Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Thursday, March 12, 2026
Reading archive 2026-03-12
Young bankers are learning the hard way that Wall Street doesn't do influencers - "'The young generation wants to be seen differently at work today, I would say, than in the past,' he said. 'Times have changed. Values have changed.' But it's no excuse — financial institutions are explicit about their expectations and enforce 'very, very clear' regulations around social media use, Argenti said. Junior employees understand the culture they are entering."
Iran’s Islamic Republic 2.0 is coming — and it won’t be pretty: How Trump’s tactical victory could turn into a forever war. - "But the regime survives. It has taken America’s best punch, and it’s still standing. Tiers of senior military, intelligence and political leaders are dead, but they have been replaced by others. There’s no sign of a popular uprising. The cadres of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hide among piles of rubble, but they haven’t been eliminated."
The Obvious Is Taking Its Revenge on Trump: The reasons other U.S. presidents avoided war with Iran are becoming all too evident. - "Another daunting obstacle to victory is the nature of the Iranian regime, a theocracy that celebrates martyrdom and has spent its entire history preparing for what it considers an inevitable war with the United States. Every time protests fill public squares, I allow myself to believe that the terrible government in Tehran will crumble. But its willingness to kill to survive is the biggest obstacle to its toppling. And Trump intervened after the regime killed tens of thousands of its most determined foes. Calling for revolution after the revolution has been crushed is belated timing, to say the least. Perhaps the Trump administration will succeed in further weakening Iranian authoritarianism - the attacks will certainly set back the country's already struggling economy - so that after the bombs stop falling, regime opponents will rush into the streets. But, thus far, decapitating the regime has succeeded only in replacing one Ayatollah Khamenei with another. By all accounts, the son is no less fanatical than his father and believes with theological certainty that the most brutal means justify his righteous ends."
Monday, March 31, 2025
Reading archive 2025-03-31
The Truth About Trump’s Greenland Campaign: When the president talks about security in the Arctic, he’s talking about climate change. - "As polar ice melts away, superpowers are vying for newly open shipping routes in the Arctic Ocean and largely unexplored mineral and fossil-fuel reserves. Arctic warming could pose a direct threat to America's security interests too: Alaska could have new vulnerabilities to both China and Russia; changes in ocean salinity and temperature might interfere with submarine detection systems; the extremes of climate change, including permafrost thaw in Russia, could drive economic instability, social unrest, and territorial claims."
ICE detains Harvard researcher from Russia who protested Ukraine war: Kseniia Petrova’s visa was revoked as she returned to Boston last month. She fears deportation to Russia because of her opposition to its invasion of Ukraine. - "According to a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Petrova 'was lawfully detained after lying to federal officers about carrying biological substances into the country. A subsequent K-9 inspection uncovered undeclared petri dishes, containers of unknown substances, and loose vials of embryonic frog cells, all without proper permits. Messages found on her phone revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs.'"
White House Weighs Helping Farmers as Trump Escalates Trade War: The Trump administration has discussed providing financial aid for farmers who may be subject to retaliation by America’s trading partners. - "The Commodity Credit Corporation is a key U.S.D.A funding vehicle: It supplies the money for federal programs to support farm incomes, stabilize commodity prices and respond to natural disasters. While its finances are complicated, the entity may borrow up to $30 billion from the Treasury Department."
Monday, November 18, 2024
Reading archive 2024-11-18
Inside the Republican false-flag effort to turn off Kamala Harris voters: A multipronged dark money effort by advisers to Elon Musk targeted liberals, Jews, Muslims and Black voters with ads that were not quite what they seemed. - "Muslims in Michigan began seeing pro-Israel ads this fall praising Vice President Kamala Harris for marrying a Jewish man and backing the Jewish state. Jews in Pennsylvania, meanwhile, saw ads from the same group with the opposite message: Harris wanted to stop U.S. arms shipments to Israel.
"Another group promoted “Kamala’s bold progressive agenda” to conservative-leaning Donald Trump voters, while a third filled the phones of young liberals with videos about how Harris had abandoned the progressive dream. Black voters in North Carolina were told Democrats wanted to take away their menthol cigarettes, while working-class White men in the Midwest were warned that Harris would support quotas for minorities and deny them Zyn nicotine pouches.
"What voters had no way of knowing at the time was that all of the ads were part of a single, $45 million effort created by political advisers to Tesla founder Elon Musk who had previously worked on the presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), according to a presentation about the group’s efforts obtained by The Washington Post."
