Reading archive 2025-10-31

As Hong Kong waged shadow war in Britain, ex-Royal Marine became a casualty: U.K. officials have tracked what they describe as an escalating campaign of surveillance and intimidation against Hong Kong exiles living in Britain.

He’s cleared 35,000 pounds of trash from Miami’s mangroves and isn’t done yet

Judge says she’ll likely order Trump administration to send SNAP funds to states: The move could keep food assistance flowing despite the federal government shutdown.

D.C. police chief wants to make juvenile curfew zone policy permanent: Lawmakers declined to extend the temporary measure enacted in the summer because, they said, the public hadn’t weighed in.

Teen charged with killing girlfriend, shooting congressional intern: Naqwan Lucas, 18, is the third teen arrested in the slaying of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym on a D.C. sidewalk this summer.

Trump now plays by China’s rules: The U.S. wins through openness and innovation, not tariffs and centralized planning. - "President Donald Trump loves playing by China Rules. He seems to admire Xi Jinping’s power — personal, discretionary, centralized. In his second term he has threatened blanket tariffs, personally intervened in the semiconductor supply chain, demanded a government stake in Intel, carved out special permissions for selling Nvidia chips in China (while taking a 15 percent cut for the U.S.) and acted as the banker on TikTok’s sale."

Presidential power and the Supreme Court’s own stature ride on this case: The momentous tariffs case will undermine or buttress the Constitution’s separation of powers.

Ohio approves new House map giving Republicans a leg up in two more seats: The new map received rare bipartisan agreement because Republicans who control the state legislature did not want to risk an election challenge from Democrats.

As U.S. ramps up the pressure, Venezuela pleads with Moscow, Beijing for help: Documents show Maduro drafted letter asking Russia for missiles, radars and upgraded aircraft as U.S. forces amass in the Caribbean.

In Trump’s GOP, the once-mighty tea party is hard to find: Since the movement upended politics 15 years ago, Republicans have moved in a sharply different direction under MAGA — with many tea party veterans along for the ride. - "'We feared government tyranny. We feared a strong executive. We feared oppressive government, any president who would take a flamethrower to the Constitution,' said former congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois, a tea party Republican who has since become a podcaster and anti-Trump Democrat. 'Now, the very thing we feared is in office.'"

Reading archive 2025-10-30

D.C. residents outraged after housing-retail plan flips to industrial: The developer says the mixed-use project is no longer viable due to D.C.’s sluggish economy and rising construction costs.

After a federal agent shot at a D.C. driver, claims of a police cover-up: A Homeland Security agent shot into a man’s car. The agency said Tuesday he was trying to hit them with the car. A D.C. police report about the arrest does not mention gunfire or any attempt to ram officers.

The best source of critical minerals is driving down U.S. streets

2 U.S. prosecutors suspended after describing Jan. 6 attack as carried out by ‘mob’: Suspensions come in the case of a 2021 Capitol rioter arrested two years later with guns near former president Barack Obama’s home.

Judge praises suspended prosecutors before sentencing man for bomb hoax: Two prosecutors were earlier removed from Taylor Taranto’s case after filing a sentencing memo that referred to Jan. 6. as a “riot.”

The choreographed fakery of American politics: East Wing edition: Trump’s residential immodesty is nothing compared with his anti-constitutional immodesty.

The Shutdown is About to Get a Lot Worse: November 1 is the date to watch.

School staff testify they warned 6-year-old who shot teacher was a threat: Abby Zwerner, the teacher wounded in her classroom in 2023, is suing a former assistant principal for gross negligence.

Maryland’s Democratic Senate president blocks anti-Trump redistricting fight: Gov. Wes Moore and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, two of Maryland’s top Democrats, want a special session to redistrict. Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said no.

Why we’re forcing Senate votes on Trump’s tariffs: Do our colleagues side with U.S. consumers or back the president’s economically damaging policy?

I emigrated from Vietnam. Halloween in America astonished me.: Coming from a communist-run nation, I was baffled by glimpses of life in my new home.

Trump moves to block public servants from loan forgiveness based on ideology: Those who work with undocumented immigrants, provide gender transition care for minors or publicly protest could be blocked from student loan forgiveness under a new rule.

The surprising reason home prices remain stubbornly high: A growing number of home sellers are taking lingering properties off the market instead of lowering their prices.

Jury acquits Virginia man who called for Trump’s assassination Defense attorneys for Peter A. Stinson argued that his posts on Bluesky were protected under the First Amendment.

This gay Republican could make history. He’d like to talk about something else.: Virginia’s John Reid could become the country’s first openly gay Republican elected to statewide office. Attacks from within his party have made his sexuality an issue, he says.

Former Illinois sheriff’s deputy convicted in killing of Sonya Massey: Sonya Massey called 911 from her Springfield, Illinois, home in July 2024 to report a prowler. Sean Grayson was one of two deputies to respond to the call.

