Reading archive 2026-05-01

 I Turned Our Lawn Into a Meadow: And it’s been awesome.

A Catholic case against lawns: Catholic social teaching offers a framework for rethinking the use of outdoor space to nurture the shared flourishing of all creation. - "Lawn culture represents a mindset of control, consumption, and individualism. Lawns reflect not only questions about sustainability and creation care, but they also raise issues about wealth and human dignity and the use of resources that could benefit the common good. Catholic social teaching offers Catholics a framework for rethinking the use of lawn space not only to protect the environment but to nurture the shared flourishing of all creation."

Will labor unions destroy D.C. transit?: Quality is relatively high — at an unsustainable price.

Does drinking water prevent kidney stones? Here’s what experts say." Increased hydration is considered the best way to prevent kidney stones. A new study suggests it’s not that easy. May 1, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. EDT

Trump’s border wall expansion just bulldozed an ancient tribal site: Construction in the Arizona desert damaged an enormous Indigenous ground etching resembling a fish that is thought to be at least 1,000 years old. - "The Department of Homeland Security has issued waivers so that border wall construction does not have to follow laws that protect the environment or Indigenous sites, which normally require extensive study and planning to limit damages."

A long-standing Senate tradition is being quietly undermined: Senate Majority Leader John Thune has resisted Trump’s pleas to kill the filibuster, but Republicans circumvented it in trying to fund immigration enforcement agencies.

Trump’s allies float a specious theory about treaties: Another dubious attempt to justify aggrandizing power in the executive branch. - "The 'unitary executive theory' is an idea percolating in America’s political and judicial debates. Its radicalism includes insistence that the president may unilaterally withdraw the nation from treaties to which the Senate has consented."

America’s obesity problem isn’t about costs. We just love junk food.: Junk food is cheaper than healthful food, but a new study reinforces taste preferences play a bigger role than prices. - "Researchers recruited Type 2 diabetes patients who were at risk of food insecurity. Their average BMI was 36, which is classified as obese. All participants got standard-issue diabetes care information, but one group was also given a 'produce prescription,' a debit card good for $80 per month of fruits, vegetables or legumes. 

"The hypothesis was that access to free produce would improve the diets, and therefore some of the health metrics, of the group that got the prescription. 

"But it didn’t."

Reading archive 2026-01-15

Supreme Court Backs Police Entry Without Warrant in Emergencies Montana officials defended the actions of law enforcement officers who did not have a warrant when they responded to a possibly suicidal Army veteran. - "In response to the ruling, the Constitutional Accountability Center, which had filed a brief in support of Mr. Case’s position, expressed concern that the court’s decision would do nothing to prevent officers from using emergency aid as a pretext for home intrusions." [ed. note: a unanimous, naïve decision]

Authoritarianism Is Climate Policy: The Trump administration’s imperialist, repressive rampage is a classic response to escalating crisis. - "The new EPA policy, which explicitly rejects lives saved as a lesser concern than business profits, exposes this line of thinking. You’ve heard it before, though. Fighting climate change would be too costly, so the narrative goes. Costly to whom? Not fighting climate change is already very costly to everyone else, whether in terms of affordability or lives lost."

Trump’s Fantastical Geopolitics: The White House’s aggressive posture is already pushing other countries to seek strength in numbers. - "The most glaring example of this involves Trump’s recent escalation of claims to Greenland, which threatens to remake the image of the United States into that of a rogue nation. His language vowing to get it one way or another, easy or hard, echoes gangland dialogue from Hollywood more than it does traditional diplomacy. And it threatens to finally break Washington’s relationship with Europe, transforming it from an increasingly wary alliance to something much more situational and potentially distant.

...

"Another example, both more obscure and surprising, comes with the news that Saudi Arabia, an oil power that Trump has courted heavily, has been in talks to acquire Chinese-made fighter jets for its air force, and has struck a strategic mutual defense pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan. Under the current president, Washington has shown a willingness to sell the Saudis virtually whatever weapons their hearts desire, including the United States’ most advanced fighter airplane. The problem is that Trump’s erratic and aggressive behavior has made them nervous like everyone else. 

"The urge to hedge is an ominous sign for a United States that is in the midst of an extremely foolhardy geopolitical paradigm shift—one that weakens its commitments and interdependence with long-standing allies in Europe and Asia in favor of the fantastical notion that by dominating the Western Hemisphere, America will be just fine, if not even better off."

