Reading archive 2026-08-24

The White House Freak-Out Over Natalie Harp: The West Wing’s explosive response to a fleeting jab didn’t kill the story. It enabled days of coverage.

It’s Low-Calorie and Packed With Protein. Is It Healthy?: Welcome to the golden age of ultra-processed health foods.

Ossoff’s ‘Natalie’ Moment: The Georgia senator’s latest viral moment reveals much about Trump—and plenty about Ossoff himself.

A rare blue tree frog is drawing loads of spectators to a Virginia park: “Is he a prince in disguise?” Nature enthusiasts are flocking to Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria to catch a glimpse of the unusual amphibian.

To get the national debt under control, start with the retirement state

Why we should stop eating lettuce, cyclospora or not: Lettuce makes us sick, wastes resources and has minimal nutritional value. Why are we still consuming it? - "So, on one side of the ledger we have 1.7 million annual cases of food poisoning, $3.7 billion and 3 billion pounds of rotting lettuce. On the other we have, basically, an excuse to kid yourself into eating blue cheese dressing."

Some Texas conservatives are breaking ranks and pledging to vote Democratic: Republicans who are angry at Gov. Greg Abbott’s refusal to block data centers are giving his Democratic challenger hope for an upset.

Secret White House bunker undercuts Trump’s ballroom lawsuit, ex-officials say: The White House already has a nuclear-proof facility buried deep underground and built in secret after 9/11.

Mount Pleasant residents say 'hell no' to trees of heaven: This invasive species is spreading through the District. Some residents are taking matters into their own hands.

D.C. Coating Roads To Help Cool City: District transportation officials are rolling out an experiment, treating stretches of roadway with a coating meant to reduce the air temperature.

In candid interviews, National Guard members speak out about D.C. deployment - "An estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the D.C. deployment at its current level costs about $3 million per day. The Pentagon estimates extending the deployment until 2029 will cost an additional $1.4 billion. A total cost estimate by the nonpartisan watchdog Project on Government Oversight for the deployment is around $3.4 billion.

How one billionaire’s crusade against homelessness became Trump’s playbook: Long before Silicon Valley embraced Trump, Joe Lonsdale wanted to remake government and shift the nation’s approach to homelessness. Now, his friends in the White House are listening. - "He uses the term “boldness” so frequently that it might come off as a joke — or to critics, as a caricature of a tech billionaire drunk on his own Kool-Aid.

"But in Lonsdale’s growing influence, detractors see something more insidious: a powerful person interfering far beyond his purview. 

"'These guys don’t have interesting ideas; they have little-boy fantasies,' said Paul Barrett, a New York University professor and a former deputy director of the Center for Business and Human Rights at NYU Stern School of Business. 'These tech guys are part of an illiberal tradition that is truly corrosive. … [Lonsdale] wants to create an environment where his mythological meritocratic heroes can thrive and everyone else can go f--- themselves.'"

Nevada sues over federally mandated reduction in Colorado River water use: In the first legal challenge to a long-awaited federal plan to stabilize the dwindling Colorado River, Nevada alleges that federal officials violated the law and failed to consider the economic effects of the cuts.

Reading archive 2026-07-31

A new Colorado River plan requires water cuts for three states. Deeper cuts are still possible.: Arizona, California and Nevada will be required to curb their use of the water from the river by a combined 20 percent over the next two years, according to three officials. - "In the Upper Basin, home to the snowcapped mountains and winding tributaries that feed the river, there are few reservoirs to provide long-term water storage, leaving users reliant on natural flows. That means the Upper Basin takes an automatic cut during dry years, officials argue. They say responsibility for restoring water to Lakes Powell and Mead should fall on the Lower Basin states that use them. 

"Yet about three-quarters of the people who depend on the Colorado live in the Lower Basin. The region is also home to major cities and sprawling farms that provide most of the nation’s winter vegetable supply. Officials from these states say they have already curbed their water consumption by millions of acre feet in recent years. Overuse of the river is universal, they argue, and so too is responsibility for saving it."

Airports, nursing homes and schools brace for disruption without Haitian workers: The Trump administration and courts are at odds over whether about 350,000 Haitians have officially lost humanitarian protections, but employers are already letting workers go.

