Showing posts with label Hong Kong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hong Kong. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Reading archive 2025-12-16

Is your lamp the right size? There’s an equation for that. You don’t need to be a math whiz to choose a lamp. You just need to consider function and know a bit about proportion.

She was MAGA’s favorite conspiracist. Then she dug into Charlie Kirk’s killing.: Candace Owens rose to prominence as a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist. Her latest claims have infuriated some of her former allies. - "Pool, for his part, said Owens’s defection on Israel and claims about Kirk are a “nihilistic” grab for attention from a person with a history of shifting her opinions to propel her career. Owens is adopting the conventions of true-crime storytelling, Pool said — foreshadowing, cliff-hangers and questions that never get answered — to tap into an appetite for conspiracy thinking on the right and the left."

Some Republican lawmakers call for mass expulsion of American Muslims: Comments from Rep. Randy Fine and Sen. Tommy Tuberville reflect a brazen Islamophobic sentiment being voiced by some in the party. - "Mitchell [ed. note: CAIR spokesman] expressed frustration with both parties for not doing more to formally sanction members for Islamophobic rhetoric. He said a double standard exists, pointing to a House censure on a bipartisan basis of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), a Muslim Palestinian American, for comments following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel." [ed. note: lol maybe ask Jill Stein for help???]

Hunt for Brown University gunman starts anew as tension rises: Authorities released a person of interest and provided video and still images of a different man they want to locate.

How Much Water Do AI Data Centers Really Use?: The AI industry’s use of water and its effects on an increasingly parched world are more complicated than people think.

Can Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Affect Gender Identity?: Some scientists see it as a question worth exploring. But others say it’s dubious — and fodder for right-wing prejudice. - "To be sure, the number of 18- to 24-year-olds who self-identify as transgender in the United States nearly quintupled between 2014 and 2022, increasing from 0.59 percent to 2.78 percent, according to a national survey run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The largest increase was among White transgender men. But while Kennedy and Jones see a chemical culprit, and still others suggest social influences may play a role, Hayes and Roepke remain skeptical that these increases reflect anything more than a cultural moment wherein transgender people feel more comfortable revealing or exploring their gender identity.

...

"The sex-determining process doesn’t always happen so neatly, however: The SRY gene can show up on the X chromosome, for instance, resulting in a genetic female with testes. If the SRY gene doesn’t work in the usual way, then a genetic male might develop a uterus and fallopian tubes. Some genetic males don’t have the working receptors needed to respond to male sex hormones called androgens — of which testosterone is the most common — or have only a partial ability to respond, which means that they can develop typically female or sexually ambiguous genitalia. (People whose anatomies are not typically male or female may be intersex, which is distinct from being transgender.)"

The Largest and Bloodiest U.S. Battlefield in 2025? Somalia: At least 87 drone strikes, raids and other U.S. military engagements have hit Somalia this year, by far the most ever. And it's likely an undercount

Ukraine could gain NATO-like security assurances in US-proposed Russia peace deal

University of Maryland president cleared of plagiarism allegations: University of Maryland President Darryll Pines was cleared of plagiarism allegations after an independent review, though the review did find his papers lifted some texts.

HBCU president sues professor who accused her of plagiarism and racism: A former University of Maryland Eastern Shore professor says she was illegally pushed out at the historically Black college because she is White.

What the new Purple Line looks like in action

‘Kind of embarrassed’: In Vance’s hometown, I saw patience running thin: Middletown’s regard for its most famous son was more subdued than I’d expected.

Chicago has lost its mind: The city’s fiscal situation is dire, and Mayor Brandon Johnson is determined to make things worse.

Jimmy Lai and the end of Hong Kong: The fate of the former British colony is a warning to any nation that cuts a deal with China.

Trump’s Top Aide Acknowledges ‘Score Settling’ Behind Prosecutions: In interviews with Vanity Fair, Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, said President Trump "has an alcoholic's personality," called JD Vance a "conspiracy theorist" and concluded that Pam Bondi "completely whiffed" the early handling of the Epstein Files.

