Reading archive 2025-06-25

Abandoned by Trump, a farmer and a migrant search for a better future

As Trump shuts out migrants, Spain opens its doors and fuels economic growth: Defying the anti-immigrant trend in the U.S., Spain is reaping economic benefits by granting citizenship to tens of thousands of newly-arrived workers.

Was this Revolutionary War hero America’s first openly gay general?: The LGBTQ veterans who put rainbow ribbons near Baron von Steuben’s statue in D.C. think so.

RIP, MAHA: Robert F. Kennedy promised to improve nutrition and reduce environmental toxins. How’s that going? - "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda has a simple premise: Americans don’t need more access to medical care. Instead, the best way to improve our country’s health is through better nutrition and exposure to fewer environmental toxins. 

"Alas, as was evident from the health and human services secretary’s congressional testimony Tuesday about the administration’s budget requests, his boss is currently A) taking away nutritional assistance and B) expanding use of environmental toxins."

Trump administration is preparing to challenge budget law, U.S. officials say: Internal dissent among federal employees is coming to the surface as President Donald Trump’s budget chief aims to rebalance spending authority.

The RFK megaproject promises just empty gloom. Let’s try this instead.: Rather than an expensive megaproject, D.C. should focus on an organic approach to city-building. - "If football stadiums drove economic activity, Landover would be at least an above-average suburban destination for shopping and entertainment. Instead, the old Landover Mall site decays behind chain-link fencing roughly a mile from Northwest Stadium, the Commanders’ current home. Alternatively, if football stadiums made cities interesting and engaging, the Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium would link together bustling neighborhoods. Instead, its gloomy emptiness extends across the adjacent blocks except on a handful of days each year."

Kevin Durant’s lonely basketball journey trudges on to the next stop: NBA stars can become hometown heroes forever. Then there’s Kevin Durant.

As an oncologist, here’s what I wish people knew about endocrine disruptors: What to know about everyday exposures to BPA, PFAS and phthalates.

D.C. elected these noncitizens to office. Congress could oust them.: Three green-card holders have nonpartisan, unpaid positions in D.C.’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. That could soon change.

Trump’s tax bill has become a battlefield for tobacco giants: Tobacco firms have spent millions of dollars in a fight over a tax rebate for cigarette importers in Republicans’ massive tax and spending package.

A Jeep drove onto the National Mall, weaving around a summer crowd U.S. Park Police said the driver was later arrested. No injuries were reported.

How Israel deceived the United States about its nuclear weapons program: Israel is attacking Iran’s nuclear sites, but Tehran’s secret path was blazed by the Israelis.

Bees are collapsing in the U.S. A key to their secrets might vanish.: The top federal lab on native bees is set to close under President Trump’s budget. - "Native bees pollinate an estimated 80 percent of flowering plants around the world, and understanding the pollinators’ behavior helps us sustain the production of our food."

No one has made fusion power viable yet. Why is Big Tech investing billions?: Breakthroughs in fusion have triggered a frenzied race to harness a clean energy source that has eluded scientists for decades.

Brazil's soy farmers raze Amazon rainforest despite deforestation pact

The plan to vaccinate all Americans, despite RFK Jr.: The effort comes as the Trump administration has replaced members of the key federal vaccine advisory panel.

Maryland driver sued by D.C. over 414 unpaid traffic tickets: Soon, it could be easier for D.C. to seize drivers’ cars over dangerous driving caught on camera.

D.C. attorney general alleges violence intervention nonprofit misused funds: Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb filed a lawsuit alleging Women in H.E.E.L.S. Inc. improperly diverted money to a personal account. The group’s founder called the allegations “misleading.”

D.C. lawmaker walks back cuts to violence prevention agency after criticism: Brooke Pinto had proposed dissolving the mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, leaving a program in the attorney general’s office as the sole home for violence interruption.

Reading archive 2025-06-18

Bill Cassidy Blew It The senator failed America on vaccines.

The Democratic Party Slides Into Irrelevance: Why aren’t these boom times for America’s opposition party?

Hear the different ways EVs are reinventing the sound of a car

These centrist women on a group chat are leading Democrats in 2025: Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill and Elissa Slotkin, who ascended during President Donald Trump’s first term in 2018, are playing major roles for their party this year, in governor’s races and beyond.

I was worried about Trump’s Army parade — until I saw it For the army, this was mission accomplished.