Reading archive 2025-10-27

Missing money, staged break-in alleged in AU professor murder trial: In the first week of testimony, Montgomery County prosecutors have alleged financial wrongdoing and a $500,000 insurance policy were behind defendant Jorge Rueda Landeros’s crime.

GOP lawmakers raise pressure on Smithsonian over space shuttle fight: Texas legislators, who want the Smithsonian’s Discovery shuttle moved to Houston, accused the institution of potentially violating anti-lobbying laws. The institution has said the move would break the spacecraft apart.

What happens when a conservative group visits an HBCU homecoming?: Turning Point’s Blexit group is on a tour of historically Black campuses in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s slaying. Howard University students weren’t impressed.

I’m shocked — shocked! — to find that gambling is going on in the NBA: The one thing sports can’t survive are fans who no longer trust the games to be on the level.

A colossal Buc-ee’s broke a small Colorado town: In the fight to preserve Palmer Lake something has already been lost: civility.

Young Republican Messages Highlight a Disturbing Trend - "But clearly to a portion of the young right, the actual substance of what provocateurs have been saying has been worth celebrating — not just their right to say it."[ed. note: National Review]

How Jack Smith’s strongest case against Donald Trump collapsed: Seeking to get the classified-documents case to a jury before the 2024 election, the special counsel made a fateful decision that some in his office saw as a misstep.

Reading archive 2025-10-23

This Post Should Have Been Shorter

Musk doubles down in fight with Trump administration, risking his empire: The tech executive has shown little sign of backing down from a battle over the future of NASA. It has spilled into the Transportation Department, which oversees regulation for Tesla.

Study finds mRNA coronavirus vaccines prolonged life of cancer patients: Health records of more than 1,000 cancer patients receiving immunotherapy for lung and skin cancer showed they gained additional benefit after vaccination. - "'RNA preceded DNA evolutionarily, so cells don’t like RNA from the outside world coming in,' said Elias Sayour, one of the authors of the new paper and a pediatric oncologist at University of Florida Health. 'So when that happens, that sets off all the alarms of the human body. The 911 signals we’re in trouble.'"

Trump is ignoring the real threat matrix: A puzzling pivot to the Caribbean increasingly leaves Europe to answer Putin’s aggression on its own. - "'Great-power suicide' is how former CIA director William J. Burns described the self-inflicted damage to national security resources in a recent article for the Atlantic. 'We’ve put at risk the network of alliances and partnerships that is the envy of our rivals. We’ve even gutted the research funding that powers our economy,' he wrote.

...

"This politicization of U.S. intelligence has begun to erode the confidence of partners. The two leaders of the Dutch intelligence agencies told a Dutch newspaper last week that they were reducing the amount of intelligence they shared with the CIA and National Security Agency. 'We sometimes don’t tell things anymore, that is true,' said Peter Reesink, head of the military intelligence agency. 'We are very alert to the politicization of intelligence and to human rights violations,' explained Erik Akerboom, head of the civilian spy agency."

Frustration grows over Trump bailout of Argentina: Republican officials are speaking out, but Trump says cattle ranchers don’t understand how much his policies have helped them.

I want the GOP to keep control of the House. But not this way.: My fellow Indiana Republicans shouldn’t cave to White House pressure to redistrict.

Putin says U.S. sanctions are ‘serious’ but won’t make Russia stop war: President Donald Trump’s sanctions against two of Russia’s largest oil companies come as the European Union passes its 19th package targeting the energy sector.

Russia acquired Western technology to protect its nuclear submarine fleet: Russia secretly used front companies to buy Western technology and erect a surveillance net in the Arctic where its submarines operate, an investigation shows. - "At the center of the Harmony procurement network was a company, Mostrello Commercial Ltd., that was headquartered in Cyprus, which is part of the European Union, but served as a front for Russia’s military industrial complex, accounting for tens of millions of dollars in purchases of sensitive equipment, according to court records and other documents. Russia did not respond to requests for comment."

Reading archive 2025-10-22

Health insurance sticker shock begins as shutdown battle over subsidies rages: Many states have shown rising premiums ahead of open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans. Congress is deadlocked over extending covid-era subsidies that bring costs down.

Trump is creating two classes of federal workers: Paid and unpaid: Within the same agencies, some employees are drawing their salaries during the shutdown, and others are working without pay. - "Where and how the administration is finding money for those salaries — and whether the maneuver is legal — remains unclear, experts said.

...

"At the FBI, for example, special agents are getting paid, but translators, some attorneys and support staffers are not. The FBI Agents Association wrote in a statement that this is a shortsighted strategy."