Friday, October 31, 2025

Reading archive 2025-10-31

As Hong Kong waged shadow war in Britain, ex-Royal Marine became a casualty: U.K. officials have tracked what they describe as an escalating campaign of surveillance and intimidation against Hong Kong exiles living in Britain.

He’s cleared 35,000 pounds of trash from Miami’s mangroves and isn’t done yet

Judge says she’ll likely order Trump administration to send SNAP funds to states: The move could keep food assistance flowing despite the federal government shutdown.

D.C. police chief wants to make juvenile curfew zone policy permanent: Lawmakers declined to extend the temporary measure enacted in the summer because, they said, the public hadn’t weighed in.

Teen charged with killing girlfriend, shooting congressional intern: Naqwan Lucas, 18, is the third teen arrested in the slaying of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym on a D.C. sidewalk this summer.

Trump now plays by China’s rules: The U.S. wins through openness and innovation, not tariffs and centralized planning. - "President Donald Trump loves playing by China Rules. He seems to admire Xi Jinping’s power — personal, discretionary, centralized. In his second term he has threatened blanket tariffs, personally intervened in the semiconductor supply chain, demanded a government stake in Intel, carved out special permissions for selling Nvidia chips in China (while taking a 15 percent cut for the U.S.) and acted as the banker on TikTok’s sale."

Presidential power and the Supreme Court’s own stature ride on this case: The momentous tariffs case will undermine or buttress the Constitution’s separation of powers.

Ohio approves new House map giving Republicans a leg up in two more seats: The new map received rare bipartisan agreement because Republicans who control the state legislature did not want to risk an election challenge from Democrats.

As U.S. ramps up the pressure, Venezuela pleads with Moscow, Beijing for help: Documents show Maduro drafted letter asking Russia for missiles, radars and upgraded aircraft as U.S. forces amass in the Caribbean.

In Trump’s GOP, the once-mighty tea party is hard to find: Since the movement upended politics 15 years ago, Republicans have moved in a sharply different direction under MAGA — with many tea party veterans along for the ride. - "'We feared government tyranny. We feared a strong executive. We feared oppressive government, any president who would take a flamethrower to the Constitution,' said former congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois, a tea party Republican who has since become a podcaster and anti-Trump Democrat. 'Now, the very thing we feared is in office.'"

Friday, July 12, 2024

Reading archive 2024-07-12

He went viral after signing with the Nats. Now he’s a star for the Savannah Bananas.: RobertAnthony Cruz will make his Nats Park debut on Saturday, when the exhibition barnstorming team visits Washington.

Video of Fetterman crash aftermath released by Maryland police: Maryland State Police officers who responded to a car crash involving Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) discussed how the lawmaker was speeding when he collided with another vehicle, according to body-camera footage.

Opinion Are we really going to give Trump a pass? C’mon, man.: The national discussion needs to shift back to where it should be: on Trump’s fitness for office.

Opinion The real reason the frenzy over Biden is so unsettling: The herd-like reversal of certain institutions on Biden’s abilities reflects a loss of political freedom. - "This is a fight over power more than values, and it’s driven by fear more than reason, on both sides. Part of me wants to see Biden overpowered as a comeuppance for his hubris and egotism. But part of me wants to see Biden overpower the noisy hysterics who closed ranks around him out of fear and are now fleeing for the same reason."

RFK Jr. sent text apologizing to woman who accused him of sexual assault: The woman called the unsolicited late-night message “disingenuous and arrogant.”

In its third life, D.C. office building becomes first housing conversion: Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) joined developer Gary Cohen to cut the ribbon at the Elle, which was formerly home to the U.S. Peace Corps.

D.C. gets mixed grades for its handling of the NATO summit: Commuters bemoaned traffic and some businesses lost revenue, but at least one biker said it was easy to navigate the city.

Friends remember D.C. woman killed by tree: ‘Effortless, elegant’: Sarah Noah, 35, of Southeast, was found pinned beneath a large branch in Garfield Park and was not conscious or breathing when D.C. police arrived Wednesday.