A Pregnant Teenager Died After Trying to Get Care in Three Visits to Texas Emergency Rooms: It took three ER visits and 20 hours before a hospital admitted Nevaeh Crain, 18, as her condition worsened. Doctors insisted on two ultrasounds to confirm “fetal demise.” She’s one of at least two Texas women who died under the state’s abortion ban. - "Fails and Crain believed abortion was morally wrong. The teen could only support it in the context of rape or life-threatening illness, she used to tell her mother. They didn’t care whether the government banned it, just how their Christian faith guided their own actions.
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"But when her daughter got sick, Fails expected that doctors had an obligation to do everything in their power to stave off a potentially deadly emergency, even if that meant losing Lillian. In her view, they were more concerned with checking the fetal heartbeat than attending to Crain." [ed. note: lol go septic and die, bitch]
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Reading archive 2024-10-22
Can the tire industry be sustainable? Guayule farmers say yes. - "'There’s not much weed pressure, pretty much no disease pressure, no insect pressure,' Newell said. 'From a sustainability standpoint, it makes a lot of sense.'" [ed. note: Parthenium argentatum, same genus as wild quinine]
What to do about one of America's last wild places - "Lampe rejected the idea that drilling on the refuge would imperil the animals there: 'If there was any possibility of development imperiling our way of life, we wouldn’t allow that,' he said as he oversaw the distribution of the next course." [ed. note: ... said the human being]
Sunday, August 18, 2024
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Thursday, January 26, 2023
Reading archive 2023-01-26
ELON MUSK CAVES TO PRESSURE FROM INDIA TO REMOVE BBC DOC CRITICAL OF MODI: Officials from India’s ruling right-wing party said American tech companies like Twitter and YouTube complied with demands to remove the documentary. - "While Musk has been glad to stand up to suppression of speech against conservatives in the United States — something that he has described as nothing less than 'a battle for the future of civilization' — he appears to be failing at the far graver challenge of standing up to the authoritarian demands of foreign governments. ...
"When Musk took over, Twitter had just a 20 percent compliance rate when it came to Indian government takedown requests. When the billionaire took the company private, some 90 percent of Twitter India’s 200 staffers were laid off. Now, the Indian government’s pressure on Twitter appears to be gaining traction.
"A key difference may be Musk’s other business entanglements. Musk himself has his own business interests in India, where Tesla has been lobbying, so far without luck, to win tax breaks to enter the Indian market."
Russia-affiliated journalist paid for Quran burning in Sweden
Timothy Snyder Twitter thread: "In defeating Russia’s armed forces and exposing Russia’s weakness, the Ukrainians have both made a larger war in Europe far less likely, and gotten China’s cat’s paw under control."
Rush Limbaugh’s Toxic Legacy: The more unpleasant side of Limbaugh does not appear in his new posthumous book, but it is hard to not think about its influence. - "No matter his supposed philanthropy, Limbaugh never really concealed the fact that he was far more interested in making money than in effecting social change. Asked by 60 Minutes what he was trying to do with his show, Limbaugh replied that he was ultimately 'trying to attract the largest audience I can and hold it for as long as I can, so I can charge advertisers confiscatory advertising rates. This is a business.' Asked by the host if he was therefore 'in it for the money,' Limbaugh replied that of course he was in it for the money. In Radio’s Greatest of All Time, he similarly notes that when his critics 'examine this program, none of them do so in terms of the career aspect of it' but instead 'look at me as a political figure who happens to be on the radio.' Limbaugh was selling a product, not waging a policy crusade."
Monday, October 17, 2022
Reading archive 2022-10-17
Trump charged Secret Service ‘exorbitant’ rates at his hotels, records show - "In 2019, Eric Trump said the Trump Organization was saving the Secret Service agents — and taxpayers who paid the bill — huge sums.
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"But the reality was different, the records reveal. During Trump’s presidency, Secret Service supervisors frequently asked for special waivers to let the agency pay far more than the government-approved nightly rate for a hotel in D.C. — usually $195 to $240. Instead, they paid the higher costs the Trump Organization was charging."
American technology boosts China’s hypersonic missile program - "Military research groups at the leading edge of China’s hypersonics and missile programs — many on a U.S. export blacklist — are purchasing a range of specialized American technology, including products developed by firms that have received millions of dollars in grants and contracts from the Pentagon, a Washington Post investigation has found.
