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Ryan Benk

@ryanbenk.bsky.social

15K followers 1.3K following 1.7K posts

Producer/reporter for NPR's Weekend Edition. Horror, punk, pop-punk or anything by Sturgill Simpson. Lift heavy things. Cats are rad. SAGAFTRA. DC is a real place. https://www.npr.org/people/942414025/ryan-benk

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Ryan Benk @ryanbenk.bsky.social · 5d

At 76, cabaret artist Joey Arias’s resume reads like the movie Big Fish. The tales are almost too tall to believe, but he’s really done them all.

What an honor to help tell this legend's story.

www.npr.org/2025/10/11/n...

Joey Arias has plenty of art left to give: 'I want to live to be at least 200 years'

Decades of metamorphosis and drag performer Joey Arias is far from his final form.

www.npr.org

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Charles Я. Davis @charliearchy.bsky.social · 11h

Trump is deliberately killing civilians in his "war on drugs" — and getting away with it. Now, with DHS claiming "Antifa" is collaborating with cartels, it's not impossible to imagine that war coming home.

I asked experts what that could look like and how to resist. www.salon.com/2025/10/16/f...

From Venezuela to America: Trump wants to bring the war home

By linking "Antifa" to foreign drug cartels, U.S. officials are building the case for a domestic war on terror.

www.salon.com

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ptklein @ptklein.com · 8h

Rocky Horror exemplifies the musical form. Each number unlocks a dream world where we access our emotions and the most honest, sincere aspects of ourselves.

This week I’m chatting about 50 years of Rocky Horror Picture Show with @butwhytho.net.

Listen here: butwhytho.captivate.fm/episode/epis...

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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 7h

“You know that U2 album you didn’t want? Yeah, that’s our entire business model now.”

Tom Warren @tomwarren.co.uk · 9h

This is the future of Windows. Microsoft wants to rewrite Windows to turn computers into AI PCs that you talk to. It's now bringing AI features to all Windows 11 PCs today, in a bid to convince you to talk to your PC and let AI control it. Full details 👇 www.theverge.com/news/799768/...

Microsoft wants you to talk to your PC and let AI control it

Copilot Voice and Vision are now rolling out.

www.theverge.com

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John Light @johnalight.bsky.social · 7h

Extremely excited about this series TPM is doing in concert with our 25th Anniversary, reflecting on 25 years of digital journalism .. the good, the bad, the awful, and where we are now.

Our first two essays are out. We’ll be publishing 25 over the next month.

TPM @talkingpointsmemo.com · 7h

To celebrate our 25th anniversary, we asked 25 writers we admire—from @jeetheer.bsky.social to @anamariecox.bsky.social—to reflect on a moment from the past 25 years of digital media. Read @joshtpm.bsky.social's intro to the project: Pivots, Trolls + Blog Rolls

talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25/the-o...

The Original Sin of Digital Media Was the Belief That Digital Journalists Were Part of the Tech Business

I want to begin this introduction to our 25th anniversary essay series...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Hunter Walker @hunterw.bsky.social · 7h

A great privilege of my life has been working for and learning from both @joshtpm.bsky.social and @espiers.bsky.social.

When these two write about internet media - as they both have for TPM's 25th anniversary festivities - you should absolutely tune in. talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25

What Made Blogging Different?

Whether I like it or not, the first line of my obituary...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Ryan Benk @ryanbenk.bsky.social · 8h

"Just yesterday, an NPR host I once interned for sent me a message intended to break my spirit."

Lol oh I want to know this tea so bad

sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 1d

god this is so funny because back when I had my life blown up due to white people tweets I lost exactly zero (0) friends defector.com/free-press-r...

Free Press Reporter Discovers That Being An Amoral Dickhead Can Cost You Friends | Defector

It can be hard to maintain friendships as an adult. People move to new cities, start families, and experience all sorts of other life events that make it difficult to keep in touch. Sometimes, you end...

defector.com

Reposted by Ryan Benk

Candice Frederick @candicefrederick.bsky.social · 10h

This should be very concerning.

www.thewrap.com/nbc-news-lay...

