Reading archive 2026-03-14

They came to build China’s EV future. Investigators found conditions akin to ‘slavery.’: The electric carmaker BYD was hailed as a job creator in a struggling Brazilian city. Then authorities started investigating an improbable tip.

Florida Is Trying to Ignore Measles Until It Can’t: The state is in the midst of an outbreak, but its health department has been mostly silent.

The Great American Condo Crisis: If the U.S. wants to remain a nation of homeowners, it has no choice but to start building condos again. - "Condos also encounter discriminatory treatment in the federal tax code. If an investor finances an apartment and retains ownership, she pays capital-gains taxes, which top out at 20 percent. But if she finances a condo and sells it off, she pays income taxes, which top out at 37 percent. "

Why Trump Didn’t Plan for the Strait of Hormuz: In wartime, the enemy always gets a vote.

D.C. officials say new Commanders stadium project remains on schedule as council raises questions about redevelopment promises: The RFK Stadium redevelopment in D.C. is on track, with stormwater work set for spring, but council members demand clarity on community benefits.

Reading archive 2025-07-28 pt 1

The Number Go Up Rule: Why America Refuses to Fix Anything: In the Booming Twenties, all decision-making is about protecting the value of financial assets held by older people. Therefore, the number must go up. And nothing else matters. - "Increasing the capitalization of the stock market at all costs has a number of implications about how our society works. Anything hindering short-term increases in profits, whether that’s higher wages, more factory investment, ending tax loopholes, rules to block being able to unsubscribe from Planet Fitness, transitioning to different energy sources, addressing an opioid crisis, or breaking Chinese control over the necessities of life, gets pushed out of the way. American life spans have plateaued or stagnated since 2015, which you’d think would be of concern. But it’s just not. There’s also something that distinguishes standard financial capitalism from ‘number go up.’ Financial capitalism implies risk. But in our era, the government guarantees financial returns with subsidies, regulations and bailouts. It’s a form of statecraft."

Pollen exploitation by non-native, feral honey bees: Potential consequences for interspecific competition

Interrogating a cold-case killer: ‘Honey, your DNA was in the crime scene’: Police videos show Eugene Gligor, who has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, being arrested and questioned for the 2001 murder of Leslie Preer in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

VOLKSWAGEN’S SECRET: History forgot the horrors endured by laborers on the automaker’s massive cattle ranch in the Brazilian Amazon. But a priest had recorded it all.

What a Democrat Could Do With Trump’s Power: America is entering an age of retributive governing cycles.

Finally, a Democrat Who Could Shine on Joe Rogan’s Show Hunter Biden is unrepentant.

Trump fumes as Epstein scandal dominates headlines, overshadows agenda: The White House and Justice Department’s response has been driven by no clear strategy other than asking the country to move on, people close to the situation told The Post.

It turns out there’s a right and wrong way to pee: Many women push to speed things along, hover over the toilet or go ‘just in case,’ but those habits may cause future problems.

845,000 dead on U.S. highways. Why not address the main cause?: We need to ramp up the standards for road tests and train people to be better drivers.

In a legacy steel town, energy is now king — just don’t call it ‘green’: Form Energy is revitalizing Weirton, West Virginia. It’s also facing skepticism in this increasingly conservative area.

‘College hazing’ or training? Amid shortage, air traffic recruits wash out.: Almost 20 percent of new hires fail to become a controller at the first facility they’re sent to. - "There is an ill-defined mystique associated with air traffic control, a belief among some controllers that people are essentially born to do the job. But the idea obscures the fact that skills controllers need can be readily taught. 

"Controllers act like gatekeepers, demanding recruits prove they are worthy of entry to their club, said Linda Pierce, a retired FAA psychologist who studied how controllers are trained. 

"'It’s this professional guild, but to me it also felt like a college hazing,' she said. 'It was hostile.'"

I’m a cardiologist. Here are 10 science-based ways to prevent heart disease.: Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. But about 80 percent of cases are considered preventable.

I’m a cardiologist. Here are 10 science-based ways to prevent heart disease.: Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. But about 80 percent of cases are considered preventable.

