Opinion Give D.C.’s grand movie palace a Hollywood ending
The Panic in Cleveland Park [ed. note: from 1986]
How Cleveland Park’s getting its groove back - "Losing critically acclaimed restaurants Palena, Dino’s, and Ripple, almost in immediate succession, jolted residents."
11-year-old charged in robberies as D.C. struggles to quell youth violence
D.C. youth feel left out of the school safety debate. Eight weigh in.
The revolt of the Christian home-schoolers: They were taught that public schools are evil. Then a Virginia couple defied their families and enrolled their kids. - "Aaron had grown up believing Christians could out-populate atheists and Muslims by scorning birth control; Christina had been taught the Bible-based arithmetic necessary to calculate the age of a universe less than 8,000 years old. Their education was one in which dinosaurs were herded aboard Noah’s ark — and in which the penalty for doubt or disobedience was swift. Sometimes they still flinched when they remembered their parents’ literal adherence to the words of the Old Testament: 'Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.' ...
"The Pearls advocate hitting children with tree branches, belts and other “instruments of love” to instill obedience, and recommend that toddlers who take slowly to potty training be washed outdoors with cold water from a garden hose. Their book advocates 'training sessions' in which infants, as soon as they are old enough to crawl, are placed near a desired object and repeatedly struck with a switch if they disobey commands not to touch it."
An alleged Russian spy whale turned up in Sweden. Why?
Land around the U.S. is sinking. Here are some of the fastest areas.
Why are red states hiring so much faster than blue states? - "To help untangle what it all means, we descended upon research director Kenan Fikri and his friends at EIG. Fikri, the kind of guy who sounds genuinely delighted to get obscure state-data questions late on a Friday evening, confirmed that stronger unions probably lead to workers staying in their jobs longer in blue states."
Why are these groups so much more likely to wear glasses than any others? - "Myopia has risen even more rapidly in East Asia, where countries have attempted sweeping remedies. A program in Taiwan, for example, encouraged students to participate in two hours of outdoor activity every day. After it began in 2010, researchers found in the journal Ophthalmology, Taiwan’s long rise in myopia went into reverse."
How much to tip after D.C. raised the minimum wage for tipped workers
Court official: DMV knew of DUIs of woman charged in fatal D.C. crash
A Black 11-year-old called 911. Police arrived and shot him, his mom says. - "An unarmed 11-year-old Black boy in Mississippi was shot by a police officer after he called 911 to report a domestic disturbance to try to protect his mother, his family’s attorney said."
Opinion Target’s surrender to MAGA rage shows how anti-wokeness really works
Prigozhin says war in Ukraine has backfired, warns of Russian revolution
Man who crashed U-Haul truck near White House had Nazi flag in vehicle
Anti-Putin militias mount cross-border incursion in western Russia
Four Forces Bind Trump’s Supporters More Tightly Than Ever - "A fourth justification that supporters of Donald Trump have constructed is that his presidency was an unqualified success, that Trump did practically everything right. There is plenty of evidence to the contrary: failing to build the wall or to get Mexico to pay for it, to reduce illegal immigration, to handle the coronavirus pandemic, to close the trade gap, to narrow the deficit or, pre-pandemic, substantially grow the economy and real wages. The Trump presidency, however, did witness health-care costs and drug prices increasing; income inequality growing; abortions rising after a three-decade decline; homicides spiking, including the largest single-year increase in murders in more than a century; the erosion of U.S. credibility worldwide; a posture of petty feuding with allies and abject capitulation to dictators; and a U.S.-Taliban agreement and subsequent announcement that the American military would withdraw, which had a devastating effect on the Afghan military’s morale and was a “catalyst” for its collapse, according to a May 2022 interim report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Yet all of these things, and more, are either ignored or explained away." [ed. note: links embedded in article]
Opinion These 8 proposals from Bowser would help D.C. fight violent crime
How Far-Right Hindu Supremacy Went Global: An extremist ideology from India is fuelling rising division and hate speech in the UK, US, Canada and Australia. -"The ideology says Hindus are more than just a religious group, they are a distinct and pure ethnic race, while Muslims are an inferior people who put Hindus under threat. Hindu nationalism, which is led by India’s upper castes, aims to maintain the country’s strict caste system, an ancient Hindu social hierarchy that strictly divides people in the subcontinent into four occupational communities, while ostracising those who fall outside of the system as 'untouchables.' ...
