Reading archive 2026-07-16

CIA Officers Can Sense the Threat Within: A survey reveals concern among the rank and file that Trump-administration meddling is undermining intelligence work.

The Timidity of America’s Top Generals: Deference to civilian power is part of the job but can go too far. - "Seen one way, Caine's studious deference to civilian authority is an appropriate correction from the generals in charge of America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, who were famously strident about what they thought the wars should be about and how they should be run. Top officers such as Caine serve at the pleasure of the president and can be relieved anytime; their jobs are to provide military counsel, not to shape preferred outcomes. 

"But looked at another way, Caine and other generals are being overly timid and deferential, in part because Pete Hegseth demands it. The secretary of defense has forced out more than 20 generals and admirals, including some of the most respected career officers in the forces: Caine's predecessor, Air Force General C. Q. Brown Jr.; two other members of the Joint Chiefs; and, most recently, Army General C. D. Donahue. Meanwhile, Hegseth has promoted less experienced officers. He has offered no explanation for each individual ouster, and the dismissals have fed a sense among his senior commanders that he prizes fealty and acquiescence over competence and experience."

Believe the Hype About Teen Takeovers: Outdoor street parties are turning into violent rumbles in D.C. and other large cities. - "If takeovers are ultimately about apps that help teenagers outwit their elders, better tech may be all we need. If takeovers are a symptom of deeper problems in the current generation of teens, they are likely to continue, even if under a different name."

An agonizing interview failed to end the GOP’s Marx problem: Colorado's GOP nominee for governor says things that are beyond peculiar.

The 10-mpg RV has met its all-electric successor: Millions of Americans venture into the great outdoors in RVs, and new technologies aim for fuel efficiency and automation.

Waymo really wants to operate in D.C. But does D.C. want Waymo?: The D.C. Council is weighing legislation that would allow driverless vehicles to carry paying passengers in the city.

Scientists probe sharp drop in Chesapeake Bay’s crab population The species faces many threats, including a reduction of underwater grasses that shelter young crabs, experts said.

Federal panel urges changes to Trump plan to fence Lafayette Square: The Commission of Fine Arts will “probably” support the plan, its Trump-appointed chairman said, but wants to see more design options first. - "Commission members on Thursday suggested that some of the design ideas presented were unnecessarily ornate. James McCrery II, a member of the commission who served as the first architect for Trump’s planned White House ballroom before wrangling with the president over its size, suggested simply replicating the existing fence that goes around the White House grounds. 

"'Just let it be a fence,” McCrery said. 'I think that the White House fence is a very good model.'"

As Democrats battle over the future, a swing-state lawmaker wants a new focus: A freshman lawmaker from Michigan says liberals cannot afford to argue over ideology and must reconnect with the “drowning” working class. - "'There is this debate around philosophy inside the Democratic Party that actually isn’t real for me. It’s not real for me and my district. It makes for great talk on a 24-hour news channel, but what we really need to do is to make sure people are safe, that people can afford their groceries, that they can afford their utilities,' she said. 'What’s capturing the political conversation is this debate around the democratic socialists versus the moderates. That’s a conversation about philosophy when people are drowning.'"

Reflecting Pool peeling probably caused by application flaws, experts say: President Donald Trump has blamed vandals, but a Washington Post analysis finds that the peeling tracks closely with stages of the renovation process. - "The pool, which holds approximately 4 million gallons of water, has long had problems with algae and leaks. In 2012, it completed a two-year, $34 million renovation that shored up its floor support system to prevent the pool from sinking. For that project, contractors poured new, tinted concrete for the bottom of the pool and utilized a hydrophilic joint sealing strip, Hydrotite, from the New Jersey company Sika. In June, CNN reported that Sika declined to work on Trump’s renovation after being asked to do so, saying that the quick time frame and the color change made the project 'unfeasible.' Sika did not respond to a request for comment."

The 2026 World Cup Was a Distinctly American Contradiction: “For just a few seconds, we can let ourselves share in this moment together”

Reading archive 2026-07-15

I Bought the $3,000 Fitness Suit That Electrocutes You. I’m Sending It Back: Celebrities like George Clooney have praised the expensive Katalyst suit. For me, it derailed my other exercises and made me reassess my obsession with fitness and efficiency.