How Obama maneuvered behind the scenes to fight Trump on redistricting: The ex-president’s involvement reflects the deep anxieties he has about Trump’s agenda and has propelled him into a more political, public-facing role than he envisioned.

Reading archive 2025-10-21

‘It broke me’: Inside the FBI hunt for the online predators who persuaded a 13-year-old to die

After Israel’s war halted, who is clashing with Hamas in Gaza?: The Doghmush clan reportedly fought against Hamas in a clash that killed at least 27 people.

My Gaza is ready for peace. Hamas is trying to destroy it.: Trump’s ceasefire created two Gazas: one striving for a better future, the other ruled by fear.

Video shows Hamas fighters executing Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel

Trump’s attempt to gut special education office has some conservative parents on edge: The president called the layoffs a part of cuts to “Democrat programs,” but children across the nation would be impacted.

New English exam sidelines 6,000 truckers, testing U.S. supply chain: The Trump administration withheld $40 million in funding for California, saying the state was not enforcing a language requirement for long-haul drivers.

Government shutdown showcases Mike Johnson’s increasingly bold style: Johnson, nearly two years into his speakership, is taking a hard line in shutdown negotiations.

Rubio promised to betray U.S. informants to get Trump’s El Salvador prison deal: To secure Washington’s access to El Salvador’s most notorious prison, the secretary of state made an extraordinary offer to President Nayib Bukele. - "The deal would give Bukele possession of individuals who threatened to expose the alleged deals his government made with MS-13 to help achieve El Salvador’s historic drop in violence, officials said. For the Salvadoran president, a return of the informants was viewed as critical to preserving his tough-on-crime reputation. It was also a key step in hindering an ongoing U.S. investigation into his government’s relationship with MS-13, a gang famous for displays of excessive violence in the United States and elsewhere."

With a phone call, Putin appears to change Trump’s mind on Ukraine. Again.: It was the latest swing in Trump’s position on the war that often shifts following contact with Putin, who has shown skill in influencing the U.S. president.

In tense meeting, Trump told Zelensky to concede land, meet Putin’s demands: Following the trip to Washington, Zelensky has set up a series of calls and meetings with his main European backers.

Trump keeps getting played by Putin. Will Budapest be different?: A Russia-Ukraine ceasefire might be possible if only Trump would apply more pressure on Putin.

Budapest bust shows pressure works on Putin: Russia blinks again.

Trump says he doesn’t want ‘wasted meeting’ with Putin, delaying summit: The decision came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Trump’s call for a ceasefire contradicted the understandings he reached with Putin.

Climate change is coming for D.C.’s trees, and the city won’t look the same: The Post examined data that shows how the decisions being made now about what trees to plant in place of dying ones will change the city’s treescape.

Travel ban separates Cuban families, divides community loyal to Trump: Cuban Americans trying to bring relatives from the island to the U.S. are seeing their claims rejected. The denials have exacerbated tensions in Florida over Trump’s immigration policies.

Fatal shooting is third D.C. killing in a week: Despite the recent killings, the rate of homicides in Washington has declined substantially over more than two months.

How China weaponized soybeans to squeeze U.S. farmers — and spite Trump: China, the world’s biggest importer of soybeans, has stopped buying U.S. crops to put pressure on Trump ahead of his trade-focused meeting with Xi Jinping.

Reading archive 2025-10-17

Voters facing skyrocketing electric bills turn ire toward politicians: Issues including the expansion of energy-hungry data centers, obscure surcharges on bills and clean-energy mandates are capturing the attention of frustrated consumers.

I Taped My Mouth Shut for 100 Days to Get a Better Jawline: TikTokers, celebrities, and self-declared health gurus are all touting the benefits of mouth taping. I tried it myself to investigate the hype.

Helsinki goes a full year without a traffic death: A city traffic engineer credits the success to lower speed limits and smarter design.

White, Legally Armed, and Primed for Political Violence: Ian Rogers was convinced it was up to him to save America. The gun industry’s sales tactics — playing up paranoia and glorifying combat — may be creating a pipeline of extremists willing to open fire.

'Link in Bio' Ruined All Our Brains A unified theory on the bad state of everything.

Study shows mountain lions are changing to adapt to human recreation: In Los Angeles, the animals are shifting to less daytime activity in areas where humans are roaming more frequently.

This isolated town in Maine could be a model for the clean energy future: Tidal power and solar would fuel a community microgrid to protect the island of Eastport from outages.

Why cranberry country is turning into wetlands: Massachusetts farmers began draining wetlands to make cranberry bogs more than two centuries ago. Now there’s a race to restore them.

What’s America’s largest ethnic group, and why did we get it wrong for so long?: The identity of America’s largest ethnic group has long seemed cut and dried. But new data is challenging the conventional wisdom.

Teacher dies after bat bites her at California school: Leah Seneng, a California teacher, was bitten by what officials called a “presumably rabid bat.” Her friend said she tried not to harm the bat in her classroom.