Harvard Paper Explores Possibility That Object Approaching From Beyond Solar System Is Hostile Alien Technology: "The consequences, should the... hypothesis turn out to be correct, could potentially be dire for humanity." - "Loeb is an interesting character: he's an enormously accomplished academic and the former chair of Harvard's prestigious astronomy department, but in recent years has often made headlines for suggesting that various detections in the cosmos might be alien spacecraft. In other words, he was almost bound to weigh in on this latest interstellar visitor, which is only the third ever detected."

Reading archive 2025-06-25

Abandoned by Trump, a farmer and a migrant search for a better future

As Trump shuts out migrants, Spain opens its doors and fuels economic growth: Defying the anti-immigrant trend in the U.S., Spain is reaping economic benefits by granting citizenship to tens of thousands of newly-arrived workers.

Was this Revolutionary War hero America’s first openly gay general?: The LGBTQ veterans who put rainbow ribbons near Baron von Steuben’s statue in D.C. think so.

RIP, MAHA: Robert F. Kennedy promised to improve nutrition and reduce environmental toxins. How’s that going? - "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda has a simple premise: Americans don’t need more access to medical care. Instead, the best way to improve our country’s health is through better nutrition and exposure to fewer environmental toxins. 

"Alas, as was evident from the health and human services secretary’s congressional testimony Tuesday about the administration’s budget requests, his boss is currently A) taking away nutritional assistance and B) expanding use of environmental toxins."

Trump administration is preparing to challenge budget law, U.S. officials say: Internal dissent among federal employees is coming to the surface as President Donald Trump’s budget chief aims to rebalance spending authority.

The RFK megaproject promises just empty gloom. Let’s try this instead.: Rather than an expensive megaproject, D.C. should focus on an organic approach to city-building. - "If football stadiums drove economic activity, Landover would be at least an above-average suburban destination for shopping and entertainment. Instead, the old Landover Mall site decays behind chain-link fencing roughly a mile from Northwest Stadium, the Commanders’ current home. Alternatively, if football stadiums made cities interesting and engaging, the Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium would link together bustling neighborhoods. Instead, its gloomy emptiness extends across the adjacent blocks except on a handful of days each year."

Kevin Durant’s lonely basketball journey trudges on to the next stop: NBA stars can become hometown heroes forever. Then there’s Kevin Durant.

As an oncologist, here’s what I wish people knew about endocrine disruptors: What to know about everyday exposures to BPA, PFAS and phthalates.

D.C. elected these noncitizens to office. Congress could oust them.: Three green-card holders have nonpartisan, unpaid positions in D.C.’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. That could soon change.

Trump’s tax bill has become a battlefield for tobacco giants: Tobacco firms have spent millions of dollars in a fight over a tax rebate for cigarette importers in Republicans’ massive tax and spending package.

A Jeep drove onto the National Mall, weaving around a summer crowd U.S. Park Police said the driver was later arrested. No injuries were reported.

How Israel deceived the United States about its nuclear weapons program: Israel is attacking Iran’s nuclear sites, but Tehran’s secret path was blazed by the Israelis.

Bees are collapsing in the U.S. A key to their secrets might vanish.: The top federal lab on native bees is set to close under President Trump’s budget. - "Native bees pollinate an estimated 80 percent of flowering plants around the world, and understanding the pollinators’ behavior helps us sustain the production of our food."

No one has made fusion power viable yet. Why is Big Tech investing billions?: Breakthroughs in fusion have triggered a frenzied race to harness a clean energy source that has eluded scientists for decades.

Brazil's soy farmers raze Amazon rainforest despite deforestation pact

The plan to vaccinate all Americans, despite RFK Jr.: The effort comes as the Trump administration has replaced members of the key federal vaccine advisory panel.

Maryland driver sued by D.C. over 414 unpaid traffic tickets: Soon, it could be easier for D.C. to seize drivers’ cars over dangerous driving caught on camera.

D.C. attorney general alleges violence intervention nonprofit misused funds: Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb filed a lawsuit alleging Women in H.E.E.L.S. Inc. improperly diverted money to a personal account. The group’s founder called the allegations “misleading.”

D.C. lawmaker walks back cuts to violence prevention agency after criticism: Brooke Pinto had proposed dissolving the mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, leaving a program in the attorney general’s office as the sole home for violence interruption.

