Reading archive 2021-06-30

Cheat Day With Christopher Meloni: A lunch date with the man behind the behind.

Two women chatted in a bathroom. They soon realized they were each a match for the other’s husband, who needed a kidney.

He found a 2.2-carat diamond in an Arkansas park. Then he proposed to his girlfriend.

MIT professor goes viral for putting a crib in his lab to help a new mother

A gay couple faced vulgar harassment. A neighbor helped find the suspect with a handwriting sample.

America’s Pot Labs Have A THC Problem

‘Right-Wing Death Squad’: Active-Duty Marine Plotted to Bomb DNC, Murder Black People, Feds Say

Opinion: Republicans have a new strategy: Blue Lies Matter - "How, then, to explain the latest 'legislative scorecard' from the National Association of Police Officers, a group claiming to represent a quarter-million officers who endorsed President Donald Trump’s reelection? 

"McCarthy, Stefanik and Banks all scored 57 percent, and some of the back-benchers piling on Tuesday — Reps. Ken Buck (Colo.), Jody Hice (Ga.), Mo Brooks (Ala.) — scored a paltry 43 percent on NAPO’s pro-police scorecard. 

"And the Squad? Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) all scored 86 percent. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) scored 71 percent. Where it really counts, all four members of the Squad are more pro-police than their Republican critics.

...

"The reason is simple. Democrats, at least at the federal level, have been the ones funding the police. The 2019-2021 scorecard is based on votes on health care, pensions, covid-19 relief, bulletproof vests, victim compensation and policing reform. There’s not yet a scorecard of votes in the new Congress, but police groups favored the American Rescue Plan covid-relief legislation, which Republicans uniformly opposed, and President Biden wants to pump $300 million more into the COPS community policing program, which Republicans have long opposed.

...

"Democrats ought to be saying, as Biden aide Cedric Richmond did on 'Fox News Sunday,' 'Republicans are very good at staying on talking points of who says defund the police, but the truth is, they defunded the police.' Unlike GOP leadership, the numbers don’t lie."

These are the faces of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, now jailed or exiled.

Reading archive 2021-06-29

A New Darkness Falls on the Trump Movement: A bizarre 24 hours on the trail with the former president gave hints at the earthquake ahead.

Reading archive 2021-06-28

Opinion: The Catholic bishops’ anti-Biden project is backfiring

Opinion: William Barr’s bombshell about Trump is more revealing than it seems

The FBI searched cave for Civil War gold, fearing Pa. officials would seize it, new court documents show

Reading archive 2021-06-26

Cities are making covid-era street changes permanent. Some are facing pushback.: The D.C. Council has appealed to the National Park Service to keep cars off a scenic stretch of Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park

Reading archive 2021-06-25

In this rural Virginia district, a young Republican turns toward Trump in faceoff against BLM supporter

Reading archive 2021-06-24

Opinion: Homophobes don’t care about same-sex love. They object to the sex.

Opinion: Transit equity should be a priority in D.C.'s budget

Opinion: The Virginia GOP’s diverse ticket may present a problem for Democrats

Carl Nassib becomes first active NFL player to come out as gay

Woman struck and killed by Metrorail train at Union Station

Footage of Amazon destroying thousands of unsold items in Britain prompts calls for official investigation

Inside the extraordinary effort to save Trump from covid-19: His illness was more severe than the White House acknowledged at the time. Advisers thought it would alter his response to the pandemic. They were wrong.

Pelosi announces a select committee will investigate Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob

Far-right activist Ammon Bundy is running for Idaho governor, tapping an anti-establishment trend

Biden announces bipartisan deal on infrastructure after meeting with GOP and Democratic senators

The most brutal debunking of Trump’s fraud claims yet — from Republicans

153 people resigned or were fired from a Texas hospital system after refusing to get vaccinated: Houston Methodist was one of the nation’s first health systems to impose a coronavirus vaccine mandate

Inside the ‘shadow reality world’ promoting the lie that the presidential election was stolen: Wealthy allies of former president Donald Trump have spent millions on films, rallies and other efforts to tout falsehoods about the 2020 vote. - "On Wednesday, a state Senate committee chaired by McBroom released the results of a seven-month-long investigation of Michigan’s election results, which included testimony from 90 witnesses. The report concluded there was 'no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud” and warned of “those who have pushed demonstrably false theories for their own personal gain.'"