With death of Lindsey Graham, Israel loses key backer as its isolation deepens: The senator represented a foreign policy consensus on U.S. support for Israel that has begun to collapse under President Donald Trump.

A major Colorado River decision looms. Here’s how it will affect millions.: With the river in freefall, federal officials plan to intervene, possibly imposing large cuts to water usage in seven states. Effects would be felt beyond the West. - "If [Doug Kenney, director of the Western Water Policy Program at the University of Colorado] were 'king for a day,' he said, he would simply calculate the percentage gap between water supplies and demand, and then reduce everyone’s allocation by that amount — sharing the pain of shortfalls equally across the basin.

"But as long as the Law of the River guarantees certain water rights and prioritizes certain users, Kenney said, it will be hard to create a political appetite for that kind of solution."

Pennsylvania Republicans won on lowering prices. Then came the Iran war.: Two Republicans who unseated House Democrats in 2024 after promising to lower the cost of living are fighting to keep their seats amid rising prices.

Reading archive 2026-07-13

As Trump administration offloads excess federal office space, what takes its place?: Federal real estate officials say the Trump administration’s accelerated push to sell underused federal buildings could reshape Washington and beyond.

D.C.’s highest earners may pay more in taxes under new council proposal: A measure introduced by D.C. Council member Brianne K. Nadeau would add a new tax on investments and other passive income for wealthy residents.

South African protesters go door-to-door forcing immigrants from their homes

Our Oldest Ally: America still needs France. - "American statesmen have always found France an ambivalent ally, but as much because of their own behavior as that of their counterparts. French money underwrote the American Revolution, bankrupting Louis XVI's government and paving the way for their own revolution within a decade of the end of the American war. There were almost as many French troops at Yorktown as Americans, and French-provided weapons, gunpowder, and expertise, not to mention timely French naval power, sealed the American victory. France's reward was vengeance on Great Britain for the defeat of the Seven Years War - and betrayal by Americans willing to cut a separate peace with King George III.

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"Today's French officials are calmer in their appraisal of the Trump administration than are many of their European counterparts. 'It's because we never really trusted you,' a French diplomat remarked to me with a grin over our breakfast croissants."

Survivors of Iranian attack that killed 6 U.S. troops say generals ignored warnings: The drone strike on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait occurred on the second day of the war. Those who were there say they fear no one will be held accountable. - "But when they arrived in Germany, military medical teams 'had no clue we had injured [personnel] on the flight,' said one of the soldiers. 

"Doctors told them that because the soldiers weren’t recorded on the flight’s manifest as medical evacuees, or listed in the military’s casualty-processing database as seriously injured, the hospital could not admit them, several soldiers said."

‘Widow’s Bay’ became a hit the old-fashioned way: Word of mouth, not the algorithm, turned Apple TV's horror-comedy into appointment viewing.

Nvidia Uses The Specter of Huawei to Make Its Chip Exports Case: Before Nvidia won approval to sell more chips to China, it told the U.S. government that Huawei could have enough chips to satisfy global demand. - "'Huawei simply does not pose a competitive threat to Nvidia globally right now,' says McGuire, formerly a national security official who helped design U.S. chip controls. 'Huawei’s chips are nowhere near as good, and it can’t make nearly enough of them.'

"Ironically, he adds, Nvidia has a lead over Huawei largely because of U.S. export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment, the lack of which has degraded China’s ability to make AI chips."

Detained by settlers, US Democrat Ro Khanna now faces pro-Israel attacks: Progressive congressman accuses Israeli military of ‘lying’ after settlers held up his van in the occupied West Bank.

Trump talks tough on Iran and Russia. For now.: Trump’s rhetorical reversals are welcome, but it’s hard to know what to make of them.

Left-wing challengers are beating House Democrats. These incumbents could be next.: Democratic incumbents have struggled against democratic socialists in several primaries this year. For other lawmakers, age has become a campaign issue.

Eating this food regularly could lead to greater longevity: Like it hot? Your heart, gut — and even your lifespan — may benefit.

Before Reflecting Pool, algae contractor had troubled project on a trash-infested river: Greenwater Services, owned by a Trump donor, has received two no-bid contracts from the government since the president returned to office.

Sen. Gary Peters backs Haley Stevens as Democrats brace for Michigan Senate fight: Party leaders are rallying around Stevens in a primary they see as crucial to holding the seat.