How much abuse can a local newspaper reporter take?: Republicans claim Tom Lisi’s reporting is lies to promote a liberal agenda. How should he respond? - "The lesson here? Toss out the noble but outdated industry wisdom that it’s best to avoid jawing with the haters because the work speaks for itself. Well, the people who need to hear the pushback aren’t reading the work that speaks for itself. Confront the media bashers wherever they practice their profession."

Consumer watchdog takes aim at credit card rewards programs: Major card issuers often play a “shell game” and deny consumers the rewards they have earned, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warns.

Man and woman charged after girl, 5, was shot by her 3-year-old brother: The child was critically wounded after her brother found a ghost gun in an apartment in Southwest Washington, police said.

The hidden science swirling in ‘The Starry Night’: The famous painting from Dutch post-impressionist Vincent van Gogh has sparked controversy among physicists.

Why Qatar is building an air force training facility at a U.S. military base: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho will host Qatari pilots at the military facility. The base will remain under U.S. jurisdiction.

China’s demographic crisis means it’s going to run out of workers

Reading archive 2025-10-16

We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly: Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy - "Russell Vought embodies the radicalization of the conservative movement; his example captures how far removed from democratic politics the Trumpist Right is. Vought is convinced to be fighting a noble war against a vast leftist conspiracy that has supposedly taken over the country and is destroying the nation. He dreams of a comprehensive 'counter-revolution' and believes that any measure, regardless of how extreme, is justified in this struggle against the 'leftist' enemy. But if you only listened to The Daily, you wouldn’t get any of that."

Engineers turn fish biology into a breakthrough microplastic laundry filter:  Inspired by the filter feeding mechanisms of basking sharks and manta rays, a startup called Cleanr has developed a filter that traps over 90% of microplastics released in each wash cycle.

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction: The Washington Post reviewed leaked audio from four off-the-record lectures the tech investor delivered in San Francisco over the past month that fused beliefs about religion and technology.

Trump’s new foreign aid plan eyes $50 million for Greenland’s polar bears: Documents reviewed by The Post show the administration may invest significantly in protecting vulnerable wildlife, proposals that stunned critics of its moves to gut foreign assistance.

8 takeaways from the Spanberger and Earle-Sears debate in Virginia: Republican Winsome Earle-Sears talked over Democrat Abigail Spanberger in a chaotic debate in the Virginia governor’s race that touched on trans students, Trump and more.

Trump pledged to make D.C. ‘safe and beautiful.’ His administration cut $40M in homeland security funds. The Trump administration cuts to grants in D.C. and 11 states geared toward anti-terrorism and other emergency responses has been paused by a federal judge while they are being challenged in court. - "'You complain about public safety in the District of Columbia, and what are you doing? Defunding their police,' said Richard S. Madaleno Jr., who is the chair-elect of the region’s Homeland Security Executive Committee, an arm of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments that helps local jurisdictions prepare for emergency situations."

Under pressure to curb crime, D.C. Council examines school absences: New legislation would direct D.C.’s Department of Human Services to investigate thousands of truancy reports.

Smithsonian visitors arrive to locked doors as federal shutdown continues: Across the National Mall on Sunday, tourists hastily rearranged plans as they realized D.C.'s downtown attractions had run out of money to operate.

Is it America’s fate to decline and fall? Here’s what history says.: The American experiment will soon turn 250. Is its time running out? - "Broadly speaking, the Athenian spirit is associated with golden ages. When civilizations were open to influences from merchants and migrants, and when they let people experiment with new ideas and innovations, they prospered. This required tolerance of pluralism and surprise, as well as institutions and norms to restrain rulers’ arbitrary use of power."

Reading archive 2025-10-15

She won her election, but the House speaker still has not sworn her in: Congresswoman-in-limbo Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, has mounted a media campaign meant to shame House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Can tourism be respectful? Native Hawaiians have a plan.: Hawaii wants visitors to appreciate Native culture. But larger economic forces pose a threat to the “regenerative” revolution.

Professor who teaches about antifascism moves to Europe after death threats: A Rutgers University professor who wrote a book about antifa received the death threats after he commented on President Donald Trump designating the movement a “domestic terrorist organization.” - Several far-right activists and other social media users homed in on Bray in late September, after he was quoted in news stories about President Donald Trump’s executive order designating antifa as a 'domestic terrorist organization.' Bray described antifa — a far-left decentralized global movement whose proponents oppose fascism — to The Washington Post at the time as 'a kind of coalition politics of all kinds of radicals' and 'not a group.'

...

"One online activist called Bray a 'domestic terrorist professor,' and another shared the address of his home in New Jersey. The campus’s chapter of the conservative student group Turning Point USA then launched a petition Thursday to demand that the university fire him, referencing Trump’s executive order and claiming Bray is a risk to their safety."

