Reading archive 2026-06-18

20 arrested in alleged drug trafficking operation near DC elementary school

All the Sad Hawks: Neoconservatives are struggling to reconcile their hopes for Trump with the failure of his Iran war. - "The defining trait of neoconservative thought is a near-boundless faith in the efficacy of U.S. military power. This faith caused the neocons to recoil in from the Obama administration's 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. A tougher president, they believed, would have used the threat of American might to make Iran accept much stricter terms.

...

"Meanwhile, the administration is attempting to make its supporters forget a decade of claims that Obama betrayed the country by handing 'pallets of cash' to Iran as it permits the country to recover billions immediately, by suspending sanctions, and possibly far more in 'reconstruction' funds that Iran views, not inaccurately, as reparations. The dread pallets seen in endless Fox News clips transferred $1.7 billion to Tehran, a minuscule figure compared with the $12 billion in unfrozen assets, not to mention the potential $300 billion reparations."

The feral hogs ravaging America could come to your home next: Money alone won’t win this bipartisan war. - "The federal government can regulate invasive plants, livestock disease and imported wildlife, yet it lacks jurisdiction over an invasive animal already established in the U.S. Current laws might curb interstate transport, but they cannot regulate in-state markets for feral hogs. 

"These markets exist because while some see the hogs as a problem, others see a revenue stream. Texas law allows people to sell live hogs by the pound at USDA holding facilities. Hog hunting occurs on game ranches in multiple states. These activities provide income on land that’s not productive for crops. It’s hard to coordinate eradication when some folks have incentives to keep the swine alive."

What Color Is the Reflecting Pool? An Investigation.: President Trump wanted an American-flag-blue Reflecting Pool. Instead, he got a swamp.

The Pentagon Might Win the Lottery: But even $1.5 trillion won’t solve its problems.

The Feel-Good Story of the World Cup Is Too Good to Be True: Some of the people celebrating American excess are not what they seem.

The Apotheosis of Donald Trump: On the president’s 80th birthday, it became clear that he has entered his decline.

Reading archive 2026-06-17

Late Stage Groceries the groceryslop is endless

D.C. police fatally shoot man on Metro bus after he allegedly killed a woman: Officials say the man fled on the bus after shooting the woman on a sidewalk.

Reading archive 2026-06-16

14-Year-Old Is Charged With Armed Robbery of Boston Lemonade Stand: A cash box containing about $80 was stolen from two siblings in Boston during the robbery, which occurred in broad daylight, the police and family members said.

Trump claims victory over Iran, but deal is silent on nuclear weapons: The president promised oil would resume flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, though U.S. and Iranian officials differed on the initial agreement’s terms. - "A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baqaei, said Monday that Iran intended to keep charging fees for passage through the strait that would cover navigation services, environmental protection and ship insurance."

Covid vaccine linked to broad protections against heart conditions, study finds: A new study finds the vaccine was linked with nearly 40 percent lower risk of events like heart attack and stroke

He’s studied procrastination for 40 years. Here’s what he’s learned.: After so many years studying procrastination, Joseph Ferrari has some thoughts about why you can’t seem to get anything done — and how to fix that. - "'In our culture, we punish for being late,' Ferrari said. 'We need to reward for being early.' He believes incentives could transform the collective tendency to put things off. What if, for example, the government gave people a discount if they filed their taxes early, or stores offered their biggest holiday sales on the day after Thanksgiving rather than Christmas Eve?"

Good luck, JD Vance. I sense a setup.: The vice president is tasked with helping the Iran regime “learn the ways of peace.”

Algae forms in the Reflecting Pool. It’s ‘residual,’ Trump officials say.: A few days after the $14 million renovation was completed, along came the algae in the D.C. heat. It’s being removed, an Interior spokeswoman said, and measures are in place to prevent it in the future.

Planned forest fires have wider benefits than previously thought: The new research found managing low-severity fires across 1 million acres a year could reduce the amount of land that burned from severe fires by about 25 percent, protection that lasts for years.

The Milkman: Mark McAfee Promotes the Wonders of Raw Milk. It Has Sickened M Hundreds, Regulators Say - "'We have a red-flag system here, where if there’s anything that gets really out of whack, they can immediately tag the milk, and it doesn’t go to anything but cheese,' McAfee told me. 'Because, you know, cheese is resistant to pathogens.'

"Research has shown that raw cheese is not, in fact, resistant to pathogens; while aging can mitigate some risk, harmful bacteria can still survive the usual 60-day maturation process."

Reading archive 2026-06-15

Washington Post Slapped With Massive Class Action Lawsuit for Alleged Price Gouging of Its Most Loyal Subscribers via ‘Surveillance Pricing’

‘Virtual power plants’ will launch soon in Virginia. Here’s what that means.

DOE head says agency didn’t punish blue states. His lawyers admit it did.: A federal judge ordered the Energy Department to restore another 11 grants after its lawyers acknowledged it aimed to punish Democrats.

Here’s how I got rid of mosquitoes when nothing else worked: This neighborhood plan mimics ones used to eradicate the insects on islands. Could it work for my house?

Pirro’s tough-on-crime approach is undercut by acquittals and mistrials: D.C. juries have declined to convict defendants accused of bribing a top Navy admiral and funding North Korea’s nuclear program.

On the cusp of change, D.C. voters fret as race to succeed Bowser nears end: With the Democratic primary days away, there’s a mountain of challenges to face, the magnitude of which the city has not seen in more than a generation.

The White House UFC fights showed us the America we needed to see: I guess this is what we’re doing now. - "What do we make of any of this other than that this is America? Bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses advertising Bud Light and trucks. 'In Loud We Trust.' Bring me your ring girls dressed skimpily in sequined stars and stripes, and your men with cauliflower ears, and a bunch of sailors dancing to 'YMCA.'"

This city is getting homes built twice as fast — and others want to copy it: Should every new house require a new permit for its design? Claremore, Oklahoma, does not think so.

Public financing meets ‘dark money’ in D.C. mayoral election: Super PAC-style groups with no donation caps have worked alongside the public campaign financing system to raise millions in support of candidates. - "Apart from [Maryland businessman Emmanuel] Bailey, the sports betting industry has spent more than $400,000 to boost preferred candidates in council races, according to representatives of American Future, an independent expenditure committee backed by DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics. The bulk of that money — nearly $300,000 — has been spent on mailers backing Doni Crawford, who is running against Elissa Silverman and Jacque Patterson in the special election to fill the at-large council seat vacated by McDuffie. The group has also spent money on materials supporting Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who is running for reelection unopposed, and council members Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) and Charles Allen (D-Ward 6)."

D.C. fines Lewis George campaign, finding coordination with labor groups: Janeese Lewis George’s campaign vowed to overturn the agency’s order, calling it a “last-ditch effort to derail a campaign.”

Soccer is truly spectacular, in spite of itself: The world's greatest sport isn't that great of a sport - "The more general issue with soccer, to me, is that it’s structurally a continuous sport but often functionally operates like the discrete sports. It’s sort of caught in the middle, and in my view ends up with the worst of both worlds. The core continuous team sports—like hockey, basketball, and rugby—are entertaining because the exciting action is so non-stop you barely have time to think. The discrete team sports—like baseball and American football—are objectively boring 95% of the literal time you are watching, but build their tension and excitement on the contemplative expectation of the next action."

After White House bout, UFC fighter disparages Michelle Obama as ‘a man’: The former first lady and her husband, former president Barack Obama, have frequently been the targets of racist insults.

Israelis denounce Trump’s deal with Iran: Prime Minister Netanyahu did not issue an immediate statement, but other Israelis disparaged the peace deal and said the fight against Hezbollah would go on. - "In the end, it was those who are close to Netanyahu who lashed out with a bitterness and sense of betrayal rarely seen directed by Israelis toward Trump. In a stunning social media tirade early Monday, Yinon Magal, a former lawmaker and anchor on Channel 14 television who is often described as Netanyahu’s most prominent mouthpiece, lashed out at Trump as a 'loser,' Vance as a 'lowlife,' and Trump’s special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff as 'two little Jews … whom Qatar bought for a lot of money and who sold out their brothers in Israel.'"

