Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Reading archive 2022-12-28

How wildlife experts battled the Chesapeake Bay’s ‘menace in the marsh’: A two-decade effort succeeded in ridding the Delmarva Peninsula of the nutria, a pesky rodent that ruins marshlands. But experts worry that it could return.

The scale of George Santos’s deceit — and the remaining questions

The benefits of ‘Dry January’ last longer than a month, studies show: People who abstained from alcohol for a month started drinking less the rest of the year and showed striking improvements in their health.

Putin declares ‘war’ – aloud – forsaking his special euphemistic operation

Here’s who helped Elon Musk buy Twitter: Who pulls the financial strings at Twitter? These are Musk’s backers

Inside the monumental, stop-start effort to arm Ukraine: The U.S. supply of weapons has never been enough for Kyiv. But for Washington and the Pentagon, there are broader concerns. - "An upcoming CSIS report on American readiness, Jones said, concludes that 'the U.S. defense industrial base is in pretty poor shape right now. If you identify China as the ‘pacing’ threat, and an ‘acute’ threat from Russia, we don’t make it past four or five days in a war game before we run out of precision missiles.'"

Opinion  The D.C. region needs more housing. The time to act is now.

For John Eastman and Clarence Thomas, an intellectual kinship stretching back decades: The Supreme Court justice and the lawyer referred by the House Jan. 6 panel for criminal investigation became acquainted years before Eastman served as Thomas’s clerk

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Reading archive 2022-12-27

How to Weatherize Your Home

ENERGY STAR Rebate Finder

Rep.-elect George Santos acknowledges ‘résumé embellishment’ but answers little on finances: The Long Island Republican was pressed to address questions about whether he fabricated his biography and why he reported skyrocketing wealth

Opinion  For Cassidy Hutchinson, ‘I don’t remember’ wasn’t good enough

Opinion  The grand strategy behind Japan’s defense buildup - "Japan’s steps toward rearmament, for Green, show that the post-World War II period of Pax Americana is 'completely different from anything ever seen in history.' Unlike the British Empire or the Roman Empire, it has been 'based on building up former adversaries as power centers that had their own agency.' Now, 'Japan is choosing, not being forced by America, but is choosing to reinforce the international order that America helped to create after the war.' 

"But at the same time, he said, the fact that Japan is making this 'rather desperate' decision should be cause for American humility. Washington is losing the capacity, on its own, to back up the security commitments it has made around the world. That is the paradox of Japan’s strategic transformation: Its defense of the American system is itself a sign of that system’s heightened vulnerability."

Southwest draws regulatory scrutiny as thousands more flights canceled: The carrier’s disruptions upended holiday travel plans for tens of thousands of air travelers

‘Moorish American national’ charged with trying to take mansion [ed. note: from 2013]

Moorish Americans take over a rural gun range, sparking a strange showdown: Members of the group, part of the extremist “sovereign citizen” movement, believe they are immune from dealings with U.S. legal systems

With forests in peril, she’s on a mission to save ‘mother trees’

Taiwan extends mandatory military service to combat Chinese threat

Growing vaccine hesitancy fuels measles, chickenpox resurgence in U.S.: Anti-vaccine sentiment has increased since the pandemic, driven by politicization around the coronavirus vaccine

Police dismissed Black leaders’ claims of a serial killer. Then a woman escaped.

Kentucky hits grim milestone: 6 pediatric flu deaths in 2022 and no end to season in sight

As Russia bombs Ukraine’s infrastructure, its own services crumble

Monday, December 19, 2022

Reading archive 2022-12-18

Opinion  The L.A. journalist making Americans smarter about politics

Opinion  Holiday gloom at The Washington Post

Facing blackouts and Iranian-made drones, Ukrainian Jews urge Israel to help - "Israeli officials have complained that they do not receive enough credit for taking in roughly 50,000 refugees from Ukraine and Russia, and providing more than $30 million in humanitarian assistance, a figure they have calculated by combining the costs of generators, medical equipment, and a field hospital, as well as other 'in-kind assistance.' 

"That support, however, is paltry even compared to some other countries. Estonia, for example, which has a bit more than 1/10th of Israel’s population, has sent $300 million in military aid to Ukraine.

...