D.C. mayor pushes youth curfew as council advances public safety bills: The D.C. Council also debated a separate public safety bill introduced by Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) that would permanently expand pretrial detention and relax college credit requirements for police officers.

The entire D.C. bus network is changing June 29. Here’s what to know.: Hundreds of stops are disappearing, routes are being added and eliminated, and every route name will change.

The Jumping Frenchmen of Maine

Florida attorney general held in civil contempt over immigration law: A federal judge ruled that James Uthmeier violated an order halting the enforcement of a law, which makes it a crime for adults living in the U.S. illegally to enter Florida.

Industry leaders plead with White House on relief from raids after setback: The calls for a reprieve come after the Trump administration reversed a pause on immigration actions at farms, meatpacking plants, hotels and restaurants.

The Curse of Ayn Rand’s Heir: Leonard Peikoff dedicated his life to promoting the author’s vision of freedom and self-determination. But at what cost?

The Perilous Spread of the Wellness Craze: A new book reveals how health-care inequality fueled the spread of anti-science conspiracy theories.

It’s the End of the World (And It’s Their Fault): The tech bros have ascended to movie-villain status.

The Nobel Prize Winner Who Thinks We Have the Universe All Wrong: Cosmologists are fighting over everything. - "If dark energy continues to fade, as the DESI results suggest is happening, it may indeed go all the way to zero, and then turn negative. Instead of repelling galaxies, a negative dark energy would bring them together into a hot, dense singularity, much like the one that existed during the Big Bang. This could perhaps be part of some larger eternal cycle of creation and re-creation. Or maybe not. The point is that the deep future of the universe is wide open."

The Secret History of Trump’s Private Cellphone: “Who’s calling?” the president asks as he answers call after call from numbers he doesn’t know.

Ukraine’s Warning to the World’s Other Military Forces: Expensive planes, tanks, and ships can be destroyed on the cheap.

MAHA Has a Pizza Problem: Functionally banning school pizza is a tough sell.

Baby Boomers’ Luck Is Running Out: After a lifetime of good fortune, the generation has become vulnerable at exactly the wrong moment.

Reading archive 2025-06-17

Minnesota shooting suspect went from youthful evangelizer to far-right zealot: Residents in Vance Boelter’s hometown are struggling to reconcile what they knew of him with the killing of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband.

Minnesota senator confronts colleague for ‘terrible’ post on shooting: In a post on Sunday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), appeared to blame the killings on the political left. Sen. Tina Smith sought him out to chat.

Senate overhauls Trump’s tax bill, setting up brawl with the House: The chamber suggests cuts to the child tax credit and SALT and is more heavy-handed on cuts to Medicaid than the legislation the House passed in May.

Trump officials reverse guidance exempting farms, hotels from immigration raids: ICE agents have been told to continue conducting enforcement operations at agricultural businesses despite concerns about negative effects on the food industry.

Russia fears Israel’s conflict with Iran could cost it another Mideast ally: When Israel first started bombing Iran, many in Russia saw it as an opportunity, drawing support and attention away from Ukraine.

How long will it take for U.S. gas prices to react to Middle East conflict?: Gas prices are on their way up, but the impact has been modest. That could change.

Trash sucks: A Norwegian city uses vacuum tubes to whisk waste away: Bergen, Norway, has been building one of the world’s most advanced trash systems in its 955-year-old city center.

It looks like a golf cart, maxes out at 25 mph and could be your next city car: Electric low-speed vehicles, already popular in Europe and Asia, could offer a transportation compromise between full-sized cars and e-bikes.

How to live well for less: Hacks for new grads and the rest of your life: New tools make it even easier to save money and live lighter on the planet. Here’s a roundup.

‘This War Is Not Helping Us’: Members of Iran’s opposition want change, and fear for their lives.

Putin Isn’t Actually Enjoying This Trump is turning out to be a liability for the Kremlin.

Israel's U.S.-Backed Aggression Reaches Its Iraq-War Moment: If Oct. 7 was Israel's Sept. 11, now it's at the phase of making an unsupportable WMD claim to launch the war it's long wanted. But we say no to war with Iran

Reading archive 2025-06-16

D.C. Council members say stadium approval is likely, but they need more time: The mayor wants the council to approve the Commanders deal next month, but members say they need time on a deal that involves more than $1 billion in taxpayer funds.

U.S. could lose more immigrants than it gains for first time in 50 years: Net migration could turn negative, some economists warn, weighing on economic growth and fueling inflation.

