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