Reading archive 2026-07-07

The only bias uncovered in the White House’s Smithsonian report is its own: A White House report alleges radical bias at the National Museum of American History. But the assembled evidence reveals a large and vibrant institution carrying out its mission.

Democratic factions vie to pick Platner replacement before he leaves Maine race: Potential candidates and their backers moved quickly to gain an edge in the contest over who would replace Graham Platner if he exits the key Senate race.

Trans people are fleeing red states for Seattle. The city can’t keep up.: Since the 2024 election, a nonprofit has helped 1,500 trans people settle in Seattle — more than 20 times the 70 people it aided before the election.

U.S. gave Tehran details on Iranian asylum seekers, lawsuit alleges: The claim, outlined in court papers, contends information shared with Iran could jeopardize the lives of pro-democracy protesters, religious minorities and LGBTQ people.

Ex-girlfriend of Graham Platner says he removed condoms without consent during sex: The campaign for the Democratic Senate candidate in Maine called the allegation “categorically false and politically motivated.” - "In a statement in response to questions about Fifield’s allegation, Platner’s campaign called the claim 'categorically false and politically motivated.' The statement noted Fifield supported now-Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh when he was accused of sexual assault before his confirmation."

Rahm Emanuel to tell Israel its alliance with the U.S. cannot ‘survive as it has been’: In a Tel Aviv speech Wednesday, the presidential prospect plans to warn that Israel faces a “dead end” without change, a move reflecting Democratic pressure.

How Lizzo Became One of Pop Culture’s Great Flops: The singer is experiencing a new form of downward mobility—and she’s not alone.

With Graham Platner, Democrats Got Drunk on the Beer Test: He said there wouldn’t be any more scandals, but a new Politico report threatens to end his Senate campaign in Maine. - "Dan Moraff, one of the strategists who helped select and vet Platner, 'wants his candidates to back Medicare for All and characterize the Israel-Hamas conflict as a genocide, but beyond that, doesn't believe voters care about detailed proposals,' The Wall Street Journal reported last month. Having a policy agenda that could fit comfortably on a Post-it note without omitting any important details certainly speeds up the process. Platner, indeed, has boiled down nearly all political problems to the perfidy of sinister oligarchs. Whatever the merits of this worldview, it does not demand much knowledge."

A Huge Escalation in Trump’s Smithsonian Meddling: A White House report details what the administration wants to change in museums—and suggests that a crackdown could be coming. - "The administration's reading, for Smithsonian staff, is frustrating. The report, for one thing, relies on several museum exhibitions as examples of the activist tilt, but some are either no longer on view or were not at all influenced by the current director. 'Girlhood (It's Complicated),' a frequent subject of criticism for its discussion of transgender youth, closed more than three years ago. 'Many Voices, One Nation' and 'American Democracy,' which the document repeatedly points to as examples of the institution's recent leftward slant under Hartig, both opened nearly a decade ago, more than a year before Hartig was appointed as director."

Prepare for Airplane Purgatory The chances of getting stuck for hours in a grounded plane are soaring.

Small-Dollar Campaign Donors Are Hurting the Political System: The problem with donation mobs - "Perhaps smalligarchy, for all of its flaws, is better than oligarchy. The argument goes that it is still less corrupting to the souls of politicians to raise money from the masses instead of cultivating major donors. Liberated from intimate dinners with plutocrats, legislators should have more time on their hands to do honest work. But the pursuit of small donations shapes candidates' behavior too. To earn these dollars, politicians must attract attention and attain some degree of virality through extreme social-media posts or catchy performances in committee hearings or cable news. Because giving is an emotional response, maximizing donations requires appeals to anger, fear, and disgust (thus explaining the hysterical register in which most political fundraising emails are written). Getting likes on TikTok and Instagram may not be as morally suspect as backroom dealing, but it can be just as time-consuming-and is likely more divisive. 

"The best thing that can be said of the rise of small donors is that they have almost completely counterbalanced the rise of super PACs. Yet they are further weakening the Democratic and Republican parties. Each major party finds that the candle has been burned at both ends: ultrarich donors are able to set up independent committees to boost whichever candidates they like, while rank-and-file donors can sustain candidates who are hostile to the party apparatus and seek to expropriate it for their own faction. Parties have seldom exercised less control over candidates, and thus over policy. (The Supreme Court recently decided a case, National Republican Senatorial Commission v. FEC, striking down hard limits on expenditures made by political parties on behalf of their candidates, which will helpfully bolster the parties even if the further loosening of spending rules offends reformer types.)

...

"There is a more fundamental problem too. There is now a vicious feedback loop powered by the attention spans and contributions of small donors-politicians have an incentive to make angry, extreme, or norm-breaking statements, while news (and news-adjacent) outlets have an incentive to cover them. It is not the only cause of polarization. But the loop should be broken, not set to spin faster."

The Problem America Refuses to Address: In the age of the trillionaire, inequality remains a defining challenge.

Reading archive 2026-07-06

6 surprising tips for how to hydrate better: Experts share the latest thinking on how to make sure you’re consuming the water your body needs while avoiding health risks.

Iran’s regime survived the war and is now savvier, ruthless and more hard-line: After months of strikes by the U.S. and Israel, the Iranian regime has emerged emboldened, contradicting Trump’s claim of accomplishing “regime change.” - "Those in charge now, experts said, are part of a postrevolutionary cohort who are less extreme in their religious views but equally ruthless in their willingness to use brutal force to maintain control. 