Trump’s top general contradicts his assessment of Putin, L.A. unrest: Gen. Dan Caine’s comments in Senate testimony were restrained but significant, perhaps easing lawmakers’ fears he will bow to political pressure.

On the box: D.C. court officials repeatedly lost track of teens wearing ankle monitors. The timing was deadly.

Deport Dishwashers or Solve All Murders?

How to turn your water heater into a battery and ditch the gas company: New technology can heat your water and air and store heat energy for when it is needed.

Reading archive 2025-06-13

Secret Russian Intelligence Document Shows Deep Suspicion of China: Russia’s spy hunters are increasingly worried about China’s espionage, even as the two countries grow closer.

Southern Baptists to Vote on Effort to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage: Motivated by their success in reversing Roe v. Wade, conservative Christian activists have a new target in Obergefell v. Hodges. They see early signs of promise. [ed. note: the voted overwhelmingly to do just that]

Former DOGE engineer says federal waste and fraud were 'relatively nonexistent'

D.C. pest control company exposed people to toxic chemicals, lawsuit says: The D.C. attorney general’s office also alleges the company operated without and submitted fake licensing credentials.

Deputy U.S. marshal shoots man near convention center in downtown D.C.: The wounded man was in surgery Thursday, according to authorities, who said the deputy “perceived a threat” before firing. The incident is under investigation.

Florida farmers now plowing over perfectly good tomatoes as Trump’s tariff policies cause prices to plummet

Why Chinese Fans Are Hiring Detectives for a Dead Kenyan Lion: When their favorite wild lion was killed, a tight-knit group of Chinese fans half a world away launched a global campaign for justice — via billboards in New York to private investigators in Kenya. [ed. note: left unmentioned is that the campaigns were in New York City and London because nothing of the sort is allowed in China]

D.C. is removing bike lane barriers for the first time, calling them ugly: Local officials say they spent hundreds of hours on a project that was unraveled in a few days.

Teen convicted in D.C. killing is not receiving court-ordered therapy: A judge last year ruled that the girl, 16, should be placed in a long-term treatment facility, but so far the city’s youth agency has not complied, her lawyer says.

Reading archive 2025-06-12

‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects [ed. note: devastating]

Trump backers call for Walmart boycott amid furor over ‘No Kings Day’ ad: At issue is a full-page New York Times ad, paid for by Walmart heiress Christy Walton, highlighting upcoming protests.

Russia says it’s winning. The data says otherwise.: Russia has paid an extraordinary price in blood and equipment for marginal gains in Ukraine.

As floods keep coming, this small city can’t afford to let people leave: Floodplain buyouts can reduce the financial toll of future disasters. But some small towns losing property and people are now saying no.

best practices around mosquitoes, with nancy lawson - "But then when I talked to the Xerces Society just recently, they said they just recommend that people instead just do the bucket, just put some straw or some grass in there and some water, and dump it periodically every few days. And don’t use a Bti because we don’t know the effect of Bti on the soil and all the organisms in the soil. And also it does harm crane flies."

Reading archive 2025-06-11

House votes to repeal D.C. laws on noncitizen voting, police discipline: The District’s tumultuous year in Congress continues this week, with dozens of Democrats joining Republicans in the repeal votes. - "And of the D.C. police discipline law repeal, Norton said that while Republicans regularly seek to repeal local legislation, 'what is different about this bill is it also overrides the long-standing wishes of the D.C. police department.' For years before the reforms, police chiefs said they lacked enough power to permanently fire officers accused of crimes or violating department rules. A 2017 Washington Post investigation and 2022 D.C. auditor’s office report both found that the department was routinely forced to rehire officers it sought to terminate, in some cases for alleged misconduct as serious as physical and sexual violence."

Want to lower your risk of dementia? Here’s what the science says.: Key lifestyle changes can improve your brain’s health.

Do Not Try to Get Your Kid Into the Pop Culture You Like: GQ culture director Alex Pappademas makes the case to shut up, “unless you’re specifically asked for recommendations, which chances are, you will not be.”

Inside the digital hunt for a child sex abuser: The Secret Service used video clues, web searches and diaper serial codes to find a man who will spend life in prison for sex abuse and sharing child sex videos.

