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."