Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 1d

Interesting MI6 is reinventing open-source SecureDrop, widely used by news organizations — securedrop.org — with their Silent Courier. Should anyone trust the new closed-source tool?

www.npr.org/2025/10/14/n...

New dark web 'dead drop' lets anyone pass secrets to Britain's MI6

Silent Courier, a new dark web platform, allows global users -- including Americans -- to share classified information with Britain's MI6.

www.npr.org

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 1d

Really good choice of "Vagabond."

"Remain" is covered separately on Morning Edition — www.npr.org/2025/10/14/n... — but you must know that.

M. Night Shyamalan and Nicholas Sparks join forces on 'Remain' novel and film

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and novelist Nicholas Sparks describe their collaboration to simultaneously craft the new novel and upcoming film Remain as a unique one that's unlikely to be replicated.

www.npr.org

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 1d

Call it "the Cory Doctorow book."

I reviewed such a play; from motifri.com/roosterplay/ —

Plays with titles intentionally chosen to be unprintable in the mainstream press are usually terrible. The New York Times reviewed the off-Broadway American premiere under the title “__ (The Cockfight Play)”…

Cock, or the Rooster Play: That’s not a euphemism – Motif

motifri.com

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 1d

Donald Trump is losing the fight against inflation… er, inflatables.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Among Portland Protests, It’s Frogs and Sharks and Bears, Oh My!

www.nytimes.com

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 1d

The new Paul Thomas Anderson film — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Bat... — is based on Thomas Pynchon's "Vineland," about which 35 years ago I wrote one of my favorite lines in a review ever: "petulant middle-age ninja females."

It may not be "A screaming comes across the sky," but it was pretty good.

One Battle After Another - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 1d

@radiostoryteller.bsky.social On my reading list today:

Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow (Can you say that on the air?

1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History — and How It Shattered a Nation by Andrew Ross Sorkin

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 2d

The release of hostages and end of war in Gaza is excellent news, but do not lose sight of the simple fact Hamas could have ended the "genocide" anytime by surrendering, and their refusal caused the death of 67,000 civilians that Yahya Sinwar called "necessary sacrifices" to destroy Israel.

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 5d

Isn't that an axolotl?

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 5d

This is incredibly stupid: the Constitution itself requires two-thirds vote of each chamber to propose an amendment.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article...

Constitutional amendment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 5d

If you get one conviction, you get them all.

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 5d

Not so simple.

motifri.com/trump-arraig...

Trump Arraignment: Smoke but no fire? – Motif

motifri.com

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 6d

What could go wrong? Will Trump trust Hamas as much as he trusts Putin?

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 7d

I honestly had no idea you were alone all morning! You do iron-man service, every day for hours.

I learned a lot about classical music by osmosis, driving to college every morning listening to the legendary Robert J. Lurtsema on @wgbh.org whose "Morning Pro Musica" ran 7am–12pm for 7 days a week.

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Reposted by Michael Bilow

carpenter22.bsky.social @carpenter22.bsky.social · 7d

Trump administration cuts federal support for disabled Americans facing homelessness www.axios.com/2025/10/07/t...

Trump administration ends support for disabled Americans facing homelessness

The cutback is the latest in a series of hits to the poorest Americans from the White House.

www.axios.com

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 7d

The new web site from @oceanstatemedia.bsky.social is incredibly frustrating. Listening to the radio, I wanted to find the interview of RI House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi by @iandonnis.bsky.social on his "One on One" replacing "Political Roundtable," but I could not.

www.oceanstatemedia.org

Ocean State Media

www.oceanstatemedia.org

Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 7d

In rare and moving footage dated to April 20th 1945, inmates at Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp sing the anthem of hope 'Hatikva.'

www.youtube.com/watch?v=syUS...

Hatikva at Bergen-Belsen

YouTube video by infolivetvenglish

www.youtube.com

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 7d

@radiostoryteller.bsky.social Smetana's (pronounced with accent on the first syllable, "SMET-ən-ə") "Die Moldau" is based on a traditional melody "La Mantovana" which also inspired, through a Romanian variant, the Zionist anthem "HaTikvah" ("The Hope").

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Mant...

La Mantovana - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 7d

Discussing the new Downton Abbey movie —

Her: Rich people worrying about rich people.

Me: Rich people don't even notice non-rich people unless they have guillotines.

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 8d

Outstanding op-ed by Bret Stepens in @nytopinion.nytimes.com today, assessing the two-year anniversary of the Oct 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/o...

Opinion | Lessons From a Long War

www.nytimes.com

Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 8d

On Oct 7, The Free Press observes the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel with a special issue featuring a number of respected contributors and interviewees.

www.thefp.com/p/the-legacy...

The Legacy of October 7

Douglas Murray, Amit Segal, Eli Sharabi, Coleman Hughes, and others mark two years since Hamas’s attack on Israel.

www.thefp.com

Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 8d

Could the Gaza War End Soon?, by @mikebilow.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/bilow/p/...

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 9d

Watching @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social on @msnbc.com. What is his lapel pin? It's sort of a US flag, but not quite.

Reposted by Michael Bilow

Malcolm Nance, Leading Resister @malcolmnance.bsky.social · 10d

TERRORISM EXPERT HERE:

This statement is a clear example of what is known as “State Terrorism”: When the dictatorship will order all instruments of its state security & intelligence apparatus against its own citizens to terrorize the population.

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 10d

Just watched @crockett.house.gov on @theweekendprime.bsky.social say "Don't fall for the okey doke." What does that mean? Is it a Southern thing?

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Michael Bilow @mikebilow.bsky.social · 11d

ChatGPT seems very friendly, but why does it keep asking if I know where is Sarah Connor?