Monday, March 23, 2026

Reading archive 2026-03-23

A massive border wall expansion is underway The sun sets over the Rio Grande at Big Bend Ranch State Park in Terlingua, Texas, on March 3.: The aggressive pace of expansion has alarmed advocates who say the construction will destroy pristine country, threaten endangered species, and cut off access to sacred Indigenous and archaeological sites. - "The Department of Homeland Security has issued waivers under the 2005 REAL ID Act, allowing the department to disregard the wall’s impact on plants and animals normally protected by the Endangered Species Act. The project is exempted from the National Environmental Policy Act — a sweeping law that mandates an extensive review of a federal action’s potential impacts and public consultation that can take years."

Trump administration lifts sanctions on millions of barrels of Iranian oil: As oil prices soar, the Treasury Department has lifted sanctions on Iranian crude already loaded onto vessels — giving Iran’s war effort against the U.S. a boost.

To tilt Hungarian election, Russians proposed staging assassination attempt: To aid Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a friend of Russia, in his election, operatives proposed “the Gamechanger” — a staged assassination attempt to stir supporters.

Congress could be headed for a tipping point, irreversible decline: After nearly two decades covering Capitol Hill, a reflection on how bad things are.

Trucks and tractors reflect a bubbling frustration in rural America: The right-to-repair movement is a bellwether. Which party will recognize the stakes?

Republicans privately fear this swing state Democrat: Behind closed doors, Republicans have tamped down their hopes of unseating Jon Ossoff, a 39-year-old powerhouse fundraiser, as he seeks another term.

Bike lanes that greatly reduced crashes on National Mall set for removal: After the 15th Street bike lanes were constructed, bicycle injury crashes decreased by 91 percent, according to the District Department of Transportation.

As mayoral election looms, D.C.’s business class worries about what’s next: A potential leftward shift in the wake of the pandemic and the Trump administration’s cutting of thousands of federal jobs has sparked unease in the city’s business community.

D.C.’s mayoral race turned negative. Soaring utility bills lit the fuse.: Soaring gas and electricity bills are increasing scrutiny of Democratic mayoral front-runners Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan R. McDuffie.

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Reading archive 2026-03-19

Trump Is Learning That His Bullying Has Consequences: Allies are not eager to assist a superpower that’s shown them no loyalty. - "In the past, Denmark and other European countries that viewed good relations with Washington as the foundation of their security would have been more willing to assist 'even if they weren't on board with the military mission per se,' Søndergaard said. "It's pretty clear this is not the case anymore." Proof of that came last night, when Denmark's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, gave a forthright answer to a question in a televised debate about whether she could still call the United States her country's most important ally. 'No, I can't do that anymore,' she said, instead pointing to Europe, especially other Nordic countries, as well as Canada.

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"Germany's position reflects a pragmatic response to a pattern of U.S. behavior. Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the foreign-affairs committee in the German Parliament, ticked through the blows with me: downgrading Europe's importance in annual national-security and defense strategies, dialing back support for Ukraine, and delivering a boost to the Kremlin's war economy by lifting some sanctions on Russian oil. All of this, naturally, has repercussions. "It strains the transatlantic relationship," Kiesewetter told me today. 'We do not see Trump as a trustworthy ally anymore.'"

A Possible Upside to the Iran War: Perhaps inadvertently, Trump is revealing the limits of China’s Axis of Autocracy. - "Villa suggests that China's leaders could burnish the country's reputation in Latin America by fighting U.S. hard power with soft power, expanding aid and investment in the region. Yet this looks unlikely. Although China is a major trading partner for Latin American countries, Beijing's generosity can be limited. Villa estimates that even after the Trump administration's cuts to USAID's budget, Beijing's international aid amounted to only 5 percent of what Washington handed out around the world last year. 'There's no indication that China will close that gap,' he told me."