Teen killed in Maryland parking lot where he went to trade coat for gun: Two suspects, 16 and 20, were ordered held without bond this week in Montgomery County District Court.

Why your power bill is spiking faster than a nearby data center’s: As electricity prices climb, an unusual disconnect is emerging between what regular people pay — and what data centers pay. - "According to a report from Harvard University earlier this year, utilities often sign special contracts with data center customers that place them outside standard pricing agreements. 'I’m not even sure if data centers are paying the 'commercial' price,' said Peskoe, one of the authors of the report. 'We were finding across states the way data centers were coming online in many states was through these secret contracts.'"

Trump’s promised manufacturing boom is a bust so far: Manufacturing employment has declined every month since April, when the president said tariffs would bring factories “roaring back.”

Vance’s Greenland meeting ends with ‘fundamental disagreement’: Diplomats from Denmark and Greenland agreed to set up a “high-level working group” after the White House talks, but said there was little consensus so far.

Senate blocks Venezuela war powers bill after Vance breaks deadlock: The vote failed after two Republicans withdrew their previous support under intense pressure from the Trump administration.

Native Americans are being swept up by ICE in Minneapolis, tribes say: Tribal leaders say Indigenous people have been stopped, questioned, harassed and, in some cases, detained solely on the basis of their skin color or names.

Who used the Maduro raid to earn $400K? The pool of suspects is alarming.: A bet on government action by a government actor is always a bet against the public interest.

Illinois finally abandons its ban on new nuclear plants: Gov. JB Pritzker (D), eyeing 2028, reverses his opposition and follows progressive public opinion.

The agony of knowing your millions don’t buy respect: “Members Only,” a Netflix reality series about Mar-a-Lago-adjacent socialites, is not good. But it reveals the insecurities of the very rich.

‘Some Foreign Influence Will Be Hard to Reverse’ China will remain a player in Latin America long after Maduro. - "The defining paradox of Trump's confrontation with China is that, since returning to the White House a year ago, he has worked to dismantle many of the same institutions the U.S. used to advance its cause in the 20th century."

A Different Type of ‘Muscle Memory’: Repeated exercise, or wasting, can change the way key genes work.

Denmark’s Army Chief Says He’s Ready to Defend Greenland: Danish forces are moving to the island to show NATO—and Trump—that they’re serious about security. - "Rasmus Jarlov, a Danish lawmaker, told me that the Trump administration has yet to articulate a single objective on Greenland, aside from acquiring it. 'That's the challenge we have,' Jarlov said. 'And, of course, since they already have full access, it's a little hard to improve.'

"'But," the lawmaker added with a laugh, 'we're willing to try.'"

Trump Is Risking a Global Catastrophe: His irrational fixation on Greenland could lead to widespread conflict.

Jeff Bezos Needs to Speak Up" The raid on a Washington Post reporter’s home is deeply troubling. - "In his second term, Trump has learned to apply this pressure more pointedly. He has made it plain that owners of large media firms should expect much friendlier regulatory treatment if they bring to heel the journalists they employ. What makes this tactic so deviously effective is that many influential media outlets are just a tiny portion of their owners' business interests. The Ellisons own CBS News, but CBS News is a speck in their financial portfolio. Losing audience share for 60 Minutes because the show relinquishes its independence would be an insignificant financial setback, but losing the administration's approval for the Ellisons' merger bids would be catastrophic."

Putin’s Explosive Message to Trump: The Oreshnik missile that struck Lviv carried a political payload. - "As evidenced by new sanctions on Russian oil, the seizure of Russian tankers, and the continuing flow of American weapons to Ukraine, Putin has repeatedly overplayed his hand with the president of the United States. What's worse for Putin - and possibly for the world - is that this Trump is on the warpath. Most of his recent press conferences have included references to bombing or regime-changing one country or another (the list now includes a NATO country, too). This is not the real-estate or cryptocurrency Trump. This is Trump with guns-a leader whose doctrine boils down to 'ICE for Americans. Delta Force for everyone else.'"

Reading archive 2025-07-30

The American chestnut tree is coming back. Who is it for? As federal agencies prepare to deregulate transgenic chestnuts, Indigenous nations are asserting their rights to access and care for them. - "The trees huddled along the Gulf Coast for some 8,000 years during the most recent ice age, sheltering in the relatively warm stretch from Florida to the Mississippi River, because mountain peaks even in the southernmost part of the Appalachians were too cold for chestnut trees to grow. Then, as the snow receded northward 20,000 ago, the trees slowly migrated from their coastal refuges. They worked their way up the Appalachian Mountains — helped by Indigenous peoples, whom they helped in turn."