"Their understanding of the United States has less to do with the hostage crisis of 1979 than their front-row view of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, conflicts that went on for years but ended with the United States having achieved few of its core aims. 

"The new group’s more sophisticated grasp of American pressure points may account for Iran’s strategy of launching retaliatory strikes against Persian Gulf allies of the United States, as well as its halting of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which yielded major economic leverage."

How Metro got its groove back: Ten years ago, WMATA was in dismal shape. Now, people are lining up to rep the transit system with pride. - "A plan initiated by WMATA and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, the DMVMoves initiative, would instead have the three jurisdictions agree to contribute a total of $460 million annually, and grow 3% each year. Virginia included its share in its budget and Maryland pledged to do so next legislative cycle; the agency is waiting for D.C. to do the same."

As Christians are attacked in Israel, government shows little concern: Christians are being targeted by hostility and violence and say their attackers feel emboldened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. - "When an earlier wave of harassment targeting Christians made headlines in 2017, Itamar Ben Gvir, then a settler activist and lawyer, gave a radio interview to defend spitting at Christian monks and churches as 'an ancient Jewish tradition.'"

Air Force major arrested in uniform at U.S. Capitol had protested Trump before: After holding an anonymous hunger strike last year, Maj. Jason Watson decided not to hide his identity at his recent protest.

White House report accuses Smithsonian museum of ‘extreme political activism’: The 162-page report on the National Museum of American History marks an escalation of President Donald Trump’s criticism of the Smithsonian museums.

Inside the secret AI war between Silicon Valley and China: American tech firms say rivals are forcing their chatbots to act as tutors to make Chinese AI smarter.

Europe wants tourists out — except this kind: Restrictions on short-term rentals and other limitations are turning international travel into a luxury.

Pete Buttigieg’s Ordeal Is a Frightening New Form of Political Harassment: People considering a role in public life should not have to worry about the risks to their children.

Why Everyone Is Suddenly Talking About ‘Universal Basic Capital’: The policy could provide a much-needed hedge against a future AI dystopia—but only if it’s designed the right way. - "If the U.S. government owned huge portions of, say, OpenAI and Anthropic, it would have a strong incentive to do everything in its power to make sure those firms were financially successful. That might mean gutting labor or safety standards that would delay the technology's rollout, ignoring anticompetitive acts, or providing favors in the form of cheap loans or lucrative government contracts. If the AI sector turned out to be a bubble, as many fear, the companies could likely count on a government bailout. 'The federal government is really the only entity powerful enough to be a real check on these companies,' Samuel Hammond, the chief economist at the Foundation for American Innovation, a center-right think tank, told me. 'If they become joined at the hip, that check goes away. It can easily become a form of regulatory capture.'

"These problems could be avoided with carefully constructed restrictions to mitigate conflicts of interest. Norway, for instance, has been a global leader in the transition away from fossil fuels and toward green energy despite the fact that its fund is seeded by oil revenues. But America isn't Norway. Although Sanders calls for the wealth fund to be managed by an 'independent commission,' the idea of a massive new state-run enterprise maintaining operational independence from political actors in the Trump era is laughable. (Just this week, the Supreme Court ruled that the president could remove the leaders of "independent agencies" at will.) A sovereign wealth fund would functionally hand Trump a giant pot of money that he could use to enrich himself and his family, hand out favors to political allies, and force business leaders to bend the knee. It would also give him control over how the technology is developed and deployed. This would radically alter the balance of power between Washington and Silicon Valley. Earlier this year, Anthropic refused to allow the U.S. military to use its technology for domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons. That kind of decision would no longer be possible if the government owned a controlling stake in the company. 'We've already seen what happens when Trump is able to tell TV stations who they should have as a late-night host or how to run their news shows,' Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told me. 'Do you really want to see what happens when we give him the power to run large chunks of corporate America?'"

The Capital Is a Mess: Chain-link fences, construction cranes, armed guards, and portable toilets everywhere

How Britain Became as Poor as Mississippi: A case study in self-sabotage - "The country's downward slide has been consistent in one respect: As Britain has become more and more aware of its diminishment, it has retreated ever more fully into a defensive crouch. Politics have become zero-sum, descending into fights over who has robbed whom. Suspicion has fallen, above all, on immigrants, whom both major parties have turned against. There is still an enduring strain of British exceptionalism, quieter and more understated than the American version, which suggests that by retreating inward, Britain can make itself great again. Astonishingly, or perhaps predictably, it is growing stronger as the country's problems get worse.

...

"Britain suffers from a housing crisis significantly worse than America's. The problem cannot even be blamed on zoning, because Britain does not have a zoning regime to speak of. Rather, every attempt to build is a painful, ad hoc negotiation with local government councils and NIMBY residents. As a result, housing costs per square foot are among the highest in Europe. In the words of one report, 'Our housing stock offers the worst value for money of any advanced economy.' France has roughly the same population as the U.K., but almost 50 percent more homes. And yet, since the financial crisis, the U.K.'s rate of housing production has only fallen."