Who killed the Kennedys? The Rolling Stones won’t tell you anymore.: The rock legends stopped singing a sinister lyric from “Sympathy for the Devil.” Why?

Surprised by Tony P’s NATO video? He was too.: The 25-year-old Instagram influencer shrugs off the naysayers and says he just wanted to help.

He wanted to focus on issues students cared about. Then the crises began.: Sami Saeed, 18, became Montgomery County’s student board member during one of its hardest years.

After 4-month trial, jury finds 3 men guilty in killing of 13-year-old: Malachi Lukes was walking to play basketball with his friends in Shaw when prosecutors say several men sprayed the area with bullets in a turf war. - "Freeman’s attorney told Judge Rainey Brandt that his client wants to be sentenced under the District’s Youth Rehabilitation Act, a controversial city law that gives individuals 25 years of age or younger at the time of their crime a chance to receive a lighter sentence and have their criminal records sealed should they successfully complete probation." [ed. note: god help us]

‘Black Pill’ is a disturbing look at how ‘meme magic’ captured the GOP: Elle Reeve’s deeply reported book explores the slippery irony and dangerous absurdities at the heart of what was once the alt-right and is now Trump’s Republican Party.

Opinion About time: Senators demand special counsel to investigate Clarence Thomas: For once, Attorney General Merrick Garland should act quickly.

This Trader Joe’s seasoning is a hot item. In South Korea, it’s illegal.: Jars of Everything But the Bagel seasoning are being seized at the airport because they contain poppy seeds, which South Korean law classifies as a narcotic.

U.S., Germany foiled Russian plot to assassinate CEO of arms manufacturer, officials say: Armin Papperger is the head of Rheinmetall, a major German arms manufacturer that has been a key supplier of artillery shells and tanks for Ukraine.

Russia vows response if U.S. puts longer-range missiles in Germany: A Kremlin spokesman said the stationing of Tomahawk and hypersonic weapons in Europe was a “very serious threat to our national security.”

Opinion Hong Kong is more Chinese, but don’t call it ‘another Chinese city’: As expats leave, officials say they’re unconcerned — but their reaction to criticism says otherwise.

Hawaii isn’t protected by NATO. Some senators are trying to change that.: The archipelago became a state 10 years after NATO was born, but remains outside of the treaty’s geographic scope. - "Article 5 of the treaty states that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all, but Article 6 clarifies that such protections only apply to land, forces, vessels or aircraft north of the Tropic of Cancer. Hawaii, as well as the U.S. territories of Guam and Puerto Rico, are south of that line. American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands are also south of the Tropic of Cancer.

...

"He added that any effort to amend the treaty to include Hawaii would be 'unlikely to gain consensus' because other allied nations also have territory outside the geographic scope of the agreement. (Martinique, an island in the Caribbean home to nearly 400,000 people, is a French 'overseas department' south of the Tropic of Cancer.) Such a discussion would 'open something of a Pandora’s box,' Blinken said. 'I’m not sure that we could get there.'"

Inside the glitzy fundraiser where Biden lost George Clooney: Some donors who attended the June 15 event at L.A.’s Peacock Theater said this week that they noticed Biden seemed slow. He seemed frail. As he greeted donors lined up for photos, he trailed off or spoke too quietly to be heard.

Monday, June 10, 2024

Reading archive 2024-06-10

Statues near White House vandalized during Gaza cease-fire protest: National Park Service workers power-washed sculptures in Lafayette Square that were graffitied and vandalized during a Gaza cease-fire protest on Saturday.

Opinion Is Donald Trump okay?: His story about hypothetically being electrocuted is another glimpse into a mind that is unwell.

Justice Alito talked about political divide on purported secret recordings: Recorded by a liberal filmmaker, the audio shows how hardball political tactics have landed at the court.

A home in Ohio for African immigrants with nowhere to go: Asylum seekers from the African nation of Mauritania are settling in a city drawing relatively little attention as immigration to the United States has soared.