Everyone but Trump Understands What He’s Done: Allied leaders know that any positive gesture they make will count for nothing. - "Specifically, they remember that for 14 months, the American president has tariffed them, mocked their security concerns, and repeatedly insulted them. As long ago as January 2020, Trump told several European officials that ;if Europe is under attack, we will never come to help you and to support you.; In February 2025, he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he had no right to expect support either, because ;you don't have any cards.; Trump ridiculed Canada as the ;51st state; and referred to both the present and previous Canadian prime ministers as ;governor.; He claimed, incorrectly, that allied troops in Afghanistan ;stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,; causing huge offense to the families of soldiers who died fighting after NATO invoked Article 5 of the organization's treaty, on behalf of the United States, the only time it has done so. He called the British ;our once-great ally,; after they refused to participate in the initial assault on Iran; when they discussed sending some aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf conflict earlier this month, he ridiculed the idea on social media: 'We don't need people that join Wars after we've already won!'"

The Iran War’s Next Threat Is to Food and Water: A prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz could unleash a humanitarian crisis.

This app is quietly reformulating America’s food supply: Food scanning app Yuka is empowering consumers to demand that processed food brands make their products healthier. - "Dariush Mozaffarian, a Tufts University cardiologist and director of its Food Is Medicine Institute, faults Nutri-Score as relying on 'outdated science,' such as penalizing some healthy fats, while lacking evidence it leads individuals to eat meaningfully better over time. 'It’s not terrible,' he said, “but I don’t think it’s great." (Mozaffarian has helped develop his own nutritional index called the Food Compass). 

"Other food experts say Yuka unhelpfully demonizes additives that can be dangerous at high doses but are usually present in tiny amounts. Some may not be 'high-risk' at all: Yuka puts MSG in that category, despite scientific bodies from the FDA to WHO declaring them safe in typical amounts after multiple randomized controlled studies."



Britain is ready to admit it has an America problem: Washington’s unquestioned leadership of the West’s postwar alliance system is dissolving. - "Despite Britain’s conventional ammo stocks having whittled down to the point it could barely sustain a week of high intensity warfare with Russia, London was willing to put its specialist skills and weaponry behind Ukraine while Washington dithered. This included airlifting NLAW anti-tank weapons to Kyiv and telling Britain’s long-standing in-country training mission to stay put as other Westerners withdrew theirs. By the time I arrived in Kyiv, the United Kingdom had spent two years not following but pushing the United States, all while being much more present on the ground.

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"The truth is it is not Britain, with its rocky politics and strained public finances, that is seriously rearming. It’s Germany. With Berlin aiming to hit 3.5 percent of GDP on defense by 2029, the balance of power in Europe is going to shift radically. A Europe still allied to Washington but primarily defended by Europeans is in sight. But neither Britain nor France are ready for their German partner suddenly overshadowing them militarily. Unless the U.K. raises its defense budget to generate more deployable assets to secure Europe’s perimeter, London’s return to relevance risks being a passing moment in between two Western security orders."


The nation’s accelerating self-assassination: The national debt is heading for $40 trillion. Blame “Total Boomer Luxury Communism.” - "The fastest-growing age cohort is people 65 and older. They are high-propensity voters because the more government subsidizes them, the higher are the stakes of politics for them. And because of their powerful incentive to vote (in order to defend and enlarge their benefits), the political class has a permanent incentive to intensify the elderly’s incentive by enriching those benefits. Last year, the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act increased the standard tax deduction for seniors — and only for them.

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Thomas Jefferson said spending money to be repaid by posterity is 'swindling futurity on a large scale.' There is, however, no injustice in borrowing from the future to fund public goods — those from which all citizens, present and future, will benefit. Such goods — physical (roads, dams, harbors, defense) and intellectual (education, scientific research) — are the infrastructure enabling society’s dynamism. The swindle that has become normal is perpetrated by generations in power funding their consumption of government goods by burdening — borrowing from — future generations."