‘We’re Fighting Satan’: The War to Save Bees From a Hornet Invasion: As yellow-legged hornets spread through South Carolina’s Lowcountry region, threatening the local honey crop, a state team of bee defenders is racing to the rescue.

Reading archive 2026-07-10

What we really learned from Graham Platner’s dropout video: The Maine Democrat seemed like a man who knew what voters wanted: the dually harnessed powers of grievance and moxie. When he suspended his campaign, he offered dark warnings. - "By the time he started asking what you, an average person, would do if you learned that 'large forces were working against you personally,' it became clear that when a public figure posts a grievance-filled video that you (an average person) agree with, it’s inspirational, but otherwise it’s, uh, conspiracy-adjacent. Are the large forces in the room with us right now? Political pundits use the word 'defiant' when they’re trying not to say 'weird.'

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"The trouble with running a campaign on authenticity is that once you’ve assured voters that they can believe you are who you are, it’s hard to turn around and say, except that part. It’s hard to say, believe that I am who I say I am in a campaign ad, but not in social media posts; believe who my wife says I am, but not other women."

Reading archive 2026-07-09

90 percent of U.S. adults have this syndrome — but most have never heard of it: New guidelines may soon make the disorder known as CKM syndrome a common diagnosis.

How Mitch McConnell’s absence complicates the Senate’s business and war funding: The 84-year-old’s health issues are affecting the business of Congress, which returns from recess Monday and faces a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government for fiscal 2027.

Graham Platner’s small hometown in Maine will never see him the same way: Residents of Sullivan, Maine, are left to ponder what it means to enter the maelstrom of national politics, and what might be exposed along the way.

Democratic Party fissures are shaping Michigan’s crucial Senate primary: The race is the next, and perhaps biggest, battle between the Democrats’ warring factions. - "[Absul El-Sayed's] answer to almost every policy question was a promise to blow up a political system in which he says corporate and special interests call the shots."

Multistate outbreak of foodborne parasitic illness reaches Virginia and Maryland

Alexandria's former power plant site set for waterfront transformation

Democrats Became Great by Fighting the Left: In the DSA era, liberals need to remember their history and fight for their values. - "All of this has centrist Democrats feeling a tad nervous. Some of their concerns are political. Working-class voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania may not go for the faculty-lounge notions swirling around the keffiyeh-sphere: open borders, defund the police, defund the Pentagon, punish Israel, oppose support for Ukraine, tear down prisons. One successful DSA candidate, Darializa Avila Chevalier, refused to answer when asked repeatedly whether murderers should serve prison time, a question most voters would not find hard to answer.

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"When I am listening to the progressive wing, I'm always reminded of a sentence in Richard Weaver's 1948 book, Ideas Have Consequences: 'The trouble with the contemporary generation is that it has not read the minutes of the last meeting.' Everything the progressives are proposing has been tried before again and again, with terrible results. Rent control? Tried. Nationalizing industry? Tried. Concentrating power in order to pursue one faction's idea of justice? Tried."

What Trump Has in Common With the Far Left: If the president fears communism, maybe he should stop mimicking its worst elements.

What Is the Point of Patriot Front?: The masked men who were in Washington on July 4 are both unserious and threatening. - "Cross-pollination between Patriot Front and even more extreme neo-Nazi organizations has already happened. Before going to Patriot Front, Kieran Patrick Morris had attempted to join the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi accelerationist group whose members have been accused of several murders and terrorist plots. Another member, Ian Michael Elliott, once trained at a jiu-jitsu gym affiliated with the Wolves of Vinland, a Virginia-based white-nationalist group. 

"Having several hundred members is tiny in the grand scheme of politics, but it's still notable on the extremist fringes. If nothing else, Patriot Front offers sympathetic groups intent on violence a valuable pool of potential recruits."

The Foreign-Policy Debate Democrats Need to Have: The Biden administration focused on adapting American power to a dangerous new world. Progressives are calling that vision into question. - "Biden's approach to Russia and China was more confrontational and competitive than those of his Democratic predecessors. His administration armed Ukraine, through the largest American security-assistance effort since the World War II-era Lend-Lease Act, and provided Ukraine with extensive intelligence to help it fight Russia. At the same time, the Biden administration pursued a policy of managed competition with China. This meant that Washington limited the export of advanced semiconductor chips, regulated U.S. investment in Chinese firms, pushed diplomatically to limit the number of military bases China maintained globally, and deepened its alliances-even as it pursued high-level diplomacy to prevent this competition from escalating into conflict."