"'No government in Israel is going to jeopardize this interest for anybody else, including the Ukrainians,' Brodsky said in an interview. Unlike the United States and Europe, Brodsky pointed out, Israel is not part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 'Our situation is much more fragile.'" [ed. note: then why should we jeopardize anything for them? Israel's position is not "fragile," they have nukes, are cowards]

Report: Israel Passes U.S. Military Technology to China [ed. note: from 2013]

Musk blamed a Twitter account for an alleged stalker. Police see no link.: Twitter owner Elon Musk threatened legal action, changed the platform’s rules and suspended journalists’ accounts after a confrontation involving his security team at a gas station. But the incident’s timing and location cast doubt on a link to the @ElonJet account. - "A confrontation between a member of Elon Musk’s security team and an alleged stalker that Musk blamed on a Twitter account that tracked his jet took place at a gas station 26 miles from Los Angeles International Airport and 23 hours after the @ElonJet account had last located the jet’s whereabouts."

Friday, December 16, 2022

Reading archive 2022-12-16

The collapse of insects The most diverse group of organisms on the planet are in trouble, with recent research suggesting insect populations are declining at an unprecedented rate. - "'Insects are the food that make all the birds and make all the fish,' said Wagner, who works at the University of Connecticut. 'They’re the fabric tethering together every freshwater and terrestrial ecosystem across the planet.'

...

"There are about the same number of ladybug species as mammal species."

What to Do After a Bicycle Crash in Washington DC

Scientists genetically modify a tobacco plant to produce COCAINE in its leaves

Something funny is going on here. Mum’s the Word.

Trump's Trading Card Grift is Worse than You Think: Shell companies, rubbing elbows with international criminals, and worse in his scam of scams

The World’s Largest Tree Is Ready for Its Close-Up: Friends of Pando, a nonprofit, is in the process of creating the largest image ever recorded of this single aspen clone in Utah

Wary of China, Japan unveils sweeping new national security strategy

‘Wiped out’: War in Ukraine has decimated a once feared Russian brigade: The bloody fate of the 200th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade is emblematic of Vladimir Putin’s derailed invasion plans

Tesla knew its Model S battery had a design flaw that could lead to leaks and, ultimately, fires starting in 2012. It sold the car anyway.

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Reading archive 2022-12-15

Want to save the planet? Saving whales could help, scientists say. - "A 2019 report published by the International Monetary Fund estimated that a great whale sequesters 33 tons of carbon dioxide each year on average, while a tree absorbs only up to 48 pounds a year — a figure the report’s authors used to suggest that conservationists could be better off saving whales than planting trees."

Opinion  Pakistan confronts the collapse of its friendship with the Taliban

Opinion  India may be talking to the Taliban. Here’s why we should welcome it. [ed. note: from 2021]

DeSantis is helping shape a right-wing conversation Trump can’t join

U.S. widens ban on military and surveillance tech sales to China: The Commerce Department added 36 entities to a U.S. export blacklist, including one of China’s largest chipmakers

Elon Musk’s role at Tesla questioned as Twitter occupies his attention: Some Tesla investors are concerned that Musk is focusing too much on the social media company and becoming more polarizing

Long covid can be deadly, CDC study finds

What you need to know about the latest on long covid

Five down in Apt. 307: Mass fentanyl deaths test a Colorado prosecutor


Reading archive 2022-12-14

A girl asked to keep a unicorn in her yard. Animal control said yes.

Family of man shot by FBI agent at Metro Center demands prosecution

Trial begins for two D.C. police officers charged in fatal moped chase - "After the officers turned off their body cameras and conferred with each other, Sutton gave the driver of the SUV clearance to leave, Baset said. He said they did not notify the department’s major crash unit, as was required. After Hylton-Brown was taken to a hospital, Baset said, the officers did not interview any witnesses to the collision or secure the crash site for evidence collection."

QAnon, adrift after Trump’s defeat, finds new life in Elon Musk’s Twitter: Among some QAnon devotees, Musk has become a figure of prophecy on par with Donald Trump

Tom Brady pushed crypto to his fans. This lawyer wants him to pay up.: ‘Why shouldn’t they be held responsible?’ says Florida attorney Adam Moskowitz

A newspaper vanished from the internet. Did someone pay to kill it?: The Hook, a beloved Charlottesville weekly, closed a decade ago but its archives lived on — until its 22,000 stories were suddenly taken offline in June. Former staffers have theories about its mystery buyer.

The surprising reasons parts of Earth are warming more slowly

Antiabortion movement seeks to jail people for 'trafficking’ illegal pills: Six months after their Supreme Court victory, conservatives complain that strict new laws are not being sufficiently enforced

Opinion  Smooth sailing for Metro, for now, as storm clouds gather

Opinion  The great American bailout goes on ... and on - "To repeat: There was a case for protecting most of the Teamsters’ pensions, with modest taxpayer support. But there was no case for using public money to protect every single dollar of them, when the vast majority of taxpayers enjoy no such perks. 