‘Trump is aiming for dictatorship’. That’s the verdict of the world’s most credible democracy watchdog: Sweden’s V-Dem Institute warns that the US is no longer a liberal democracy. And autocracy is creeping across Europe too - "Another aspect of America’s rapidly deteriorating democracy, according to the report, is the removal of internal guardrails that protect the federal government from abuse of power. When I ask Lindberg how we should read the findings, his response is emphatic. 'Trump has fired inspector generals and higher levels of civil servants across departments, and replaced them with loyalists. This is exactly what Orbán and Erdoğan did. They remove the constraints on power. It should be obvious by now that Trump is aiming for dictatorship.'"

None of These People I Insulted Want To Die For Me in The Strait of Hormuz?: The Trump people, on top of everything else, do not know ball. PLUS: U.S. military AI usage killed an Iraqi student in 2024 - "Thirty years ago, while basking in the dawn of U.S. hyperpower, imperial policymakers liked to say that 'superpowers don't do windows'—that is, the unglamorous, menial tasks of hegemony, which ought to be performed by client states. We are a long way from that now. The Iraq War (and then the Afghanistan surge) showed that even at the height of U.S. unipolarity, there were serious political limits to the participation of partner militaries in unpopular American wars of choice. Now, at the historical end of U.S. unipolarity, there simply was never going to be any appetite to save the Americans from their own mistakes.

That reticence would confront any administration reckless enough to engage in an unprovoked aggression against what remains a formidable regional power. But this is the Trump administration we're talking about. Last year, the Trump administration levied massive tariffs on its traditional allies, basically as imperial tribute. Not two months ago, Trump threatened Europe over Greenland, and in doing so clarified his position that Europeans ought to be vassals of the United States. Marco Rubio—this time to European applause—placed Europe within a claimed American sphere of influence. Some of those European countries at first issued statements of support for the U.S. against Iran, particularly when the Iranians held the Gulf at risk, despite Mark Carney's fire at Davos about exiting the U.S. security umbrella. But the last thing insulted states are going to do is send their own navies into the line of fire on behalf of a contemptuous and aggressive patron. This is real basic shit."






Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Reading archive 2026-03-17

He killed a D.C. police officer. He’s asking to get out of prison early.: U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro says a D.C. law that could allow his early release “spits on the face of every grieving family.” - "Now, the family is facing the possibility that Marthell N. Dean will be allowed to walk free under a controversial D.C. law that allows convicts who committed their crimes while under the age of 24 to obtain an early release or reduced sentence if they’ve already spent 15 years behind bars.

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"Last year, Pirro urged the D.C. Council to repeal the Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act, asserting it coddled young criminals. She said in the interview that 4 of every 10 killers in the District are under the age of 25, and that the law 'essentially created a 15-year maximum penalty for 40 percent of the murderers in Washington, D.C.'"

Disney crackdown hits princess makeovers, cupcakes and photo shoots: Vendors say they made magic for resort guests. Mickey told them to stay away.

Trump divulges congressman’s terminal illness, says doctors said he could be ‘dead by June’: Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Florida), who is not seeking reelection, had not previously publicly disclosed that he is battling a terminal illness.

Is MAGA in its cringe era?: Trump 2.0 was supposed to be younger and cooler than what came before. The vibes have shifted.

U.S. intelligence says Iran’s regime is consolidating power: Despite withering airstrikes, officials see a weakened but more hard-line government in Tehran, backed by the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps security forces.

Mezcal’s popularity is booming in the US. That comes with a growing environmental cost in Mexico - "In two major mezcal-producing areas of Oaxaca, more than 34,953 hectares (86,370 acres) of tropical dry and pine oak forests have been lost in 27 years to make room for agave, an area roughly equivalent to the size of the U.S. city of Detroit, according to a study led by Rufino Sandoval-García, a professor at the Technological University of the Central Valley of Oaxaca.

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"For Velasco, the problem is not the entry of large brands, which he says have done more than the government to support marginalized areas like his, but the lack of public incentives for farmers to safeguard environments by planting native trees or maintaining traditional farming systems."

