Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 1h

“My father does not believe in God or therapists— / instead, he pedals his bike past Brighton Beach / to the Coney Island Y to swim his fifty laps. ”

Read “Syncretism,” a poem by Nina C. Peláez:

Syncretism

A poem

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 2h

“Uttering, promoting, and in some cases even tolerating anti-Israel rhetoric that crosses the line into anti-Semitism does double damage,” @ibishblog.bsky.social argues: both fueling violent attacks and tarring the pro-Palestinian movement.

Anti-Semitism Is Poison for the Palestinian Cause

No good will come to the pro-Palestinian movement from any association with violent attacks.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 3h

Autonomous robots, sequencers, and machine-learning algorithms are revolutionizing humanity’s ability to catalog Earth’s unstudied species, Marion Renault reports. But many of those species could be lost before we ever meet them:

The Machines Finding Life That Humans Can’t See

A suite of technologies are helping taxonomists speed up species identification.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 5h

Holding off the Russians means “finding ways to compensate for Ukraine’s desperate shortage of manpower,” Robert F. Worth writes. Kyiv has found ingenious methods of staying in the fight:

Ukraine Might Be Winning Its War of Attrition

Russia assumed time was on its side, but a new Ukrainian strategy is yielding surprising results.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 7h

Faced with new UN-backed sanctions and a weakened military, Iran is desperate for a way out, Arash Azizi and Graeme Wood. “Although it still has options, all of them are bad”:

Iran’s Bad Options

At most, Iran can hope to wound America or Israel when attacked. But its own weapons can never win a war.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 8h

The U.S. armed forces may soon face the choice of whether to refuse illegal and unconstitutional orders, @radiofreetom.bsky.social writes. What will they do?

The Civil-Military Crisis Is Here

The leaders of the U.S. military may soon face a terrible decision.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 10h

“If there’s one person in the world I wouldn’t bet against now,” Caitlin Flanagan argues, “it’s Bari Weiss”:

Don’t Bet Against Bari Weiss

The new editor in chief of CBS News triumphs over her critics.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 10h

Donald Trump’s deployments of the National Guard to American cities “are best understood as an effort to erode the nation’s sense that such use of the military is unacceptable,” Quinta Jurecic argues.

Trump Is Destroying One of America’s Oldest Traditions

America has always had a strong aversion to seeing the military on the country’s streets. That is not stopping the current president.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 11h

A reader “weary of people talking about God as if everyone else in the conversation believes in their particular deity” asks James Parker, “Am I a bad person?”

Read Parker’s thoughts in this week’s “Dear James”:

Dear James: I’m Tired of People Invoking God

Does this make me a bad person?

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 11h

“Because we’ve waited so long, it’s going to be more expensive and potentially more intensive” for the COVID generation of kids to catch up on lost education, former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings says.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDamP-pfOskNgMNI1eg0pajQfRu-q3NUO

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 12h

Faced with new UN-backed sanctions and a weakened military, Iran is desperate for a way out, Arash Azizi and Graeme Wood. “Although it still has options, all of them are bad”:

Iran’s Bad Options

At most, Iran can hope to wound America or Israel when attacked. But its own weapons can never win a war.

bit.ly

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 12h

This Halloween, the candy seems to be missing a crucial ingredient, @yeahyeahyasmin.bsky.social reports.

Something Weird Is Happening With Halloween Chocolate

Where did it all go?

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 13h

For decades, “prestige was seen as synonymous with enduring value: Harvard would always be Harvard,” Jeffrey Selingo writes. But with sticker prices surging and graduates facing a tough job market, many parents no longer believe prestige is worth the price: https://theatln.tc/xUGvQPZ0

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 14h

Napheesa Collier’s takedown of the WNBA commissioner shows how the player-league relationship has soured in recent years, @jemelehill.bsky.social writes. “More than ever, the players know their worth—and they haven’t been shy about letting the league know it.”

A WNBA Star Goes Scorched-Earth

With the league more popular than ever, players know their worth—and they aren’t afraid to let leadership know it.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 15h

The nativist right keeps talking about “heritage Americans.” It's a buzzword engineered to move the goalposts on immigration even further, argues @alibreland.bsky.social.

Are You a ‘Heritage American’?

Why the far right wants to know if your ancestors were here during the Civil War.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 15h

The tight-knit but open-armed community that supports romance novels has become unignorable, enviable—and exceedingly difficult to replicate, Rebecca Ackermann writes.

Romance Fiction’s Secret Weapon

Tight-knit but open-armed fans have made it an especially hot genre.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 16h

The “Saturday Night Live” Season 51 premiere’s cold open grabbed headlines for its Pete Hegseth parody—but where “SNL” really shone last weekend was with a subtle, more culturally savvy sketch, Erik Adams writes. https://theatln.tc/TW9updam

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 16h

Contest organizers from this year’s Audubon Photography Awards shared some of their Top 100 selections—featuring a ringed kingfisher, a yellow-eared parrot, whooper swans, and more—with The Atlantic Photo. View them here:

Selections From the 2025 Audubon Photography Awards Top 100

Beautiful selections from the Top 100 photographs in this year’s photo contest, depicting birdlife from around the world

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 16h

For working-class kids, the path to the middle class Is vanishing. Returning to my Ohio hometown showed me why, Beth Macy writes.

What Happened to My Hometown?

The fraying of my family and the Ohio we once knew

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Reposted by The Atlantic

Evan McMurry @evanmcmurry.theatlantic.com · 1d

@annielowrey.bsky.social: “The shutdown won’t cause a nationwide recession, provided it is over soon. But it could certainly worsen some smaller ones already gathering force.”

The Everything Recession

First Washington, then the nation?

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by The Atlantic

jenduende @jenduende.bsky.social · 1d

Where the grandparents are willing: Would you pay them for child care? Marina Lopes makes a persuasive case for doing just that: www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

One Obvious, Underused Child-Care Solution

Pay grandparents.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by The Atlantic

Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · 1d

I toured NYC’s much reviled Friend AI ads with the startup’s CEO. Felt a lot more like an art installation than a business:

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

The Most Reviled Tech CEO in New York Confronts His Haters

Avi Schiffmann says he’s enjoying the angry reaction to the Friend AI pendant. Is he serious?

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by The Atlantic

Evan McMurry @evanmcmurry.theatlantic.com · 20h

Take a wild ride with @matteowong.bsky.social as he tours the NYC subways looking at the defaced Friend posters with the Friend founder who says he loves it all:

The Most Reviled Tech CEO in New York Confronts His Haters

Avi Schiffmann says he’s enjoying the angry reaction to the Friend AI pendant. Is he serious?

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by The Atlantic

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · 18h

Gasped at the ending to this. (It's all cool edgy fun and games until someone gets chatbot-induced psychosis.) www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

The Most Reviled Tech CEO in New York Confronts His Haters

Avi Schiffmann says he’s enjoying the angry reaction to the Friend AI pendant. Is he serious?

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by The Atlantic

Evan McMurry @evanmcmurry.theatlantic.com · 17h

Robert Worth: “It is impossible to spend more than a few minutes near the front line without being confronted by Ukraine’s greatest vulnerability: lack of soldiers. Yet I came away from a recent trip to Ukraine believing that the country may actually be able to achieve its military goals.”

Ukraine Might Be Winning Its War of Attrition

Russia assumed time was on its side, but a new Ukrainian strategy is yielding surprising results.

www.theatlantic.com

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