A quarter of FBI agents are assigned to immigration enforcement, per FBI data: The large number of reassignments — about 3,000 agents — reflect a vast reshaping of the agency and could put other priorities at risk. - "Agents have been pulled from duties related to cybercrimes, drug trafficking, terrorism, counterintelligence and more, the statistics show. Agents assigned to immigration enforcement are working with ICE to locate and arrest people in the country illegally."

Why this one area of cities is usually the poorest: The Department of Data went looking for geographic patterns in poverty, and stumbled upon a surprising culprit.

Katie Porter’s bid for governor is getting noticed – but not how she wants: Two viral videos have brought unwelcome attention to the former congresswoman, who has been leading polls in the 2026 California governor’s race.

Reading archive 2025-10-08

Why Democrats are slow-walking their 2024 autopsy until after the November elections: The party’s chairman has already said it would not include scrutiny of how Joe Biden’s late withdrawal from the race was handled.

Trump threatened shutdown layoffs. So far, he hasn’t followed through.: For the White House, the week-long shutdown is both an “opportunity” to MAGA-fy the federal government and an “unenviable choice” over how to cut costs.

Layoffs are traumatic. Here are some things you should never say.: Platitudes or jokes will only add to the hurt of unemployment. Offer real help instead.

How to stop the No. 1 killer of Americans long before any symptoms: Cardiovascular disease experts propose a new approach to treating heart disease, focusing on atherosclerosis prevention and early detection

What a gut microbiome scientist wants you to eat every day: Focus on eating fiber-rich foods, especially those high in a special type of fiber called resistant starch.

VA’s disability program is an ‘honor system.’ These veterans are defrauding it.

D.C. Council rejects — then revives and delays — youth curfew extension: A disagreement over a bill to extend a stricter curfew sends the D.C. Council behind closed doors. It was one of three bills that lawmakers punted on to resolve disagreements.

Why the White House might dial up the shutdown pain: Democratic leaders play a dangerous game as Trump threatens not to pay furloughed federal workers. - "The government is too big. There is plenty of fat to cut. If the last week has shown anything, it’s that the federal bureaucracy performs too many 'nonessential' tasks that do not have a direct bearing on the lives of most citizens." [edit: that should read immediate direct bearing]

Twenty Thoughts On Where We Stand: Taking stock of the weirdest shutdown I've observed - "The easiest way to succinctly untangle it to say this: Trump and the GOP are responsible for blowing up the longstanding norms and logic of the appropriations process, but the Democrats are the ones who caused the current shutdown, and are the ones preventing the government from reopening under a short-term CR."

What if a Russian victory in Ukraine were only the beginning?: This isn’t a Russian “gray zone” war with Europe. It’s a real war. And the West is dithering.

Scientists seek to turbocharge a natural process that cools the Earth: Terradot, a carbon removal company, is using “enhanced rock weathering” to sequester carbon by spreading crushed volcanic rock over farmland.

Russia escalates warning as Trump considers sale of Tomahawks to Ukraine: The warning is part of a concerted Russian effort to deter President Donald Trump from giving Ukraine access to the missiles, repeating a tactic Moscow has used throughout the war.

Reading archive 2025-10-07

Tesla said it didn’t have key data in a fatal crash. Then a hacker found it.: The critical evidence was presented last month to a jury, which found the company partially liable for the 2019 crash in Key Largo, Florida.

The Taliban are reaching out — and some countries are responding: Anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe, concerns about militancy in Asia and acceptance that the Taliban regime is unlikely to collapse soon present a diplomatic opening.

His wife was dying, his federal job crumbling. It tested his faith — in God and Trump.: One federal worker was rejected three times from the administration’s early resignation offer. Would he blame the president he voted for? - "Brandon hit pause. Trump’s treatment of the federal workforce was clearly an error, he thought. The president had delegated authority to bad people, especially Musk and the young engineers running DOGE, who didn’t understand or care about the government and the people who made it function. But Trump had a lot to manage, Brandon thought. He probably didn’t know about everything Musk and DOGE were doing." [ed. note: "If the fuhrer knew!", or naive monarchism]

‘I escaped a Russian prison — only to end up in an American jail’: Dozens of Russian dissidents have been expelled from the US and forcibly returned to Russia with the co-operation of immigration authorities - "When the dissidents arrived in Russia, the Russian authorities were given documents relating to their asylum applications in the US. Those dossiers, outlining their political beliefs and criticisms of Putin, could be used to prosecute them back home, campaigners believe."

The Anti-Trump Strategy That’s Actually Working: Lawsuits, lawsuits, and more lawsuits

Ukraine’s Most Lethal Soldiers: From the front lines in Kherson, with a unit that kills Russians for points

Judge in Comey case is known for sparing but powerful remarks in court: U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff, a former public defender nominated by President Joe Biden, has a reputation as a measured jurist.