D.C. Council’s compromise on tipped wages undermines voters’ will, advocates say: The council’s budget amendment will modify Initiative 82, which voters passed by an overwhelming majority in 2022. - "This month, the Economic Policy Institute conducted its own analysis of the full-service restaurant industry in the nation’s capital based on publicly available data. It found 'no evidence that increasing the tipped minimum wage has caused measurable harm to industry employment or business growth,' the EPI wrote in its report. 'If anything, D.C.’s restaurant industry has done well relative to most jurisdictions over this period.'"

Five winners and losers in D.C.’s 2026 budget: Facing a difficult economy, the lawmakers struggled with decisions over investing in the city’s growth and cutting services for residents.

The Northeast's hemlock trees face extinction. A tiny fly could save them." The region can't affored to lose these trees - or the carbon they store.

Reading archive 2025-01-08

Enough With the Land Acknowledgments

Drilling ban? Trump has bigger oil problems - "That’s because the country is already producing more oil and exporting more natural gas than any other nation. Drilling for more fossil fuels than the world’s markets could absorb would be bad business, leading to potential price dips, economic instability and financial losses for oil producers."

Some Texas business leaders are apprehensive about Trump’s pledged deportations: “We wouldn’t survive” without undocumented workers, one South Texas produce business owner said. By one estimate, 8% of Texas’ workforce lacks legal status. - "The state comptroller’s office did a study in 2006 to find out how the state economy would look without the estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants living in Texas in 2005. The study said their absence would cost the state about $17.7 billion in gross state product — a measure of the value of goods and services produced in Texas. The state has not updated the study since; analysis replicated by universities and think tanks have reached similar conclusions that undocumented Texans contribute more to the economy than they cost the state."

How could Trump's proposed tariffs impact the North Carolina economy?: Leaders in the state's agriculture community are concerned about retaliatory actions impacting farmers.

What really undid the Biden presidency: Biden’s confidence in his ability to guide America through a troubled era was part of the problem.

Is your phone listening to you?: Yeah, but probably not to target ads. The specifics of the theory that your phone is eavesdropping probably aren’t true, but the paranoia is justified.

Landlords are accused of colluding to raise rents. See where.

Meta ends fact checking. Here’s how to find the truth on social media.: Facebook, Instagram and Threads will no longer have fact checking in the United States. Here’s what that means for your feeds and how you can avoid falling for misinformation. - "The number one way to avoid falling for posts circulating on social media is to consider how it makes you feel. If it elicits a strong emotional reaction, like anger, anxiety, fear or even glee, that’s a sign it may be untrue. Take a beat and investigate.

"Misinformation has a variety of sources, from deliberate lies spread to influence public opinion to accounts using outrage to go viral and profit. Where a nuanced factual post might not get much engagement, a juicy conspiracy will lead to more clicks, shares and engagement. 

"'Another good sign is that you want to believe it,' says Abbie Richards, a misinformation researcher and content creator. 'When you encounter misinformation, the biggest factor in whether you fall for it is when you want it to be true.'"

Why Is the US Not Vaccinating Poultry Against Bird Flu? - "'The USDA is currently subsidizing chicken companies when they have outbreaks,' deCoriolis said.

"'American taxpayers have spent billions in the last two years bailing out chicken and turkey companies that have had outbreaks. If they don't vaccinate, they keep their export market; if they have a bird flu outbreak, they get a bailout.'"

Reading archive 2024-05-29

If convicted in his hush money trial, here’s what Trump could face next: A guilty verdict for Trump in the New York trial would mean a mix of routine court processing and extraordinary logistical considerations, legal experts say.

Opinion In closing, Trump’s team takes the jurors for idiots: Trump lawyer Todd Blanche treated jurors as if they were deaf or slow. “THAT. IS. A. LIE!” he bellowed at them.

