Author | Lightnews

vikkim11.bsky.social @vikkim11.bsky.social · 10m

www.vox.com/culture/4668... “..it is not the men of Gondor who turn back the forces of evil and save the Shire; it’s those gentle, peaceful hobbits who pull the whole thing off. They’re the only species able to carry the One Ring of Power, because they are, by their nature, unambitious.”

The right is obsessed with The Lord of the Rings. But they don’t understand it.

The bizarre conservative misunderstanding of The Lord of the Rings, explained.

www.vox.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 34m

“But it’s not the use of AI that’s giving everyone pause, of course. It’s that these pictures, released by the Department of Labor social-media accounts and bearing the department’s seal, are uncomfortably reminiscent of posters from the 1930s.”

www.thebulwark.com/p/what-we-ch...

What We Choose to Nazi

The Department of Labor is posting Heroic Realism propaganda. What, exactly, are they telling us?

www.thebulwark.com

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Barack Obama @barackobama.bsky.social · 2h

Republicans need to act now to make sure those benefits are available to people who depend on them. If they don’t, millions of children, seniors, and low-income Americans will go hungry ahead of the holidays.

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vikkim11.bsky.social @vikkim11.bsky.social · 1h

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/b... What If You Spent Every Waking Moment Taking On Elon Musk?
Aaron Greenspan was once a promising entrepreneur. He has spent the last two decades lobbing grenades at the country’s most powerful tech moguls.

What If You Spent Every Waking Moment Taking On Elon Musk?

www.nytimes.com

vikkim11.bsky.social @vikkim11.bsky.social · 1h

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/m... “Is it the cruelty that makes the monster or is it the longing?”

‘Frankenstein’ Has Always Held Up a Mirror. What Does It Show Us Now?

www.nytimes.com

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Nick Anderson - political cartoonist @andertoon.bsky.social · 1d

Scary
For @rawstory.com
Follow my work on Substack: nickanderson.substack.com

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 2h

Medicare for All would save $450B a year.

Every dollar spent on food stamps generates $1.50-$1.80 in economic activity.

Each dollar going to low-wage workers adds $1.20 to the economy overall.

It’s not about what this country can or can’t afford.

It’s about priorities.

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Andrew Mueller @andrewmueller.bsky.social · 3h

On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.

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vikkim11.bsky.social @vikkim11.bsky.social · 2h

www.bbc.com/news/article...

US judge blocks Trump administration from halting Snap benefits

A federal judge said the plan to suspend food aid to millions of Americans during the ongoing US government shutdown is likely unlawful.

www.bbc.com

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SpryOldLorax @spryoldlorax.bsky.social · 6h

Republicans are the worst.
Happy Halloween!

Kids trick-or-treating, dressed as a ghost, a witch, and a little devil, are standing on a porch, having just knocked on the door. The door is padlocked closed, and from behind it, a voice shouts out, "You expect me to give you a HANDOUT? The candy is on the roof. If you're lucky, it might trickle down."

One of the kids is thinking to themselves, "Oh great. A Republican."

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 5h

The UN human rights chief has condemned the Trump administration’s military strikes on boats near South and Central America, saying that they violate international law and should be investigated. At least 61 people have been killed by the strikes since the start of September.

U.N. Human Rights Chief Says U.S. Attacks on Accused Drug Smugglers Are Illegal

The Trump administration’s military strikes on boats near South and Central America violate international law and must be investigated, a top official says.

nyti.ms

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@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 5h

The story itself is very important but look closely at the photo, too. Four heavily armed, masked men responded like this with weapons drawn to arrest a.... peaceful protestor. (Note the tear gas canister in the one guys hand) ICE is out of control.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

IDs are mismatched, illegible or still missing 3 weeks after judge’s order to immigration officers

In dozens of photographs at four locations, Chicago Sun-Times photojournalists documented federal officers failing to wear the “visible identification” needed to hold individuals accountable during th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 9h

A spate of iconic horror movies in the 1970s made cultural anxieties about women all too literal. Sophie Gilbert on "Rosemary’s Baby," "The Shining," and other films that capture the horrors of domestic life:

What ’70s Horror Showed America

Films such as "Rosemary’s Baby" and "The Shining" made the terrors of domestic life all too literal.

bit.ly

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 9h

“A curtain of darkness is settling over our nation. And it’s getting ever harder to avoid connecting the authoritarian dots,” Peter Wehner argues:

Trump’s Plan Is Now Out in the Open

It’s getting ever harder to avoid connecting the authoritarian dots.

bit.ly

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Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 1d

Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House.

Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.

They are not the same.

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Molly McKew @mollymckew.bsky.social · 11h

“The biggest lesson of the past two decades of Silicon Valley is that Meta, Amazon, & Google—and even the newer AI labs such as OpenAI—have remade our world and have become unfathomably rich for it, all while being mostly oblivious or uninterested in the fallout”

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Here’s How the AI Crash Happens

The U.S. is becoming an Nvidia-state.

www.theatlantic.com

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meta @metatheory.bsky.social · 7h

Just a reminder that in addition to their starting salary of $174,000 (+ expenses and top of the line benefits), members of Congress get a $79 daily reimbursement for meals and incidentals WHILE IN WASHINGTON, DC.

SNAP benefit is $6 a day.

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Molly McKew @mollymckew.bsky.social · 21h

Keep an eye out for your neighbors and community.
Be generous when you can.

David Beard @dabeard.bsky.social · 1d

Ahead of the 1st shutdown of US food aid to hungry Americans in 60 years, some of the 200,000 Little Free Library locations are converting into food pantries. Thanks @littlefreelibrary.bsky.social

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vikkim11.bsky.social @vikkim11.bsky.social · 1d

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/o... “We’re lucky to find ourselves living in an era where the deadliest weapons aren’t routinely being exploded by leaders for show.”

Opinion | Why Trump’s Talk About Nuclear Testing Is Dangerous

www.nytimes.com

vikkim11.bsky.social @vikkim11.bsky.social · 1d

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/w...

The Art of Letting Trump Claim a Win, While Walking Away Stronger

www.nytimes.com

vikkim11.bsky.social @vikkim11.bsky.social · 1d

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec... #HumanRights

Classified U.S. report finds backlog of ‘hundreds’ of possible Israeli human rights violations

Classified U.S. report finds backlog of ‘hundreds’ of possible Israeli human rights violations, according to officials, further complicating a process to review credible allegations against IDF milita...

www.washingtonpost.com

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Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · 1d

Just watched a man, reeks of privilege, stride past everyone in line at the boarding gate and confidently extend his boarding pass only to be turned back by the gate agent because boarding hadn’t started yet. It was glorious.

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vikkim11.bsky.social @vikkim11.bsky.social · 1d

“…Szymborska knew, life persists on its own terms and must be honored. The world is made of rooms, like hers, where private life takes place and the poetic imagination lights and then finds its way to the market square.”✍🏼

gjabberbox.bsky.social @gjabberbox.bsky.social · 1d

A visit to a poet’s home in Kraków recalls the lessons of East Europe’s dissidents.
By Adam Gopnik
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

How to Endure Authoritarianism

A visit to a poet’s home in Kraków recalls the lessons of East Europe’s dissidents.

www.newyorker.com

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meta @metatheory.bsky.social · 1d

When we had a President who knew the joy of Halloween for children.

Photos of President Obama playing with Ella Rhodes in her Halloween costume.

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vikkim11.bsky.social @vikkim11.bsky.social · 1d

Defeating the Far-Right “Blob Man” www.newyorker.com/news/essay/d...
“I cannot help but think of Hughes, a young Black man who dropped everything to follow a villain because his gut told him to.
The Blob thrives on fear. The way to beat it is to refuse to be afraid.”

Defeating the Far-Right “Blob Man”

The story of Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympics bomber, offers lessons about the persistence of violent extremism, and how to combat it.

www.newyorker.com