Iran war should trigger faster exit from fossil fuel dependence, UN climate chief says

An expert says his plan would slash energy bills by 30 percent: Electricity costs are closely regulated by states. Regulators could try to rein in companies’ profits to reduce customers’ bills. - "Spending by utility companies has been rising, as companies replace aging infrastructure and confront climate change hazards. 'Utilities make money when they spend money …. They generally like to spend money on new infrastructure,' said Charles Hua, founder of the group PowerLines. 'They earn a return on capital expenditures. So they are fundamentally incentivized to spend capital … and not to prioritize efficiency.'"

First senior official openly breaks with White House, resigns over war: Joe Kent, a close aide to the director of national intelligence, cited deliberate Israeli “misinformation” and lies to President Donald Trump about a “swift path to victory.” - "Members of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s staff were getting briefed on options for a strike on Iran as early as January 2025 in what one of the people described as an extreme 'pressure campaign' by Israel. Israeli officials argued that Iran was very close to having a nuclear weapon and that Israel was going in with or without the U.S. — but that either way, the U.S. would need to be ready."

Israel urges Iranians to revolt but privately assesses they’ll be ‘slaughtered’: Israeli officials told U.S. counterparts they hope for an uprising even though it would lead to a massacre, according to a State Department cable reviewed by The Post. - "Iran has funded militias and political movements across the Middle East that are hostile to Israel, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Israel’s effort to push for an uprising in Iran regardless of the number of fatalities is consistent with its decades-long effort to cause the 'fragmentation of Iran' and 'state collapse,' said Bajoghli, the Iran expert. 

"'One of the ways of achieving that is creating more opportunities in which the guns of the state get turned onto the population,' she said. 'The goal is not creating a liberal democracy for the Iranian people. It’s widening the chasm between the society and the state.'"

Monday, March 16, 2026

Reading archive 2026-03-16

Ric Grenell took a ‘sledgehammer’ to the Kennedy Center. Trump still soured on him - "'He kept saying that he agreed to take on the Kennedy Center role because he was assuming that he would that he would be taking on the State job quite quickly, so he was just a matter of time,' a person close to the Kennedy Center said. 'He felt like he was getting sloppy seconds of the Kennedy Center.'" [ed. note: lol, lol]

I Was an F.B.I. Agent for 25 Years. Kash Patel Is Playing a Dangerous Game. - "Mr. Patel is fond of saying that his goal is to let 'good cops be cops.' In leading the F.B.I., his job is to let good special agents be special agents. F.B.I. agents are trained to use intelligence and technology to advance investigations into federal crimes such as terrorism and cyberattacks. They are not trained to patrol city streets or to enforce immigration laws — as Mr. Patel has had them do. There are about 13,000 F.B.I. agents, and roughly 700,000 full-time sworn state and local law enforcement officers in the United States. The bureau must work with law enforcement partners to effectively address issues including violent crime. But agents aren’t cops, and their skills are best directed at neutralizing the most significant threats.

I Predicted the 2008 Financial Crisis. What Is Coming May Be Worse.

Jobs least and most vulnerable to AI

Trump sold young voters on his vision. Many are having buyer’s remorse.: They were a key part of the coalition that powered the president’s comeback, and their frustrations signal vulnerability for Republicans ahead of the midterms.

The Iran war is eroding America’s China deterrent: U.S. tactical gains are consuming the ships, munitions and readiness needed for the Indo-Pacific.

I traveled to Ukraine to teach sociology. It left me amazed.: A university in Kyiv is under siege — and running more than 12 hours a day.

I’ve seen several types of warfare. This is the worst.: Drones are erasing any sense of safety, and Iran is only a warmup.

Collagen sits on a throne of lies: Or, how the supplement industry took meat garbage and turned it into a 9-billion-dollar business. - "The collagen pushers are always conveniently forgetting to mention that the collagen-protein relationship is kind of one-directional, in a positive way: While dietary collagen is a terrible source of protein, it’s relatively simple and easy to construct body collagen from most proteins, which means that virtually any protein we eat will probably help us regain or maintain body collagen. Just having a sufficient protein intake means your body will be able to make all the collagen it is able to. And per the protein digestibility factor, virtually any protein source, any semblance of a balanced diet, is going to help you do this better than consuming collagen itself."