TikTok offered an extraordinary deal. The U.S. government took a pass: The app’s executives proposed giving the Biden administration control over its U.S. operations and a kill switch if things went south. The administration declined, setting up an existential legal fight. - "Some critics of TikTok’s plan label it a 'catch me if you can' proposal that would require the government to sniff out risks. In March, the co-sponsors of the House legislation, Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who resigned last month, said in a resolution that Project Texas would have allowed the app’s algorithm and source code to 'remain in China under ByteDance’s control' and potentially expose U.S. users to 'malicious code, backdoor vulnerabilities, surreptitious surveillance, and other problematic activities.'"

Lawsuit says American Airlines kicked 8 Black men off plane, citing body odor: Three of the men sued American Airlines in federal court Wednesday morning.

Why a Trump lawyer’s prison reference was so ‘outrageous’: Not only are such arguments generally not allowed, but the judge had explicitly barred them.

Amid roadkill epidemic, California builds world’s largest wildlife bridge: The construction is meant to give threatened animals a path over a 10-lane freeway instead of through it, hopefully extending their lives and their habitat.

Another N.C. beach house just fell into the ocean. Others may follow.: Rising seas and eroding shorelines have now claimed a half-dozen houses in Rodanthe in the past four years.

‘In the name of God’: For decades, Catholic priests, brothers and sisters raped or molested Native American children who were taken from their homes by the U.S. government and forced to live at remote boarding schools, a Post investigation found.

Grocers in D.C. deploy bag bans, receipt scanners in shoplifting battle: Retailers such as Giant, Safeway and Harris Teeter have escalated anti-theft efforts in recent months as businesses nationwide struggle to thwart stealing.

Project 2025 sparks fear of dictatorship and oppression

Reading archive 2024-05-20

DCPS chancellor slams Mendelson plan to shift central office funds to schools: The proposal would threaten the district’s ability to run important programs, he said.

Weight-loss promoters are reeling after TikTok crackdown: The social platform announced new rules in April, banning marketing and promotion of obesity medications.

Trump’s immigration plans could deal a major blow to the job market: Immigration is a big reason the employment picture rebounded so strongly from the pandemic. That could be in jeopardy, economists say.

Opinion  How to save the Supreme Court from Alito’s ethical malfeasance: The justice’s unconscionable violations of ethics demand the court be reformed.

Boy Scouts love this scenic Va. river. Locals say they’re ruining it.: Three hours southwest of the District, the Maury River suffers as sediment flows from a dam at a reservation owned by a Scouting organization based in Bethesda.

These invasive moths are poised to proliferate across North America: Much of the continent’s climate is “very suitable” for box tree moths, researchers say.

She backed Israel; her son led a protest. Could they withstand war?: When her son joined protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, Emily Strong began examining her own convictions. That led to deep, often uncomfortable conversations.

In D.C.’s Ward 8, election centers on experience versus new leadership: The three-way battle for the future of the ward has centered on many of its intractable issues, such as poverty and fears about gentrification.

In a place with a history of hate, an unlikely fight against GOP extremism: North Idaho has beaten the far right before. Now renegade Republicans are seeking to root it out of their own party, with a crucial test in Tuesday’s primary.

Opinion  How Biden’s debate performance could blow open the race: He needs to goad Trump to be Trump, while reassuring voters about his own fitness for another term.

Ancient Chesapeake site challenges timeline of humans in the Americas: An island eroding into the bay offers tantalizing clues about when and how humans first made their way into North America.

Reading archive 2024-04-04

A Native American tribe once called D.C. home. It’s had no living members for centuries.: As the number of Anacostans dwindled, they merged with larger tribes in the region.

Trump urges Netanyahu to ‘get it over with,’ questions Israel’s approach to war in Gaza: The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has in recent weeks found himself increasingly at odds with the GOP’s unwavering loyalty to Israel.

RFK Jr. campaign describes Jan. 6 defendants as ‘activists,’ then disavows email: Candidate’s team later said the communication, which stated the defendants had been stripped of their rights, ‘does not reflect Mr. Kennedy’s views’

What is May-Thurner syndrome? Lauren Boebert’s diagnosis, explained.

Are walking pads worth it? Why I’m never leaving my desk treadmill.: Early studies show walking desks might improve mood and stress. For me, the tiny treadmill was a life-changer.

Far-right politics could hurt business in North Carolina, some fear. Again.

Republican candidate’s wife sentenced to prison for voter fraud

Truck crash hurls 77,000 ‘threatened’ salmon into wrong creek

Centrist group No Labels won’t field a ticket in the presidential election: The group said in a statement that it had not identified candidates “with a credible path to winning the White House.”