Congress has lost its grip on funding the government: The legislature showed again this week it is really struggling to follow its own normal budget-making process, and programs Americans love could be at stake.

A ‘forgotten world war’ helped forge America: The Revolutionary War succeeded because of allies at home and abroad. - "America’s improbable victory over British forces is full of stories of bravery from her allies. Victory at Yorktown was aided by the gallantry and tenacity of the French and Spanish fleets — the largest sea battle of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of the Capes, didn’t involve any American ships. Irish-born naval captain John Barry commanded the first ship commissioned by the Continental Congress. The Haitian-born Chasseurs Volontaires de Saint-Domingue, under French command, participated in numerous campaigns in the South, including the ill-fated Siege of Savannah in 1779." [ed. note: and on and on - Cuban silver, American Indians, the Kingdom of Mysore in India, etc.]

The DOGE Bros Want Another Shot: Two former staffers have created a new, perplexing company. - "It's worth pausing here to examine the fundamental premise of Special as DOGE for the private sector. You might have a few questions, including but not limited to: Wait, I thought DOGE was supposed to be about taking private-sector business acumen and bringing it to the bloated public sector? Isn't the private sector already run like the private sector? How is Special going to run the DOGE playbook inside these companies? Isn't this essentially just what a consulting firm does? Or private equity? And then, of course: Wasn't DOGE a deeply unpopular, failed experiment that saved a small fraction of its claimed savings while cutting more than 10,000 government contracts, including lifesaving international aid?

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"It's not just that DOGE was a failure or that its participants refuse to reckon with their role. It's that the DOGE "builder" ethos is built on a foundational lie. DOGE was not a generative project; it was a destructive one - a smash-and-grab attempt, led by an unelected official who happened to be the world's richest man, to seize control and precious data, and to turn the federal government into a political weapon. But for all its turmoil, DOGE helpfully illustrated how the term building can also be a euphemism for something else entirely: extraction."

American Christians Face a Choice: The faithful can still repair the wreckage they have wrought. - "But this needs to be acknowledged too: Christianity has often betrayed its commitment to the Imago Dei, the belief that people are made in the image of God and therefore have inherent, equal dignity and worth. The moral failures of Christianity make for a long and horrifying list: the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the witch trials; the persecution of Jews, Indigenous peoples, and gay people; the defense of slavery on biblical grounds by major figures such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield; the role of the Reich Church in Nazi Germany and the Dutch Reformed Church in apartheid South Africa; the complicity of Christian churches in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda; the role of the Russian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Kirill, who has called Vladimir Putin's leadership 'a miracle of God'; and the cover-up of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church and Protestant denominations. Christianity has an awful lot to answer for, lament over, and learn from."

Americans Are Already Paying Dearly for the National Debt: A spendthrift government is raising borrowing costs for everyone. - "Politicians respond to electoral consequences. Right now there is nothing stopping them from doling out tax cuts and spending promises while also driving up interest rates. Voters may complain that their lives are becoming unaffordable, but hardly anyone seems to appreciate that federal deficits are partly to blame. If we want to see lawmakers actually address this problem, economists need to do a better job explaining the stakes. This means that instead of talking about the fact that our national debt could fill all 32 NFL stadiums with two tiers of construction pallets filled with $100 bills, we should be talking about how deficit spending is making it harder to pay our own bills."

The World’s Leading Deepfake Expert No Longer Trusts His Own Eyes In the age of A.I., Hany Farid is struggling to prove what’s real before the internet decides for itself.

AIPAC Wants Democrats to Back Israel. Instead, They’re Turning on AIPAC.: Once the guardian of the bipartisan pro-Israel consensus, it is now a polarizing force in the party.

Reading archive 2026-06-12

Three teens arrested in connection with Chipotle brawl: MPD announced they have charged a 15-year-old and two 16-year-olds in connection with the crazy brawl that took place at the Chipotle in Navy Yard.

Parents are ‘going broke on berries’: The berry habit of the tiny humans in our households is breaking the bank.

Trump threatens new D.C. takeover if mayoral candidate Lewis George wins: Trump is legally barred from unilaterally revoking the city’s right to self-government, a step that would require an act of Congress.

The World Cup Is a Cash Grab. Fans Will Pay the Bill.: FIFA has built an $11 billion event that is too big to fail. But off the pitch, someone will win, and many others will lose. - "The organization’s relationship with the Trump administration has provided it with unfettered access to soccer’s largest untapped growth market and set it up to generate roughly $11 billion in total revenue for the upcoming tournament. It’s also put FIFA in a position of relative strength in negotiating with U.S. host cities. As part of its World Cup contract, the governing body maintains a full monopoly on not only broadcast and ticket rights but also concessions and sponsorships over the course of the tournament. The case FIFA made to host municipalities was, chiefly, that the residual economic benefits of accommodating the tournament—from tax revenue to increased business profits—would justify the costs attached to it. But this rationale was predicated on selling the World Cup to a full and open international marketplace—to say nothing of avoiding environmental pitfalls like economic slowdowns or widespread immigration enforcement–related fears. Now, with each of these one-time givens eroded, the arithmetic for host cities has been altered. Even more crucially, the math has been altered in ways that don’t apply to FIFA’s own accounting."

Reading archive 2026-06-11

How D.C. lawmakers avoided deep cuts to child care and social services: The outstanding deficits in popular programs have led some advocates and lawmakers to suggest raising taxes on the wealthy — a move opposed by the mayor.

A majority of D.C. residents are unhappy about the city’s direction. We asked them why.: Some of the most common concerns are crime, the cost of living, the economy and concern about federal control.

An obscure race to control the D.C. Democratic Party comes with high stakes and controversy

Oil executives warn White House that gas prices will get worse: Grim predictions add to the problems of a president already facing a sharp rise in inflation.

How Joyce Beatty Saved the Kennedy Center: The Ohio congresswoman tells us why she's hopeful about a judge's ruling that zapped Trump's name from the building—and what she expects to happen next.

Solo dissents are uncommon. Justice Kagan just made her first.: Justice Elena Kagan’s first solo dissent came nearly 16 years after she joined the Supreme Court bench.

Musk’s Starlink hooked rural customers. Then came the price increases.: The billionaire’s satellite internet service is a lifeline to many, but some users who face higher prices say Starlink has amassed too much power.

Reading archive 2026-06-10

A new wave of anti-immigrant violence hits U.K. as riots convulse Belfast: Attackers torched neighborhoods across Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, after a Sudanese asylum seeker was arrested and accused of stabbing a man.

Restaurants add World Cup service charges, fearing tourists won’t tip: Visitors to U.S. host cities may not know about tipping customs, so operators want to ensure that their workers share in the tournament’s financial benefits.

How to let go of things you don’t use and declutter your life: Hanging on to items that you aren’t actively using contributes to a chaotic existence.

Actually, the SAT Was Necessary After All: University of California faculty are in open revolt over the lack of standardized test scores.

Driving in America Is Headlight Hell: Car bulbs don’t have to be this blinding.

Eat More Deer: America is letting good meat go to waste.

Inside the White House Freakout Over the Epstein Files: The president’s top advisers gathered in a series of Situation Room meetings as they struggled to contain a scandal engulfing Donald Trump himself.

Reading archive 2026-06-09

I know firsthand why Graham Platner shouldn’t be a U.S. senator: I quit the campaign last fall, disturbed by what I'd learned about the Maine Democratic Senate primary candidate.

The White Identitarians Are Having a Moment: Now that DEI and anti-racism are in retreat, they’re moving on to a more ambitious goal. - "The white identitarians' ultimate goal seems to be the moral and institutional power that comes with victimhood status, which is now anyone's prize in post-woke America. So-called heritage Americans would like their own 'standpoint' to howl from. Whipping up racial consciousness to beget incessant complaint: This is the rule that Trump has campaigned and governed on, that Elon Musk has tapped into with his preposterous grumbling about 'white genocide,' and that Vance has constructed most of his public persona around."