Reading archive 2026-03-30

Local Teens Speak Out at Inaugural D.C. Teen Summit

House approves GOP bill to create public safety commission for DC

D.C.’s speed cameras are catching super violators. Most have Va. and Md. tags.: The most egregious violators have racked up thousands of dollars in unpaid fines for several hundred tickets. - "The biggest obstacle to better enforcement in the city is that most violators live in Maryland or Virginia. Of the 103 vehicles with the most tickets in fiscal 2025, 67 have Virginia plates, 25 have Maryland plates, and 3 have D.C. plates. Of the 100 top speeds registered by cameras in the past two years, 37 of the vehicles involved had Virginia plates, 35 carried Maryland plates, and 13 featured D.C. plates."

Miscellanea: The War in Iran - "The result is a fairly classic escalation trap: once the conflict starts, it is extremely costly for either side to ever back down, which ensures that the conflict continues long past it being in the interests of either party. Every day this war goes on make both the United States and Iran weaker, poorer and less secure but it is very hard for either side to back down because there are huge costs connected to being the party that backs down. So both sides ‘escalate to de-escalate’ (this phrase is generally as foolish as it sounds), intensifying the conflict in an effort to hit hard enough to force the other guy to blink first. But since neither party can back down unilaterally and survive politically, there’s practically no amount of pain that can force them to do so.

...

"There is a very real risk that this conflict will end with Iran as the de facto master of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, having demonstrated that no one can stop them from determining by force which ships pass and which ships cannot. That would, in fact, be a significant strategic victory for Iran and an enormous strategic defeat for the United States.

...

"But the United States is likewise going to bear diplomatic costs here. Right now the Gulf States have to shelter against Iranian attack but when the dust settles they – and many other countries – will remember that the United States unilaterally initiated by surprise a war of choice which set off severe global economic headwinds and uncertainty. Coming hot on the heels of the continuing drama around tariffs, the takeaway in many places may well be ‘Uncle Sam wants you to be poor,’ which is quite a damaging thing for diplomacy. And as President Trump was finding out when he called for help in the Strait of Hormuz and got told ‘no’ by all of our traditional allies, it is in fact no fun at all to be diplomatically isolated, no matter how powerful you are."

How the Turner Twins Are Mythbusting Modern Gear: Ross and Hugo Turner are genetically identical professional adventurers. By dressing one in cutting-edge technical apparel and the other in 100-year-old heritage kit on the world’s toughest expeditions, they are conducting the ultimate A/B test on modern gear.

Building Tanks While the Ukrainians Master Drones: Ukrainian drones have made artillery and armored vehicles look obsolete. Why is the world still buying them? - "In the end, Rheinmetall has a strong incentive to continue making the expensive weapons it has made for much of its history, even if they can be blown apart by drones that cost less than the average smartphone."

The Surprising Reason for the New Homophobia: Americans are burned-out, frustrated, and hunting for scapegoats. - "But any good explanation of how queer personalities are formed begins with the acknowledgment of how powerful marginalization can be. Gay people realize, at some early age, that the world isn't made for people like them. And for men, raised with the social pressure to seek dominance, that realization can lead to an obsession with climbing the rungs-whether in the context of sex, money, or something else. All of which is to say: Gay men are the original incels. They are born into heightened status anxiety and must maneuver to get ahead. And one way to do that is to be hot."

Reading archive 2026-02-10

Trump Has Betrayed the People of Coal Country. They Love Him Anyway.: "He thinks our people are idiots."

A Raid in a Small Town Brings Trump's Deportations to Deep-Red Idaho: Wilder, Idaho, prided itself on comity. Then federal agents stormed a racetrack outside of town in October, and the reverberations are still shaking the community.

Trump is making voters uneasy. Democrats are pushing them away.: Punishing the wealthy might make Democrats feel good, but it won’t convince many voters. [ed. note: shill from libertarian think tank]

Don’t Let Climate Fatalism Become a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The idea that it’s “too late” to reduce emissions fuels cynicism and despair, putting us on an even worse trajectory. - "And finally, stress less about the small stuff — recycling, plastic bags and food wrappers, food miles, turning the lights off, leaving devices on standby — especially if it comes at the expense of the big things listed above. This is a concept called 'moral licensing,' in which people feel they’ve contributed to the small stuff and therefore ignore their more carbon-intensive behaviors. People will often feel proud about bringing their plastic bag to a supermarket (which has a tiny carbon footprint) and then fill it with meat and dairy (which has a much bigger impact)."

Should you feed a cold and starve a fever? Here’s what experts say.: What nutrients do you need to help your body as it fights an infection?

Buy-it-for-life coffee makers can save money, reduce waste, brew better: That new $50 drip coffee maker on your counter? Destined for the landfill after a few years of dispensing mediocre coffee.

Student injured, another arrested in shooting at Wootton High in Maryland: Police in Montgomery County arrested the suspect near the school in Rockville.

The history of figure skating’s most controversial trick — the backflip: This is the first Olympics to feature backflips in over 25 years.

Two men were paid by D.C. to stop violence. Both are charged with homicide.: Frank Johnson is the second violence interrupter in the city to face charges in the fatal shooting of a former college basketball star. - "Johnson previously worked for Life Deeds, according to documents The Post obtained through a records request. He was terminated from Life Deeds in December 2023, three months after the fatal shooting of Bozeman, after he was charged with an unrelated felony gun possession offense. Johnson was convicted — only to be rehired as a violence interrupter last year for a different organization receiving D.C. government grant funds. Now, he has been fired again following the murder charge, according to the Rev. Judie Shepherd-Gore, the executive director of InnerCity Collaborative Community Development Corporation, where Johnson had worked as a violence interrupter since last year.