Trump defends Judge Cannon in fight over classified documents trial: Known for attacking other judges, the indicted former president calls Cannon ‘highly respected’ amid dispute over presidential records law

Judge Cannon shoots down Trump’s presidential records act claim: The ruling may avoid a potential showdown between special counsel Jack Smith and the judge

How a steel ball protected Taiwan’s tallest skyscraper in an earthquake

American killed in Israeli strike in Gaza was father, military veteran

Police identify 4 accused of attacking police officer’s cruiser

Opinion  Pay Ronna McDaniel

Israel risking being left holding bag for getting aid to Gazans, US warns

Opinion  The mournful isolation of Israel six months after terrorists attacked - "Here in Israel, my worries remain, but they are tinged by the understanding of how vulnerable this tiny country is and how present the threat." [ed. note: if Israel is small and vulnerable, what then of Gaza and West Bank?]

Opinion  Israel is at a crisis point: The world has had enough

Opinion  No, Big Pharma’s high prices don’t drive innovation - "Our research shows that the biggest drug companies largely fail to turn their enormous profits into discoveries. Instead, most innovation is taking place at small, unprofitable start-ups, whose drugs are largely excluded from Medicare’s new price negotiation system. When it comes to pharmaceutical innovation, smaller is better."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate and the vaccine wars - "'Every piece of legitimate evidence we have suggests that the causes of autism are present in utero,' said David Mandell, director of the Penn Center for Mental Health at the University of Pennsylvania, in an email. 'To the extent that environmental factors are causative, they likely interact with genetic risk factors in the womb.'

"Of course, even if a link to air pollution is not yet proved, that does not mean it can be ruled out. 'It’s hard to disagree with the opinion that exposure to neurotoxins and air pollution is bad for our health and that we should be doing more to protect our environment and prevent these exposures,' Maureen Durkin, chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in an email. 'Credible research into the causal links of these exposures to autism specifically is difficult to do but should be done and critically evaluated to inform environmental policies.'

...

"Fears about a link between autism and vaccines started in 1998 after the publication of a genuine hoax — the Wakefield study, in the journal Lancet. Based on a supposedly random sample of 12 children, now-discredited anti-vaccine activist and former physician Andrew Wakefield suggested that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine led to gastrointestinal symptoms, which in turn put harmful proteins in the bloodstream that resulted in autism.

"Dozens of studies followed, including one that studied 1.8 million children over 14 years, all of which showed there was no link. Eventually, it was revealed that Wakefield had received secret payments from a lawyer seeking to sue MMR manufacturers and who supplied some of the patients, had filed a patent application for his own measles vaccine, and had misrepresented or altered medical histories of the 12 patients. In 2010, the article was retracted and Wakefield lost his medical license.

...

"'This is fearmongering,' Mandell said, noting that Wakefield first said autism was the result of the MMR vaccine and no link was found. Then 'RFK Jr. said that the thimerosal in vaccines caused autism. Then thimerosal was removed from vaccines, with no change in increasing rates of diagnosis. … Then they said that it was the number of vaccines or the timing of the vaccines.'"

Reading archive 2023-11-17

Canada’s most prominent Indigenous icon might not be Indigenous

Opinion  The Supreme Court should have heeded Ketanji Brown Jackson’s wisdom

IBM pulls ads from X as Musk amplifies antisemitism: Billionaire’s latest controversial tweets come amid reports of major brands’ ads appearing next to pro-Nazi content

Deported Afghans return home by the thousands to unexpected welcome

As mass shootings multiplied, the horrific human cost was concealed: States reeling from gun violence made graphic imagery confidential — part of a charged debate over privacy and public awareness

TERROR ON REPEAT: A rare look at the devastation caused by AR-15 shootings - "In classroom 112, children who were killed were found huddled together in the corner."

Reading archive 2023-10-18

China owns the EV supply chain. Now it wants to sell you a car.: European consumers use Chinese products every day. Will they also embrace cars by companies such as BYD that have their sights set on the European market?

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’: An admirable yet vexingly uneven film: Less whodunit than who-didn’t-do-it, Martin Scorsese’s latest drama does away with the suspense of David Grann’s nonfiction book about a series of murders of Osage Indians

Opinion  The Supreme Court blew a chance to fix its second-worst decision ever

After months-long fight, Maine man can keep emotional support chickens: C-Jay Martin’s neighbors in Bangor rallied to help him keep his backyard chickens, which were not allowed by city ordinance

Reading archive 2023-10-17

Opinion  What ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ taught my Oklahoma town

Think you need another car? Consider an e-bike instead.