Ukraine Is Not Losing. Russia Is Not Winning.: A momentum shift that changes everything

Why Republicans Aren’t Condemning Trump’s Meet the Press Walkout: Denying the legitimacy of vote-counting has become party doctrine. - "That Democrats carried out a massive criminal conspiracy, leaving no trace of concrete evidence behind, to spare the incumbent mayor from online ads is the kind of conspiracy theory that no sane figure would touch. And for a period of time, many Republicans resisted these kinds of absurdities. But Trump has driven most of those dissidents out of the party, and has either drawn the remainder to his side through the gravitational force of partisanship or intimidated them into silence."

Reading archive 2026-06-08

Trump’s plan for golf course threatens pillar of D.C. cycling culture: For more than three decades, an eclectic mix of bikers has been gathering daily for the “Noon Ride.” Now they worry it could end.

Yet More Damning Revelations About Graham Platner: Voters may be questioning the Senate candidate’s claims that he is a changed man.

Maine Has a Graham Platner Problem: Are we really going to do this again?

Reading archive 2026-06-07

Democrats’ midterm ‘blue wave’ dreams face an icy challenge: Negative partisanship rules as voters mildly like their own party but detest the opposition.

Flesh-eating screwworm found in Texas, sparking fears for U.S. cattle: The parasite was found in a 3-week-old calf decades after it was largely eradicated in the U.S. Authorities said the risk to humans is low.

The four Republicans who broke with Trump on Iran and now face his wrath: There are still hurdles before Congress could force the president to end hostilities, but the House resolution reflects lawmakers' growing impatience, including within Trump's own party.

Archbishop removes D.C. priest as exorcist for saying UFOs are demons: Monsignor Stephen Rossetti had been an archdiocesan exorcist in Washington for nearly two decades.

China’s Economy Is Taking Everyone Down: American and Chinese workers are paying a high price for all the cheap goods.

Political dynasties carry new baggage as voters vilify the elite: Family names have long given candidates a boost. In the era of No Kings, they can also make for an easy attack.

The Left Needs to Rediscover Its Patriotism: A left that rejects a hopeful, empathetic love of the United States can never win the country to its side.

The Real Problem With the Democrats’ Ground Game: Democratic organizers are hesitant to admit when get-out-the-vote efforts don’t work. One group is trying to change that.

Red Tape Isn’t the Only Reason America Can’t Build: The failure to deploy rural broadband has become synonymous with excessive bureaucracy. The real story is more complicated. - "The lesson of rural broadband is that some government failures are due not to procedural excess, but to giving up on regulatory tools that might antagonize Big Business. ... It's tempting to think that America can learn how to build again without having to wage difficult battles against powerful corporate interests, simply by eliminating bureaucratic red tape. But if efficient building were really so easy, we'd already be doing it."

The FBI’s Leaders ‘Have No Idea What They’re Doing’: A casualty of Trump’s purge speaks out.

Can San Francisco Be Saved?: Introducing No Easy Fix, a new three-part miniseries from Radio Atlantic, about the widespread addiction and homelessness that threaten the city’s future

Why South Park Did an About-Face on Mocking Trump: The show’s creators once said they had nothing more to say about the president. What changed their minds?

Reading archive 2026-06-05

A Shocking Betrayal of Black Americans - "The attack on democracy and Black political power in the South was made possible by justices in Washington, a president from Queens and a Democratic Party that has so far failed to stop them." ed. note: fuck you

As scandals follow Graham Platner, Democrats are losing patience: The Maine race is considered crucial to Democrats’ hopes of flipping the Senate, but Platner’s web of controversies is overshadowing other issues.

A surging liberal gives Democrats anxiety over Senate chances: Abdul El-Sayed, who is leading in many polls, is unapologetically progressive. Democratic leaders fear he could cost the party in November.

Reading archive 2026-06-03

The National Debt’s Unforgiving Math: If you’re not worried about this country’s fiscal outlook, you’re not paying attention.

Condemning a Nazi Tattoo Shouldn’t Be This Hard: Why aren’t more Democrats calling out Graham Platner? - "Platner has a unique personal story, having reinvented himself from high-born prep-school student to blue-collar oyster farmer, and from willing Marine who talked about wanting to go to war to kill people (and who later worked for a military contractor) to a victim of Collins's vote to authorize the Iraq War. Although Platner is by no means the first politician to reshape his personal narrative during a campaign, he is likely the first to attempt an innocent explanation for having had, for 18 years, a tattoo of a Totenkopf, the insignia of the Schutzstaffel, or SS - the most dedicated and fanatical component of the Third Reich, whose members were the architects and executioners of the Final Solution."

The Spanish Exception: The country’s leaders avoided a populist backlash by engineering an economic boom. Now the boom is creating problems of its own. - "The new arrivals injected life into the Spanish economy. By filling labor shortages, they allowed existing businesses to expand to serve more customers, which, in turn, created the need for even more workers. The migrants were also, of course, consumers, who bought goods and services. Many also started their own businesses. Rather than harming native-born workers, the immigration surge seems to have helped them. The unemployment rate for native-born Spaniards has plummeted while incomes have risen by double digits; the poorest workers experienced the largest increase. A report from the Bank of Spain estimates that a quarter of the rise in the country's per capita GDP from 2022 to 2024 could be attributed to immigrants. "I've been writing about Spain for 50 years at this point, and I've never seen its economy perform quite like this," William Chislett, a senior fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute, in Madrid, told me. 'And there's little doubt in my mind that immigration is the most important factor.'" [ed. note: but housing costs skyrocketed]

D.C. Progressives’ Great Socialist Hope: The bitter contest for Washington’s mayor has replicated the Democrats’ central ideological struggle. - "Her second pledge is to build 72,000 homes in five years. While Lewis George is pledging to liberalize zoning laws and reduce permitting times - a nod to the yes-in-my-backyard urbanism that has gained force among wonky D.C. Democrats - her pledge would be extraordinarily difficult for private developers to deliver amid the deep recession that the D.C. housing market is in. House prices peaked in May 2021. Since then, they have fallen 26 percent in inflation-adjusted terms, making investments in new-home construction less likely to pay off. 

"'A couple of years from now, we're looking at almost no housing production going forward,' Emilia Calma, the director of housing studies at the D.C. Policy Center, told me. Calma attributed the problem to high interest rates, high rates of rent nonpayment, and an extremely slow eviction process. D.C. has also just come off an incredible construction boom: From 2019 to 2026, the District added 45,000 new homes. As a result, real rental prices dropped by nearly 11 percent (even as rents rose across the country). Already discouraged developers will not exactly be lured back by the new tenant protections and expanded rent-stabilization laws that Lewis George is proposing."

Democrats Must Learn to Talk Sports: Politicians need as much attention as possible, as frequently as possible, while seeming as relatable as possible. A cheat code exists to hit all three objectives. - "Indeed, the sports world offers fertile terrain for class politics. Progressive Democrats have been trying, with limited success, to convince Americans that billionaires are their true enemy. Well, guess who loves to hate billionaires: aggrieved sports fans. Why not take a break from complaining that billionaires don't pay their fair share of income taxes to focus instead on team owners' obsession with avoiding the luxury tax by trading away their best players? Perhaps AOC could earn some support in Staten Island if she hammered Hal Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees, for letting Juan Soto go to the crosstown Mets to save on his tax bill."

The Ordinary Miracle of Existing: Being alive at all is the most extraordinary stroke of good luck any of us will ever experience. - "Being alive at all is the most extraordinary stroke of good luck we will ever experience. Yet it is the easiest to overlook, to take for granted. We wake up in the morning, have our coffee, make breakfast, send the kids off to school, go to our jobs, move through our routines, worry about deadlines, check off items on our to-do list. And we forget that beneath all of it lies something profoundly rare: existence itself. The simple fact that we are here, conscious and aware, is so unlikely that it borders on the miraculous. Because we experience that miracle every day, we treat it as ordinary, even guaranteed, mostly unnoticed at all. We postpone joy, assuming there will always be more time. We don't see the beauty in small moments. We simply go about the business of life, without taking a second to notice life itself. In making this comment, I am aware that in the time-driven, frantic pace of our world today, many people do not have the luxury of pausing to take stock of such moments."