Gamblers trying to win a bet on Polymarket are vowing to kill me if I don’t rewrite an Iran missile story: Bettors are using death threats to try to get The Times of Israel’s military correspondent to change his report on a missile impact in central Israel. This is his alarming account

“South Park Syndrome”: How a Generation Misunderstood Satire and the Death of Critical Thinking - "This is where 'South Park Syndrome' and Rogan’s brand of detached discussion intersect. When everything is framed as just a joke or just a conversation, it fosters an environment where nothing is really taken seriously. Dangerous ideas can spread under the guise of curiosity, and critical engagement gets replaced with passive consumption. The audience, much like many South Park fans, absorbs the humor and the debate but doesn’t always do the work of questioning what it all really means. The result? A culture of cynicism where skepticism gets mistaken for intelligence and where laughing at everything feels more comfortable than confronting hard truths."

College Republicans group disbanded after students allegedly give Nazi salute: The University of Florida’s chapter accused the Florida Federation of College Republicans of lying “to silence christian conservative groups on campus.”

Teenagers Are Pushing Himmler’s Favorite Myth: If you are older than 25, you probably haven’t heard of “Agartha.”

‘The More I’m Around Young People, the More Panicked: I Am’ Anti-Jewish prejudice isn’t a partisan divide—it’s a generational one.

Friday, March 13, 2026

Reading archive 2026-03-13

AP Exclusive: Smithsonian museum will revamp its slavery exhibit after artifact loan runs out

Suspect in synagogue crash lost family in Israeli attack on Lebanon, official says: The FBI is investigating the Michigan attack as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.”

Why China could emerge a winner from Trump’s global energy shock: China’s evolution into an “electrostate” may help insulate it from spiking oil prices.

Economy was shakier than it appeared heading into Iran conflict: Inflation remained elevated in January, and economic growth from October through December was sharply lower than initially reported.

Can Florida save Trump’s plan to keep GOP in power?: Republicans in Florida say they may not be able to deliver the type of redistricting bonanza that would give the party breathing room in the midterms.

He’s 27. She’s 54. Somehow ‘Age of Attraction’ thinks no one can tell.: The show’s gimmick: Nobody has any idea how old the others really are! However: They all look exactly the age they are.

‘Some parents said they’d break my knees’: the teacher who exposed Putin’s primary school propaganda

Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power: They’re saying the quiet part out loud now. - "'This technology disrupts humanities-trained—largely Democratic—voters, and makes their economic power less. And increases the economic power of vocationally trained, working-class, often male, working-class voters,' Karp said in a CNBC interview Thursday. 'And so these disruptions are gonna disrupt every aspect of our society. And to make this work, we have to come to an agreement of what it is we’re going to do with the technology; how are we gonna explain to people who are likely gonna have less good, and less interesting jobs.'"

Why right-wing media can’t stop Candace Owens: Erika Kirk’s defense of herself gets drowned out by “Bride of Charlie” documentary - "For decades, conservative media has thrived on a business model that monetizes outrage and distrust. The more outrageous the claim, the greater the engagement. The more distrust sowed toward institutions — universities, media, elections, public health, the FBI — the more loyal the audience becomes. In December, even as Owens was deep into Charlie Kirk assassination trutherism, Erika Kirk was urging TPUSA audiences to be tolerant of disagreeable views. By the time the right decided Owens had gone too far, she had already built a fully independent operation. The movement that once shielded Owens is now discovering that monsters raised on grievance do not recognize fences. The conservative movement no longer has credible gatekeepers. Right-wing media’s fragmentation means that condemnation from established outlets often strengthens, rather than weakens, insurgent figures like Owens.