To defeat the Texas gerrymander, Democrats need to go nuclear: It’s not enough for blue states to redraw their maps. Leaders need to hit the GOP where it hurts most.

It’s Time for Soft Secession: How blue states can use their economic clout to stand up to Trump’s agenda—starting with California. - "As my colleague Ari Berman has noted: 'In 1790, the country’s most populous state, Virginia, had 12 times as many people as its least populous, Delaware. Today, California has 67 times the population of Wyoming. Fifteen small states with 41 million people combined now routinely elect 30 GOP senators; California, with 39 million residents, is represented by only two Democrats.'

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"Blue states could lure away techies, doctors, nurses, and electricians with relocation bonuses. We could institute tax and other incentives to pull new factories and data centers away from red states. We could selectively terminate professional licensing reciprocity. We could ease commerce between friendly states and make it difficult for unfriendly ones."

Eventually You're Going to Have to Stand for Something: On accepting the fascist offer and being better than Ezra. - "Klein has demonstrated his commitment to open discourse and public debate; first by having prominent hatemonger Ben Shapiro (friendship status uncertain) on to his podcast to chat for a couple hours about the need for unity; next, by having on his friend Ta-Nehisi Coates—who has written an excellent piece criticizing Ezra's Kirk piece—so Klein could talk at Coates for an hour about how we need to be practical to regain power, and how those practicalities are going to have to come at the expense of the humanity of some of our neighbors, and how having historical conversations about who in fact has been killing who is all a little too much of a downer. The fact of interview with Shapiro and the content of the interview with Coates exposed Klein's moral emptiness in ways that he should find deeply embarrassing.

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"This is the grain of sand at the center of the pearl of my ire, because 'we are going to have to live here with each other' is the exact premise that Republicans do not agree with any of us about, and while Klein in his remarks pays lip service to some of the recent proofs of this clear fact, his analysis of what to do about it he excises this reality entirely. In his mind, he and Kirk were just two guys, both trying to change the country for what they thought was good. It's a bond. Never mind that what Kirk thought was good was the American military in the streets of Chicago, and mass kidnapping in service of a white ethnostate, and the end of bodily autonomy for women and queer people, and so forth. In the Klein world, moral clarity about abuse is polarizing, and polarization, not abuse, is the problem to solve.

Should you brush your teeth before or after breakfast? What experts say.: There are pros and cons for both.

Three people found fatally shot in D.C. in three days: Three youths, one with a gun, took a moped in broad daylight on Capitol Hill.

Federal workers not entitled to back pay after shutdown, budget office claims: The government shutdown entered its seventh day Wednesday with no end in sight. The White House says a 2019 law doesn’t guarantee retroactive pay.

D.C. teacher aide on leave after allegedly putting hot sauce in autistic boy’s mouth: A D.C. teacher aide has been placed on leave after allegedly putting hot sauce in the mouth of a nonverbal autistic student.

Country singer Zach Bryan warns ICE will ‘bust down your door’ in new song: Bryan, a Grammy winner, upset some right-wing fans when he appeared to criticize U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a teaser of a new song.

Reading archive 2025-10-06

How Big Agriculture got its way in the latest MAHA report: Alarmed by the first MAHA commission report, the agriculture industry mobilized to shape the next installment. Those efforts seemingly paid off.

Government shutdowns have become normal. This one is not.: Many of the administration’s actions have no precedent, which makes it a harder test of both sides.

Riders on the storm: The birds that fly into hurricanes

How I grew a prairie on my balcony—and how you can, too

The most miraculous animal migration is happening in the middle of New York City: If we can help these creatures flourish in NYC, we can help them anywhere.

The AI bubble is 17 times the size of the dot-com frenzy - and four times subprime, this analyst argues - "'So, in summary; you can't create an app with commercial value as it is either generic (games etc), which won't sell, or it is regurgitated public domain (homework), or it is subject to copyright. It's hard to advertise effectively, LLMs cost an exponentially larger amount to train each generation, with a rapidly diminishing gain in accuracy. There's no moat on a model, so there's little pricing power. And the people who use LLMs the most are using them to access compute that costs the developer more to provide than their monthly subscriptions,' he says."

Reading archive 2025-10-03

The Neighbor From Hell: Israel and the United States delivered a blow to Iran. But it could come back stronger.

The Trouble With Bad Bunny’s Puerto Rico Takeover: The artist invited fans to his home island for a tricky mix of music and tourism.

Clarence Thomas Has Laid Out the Conservative Plan to Take Away Marriage Equality and Birth Control: If the Supreme Court justice pulls this off, it would be the crowning triumph of his vengeance-fueled career.

