PAX Unplugged!

@persephiroth.bsky.social

The best way to build a solid base politically is to give the people an enemy.

It does not matter if the enemy deserves it.

That is what is happening with trans people right now. It has happened to Black folks for ages.

January 20, 2025 at 4:22 AM

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Matt Binder

@mattbinder.bsky.social

the TikTok algorithm is so good that it even served up the perfect video to act as the background for its ban announcement

January 19, 2025 at 3:59 AM

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Catieosaurus

@catieosaurus.bsky.social

if you are a creator and you're losing your means of income/promotion tomorrow, reach out. I'm *also* losing my audience of nearly 2M people w/ a book coming out and a podcast that I need to be successful to stay employed- I figure the least we can do is stick together as we all start over

January 18, 2025 at 9:15 PM