OB/GYNs routinely experience sexual harassment, study suggests: Up to 70.9 percent of participants in the reviewed studies reported sexual harassment in the workplace.

What does Chinese repression look like? View these photos of Hong Kong

Opinion The U.S. military plans a ‘Hellscape’ to deter China from attacking Taiwan: But a top U.S. military commander for Asia says time is running out to put the plan in place. - "President Biden has repeatedly said he would send the U.S. military to defend Taiwan, although he added a new caveat in his latest interview with Time, saying, 'It would depend on the circumstances.' President Donald Trump seems less likely to intervene on Taiwan’s behalf, having told a GOP senator while in office that if China attacks, 'there isn’t a f------ thing we can do about it."


Friday, November 3, 2023

Reading archive 2023-11-03

Famed climate scientist has a new, dire prediction: Some scientists question the new study, which asserts that Earth is warming faster than previously estimated

Students hated ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Their teachers tried to dump it.: Four progressive teachers in Washington’s Mukilteo School District wanted to protect students from a book they saw as outdated and harmful. The blowback was fierce. - "Chaitna Deshmukh, a Mukilteo graduate, said she thinks 'To Kill a Mockingbird' fails to address the complex racial reality of 21st-century America." [ed. note: what single text does or even can?]

As Hong Kong stood up for democracy, a neighborhood was brutalized

Seriously, why aren’t millennials having kids?: Also, with birthrates plunging, why aren’t there more only children?

John Fetterman unleashed: ‘I’ve already been dead once’: After being treated for depression, the senator is finally having fun – and taking aim at some Democrats

Carjackings prompt finger-pointing and criticisms among D.C. officials: Mayor Muriel Bowser inaccurately described a youth’s criminal record, court records show

Grieving and angry, Maine residents demand change after mass killing

Opinion  Is the House GOP about to give Putin a pat on the back for his barbarism?

‘You just gaslit her’: How Dean Phillips’s first town hall went off the rails in N.H.

How Gaza’s tunnel network leaves Israel facing ‘three-dimensional’ war

Why Do Young Americans Support Hamas? Look at TikTok.: The app is digital fentanyl made by China. And it is brainwashing our youth against the country and our allies, argues Rep. Mike Gallagher.

Wild Horses Are Terrible for the West: They’re scourges, not symbols, of wilderness. - The herds are increasing at a fast clip, and the native biota has already suffered greatly. By shunning our responsibility to control feral horse herds like those found in the Salt River, we are delaying the inevitable, passing the difficult decisions down to the next generation, who will have to do the dirty work we refused, and without the chance to save the native species we abandoned. The Forest Service’s only mistake was waiting this long to attempt removal; anyone who truly values nature, the deserts, and their native species will support the relocation of feral horses from the Salt River Basin and everywhere else they are causing damage.

Monday, February 13, 2023

Reading archive 2023-02-13

Russians abandon wartime Russia in historic exodus

How Mahomes' Chiefs beat Hurts' Eagles in Super Bowl 2023

Super Bowl LVII: The Inevitable Patrick Mahomes - "And everyone else outside the NFC East is either a spunky up-and-comer (Lions, Seahawks), last-year's news (Bucs, Rams), Fraudzilla (Vikings), being held hostage by a barking madman (Packers), or just a mess."

Opinion  They clicked once. Then came the dark prisons.

Former FBI agent’s side work puts bureau under new scrutiny: Charles McGonigal’s alleged illegal dealings in Albania — and for a notorious, U.S.-sanctioned Russian oligarch — have put the FBI in political crosshairs - "In January, McGonigal was indicted on federal charges of money laundering, violating U.S. sanctions and making false statements, stemming in part from his alleged interventions on Fokina’s behalf. McGonigal has pleaded not guilty to the charges in New York and Washington and is free on bond. He is one of the most senior FBI officials ever charged with criminal offenses, and his case has deeply concerned national security professionals, given the extraordinary access he had to sensitive government secrets."