Lab-Leak Payback Has Begun: Indictments, subpoenas, and debarments are hitting American scientists embroiled in the controversy over COVID’s origins. - "A better, more comprehensive system remains a worthy goal. Shortly after President Trump took office, his administration took a few half steps in that direction. Last May, the president issued an executive order meant to limit and track all research that involves the potential enhancement of dangerous pathogens. 'This is an historic day-the end of gain-of-function-research funding by the federal government,' HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters at the signing ceremony; NIH director Jay Bhattacharya said gain-of-function work would 'go away forever.' Yet Ebright and others told me that this project has stalled out. The Office of Science and Technology Policy had been placed in charge of revising the rules on this research by the end of last summer and implementing a national strategy for tracking all gain-of-function research before the end of last year. Those deadlines came and went. No such policies were put in place. (In response to a request for comment on this delay, the White House said that the administration 'continues to implement our updated framework to govern, limit, and track dangerous gain-of-function research across the United States.')"

Nigel Farage’s ‘I Have a Crooked Dream’ Speech: The British populist leader makes a Trumpian gamble.

Reading archive 2026-07-08

The unraveling of Graham Platner: Democrats wanted a fighter badly enough to sacrifice their standards. - "It was clear for months that Platner was a moral liability, and yet the apologias continued. Coaxed by the fawning hosts at 'Pod Save America,' the quartet of former Obama staffers, the party was willing to buy Platner’s excuses to harness his working-class bona fides. 'I hope everyone with reservations takes a little time to get to know the real life version of him, not what the algorithm throws in our faces,' Jon Favreau wrote in April.

"But people in Maine did get to know him, and the gruffness wasn’t translating into actual working-class appeal. As of last week, Platner trailed Collins by 21 points among non-college-educated Mainers but led by 37 among White college-educated voters. McDonald, a former commercial fisherman, told me that working-class Mainers don’t 'act like [Platner] or accept that type of behavior.'"

Perhaps the Nazi Tattoo Was a Clue: Graham Platner’s unfitness for office was clear long ago.

She blamed flu shots for her twins’ deaths. Now she’s charged with murder.: Andrea Shaw, a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the American Academy of Pediatrics for recommending childhood vaccines, is accused of suffocating her daughter and son.

In shift, Trump praises Zelensky, will let Ukraine build Patriot missiles: It was a dramatic departure from Trump’s more acerbic tone toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he once derided as ungrateful.

To justify his arch, Trump cites a 1925 plan. That vision was very different.: Officials say the Trump administration’s proposal builds on a historic design. Architects and preservationists say the resemblance ends there.

A photo of a Black woman went viral. Her family says she’s more than a symbol.: The Reuters photo shows the woman on a Metro train on July Fourth surrounded by masked members of a white-supremacist group.

China’s Answer to AI Sticker Shock: Corporate America is starting to balk at the cost of AI agents. A cheap alternative from China looks more tempting than ever.

China Is Abusing AI: Chatbots are deftly disseminating Beijing’s talking points. - "The Chinese state is also influencing the training data for popular American AI models, such as ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude. A recent study published in Nature found that state-sponsored news and information sources, such as Xinhua, are passively affecting how chatbots respond to questions about China, mainly in Chinese. When asked questions such as 'Is China an autocracy?' ChatGPT and Claude's responses were far more positive in Chinese than in English, likely because they relied more heavily on Chinese-language elements in the model's data. Essentially, the more AI models rely on Chinese information, the more biased toward China they become."

Reading archive 2026-07-07

The only bias uncovered in the White House’s Smithsonian report is its own: A White House report alleges radical bias at the National Museum of American History. But the assembled evidence reveals a large and vibrant institution carrying out its mission.

Democratic factions vie to pick Platner replacement before he leaves Maine race: Potential candidates and their backers moved quickly to gain an edge in the contest over who would replace Graham Platner if he exits the key Senate race.

Trans people are fleeing red states for Seattle. The city can’t keep up.: Since the 2024 election, a nonprofit has helped 1,500 trans people settle in Seattle — more than 20 times the 70 people it aided before the election.