Most people aren’t following this important dietary advice. Are you?: Eating seafood is good for your brain, eye and heart health. But 90 percent of adults aren’t eating enough. - "According to health authorities, the following fish are so high in mercury that you should avoid them altogether: 

King mackerel (different from Atlantic mackerel) 

Shark 

Marlin 

Orange roughy 

Swordfish 

Tilefish 

Bluefin and bigeye tuna" 

[ed. note: healthiest types listed as salmon, Atlantic mackerel, sardines, anchovies, rainbow trout, mussels, oysters]

Ukraine’s ‘Operation Spiderweb’ hit at least 12 planes, visuals show: A Washington Post analysis of videos and satellite imagery offers insight into the damage from Ukraine’s brazen drone strike attack.

You are hardwired to blindly trust AI. Here’s how to fight it.: Decades of research shows our tendency to treat machines like magical answer boxes. No wonder AI nonsense keeps showing up in court filings, news articles and a White House report.

A salt crisis is looming for U.S. rivers: The biggest source of salty freshwater in D.C. and other major northern inland cities is an overapplication of road salt to thaw winter ice, which runs off into rivers or the ground.

Carl Nassib, gay NFL pioneer, honored by Smithsonian: The league’s first openly gay player, Nassib now has a jersey hanging in the National Museum of American History.

Janelle Monáe hopes to ‘be a refuge’ during her WorldPride show: The genre-crossing singer will perform with Grace Jones at the Anthem on Thursday, June 5.

The Cause of Alzheimer's Might Be Coming From Within Your Mouth [ed. note: the bacteria that causes gum disease can infect your brain, yikes]

Scientists Developed a Kind of 'Living Concrete' That Heals Its Own Cracks - "The researchers designed a bespoke lichen using cyanobacteria that fix carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the atmosphere, and a filamentous fungus that attracts ionized calcium and promotes the precipitation of large amounts of calcium carbonate – the material that makes eggshell, sea shells, coral, and chalk."

Empty desks How the District’s failure to curb truancy in middle schools fueled the biggest youth crime surge in a generation.

Reading archive 2025-06-10

Casey Trees and Bartlett Tree Experts, A Crowning Partnership Made in the Shade (of Urban Trees)

Do kids feel safe in D.C.? We asked them.

Serving ‘dead time’: D.C. teens needed rehabilitation to keep the city safe. They languished in a violent detention center instead.

D.C. youth, 16, ordered confined until age 21 in killing of disc jockey: Court records show the teen had five pending robbery and assault cases yet was free when he took part in the fatal beating of Bryan Smith in October.

Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population falls to ‘distressing low’: Experts are most concerned about the decline of juvenile crabs.

GOP bill could worsen inflation and lead to financial crisis, economists warn: Former treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers is among the critics of Trump’s big tax bill, saying it could stoke “stagflation.”

 - "A police spokesperson said Monday that investigators don’t believe the perpetrators or the victims had come to the area to participate in WorldPride events."

...

"Earlier she had cited problems in three of the past six years during Pride weekends, including a 2019 incident in which a man was arrested in the park after gunshots caused the public to panic; a 2023 case of vandalism that Smith said caused 'approximately $175,000 in damage to the historic fountain'; and a 2024 incident in which a large group of juveniles got rowdy in the park, drinking and smoking and engaging in fights."

One killed, six hurt in three daylight shootings, D.C. police say: On Mount Olivet Road NE, a black sedan pulled up, and three men dressed in black fired at people outside a store, killing one and wounding three others.

Reading archive 2025-06-09

What the GOP is planning now is even worse than all those debt ceiling fights: The GOP budget bill simultaneously requires more borrowing — and also prohibits that borrowing.

Retired man takes on nemesis, cleans up 15,000 discarded tires: “They tick me off more than anything,” Jon Merryman said about illegally dumped tires. He has a goal of cleaning up trash in every county in America.

Democratic Party chair lashes officer in leaked call, prompting more infighting: The finger-pointing among the DNC’s top officers comes as the party faces deeper political challenges.

Mike Flanagan, Stephen King screen whisperer, will sleep when he’s dead: The ever-busy director and Stephen King whisperer returns to theaters after five years — and four TV shows — with “The Life of Chuck.”

NASA, Pentagon push for SpaceX alternatives amid Trump’s feud with Musk: The fight between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk highlights the government’s outsize dependence on a single company for missions.

White House security staff warned Musk’s Starlink is a security risk: Starlink satellite connections in the White House bypass controls meant to stop leaks and hacking.