Tension grips Michigan as Trump’s election attacks continue to reverberate - "'I think the intent of these laws are sinister — they are designed to restrict who participates in democracy,” said Jeff Timmer, a former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party from 2005 to 2009. “This move screams of a party that has nothing to offer and needs to restrict voters in order to win because they failed as a party to expand their appeal.'"

Reading archive 2021-06-18

‘Alito was just pissed’: Trump’s Supreme Court breaks down along surprising lines: Thursday’s decisions laid bare an emerging rift within the court’s conservative majority.

Reading archive 2021-06-17

Hawks-76ers: Ben Simmons apologists have their work cut out, and 'The Process' is hanging by a thread: Simmons took four shots on Wednesday and the Sixers blew a 26-point lead

Supreme Court unanimously rules for Catholic group in Philadelphia foster-care dispute

Biden apologizes for snapping at CNN reporter over Putin questions: ‘I shouldn’t have been such a wise guy’

Powerball mystery: Someone in this tiny town won $731 million. Now everyone wants a piece of it. - "Still, sure as she is that they’re the winners, Cooper says the new millionaires shouldn’t feel any obligation to support the rest of Lonaconing. As a steady stream of cars arrive to pick up boxes of sweet potatoes, onions, apples, squash and cucumbers, people talk more about being grateful for what they have than about wanting or deserving anything from the Power Pack. 

"'We love the Lord,' Cooper said, 'and He sends us what we need. And President Trump sent us cheese and milk and hot dogs — the Democrat just sends us vegetables. President Trump put a letter in each one of these boxes saying he’s thinking of us. People kept those notes from President Trump, put them up on their walls. That’s who people depend on, not the Powerball winner.'" [ed. note - conflation of Trump with the Lord, lol]

Reading archive 2021-06-15

Opinion: How Republicans could actually improve Biden’s infrastructure proposal

Shake Shack manager was held and ‘taunted’ after NYPD union falsely claimed he poisoned drinks, lawsuit says

Jon Stewart goes all-in on the lab leak theory

Ex-lawmaker insisted her sister-in-law was murdered in burned trailer. Now she’s been killed at the same site.

Tons of toxic cargo: How a fire aboard a container ship has caused one of the worst environmental disasters Sri Lanka has ever seen.

Critical race theory battle invades school boards — with help from conservative groups: In towns nationwide, well-connected conservative activists, and Fox News, have ramped up the tension in fights over race and equity in schools. - "Rufo, who said he was in touch with then-President Donald Trump’s staff before he issued an executive order last September banning critical race theory’s use by federal agencies, promised in a March tweet to make critical race theory 'toxic' in the public imagination. Rufo declined an interview request. 

"'The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think 'critical race theory,'' he wrote. 'We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.'"

Emails reveal Trump pressured top DOJ officials to overturn election results

Reading archive 2021-06-14

The Supreme Court Has Carved Out One Religious Exemption After Another. The Next May Be A Blow To LGBTQ Rights. - "'The real danger, and in my view, the evil that resides in this concept of religious liberty without regard to consideration of the common good is that we end up permitting religious actors to question laws that are necessary for all of us. It will open the floodgates to religious organizations saying they shouldn’t have to cover any medical procedures they deem against their faith, whether it is a blood transfusion, reproductive care or covering vaccines.'

...

Either way, the impact of a decision for CSS could be enormous, said Green of the Center for Religion, Law and Democracy. Overturning Smith would mean endowing religion with 'most-favored nation status' — a phrase coined by the First Amendment scholar and law school professor Douglas Laycock and co-opted by Kavanaugh in his dissent on COVID-19 regulations. Essentially, the concern is that religious liberty would almost always outweigh any other government concerns, like health, public safety and nondiscrimination."

