Reading archive 2025-07-08

An AI That Couldn’t Care Less About Humans The quirky show Murderbot suggests that intelligent machines might be interested in something other than humanity.

A guide to the 2025 D.C. Ward 8 election: What to know before you vote: Four candidates are vying for the chance to represent Ward 8 on the D.C. Council, including former council member Trayon White Sr., who was expelled in February.

80-year-old accused of killing wife after attacking her with a hammer: Police in Montgomery County, Maryland, say the slaying occurred inside the couple’s apartment at the Leisure World community.

3-year-old dies after shooting in D.C., police say: Toddler was in a parked car in Southeast with relatives Saturday.

FBI agent accused of raping clients in his tattoo parlor goes on trial: Eduardo Valdivia, currently suspended by the bureau, was acquitted in a different trial three years ago after shooting a panhandler aboard a moving Metro train.

Why Evangelicals Turned Their Back on PEPFAR: A religious movement that has so often taken public stands has been unusually quiet since Trump gutted the program to combat AIDS in Africa. - "The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, first authorized by Bush in 2003, was the largest commitment made by any nation to address a single disease. It was, the president said, 'a work of mercy beyond all current international efforts to help the people of Africa.' PEPFAR, which received strong bipartisan support, is credited with saving 26 million lives and enabling almost 8 million babies to be born without HIV. It transformed the landscape of the HIV epidemic and helped stabilize the African continent. Not only is PEPFAR the single most successful policy to date in U.S.-Africa relations; it is 'also one of the most successful foreign policy programs in U.S. history,' as Belinda Archibong, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote last year."

How Much Worse Is This Going to Get?: Political violence poses an existential threat to our nation and our freedoms—but it’s not too late.

The Man Who Thinks Medicaid Cuts Won’t Cut Medicaid: In Kevin Hassett, the Trump administration has picked an especially unfortunate spokesperson. - "Hassett proceeded to serve as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump administration, where his capacity for optimistic projection again proved useful. During the first weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, in 2020, Hassett designed a "curve-fitting exercise" indicating that deaths from the virus would peak in April and trail off to almost zero by mid-May. That is not, in fact, what happened."

Why China Isn’t a Bigger Player in the Middle East: Iran and Israel came to blows, and Beijing mostly ducked.

Why Texas’ floods are a warning for the rest of the country: The disaster that unfolded in Kerr County, Texas, shows how many communities will struggle to prepare for extreme weather as the federal government pulls back.