"But Hindutva is not just an idea. It’s a movement armed with its own all-male, volunteer, paramilitary wing, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS was once modelled on the Nazis and banned in India three times in 1948, after one of its members assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, in 1975, and in 1992, after they destroyed a 400 year old mosque. Its mission statement criticises secularism in India and the 'endless appeasement of Muslims'. It is a group that many believe has the primary aim of turning India into a country where Muslims are either treated as second class citizens, banned or removed. ...
"Religious hate crime data does not back up the notion, put forward by extremists, of rampant Hinduphobia in the UK. Between 2020 and 2021 there were 5,627 religious hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales. Just under half of these crimes, 2,703, were committed against Muslims, 1,288 against Jews, 521 against Christians and 166 were against Hindus. In Leicestershire, between 2019 and 2021, there were 246 religious hate crimes recorded against Muslims compared to 34 against Hindus."
Colorado River states reach deal with Biden to protect drought-stricken river
Ukraine found an unlikely tool to resist Russia: Solar panels
A census mistake reveals surprising details about U.S. Hispanics and Latinos
Opinion I was just in Kyiv under fire. I saw why Ukraine can win.
How deciding not to fix a pipe in Kansas 10 years ago led to the Keystone pipeline's biggest spill
Opinion The model city for transforming downtowns? It’s in Canada.
Revenge of the orcas? Killer whales have sunk 3 boats in unusual attacks. - "The leading theory is that a female orca suffered a traumatic incident with a boat — a 'critical moment of agony' — that caused her to start attacking the vessels, Alfredo López Fernandez, a marine biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, told the industry publication Live Science."
Trump touts authoritarian vision for second term: ‘I am your justice’: The former president is proposing deploying the military domestically, purging the federal workforce and building futuristic cities from scratch - "'In 2016, I declared I am your voice,' Trump said in a speech last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference and repeated at his first 2024 campaign rally in Waco, Tex., a few weeks later. 'Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.' ...
"'The Reagan limited-government conservatism and emphasis on federalism is being displaced by a new muscular, nationalizing cultural conservatism, with a lot of anger,' said Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution who studies democracy. 'One thing we’ve learned about Trump and authoritarian populists like him is not to dismiss what they’re saying as just idle language and toothless roar. We need to take it very seriously.'" [ed. note: oh wow he's a fascist who would have thought]
Europe’s military industrial capabilities fall short of Ukraine’s needs
Opinion The Durham investigation was a flop. But it’s a propaganda triumph.
Florida teacher investigated for showing Disney movie with gay main character
US signals to allies it won’t block their export of F-16 jets to Ukraine
The unexpected downside of raising bees in your backyard - "'The honeybee has been promoted as the symbol of helping the environment and biodiversity, and really it’s not that,' says Gail MacInnis, a former postdoctoral researcher at Concordia University in Montreal and the study’s lead author. 'You would never start keeping chickens to help save wild bird species.'"
Zelensky, on surprise Saudi visit, seeks Arab League support in war
Opinion Marjorie Taylor Greene’s impeachment stunt wrecks a big MAGA myth - "The idea that our border is under perpetual siege isn’t intended as an empirical declaration about a concrete challenge facing the country. Rather, it’s a kind of animating myth, one manufactured to mobilize political energy. In this, it’s essential to MAGA’s identity."
The short life of Baby Milo - "The state’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of gestation has an exception for fatal fetal abnormalities. But as long as their baby’s heart kept beating, the Dorberts say, doctors would not honor their request to terminate the pregnancy. The doctors would not say how they reached their decision, but the new law carries severe penalties, including prison time, for medical practitioners who run afoul of it. The hospital system declined to discuss the case. ...