Reading archive 2023-08-05

Opinion  Jared and Ivanka are slinking back to Gomorrah

Supreme Court refuses to block ban on Okla. city fines for Native Americans: The litigation is ongoing, and two justices suggested Tulsa officials could continue enforcing local laws while the court process continues

Country lacks a unifying voice in aftermath of Trump charges: No trusted figure has emerged to reassure the country in a shattering moment

Bad behavior at ‘Barbenheimer’ reflects a worrying trend: Drunken outbursts, public nudity and nonstop cellphone use disrupt packed theaters. Have people forgotten how to go the movies?

Reading archive 2023-06-22

The Fox Newsiverse gets its revenge on one of Trump’s primary foils

House votes to send articles of impeachment against Biden to committees: Rep. Lauren Boebert surprised her Republican colleagues with the measure

Supreme Court rules against Navajo Nation request for water rights

In ‘Cancer Alley,’ a key Biden climate push draws fire from environmentalists: EPA proposes handing regulation of carbon storage to state officials in Louisiana. Activists fear the risks, and the chance it could perpetuate the fossil fuel industry. - "Mayor Leroy Sullivan, who is Black, said environmental and racial justice advocates would also complain if the state blocked carbon capture and Texas was successful in luring industry and its jobs there. Sullivan himself was heavily burned in an explosion at the CF Industries plant where he was working 23 years ago. But he said the community doesn’t have a choice but to trust local oil and chemical companies if they are to make progress."

Reading archive 2023-01-20

Trump warns GOP about efforts to cut Social Security, Medicare

Under oath, Trump is confronted with his ‘hoax’ hyperbole - "A bit later he again claimed that climate change activists had stopped using the term 'global warming' because 'it wasn’t working' rhetorically. In reality, Republican consultant Frank Luntz recommended that conservatives adopt the term 'climate change' to blunt the implications of 'global warming.'"

Sick of smelling her neighbor’s legal pot, this woman sued - "Secondhand marijuana smoke contains many of the same cancer-causing toxins as secondhand tobacco smoke, said Brooke Hoots, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist."

CIA director holds secret meeting with Zelensky on Russia’s next steps: High-level visit by Burns comes at critical juncture in war and as government in Kyiv airs concern about durability of U.S. support

Native American tribe in Va. reclaims big parcel of its homeland: The Rappahannock Indians once dominated the area of Fones Cliffs, a unique rock formation in Virginia’s Northern Neck

Trees have long protected Sacramento. Storms turned them to ‘carnage.’

Reading archive 2022-11-09

Opinion  In Arizona, a MAGA victory party takes a sour turn - "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is 'losing the gavel but finding the hammer,' Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told the crowd, joking about the attack on Pelosi’s husband that left him with a fractured skull — just as GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake did a week earlier. The crowd laughed.

...

"After a campaign against supposed Democratic “elites,” Republican elites celebrated in style. A procession of luxury cars — BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, Tesla, even a Rolls-Royce — dotted the valet line in the conference resort’s manicured driveway, lined with palm trees. VIPs who paid $500 a head were whisked off to a private reception, and higher rollers who shelled out $1,000 for the “private experience package” to another."

Opinion  The expected red wave looks more like a puddle

Trump absorbs GOP losses, while DeSantis glows with landslide victory: Early returns suggested setbacks for the former president’s endorsed candidates, and several potential 2024 rivals appeared emboldened - "'Well, I think if they win, I should get all the credit,' [Trump] said in an interview posted Tuesday with the network NewsNation. 'If they lose, I should not be blamed at all.'"

This enigmatic billionaire took down a crypto rock star: Led by Changpeng Zhao, Binance will absorb Sam Bankman-Fried’s company, capping a colorful human drama

Eating fiber alters the microbiome. It may boost cancer treatment, too.: The composition of the gut microbiome appears to influence whether a cancer treatment called immunotherapy is successful

Musk to meet with Twitter advertisers after ‘name & shame’ warning: The billionaire owner had threatened a “thermonuclear name & shame” campaign against advertisers that abandon the platform. He still needs their money. - "The day before he closed the deal Musk tweeted a statement committing to keeping the site from becoming a 'free for all hellscape.' But soon after, he himself boosted a conspiracy theory about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, shaking advertisers’ faith that he would maintain rules against misinformation and hate speech."

