Revisiting ‘Giovanni's Room’ : NPR's Book of the Day James Baldwin’s recent centennial birthday allowed us to discuss one of his most celebrated novels, Giovanni’s Room. Andrew Limbong and B. A. Parker are joined by NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour’s Glen W...

I got to talk to smart funny people about a book that didn’t give me what I wanted when I read it as I was coming out. And is all the better for it.

Revisiting James Baldwin’s ‘Giovanni's Room’ : NPR's Book of the Day

www.npr.org/2025/11/15/n...

Happy Half-Century Birthday (one day late) to one of my all-time favorite albums.

Border Patrol Agents Pose At The Bean For Apparent Photo Op The photo op came after agents tear-gassed a Little Village street and were spotted in the area numerous times. At the Bean, one agent shouted, "Everyone say, 'Little Village!'"

Making fun of our neighborhoods and communities is disgusting.

Greg Bovino and his masked agents are not here to make Chicago safer. As children are tear gassed and U.S. citizens detained, they are posing for photo ops and producing reality TV moments. blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/10/b...

Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.

Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative

electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...

Five guys with the f and the E light off

Picard: there ARE FOUR GUYS! FOUR

Evanston food drive overwhelms 'in the best possible way' as SNAP recipients face uncertainty Many waited more than an hour to drop off bags of groceries during a food drive at Evanston Township High School.

Chicagoland going for MVP:

“This is beyond anyone’s wildest imagination in the best possible way,” Khan said. “It’s overwhelmingly amazing, and we just want to make sure we get food to people who need it the most.”

www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/e...

A care package for activists in crisis - Chicago Reader Read This When Things Fall Apart, edited by Kelly Hayes, features letters offering hope and advice for activist in crisis.

I was interviewed by @reemasabrina.bsky.social about Read This When Things Fall Apart. "Fight for what is sacred to you. And if you don’t know what’s sacred to you yet, I suggest you get out there, amongst other people fighting the good fight, and I suspect you’ll find it."

Judge Admonishes Border Patrol Leader for Tactics in Chicago

"The judge then ordered Mr. Bovino to appear at the federal courthouse at the end of every weekday to personally provide her with a report on the day’s arrests and incidents..."

!!

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...

Trump is throwing 15 million Americans off health care.

He's doubling premiums for 20 million Americans.

Now, he's refusing to use a $5 billion emergency SNAP fund to keep 16 million kids from going hungry.

But the 1% keep $1 trillion in tax breaks.

Oligarchy in action.

And for what? What did the average citizen get in exchange?

when all this is over we need to have a pretty serious conversation about the utter moral failure of the elite of this country

1. Promote and write code for Trump’s stablecoin.

2. SEC drops its Binance lawsuit.

3. Get a Trump pardon.

@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/finance/curr...

The president of the United States posted a video of him defecating on the American people. Many in my profession normalized it. This is a big reason why we are where we are.

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Chop Wood Carry Water

WE THE PEOPLE. Marchers carry an enormous US Constitution past Trump Tower in Chicago #NoKings #HandsOffChicago

Nederlandse diensten delen minder informatie met de VS: ‘Soms vertellen we dingen niet meer’ Het aantal dreigingen dat op Nederland afkomt is groot, zien de hoofden van de AIVD en de MIVD elke dag: niet alleen Russische agressie, maar ook de opmars van China als digitale macht en binnenlands ...

Dutch intelligence suspends sharing arrangements with the US after concluding that high level intel was routinely being shared by the White House with their friends in the Kremlin. www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/n...

There are more of us than there are of them. Thank you for a truly historic day of peaceful protests across America. #NoKings

An astonishingly large crowd!
Chicago

On the National Mall, ‘Democracy’ drips in daylight Ben Cohen, of Ben & Jerry’s, helped bring a 3,000-pound ice sculpture to the capital as a warning that “democracy is melting away before our very eyes.”

Sadly apt art in these United States:

A 3,000-pound ice sculpture of the word “Democracy” placed in the sun on the National Mall on Wednesday morning, in direct view of the U.S. Capitol as a vanishing reminder, its creators said, of rapidly eroding rights.

www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

The @chicago.suntimes.com photographer who risked their personal health and safety to take this photograph is Anthony Vazquez. Please credit photographers and media outlets. In this age of misinformation, a photo with no context could be anything at all.

YouTube video by Home of the Brave On October 18th, we say #NoKings

No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.

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

She’s trying to hide behind modesty to justify anti-democratic behavior

Pope Leo calls for news agencies to stand as bulwark against "post-truths," lies and manipulation Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the "ancient art of lying" and manipulation.

Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."

www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Overlooked female modernist artist Marthe Donas dazzles in Belgium Antwerp exhibition testifies to growing recognition of woman who took gender-neutral name Tour to get on

Overlooked female modernist artist Marthe Donas dazzles in Belgium
Antwerp exhibition testifies to growing recognition of woman who took gender-neutral name Tour to get on
by Jennifer Rankin for @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

The "Peacemaker" Who Thrives on Chaos Trump’s Gaza deal may earn him applause — but his record of stoking violence at home shows he’s no champion of peace.

Trump’s Gaza deal may bring a welcome pause to years of bloodshed — but let’s be clear: one ceasefire doesn’t make him a peacemaker.
While he chases a Nobel Prize abroad, he’s been stoking violence at home.
Peace isn’t a brand. It’s a character test.
open.substack.com/pub/adamkinz...

A white graphic with a blue border includes the following text: My Statement on Middle East Peace October 9, 2025 After two years of unimaginable loss and suffering for Israeli families and the people of Gaza, we should all be encouraged and relieved that an end to the conflict is within sight; that those hostages still being held will be reunited with their families; and that vital aid can start reaching those inside Gaza whose lives have been shattered. More than that, though, it now falls on Israelis and Palestinians, with the support of the U.S. and the entire world community, to begin the hard task of rebuilding Gaza – and to commit to a process that, by recognizing the common humanity and basic rights of both peoples, can achieve a lasting peace.

My statement on Middle East peace

Thanks, New Yorker