Reading archive 2025-01-03

Black MAGA ends 2024 among the year's biggest losers: Despite efforts to curry favor with Trump this year, Black MAGA figures were snubbed or dropped altogether - "The new critique of politicians of color like Donalds, Scott and Robinson should be, Smith argued, 'are these people performing like minstrels?' Or 'are these people actually political negotiators who are putting themselves at the table of power at whatever means necessary in order to deliver some results, some critical results, to Black America?'"

Trump Voters Are in for a Rude Awakening: He sold them countless, often conflicting fantasies. In 2025, he’ll face political reality.

In blow to Democrats, federal appeals court strikes down net neutrality: The Biden administration’s FCC had considered its reinstatement of the rules on internet service providers a signature accomplishment. - "Andrew Jay Schwartzman, senior counsel at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, said Title II authority would allow the FCC to revoke authorizations of certain foreign-owned internet service providers deemed national security risks; to mandate cybersecurity standards for broadband providers; to prohibit interconnection between broadband providers and data centers controlled by non-U.S. owners where a national security threat is found; and to better address outage reporting."

The countries of Southeast Asia work together to quash dissent: The countries of Southeast Asia are helping each other intimidate and extradite exiled government critics, according to a Post analysis of cases in the region.

Memo to Musk: Overhauling government isn’t rocket science. It’s harder.: The Elon Musk-headed ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ offers two fibs in four words. [ed. note: the whole thing is gold]

How an antacid for the ocean could cool the Earth: A new technology promises to remove carbon from the atmosphere and prevent ocean acidification.

Trayon White, facing bribery charge, apologizes to D.C. as he is sworn in: Leaving the stage after the ceremony ended, White did not respond to reporters who asked him to be specific about what he was apologizing for.

Brazil eliminated daylight saving time. It’s having second thoughts.: Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president, promised a “permanent” end to clock confusion. Climate change could scupper that plan.

Who is Tommy Robinson, and why does Elon Musk want him freed?: Elon Musk’s interventions in European politics continued this week with his calls for the release of jailed British far-right extremist Tommy Robinson.

One Kind of American Dream: The Year in Hawk Tuah and Crypto Memecoin: Haliey Welch helped define the year in culture, for better or worse. But it remains to be seen what the future holds for her—and celebrity cryptocurrency ventures in general—now that she’s embroiled in a memecoin scandal.

The Hawk Tuah Memecoin Rug Pull Is The Apotheosis Of Bag Culture - "The structure of the Haliey Welch Media Ouroboros is typical of the large-scale economics of bleeding-edge social media, and I'd argue that she could only have successfully pivoted into a position where she has a lot of money and a chance at permanent fame in 2024 because of A) the rapid decay of traditional media (and even new media, thanks to Elon Musk buying and hollowing out Twitter), and B) the relatively modern phenomenon of the wide acceptance and praise of bag-chasing nihilism."

Hawk Tuah and the Zynternet: Plus, for some reason, some thoughts about the debate - "Over the last ten years or so, a broad community of fratty, horndog, boorishly provocative 20- and sometimes (embarrassingly) 30-somethings--mostly but by no means entirely male--has emerged to form a newly prominent online subculture. This network is adjacent to the “sports internet” of 40something dads and the “hustle internet” of Miami crypto bullshit and the “reactionary internet” of trad influencers, but is its own distinct community with its own distinct cultural referents--college sports, gambling, light domestic beers, Zyn nicotine pouches--and influential personalities and media outlets, among them Dave Portnoy, Pat McAfee, Antonio Brown, and Call Her Daddy, in addition to dozens of minor podcasters and hey-fellow-kids content creators who nearly all work for sports-betting concerns."

Reading archive 2024-07-24

Trump allies crush misinformation research despite Supreme Court loss: High court ruling green-lighting contact between government and tech companies to stymie falsehoods online hasn’t deterred a GOP campaign against academics, nonprofits and tech industry initiatives aimed at addressing their spread.

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT SALMON FROM ITS PACKAGING

Opinion  Libraries can help end the culture wars. That’s why they’re under fire.: Nothing threatens authoritarianism like a quiet place to explore knowledge. - "Many school librarians have quit, exhausted by harassment and even death threats; during the 2021-2022 school year, 35 percent of districts nationwide had no librarian at all."

Harris’s campaign will have to contend with DEI, culture war attacks: In the wake of Biden’s announcement that he would not run for a second term, attacks based on Harris’s racial identity were the most common form of criticism of her on X, according to recent data.