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"The Washington Post mapped more than 300 sales since 2019 of U.S.-origin technology to dozens of entities involved in China’s hypersonics or missile programs by analyzing contract solicitation and award documents issued by the groups, as well as speaking to six Chinese scientists working in military labs and universities who described almost unfettered access to American technology with applications in the design and testing of missiles. The scientists spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive research."
Russia’s airstrikes, intended to show force, reveal another weakness
Opinion Biden just pulled off a big diplomatic victory — and almost no one noticed - "Israel’s security establishment is firmly in favor of the deal not only because it will help safeguard Israel’s natural gas fields but also because it will help bolster the Lebanese government and economy. Israel does not want a failed state next door."
Opinion So who’s ‘naive’ about Saudi Arabia, now?
Opinion Writers, be wary of Throat-Clearers and Wan Intensifiers. Very, very wary.
Alaska cancels snow crab season for first time after population collapses
Daryl Morey Changed the Game, but He Still Hasn’t Beaten It - "The Billy Beane of basketball revolutionized the modern NBA, but a championship still has eluded one of the most successful executives in league history. This year’s Sixers team, though, could be his best shot yet. Says Joel Embiid: 'What I like about him is that he’s always going for it. Whatever it takes.'"
Monday, October 18, 2021
Reading archive 2021-10-18
Demolition has started at McMillan, but the legal saga continues
McMillan, D.C.’s Most Cursed Development Project, Explained
D.C. approved a development at McMillan in 2014. Will it ever be built?
Northern Virginia Koran tutor convicted of receiving child pornography
Opinion: Joe Manchin’s ugly new demands expose the absurdity of arbitrary centrism - "Niskanen policy director Samuel Hammond calls Manchin’s position 'performative austerity,' and points to a deep perversity. The work requirement is supposed to avoid fostering dependency. As it is, such a requirement is misguided: People need the CTC not because they are unwilling to work, but because children impose additional costs.
"But beyond this, Hammond notes, means testing the program might create more dependency by creating incentives not to strive for a higher income, making it more like the sort of welfare program Manchin fears.
"'If Manchin is worried about dependency, he should see the value in having the CTC be relatively universal,' Hammond told me. 'Narrowly targeting the credit to the lowest income families risks creating a stigmatizing poverty trap.'"
The WHO has a bold new plan to find covid-19’s origins. China could get in the way.
Opinion: Urban myths about economics have taken root — and the cost is high
The days of U.S. tech companies fighting back against authoritarian regimes are long gone
Opinion: Kyrie Irving’s self-pitying refusal to get vaccinated is pathetic and dangerous
In search for coronavirus origins, Hubei caves and wildlife farms draw new scrutiny - "A reporter observed human traffic into Enshi caves, including domestic tourism, spelunking and villagers replacing a drinking water pump inside a cave. Defunct wildlife farms sat as close as one mile from the entrances."
At Alaska’s most popular national park, climate change threatens the only road in and out
‘More immediate, more visceral’ and a lot tougher on Eric Clapton: A plan for reviving Rolling Stone
Netflix fires employee for sharing information about Dave Chappelle’s special amid LGBTQ backlash
D.C. should consider excluding gun offenders from the Youth Act leniency, police chief says - "Five years ago, a Post investigation found hundreds sentenced under the Youth Act went on to commit rapes, robberies and homicides." [ed. note: JFC the My'onna Hinton story is insane]
Friday, July 16, 2021
Reading archive 2021-07-015
A Wyoming bar sold a shirt promoting violence against gay people miles from Matthew Shepard’s murder site - "Sales of T-shirts advocating violence against LGBTQ people at a bar in Wyoming — a state where the murder of a gay college student more than two decades ago inspired hate-crime laws across the country — stopped this month. But only because the shirts sold out.
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"'In Wyoming, we have a cure for AIDS,' the T-shirt says above the man. Below: 'We shoot [homophobic slur].'"
Homeopathic doctor sold fake vaccine cards and ‘immunization pellets,’ prosecutors say
A blockbuster document purportedly from the Kremlin raises lots of questions — about itself
‘I Alone Can Fix It’ book excerpt: The inside story of Trump’s defiance and inaction on Jan. 6: Terror at the Capitol, delay at the Pentagon, resistance in the Oval Office and democracy hanging in the balance - "Pelosi could hardly believe it. 'That they, in the middle of the night, would say, 'We still want to [object to] Pennsylvania,' just showed you the total cavalier disregard they had for our country,' she recalled. They weren’t beholden to country, she said, but to Trump, 'this insane person spreading this insanity.' Maybe the House Republicans feared him, maybe they agreed with him, Pelosi said, “or they were just in a cult.'"