Reading archive 2025-01-14

Steve Bannon derides Elon Musk, vowing to limit influence over Trump: His comments reflect an intensifying battle over Musk’s West Wing sway as Trump prepares to take office. - "Bannon told the Italian newspaper that Musk’s ideas are 'really about the implementation of techno-feudalism on a global scale.'"

Bats use storm fronts to ‘surf’ the skies when they migrate, study finds: A new study study sheds light on a little-known phenomenon: the long-distance migration treks of nocturnal bats.

D.C. attorney general sues federal government over Anacostia River pollution: The lawsuit claims that the U.S. government for decades used the Anacostia as a “cost-free toxic dumping ground.”

Teen sentenced to year’s probation in attack on model at McDonald’s: The October assault on the gay model occurred outside a McDonald’s in the 14th and U streets area in Northwest Washington.

How New Orleans failed to protect Bourbon Street from attack, block by block: Major security lapses preceded the vehicular-ramming attack that left 14 dead, according to a Post examination of visual evidence and accounts from witnesses.

15 science-based ways to reduce your risk of dementia: From diet and exercise to protecting against hearing loss and maintaining social connections, there are ways to improve our health and reduce dementia risk, experts say.

On Kansas back roads, I found people who are solving problems: They’re past “What’s the matter with Kansas?” and are finding common ground.

The looming Eurasian menace: As China, Iran, Russia and North Korea lock arms, the U.S. should begin its response preparations. - "The United States also lacks the resources for this new round of rivalry. The U.S. military is designed to defeat only a single enemy in a major conflict. U.S. military spending is nearly as low, as a percentage of gross domestic product, as it has been at any time since World War II. Its defense industrial base is in pitiful shape. Yet as hot wars rage in the Middle East and Europe, and a Sino-American cold war intensifies in the Asia-Pacific, the United States could easily face conflicts in two or more regions simultaneously — or find itself fighting a rival that is receiving help from other adversaries."

Head of the International Court of Justice is named Lebanon's new prime minister: Lebanon’s new president has asked prominent diplomat and jurist Nawaf Salam to form the country’s new government after Salam was named prime minister by a large number of legislators

After economic meltdown and war with Israel, Lebanon's new prime minister vows to rebuild: Lebanon’s prime minister-designate has vowed to rebuild the country following years of economic meltdown and a 14-month war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group

NATO launches new naval operation in Baltic sea after severed cables: The Baltic Sentry operation comes amid mounting European fears of sabotage after a string of murky disruptions to underwater cables in the sea that borders Russia.

Montgomery County considers plastic-bag ban, doubling tax on paper bags: An inspector general’s report said the county’s current bag policy has been inefficient, leading to millions of dollars in lost revenue. - "Under Stewart’s proposal, those receiving food assistance, including from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC), would be excused from paying the paper-bag tax. Stewart said the intent was to mitigate the bill’s impact on lower-income people for whom 10 cents a bag is a heavier burden and for those who often transport groceries home via public transportation." [ed. note: STUPID]

Compass Coffee co-founders split amid claim of misspent covid funds: The former Marines who founded the D.C. chain are mired in acrimony as Harrison Suarez accuses Michael Haft, scion of a business empire, of family racketeering enterprise.

This group says natural gas bans hurt minorities. It has gas industry ties.: The Energy Poverty Awareness Center, which fought climate legislation in Maryland, has ties to a group that is partly funded by oil and gas companies. - "The measure would not have affected the state’s nearly 2.6 million existing housing units. It also would not have restricted other appliances such as gas stoves, which have recently emerged as a flash point in the nation’s culture wars. 

"In his testimony sent to state lawmakers, however, Baxter wrote that the bill could force Black households in Baltimore to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a host of new green technologies."

Elon Musk’s Boring Company Is Tunneling Beneath Las Vegas With Little Oversight

Society is making you sick, GOP says. Too bad their plans will make you sicker.: “Make America Healthy Again” might be a laudable plan — if GOP policies didn’t contradict GOP goals.

The U.S. government runs on Celsius. Just ask anyone on Capitol Hill.: The energy drink is consumed by politicians, journalists and even the speaker of the House, who maintains his own stash.

Kristi Noem, a homeland security chief hopeful, banned in parts of her state: South Dakota’s tribes barred the governor from setting foot on their land after she said drug cartels operate there — an allegation the nations’ leaders deny. - "Brendan Johnson, a former U.S. attorney for South Dakota, said that to suggest that cartels use reservations as operating bases is a fundamental misunderstanding of the economics of the drug trade. 

"Drugs are smuggled across the border to larger cities such as Kansas City, Missouri, Denver and Chicago and then flown into smaller rural communities, he explained in a recent interview. 'These small communities are not lucrative targets for a cartel,' he said. 'It would make no sense for them to set up some sort of business empire on the reservation.'"

I was born liberal. The ‘adults in the room’ still have a lot to learn.: To rebuild liberalism, we’ll need to recover what the word used to mean. - "The old liberal epistemology at least rested on egalitarian and universal premises. We believed that everyone was capable of entering to some degree into the mental worlds and lived experience of others, because all of us, regardless of race, creed, ethnicity or sexual orientation, were rational human creatures. This rationalist universalism disintegrated in the 1980s and 1990s, attacked by a new generation of 'progressive' scholars as masculinist, colonialist, racist and fundamentally condescending. This assault was supposed to awaken us to 'intersectionality'— the interaction of disadvantages — but instead of drawing hurt constituencies together, it fragmented them into highly sectarian and identity-based political groupings that foreclosed on alliances, shared understandings, and common political projects across race, class and gender."

Buy or leave, Starbucks tells nonpaying customers in policy reversal: The new policy states that Starbucks spaces “are for use by our partners and customers” — and warns that violators will be asked to leave.

Jack Smith’s subtle indictment of the Supreme Court: The special counsel’s final Trump-Jan. 6 report breaks little new evidentiary ground but directs plenty of suggestive criticism at the nation’s highest court.