"The day before Milo was born, the Dorberts sat down with their son Kaiden to explain that the baby’s body had stopped working and that he would not come home. Instead, someday, they told Kaiden, they would all meet as angels. The 4-year-old burst into tears, telling them that he did not want to be an angel. ...
"He never cried or tried to nurse or even opened his eyes, investing every ounce of energy in intermittent gasps for air. “That was the beginning of the end,” Rogell said, recalling the persistent gulps that he thought at first were hiccups but turned out to be his grandson’s labored efforts to inhale."
Fox News Stoked Outrage Over Migrants Displacing Homeless Vets. It Was a Hoax.: Fox News and the rest of right-wing media went wild for a week over a now-debunked story about New York hotels booting homeless vets to accommodate asylum seekers. - "The manager of the hotel also told Mid-Hudson News that no veterans were ever at the hotel, let alone kicked out of Crossroads. No other guests had been displaced either, as the hotel had not been booked to capacity despite housing a group of migrants. ...
"The story got even wilder on Friday, however, when Mid-Hudson News further reported that Toney-Finch had recruited a group of homeless men from a nearby shelter to pretend they were the military veterans that had been displaced by migrants."
In Black-led Compton, a Latino majority fights for political power: The city known for its Black culture has flipped majority Latino, but its leadership remains all Black. A group of Latino vaqueros want to change that. - "The city’s leadership still reflects its demographic past, with an all-Black city council and school board. It has never had a Latino mayor. ...
"'It’s like 'Game of Thrones' We have to keep this power. We have to keep the little bit that we have, which is all we have,” said Nina Childs, a Black local activist and filmmaker. 'And we’re not giving it up.'
"The story of people of color calling on White leaders to cede power for more diverse representation is deeply rooted in American history. But Compton reflects a newer power struggle, which experts say the nation may see more of in the years to come as traditional White and Black strongholds grow more Latino and the Latino community demands more political representation. ...
"Latinos should have representation in leadership, she said, 'but as a Black woman I have to advocate for the representation of the people that look like me.'
"Childs chimed in: 'We want you [Latinos] to have representation too. It’s just having to be the right representation.'" []
Computer in Russia breached Metro system amid security concerns, report says: The inspector general’s report surfaced deep-rooted problems that the watchdog’s officials say leave the transit agency open to attacks that could threaten train safety - "Those subpoenaed records showed more than one-third of background checks used the same last four digits of a social security number. Metro pledged to resolve the vulnerabilities."
Opinion I’ve never seen the Kremlin so rattled
Mother whose son died in D.C. police chase is charged in courtroom outburst - "After the complaint was filed May 4, a summons was issued, ordering her to appear in U.S. District Court. But a prosecutor and a federal public defender told a judge Wednesday that authorities have been unable to locate Hylton to serve the summons." [ed. note: in the trial against the officers convicted of killing the guy via chase, "The judge would not allow jurors to be told that, at the time of the crash, Hylton-Brown was wearing an ankle monitor as part of his release in a criminal case and was carrying $3,128 in cash."]
Which fruits and vegetables are best to plant for the environment
Opinion How I became a ‘Christian nationalist’ [ed. note: author fluffs an issue with defining white Christian nationalism into conclusion that it hardly exists]
Ukraine intercepts missiles as Russia steps up strikes on Kyiv
Ja Morant’s friends aren’t the problem. His judgment is.
The odyssey of Hunter Dickinson, sponsored by college sports lunacy
Zelensky toured Europe seeking new weapons. Here’s what he came home with.
"It's time to understand that the battle isn't just to win the next election. You can't win EVERY election. There are too many variables. Also, the fascist fever isn't breaking. The battle is to stop the coup. That means changing the institutions to make the coup impossible. /9 ...
"That means BIG STRUCTURAL CHANGE, even if it feels a bit destabilizing. It means expanding the court, adding states, ditching blue slips, killing the filibuster, invoking the 14th, adding requirements for police hiring, and honestly talking about what the GOP is doing. /10"
D.C. leaders to decide fate of long-planned K Street Transitway project: Amid a tight budget, some lawmakers want to pause one of the mayor’s most prized projects and use the money for other priorities - "A rendering Lott tweeted this month shows a more car-centric corridor, one that critics say goes against the District’s vision for a more pedestrian- and bike-friendly city. The image shows seven car lanes, an expansion from the design finalized in December that sketched five car lanes, including a parking lane.