Arrest made in potential hate incident involving machete, D.C. police say

Maine tries to shift some costs of recycling onto companies instead of taxpayers - "With mountains of boxes and bubble wrap from online pandemic shopping now going in the trash, lawmakers are trying to make Maine the first state to shift some of the costs of its recycling onto companies — not taxpayers. If the bipartisan bill passes, Maine will join several Canadian provinces, including neighboring Quebec, and all European countries, which have for decades relied on so-called extended producer responsibility programs, or EPR, for packaging.

Maine tries to shift some costs of recycling onto companies instead of taxpayers

Secret recordings, leaked letters: Explosive secrets rocking the Southern Baptist Convention

Reading archive 2021-06-11

Trump Fans Charged In Capitol Attack Didn’t Like Antifa Getting Credit For Their Work: Capitol attack defendants, lured to D.C. by a mass voter fraud conspiracy theory, didn’t like seeing conspiracy theories steal their credit.

Biden officials move to reinstate Alaska roadless rule, overturning Trump policy: The proposal would affect 9.3 million acres of forest, including vast areas of old growth, that Bill Clinton originally protected in 2001

‘People of Praise leaders failed me’: Christian group tied to Justice Amy Coney Barrett faces reckoning over sexual misconduct

Reading archive 2021-06-10

63 years later, Tom Ammiano gets the varsity letter he was denied as a gay teen

The media called the ‘lab leak’ story a ‘conspiracy theory.’ Now it’s prompted corrections — and serious new reporting.

Opinion: People are angry at Merrick Garland for refusing to do what William Barr did

Kim Jong Un appears to have lost some weight — and that could have geopolitical consequences

FBI director berated for Jan. 6 failures, Giuliani probe, says he’s unaware of any Trump investigation connected to riot

Man accused of plotting ‘race war’ pleads guilty to gun and immigration charges

Man who shot video of fatal Capitol shooting is arrested, remains focus of political storm: John Earle Sullivan joined the rampage through the Capitol, and some cited his past as evidence of liberal involvement in the siege

Reading archive 2021-06-09

'Sorry you had to see that' -- How baserunning has become an embarrassing problem in Major League Baseball - "Our players today, for all their talent and greatness, are confused far too often on the bases. In spring training 2019, Yankees manager Aaron Boone, during infield drills, instructed his players that when the Yankees are in the field, if there's an infield fly rule, his fielders should consider intentionally letting the ball drop because it might totally confuse the runners on the other team. They might not know what to do, and they might run themselves into another out.

"A couple of weeks later, on Opening Day against the Orioles, the Yankees had runners on first and second with one out when Gary Sanchez hit a towering popup -- infield fly rule, batter is out automatically -- that Orioles catcher Jesus Sucre dropped. Luke Voit, the runner on second, got confused and took off for third -- even though he didn't have to go anywhere. He was tagged out in a rundown for a double play."

A mom was charged for posing as her middle school daughter in class. She says she ‘proved’ security flaws.

A doctor falsely told lawmakers vaccines magnetize people: ‘They can put a key on their forehead. It sticks.’

Save your skin: How you shower matters more than when, dermatologists say

As home prices soar in unlikely places, the most vulnerable residents pay the price: New York City transplants are bringing a housing boom — and growing inequality — deep into the Hudson Valley

D.C., Md. hospitals will require employees to get vaccinated against covid-19

On 'Sour,' Olivia Rodrigo Is A Lowercase Girl With Caps-Lock Feelings

A bakery lost a client when it made rainbow Pride cookies. So others bought every item in the shop.

Reading archive 2021-06-08

'Cool’ roofs, cooler designs as the building industry embraces energy sustainability: Despite the U.S. sector’s still-big carbon footprint, advocates think it could reach a net-zero-emissions future within a generation

FBI-controlled Anom app ensnares scores of alleged criminals in global police sting

As grocery prices rise, alt-meat takes a bigger bite of Big Meat’s burger: Far from cooling the alt-protein trend, the pandemic has seen a surge in offerings and drop in prices

Reading archive 2021-06-07

Amazon is about to share your Internet connection with neighbors. Here’s how to turn it off.: You have no control over what sort of data flows over Amazon’s new Sidewalk wireless network, which has been lying dormant in Echo smart speakers and Ring cameras ... until now

Opinion: Time to call Manchin’s bluff

Looking to reduce salt in a recipe? Here’s how and when you should — and shouldn’t — do it.