Harris’s ascent fills some Black women with jubilation — and fear: Interviews with more than a dozen Black women revealed excitement as well as concern about Harris’s ability to win at a moment when racism and sexism are palpable.

Scientists find ‘dark oxygen’ being produced from metals on the seafloor: Organisms normally need light to produce oxygen through a process known as photosynthesis.

Sharks test positive for cocaine in Brazil’s drug-polluted waters: Brazilian sharpnose sharks found with cocaine in their livers and muscles highlight the impact of the illegal drug trade on marine life, scientists say.

House GOP leaders ask members to stop making racial attacks against Harris: Almost immediately after President Biden announced Sunday that he was endorsing Harris to replace him on the ticket, Republicans began their offensive against Harris.

J.D. Vance said Kamala Harris has no kids. Stepparents would like a word.: The vice president is stepmother to two children, but that hasn’t stopped her opponents from suggesting she isn’t a real parent.

How ‘carbon cowboys’ are cashing in on protected Amazon forest: A six-month investigation reveals that many carbon credit ventures reap profits from public lands they have no right to and fail to share revenue with those protecting the forest.

Conspiracy theories about Biden’s covid built on years of Trump rhetoric: Top right-wing figures tied together the major news of the past weeks to fuel falsehoods.

Reading archive 2024-02-17

The judgment of São Miguel: A Catholic priest, an evangelical pastor and the battle for souls in the deepest Amazon

Hefty fines, penalties will rock Trump family’s business and fortune: Facing enormous fines and strict oversight, the Trump Organization may be without a Trump leading the way for the first time ever.

Inside Ted Leonsis’s decision to move Wizards, Capitals to Virginia: After years of frustration in Chinatown and months of secret negotiations on both sides of the Potomac, an owner who once said he would never leave D.C. was lured to Alexandria

Video is said to show U.N. relief worker taking Israeli shot on Oct. 7

Trump’s anger at courts, frayed alliances could upend approach to judicial issues

How Elon Musk broke Twitter as he turned it into X: Zoë Schiffer’s ‘Extremely Hardcore’ offers inside details about the billionaire’s leadership of the social media platform

‘The Alternative’ is just the book economists should read — and won’t: Journalist Nick Romeo lays out eight examples of what we gain when we think about morality alongside money

Reading archive 2023-03-29

92-year-old has grown tomatoes from the same seed lineage since 1965: Sybil Gorby gives away her famous seeds and refuses all payment because she is superstitious about selling from her garden

He came to D.C. as a Brazilian student. The U.S. says he was a Russian spy.: Johns Hopkins graduate Victor Ferreira was unmasked as GRU operative Sergey Cherkasov, according to a federal indictment and Western security officials - "Cherkasov seemed convinced that Russia would face little backlash from the United States for a Ukraine invasion, saying in one message that there were 'no signs indicating that the U.S. is going to provide any but political support to the Ukrainians in case of war.'" [ed. note: bad spy]

Opinion  D.C. needs hundreds more police officers. Here’s how to do it right. - "Starting pay in D.C. jumped from $62,000 to $67,000 — higher than in neighboring counties such as Fairfax in Virginia or Prince George’s in Maryland."

Reading archive 2022-08-30

Opinion  We made thousands on this website. But we’re still happy it’s shutting down.

Opinion  Why my child and I traded Arizona for a more tolerant New York City

Opinion  In Alabama, a new battle brews over women’s birthing rights

How experts are trying to save wood turtles in the D.C. region: The reptiles were nearly wiped out, and researchers are working to track and protect them

D.C. Council’s business measures could be factor in at-large race

A decade after Fukushima disaster, foes of nuclear power reconsider

Pentagon expands use of seas to send weapons to Ukraine

Truth Social faces financial peril as worry about Trump’s future grows: Payment disputes and a dwindling audience have fueled doubts about the former president’s Twitter clone

American University reaches tentative agreement with striking workers: Earlier in the day, many first-year students walked out of convocation to show support for staff

Inside the ‘wild, wild west’ of Virginia’s marijuana market: THC-infused pies, Tupperwares of bud: Businesses are making it work in the unregulated gray market

Ukraine lures Russian missiles with decoys of U.S. rocket system

Gene editing could revive a nearly lost tree. Not everyone is on board.: Saving the American chestnut could restore a piece of history, resurrect a lost ecosystem and combat climate change. But critics say it would come at a cost. - "At Purdue University, researchers have attempted to tweak the genes of ash to survive the emerald ash borer, a beetle from Asia that has destroyed tens of millions of trees across 30 states since first identified in Michigan in 2002."