Law on placement of Native American children divides Supreme Court: Justices seemed inclined to reconsider parts of law that prioritizes foster or adoptive parents based on tribal status

Opinion  How D.C. voters altered the city’s political landscape

Reading archive 2022-11-07

No, We Don't Just Need to Plant More Milkweed

Prairie lawns help Nebraskans alleviate climate change and promote biodiversity

D.C. servers, restaurateurs battle over ‘tipped minimum’ initiative - "Graham opposed Initiative 77, which was repealed by the D.C. Council after voters approved it, and opposes this one. She said 'outside moneyed labor interests' were fueling both measures. The measure’s opponents have raised about $643,000 fighting it while its supporters have raised about $439,000 trying to get it passed, campaign filings show." [ed. note: Graham is ignorant]

The speedy scientific workout you can do almost anywhere: A new study shows you can get the benefits of a high-intensity workout by doing five common exercises, no gym or equipment required

Biden’s ‘consequences’ for Saudi Arabia are reaping quiet results: Riyadh’s decision to cut OPEC oil production was met with fury in Washington. But the White House is taking its time on meting out any public punishment.

Stars and fans remember Aaron Carter, lamenting ‘curse’ of childhood fame

Stop building museums on the National Mall: Women and Latinos deserve better than getting squeezed into the unsuitable locations proposed by the Smithsonian

She put a stranger on her shoulders at a Phillies rally. Now fans want them to marry.: She hoisted him above the sea of revelers until he found his friends. People far and wide are hoping for a fairy tale ending.

These are the men running Elon Musk’s Twitter: The billionaire has installed several members of his inner circle to enact his vision for the social media platform

Republicans sue to disqualify thousands of mail ballots in swing states: The lawsuits coincide with a systemic effort by GOP leaders to persuade voters to cast ballots in person, not absentee

Kyrie Irving lit a flame. The NBA, top to bottom, watched the fire spread.

Breaking with Kanye West’s sports group was a choice. So was joining it.

Elon Musk’s Twitter is a safe space for bros who think they’re funny: Musk may think he’s preserving comedy, but he’s just ensuring the lowest kind has one more place to flourish. Let that sink in.

In Arizona, small tribe watches warily as Supreme Court takes up Native adoption law

In existential midterm races, Christian prophets become GOP surrogates

The Demolition of the Taylor Street Bridge

Reading archive 2021-11-04

Aaron Rodgers is entitled to stay unvaccinated. He’s not entitled to lie about it.

‘We are in crisis mode’: Museum workers are turning to unions over conditions they say are untenable

A GOP strategist was charged with sex trafficking minors. Then he tried to ‘threaten’ law enforcement, judge says.

Igor Danchenko arrested, charged with lying to FBI about information in Steele dossier

He predicted the dark side of the Internet 30 years ago. Why did no one listen?: Philip Agre, a computer scientist turned humanities professor, was prescient about many of the ways technology would impact the world - "But Agre isn’t available. In 2009, he simply dropped off the face of the earth, abandoning his position at UCLA. When friends reported Agre missing, police located him and confirmed that he was okay, but Agre never returned to the public debate. His closest friends declined to further discuss details of his disappearance, citing respect for Agre’s privacy."

This tribe helped the Pilgrims survive for their first Thanksgiving. They still regret it 400 years later.: Long marginalized and misrepresented in U.S. history, the Wampanoags are bracing for the 400th anniversary of the first Pilgrim Thanksgiving in 1621

Reading archive 2021-09-28

Vaccinated NBA staffers concerned about health risks of being exposed to unvaccinated players as season approaches

The surprising downsides to planting trillions of trees: Large tree-planting initiatives often fail — and some have even fueled deforestation. There’s a better way.

The Rise of the Liberal Latter-day Saints: And the battle for the future of Mormonism

Trump played tough with Putin when cameras were around, but a new book details his insecurities

Kyrie Irving wants to leave a legacy. With his stance on vaccination, he just might.