...

"It was the second time in five years that Wynn, who was well known in the violence intervention space, was charged with murder. He was also accused of committing a homicide in 2020. Prosecutors dropped that case for lack of evidence, and Wynn was allowed to continue working as a violence interrupter."

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: Moderation used to help Democrats win, but its advantages now have been greatly exaggerated. - "This brings us back to a crucial point: successful anti-authoritarian movements don’t win by moderating their positions on a traditional left-right axis but by creating an entirely new one. They mobilize previously disengaged citizens by framing the struggle not as a contest over policy, but as a fight for the fundamental fairness of the system itself.

...

"Scholars of democratic breakdown know that moments like this demand institutional coordination, civil society mobilization, and the political courage to name and confront the authoritarian threat on its weakest flank. Every democracy facing this challenge has learned you don’t defeat authoritarians by being more reasonable. You defeat them by being more determined and by uniting the country against their most visible vulnerability: their corruption."

Forum How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: Moderation helps when margins are small. - "But, of course, [an ideologically dogmatic party] runs the risk of empowering fascists, threatening the foundations of American electoral democracy, costing millions of people their health insurance, subjecting the country to a terrifying new regime of internal immigration enforcement, making less-than-zero progress on climate change, and depriving millions of women of their basic rights. To me, that makes “shoot the moon” a bad bet—Democrats have been trying a version of shoot-the-moon since Obama’s reelection, it has hurt, and the solution is to stop doing it. But it would be an intellectually stimulating debate. Highly ideological leftists are aware, I think, that the mood in the Democratic Party is very alarmed by Trump and Trumpism and that if we had square argument about the benefits and risks of shooting the moon, their side would lose."

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: Trans rights aren’t tanking the Democrats.

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: We need reconstruction, not restoration—as FDR knew.

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: Democrats must rebuild in rural America. - "Each of the last six times Republicans won majority control of the Senate, they were elected by a group of states in which less than half the county’s population resides. Moreover, because the Senate is tasked with confirming nominees to the Supreme Court, this electoral bias translates into outsized power to shape the judiciary and, in turn, the rulings it hands down. Four of the six sitting conservative justices were confirmed by senators from states that are home to less than 50 percent of the U.S. population. In short, the rural-urban divide helps facilitate minoritarian rule."

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: Macroeconomics is the driver, not median voters. - "Unless Democrats offer a message far stronger than anything they have in a long time—unless, in Warren’s words, they 'aggressively challenge the status quo' and 'chart a clear path for big, structural change,' especially on the economic front—they will remain easy targets for caricature. Promoting a Whig revival around democracy and Obamacare tweaks, supply-side tinkering and free trade, or abundance-by-deregulation, jobs, AI wonders, and all the rest risks cementing their status as a permanent minority party."

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: The focus should be fighting plutocracy.

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: The antidote to cynicism is going big. - "The notion that moderation would serve as a corrective to this perception is wildly off base. The millions of Biden voters who sat out crave more differentiation, not less, and a grander vision of an economic and political system that they could thrive within. None of them were in the mood to tinker around the edges. The antidote to cynicism isn’t to get small but to go big."

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: Jesse Jackson’s campaigns point the way. - "The path is clear: seek out an authentic candidate with an agenda that expands our ideas of what is politically possible, someone who can lead a diverse coalition united by a renewed sense of justice and collective purpose."

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: Public opinion is only partly malleable.

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: We have no choice but to fight.

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: Voters don’t think like strategists. - "Bonica and Grumbach are correct that the empirical case for moderation has largely collapsed. But the more significant lesson from our collective work is that the entire moderate-progressive debate constitutes an elite construction—one that projects the strategist’s hyperideological conception of politics onto an electorate that predominantly does not reason in those terms. When one abandons the pretense of optimizing one’s way to electoral victory, something clarifying emerges: the necessity of determining what one actually believes, and campaigning accordingly. That, after all, is what democratic politics is supposed to entail."

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism: Democrats can’t simply react to polls. They must lead.

Reading archive 2026-02-09

 Killers without a cause: The rise in nihilistic violent extremism: “The message is there is no message.”

The AI boom is so huge it’s causing shortages everywhere else: The $700 billion AI spending spree has few precedents. Good luck finding an electrician or a reasonably priced smartphone.

Another ludicrous canceling of a name from the past: Shaming the dead is an asinine culture warriors’ pastime. Now it’s the great diarist Samuel Pepys’s turn. - "It is notable that the ire of activists never seems to be directed at Karl Marx, whose repeated use of the most objectionable racial slurs in his personal correspondence is curiously overlooked. Meanwhile, protesters in Portland, Oregon, in a 2020 demonstration that organizers called an 'Indigenous Day of Rage,' tore down statues of former presidents Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt."

Ice dance will incorporate queer culture unlike in any other Olympics: Officials asked teams to open their millennial playlists and skate their first program to music from the ’90s.

Will Texas elect a Democratic senator?: James Talarico, a liberal minister-in-training, fights an uphill battle to capture a GOP Senate seat in deep-red Texas.

The unflinching hosts of ‘I’ve Had It’ aren’t backing down: Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan have emerged as effective political commentators.