Reading archive 2026-06-2

Wild Blueberry Farms Across Maine Suffer as Climate Change Upends Growing Seasons: Like lobster rolls, wild blueberries are iconic in Maine. But heat and drought have set the plants back to a point where many small farmers are struggling against reduced yields and increased costs for mulch and irrigation. - "Wild blueberries are smaller and have a stronger flavor than their cultivated counterparts.

...

"One of the few native North American fruits, wild blueberry patches have often existed in the same spot for longer than the farms that now harvest them.

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"Wild blueberries are smaller and have a stronger flavor compared to cultivated blueberries."

[ed. note: "Wild Blueberry" refers to Vaccinium angustifolium; there are tons of native North American fruits; this very article depicts "wild blueberries" as cultivated]

Tiny Footprints, a Blue Blanket: What I Can’t Forget About the Babies Who Died of Vitamin K Deficiency: The deaths of these babies likely could have been prevented with a long-standard vitamin shot. For reporter Duaa Eldeib, their autopsy reports painted the clearest picture of the tragedy of their short lives.

The Case for Impeaching and Removing Every Federal Judge and Supreme Court Justice Who Has Ever Been a Member of the Federalist Society or Endorsed Unitary Executive Theory.: A serious claim requiring serious consideration. - "This brings us to the load-bearing claim of the entire argument. Unitary executive theory is a different constitution. The doctrine claims constitutional authority that the text does not grant, that the framers explicitly rejected, that the first Congress did not exercise, and that no court recognized until the conservative legal movement invented the doctrine in the 1980s. The text of Article II vests executive power in the president and requires the president to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, language that imposes obligations rather than granting unilateral control. The framers, as Hamilton’s Federalist 77 makes explicit and as the rejected Pinckney motion confirms, did not grant the executive the unaccountable authority the doctrine claims. The first Congress built executive offices with mixed structures and independent components. No court endorsed the strong version of unitary executive theory until the conservative legal movement built the doctrine in the 1980s and spent forty years credentialing the judges who would convert academic argument into binding law. The doctrine functions as a replacement for the Constitution rather than an interpretation of it, offered by a political movement that could not amend the document through Article V and decided to install its preferred version through judicial appointments instead."

Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

Restoring the Flow: A Milestone in the Revival of the Everglades: The campaign to restore the Everglades has received a boost with completion of a key project that returns the flow of water to 55,000 acres that had once been drained for development. Experts see it as a major step forward in bringing back South Florida’s River of Grass.

The missing ingredient in plant-based food isn’t taste or nutrition: It takes more than flavor and texture to win a culture war.

Poland’s steely response to Russia’s hybrid warfare: Eastern European countries are keeping out Russia’s “weaponized migrants.” Reporters got a look.

What Colbert’s show ending means for the rest of late-night TV: “The Late Show,” an American television institution, goes off the air this week. It almost certainly portends changes to come for the classic television format.

Dozens of victims in Loudoun County rental scheme as woman accused of taking $100K+

Parking lots get hot and are bad for storm runoff. These groups are testing other options

Russian Position Weakening in Central Asia

5 ideas for how we survive the possible AI jobs apocalypse: Elon Musk, Elizabeth Warren and lots of policy wonks have suggestions to help workers hit by automation. Which would you bet your future on?

As Russia fails to achieve war aims in Ukraine, Putin needs a way out: European officials say Moscow's escalating aggression is a result of increasing difficulties that Russia is facing militarily and economically.

Utility bills in D.C. are rising. Here’s what to know.: Pepco and D.C. Water plan to raise monthly utility costs for customers in D.C., citing inflationary costs and supply chain strain.

‘It was cruel’: Scott Pelley confronts new ‘60 Minutes’ boss in fiery meeting: The veteran correspondent demanded answers on fired staff and the new executive producer’s qualifications for the job.

The rise of Janeese Lewis George, who could be D.C.’s first democratic socialist mayor: Focusing on workers’ and tenants’ rights, the council member would represent a drastic shift in the status quo if elected to the city’s highest office.

There are no Supreme Court vacancies, but some judges are acting like there might be: Speculation is swirling over potential departures at the high court, and firebrand conservative judges might be using flashy rulings to audition for the president.

As Ukraine’s fortunes improve, it’s ‘zugzwang’ time for Putin: Drone warfare has produced a bloody battlefield stasis reminiscent of World War I.

With Smithsonian under scrutiny, its leader curates a complex history show: Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has co-curated “American Aspirations” as the Smithsonian faces federal pressure. “Nobody has told us what to do,” he said, “and to be honest, I won’t let anybody tell us what to do.”

After a brutal winter, Ukraine’s drones are breaking Russian defenses: Russia’s advance has suddenly stalled, and Ukraine is fighting on its own terms — a comeback credited to Kyiv’s efforts to steadily strengthen the capabilities of its UAVs.

Child’s Play: Tech’s new generation and the end of thinking

If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you: Did you think I wouldn’t be able to tell? I can tell. - "The reason it’s so hard to get AI to stop hallucinating is that it’s permanently hallucinating. Its whole existence is one long lurid trip. Most of the time, the AI’s hallucinations bear a spooky resemblance to reality. But what they speak is the language of angels, in which, like the chirping of birds, there is neither truth nor lies."

Reading archive 2026-05-28

How Metro's cameras helped solve 3 recent gun crimes: In March, Metro General Manager Randy Clarke credited Metro’s safety in part to the cameras throughout the system.

Prosecutors say ex-CIA official stole $40 million in gold bars from agency: The former senior employee, who allegedly kept the gold in his Virginia home, is also accused of lying about his military and educational background.

How to stay happy in a relationship, according to long-married couples: It’s okay to go to bed angry, and other surprising marriage advice.

A couple died on Hajj pilgrimage. A law and foundation carry on their legacy.: The Don’t You Worry (Wurie) Act regulates travel service providers in Maryland.

Trump’s approval plunges among his White working-class base: In a striking shift, White voters without college degrees who voted to reelect Trump by a huge margin are now net-negative on his job approval. - "Dombrowski, the janitor, barely follows politics. She grew up poor with factory worker parents who taught her that Republicans were for rich people — not families like theirs who struggled and saved money by making their own clothes. 

"But she put her faith in Trump when he ran for president in 2016, opting for an outsider over Clinton and her decades in politics. 

"Now she trusts no one, believing politicians 'want your money and give you fake promises.' 

"The musical instrument company where she works, Conn Selmer, is shifting jobs overseas — even though the owner, Trump donor John Paulson, has echoed the president’s calls to keep manufacturing in the United States."

Texas School Police Pepper-Sprayed, Tackled and Tasered Students: School officers across the state turned to heavy-handed tactics on children, often in response to minor misbehavior, our investigation shows.

‘We Have Not Seen Ugly Yet’: Paxton versus Talarico is already awful.

John Cornyn Lost With His Boots Off: Like fellow Republicans exiled by the president, he still accepted Trump’s claim to inhabit the will of the party. - "Cornyn, like so many of his fellow soon-to-be-ex-politicians, staked his survival on the hopeless tactic of trying to beat Trump's team in a contest over who loves Trump more. Overcoming Trump's hold on the rank and file is not easy, but the method his victims have chosen-essentially to beg for Trump's mercy, and then not receive it-saps them of their dignity without meaningfully increasing their odds of political survival."

America Is Missing Out on the Ultimate Mosquito Weapon: Bring on the lasers.

Trump, the Wages of MAGA Sin, and the Dream of Flipping Texas Blue: Ken Paxton is the embodiment of MAGA rage and corruption. Can James Talarico win by transcending Paxton’s Trumpy acrimony?

Reading archive 2026-05-27

Everything that happened on Stephen Colbert’s last episode of ‘The Late Show’ The comedian wrapped up the CBS franchise with surprise celebrity guests, a visit from his fellow late-night hosts and multiple songs.

Hunter Biden faces right-wing podcaster who had attacked him for years: The son of former president Joe Biden sat for a wide-ranging interview with right-wing podcaster Candace Owens, discussing addiction, corruption allegations and conspiracy theories.

Did Trump pick the right blue for the Reflecting Pool? We asked a pool guy.: Old Glory Blue? American Flag Blue? Let’s reflect on all the shades, while a federal judge mulls “aesthetic injury” in the president’s latest decorating flourish.