"'That’s more lanes of traffic than 295, Route 50, or any of our arterial streets,' Allen said. 'They’re putting in a K Street freeway. That’s not what we need.'"
Opinion His name is Kennedy. His campaign is pure Trump.
Vietnam is going all-in on a climate-change resistant coffee bean
Opinion Why do Americans want guns? It comes down to one word. - "For all the talk of protection, gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States. Yet over and over, people told me they needed their guns to keep themselves safe."
Soft Landings Diverse Native Plantings Under Keystone Trees
Neighbors Fight Over No Mow May: ‘What in the World Is Happening in This Place?’: Some say a break from grass cutting helps nature —others abhor the ‘shaggy raggy’ look - "Dr. Tallamy sees little logic in letting lawns grow longer for a few weeks. If people simply let their grass grow for a month and then revert to a clipped green monoculture, they are teasing pollinators with short-term snacks followed by starvation, he said. A nonprofit he co-founded, Homegrown National Park, urges homeowners to reduce space devoted to regularly clipped grass, add native plants and remove invasive ones."
Phosphorus Saved Our Way of Life—and Now Threatens to End: It Fertilizers filled with the nutrient boosted our ability to feed the planet. Today, they’re creating vast and growing dead zones in our lakes and seas. - "In a toxic algae bloom, tiny photosynthetic organisms reproduce explosively, then throw off chemicals that, in addition to nausea, can cause brain and liver damage. And, when the algae die en masse, a fresh hell ensues. Their decomposition sucks oxygen out of the water, creating aquatic dead zones where almost nothing can survive. ...
"In terms of CO2 emissions, corn-based biofuels are probably worse than gasoline; getting rid of them would thus benefit both the climate and the country’s waterways."
The composition of British bird communities is associated with long-term garden bird feeding
Bird Feeders Are Good for Some Species—But Possibly Bad for Others: Studies of bird feeding in the U.K. raise concerns about the ecological impacts of provisioning our feathered friends - "As feeding has ramped up over the past 25 years, they wrote, populations of adaptable and aggressive generalists—Great Tits, Eurasian Nuthatches and invasive Ring-necked Parakeets—have skyrocketed by 40 percent, 83 percent and 1,480 percent, respectively. Meanwhile woodland species that avoid feeders, such as the Wood Warbler and Marsh Tit, have suffered sharp declines. Willow Tits increasingly lose nest holes to feeder-using Blue Tits and lose hatchlings to hungry Great Spotted Woodpeckers, another feeder-using species whose numbers have jumped by almost 150 percent in the past 25 years. U.K. Willow Tit populations have crashed by 87 percent in the same time period. In essence, the researchers argue, the commercial feeding industry in the U.K. seems to have helped aggressive generalists take over entire bird communities and spill out from gardens into unprovisioned wildernesses."
Should we let nature feed the birds?: Exploring the problems posed by bird feeders
Her tiny native plant habitat garden is flourishing. And she didn’t even need a yard
Decline in wild bee species richness associated with honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) abundance in an urban ecosystem - "Although wild bee populations can fluctuate largely in space and time, our analyses of the bee and floral community in 2020, and the comparison to the bee community in 2013, strongly suggests a negative relationship between high-density urban beekeeping and wild bee richness."
After red-state shootings, gun-control advocates see glimmers of change - "Between 2020 and 2022, death rates from firearms in states with GOP-controlled legislatures outpaced rates in blue states, according to a Post analysis of CDC data, including about a 50 percent higher rate of deaths from firearm assaults and around a 35 percent higher rate of mass killings."