American Milk Has Changed: A dramatic increase in fat content is causing pains in the dairy industry.

Reading archive 2026-02-04

Stephen King’s The Shining, If the Hotel Had Possessed Wendy Instead of Jack

The Evolutionary Brilliance of the Baby Giggle - "Indeed, this idea — that laughter is primarily social, less about comedy and more about connection — holds true for adults as well, and has been underscored by research showing that laughter overwhelmingly occurs in the company of others and typically follows banal remarks in conversation, rather than in response to jokes or punchlines. 

"The signature belly laughs seen in the video above are involuntary, bursting forth during genuine, uncontrollable amusement. This type of laughter is driven by the brain’s limbic system, structures crucial for emotion, memory and motivation. But by 6 months, our lab has found, infants can intentionally produce a laugh. This ability comes not from the limbic system but from the brain’s language areas and emerges at the same time as babbling. Six-month-olds will deploy laughter to prolong a game of peekaboo or to signal a desire to join in."

Texas Democrats taste victory, then turn on each other: Days after their win in a state Senate race, reports of a racially charged comment roil the U.S. Senate primary contest.

As cold-stunned invasive iguanas fall from trees, Floridians scoop them up for killing: These cold-blooded reptiles’ nervous systems shut down when temperatures dip into the 40s and below. This time, that meant killing season.

Choose your crisis, Congress: Six paths to fiscal disaster: The national debt is nearing $39 trillion. Dire consequences are coming.

Trump, in an Escalation, Calls for Republicans to 'Nationalize' Elections: The comments, made on a conservative podcast, follow a string of moves from his administration to try to exert more control over American elections.

What a swing House district in Colorado shows about Republicans’ immigration fallout in the midterms

Kansas Legislature Passes Trans Bathroom Bounty, Drivers License Revocations: “They're using very overtly anti-democratic measures to pass all this stuff because they know that it's unpopular.”

These Trump voters 'formed a suicide pact' and Republicans are panicking: ex-GOP operative

‘They Voted For Trump, And Now They’re In Tears’—Now Rural Farmers Say Tariffs & Costs Are Pushing Them Toward Bankruptcy

St. Peter police chief intervened and got federal agents to release resident, sources say

Donald Trump vowed to unleash U.S. oil. A year later, low prices are squeezing Texas producers.

Reading archive 2026-01-30

Don Lemon arrested by federal officials in connection with church protest: The former CNN host was taken into custody in Los Angeles.

As ‘Heated Rivalry’ takes off, the NHL faces questions about inclusion: The hit show about a romance between two professional hockey players has brought new fans to a sport that has struggled to welcome the LGBTQ+ community.

Virginia Democrats seek emergency halt to ruling that blocks redistricting: A motion filed with the Virginia Court of Appeals on behalf of House Speaker Don Scott argues that a circuit court judge is interfering with the democratic process.

Tulsi Gabbard’s appearance at Fulton County FBI raid raises questions: Lawmakers called for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to explain the presence of the country’s top spy agency official at a domestic law enforcement action in Georgia.

Attending a Protest

The New Shadowbanning Panic: Is TikTok censoring users on behalf of the Trump administration?

What Tearing Down Housing Projects Did for Kids: Bringing rich and poor together has major benefits. - "There is another process that improves neighborhoods around poor children, both by bringing higher-income peers nearer to them and by reducing the violence they are exposed to. This process often occurs without explicit governmental intervention or cost. The problem is that it is regularly dismissed as gentrification, a phenomenon that is not usually cheered. The most common objection to gentrification is that it results in displacement of incumbent residents. The empirical evidence for this is weaker than conventionally assumed. One paper examining children who received Medicaid benefits in New York City from 2009 to 2015 found no elevated rates of moving for those in gentrifying neighborhoods. The HOPE VI study suggests that gentrification should improve outcomes for kids, so long as it actually improves social integration."

America Can Have the Oil: Venezuela’s riches were squandered, souring many on national stewardship.

Battles Are Raging Inside the Department of Homeland Security: Officials overseeing Trump’s mass-deportation campaign are fighting one another for power.

Why the moral corruption of MAGA is so deadly

Heartwarming: Miserable Man Frustrated In Ultimately Insignificant Way

Pluralistic: Sorry, eh (13 Jan 2026) - "I'm sorry. As a technology writer, I'm supposed to be telling you that this bet will some day pay off, because one day we will have shoveled so many words into the word-guessing program that it wakes up and learns how to actually do the jobs it is failing spectacularly at today. This is a proposition akin to the idea that if we keep breeding horses to run faster and faster, one of them will give birth to a locomotive. Humans possess intelligence, and machines do not. The difference between a human and a word-guessing program isn't how many words the human knows."

At Yosemite, Rangers Are Scarce and Visitors Have Gone Wild: After the Trump administration’s cuts, workers at the national park are spread too thin to stop people from littering, flying drones and cliff-diving.

A cloud of fear hangs over Minnesota immigrant communities: Even citizens are afraid to go outside

Gingrich: Time for ‘national conversation’ about immigrants living in country illegally who ‘obey the law’

Reading archive 2026-01-26

Should you drink bottled water or tap? The answer may surprise you.: If you’re concerned about microplastics, PFAS and lead, there are certain ways to make your drinking water safer.