"This obviously happened because of the influence a special interest — organized labor — currently enjoys in Washington. Come to think of it, the 2021 law didn’t make employers chip in to solve the problem they helped create, so it’s a quiet corporate subsidy, too."

To live and die in Tijuana

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Reading archive 2022-12-13

Democratic senators sidestep Arizona race after Sinema leaves party: If she runs for a second term as an independent, the national party would face pressure to decide whether to back her over a Democrat, prompting a dilemma for her colleagues

Fusion breakthrough sparks hope of unlimited clean power: Biden administration announces major advancement in quest to mimic nuclear reactions on the sun.

Why is fentanyl so dangerous?: The powerful opioid is the leading cause of overdose deaths in America.

They call him the Eagle: How the U.S. lost a key ally in Mexico as fentanyl took off - "Cellphone videos of the attack pinged around social media, along with questions about why the military was using so much force. The navy said it was necessary: Patrón Sánchez’s bodyguards had been using the third floor as a sniper’s nest, to pick off the special forces troops in the street. That explanation didn’t satisfy Mexico’s future president. 

"'Why did they annihilate them [the bodyguards]? Why, if they investigate, and supposedly have foreign intelligence assistance, do they massacre them?' López Obrador asked in a speech in Nayarit the next day. He demanded to know whether the operation was carried out to appease Trump.

...

"Some U.S. diplomats thought López Obrador had an instinctive mistrust of American technology. He rejected a U.S. offer to provide six giant X-ray scanners to look for drugs in trucks crossing the U.S. border. Also nixed were handheld detectors for port authorities to identify narcotics or chemicals used in the production of synthetic drugs. Millions of dollars in anti-drug aid for Mexico was returned to the U.S. Treasury. 

"Inside the daunting hunt for the ingredients of fentanyl and meth For the new Mexican president, sovereignty was the bigger concern. His team was astonished to discover how much the U.S. government quietly pulled levers in the country. For example, U.S. officials were training police, prosecutors and prison officials in Mexican states — many led by López Obrador’s opponents.

...

"Less than a year into López Obrador’s term, his strategy suddenly seemed to take a tougher turn. On Oct. 17, 2019, soldiers and police surrounded a posh townhouse in the Sinaloan capital, Culiacán, and detained Ovidio Guzmán, one of El Chapo’s sons. He was one of the top traffickers of fentanyl and meth to the United States, according to Mexican officials. The U.S. government was requesting his extradition.

"It was the kind of operation that Águila would have led before 2019. But this time, the Mexican army was in charge. Its soldiers had no search warrant. As they waited for the paperwork, hundreds of cartel gunmen streamed into the city, some wielding .50-caliber rifles that fired armor-piercing bullets the size of carrots.

"Gunmen blocked roads to the airport, preventing the army from flying in reinforcements. The operations base built by Águila had been dismantled. Fearing an all-out battle that could leave hundreds dead, López Obrador told army commanders to let Guzmán go. He remains a fugitive." [ed. note: Andrés Manuel López Obrador is a punk bitch]

A DEA agent tracked the source of fentanyl in Mormon country — a Mexican cartel

Inside the daunting hunt for the ingredients of fentanyl and meth

Monday, December 12, 2022

Reading archive 2022-12-12

Free buses are a money saver. Riders say they’re still too slow.: As the District prepares to provide fare-free bus travel, questions remain about whether the approach is the best use of scarce transit funds

Kari Lake was unflinchingly loyal to Trump. Then her campaign unraveled.: Interviews, internal documents and audio show how the former TV news anchor squandered a chance to become Arizona’s governor — a defeat that carries warnings for the GOP in 2024

Covid spreads and medical staff sicken after China relaxes restrictions

Ukrainian politician who idolizes Reagan tries to win over today’s Republicans

Why doesn’t Argentina have more Black players in the World Cup?: Argentina is far more diverse than many people realize — but the myth that it is a White nation has persisted

How I Left the Closet, Met My Husband — and Found My Life: One man’s journey to marrying his partner

Overview: From Mexican labs to U.S. streets, a lethal pipeline - "U.S. health officials do not have reliable estimates of the number of fentanyl users or recent deaths in the country. Key monitoring programs that could have alerted authorities to the increased flow of fentanyl were defunded by the federal government just as the drug was hitting U.S. streets.