Their ancestors came to America. After Dobbs, they want out.: The curtailing of abortion rights and general political turmoil have made many in the U.S. see dual citizenship as an escape hatch

A melting glacier, an imperiled city and one farmer’s fight for climate justice: A Peruvian farmer is suing one of Europe’s biggest emitters. The case could set a precedent for holding polluters accountable for harm to the planet. 

THE AMAZON, UNDONE: A FAILURE OF ENFORCEMENT: Deforesters are plundering the Amazon. Brazil is letting them get away with it. - "The violent and lawless erasure of the Amazon is perhaps the world’s greatest environmental crime story. Scientists warn that the forest, seen as vital to averting catastrophic global warming, is at a tipping point. But in Brazil, home to about 60 percent of the Amazon, nearly one-fifth has already been destroyed. And virtually no one, law enforcement officials say, has been held accountable."

Reading archive 2022-05-04

In Ukrainian villages, whispers of collaboration with the Russians: Rumors about traitors run rife as invading forces have seemed to know in advance which residents have guns and which are said to be wealthy

THE AMAZON, UNDONE: DEVOURING THE RAINFOREST - "Cattle are not tracked individually in Brazil, as they are in neighboring Argentina and in Europe. All that ranchers with embargoed land have to do is ship their cattle to properties with clean environmental records. Once the animals reach a ranch that doesn’t have a history of deforestation, they are effectively born again — cleansed and ready to be sold to producers such as JBS for slaughter and shipment.

...

"Every time cattle are moved in the country, a shipment log called a 'Guide of Animal Transport' is created. The purpose of the document is sanitary: to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases and ensure proper cattle vaccinations. But those records, current and former government officials say, can be used to create a cattle-tracking tool and illuminate even the murkiest sections of the supply chain.

"Researchers have done it. But not the federal government."

Reading archive 2022-04-12

Man accused of posing as federal officer says actions were 'for friendship’: Arguments from defense attorneys shed new light on a case that accuses two men of cozying up to Secret Service agents.

The FBI wants to stay in D.C., but Congress has already said goodbye

Hubris and isolation led Vladimir Putin to misjudge Ukraine

An Indigenous village works to save a Brazilian forest, seed by seed

Congress details allegations of Commanders’ ‘unlawful’ conduct to FTC

Maryland’s Commanders offer: $400M for local needs, nothing for team: Incentive package builds out community rather than football facilities. ‘We have to take care of ourselves first before we take care of anybody else,’ one lawmaker says.

The Commanders may relocate. Neighbors say good riddance.: Many say they’ve seen little benefit since the team’s stadium arrived in Landover 25 years ago.

Finland and Sweden joining NATO could put Trump’s GOP in the hot seat

Pentagon looks to vastly expand weapons for Ukraine: Ukrainian officials also met recently with the maker of Reaper and Predator drones, a company official said

Now warning about Hunter Biden-laptop disinfo: The guy who leaked it

Reading archive 2022-03-22

These Russians fled to Armenia. They don’t know if they’ll ever return

What you need to know about hypersonic missiles, which Biden says Russia used against Ukraine

Pro-business newcomer seeks to challenge Elissa Silverman on D.C. Council

THE AMAZON, UNDONE: DEATH IN THE FOREST: A highway is speeding the destruction of the vital global resource. Along this stretch, the killings have already begun. - "Scientists at the Federal University of Minas Gerais found in 2020 that paving the highway would quadruple deforestation here over the next three decades. 

'That would be the end of the forest,' said Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist who focuses on the Amazon."

Reading archive 2022-03-07

Amid the death and rubble, Ukrainian teams hunt for evidence of possible war crimes

Biden administration moves to cut smog-forming pollution from heavy trucks: The Environmental Protection Agency proposes curbing nitrogen oxide and carbon pollution amid an online shopping boom, but some environmentalists call for stricter limits

Satellite images show the Amazon rainforest is hurtling toward a ‘tipping point’: More than half of the rainforest could turn into savanna — threatening wildlife, shifting weather patterns and fueling climate change