Nantucket’s Oceanfront Homes Are Sliding Into the Sea. The Locals Don’t Care.: Homeowners spent millions trying to save bluff’s-edge properties. Their clash with other residents now includes alleged vandalism and a $10,000 reward.

Restoring Virginia’s lost longleaf pine trees, one seed at a time

Hit Them Where It Hurts: Asking Black athletes to sacrifice for the greater good could reshape college sports and national politics alike. But it won’t be so easy.

The Goodbye Stephen Colbert Wanted to Say: The late-night host ended his talk show the way he started it—with empathy, and an eye for entertainment.

What is really breaking America? Two drinking fountains for $375,000.: Stop the Machine. Measure success by results delivered, not tax dollars spent. - "The mainstream center-left — liberals, centrist wonks, heterodox independents — needs to be better at getting mad. They have every right to be as fed up with the status quo as the populists are. But their anger needs to be constructive, directed at what’s actually broken rather than convenient villains. The populist right and the populist left know how to name adversaries and tell compelling stories. However good the center-left may be at policy and analysis, it hasn’t learned to explain what went wrong and how to fix it in a way that resonates with the disenchanted voters who have every reason to be skeptical of establishment promises. 

"Here’s how I’d explain it: The thing breaking America isn’t a person, a party or a conspiracy. It’s a self-perpetuating system, built over decades by well-meaning people making individually rational decisions that added up to something no one would build on purpose. Call it the Machine. People may run its individual components, but no one operates or entirely understands its full scope."

A Sweeping Theory of Everything Is Revolutionizing the Democratic Party: Democrats are in thrall to the idea that corporate consolidation is America’s biggest, and maybe only, problem. - "Moss, a former head of the American Antitrust Institute, told me the neo-Brandeisians' error is to view antitrust policy 'not as law enforcement but as a broad policy tool for fixing a lot of problems-economic, political, and social.' Antitrust enforcement isn't that powerful, for the simple reason that corporate concentration is not the root cause of every problem.

...

"The reason their unimpressive record in power under Biden left the neo-Brandeisians' confidence utterly unshaken is that their belief system is more like a religion than an economic theory.

...

"Warren's position aligned with Lynn's neo-Brandeisian dogma, which maintains that bringing down the price of housing cannot be achieved by enabling the construction of more private homes, as most housing analysts believe. The solution, somehow, is instead to prevent private firms from entering the single-family market. Nearly any economist would say that if your goal is to make housing more affordable, banning firms from building rental houses makes no sense. But since neo-Brandeisian thought rejects economics as a pseudo-science that rationalizes the desires of capital owners, that objection carries little weight.

...

"The abundance agenda does not cover all issues, and it is perfectly compatible with stringent antitrust enforcement. (Part of the abundance housing agenda is to break open neighborhood cartels that prevent new entrants into the housing market, a very anti-monopolistic concept.) But since Lynn's theory purports to explain everything, it regards all other diagnoses of America's problems as challenges, and therefore, by definition, as corporate plots. This has seriously compromised the Democratic Party's ability to formulate creative and practical solutions to real-world problems, not all of which can be solved by attacking corporate power."

The Great Depopulation: Why is the birth rate declining in every country on Earth?

Putin Can No Longer Hide His Catastrophe: The Russian dictator has lost control of the narrative.

Reading archive 2026-05-21

Why Thomas Massie Thought He Was Different: He wrongly believed his popularity back home made him able to withstand a Trump-backed challenge.

The Real Reason Thomas Massie Lost: He broke the one rule of the MAGA Republican Party. - That the current Republican Party is defined by allegiance to a person rather than any principle is not a new development. 'America First' has always meant Trump first. 'All this time, I thought they were voting for libertarian Republicans," one astute Republican congressman mused to the Washington Examiner as far back as 2017, 'but after some soul searching I realized when they voted for Rand and Ron [Paul] and me in these primaries, they weren't voting for libertarian ideas-they were voting for the craziest son of a bitch in the race. And Donald Trump won best in class, as we had up until he came along.'

"The politician who said that was Thomas Massie."

Reading archive 2026-05-20

Driver was going 116 mph with unrestrained 2-year-old in backseat seconds before deadly crash, Fairfax Police say: An 8-year-old child was the only passenger wearing a seatbelt when the crash happened and is expected to survive.

Reading archive 2026-05-18

Disease, Drought, Climate Change — And the Joy of Fighting Back: On my Virginia farm, I have a front-row seat to the grim consequences of a warming planet. But I’m not surrendering.

So, you got bit by a tick. Here’s exactly what to do next.: Experts explained what to do if you find a tick attached to your skin, including how to remove it and document it, and when to seek medical advice.

6 tick-borne diseases that should be on your radar: With tick season in full force, here are the most common diseases they spread in the U.S., where they most commonly occur and the symptoms to watch for.

I lead a Jewish school. Mamdani’s first veto is astonishing.: Amid rising antisemitism, New York's mayor stopped a safeguarding move for schools. [vetoed a bill banning protests near schools, the case this guy is mad about was a real-estate sale for settlement land in the West Bank]

Georgia’s top Republican fears a repeat of the GOP’s 2022 Senate blunder: Gov. Brian Kemp (R), the popular Georgia governor, has endorsed a Senate candidate he believes has broad appeal. But his more MAGA rival is gaining steam.

Trump has no good military option to ‘finish the job’ in Iran: Trump would be wise to ignore hawkish advice and try to forge a deal with Tehran.

ICE agent charged in shooting of immigrant during Minneapolis crackdown: County prosecutors issued a warrant for the arrest of the agent, who faces felony assault charges. The victim was one of three people shot during January’s crackdown.

A European rule could devastate American farmers: Lawmakers should stand up to this attempt to regulate American business. - "The increased costs would be felt throughout the supply chain. Farm profits would be squeezed, grocery bills would increase, and rural communities would be hit first and hardest. When a small farm goes under, it doesn’t just hurt one family; it hurts local businesses that buy from that farm and the equipment dealers that sell to it." [ed. note: shouldn't have pissed off Europe then]

Reading archive 2026-05-17

The Incredible Story of the Cartel Olympics: A Mexican athlete said he was kidnapped and forced to compete for his life in a tournament of gangs. But was he actually playing a different game?

Reading archive 2026-05-16

The Most Surprising Part of Stephen Colbert’s Late-Night Run: The Late Show host has been a calming counterbalance to his peers.

A Checkers Player Meets a Three-Dimensional-Chess Master: Trump’s summit with Xi Jinping demonstrated the perils of shortsightedness when playing a long game. - "Xi, however, has great ambitions. Trump may now see China as a mutually beneficial economic partner, but Xi's policies are designed to change the world order at America's expense. Beijing is working to engineer China's technological and industrial dominance, backing Russia in a destabilizing war in Europe, and generally setting the stage to achieve global supremacy when the United States flames out. Trump, with his disdain for global alliances and liberal values, doesn't seem interested in contesting Xi on these fronts. 'Xi Jinping has the long plan, about dominating the world and putting the United States in its right place,' Joerg Wuttke, a partner at the consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group, told me. 'Donald Trump doesn't look that far.'"

The Protein Shortage Is Coming: Making all that whey is complicated.

Reading archive 2026-05-15

Metro lost $50M in bus fare evasion alone in just 9 months Nearly 70% of bus riders don't pay, Metro said.

Metro wants to double Stadium-Armory station's capacity for new RFK site: WMATA's board met Thursday about improvements to the Stadium-Armory Metro station they say are necessary before the new Washington Commanders stadium opens in 2030 at the old RFK site.

Emails show FBI Director Kash Patel’s Hawaii trip included ‘VIP snorkel’ at a Pearl Harbor memorial

Trump administration aims to roll back limits on toxic wastewater from coal-fired power plants - "In 2024, the EPA strengthened wastewater rules over coal-fired power plants that keep coal ash — a byproduct of burning coal — in unlined, uncovered dumps that leach toxic heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and selenium into groundwater. 

"In the rule, the EPA required plant owners to report whether the groundwater was contaminated and, if so, pump and treat the contaminated groundwater before discharging it into streams and rivers, Thom Cmar, an attorney for environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, said."

