Reading archive 2026-01-27

How bad is your stove for your health? Look it up.

The ‘one-legged stools’ holding up a fragile economy: The U.S. economy is growing, but economists worry that its strength is too narrowly focused.

Outrage over ICE has spilled into typically apolitical online spaces: Fury over Alex Pretti’s killing has flooded forums for golfers, cat lovers and bourbon aficionados, reflecting a growing outrage over the Trump administration’s crackdown.

Trump’s Head-Scratching Turn Toward China: The president’s very personal approach to diplomacy poses real threats to American security. - "Although a hard line on China was a centerpiece of Trump's first term, he has gone soft in his second. The president has removed nearly all of the tariffs that he imposed on Chinese imports last year, and he has loosened controls on the sale of advanced American semiconductors to China-over the objections of national-security experts-on the condition that Nvidia coughs up a cut of its sales to the U.S. government. Trump also hailed his October 2025 summit with China's leader, Xi Jinping, as a meeting of the 'G2,' or 'Group of 2,' a flattering nod to the idea that the United States and China are the two most powerful countries in the world."

How the Bernie Goetz Shootings Explain the Trump Era: A notorious event in 1984 divided New Yorkers in ways that feel extremely familiar four decades later. - "White Americans in particular were offered a Faustian bargain during the Reagan '80s: accept a thinner safety net, a harsher economy, and a more unequal society - but in return, receive the emotional satisfaction of seeing the 'right' people punished by an ever-expanding criminal-justice system, and the tacit assurance that if they happened to visit their own frustrations on someone who did not look like them, that same system would protect them."