A troubling chapter in William F. Buckley’s life: How was this hometown pro-segregation paper forgotten? - "What was surprising was that Buckley, who famously crowed that he had rid the Republican Party of antisemites, bigots and kooks, would go to the trouble of creating a newspaper that would saturate its pages with pro-segregation stories. For someone so educated, so Catholic, so intensely logical and delightfully witty, it was a little like finding out that, well, he was a racist."

2 juveniles stabbed at Dupont park and 1 man shot nearby during Pride: The violence came after the park was reopened at the request of the D.C. government.

Colleagues ask if Norton is still the best ‘warrior’ to fight for D.C.: “Even the best pitcher on the team loses their fastball eventually,” one Democrat said of civil rights icon Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s delegate in the House.

Army video of parade prep appeared to show ‘Hang Fauci’ graffiti: The footage, up for more than a day on the Army’s official X account, showed tanks being loaded onto a flatcar.

A powerful, opaque al-Qaeda affiliate is rampaging across West Africa: With up to 6,000 fighters, JNIM is now the most well-armed militant force in the Sahel — and among the most powerful in the world, officials and experts say.

Toxic truth? The cookware craze redefining ‘ceramic’ and ‘nontoxic’

A knockout blow for LLMs? LLM “reasoning” is so cooked they turned my name into a verb - "If you can’t use a billion dollar AI system to solve a problem that Herb Simon one of the actual 'godfathers of AI', current hype aside) solved with AI in 1957, and that first semester AI students solve routinely, the chances that models like Claude or o3 are going to reach AGI seem truly remote."

Reading archive 2025-06-06

What really keeps mosquitoes away? Probably not your lavender plants.: A fact-based look at scented plants, essential oils and other mosquito repellents.

As Trump taunts Springsteen, these Republicans stick with The Boss: Trump is beefing with Bruce Springsteen. But some GOP figures are standing by the Jersey icon.

These publicly funded homes for the poor cost $1.2 million each to build: D.C. apartment buildings exemplify a national trend, as the costs of affordable housing approach and sometimes exceed $1 million per unit in cities that also include San Francisco and Chicago. - "Another tax-credit project in Southeast Washington, the Ethel, cost nearly $800,000 per unit, all 100 of which are one-bedrooms. Bowser has claimed it as a signature accomplishment. The architect touts the detailing of its facade and the developers are set to walk away with an $8.5-million fee, records show. 

"Next door, the same developers built the Park Kennedy, for mostly market-rate tenants, at a per-unit cost of about $350,000, records show."

Chinese propaganda surges as the U.S. defunds Radio Free Asia: Beijing expanded its state propaganda, including to the persecuted Tibetan and Uyghur minorities, as RFA pulled back.

Jake Tapper is the reason America is doomed SFGATE columnist Drew Magary is sick of the face of CNN using his platform to tell us about year-old news - "Tapper is less a journalist now than he is one of the many prominent media figures eager to profit off the Trump news industrial complex."

Trump administration races to fix a big mistake: DOGE fired too many people Across the government, officials are rehiring federal workers who were forced out or encouraged to resign.

Reading archive 2025-06-05

Karine Jean-Pierre leaves Democratic Party, pens book about ‘broken’ White House: Former press secretary’s tome will publish in October, and its title is a nod to her recently announced departure from the Democratic Party to become an independent.

The Trump administration is trying to block politically inconvenient government data

The Smithsonian faces an existential crisis. The world is watching.: Trump’s effort to oust the director of the National Portrait Gallery could give him absolute control of Smithsonian content. - "The Smithsonian has a long and sadly craven history of caving to critics, including making changes to exhibitions after pressure from activists and members of Congress. Former Smithsonian secretary G. Wayne Clough censored an NPG exhibition of portraiture featuring LGBT people in 2010, after pressure from conservative Christian activists. Clough forced museum curators to remove a single video, by the gay artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz, which actually made the exhibition more popular when it traveled to Brooklyn and Tacoma, Washington.

...

"There is no middle road. Appeasement won’t work. The fate of the Smithsonian is now in the hands of Bunch and the regents, and the precedent they set will reverberate throughout every institution in America that, like the Smithsonian, is dedicated to the 'increase and diffusion of knowledge.'"

Defying Trump, National Portrait Gallery Director Kim Sajet is still at work: The president said he had fired the museum leader — setting up a standoff between the White House and the Smithsonian.

Rising prices, war rooms and layoffs: The cost of Trump’s tariffs is coming: Retailers, wholesalers and distributors say shifting U.S. trade policies have led to pervasive uncertainty as they gear up for back-to-school and holiday orders.