NBC News’ 150 Layoffs Gut Black, Latino, Asian American and LGBTQ+ Diversity Teams

The cuts affected teams across the NBC News operation and came as the network no longer needed to support two different news operations. MSNBC has begun growing its own newsroom, hiring swaths of tale...

www.thewrap.com

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Ryan Benk @ryanbenk.bsky.social · 8h

"I think that if that essay had been submitted to editorial review, it would have been punted back, because there are a lot of factual errors in it. So I take Uri’s essay with a grain of salt, frankly. "

Hell yeah, Tommy.

Columbia Journalism Review @columjournreview.bsky.social · 1d

For new NPR editor in chief Thomas Evans, the loss of federal funding is either a brutal blow or an opportunity. Read the interview with Carolina Abbott Galvão.
www.cjr.org/the-intervie...

What is NPR now?

For new editor in chief Thomas Evans, the loss of federal funding is either a brutal blow or an opportunity.

www.cjr.org

Reposted by Ryan Benk

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 1d

broooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Mike Johnson: "They berated a Capitol police officer, screamed at him. He was merely standing his post. It shows, again, their disdain for law enforcement, the Democrats, screaming, assaulting officers."

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Ryan Benk @ryanbenk.bsky.social · 1d

Happy happy happy!

Ryan Benk @ryanbenk.bsky.social · 2d

Damn

Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 2d

“The shining star of our family has dimmed his light for us in this life … We are heartbroken to announce that Michael D’Angelo Archer, known to his fans around the world as D’Angelo, has been called home."

More on D'Angelo's life and legacy: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Ryan Benk @ryanbenk.bsky.social · 3d

Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 3d

Promoting the editor-in-chief's personal side project. Zero named sources in a story that promotes the editor-in-chief's personal political position. Misspelling the subject's name. It took one day for CBS News to become a conservative blog.

www.cbsnews.com/video/some-n...

CBS News: Some NYPD officers worry about Mandani becoming NYC mayor the Free Press reports.

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Ryan Benk @ryanbenk.bsky.social · 3d

Rounded out the weekend by contradicting Roger Ebert's view of slashers. Listen, they cut a lot deeper than people think!

Why slasher movies still have us watching through our fingers www.npr.org/2025/10/12/n...

Why slasher movies still have us watching through our fingers

As Halloween approaches slasher movies draw their biggest audiences as All Things Considered host Andrew Limbong talks with NPR's Brianna Scott and Ryan Benk about what keeps the genre alive and why i...

www.npr.org

Reposted by Ryan Benk

Danielle Kurtzleben @titonka.bsky.social · 4d

Ratio me. It’s a badge of honor. Oooooo yes I like it when you ratio me. Ooh now ratio me harder yessss. Now ratio me while the neighbors watch. Ok now wearing that costume. Yessss.

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Aidan Moher @aidanmoher.com · 4d

Drafting in the CMS

🏰meg⚔️ @Birthright Audiobook! @impavid.us · 7d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.

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Julio Ricardo Varela @julito77.bsky.social · 4d

Loved how @ayesharascoe.bsky.social interviewed María Corina Machado on @npr.org this weekend. Reflects the complexities of Venezuela and also Machado's support of American interventionism. Machado didn't condemn Trump actions.

Nobel Prize winner Machado says Venezuela is in 'chaos' under current regime

The far-right leader of Venezuela's opposition party said that the current president is illegitimate and called for his removal.

www.npr.org

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Ryan Benk @ryanbenk.bsky.social · 4d

I feel like if Bret Easton Ellis says a movie is bad, then it's probably good actually

Reposted by Ryan Benk

NPR @npr.org · 4d

Decades of metamorphosis and drag performer Joey Arias is far from his final form. n.pr/48UrvoM

Joey Arias has plenty of art left to give: 'I want to live to be at least 200 years old'

Decades of metamorphosis and drag performer Joey Arias is far from his final form.

n.pr

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Ryan Benk @ryanbenk.bsky.social · 4d

I was looking for a job and then I found a job and heaven knows I'm miserable now -Karl Marx (1867)

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Ryan Benk @ryanbenk.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you! Was such a blast putting it together and getting to know Joey!

Reposted by Ryan Benk

SlashFilm @slashfilm.bsky.social · 5d

Quentin Tarantino's comments about Stephen King's It are a lesson in why parroting the opinions of others about something you've never read is a bad look.