Why 600,000 Mosquitoes Are Being Released in DC This Summer: A Silver Spring pest control company is releasing mosquitoes that don't bite, to stop the ones that do.

Bowser, warning of $837M ‘fiscal cliff,’ declines to sign D.C. budget: It’s not a veto, but it’s the mayor’s way of voicing her disapproval with the D.C. Council.

New report details ‘prolonged, systemic breakdown’ in D.C. crime reporting: The report comes amid internal and external probes into a wide-ranging crime data manipulation scandal.

Inside the deal to clinch Lindsey Graham’s ‘sanctions bill from hell’: The late senator pushed for a bipartisan financial bill that could curb Russia’s main source of income.

Will Maine uproot Susan Collins? I went to a potato festival to find out.: The Senate race pits seniority against a working-class playbook.

What’s tucked inside the Senate’s Russia sanctions bill: Its tariff proposals could affect other countries more than Russia. - "In sum, the legislation gives Trump an awful lot of authority to impose massive tariffs on a number of countries, notably India and China, if they don’t cut off all Russian energy imports. They are unlikely to do so, because both India and China are heavily reliant on Russian energy — all the more since the U.S.-Iran war has reduced oil exports from the Persian Gulf. Trump’s efforts to use 25 percent tariffs to wean India from Russian energy imports already failed last year.

"The problem is that there is nothing to stop Trump from imposing tariffs on any of those countries for some other reason and using the Graham bill as legal justification. He might even use the legislation to go after U.S. allies in Europe and Asia."

Reading archive 2025-07-07

Shooters emerged from car in D.C. slaying of congressional intern: Police say they’re trying to enhance video of the incident that left one dead and two others injured.

I’m a gastroenterologist. Here’s why I tell my patients to eat this one fruit.: Kiwis can boost your gut health. They may also lower triglycerides and cancer risk.

Do you need a measles vaccine booster? Here’s what to know.: The answer depends on when you were born, your vaccine records and whether you plan to travel internationally.

How this group got Trump to sign a pro-environment executive order: The "Make America Beautiful Again” executive order will establish a council tasked with preserving public lands, wildlife and drinking water supplies.

Did Canada just change how we think of Trump’s 2024 election?: Perhaps Trump’s win wasn’t about Trump at all

Trump’s big bill will snuff out Kansas hospitals and eviscerate Medicaid. Jerry Moran just shrugs.

Wall Street Worries as Crisis-Level Deficits Become the Government’s Default Mode: New legislation could push federal debt into dangerous territory—without an emergency requiring it

Debacle in the desert: will the Athletics’ $1.75bn stadium on the Vegas Strip ever be built?

How ‘Love Island USA’ forced a star’s exit after racist posts resurfaced: Cierra Ortega was quietly dumped from the villa after posts resurfaced of her using an Asian slur.

Russian minister found dead, likely of suicide, authorities say: Roman Starovoit found dead in his car with a gunshot wound on the same day he was relieved of his job as Russian transportation minister by President Vladimir Putin.

CVS was so worried about shoplifting that it stole its own soul: My local pharmacy’s products are now encased in glass, and the whole thing makes me very nervous.

Trump World’s Wizard of Oz Problem: Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon don’t speak for Trump or his base. So why do people think they do? - "Few jobs in Trump world are more farcical than the position of 'architect' of 'America First': There are no MAGA intellectuals, just Trump and opportunistic ideologues attempting to hitch their pet projects to his brand. The self-styled thought leaders of the Trump movement are merely political entrepreneurs trying to appropriate the president for their own purposes and to recast his chaotic and idiosyncratic decisions as reflections of their personal worldview."

The Most Perverse Part of the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ :The Republican megabill could be setting America up for the worst energy-affordability crisis since the 1970s. - "Blackouts and grid outages will become more frequent. Power-intensive industries such as AI and manufacturing will struggle under the weight of higher energy costs. China will solidify its dominance over clean-energy supply chains. 'Just think of Trump's own priorities: lower energy prices, becoming an AI superpower, reindustrializing America, outcompeting China,' Princeton's Jenkins said. 'Getting rid of these credits hurts all of those goals.' But there is one priority missing from that list: owning the libs. 