China says at least 10 U.S. balloons have flown in its airspace since 2022

A barred owl and a bald eagle were badly hurt, rescued in Virginia: Experts said they are being cared for, but they are also worried about their ability to return to the wild

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Reading archive 2022-05-11

New audiotapes have leaked of Sen. Lindsey Graham saying that Trump 'went too far' and 'plays the TV game,' while calling Biden the 'best person to have' post-January 6

Fox News is upset about protesters outside judges’ homes and apparently has no idea what’s been going on for the last 40 years [ed. note: TheDailyShow insta]

"It's become pretty clear the leaks about internal Court deliberations (if not the draft opinion itself) are from the Thomas-Alito camp, and are designed to weaken the Chief Justice and intimidate any of the newer justices from joining him for fear of seeming weak or unprincipled." [ed. note: Bill Kristol tweet]

In Texas, abortion laws inhibit care for miscarriages - "As the Supreme Court appears poised to return abortion regulation to the states, recent experience in Texas illustrates that medical care for miscarriages and dangerous ectopic pregnancies would also be threatened if restrictions become more widespread."

Hong Kong arrests 90-year-old cardinal on foreign collusion charges

Opinion  We’re in danger of losing our democracy, but most Americans are in denial

Trump wanted to court-martial prominent retired officers, book says: Former defense secretary Mark T. Esper’s new memoir describes a federal government under duress in the Trump era

INSIDE THE NEW RIGHT, WHERE PETER THIEL IS PLACING HIS BIGGEST BETS: They’re not MAGA. They’re not QAnon. Curtis Yarvin and the rising right are crafting a different strain of conservative politics. - "And the way conservatives can actually win in America, he has argued, is for a Caesar-like figure to take power back from this devolved oligarchy and replace it with a monarchical regime run like a start-up. As early as 2012, he proposed the acronym RAGE—Retire All Government Employees—as a shorthand for a first step in the overthrow of the American 'regime.' What we needed, Yarvin thought, was a 'national CEO, [or] what’s called a dictator.'

...

"'I tend to think that we should seize the institutions of the left,' he said. 'And turn them against the left. We need like a de-Baathification program, a de-woke-ification program.' 

"'I think Trump is going to run again in 2024,' he said. 'I think that what Trump should do, if I was giving him one piece of advice: Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people.' 

"'And when the courts stop you,' he went on, 'stand before the country, and say—' he quoted Andrew Jackson, giving a challenge to the entire constitutional order—'the chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.' 

"This is a description, essentially, of a coup."

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Reading archive 2021-12-22 through 2022-01-04

Mexico’s wheat fields help feed the world. They’re also releasing a dangerous greenhouse gas.

‘JFK’ at 30: Oliver Stone and the lasting impact of America’s most dangerous movie: Oliver Stone defied Washington, Hollywood and history itself to make his controversial JFK drama. Its legacy endures.

Long before embracing Trump’s false election claims, Rep. Scott Perry promoted groundless theories

Opinion: This Christmas, LGBTQ Catholics are once again wondering whether we belong

Trump’s newest business partner: A Chinese firm with a history of SEC investigations: Shanghai-based Arc Capital, an investment firm that has been the target of probes by securities regulators, is at the center of the deal to take Trump’s media venture public.

Hong Kong tears down ‘Pillar of Shame’ sculpture honoring Tiananmen victims

Pregnancy apps have become a battleground of vaccine misinformation: How the What To Expect site managed to clean up its big anti-vaccine problem

Pablo Escobar’s personal photographer confronts the drug lord’s complicated legacy

A year ago, Fox News considered a breakup with Trump. 2021 changed those plans.: Going into 2022, the network’s alignment with Trump has it grappling with a pair of potentially catastrophic lawsuits. But its ratings are on top again.