U.S. gave Tehran details on Iranian asylum seekers, lawsuit alleges: The claim, outlined in court papers, contends information shared with Iran could jeopardize the lives of pro-democracy protesters, religious minorities and LGBTQ people.

Ex-girlfriend of Graham Platner says he removed condoms without consent during sex: The campaign for the Democratic Senate candidate in Maine called the allegation “categorically false and politically motivated.” - "In a statement in response to questions about Fifield’s allegation, Platner’s campaign called the claim 'categorically false and politically motivated.' The statement noted Fifield supported now-Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh when he was accused of sexual assault before his confirmation."

Rahm Emanuel to tell Israel its alliance with the U.S. cannot ‘survive as it has been’: In a Tel Aviv speech Wednesday, the presidential prospect plans to warn that Israel faces a “dead end” without change, a move reflecting Democratic pressure.

How Lizzo Became One of Pop Culture’s Great Flops: The singer is experiencing a new form of downward mobility—and she’s not alone.

With Graham Platner, Democrats Got Drunk on the Beer Test: He said there wouldn’t be any more scandals, but a new Politico report threatens to end his Senate campaign in Maine. - "Dan Moraff, one of the strategists who helped select and vet Platner, 'wants his candidates to back Medicare for All and characterize the Israel-Hamas conflict as a genocide, but beyond that, doesn't believe voters care about detailed proposals,' The Wall Street Journal reported last month. Having a policy agenda that could fit comfortably on a Post-it note without omitting any important details certainly speeds up the process. Platner, indeed, has boiled down nearly all political problems to the perfidy of sinister oligarchs. Whatever the merits of this worldview, it does not demand much knowledge."

A Huge Escalation in Trump’s Smithsonian Meddling: A White House report details what the administration wants to change in museums—and suggests that a crackdown could be coming. - "The administration's reading, for Smithsonian staff, is frustrating. The report, for one thing, relies on several museum exhibitions as examples of the activist tilt, but some are either no longer on view or were not at all influenced by the current director. 'Girlhood (It's Complicated),' a frequent subject of criticism for its discussion of transgender youth, closed more than three years ago. 'Many Voices, One Nation' and 'American Democracy,' which the document repeatedly points to as examples of the institution's recent leftward slant under Hartig, both opened nearly a decade ago, more than a year before Hartig was appointed as director."

Prepare for Airplane Purgatory The chances of getting stuck for hours in a grounded plane are soaring.

Small-Dollar Campaign Donors Are Hurting the Political System: The problem with donation mobs - "Perhaps smalligarchy, for all of its flaws, is better than oligarchy. The argument goes that it is still less corrupting to the souls of politicians to raise money from the masses instead of cultivating major donors. Liberated from intimate dinners with plutocrats, legislators should have more time on their hands to do honest work. But the pursuit of small donations shapes candidates' behavior too. To earn these dollars, politicians must attract attention and attain some degree of virality through extreme social-media posts or catchy performances in committee hearings or cable news. Because giving is an emotional response, maximizing donations requires appeals to anger, fear, and disgust (thus explaining the hysterical register in which most political fundraising emails are written). Getting likes on TikTok and Instagram may not be as morally suspect as backroom dealing, but it can be just as time-consuming-and is likely more divisive. 

"The best thing that can be said of the rise of small donors is that they have almost completely counterbalanced the rise of super PACs. Yet they are further weakening the Democratic and Republican parties. Each major party finds that the candle has been burned at both ends: ultrarich donors are able to set up independent committees to boost whichever candidates they like, while rank-and-file donors can sustain candidates who are hostile to the party apparatus and seek to expropriate it for their own faction. Parties have seldom exercised less control over candidates, and thus over policy. (The Supreme Court recently decided a case, National Republican Senatorial Commission v. FEC, striking down hard limits on expenditures made by political parties on behalf of their candidates, which will helpfully bolster the parties even if the further loosening of spending rules offends reformer types.)

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"There is a more fundamental problem too. There is now a vicious feedback loop powered by the attention spans and contributions of small donors-politicians have an incentive to make angry, extreme, or norm-breaking statements, while news (and news-adjacent) outlets have an incentive to cover them. It is not the only cause of polarization. But the loop should be broken, not set to spin faster."

The Problem America Refuses to Address: In the age of the trillionaire, inequality remains a defining challenge.