Why Athletes Need to Lead the Drive to Vaccinate: We Have a Duty to Use Our Platform to Save Lives

Tribes want ‘immediate action’ to reverse Trump’s cut to Bears Ears National Monument: Biden is weighing whether to restore the boundaries for the Utah site tribes consider sacred, after Trump shrank it by 85 percent

Senior Democrats’ push for powerful climate tool collides with political realities: White House has been wary of proposals to raise costs for middle-class Americans, while some centrists also object to the plan

Reading archive 2020-11-29

Iran’s political establishment faces a serious test of will. So will Joe Biden. - "We know that, following his loss in the U.S. election, President Trump asked his advisers to offer options for strikes on Iranian military installations. The intelligence community and top military advisers oppose the idea. But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — America’s top 'diplomat' — shares with his boss the attitude that expertise doesn’t matter nearly as much as finding people to agree with you."

For Trump advocate Sidney Powell, a playbook steeped in conspiracy theories - At the Nov. 19 news conference, before a national television audience, she asserted that “communist money,” the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and a manipulated computer algorithm were all connected in a secret plot that had altered potentially millions of ballots and stolen the election from Trump.

Powell did not stop there. In an interview two days later with the conservative outlet Newsmax, she said she had been given evidence — which she said she could not disclose — that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican and an ally of the president, had taken bribes and conspired to orchestrate Trump’s defeat. Nationwide, she estimated that “thousands” of local elections officials knowingly helped carry out the master scheme to tamper with ballots. In fact, Powell claimed, if anyone bothered to look, they’d probably find that U.S. elections had been rigged for decades.

America needs an epic narrative right now. Painters are working on it.

Iran’s president blames Israel for killing nuclear scientist and vows to respond at the ‘right time’

Marco Rubio is already suiting up for the politics of destruction

Why they fight: The Democrats are a big-tent party. The GOP isn’t. That explains everything. - "In the short term, Democrats clearly have a coalition-management challenge: Big-tent politics requires a lot of work and leads to inevitable bickering. But over the long run, Republicans are confronting decline, not only because the Democrats' diversity better reflects the country, both now and in the future, but also because the GOP's coalition is aging. Among Trump's voters, 65 percent were 45 or older; only 56 percent of Biden's were — and Biden captured voters under 30 by a better than 3-to-2 margin. In fact, the only thing that has saved Republicans in presidential elections over the past three decades is an electoral college that privileges White and conservative voters. The GOP has won the popular vote in only one of the past eight elections. Republicans took heart in their gains among Latinos, but the Hispanic vote was nonetheless key to Biden's success in Arizona and Nevada — and to the Democrats' ongoing advantage in California, New Mexico and elsewhere.

"Still, 2020 did not bring about the larger-scale realignment that the Democrats hoped for (and that was mistakenly forecast by many polls). To nurture that possibility, Biden and the Democrats must find their inner Job, with a little help from Machiavelli. For starters, each camp within the party can acknowledge the truth of what their internal rivals say. The left is right that it provides a lot of energy, especially among young voters and in the urban areas that turned out big for Biden. But the moderates are right that, to win power, the party needs middle-of-the-road voters, particularly from swing districts. This may produce more cautious officeholders, but they are essential to building a congressional majority. 

"Progressives are right that the quest for racial justice should not be compromised — and is, in fact, an electoral asset. (After all, 85 percent of Biden voters told the exit pollsters that the criminal justice system treats Blacks unfairly.) But moderates are right that slogans like 'Defund the police' can bring down moderate lawmakers, such as Staten Island's defeated Rep. Max Rose. Here's a rule for the future: Any slogan that requires five minutes to explain what it really means is not a good slogan."

A Geneticist’s Dilemma: A growing number of scientists believe that the cure for disease can be found in our DNA. But that poses a unique problem for some Native Americans.

An unusual snack for cows, a powerful fix for climate: Feeding them seaweed slashes the amount of methane they burp into the atmosphere

What hunting Bigfoot taught a Republican congressman about politics

China sharply ramps up trade conflict with Australia over political grievances

20 days of fantasy and failure: Inside Trump’s quest to overturn the election - "The 20 days between the election on Nov. 3 and the greenlighting of Biden’s transition exemplified some of the hallmarks of life in Trump’s White House: a government paralyzed by the president’s fragile emotional state; advisers nourishing his fables; expletive-laden feuds between factions of aides and advisers; and a pernicious blurring of truth and fantasy.

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"A simple and clear refutation of the president came Friday from a Trump appointee, when Judge Stephanos Bibas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit wrote a unanimous opinion rejecting the president’s request for an emergency injunction to overturn the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results. 

"'Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy,' Bibas wrote. “Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.'"