One victim in Yom Kippur synagogue attack in England was shot dead by police: The police identified two people killed in an attack at a synagogue in Manchester, England, and said they were still trying to learn more about the assailant’s motives.

How Spinoza Overcame 17th-Century Cancel Culture: The great thinker never let his emotions get the better of him. Instead, he used reason to get the better of his detractors.

Reading archive 2025-10-02

Trump Isn’t Interested in Competing With China: To see how the president is losing ground to Beijing, consider his disastrous relationship with India. - "India is not the only Asian partner the Trump administration has alienated. ICE agents arrested more than 300 South Koreans who had entered the United States legally and were building a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia. The move generated outrage in Seoul. On the same day, Trump imposed a punitive investment deal on Japan that drew the ire of Japanese officials and business leaders."

The Running Mate Kamala Harris Didn’t Dare Choose: “I love Pete,” she writes in her new book. But picking a gay man would have been too risky.

It’s Fun to Be a Board-Game Sociopath: What can I say? I love to betray my friends. - "For example, if I were to offer aspiring Werewolf champions one piece of advice: When caught in a lie, do not admit to it. Rather, you must double down and commit to your lie even harder, so that the other players are forced to choose sides between you and your accuser."

Trump’s Campaign of Vengeance Is Already Backfiring As the president knows too well, efforts to censor or convict foes can often make them more popular.

Moscow Can’t Stop the Music: The Kremlin is trying to suppress songs that defy Putin’s rule. It isn’t working.

The 4th Amendment will no longer protect you - "Earlier this month, the Supreme Court rendered obsolete the 4th Amendment’s prohibition on suspicionless seizures by the police. When the court stayed the district court’s decision in Noem vs. Vasquez Perdomo, it green-lighted an era of policing in which people can be stopped and seized for little more than how they look, the job they work or the language they speak."

Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause :By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy.

Charlie Kirk, Ezra Klein, and the Cost of Civility-Theater Liberalism: “Talking across divides” is laudable—until it becomes a license to launder antidemocratic and dehumanizing ideas. - "This outrage-packaged-for-attention market that incentivizes mockery and monetizes contempt is the roadshow that made Charlie Kirk famous—an old playbook Dinesh D’Souza and David Horowitz ran before him, now optimized for an algorithmic age: a ritualized antagonism, audience participation as culture-war cosplay, the triumphant edit pushed out to millions before the house lights are up. Strip away the self-flattery of a university crowd congratulating itself on its open-mindedness, and the illusion that a staged confrontation with a celebrity provocateur constitutes pedagogy, and what remains is a reel factory masquerading as a public forum."

Ophelia Disappeared: A Wall Street Analyst and a Deadly Shootout: The group was passionately vegan, mostly transgender and highly educated. Seven of them are now in jail. This is the story of one who did not survive.

Russian gasoline production buckles under Ukrainian drone strikes: In annexed Crimea, drivers are limited to five gallons of gas at the pump, and all Russians face higher taxes and less social spending as the war drags on.

Senior government officials privately warn against firings during shutdown: The Trump administration has telegraphed that mass firings are coming, but officials have cautioned that such moves could violate appropriations law.

How Trump’s 2020 election falsehoods are shaping a marquee Georgia race: Warring factions at odds over his failed effort to overturn the outcome are renewing their rivalries in a major midterm contest.

Why do women outlive men? A study of 1,176 species points to an answer.: Let’s talk about sex chromosomes, baby. - "The 'heterogametic sex hypothesis' holds that if something goes haywire with a gene on one of a woman’s X chromosomes, her cells have a spare to rely on. But men, with only a single X chromosome, have no such reinforcements. The same sort of problem may happen with a male’s unpaired Y chromosome."

Democrats are putting money into solidly red Mississippi. Here’s why.: The DNC is investing in low-profile state races there as the South is on track to wield more power in future elections. Will it work?

Reading archive 2025-10-01

Congressional Democrats embrace government shutdown, a risky move: House Democrats gave Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries a standing ovation in a caucus meeting Monday evening, praising his feisty posture toward Donald Trump.

Trump administration seeks to exert control over government shutdown: Officials canceled projects in Democratic states, posted partisan messages on government websites and warned that federal layoffs will begin soon.

My Thoughts on the Riyadh Comedy Festival - "Clearly you guys don’t give a shit about what the rest of us think, but how can any of us take any of you seriously ever again? All of your bitching about 'cancel culture' and “freedom of speech” and all that shit? Done. You don’t get to talk about it ever again. By now we’ve all seen the contract you had to sign."

‘Veep’ Creator Armando Iannucci Struggling To Fund Trump Project Amid MAGA Retribution Fears

Hegseth wants to return the military to 1990 — a dark time in its history: The early 1990s saw the U.S. Navy rocked by the Tailhook sexual assault scandal, exposing a dark underside of military culture.