"President Donald Trump told Americans that a wall along the border with Mexico would stop the torrent of drugs. But nearly all the fentanyl entering the United States passes through official border crossings — not through the deserts and mountains. 

"Successive administrations failed to deploy technology to detect the drugs.

Cause of death: Washington faltered as fentanyl gripped America - "The Department of Homeland Security, whose agencies are responsible for detecting illegal drugs at the nation’s borders, failed to ramp up scanning and inspection technology at official crossings, instead channeling $11 billion toward the construction of a border wall that does little to stop fentanyl traffickers.

...

"The roots of the epidemic reach back to the Bush administration, which did little as countless Americans became addicted to oxycodone and other prescription opioids while U.S. drug manufacturers, distributors and chain pharmacies made billions in profits. 

"During the Obama administration, amid a wider questioning of the U.S. criminal justice system, the government defunded and dismantled key drug-monitoring programs in the years before fentanyl hit. President Barack Obama demoted the White House drug czar position, removing the role from the Cabinet. And when heroin use rose after the government crackdown on prescription opioids, authorities treated fentanyl as an additive, rather than a distinct threat requiring its own specific strategy.

"President Donald Trump took office just as the fentanyl epidemic was about to explode. He promised to build a wall along the U.S. southern border that he said would stop drugs. But Mexican traffickers were sneaking fentanyl right through the front door, hidden in passenger vehicles and commercial trucks passing through official ports of entry in California and Arizona. Today, the partisan border debate in Washington remains fixated on a physical structure that is virtually useless for stopping the deadliest drug U.S. agents have ever faced.

"Since President Biden took office, his administration has amplified a public messaging campaign to warn about fentanyl’s mortal threat — “One Pill Can Kill.” He has stepped up efforts to improve scanning technology at border crossings and repair a broken counternarcotics partnership with Mexico. But with Republicans blaming Biden’s border policies for record numbers of immigration arrests, the president and many of his top officials have said little about the skyrocketing amount of fentanyl entering the country.

...

"For six years, the DEA went without a Senate-confirmed administrator. Michele Leonhart, a 35-year veteran, announced her retirement in 2015 following revelations that DEA agents were attending sex parties with prostitutes hired by Colombian drug cartels."

Sunday, December 4, 2022

Reading archive 2022-12-04

Ethiopian guards massacred scores of Tigrayan prisoners, witnesses say: The deadliest killings occurred at the Mirab Abaya prison camp, where current and retired Tigrayan soldiers were detained

Opinion  Don’t let China stage another Tiananmen massacre

Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ ignite divisions, but haven’t changed minds: The company’s new chief executive detailed Twitter’s decision-making around a controversial story - "The Twitter thread, based on internal communications posted by Substack writer Matt Taibbi, showed the company independently decided to limit the spread of the article, without Democratic politicians, the Biden campaign or FBI exerting control over the social media network. In fact, the only input from a sitting politician that Taibbi noted was from Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna (D), who told Twitter executives they should distribute the story, regardless of the potential consequences for his party."

GOP lawmakers largely silent after Trump suggests ‘termination’ of Constitution

The thing to understand about the Hunter Biden laptop story was that it was SUPPOSED to be the Trump campaign’s “October Surprise.” [ed. note: Twitter thread]

Reddit users turn Kanye West’s page into a Holocaust-awareness forum - "Pamela Nadell, director of American University’s Jewish Studies program, said she believes the United States is approaching a second 'high tide of American antisemitism,' referencing the period between World War I and World War II that historians have generally termed the peak of antisemitism in the country." [ed. note: loved her!]

New LGBTQ holiday movies bring joy — and ‘disingenuous’ stereotypes: Queer viewers celebrate representation but call for authentic portrayals

If you test positive on a rapid COVID test, don’t stop isolating just yet, virologists say

In an ancient reindeer forest, one woman has found a way to slow climate change

Reading archive 2022-12-03

Opinion  MSNBC’s cancellation of Tiffany Cross sends a chilling signal

Opinion  The GOP is stuck in a doom loop begun 30 years ago

Want to save the whales? Reconsider the lobster, some say.: Too many endangered whales are drowning in fishing rope in the North Atlantic. But Maine lobstermen say there’s little evidence their gear is to blame.

Deeply Underwhelmed’: Right-Wingers on Musk’s Overhyped ‘Twitter Files’: “Elon dropped this total nothingburger Hunter Biden story,” the far-right Twitter rival Gab wrote.