The mob killing of a factory manager in Pakistan comes amid surge in anti-blasphemy violence: This religious crusade is rapidly gaining popular support and could threaten the country’s stability

In their shared sea, Ukraine and Russia already risk direct conflict every day

How Ted Koppel’s trip to ‘Mayberry’ turned into one of 2021’s most striking moments of TV: The veteran newsman and “CBS Sunday Morning” contributor explains how a seeming puff piece about “The Andy Griffith Show” turned into an unsettling snapshot of an angry America - "What started with those general questions wound up evolving into one of the most striking TV segments of the year, as Koppel was visibly taken aback by the fierce nostalgia for a time and place that literally never existed — and how it connects to the misinformation that has infiltrated America’s politics."

A respiratory therapist fought on covid’s front lines. The last wave broke him.

Takeaways from HBO Max’s Harry Potter reunion: tears, nostalgia and a curious lack of J.K. Rowling

Taliban cracks down on more rights while demanding Western aid: Women must have male escorts on long taxi rides, and election commissions are shut down

BBC faces backlash after Dershowitz analyzes Maxwell case, despite accusation from alleged Epstein victim

Militaries are among the world’s biggest emitters. This general wants them to go green.

This tree has stood here for 500 years. Will it be sold for $17,500?

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Reading archive 2021-06-30

Cheat Day With Christopher Meloni: A lunch date with the man behind the behind.

Two women chatted in a bathroom. They soon realized they were each a match for the other’s husband, who needed a kidney.

He found a 2.2-carat diamond in an Arkansas park. Then he proposed to his girlfriend.

MIT professor goes viral for putting a crib in his lab to help a new mother

A gay couple faced vulgar harassment. A neighbor helped find the suspect with a handwriting sample.

America’s Pot Labs Have A THC Problem

‘Right-Wing Death Squad’: Active-Duty Marine Plotted to Bomb DNC, Murder Black People, Feds Say

Opinion: Republicans have a new strategy: Blue Lies Matter - "How, then, to explain the latest 'legislative scorecard' from the National Association of Police Officers, a group claiming to represent a quarter-million officers who endorsed President Donald Trump’s reelection? 

"McCarthy, Stefanik and Banks all scored 57 percent, and some of the back-benchers piling on Tuesday — Reps. Ken Buck (Colo.), Jody Hice (Ga.), Mo Brooks (Ala.) — scored a paltry 43 percent on NAPO’s pro-police scorecard. 

"And the Squad? Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) all scored 86 percent. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) scored 71 percent. Where it really counts, all four members of the Squad are more pro-police than their Republican critics.

...

"The reason is simple. Democrats, at least at the federal level, have been the ones funding the police. The 2019-2021 scorecard is based on votes on health care, pensions, covid-19 relief, bulletproof vests, victim compensation and policing reform. There’s not yet a scorecard of votes in the new Congress, but police groups favored the American Rescue Plan covid-relief legislation, which Republicans uniformly opposed, and President Biden wants to pump $300 million more into the COPS community policing program, which Republicans have long opposed.

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"Democrats ought to be saying, as Biden aide Cedric Richmond did on 'Fox News Sunday,' 'Republicans are very good at staying on talking points of who says defund the police, but the truth is, they defunded the police.' Unlike GOP leadership, the numbers don’t lie."

These are the faces of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, now jailed or exiled.

Friday, May 14, 2021

Reading archive 2021-05-14

What Is Going On With Inflation? Vacations and Chips.

As protesters flee Hong Kong, Taiwan quietly extends a helping hand - "Taiwanese authorities brought the five ashore, housed them in a government complex and provided clothing, cigarettes, television, table tennis games — even English teachers. Eventually, the Taiwanese, who treated the presence of the five as a state secret, helped arrange flights to the United States, their new home."

Seth Rogen Says Tom Cruise Tried To Sell Him On Scientology: ‘Dodged That Bullet’: “If you let me just tell you what it was really about, you would say, ‘No f**king way,’” the comedian said Cruise told him.