China fires top general in shocking purge of senior military command: The downfall of Zhang Youxia, China’s most senior uniformed official, marks an unprecedented concentration of military power under Xi Jinping.

Senate Democrats to block government funding after second fatal shooting in Minneapolis: The move could force a partial government shutdown next weekend. Lawmakers are set to vote on spending bills this week but may look to split Homeland Security from other agencies.

‘Unconquerable’: What a visit to frigid Ukraine convinced me: AI-powered air defense could counter Moscow’s greatest advantage — and keep Kyiv in the fight.

After 80-year bond, Germans find breaking up with the U.S. is hard to do: To many Germans, Americans were saviors after World War II, and they feel especially hurt over President Donald Trump’s disdain for Europe and traditional alliances.

Five people were shot outside a D.C. bus. It remained stopped, doors open.: Passengers pleaded with the operator to drive away from the shooting or close the bus doors, but he said he couldn’t, according to two passengers on the bus.

Elusive orchid plays key role in plan to bring bird back after 30 years: Once widespread throughout the Southeast, populations of the red-cockaded woodpecker shrank drastically amid rapid development and other threats.

Trump brushes off concerns about Witkoff’s interactions with Russians as leaked transcript roils Washington

Kilowatts or connections? Trump’s favored nuclear start-ups soar to riches.: Founders of politically connected nuclear companies that have never built commercial reactors are becoming billionaires. - "Valar declares on a company webpage that 'holding the spent fuel from [its] system for five minutes gives the equivalent radiation exposure to receiving a CAT scan.' Nuclear engineers were appalled by his claims."

Climate change, aging farmers endanger Japan's 'Rolls-Royce of pearls'

In Houston suburbs, Abbott’s attacks on CAIR unnerve Muslim residents: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) designated CAIR — a Muslim advocacy and civil rights group — a “foreign terrorist” group, along with the Muslim Brotherhood.

These very hungry microbes devour a powerful pollutant

Humans killed millions of vultures. Now people are paying the price.: As vultures vanished, dogs multiplied, and rabies spread. Humans are living with the consequences.

The common vaccines that can prevent chronic disease or some cancers: In addition to cancer, a growing body of research has shown that vaccines can reduce the risk of developing dementia and heart conditions.

She’s torn between her love for Trump and her work with migrants: A conservative woman detects a lack of empathy — and a broken promise — in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

‘Heated Rivalry’ is a hit in Russia, where LGBTQ+ content is heavily censored: Russian audiences connected deeply with character Ilya Rozanov, whose country would never fully accept him or allow him to live openly in a relationship with another man.

Hard Times in the Delta as Farmers Consider Letting Crops Rot: Prices for nearly every major U.S. crop are below what it costs to grow them. But a drop in rice prices means another blow to farmers in Mississippi’s agricultural belt.

Reading archive 2026-01-20

To Their Shock, Cubans in Florida Are Being Deported in Record Numbers: Cubans had long benefited from legal privileges unavailable to immigrants from other countries. President Trump has changed that.

Americans Are Turning Against Gay People

Trump says U.K. ‘stupidity’ on Chagos Islands justifies Greenland demands: The United Kingdom agreed to grant Mauritius sovereignty over the archipelago, one of whose islands hosts a U.K.-U.S. military base.

Would Trump abandon Taiwan? This deal is slightly alarming.: The announcement of a U.S.-Taiwan trade agreement had a potentially ominous undercurrent.

Indiana judge and his wife injured in shooting at their home, police say: Lafayette police said Judge Steven P. Meyer of Tippecanoe County Superior Court and his wife, Kimberly, are in stable condition. The shooter remains at large.

She helped him flee a rally, then learned he was a right-wing provocateur: Jake Lang, a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter, jumped into a stranger’s car after he was driven from his anti-immigrant march in Minneapolis by a large counterprotest.

The White House wanted an ICE spectacle. It backfired.: The shooting of Renée Good in Minneapolis may mark a turning point in public opinion.

I found the most complete protein. It’s not meat.: The most “complete” protein is probably one you’re already eating.

Officials showed off a robo-bus in D.C. It got hit by a Tesla driver.: The automated vehicle display was part of a push from the White House to advance automated driving.

These prophets of economic doom are worried about another collapse" The current investment boom is triggering déjà vu for some economists and traders who successfully predicted past economic crashes.

This company says it has produced the Holy Grail of batteries: New batteries in electric vehicles could store more energy, charge faster and last longer, while lowering fire risk

Colorado’s wolves in the political crosshairs as Trump targets the state: A program to reintroduce the predators is essentially blocked, with Colorado leaders saying the state is being punished for jailing election denier Tina Peters.

"What Is Going to Happen?": How to reject a new normal.

Reading archive 2026-01-14

Smithsonian submits files to White House after funding threat The White House had threatened to withhold the Smithsonian’s funding if it did not send more documentation on its exhibits and operations.

These prosecutors spent years on cases. Then Trump granted pardons.: The president’s clemency acts have eroded faith among Justice Department employees that their work will result in accountability, some prosecutors say.

In Secret Testimony, Republicans Derided Trump’s Stolen Election Claims: The testimony, part of the derailed Georgia election interference case, makes clear how dismissive some senior Republicans were of claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

How to make the midterms slightly less disgusting: Divided government would be good outcome next fall.