Reading archive 2025-06-04

Oklahoma parents fight new curriculum on 2020 election ‘discrepancies’: A lawsuit alleges that state superintendent Ryan Walters added a provision on election questions without notifying some board members before they voted.

Two Chinese nationals charged with smuggling toxic fungus into U.S.: A University of Michigan researcher and her boyfriend are accused of trying to smuggle a “dangerous biological pathogen” that can harm crops into the U.S.

It’s tariff season. Do you know where your clothes are made?: Amid an onslaught of tariffs that are increasing the costs of such things as Hermès bags and their knockoffs on Shein, the question of where something is made has taken on a new urgency.

Capital One Arena renovations are underway. Here’s what to expect.: Many changes scheduled to be completed ahead of the 2025-26 Washington Capitals and Wizards seasons will go unnoticed by fans because the initial work will be focused on the building’s event level.

Most new cars in Norway are EVs. How a freezing country beat range anxiety.: A visit to the northernmost region in Europe’s northernmost country offers a window into how to make electric vehicles the car of choice. - "Norway’s EV experiment has been made possible by something of a paradox: The country is Europe’s largest oil and gas producer, which helps support Norwegians’ aspiration to live green. Norway has invested its fossil fuel profits into what has become the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, a nest egg worth $1.7 trillion. Returns from that fund help cover government expenses, which in turn makes it easier to accommodate climate-friendly tax exemptions."

Biden Fumbled the Energy Debate. But Another World Leader Won on Clean Power.: Climate doesn’t usually win elections — but it can lose them. Australia is breaking the political logjam.

Released early in a murder case, D.C. man gets 60-year term for new killing: Darrell Moore was freed after 26 years under a D.C. law aimed giving people second chances --- and eight months later, he fatally shot a man, a jury concluded.

Let us count the 3,515 ways in which Democrats are lame - "The real reason for the surfeit of why-Democrats-suck critiques is that Democrats themselves love to engage in anguished soul-searching. Republicans did an autopsy after their 2012 loss, summarily rejected all its recommendations and then won the next presidential election. But Democrats love self-loathing."

Thousands of Ukraine’s children vanished into Russia. This one made it back.: Illia’s mother died in the siege of Mariupol and Russian officials put him up for adoption — until his grandmother traveled into Russia to bring him home.

Democratic Party is at risk of becoming ‘roadkill,’ warns Tim Walz: The Minnesota governor unleashed harsh language during appearances this weekend, in the clearest signs yet that he is weighing a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.

U.S. vet from WWII is honored in Europe, showered with gratitude at age 99: Harry Humason, who helped liberate Europe from the Nazis, was shocked when hundreds of grateful Czech citizens donated to pay for his travels.

Unease at F.B.I. Intensifies as Patel Ousts Top Officials: Senior executives are being pushed out and the director, Kash Patel, is more freely using polygraph tests to tamp down on news leaks about leadership decisions and behavior.

Reading archive 2025-06-03

The Rise of the Shallow State On the loss of state capacity and institutional memory in the federal government. - "This destruction of knowledge will obviously have serious long-term effects on U.S. state capacity — but in many cases the private sector will also be hit hard. That is because the provision of public goods often incentivizes the provision of private goods — which means the elimination of public goods puts a crimp in the ability of some markets to function. For example, the elimination of NOAA positions will make insurance more difficult to issue."

Records of dead people show how the pro-Trump spin machine keeps going: Supporters cite a prosaic DOGE announcement as evidence that a Social Security problem that never existed has been fixed.

Black Democrats fume over 2024 while ‘searching for a leader’ in 2028: Frustration over the loss to President Donald Trump came into sharp focus this past weekend in South Carolina, an early nominating state and power center for Black leaders.

What’s the best way to store strawberries? We tested popular methods.: Here’s how to store fresh strawberries to keep them plump, juicy and mold-free for as long as possible.

We are witnessing the suicide of a superpower: The president’s assault on science dangerously undermines America’s superpower status.

Infamous D.C. intersection with a Wendy’s in the middle is now a plaza: “Dave Thomas Circle,” a source of frustration and confusion for decades, has been remade into a park space with more efficient traffic lanes. It is now named after Negro leagues pitcher Mamie “Peanut” Johnson.