THE SEDITION HUNTERS: Amateur internet sleuths have turned the Washington, D.C., insurrection on Jan. 6 into the ultimate online manhunt.

Scientists begin to unravel the mysteries of the coronavirus and brains

Thousands of eggs abandoned after a drone scares off nesting birds

Reading archive 2021-06-06

She almost jumped off a bridge. She now returns there to post notes that have saved the lives of others.

Los Angeles County prepares to crack down as peacocks — yes, peacocks — ruffle feathers: Beautiful but bothersome fowl proliferating in Southern California’s residential neighborhoods, delighting some but distressing many others

Putin’s daughter steps into the spotlight. But no one will acknowledge she’s Putin’s daughter.

Reading archive 2021-06-05

Rotting From Within [ed. note: Doylestown, Cold Spring Hunt, Toll Brothers Inc.]

Reading archive 2021-06-04

You May Live a Lot Longer - "For example, as we age, we build up more and more “senescent” cells, which secrete inflammatory molecules that can effectively accelerate aging. In 2011, researchers removed these cells from mice and extended their life spans. Clinical trials on people began in 2018."

Tasked to Fight Climate Change, a Secretive U.N. Agency Does the Opposite: Behind closed doors, shipbuilders and miners can speak on behalf of governments while regulating an industry that pollutes as much as all of America’s coal plants. - "Internal documents, recordings and dozens of interviews reveal what has gone on for years behind closed doors: The organization has repeatedly delayed and watered down climate regulations, even as emissions from commercial shipping continue to rise, a trend that threatens to undermine the goals of the 2016 Paris climate accord. 

"One reason for the lack of progress is that the [International Maritime Organization] is a regulatory body that is run in concert with the industry it regulates. Shipbuilders, oil companies, miners, chemical manufacturers and others with huge financial stakes in commercial shipping are among the delegates appointed by many member nations. They sometimes even speak on behalf of governments, knowing that public records are sparse, and that even when the organization allows journalists into its meetings, it typically prohibits them from quoting people by name.

...

"Often, what politicians say publicly does not match their closed-door posture. In 2019, for example, when the Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, urged world leaders to make “more ambitious climate commitments,” his diplomats in London worked to defeat shipping speed limits, a measure that would have reduced carbon emissions. 

"The stakes are high. Shipping, unlike other industries, is not easily regulated nation-by-nation. A Japanese-built tanker, for instance, might be owned by a Greek company and sailed by an Indian crew from China to Australia — all under the flag of Panama. That’s why, when world leaders omitted international shipping from the Paris agreement, responsibility fell to the I.M.O., which has standardized the rules since 1948."

Don McGahn tells House panel about Trump’s bid to undermine Mueller probe

An enormous missing contribution to global warming may have been right under our feet: A new study finds a large, previously unknown contribution to climate change through human conversion of peatlands for agriculture

Reading archive 2021-06-03

Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s search for ‘woke military’ complaints draws ridicule — and war movie quotes

FBI investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in connection with past political fundraising

Reading archive 2021-06-02

Local News Coverage Is Declining — And That Could Be Bad For American Politics

Pressure mounts on Manchin as ‘panic’ sets in among Democrats over voting rights

Boaters allegedly harassed another group over gay pride flags. Then their boat burst into flames.

How hotter summers and warmer winters are changing the garden

An Australian inventor wants to stop global warming by electrifying everything

Tampa man pleads guilty to felony in Jan. 6 Capitol riot; his recommended prison sentence could set bar for other cases

D.C. police say they have identified Maserati driver in road-rage shooting

Reading archive 2021-06-01

‘Bloodless coup’: Samoa’s first female leader locked out of her own swearing-in ceremony

As a negotiator, Biden leaves GOP senators unsure how far he will go

U.S. to reimpose sanctions on Belarus after forced diversion of Ryanair flight

117 staffers sue over Houston hospital’s vaccine mandate, saying they don’t want to be ‘guinea pigs’: The lawsuit could test whether employers can require vaccinations as the country navigates out of a pandemic that has killed nearly 600,000 people in the U.S.