Serious. Has a spine. No wonder he’s leaving Congress.: Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) isn't seeking reelection. That’s a loss for the country.

The Smithsonian’s most contested exhibition is back on view, mostly intact: National Portrait Gallery curators have found a way to counter the Trump administration: with facts.

In northern Ukraine, it was boy vs. Russian drone. The boy won.: A soldier taught a 12-year-old how to disable the fiber-optic drones that Russia has been using to hunt Ukrainian civilians in a campaign the U.N. has labeled a war crime.

Tumultuous, bloody week unfolds in Ukraine and Russia after brief ceasefire: A Russian airstrike on a Kyiv apartment complex that killed at least 24 people and a Ukrainian strike on residential buildings and an oil refinery in Ryazan, Russia, suggested no end is in sight to the war.

Parents of teens who break curfew in D.C. will be prosecuted, DOJ says: The Justice Department’s crackdown on crime comes ahead of 250th anniversary events in the nation’s capital.

A golden statue of Trump draws mixed reactions at his golf course: Online, the glittering statue has become a flash point. In real life, golfers seem less excited.

Reality check: AI-generated images have left us questioning what is real. But the godfather of digital forensics, Hany Farid, is not giving up - "Of course, even the most thorough and well-reasoned investigation may not always persuade doubters. Farid learnt this the hard way in 2009, when he analyzed a 1963 photo of Lee Harvey Oswald holding the rifle he would later use to kill President John F. Kennedy. Conspiracy theorists—and Oswald himself—had long claimed the photo was faked, pointing to unusual features like the shadows on Oswald’s face. But Farid’s analysis found nothing wrong. 'I wrote this little paper, and I thought, all right, this will be the end of this,' he says. Instead, people invested in the conspiracy theory turned on Farid, suspecting he was part of the cover-up. They claimed that his father’s job at Eastman Kodak—which had made the film on which Kennedy’s assassination was captured—somehow implicated him, and even wrote to Dartmouth asking for him to be fired. 'This is how batshit crazy it was,' he says."

The Election Deniers Are Winning: The universe of people pressing debunked theories is so broad that it’s a feature of the system.

Too Much Is Happening Too Fast: The AI boom is meant to overwhelm you.

Reading archive 2026-05-14

Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ comes to an ironic end: The host who coined "truthiness" never found his footing in the world it predicted.

Ad wars ramp up in D.C. mayoral race as primary enters final month: Deep-pocketed political groups are seizing on potential vulnerabilities of the top Democrats in the race, Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie.

Here’s Another Way America Will Choke at the World Cup: The nation’s railway system is destined to lose.

The Democrats Can’t Let Go of Racial Preferences: How to persuade skeptical voters to take a fresh look at the party - "In a recent study, the political scientists David Broockman of UC Berkeley and Joshua Kalla of Yale tested potential policy shifts in 29 different issue areas-including immigration, transgender athletes in women's sports, and Israel and Gaza-in an attempt to discern what might make skeptical voters consider choosing Democratic candidates. They found that moving to the center on racial preferences in college admissions was the most electorally fruitful move Democrats could make and that doing so on racial preferences in government contracting was the second most important."

The AI Backlash Could Get Very Ugly: Imagine what happens if jobs actually start disappearing.

The Trump Counterterrorism Strategy Makes America More Vulnerable: The policy is unfocused, run by amateurs, and concerned more with the president’s many grievances than with the security of the United States. - "The security analyst Kabir Taneja wrote on X that the document'"looks like something written by an intern,' and Kayyem told me that the report is so badly done that it 'mocks the American public' rather than informs it. The terrorism scholar Colin P. Clarke posted that 'competent career CT professionals must be aghast at this slop' and that he 'would give this a solid D+ grade.' I'm a former professor, and I might have given it something a smidge higher, but only if it had come from a clueless undergraduate who was encountering all of the concepts related to terrorism and counterterrorism for the first time. But it didn't. Instead, this jumble was apparently the brainchild of Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism.

...

"A document that should have explained the president's plan to keep the American people safe during wartime is now on global display as a pathetic-and dangerous-joke. More than anything, it is a faithful reflection of the Trump administration itself: To judge from this report, America's counterterrorism policy is unfocused, run by amateurs, and concerned more with Donald Trump's many grievances than the security of the United States."

Why Did Bill Cassidy Do It?: The senator from Louisiana offered an olive branch to MAHA and got nothing in return.

The Mystery of the Golden Coffin: How did $65 million of allegedly stolen antiquities wind up in two of the world’s greatest museums?

Reading archive 2026-05-13

What is Section 230? Landmark social media lawsuit spotlights legal shield: The decades-old legal protection has drawn bipartisan criticism. - "One of the cases, Gonzalez v. Google LLC, concerned a lawsuit brought by the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, an American woman who was killed in an ISIS terrorist attack in Paris in 2015. The lawsuit against Google, the parent company of YouTube, alleged that YouTube recommended ISIS recruitment videos to users. The high court ruled against the plaintiffs."

Do women need to exercise differently from men – and ease up on cardio after 40?

Republicans skeptical on funding security for ballroom while White House amps up pressure: Secret Service Director Sean Curran detailed plans to spend $1 billion on ballroom security measures in a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans.

Metro not planning RFK Stadium rail station, suggests ‘Gold Line' buses instead: Metro studied potential locations for a new Metro station, including Oklahoma Avenue and Benning Road NE.

Months after ending the DC Streetcar, leaders are considering a new transit line along H Street to get fans to RFK Stadium: WMATA says a new metro station wouldn't be completed in time for the opening of the RFK Stadium in 2030.

The Unhappy Hosts of the World Cup: Cities and states are covering a lot of the costs of this summer’s matches, and have few options for bringing in much revenue. - "The unhappy truth of international soccer is that the World Cup generates lots of money-for FIFA. The Zurich-based group will take in $13 billion from the tickets, parking, merchandise, on-site concessions, sponsorships, and television rights. Meanwhile, the cities and states that host are responsible for the costs: stadium retrofits, security, transportation, administration, public 'fan zones' for everyone who does not have a ticket. Not only does FIFA not share tournament revenue; local organizers say the federation's infamously controlling contracts have left hosts with no plausible way to recoup expenses. Those hundred-dollar train tickets are not the product of a state looking to make a buck off of the World Cup, but of one trying to salvage an investment in a system that makes FIFA rich while taxpayers foot the bill."

Hezbollah’s unjammable drones pose new threat to Israel: The weapons, cheap to build from commercially available components, have helped the militants rearm despite the loss of a sponsor in Syria and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Court overturns Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions in deaths of wife, son: The South Carolina Supreme Court ordered a new trial, saying the 2023 trial was improperly influenced by a county clerk’s comments to jurors.

The Banal Horror of Jimmy Fallon: Under the sterile blue lights of his studio, Fallon laughs endlessly at the same pseudo-jokes, rubs elbows with Trump and Sam Altman, and ushers in the death of culture. - "Fallon acts as the high priest of a terrified optimism, his rictus grin serving as a shield against the encroaching silence of the real. Here, in the sanitized, over-lit heart of the American culture industry, there is an inescapable horror. But it isn't a monster lurking in the shadows; it is the manic, unblinking insistence that actually, there are no shadows at all. If the Gothic tradition of fear teaches us that the ruins of the past haunt the present, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon offers the inverse: a present so forcefully flattened, so aggressively “fun,” that it has exorcised history entirely, leaving us trapped in a sterile, eternal loop of viral games and celebrity lip-syncing while the world slides into climate collapse and fascist politics.

...

"The real, unsettling mechanism of Fallon’s banal horror is its insistence on a radical non-engagement with reality: a position that, in our current political climate, is itself an aggressively political act. Fallon doesn’t do politics, or if he does, he wants to 'keep his head down' because 'we hit both sides equally.' Tellingly, Donald Trump has called for the firing of almost all of the other late night hosts—Colbert, Kimmel, even Seth Meyers—but excluded Fallon from his hit-list, because Trump recognizes that there’s nothing about Fallon’s empty banality that could be anything close to a threat.

...

