Reading archive 2026-11-03

Pardoned Jan. 6 defendant accused of threatening D.C. judges: The Georgia man, who was previously charged with threatening former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, was again arrested for alleged threats to judges. - "Meredith, who was a devoted follower of the radical QAnon ideology, drove toward the nation’s capital from Colorado on Jan. 6, 2021, with a cache of guns, 2,500 rounds of ammunition and high-capacity magazines. On that drive, court records show, he repeatedly texted his family and friends ominous sentiments. One message said he was 'gonna collect a … ton of Traitors heads.'"

The Racism Scam: Republicans are resorting to a troubling closing argument. - "At the turn of the 19th century, the populist Tom Watson wrote that Black and white laborers were 'kept apart that you may be separately fleeced of your earnings. You are made to hate each other because upon that hatred is rested the keystone of the arch of financial despotism that enslaves you both.' Tragically, Watson later abandoned this insight—he became an arch racist and anti-Semite. The bigger tragedy is that more than a century later, a major political party is still trying to make this scam work."

Editor in Brief: Why Is She Doing This?: What I read, watched, and listened to this week

Reading archive 2026-11-02

Inside the chaos before Haley Stevens’s shocking Senate endorsement in Michigan: The decision by Rep. Haley Stevens to endorse Republican Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is deeply personal – and highlights Democrats’ fractures.

Trump’s reality TV administration reveals the real America — and we’re a mess: If “The United States” were a TV show, what would it look like? Trump’s team spent 2026 showing us its answer to that question, ending on a million-dollar pitch. - "The fastest-growing U.S. industry is home health care, but 'Million Dollar Pitch' is not the kind of reality show that wants to feature underpaid women diligently preventing bedsores for $12.75 an hour. 'Million Dollar Pitch' is the kind of show that wants to explore how a red-blooded man from middle America can stay up late Googling 'tube bending' and turn that into a God-loving dynasty."

Local mom-and-pops are embracing AI food slop, and residents are revolting: Small businesses in D.C. are getting increasingly called out for using artificial intelligence. The owners have thoughts.

Janeese Lewis George, ready to step off campaign trail, faces tough D.C. realities: The Democratic nominee for mayor offered a preview of some of the early actions she plans to take in office, including on housing and universal child care. - "At the town hall, attendees most loudly called for Lewis George to focus on holding bad landlords accountable for keeping tenants in poor living conditions — what Lewis George agreed was a 'true injustice in our city.' The otherwise sympathetic crowd, however, appeared to grow momentarily uneasy when she mentioned the need to work with developers and somehow address the issue of unpaid rent."

A Defense Contractor Gave Their Personal AI Agent Access to a Secure Pentagon System: Sources tell WIRED that an Accenture employee’s personal Claude agent ran on a DOD network for two months before it was identified and the vulnerability could be patched. - "Earlier this year, sources tell WIRED, a contractor caused a security incident at the Department of Defense by connecting a secure centralized system used by multiple intelligence agencies to their personal account for Claude Code, Anthropic’s AI coding agent. It appears that the agent used by the contractor, who is employed by the global consulting firm Accenture, then sent information about the DOD system, including login credentials, to a high-risk, third-party website."

Europe's youth is on the march - but does anything actually unite them?

Social account linked to former Mike Collins aide posted slurs, calls for violence: The staffer works for Rep. Daniel Webster and previously worked for Senate hopeful Collins, who has faced scrutiny for former staffers expressing extreme views online.

Judge dismisses case against former FBI agents in Hunter Biden laptop investigation: The rush to prosecute Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides “erodes public confidence” in the Justice Department, the judge said.