Reading archive 2026-01-29

How Battlefield Tech Was Used in Minneapolis: Our reporter Thomas Gibbons-Neff, who deployed twice to Afghanistan as a Marine and later was our Kabul bureau chief, looks at the battlefield technology used for an immigration arrest at a home in Minneapolis. [ed. note: video]

The powerful tools in ICE’s arsenal to track suspects — and protesters: Biometric trackers, cellphone location databases and drones are among the surveillance technologies that federal agents are tapping in their deportation campaign. [ed. note: horrifying]

Removal of flags for fallen Danish soldiers at U.S. Embassy sparks backlash: There was no malicious intent in removing the flags, said a State Department spokesperson, who added that the flags had been replaced.

Anthropic Is at War With Itself: The AI company shouting about AI’s dangers can’t quite bring itself to slow down.

If You Tax Them, Will They Leave?: A California wealth-tax proposal makes a high-stakes bet on billionaire psychology.

The Program That’s Turning Schools Around: The key to closing the achievement gap may lie outside the classroom.

Russia’s top diplomat rejects key part of deal to end war with Ukraine: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismisses security guarantees demanded by Ukraine for any deal, once again saying the current regime in Kyiv should end. - "It is precisely the lack of high level officials in the Abu Dhabi talks that show they aren’t serious, said European Union foreign policy head Kaja Kallas, noting that the Russian delegation consisted of military and intelligence officials."

Trump faces fresh MAGA blowback for efforts to ‘de-escalate’ in Minnesota: The president’s response to widespread public dismay over the shooting death of another Minnesotan has put him in a bind with his own base.

Handling of Pretti investigation has some prosecutors on verge of quitting: Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis, frustrated by the response to the shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, have suggested they could resign en masse.

I’ve reported on UFO sightings for decades — and come to this conclusion

What the Neocons Got Right: David Brooks on moral collapse, the limits of politics, and what the neocons got right about America. Plus: Another ICE shooting in Minneapolis and Netflix’s Death by Lightning. - "And so what you have in the Trump administration is people with the same profile as the Dartmouth Review crowd: They went to elite schools, but they hated what they found there. That's Steven Miller, who went to Duke. That's Pete Hegseth, who went to Princeton. That's J. D. Vance, who went to Yale Law. Now, you can go down the list. It's Elon Musk and Donald Trump went to Penn. And so these are not pro-conservative. These are oppositional nihilists who hate the liberal establishment. And I found it easy, when I was saying college, to be more conservative than my professors but still have reverence for their learning. But these people do not have reverence for learning; they just want to offend the bourgeoisie. And so that's what it's become. And then they've produced spawn of young people who just think, That's cool. That's edgy. And of course, you have to up the dosage when you're giving people edgy nihilism - it just has to get worse and worse and worse. And as Richard Weaver, a philosopher from the 1950s, said, The problem with the younger generation is they haven't read the minutes to the last meeting. And so you get a group of people who, when they see fascistic behavior, don't understand where that eventually leads." [edit: also a bit on Reconstructions vs. modernization in the 1880s via Death by Lightning]

A case that lets billionaires spend big on elections never reached Supreme Court: While Citizens United became shorthand for unlimited political spending, a less-recognized campaign finance case made super PACs a reality. - "'SpeechNow, building upon the terrible flaws of Citizens United, has created a road map for billionaires and wealthy special interests to spend unlimited amounts of money to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens,' attorney David Kolker, who unsuccessfully argued the SpeechNow case on behalf of the FEC, told The Washington Post in an interview. 'This distorts our democratic process.'"

Why this Democrat refuses to retaliate against Trump’s GOP redistricting: Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson sank Democrats’ plan to pick up a congressional seat in Maryland, despite the rank-and-file tide seeking an aggressive fight against Trump.

America’s plan to protect pedestrians failed. A young woman’s death reveals why.: U.S. officials encouraged cities to adopt Vision Zero to save lives. Driver opposition and a lack of money derailed it.

The deadliest roads in America: The number of pedestrians killed by vehicles in the United States has surged amid neglect and lack of investment by transportation authorities.