Flooded outfield results in criminal charges for two Maryland firefighters: The Montgomery County incident was apparently sparked by baseballs flying over protective netting and into a fire station parking lot.

Legalized blackjack and poker among D.C. mayor’s proposals to boost economy: Bowser is also putting forward measures related to street vending, zoning and taxation — ideas the D.C. Council had removed from this year’s budget proposal.

Who will win the shutdown fight? Neither side will like the answer.: Washington’s obsession with claiming victory in the shutdown cycle is pointless. - "Kamala Harris offers a hard lesson in how short-lived a good news cycle can be when it comes to the make-or-break skill of winning national elections. Harris had a good rollout in her opening weeks, a sterling Democratic convention in Chicago and a strong debate. In the end, how much good did all that do her?"

Maryland speeders to pay more, D.C. changes health care under new laws: Laws going into effect Oct. 1 will also bring about changes to late fees on past-due rent, driver’s license emblems and violence interruption programs.

WorldPride festival’s predicted economic boon fell short, D.C. says :Trump administration actions seen as targeting the LGBTQ+ community caused some visitors to stay away.

Threatened with jail, CEO agrees to shut down ride-hailing app in D.C.: Empower’s CEO agreed in court Tuesday to a two-week deadline to stop operating in the city, but the company said afterward it would continue to fight.

D.C. police sergeant arrested by city and federal task force: Montez Clark, 27, has been charged with nine crimes, including assaulting a federal police officer. He has worked at the police department since July 2019.

Saudi comedy festival draws big names and backlash Human rights advocates and some comics say the festival, at which Bill Burr, Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart are performing, whitewashes abuses. - "'A lot of the 'you can’t say anything anymore!' Comedians are doing the festival,' Okatsuka said, appending a laughing-crying emoji."

Fight gearing up over D.C. bill to recycle bottles and cans for cash: The D.C. Council is holding a hearing Wednesday on a proposal to add a 10-cent fee to bottle and can purchases that would be refunded if people recycle.

Hegseth wants to return the military to 1990 — a dark time in its history: The early 1990s saw the U.S. Navy rocked by the Tailhook sexual assault scandal, exposing a dark underside of military culture.

Reading archive 2025-09-30

The Gaza Left and the Gender Left: Can groups with different values work together against Britain’s far right?

Ukraine’s Plan to Starve the Russian War Machine: Negotiations have stalled. Trump keeps changing his policies. Ukrainians, backed by Europeans, are taking matters into their own hands. ​​​

He was 12 when he committed murder. At 17, his sentence is served.: A judge ended the teen’s indefinite probation in the killing of 13-year-old King Edward Douglas in 2021.

Battleground lawmaker’s bid for Arizona governor could affect control of Congress next year: The decision by David Schweikert creates a vacancy in one of the most competitive House districts in the country.

Comey and the lessons of pre-capitulation: He tried to palliate bad faith Republicans. Now we're all paying the price. - "We need to stand with Comey now against Trump’s ugly authoritarian abuses. But we also need to recognize that Comey’s strategy of pre-capitulation got him, and all of us, into this mess in the first place. Other institutionalists, pragmatists, and would-be non-partisans are going to face the kinds of choices and incentives that Comey did. Hopefully they will look at the sad, gutted remnants of his beloved Justice Department and choose a different path."

‘Good luck to all!’ What are U.S. allies supposed to do with that?: On NATO and Russia, Trump’s actions don’t match his words. - "Trump is pledging to stand by NATO, but his Defense Department is cutting all security assistance funding for European countries — including the embattled Baltic republics. Trump is criticizing Putin, but he still hasn’t imposed any new sanctions on Russia after letting one deadline after another slip by. He even excluded Russia from the 'reciprocal' tariffs that he imposed on almost every other country in the world."

The real problem with Tylenol (it’s not autism): Here’s why people need to be cautious about acetaminophen. - "Acetaminophen, commonly referred to by the brand name Tylenol, carries very real risks when taken in higher-than-recommended doses. It is the leading cause of acute liver failure in the United States and is responsible for 1 in 5 liver transplants. Public health efforts should be targeting these dangers rather than stoking unfounded fears of neurological harm."

Trump tells a roomful of silent generals to join a ‘war from within’: The president delivered an unusually meandering speech to an unprecedented gathering of the nation’s top military leaders

Trump, Hegseth lecture military leaders in rare, politically charged summit: The unusual, hastily organized event became a forum for the president and his defense secretary to tout their partisan agenda.

Why Bad Bunny’s selection as the Super Bowl halftime headliner is sparking MAGA fury: The Puerto Rican recording artist opposed Trump in 2024 and is not offering tour dates in the U.S. mainland to avoid exposing his fans to ICE raids.