"The horror of the Tonight Show is not found in any singular problem, but in the totality of its project: the systematic replacement of the real world with a brightly lit simulation of “niceness.” Fallon is the court jester of the Anthropocene, a figure who invites us to watch celebrities play parlor games on stage while the air outside the studio begins to smell of tear gas and smoke. In Fallon’s sterile loop of viral repetition comes the final victory of the commodity over human beings—a world where even our laughter is outsourced to the demands of the algorithm. You don’t even need jokes anymore. All you need is to say something that sounds like it could be a joke, and the hollow laughter will come. To watch Fallon is to stare at the face of a culture that has chosen the comfort of a rictus grin over the heavy, necessary terror of the truth. It serves as a grim warning: if we cannot reclaim our play, our politics, and our presence from this algorithmic void, we will be left with nothing but the echoes of a desk being slapped in an empty room, for an audience that has long since ceased to exist."

Amazon employees admit to using AI unnecessarily to pump up internal usage scores — workers complain of intense pressure to use AI tools: Employees at Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft have been gaming AI usage metrics.

Reading archive 2026-05-12

Why banning the recycling logo is progress in the fight against plastic waste: A new California law will ban companies from using the symbol if their products aren’t commonly recycled. Here’s how you can play your part in reducing plastic waste.

A super El Niño wiped out millions of people in 1877. Are we better prepared now?: The climatic phenomenon is expected to return this year, but a lot has changed since what might have been the worst environmental disaster in human history.

Inside the probe that has 13 top D.C. police officials fighting for their jobs: The 554-page internal affairs report, investigators say, paints a picture of D.C. police officials manipulating classifications as they buckled under pressure to reduce crime and avoid the ire of higher-ups.

16 Washington Post veterans on what they would change about D.C. journalism.

Can Trump paint the Eisenhower building? Experts fear irreversible damage.: Susan Eisenhower broke her silence about Trump’s vision to make over the building named after her grandfather. The proposal faces a lawsuit and regulatory review.

After 20 years, the Prince of Petworth still reigns in Washington: Dan Silverman created PoPville to capture a D.C. neighborhood. It has become much more.

Republicans who denied 2020 election results could be governors next year: Winners will have oversight of 2028 elections in swing states like Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Inside Ben Shapiro’s MAGA meltdown: The Daily Wire was once ascendant in right-wing media. Now, the “anti-woke” company faces contentious layoffs, ideological battles and dwindling relevance online.

They’re not saying someone should kill Trump. But they’re coming close.: “Somebody should do it” and its variants have become increasingly popular online memes.

Adam Silver Goes to War: The mild-mannered NBA commissioner has overseen a time of peace and prosperity for his league. Until now.

Democrats Might Actually Win Iowa: Are the party’s hopes for the Hawkeye State real, or just another mirage?

No One Knows What to Do About Britain’s Exploding Anti-Semitism: The first step is admitting that the United Kingdom has a problem.

China Believes America Will Flame Out: Beijing’s geopolitical restraint is all part of a long game. - "In private conversations and public writings, China's leaders and their advisers often describe America as 'declining but dangerous' - a late-stage power prone to bursts of aggression in the hopes of arresting its slide. As early as the 1990s, the height of the United States' unipolar power, Chinese thinkers were already theorizing about America's decline. Wang Huning, then a little-known academic, was moved by his travels through the U.S. to write the book America Against America, in which he described a nation beset by social fragmentation, inequality, and political dysfunction. Shocked by the country's problems of homelessness, drug addiction, racial violence, social divisions, and low education standards, Wang concluded that America contained the seeds of its own destruction." [ed. note: Wang Huning is now a member of the Politburo]

Reading archive 2026-05-07

Grain dispute splits Ukraine and Israel even as they fight allied enemies: Tense relations soured further after Ukraine accused Israel of buying grain harvested by Russia in occupied territory. Meanwhile, Russia and Iran have grown closer. - "'Given the place of Israel as part of western democratic states and Russia, on the other side, siding with Iran and Hamas, it should be very clear where Israel should be, but this is not the case,' Svetlova said. 'There might be another reason why Israel is projecting this cold attitude toward Ukraine: its strained ties with the U.S. administration. Trump thinks Zelensky has the weaker chin, he can be pressured, so maybe Israel thinks that, too.'"

An American industrial revolution is brewing. I saw it in Pittsburgh.: America isn’t ready for “Day 30.” Start-ups like Gecko Robotics are working to change that. - "The defense base badly needs this disruption. The U.S. spends staggering sums for 'exquisite' systems that can’t be produced in sufficient volume or maintained at reasonable cost. Critics liken the Pentagon’s current procurement system to buying a fleet of luxury cars with sky-high repair bills. The folly of this approach has been clear in the Ukraine and Iran wars, where cheap drones have overwhelmed expensive interceptor missiles."

What really killed Mozart? You don’t want to know.: “Amadeus” returns to TV and shows why genius always demands an antagonist.

U.S. intelligence says Iran can outlast Trump’s Hormuz blockade for months: A confidential intelligence community assessment delivered to the White House also finds that Iran retains a substantial missile and drone arsenal.

Inside a MAGA influencer’s turn against the right-wing machine: Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk’s children, has renounced her life as a pro-Trump provocateur.

Former D.C. mayor Anthony Williams endorses McDuffie in Democratic primary Williams’s support further underscores Kenyan R. McDuffie’s appeal among the business class at a time the District’s economy is experiencing a period of distress.

Brain health supplements are booming. Here’s what one longevity expert takes.: Only one has been shown in clinical trials to slow cognitive aging, by about two years. This is what the science says about which supplements work.

Reading archive 2026-05-06

DC Council passes permanent youth curfew with amendments, heads to congress The passage of curfew legislation allows MPD to set curfew zones, restricting groups of eight or more teens from gathering in certain parts of the city.

White House East Wing debris dumped at nearby golf course has toxic metals, report says

An investigation into crime stats is roiling D.C. police. Here’s what to know.: Multiple high-ranking D.C. police officials face termination or other disciplinary action, after allegations that statistics had been manipulated.

D.C. police chief says 13 officers may be fired after crime stats investigation: The proposed discipline, which would include high-ranking officials, is related to an internal probe of the alleged manipulation of crime data, the interim police chief said.

Road pricing in DC will benefit drivers the most - "In every place where road pricing exists, it faced strong opposition prior to implementation before swinging to widespread support once the effects of reduced traffic became immediately clear. The Bowser administration has a particular distaste for road pricing. During the Committee on Transportation and the Environment’s government-witness budget oversight hearing for DDOT on April 30, Director Sharon Kershbaum said that the agency would not be studying it further. 

"This is a mistake. The council should fund further study of road pricing, so that our next mayor’s DDOT can get to work on it on day one. 

"Charging drivers for the negative externalities of their trips — congestion, worsening air quality, noise pollution, putting other people at risk of being killed or injured with their vehicles — is a proven way to create a reality where everyone gains time back from their commutes, breathes cleaner air, and is far less likely to be harmed on our streets."

Ward 3 has been unwell for a century. More housing is the cure - "Chevy Chase was patient zero. An infection of low density land use and racial exclusion then spread like a disease throughout the rest of Ward 3. To the west, white residents of Tenleytown who belonged to the Friendship Citizens Association teamed up with a new generation of CCLC investors to forcibly displace their Black neighbors in Fort Reno. 

"In the 1920s, under the guise of “beautification,” they successfully lobbied a federal board to raze Reno over the adamant objections of Black Washingtonians; by the 1950s, Black residents had been totally evicted. Today, Fort Reno consists of a park and a middle school, and is surrounded by expensive single-family homes. Multifamily housing in the pipeline nearby, likely to rent or sell for a little less than $1.6 million, has stalled."

Pro-Kremlin lawyer’s turn against Putin reveals rift in Russian power circles: Ilya Remeslo was put in a psychiatric hospital after criticizing Vladimir Putin. Now free, he said that he will not stop his crusade against the Russian president.

The pro-Israel political consensus is collapsing in both parties: On the campaign trail and elsewhere, the U.S. alliance with Israel has gone from a bipartisan consensus to a subject of fierce debate among Republicans and Democrats alike.

Why is Trump backing off San Francisco? These results.: Democrat Daniel Lurie is using technology to make the city safe again.