"Partisan polarization around clean energy has grown so extreme since the passage of the IRA that Trump and many other Republicans apparently see destroying it as an end in itself."

What Really Happened to Malaysia’s Missing Airplane: Five years ago, the flight vanished into the Indian Ocean. Officials on land know more about why than they dare to say.

Reading archive 2025-05-28

D.C. police chief reassigns youth division leaders, stoking discontent: Some fear that the abrupt transfers, related to a dispute about overtime costs, could undermine the goal of helping troubled children and curbing juvenile crime.

Police body cam shows man fire at officers before one fatally shoots him: Footage released by Fairfax County police shows the moments leading up to a fatal police shooting during a traffic stop in April that left a man dead.

Within Pete Hegseth’s divided inner circle, a ‘cold war’ endures: At the Pentagon, personality conflicts persist and inexperience reigns, fueling internal speculation about the defense secretary’s long-term viability in Trump’s Cabinet.

D.C. queer bar vandalized in suspected hate crime during WorldPride: Sinners and Saints, D.C.'s only bar dedicated to queer and trans people of color, was broken into during Black Pride weekend.

At Veterans Affairs, plan for sweeping cuts tanks morale: The government’s second-largest agency, serving some of America’s most vulnerable citizens, is set to lose 83,000 employees under Trump administration cutbacks.

A big Trump administration cutback went nearly unnoticed: About 32,000 low-paid AmeriCorps service workers lost their jobs over a few days in April.

A ‘Blue Wave’ is building. It won’t look the same as the last one.: Donald Trump is president again, but the parties have changed since the 2018 midterm election. - "In 2024, Republicans saw the electoral college bias they had benefited from in Trump’s previous races practically disappear. If Republicans continue to gain ground with minority voters living in urban cores of solidly blue states, while losing White voters in the battleground states, they could find themselves at a systemic disadvantage in the next presidential election due to the current quirks of American politics."

I’m an oncologist. Here are 11 science-based ways to reduce your cancer risk.: About 40 percent of cancer cases are considered preventable. Try these lifestyle changes to stay healthy.

The Colorado River is running low. The picture looks even worse underground, study says.: The Colorado River Basin has lost twice as much groundwater since 2003 as water taken out of its reservoirs, according to a study based on satellite data.

Bowser bets on business-friendly D.C. budget while cutting some programs: Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is betting on her ‘growth agenda’ to keep business in D.C., while council members are concerned about cuts to services for the needy.

Bowser to replace D.C. Streetcar with ‘next generation streetcar.’ It’s a bus.: The system, proposed in the early 2000s, never got beyond one line that opened in 2016.

GOP rejects ‘millionaire tax’ pitch, advancing breaks for rich Americans: Legislation moving through Congress includes breaks for the upper and middle classes as the House rebuffs President Donald Trump’s suggestions.

Exempting tips from taxes could hurt employees, critics say: Some worker advocates and labor law experts call it a gimmick that could incentivize employers to keep base pay low and reclassify some salaries as tips.

Terry Bradshaw calls possible Steelers signing of Aaron Rodgers ‘a joke’: The Hall of Famer says the enigmatic former Packers and Jets quarterback should go “chew on bark” and “stay in California,” not Pittsburgh.

Here’s how much international students contribute to the U.S. economy: International students contributed $44 billion to the U.S. economy in the 2023-2024 school year. Their loss could hurt more than just universities’ bottom line.

These Are the College Majors With the Lowest Unemployment Rates — and Philosophy Ranks Higher Than Computer Science: An analysis of employment data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that some humanities majors rank higher than STEM majors in employment prospects.

Behind the Curtain: A white-collar bloodbath

Paris Votes to Make 500 More Streets Car-Free: With the passage of a referendum Sunday, Mayor Anne Hidalgo will amplify her ambitious moves to challenge car dominance and expand pedestrian access.

The 21st Century Red State Murder Crisis - "The excuse that sky high red state murder rates are because of their blue cities is without merit. Even after removing the county with the largest city from red states, and not from blue states, red state murder rates were still 20% higher in 2021 and 16% higher in 2022.