World’s fattest parrots set for mating bonanza after bumper berry crop: After a four-year hiatus, conservationists in New Zealand are relieved that the flightless kākāpo is once again breeding. Fewer than 300 of the parrots exist. - "The parrots were once abundant in New Zealand, but dwindled after the arrival of Polynesian settlers around 700 years ago, who hunted them for meat and feathers. The arrival of European settlers accelerated their demise by clearing forest habitats and introducing deer and possums, competing with them for forest resources."

Trump makes obscene gesture, mouths expletive at Detroit factory heckler: “As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,” the heckler told The Post after a video captured Trump twice mouthing “f--- you” and raising his middle finger.

FBI executes search warrant at Washington Post reporter’s home: The search came as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials.

Thom Tillis wants you to know something: ‘I’m sick of stupid’: The North Carolina Republican has been at the forefront this month of staking out anti-MAGA ground and criticizing Trump’s aides. [ed. note: Thom Tillis is deeply insincere, very stupid, or both]

A casino bill is a bad bet for Virginia Democrats: Few issues have divided Democratic lawmakers as sharply as the proposed Tysons casino.

After fleeing the Taliban, they felt safe in America. A shooting in D.C. changed everything.: “Most of all, I wanted freedom. I’m so scared I won’t get it.”

A Romance That Actually Takes Sex Seriously: Heated Rivalry understands how relationships develop through physicality.

How the Supreme Court Broke Congress: In the name of protecting the balance of powers, the Court is radically refashioning that balance. - "The citizens and commentators shouting from the sidelines that Congress must act, fix itself, and reclaim its intended role are not wrong. But they miss that the Court has made doing so nearly impossible. The practical result is a Congress caught between paralysis and policing, mostly incapable of translating collective judgment into law and, when it does manage to do so, vulnerable to having its most significant accomplishments - civil-rights enforcement, voting protections, campaign-finance reform, administrative authority - erased by judicial decree. The judiciary, long conceptualized as a check on legislative excess, is now defined by its own excess against legislative charge.

...

"The Roberts Court has hollowed out these dynamic sources of congressional constitutionalism. Its voting-rights and campaign-finance decisions have weakened the electoral systems that make Congress responsive to the public. Statutes of this genre, to borrow from the former Yale Law School dean Robert Post, should be thought of as "wholesome legislation that nourishes democratic legitimacy"-measured legislative judgments about the guardrails and ground rules necessary to preserve elections as channels of representation, and public faith in them as such. In dismantling this scaffolding, the Court has left Congress more detached from its electorate, diminishing its claim and role as a representative authority."

The Islamic Republic Will Not Last: But the opposition has to start working together if something better is to follow.

The Biggest Myth About Trump’s Base (And Why Many Believe It): The MAGA faithful aren’t deserting their leader. - "The obvious conclusion is this: These purportedly pro-Trump figures do not actually speak for Trump or his supporters. Trumpism is not neo-isolationist or neoconservative, pro-restraint or pro-intervention. It is not pro-worker or pro-billionaire. It is whatever Trump says it is. According to YouGov, two weeks before American forces snatched Maduro, Republican support for invading Venezuela stood at 43 percent. Today that number is 74 percent. 'America First' and 'Make America Great Again' are slogans, not deeply held governing philosophies. They are branding - and Trump is the brand."

Reading archive 2026-01-13

Trump is trying to change how the midterm elections are conducted: Many of these endeavors go far beyond typical political persuasion, challenging long-established democratic norms.

You’re the reason your home is disorganized. Here’s how to fix that.: Sixteen pieces of tough love from professional home organizers.

New federal spending bill for D.C. seeks to prevent repeat of 2025’s $1B cut: The House and Senate appropriations bill also boosts funding for a D.C. scholarship program and includes $90 million in police funding.

Congress agrees to fund Voice of America, bucking Trump shutdown order: The Trump administration has tried to eliminate funding for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA. Appropriators in Congress have had other ideas.

EPA says it will no longer consider health costs in pollution regulations: The EPA weakened emissions standards for new power plants and said it would no longer consider the economic impacts of public health in rule making.

The EPA’s shock and awe deregulatory push learns from past mistakes: The EPA aims to push its rules changes into court as fast as possible to cement the administration’s agenda with final judgments before Trump leaves office. - "In addition, the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the size of government may be slowing down its deregulatory agenda, simply because there are not enough people on staff to do the work."

Congressional staffer allegedly stole 240 cell phones from government: Officials say Christopher Southerland had the phones shipped directly to his Maryland home before selling them.

Once-revered trans activist Ruby Corado sentenced for defrauding government: A federal judge ordered the founder of Casa Ruby to serve 33 months in prison, pay more than $900,000 in restitution and report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Why you should consider a jumping spider as your next pet: If we can get beyond our fears, spiders, beetles, caterpillars and other creepy-crawlies can make for fine family companions.

Trump picks up the phone and calls Sen. Elizabeth Warren: The unlikely conversation came after years of antipathy between the two politicians, including the president’s derogatory use of the nickname “Pocahontas” to describe her.

Trump’s Shrinking Coalition: The president can no longer present himself as anti-system, because he has become the system.

The YIMBY Hero Everyone Is Shouting At: Scott Wiener—a pro-trans Zionist who wants California to allow more homes—has an extreme tolerance for pushback. - "In Democratic cities, people demand 38 meetings and three dozen environmental assessments before tearing down a crack den to build a nursery for sad orphans. Voters, Wiener argues, want politicians who are 'willing to break glass to get those things done.'"