Arab Israelis are rising up to protest. Here’s what you need to know about their status in the country. - "Because support for the Palestinian cause is widespread within the Arab Israeli community, Arab Israelis often report encountering hostility and suspicion from police, politicians and others who view them as a security threat. A 2016 Pew Research Center poll found that nearly half of Israeli Jews supported expelling Arabs from the country or transferring them elsewhere."

Cicadas are increasing in D.C. area and are poised to erupt next week

Army captain who spied for Russia sentenced to 15 years in prison - "He also tried and failed to get jobs at the FBI and on President Donald Trump’s National Security Council. Debbins was a graduate of and teacher at the D.C.-based Institute of World Politics, a small but influential school in conservative foreign policy circles. Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and military contractor Erik Prince both have ties to the school."

Opinion: A cop’s anger at GOP lies about Jan. 6 should put Republicans on the defensive

Opinion: Without swift action, the Chesapeake Bay will decline even further into national disgrace - "The Patuxent’s case demonstrates that the struggle for clean water is both intensely local and necessarily regional. Nature is agnostic to county and state boundaries. The Chesapeake Bay system, science instructs, must be managed as a single ecological system, even as it encompasses such a vast political geography. Only the federal government can serve this vital role."

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Reading archive 2021-04-22

Foxconn's giant factory in Wisconsin sounded too good to be true. Turns out it was

Ma’Khia Bryant: Columbus police release body camera footage in shooting of 16-year-old

Police kill Ma'Khia Bryant, 16, who attacked 2 with knife

Fatal police shooting of Black teenager in Columbus sparks new outcry - "Hazel Bryant, who said she is Bryant’s aunt, told The Washington Post in a brief interview Wednesday that 'the body cam doesn’t show the truth of what occurred.' She said she didn’t personally witness the incident but arrived at the scene soon after. She described her niece as 'so loving and kind.'

...

"Another teenager, 13-year-old Adam Toledo, was shot and killed by police in Chicago last month, sparking protests and calls for an overhaul of policing. Authorities say Toledo had a firearm, and body camera footage released last week shows him tossing an object over a fence and raising his hands in the split-second before he was fatally wounded."

In Columbus, police killed a Black teenage girl. That fits a rarely discussed pattern.: Most White Americans think Black girls are older and more dangerous than their peers, new research finds. Police behave accordingly. - "On the same day that a Minneapolis jury declared police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd, a police officer shot and killed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio. Ma’Khia had called the police for help." [ed. note: cannot confirm that last in WaPo reporting]

A Hong Kong journalist exposed police failures. A court found her guilty of a crime.

Beijing won total control over Hong Kong. Now, the ‘brainwashing’ begins.

Conservatives have long embraced ‘cancel culture’: The right supports free enterprise, but only when businesses toe the line on its other political priorities

Opinion: The Big Lie has gotten so bad that even some Republicans are running from it

Opinion: We should soon stop catering to the vaccine holdouts

A new way of putting private money where the forests are: Western investors join governments to come up with a way to pay countries to protect forests

As Biden convenes world leaders, U.S. pledges to cut emissions up to 52 percent by 2030: ‘The stakes could not be higher,’ said one top administration official, as the White House presses other countries to make their own bold promises

Humanity’s greatest ally against climate change is the Earth itself: Ecosystems can draw down carbon and buffer us from the worst effects of climate change — but only if we protect them

Officers grabbed a Black librarian by her hair and tore her shoulder during traffic stop, lawsuit alleges: ‘That’s good police work, baby’

Ma’Khia Bryant’s family remember her as loving, affectionate: ‘She didn’t even have a chance to live her life’: Bryant’s family and others are mourning the loss of the 16-year-old, killed by police this week

Mormon sex therapist has been expelled from the LDS Church - "She said she will stop using “colorful” language when church leaders stop. 

"'When will they stop calling homosexual people degenerate and perverse and unholy?' Helfer said. 'They’re upset that I called them patriarchal pricks. If they want me to stop saying bad words, they need to stop calling other people bad words.'

"Helfer said she and other Mormon therapists are often left to 'pick up the pieces' when Mormons are impacted by church teaching that contradicts evidence-based mental health recommendations."