...

"Many of the states accused of “defunding the police,” like California, New York, and Illinois, actually spent the most on policing. California spent the most on policing at $634.53 per resident. New York spent the third most at $539.92. And Illinois came in sixth place at $471.26. Eight out of 10 states spending the most on policing are blue states, joined by red states Alaska and Florida. And those blue states aren’t just blue, they’re the bluest of states—California, New York, Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Minnesota."

Rubio’s claim that it’s ‘a lie’ that people have died from foreign-aid cuts: The secretary of state rejected convincing evidence documented in news reports and by disease modelers. - "Nichols said the death toll would not be so high if the administration had pursued a deliberate policy to phase out funding over a 12-month period, as that would have permitted contingency planning. 'It’s true that other countries are cutting back on humanitarian spending. But what makes the U.S. approach so harmful is how the cuts were made: abruptly, without warning, and without a plan for continuity,' she said. 'It leads to interruptions in care, broken supply chains, and ultimately, preventable deaths. Also, exactly because the U.S. is the largest provider of humanitarian aid, it makes the approach catastrophic.'"

Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2025 - "But prisons do rely on the labor of incarcerated people for food service, laundry, and other operations, and they pay incarcerated workers appallingly low wages: our 2017 study found that on average, incarcerated people earn between 86 cents and $3.45 per day for the most common prison jobs.  In at least five states, those jobs pay nothing at all. Moreover, work in prison is compulsory, with little regulation or oversight, and incarcerated workers have few rights and protections. If they refuse to work, incarcerated people face disciplinary action. For those who do work, the paltry wages they receive often go right back to the prison, which charges them for basic necessities like medical visits and hygiene items. Forcing people to work for low or no pay and no benefits, while charging them for necessities, allows prisons to shift the costs of incarceration to incarcerated people — hiding the true cost of running prisons from most Americans."

Reading archive 2024-10-30

The Worst of Crypto Is Yet to Come: No matter who wins in November, the digital-asset market could be on the brink of a deregulation-fueled bonanza. - "Dennis Kelleher, the CEO of the nonprofit Better Markets, told me the real reason the crypto industry doesn’t want tokens to be classified as securities is that disclosure rules would expose them as financially dangerous. 'If you had to fully and truthfully disclose the risks associated with crypto, the people who would engage in crypto would be near none,' he said."

North Korea’s elite troops are in Russia to fight Ukraine: What we know: The North Korean Special Forces sent to Russia are the state’s best trained troops but they will face challenges with modern warfare technology, experts say.

Stung by the backlash, Ted Leonsis is trying to win back: Washington The Monumental Sports & Entertainment CEO says he wants to unite the region, but a failed arena deal in Virginia turned him into a polarizing figure.

She said she had a miscarriage — then got arrested under an abortion law

Who is the mystery poop and tiki torch artist?: The Washington Post set out to find out who was behind two new eye-catching art installations in the city. We couldn’t quite do it.

Against mayor’s wishes, D.C. will use bus sales to help Circulator workers: The mayor chose to end Circulator service this year, saying the city could no longer afford the red buses.

D.C. Council restricts amplified noise, projectiles at residential protests: An emergency measure to temper First Amendment activity in residential neighborhoods was by turns lauded and derided by District residents, as the D.C. Council voted 9-2 to pass the bill.

What Trump could do to Metro if he wins a second term: While in office, Trump repeatedly tried to slash infrastructure budgets and pull back funding for public transit.

Opinion So, what did you think of Harris’s October surprise? Across the country, the vice president’s field operation dwarfs Trump’s. - "Democrat Josh Stein will almost certainly win the governor’s race, and Democrats will likely take a couple more statewide races. But the congressional delegation 'will either be 71 percent Republican or 79 percent, in a state Kamala Harris may very well win,' Nickel said."

Opinion Donald Trump wants you to be afraid of me: His anti-trans TV ads are a cunning, cynical program to encourage us to fear what we do not understand.