EU urges US to stick to tariff deal terms: The United States must respect its tariff agreement with the EU, the bloc's trade chief told his American counterpart Tuesday, after President Donald Trump threatened to hike levies on European cars.

One Chinese Town’s Fight Against the Desert Attracts: Thousands Launched by a local man, an anti-desertification initiative in the country’s arid northwest went viral after being featured on a popular show. [ed. note: Chinese agitprop]

Europeans Are Quiet Quitting the United States: European leaders have now not only lost faith in Donald Trump’s U.S. presidency, but also in America’s hegemony as a whole. But short-term challenges make an immediate divorce unwise. - "Some paragons of Atlanticism have recently chosen European providers for long-term structural contracts instead of American ones. The Dutch central bank ditched Amazon Web Services in favor of the German Lidl as their cloud operator, and Denmark’s defense ministry opted to purchase the Franco-Italian SAMP/T air defense system instead of U.S. Patriot batteries. Both decisions were driven in no small part by considerations for European sovereignty, in light of a crisis of U.S. reliability."

For Ibram X. Kendi, It’s Nazis All the Way Down: His new book describes the “Great Replacement” theory as a convoluted plot, but fails to explain why it appeals to people in the first place. - "Great Replacement, in Kendi's widening definition, starts to encompass so many disparate examples that it loses its explanatory power. Is Canada's conservative politician Pierre Poilievre a 'great replacement leader'? Kendi's logic for including him is largely based on the fact that Poilievre spoke to the concerns of those 2022 trucker protesters who were responding to COVID lockdowns by demanding a return of their 'freedoms.' He was addressing constituent complaints about business closures and school lockdowns, which is what all sorts of politicians did. El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, makes it onto the board because of his harsh crackdown on gangs, though crime was genuinely an acute problem in the country and most Salvadorans were very happy to see him attack it. He has weakened democratic institutions and countenanced claims of torture and other abuses, but I'm not sure this puts him ideologically in league with Orbán and Le Pen."

Progressive Activists Are Sometimes on the Wrong Side of History: Thinking otherwise can enable the left’s worst instincts, as a speech at the University of Michigan’s commencement showed. - "Concern and empathy for Palestinian suffering and anger at Israel's excessive counterattack are admirable, but the movement's ambition is not limited to that. Michigan's pro-Palestine activism is primarily organized by Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, which is the local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a national network. Both the national group and its Michigan chapter have endorsed the October 7, 2023, attacks. Adult progressives' insistence on viewing their activities as mere youthful idealism makes it impossible to question those positions."

Judicial Supremacy Has Arrived: Last week’s Supreme Court decision didn’t just undermine the Voting Rights Act. It foreclosed the possibility of any new Voting Rights Act in the future, too. - "Shelby County and Brnovich were damaging, but their effects on representation are more marginal-affecting voters' ability to participate, but at levels that could still have been overcome electorally, at least in most races. Callais is different in kind. In the near term, majority-minority districts across the South will evaporate. Over successive redistricting cycles, the result will likely be the most significant contraction of Black congressional representation since the end of Reconstruction, potentially the most precipitous fall in American history, a contraction that would have seemed, not long ago, unthinkable.

...

"But Callais reaches something deeper, about constitutional democracy itself: about whether the Constitution, the law of laws, means what elected branches say it means, and whether those elected branches can act on that meaning. The Court has declared that the branch of government most accountable to the people cannot legislate its way toward a more inclusive democracy."

Reading archive 2026-05-05

With gas prices so high, how much will you actually save with an EV?: Gas prices are expected to remain high because of the Iran war, increasing the cost advantages of switching to electric vehicles over gas-powered cars.

Multiple D.C. Police Leaders Face Termination Over Crime Data Manipulation

Indie music has been invaded by fake fans and cynical viral campaigns​. Here’s how deep it all goes

They thought their disabled daughter was safe. A pregnancy revealed her rape.: She’s blind and can barely speak, and her family is suing her group home, caregivers and state agencies. “The whole system failed Kamryn,” her mother says.

5 things mosquito experts do every summer to avoid getting bitten: Looking for pest prevention strategies that work? Researchers share how they prevent mosquito bites and keep the bugs at bay on their properties.

U.S. mission to reopen Strait of Hormuz will be temporary, Hegseth says: The defense secretary says the ceasefire holds despite Iranian attacks on U.S. forces. He said the United States would call on allies to take over the mission to reopen the waterway.

For a Time, the U.S. Protected Democracy: A requiem for the Voting Rights Act - "Like previous VRA-related decisions, Callais was 'narrow,' in that it did not strike down the law itself. But although the edifice built at great expense-by Fannie Lou Hamer, by John Lewis, by the bloodied limbs of Mississippi sharecroppers and Alabama marchers-has not been entirely bulldozed, only the facade remains. The VRA has not been dealt a "blow"; the decision did not merely defang it. The law is dead, and no matter what happens in the coming elections, politics in America has been forever changed. For most of the nation's history, the former Confederate states have worked hard to minimize the political influence of Black residents in particular. Now they have full cover to do so again."

Europe Without America: The Iran war has given European leaders new impetus to plan for self-defense. - "The Trump administration didn't bother making specific requests of its European allies for the war against Iran. Instead, each day brought new, conflicting signals. At first, the message was that the United States and Israel could handle it. Then Trump lashed out on social media, saying that allies 'should have been there.' But the Trump administration never told key European partners what specifically it wanted from them in Iran, multiple European officials told me. The Pentagon spokesperson told me that the administration 'has been consistently and repeatedly clear about the demand signal to allies to contribute to addressing a threat that affects Europe as much as America and our Middle East allies. The notion that the Department did not convey these requests widely and clearly is demonstrably false.'"

Why Stocks Keep Going Up: The boom is not as untethered from reality as it may look.

The One Tax the Rich Can’t Escape: New York’s proposed pied-à-terre tax is unlikely to chase anyone away. - "There is also a harder truth underneath the political rhetoric. Blue cities cannot keep taxing their way out of their budget problems. The differentials between high-tax and low-tax states are now too large, and the mobility of the rich too real, for that playbook to keep working. Cities like New York have to get serious about the cost side of their budgets-about efficiency, productivity, and what they spend. The revenue side alone cannot close the gap. A pied-à-terre tax is a useful tool if it is used smartly, but it is not a substitute for running the city well.

"None of this means the idea of taxing the rich is wrong. The inequality that has built up in this country has reached levels that are corrosive to the economy and to the fabric of our cities. But income taxes and wealth taxes cannot do the job at the city or state level. They have to be levied at the national level, where there is no state line to cross. Local governments should tax what cannot move, which means fixed assets and real estate above all. A pied-à-terre tax is one version of that idea, and there are others. For cities like New York, the lesson is straightforward. Stop trying to tax what the rich can carry with them, and start taxing what they want to keep."

The End of Cigarettes Is Coming The U.K. is phasing out smoking.: How long will Americans tolerate tobacco—and other vices?

The Iran War’s Ramifications Have Only Just Begun: U.S. goals haven’t been met, but the war will cause long-term disruptions.

Micah Lasher, Child Magician The race for New York’s Twelfth District keeps getting more interesting.

Making America’s Houses Bigger May Have Been a Mistake: Millennials are abandoning the idea of living in a giant home.

All the Sad Young Chinese Professionals: China’s urbanites are learning the price of prosperity.

She dreamed of a natural birth in Mexico. Now, she believes she was drugged.: In a complaint filed with Mexican prosecutors, Jennifer Nosek alleges that her midwife, Heather Baker, caused her baby’s death.

She dreamed of a natural birth in Mexico. Now, she believes she was drugged.: In a complaint filed with Mexican prosecutors, Jennifer Nosek alleges that her midwife, Heather Baker, caused her baby’s death. - "The couple also allege that after their son’s death, Baker [the midwife] urged them not to tell the police that she was a midwife or that they’d paid her but to identify her only as a friend. Lemos [the father], worried that an open investigation would delay the release of their son’s body, agreed. There was no autopsy, and the baby’s death certificate says he died of perinatal asphyxia, a condition in which a fetus or infant fails to get enough oxygen."