Opinion 11 questions I wish Trump had been asked at the CNN town hall
Football bonded them. Its violence tore them apart.: They were roommates and teammates at Harvard, bound by their love of football and each other. Then the game -- and the debate over its safety -- took its toll. [ed. note: THE DEAD EX-PLAYER'S SON PLAYS FOOTBALL WITH THE WIFE'S BLESSING EVEN THOUGH THEY KNOW THE DEPRESSION AND ALCOHOLISM ARE FROM CTE]
MLK’s famous criticism of Malcolm X was a ‘fraud,’ author finds
With MLK and Malcolm X revelations, Alex Haley’s legacy takes new hit: Before questions about his Playboy interview with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Haley faced charges of plagiarism and inaccuracy in ‘Roots’ - "The book was an enormous success, though book reviewers and booksellers were confused about whether to classify it as fiction or nonfiction. Haley didn’t help matters with his insistence that while the dialogue was imagined it was all factually correct; he called it 'faction.'"
Opinion The day free-market Republicans became Soviet economic planners
Opinion What does the GOP have on Biden? A whole lot of nothin’. - "It is also apparently true, as Comer revealed with great fanfare, that Hunter Biden, 'other Bidens' and 'Biden associates' at various times formed more than 20 companies to conduct business transactions — akin, on a much smaller scale, to the roughly 500 such business entities established by Trump. ...
"Comer vows to continue the so-far fruitless hunt. I have an idea: Why doesn’t he examine how President Donald Trump protected Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from meaningful international censure following the murder of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi — and how the Saudis later invested $2 billion in the start-up hedge fund launched by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner?"
Opinion U.K. Conservatives head right for the exit
Ukraine’s cultural counteroffensive: The rush to erase Russia’s imprint
Mother of 6-year-old who shot Va. teacher says her son has ADHD
One butterfly to rule them all? Scientists introduce the world to Saurona.
D.C. hopes possible ‘Caribbean-like’ resort would bring economic boost
Bowser to propose law making it easier to detain people before trial
Opinion Donald Trump steamrolls CNN’s town hall
See how a quick-fix climate solution could also trigger war
We need an area the size of Texas for wind and solar. Here’s how to halve it.
Glowing Elizabeth Holmes Profile in New York Times Draws Fury: They ‘Got Conned Just Like Her Board’
Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough.: Administrators see them as an intensifying distraction — or, worse, a tax on students’ mental health - "'I’m afraid that if something happens, I won’t be able to contact anyone … to tell people I’m okay or I’m not,' the eighth grader said. 'Worst case scenario: You can at least say goodbye.'" [ed. note: JESUS CHRIST]
Opinion We now have a Biden Doctrine. It makes me nervous. - "As former treasury secretary and Post contributing columnist Lawrence H. Summers points out, protecting the 60,000 workers in the American steel industry sounds smart, but when you do it by raising the price of steel, the 6 million workers who use steel as an input in their goods all suffer."
Opinion See occupied Mariupol, where dread and suspicion reign
As stadium competition looms, Commanders lobby Congress over future of RFK
The Commanders name was a mistake. Josh Harris should change it.
GOP donor paid private school tuition for Justice Thomas’s grandnephew, report says
"A brief history of how no one wants to work anymore..." [ed. note: instagram video]
National Mall site approved for memorial to fallen journalists
Opinion How DeSantis accidentally handed Disney a potent weapon against him
Bidding wars and $1,000 succulents: The wild world of rare houseplants: Serious collectors travel to auctions and sleuth online for unusual varieties — often made all the more covetable by social media [ed. note: lol at photos of setup. Not enough light, they're all doomed]
Why free street parking could be costing you hundreds more in rent - "Shoup isn’t opposed to parking. He opposes cities requiring arbitrary amounts of it, and then giving away so much street curbside parking. That has made Americans addicted to free parking, a bad habit that harms our health, businesses and cities. The main beneficiaries are cars, not people."
The Many Costs of Too Much Parking
6 million D.C. traffic tickets are unpaid. The worst drivers avoid consequences for years. - "In all, more than 6.2 million traffic tickets totaling nearly $1.3 billion in fines and penalties have not been paid to D.C. since Jan. 1, 2000."