Companies ready price hikes to offset Trump’s global tariff plans: Executives say Americans, not foreign countries, will pay the tariffs. - "In fact, American importers pay all tariffs to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency at the time their products enter the country."

Mike Johnson vows major changes to Affordable Care Act if Trump wins election: The House speaker said Republicans would seek to overhaul the law, which provides health coverage to tens of millions and has been a frequent target of GOP repeal efforts.

For Jeff Bezos and his businesses, Washington has become more important: Executives at companies founded by the billionaire Post owner have sought contact with Trump. He argues he didn’t end presidential endorsements out of self-interest.

They thought they found their dream home — so did thousands of bats: For a millennial couple buying their first home, on an island in the Puget Sound, the cost of humanely resolving the bat problem was more than they expected.

Musk’s plan to cut $2 trillion in U.S. spending could bring economic turmoil: Deep budget cuts would be required to meet the billionaire Trump supporter’s goal. He appeared to acknowledge some risks on Tuesday.

China cracks down on Halloween, wary of subversion lurking in costumes: Halloween is new to China, but many young professionals embrace costumes as a way to express themselves – and sometimes to send subtle political messages.

These women are all in for abortion rights — and for Donald Trump: Harris is making abortion part of her closing argument. But some voters say they aren’t worried about what a Trump presidency would mean for abortion. - "Republican and independent voters who plan to split their ticket on abortion — voting for an abortion referendum and for Trump — said they were willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt on the issue, with some feeling reassured by his recent promises not to crack down further on abortion. Despite Trump’s decision to appoint the three conservative Supreme Court justices who helped revoke the constitutional right to abortion, a few voters said they believed Trump was secretly 'pro-choice.'" [ed. note: everyone is about to get everything they deserve]

LGBTQ activists canvassed in a red state. The conversations surprised them.: The group spread out across Missouri in the final days before the election. Residents had viewpoints that did not fit in neat partisan boxes.

Reading archive 2022-11-14

In Nevada, one more victory for the ‘Reid machine’ over ‘Team Mitch’

Chesapeake Bay could become national recreation area: Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation back the federal designation, which would knit together and highlight key places of interest around the bay

Grizzlies once thrived in these wilds. The U.S. may bring them back.

Opinion  The global pressure on Iran is mounting

Opinion  The Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal continues - "That problem was crystallized in the admission by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, who was the archbishop of Bordeaux for 18 years before he retired in 2019, that he had behaved “in a reprehensible way” with a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago when he was a parish priest. The news was made more astonishing by the fact that Cardinal Ricard served as president of the Bishops’ Conference of France from 2001 to 2007, even as revelations of clerical sexual abuse rocked the church — first in Boston, then throughout dioceses in the United States and worldwide. Yet the prelate continued exercising his authority as one of the French church’s most prominent figures. He is now being investigated by French prosecutors in Marseille for 'aggravated sexual assault.'"

Inside Kari Lake’s war room, where Republicans prepare for likely loss: The subdued mood marks a reversal from just days earlier, when the GOP gubernatorial nominee in Arizona was readying a transition team - "Lake and her allies have argued that the problems only affected Republican areas. But an analysis by The Post found that the proportion of registered Republicans in affected precincts, about 37 percent, was virtually the same as the share of registered Republicans across the county, which stands at 35 percent."

The tech CEO spending millions to stop Elon Musk: Dan O’Dowd says Tesla’s ‘Full Self Driving’ software shouldn’t be on the road. He’ll keep running over test dummies until someone listens.

Republican rivals start considering a post-Trump future: The GOP’s disappointing midterm results spur some donors and party leaders to consider other 2024 candidates

A profound change is coming to American school buses: Within a decade, advocates say electric school buses will supplant the old polluting ones

China wants to mend ties with the U.S. But it won’t make the first move. - "Sixteen months ago, Foreign Minister Wang Yi presented lists of complaints and demands to U.S. diplomats in Tianjin. China made clear the United States would need to make the first move, and it had three bottom-line requirements: no attempts to undermine China’s development, no challenges to its political system, and no 'harm' to its sovereignty claims regarding Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea." [ed. note: hard pass]

Opinion  Kanye West’s antisemitism is bad for business. Now how about Henry Ford?