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"For all its focus on Erika Kirk, “Bride of Charlie” is not really about her. Nor is it even really about Charlie Kirk. It is about an identity crisis on the American right —  what happens when a media movement decides that the thrill of the conspiracy, the pleasure of the accusation, the dopamine of the “truth bomb” matters more than the actual truth. Right-wing media cannot stop Candace Owens because they cannot renounce the incentives that made her powerful."

Trump administration allows for Russian oil sales as energy prices soar: The move is likely to be a boon to Russia as the United States tries to stem the economic fallout from its war on Iran. - "The move will provide a huge financial boost to Russia, which experts say has already been receiving about $150 million per day from increased oil sales since the U.S. attacked Iran two weeks ago."

Thursday, March 12, 2026

Reading archive 2026-03-12

Ex-DOJ prosecutor who proclaimed ‘this job sucks’ will run for Congress: Julie T. Le made headlines during DHS’s surge in Minneapolis and will launch a campaign to challenge Rep. Ilhan Omar for her seat.

Young bankers are learning the hard way that Wall Street doesn't do influencers - "'The young generation wants to be seen differently at work today, I would say, than in the past,' he said. 'Times have changed. Values have changed.' But it's no excuse — financial institutions are explicit about their expectations and enforce 'very, very clear' regulations around social media use, Argenti said. Junior employees understand the culture they are entering."

What is wisdom, and can it be taught?: Scientists are trying to name the qualities that make someone wise and figure out how to cultivate them

Pittsburgh is pivoting. It could be a lesson for Democrats.: The new mayor is putting pragmatism over ideology as the city prepares to host the NFL draft.

How Neighborly Do Home Additions Have to Be?: As municipalities encourage more housing density, neighbors debate what kind of construction should be allowed.

Iran’s Islamic Republic 2.0 is coming — and it won’t be pretty: How Trump’s tactical victory could turn into a forever war. - "But the regime survives. It has taken America’s best punch, and it’s still standing. Tiers of senior military, intelligence and political leaders are dead, but they have been replaced by others. There’s no sign of a popular uprising. The cadres of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hide among piles of rubble, but they haven’t been eliminated."

Lebanon appeals to Israel’s allies to stop strikes as death toll rises: The Iran war is expanding into Lebanon, as the Israeli offensive to dismantle Hezbollah has displaced 800,000 people there, with more than 680 people killed.

The Obvious Is Taking Its Revenge on Trump: The reasons other U.S. presidents avoided war with Iran are becoming all too evident. - "Another daunting obstacle to victory is the nature of the Iranian regime, a theocracy that celebrates martyrdom and has spent its entire history preparing for what it considers an inevitable war with the United States. Every time protests fill public squares, I allow myself to believe that the terrible government in Tehran will crumble. But its willingness to kill to survive is the biggest obstacle to its toppling. And Trump intervened after the regime killed tens of thousands of its most determined foes. Calling for revolution after the revolution has been crushed is belated timing, to say the least. Perhaps the Trump administration will succeed in further weakening Iranian authoritarianism - the attacks will certainly set back the country's already struggling economy - so that after the bombs stop falling, regime opponents will rush into the streets. But, thus far, decapitating the regime has succeeded only in replacing one Ayatollah Khamenei with another. By all accounts, the son is no less fanatical than his father and believes with theological certainty that the most brutal means justify his righteous ends."

A Police Report About a House Candidate Surprised the White House: A woman’s allegations of rape against a Republican House candidate have put Trump in a bind.

Spain’s Wind-Farm Bargain: Renewable-energy projects can boost the economy of a rural town—if the community has a say in development.

A Never-Ending Conspiracy Theory in Remote Alaska: Why are some people convinced that nefarious experiments are happening at HAARP?

ROTC students at Old Dominion subdued and killed the shooter who killed 1 person, wounded 2: The FBI says ROTC students subdued and killed a gunman who yelled “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire Thursday in an Old Dominion University classroom, killing one and wounding two