Friday, November 13, 2020

Reading archive 2020-11-13

More than 130 Secret Service officers are said to be infected with coronavirus or quarantining in wake of Trump’s campaign travel

Elon Musk, who has cold symptoms, says his coronavirus tests are inconclusive: ‘Something extremely bogus is going on’

Passengers on first cruise in Caribbean test positive for coronavirus

Trump wasn’t wrong about China. But here’s how Biden can do a better job.

This is a massive failure of character among Republicans — with evangelicals out in front - "...U.S. politics would be better off if White evangelicals consistently applied their moral tradition to public life. Not only Christians, of course, can stand for integrity. But consider what would happen if White evangelicals insisted on supporting honest, compassionate, decent, civil, self-controlled men and women for office. The alternative is our current reality, in which evangelicals have often been a malicious and malignant influence in U.S. politics."

China strikes its worst blow yet against autonomy and rule of law in Hong Kong

The potato head of Palencia: defaced Spanish statue latest victim of botched restoration: Conservation professionals have questioned why Spain's heritage is continually handed over to those with no formal training

Alito's politically charged address draws heat: The Supreme Court justice warned that not only is freedom of belief under threat, but freedom of expression is as well.

Alito raises religious liberty concerns about Covid restrictions and same-sex marriage ruling - "Alito also reiterated what he had written in 2015, when he dissented from the court's decision to clear the way for same-sex marriage nationwide. 'I could see,' he said, where the decision would lead for those who 'cling to traditional views on marriage.' He reiterated that opponents of the ruling would risk being 'labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers and schools.'

Far-right protesters, counterdemonstrators plan to gather Saturday in D.C. amid pro-Trump rallies

A war among Trump’s kids shows this family won’t let us move on

Biden finds support among Republicans as Trump scrambles to salvage his strategy to contest the election

In the United States, QAnon is struggling. The conspiracy theory is thriving abroad.

DEMOCRATIC OFFICIALS LIED ABOUT ROLE IN ALEX MORSE SMEAR, INTERNAL REPORT FINDS: A Democratic attorney urged students to leak vague allegations against Morse to Politico, the students told an internal party investigator

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Reading archive 2019-10-30

“This Should Be a Wake-up Call to the Whole World”: Inside the Hong Kong: Protests Tensions between the NBA and China have touched off an international firestorm. They’ve also shined a light on the fight for human rights in Hong Kong—and the frontliners at the center of the movement. - "I hear calls for Western support in many conversations I have in Hong Kong. 'I think it’s really important for Americans to think about how China is affecting democratic countries in their own territories,' Leung, the attorney, says. 'Think about it. Even the U.S., which is the most powerful democracy—the Chinese are having a huge impact on what Americans can say in America.' He points specifically to Morey. 'I mean, he didn’t even say anything! He didn’t say anything about China. He didn’t say anything about the government. He just shared a poster.'

"He cites other recent controversies, too. Marriott fired an employee who 'wrongfully liked' a tweet supporting independence for Tibet. Apple removed an app, HKmap.live, that protesters had used to track police activity. The esports company Blizzard Entertainment punished a Hearthstone player and Hong Konger who showed support for the movement during a livestream. 'You guys fought so hard to get the First Amendment so that you could say what you want in your own country,' he says. 'And now a foreign country is dictating what you can and can’t say on your own soil.'"

Kanye has a new album, but he isn’t worth our time anymore: In the past, we’ve overlooked his antics because of his transcendent music. That Mr. West is gone.

An ad smeared a Kansas Democrat for sexual harassment. The main charge actually described a Republican.

National security official tells Congress he tried to add edits to White House memo about Trump Ukraine call: The proposed edits of the call were to include Trump mentioning possible recordings of Joe Biden discussing corruption in Ukraine and Ukraine’s president mentioning the Burisma gas company specifically.

The ‘race whisperer’: A black activist convinced a neo-Nazi he’d save him from legal ruin. Then the real plan began.