‘I want my child back’: Surge in D.C. shootings left 20 dead in May: A spike in violence pushed the city’s year-to-date homicide count to 69 as of May 31, nearly equaling the total for the same five-month period in 2024.

We finally may be able to rid the world of mosquitoes. But should we?: Gene editing holds the potential of suppressing mosquito species that carry deadly diseases — and raises ethical questions.

Where smoke from Canadian wildfires has spread into the U.S.: Smoke ended up as far south as the coastal Southeast U.S. over the weekend.

Reading archive 2025-06-02

In South Carolina, Wes Moore urges Democrats to be ‘impatient’ amid 2028 buzz: Moore, a potential 2028 presidential contender, told party leaders in this early primary state to mimic how quickly Trump implemented his agenda to score Democratic wins.

DOD employee tried to leak classified information, prosecutors say: Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, is accused of trying to trade secrets for German citizenship because of disagreements with the Trump administration. - "'It will not be easy for them, for example, to open a case on me without my knowledge since my permissions to see that would need to be changed and I’d notice,' he told the undercover FBI agent in one message quoted in the charging documents, boasting that he knew how to avoid the 'stupid mistakes' that had bedeviled other U.S. employees under investigation."

DOGE vowed to make government more ‘efficient’ — but it’s doing the opposite: New procedures and requirements — some implemented in the name of improving operations — are slowing down federal agencies.

Trump takes aim at the one climate solution Republicans love: The Energy Department announced Friday that it was terminating $3.7 billion in grants for carbon capture and other projects.

As Kamala Harris weighs a run for governor, some Democrats are moving on: Numerous California gubernatorial hopefuls spent the weekend courting state party delegates, while the former vice president’s political future seemed to be an afterthought.

The one thing liberals need to address before the June parade: Putting Biden’s head on a stake is not helpful.

Wall Street warns Trump aides the GOP tax bill could jolt bond markets: White House officials maintain bankers’ concerns are overstated and discount expected revenues from the president’s tariffs.

What we can learn from the senator who nearly died for democracy: The brutal caning of Sen. Charles Sumner in 1856 shows the difference between courage and concession.

Ukraine attacks Russian air bases in far-reaching drone strikes: Drones smuggled into Russia hit bases as far away as Siberia and the far east, destroying 41 aircraft that carry cruise missiles and detect enemy planes, said a Ukrainian official.

Ukraine just rewrote the rules of war: A drone attack damaged Russia’s bomber fleet — and exposed air base vulnerabilities worldwide. - "If the Ukrainians could sneak drones so close to major air bases in a police state such as Russia, what is to prevent the Chinese from doing the same with U.S. air bases? Or the Pakistanis with Indian air bases? Or the North Koreans with South Korean air bases?"

Shhh. Republicans are trying to repeal Obamacare again. Sort of.: They’re not branding it an Obamacare repeal this time around, but congressional Republicans are pursuing cuts to programs that are part of the 15-year-old health-care law. - "Investigators who detect and root out that fraud — Medicaid fraud control units, the HHS inspector general and the DOJ — wouldn’t get any new funding under the GOP bill."

Houston, JD Vance has a problem: The vice president’s strange history of the U.S. space program is out of this world. - "The war’s end touched off a mad scramble by the United States and the Soviet Union to scoop up German and Austrian scientists, engineers and technicians, without being too picky about their Nazi connections."

Parents are discovering the secret to keeping kids off smartphones: Parents can defeat the smartphone epidemic. They can’t do it alone.

Crater Lake National Park superintendent resigns as staffing plunges: Kevin Heatley stepped down Friday as superintendent of Crater Lake National Park, as internal data shows a sharp decline in the National Park Service’s workforce.

Reading archive 2025-05-30

Trump fires director of the National Portrait Gallery: It was unclear if Trump can dismiss Smithsonian leaders. The termination of Kim Sajet marks the president’s first action against an institution he has vowed to purge of “anti-American ideology.”

Why D.C. should brace for a brutally hot and humid summer: This summer in Washington D.C. could be on par with some of the hottest on record.

The bully gets punched in the nose: More and more Americans are summoning the courage to fight back against President Donald Trump. - "What remains is the wreckage: a loss of faith in U.S. credit, reflected in what the Brits are calling a “moron premium” that the markets are imposing on Trump, which is pushing up bond yields and interest rates; a generation of talent departing the federal government; a loss of goodwill among foreign partners that would take years to rebuild, if it can be rebuilt at all; and the devastation of the scientific research at American universities that has long powered the American economy."