The Hole in Trump’s Rationale for Acquiring Greenland: The office dedicated to countering China and Russia in the Arctic has been axed.

Big Oil Knows That Trump’s Venezuela Plans Are Delusional: The president’s thinking is stuck in the 1980s.

Reading archive 2025-12-29

The MAGA-fication of Nicki Minaj Once an advocate for LGBTQ+ people and immigrants, the rapper has repeatedly praised an administration cracking down on the same people, and the White House is returning the love. - "'Even Drake has his papers,' rapper Azealia Banks wrote on X in September, according to Complex, mocking Minaj for ingratiating herself to Trump. 'Even Cardi B isn’t a 40-year-old immigrant. … Doing dolphin tricks for the barbs in a country she can’t vote in is rusty babe.'"

Russia isn’t winning. Putin wants to fool you.: Putin’s hope is that U.S. will somehow convince itself that Ukraine can’t succeed. Don’t fall for it.

Russia’s economy keeps driving its war, but it could break in 2026: Problems in the oil sector, a possible banking crisis and consumer woes lie ahead for Russia’s economy as prices for Russian oil plummet over sanctions.

He mailed dozens of antisemitic letters. Volunteers helped track him down.: During a time of rising attacks, threats can’t be ignored, security experts, nonprofit leaders and community members told The Post.

JD Vance is ‘walking a tightrope’ on raging Israel debate within MAGA: At Turning Point USA’s conference, the vice president didn’t mention the topic that’s tearing the movement apart.

Heritage staffers quit amid latest strife at conservative institution: “Most of our staff, from our legal and economic centers, are departing immediately,” Heritage President Kevin Roberts wrote in a Sunday night email to staff.

Ask a Vet: Is it ethical to buy a flat-faced dog?: French bulldogs and other brachycephalic breeds come with high price tags and, often, serious health problems.

White House threatens Smithsonian funds in sweeping content review: “American people will have no patience” for any museum that is “uncomfortable conveying a positive view of American history,” read a letter from Trump aides.

Presenting The 2025 Shams Charania Award For Excellence In Divulging Of Information Through Syntax Comprehended By Many - "I find that LLMs produce sentences that are smooth, glib, poreless, smiling, somewhat like a beluga whale. But every busted sentence written by a human is busted in its own way. Each of these sentences is unwittingly an act of resistance against the onrushing techno-homogenization of language. The writer’s own haste, uncertainty, or sloth manifests itself in the syntax. Every time a person begins to write, they are taking a bit of their interiority and, through a wondrous act of inversion, making it legible to the external world."

Abandoning homeownership may be changing how people behave at work and home: What happens when a generation gives up on ever owning a home? New research explores the potential consequences, and what to do about it.

Burning wood emits more than fossil fuels. Here’s how to build a better fire.: A wood-burning fireplace isn’t great for the planet or your health. But there are things you can do to make your fireplace better.

The year Trump broke the federal government: How DOGE and the White House carried out a once-unthinkable transformation of the nation’s sprawling bureaucracy.

How Trump changed my mind on the filibuster: The Senate’s 60-vote requirement is an excuse for aggrandizing executive power. - "The filibuster functions as a brake on radical change when Congress is the center of the political system. When the president is at the center, the benefits are less clear. The costs also become more apparent because the filibuster, as an obstacle to legislating, becomes a pretext for presidential overreach."

New York's Congestion Pricing Is Working. Five Charts Show How

How Israeli covert activities in Syria seek to thwart its new government: Israel is suspicious of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a longtime Islamist militant, and has provided weapons, intelligence and cash to militiamen at odds with his rule.

Why the Fed strategically absorbed some blows from Trump: Facing threats from President Donald Trump, the central bank opted for a low-profile strategy, juggling political pressures and the looming question of how far it can go to defend itself.

Trump’s farmer bailout caps tough year for loyal constituency: Red-state farmers continue to struggle under damaging inflation and the fallout of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, especially with China.

The old-world antisemitism in a Christmas pageant near you: Does the pope mean what he says about zero tolerance of hatred toward Jews?

D.C. customers face nearly 13 percent hike on gas bills this winter: Washington Gas customers in the District, Maryland and Virginia face increases in their bills.

The epidemic of toxic flattery is spreading: What do AI, Trump’s cabinet and the academy have in common? They aim to please.

Pipe bomb suspect admits targeting RNC, DNC headquarters, officials say: Prosecutors said Brian J. Cole told the FBI that he planted the explosives on Jan. 5, 2021, because he was frustrated with the U.S. political system. - "Brian J. Cole, 30, told investigators that 'something just snapped' in him 'because he was unhappy with the response of political leaders on both sides of the political aisle to questions raised about the results of the 2020 election,' according to the filing, which asks a judge in U.S. District Court in Washington to keep Cole in jail pending his trial."

 - "Studies have found that wolves in the Midwest and Canada not only keep deer populations in check, but they also alter deer behavior in ways that help prevent car crashes and save human lives."

Wolves, long feared and reviled, may actually be lifesavers

The real issue strangling America’s electric grid: AI data centers are being blamed for price spikes manufactured in statehouses and D.C. [ed. note: authors are industry hacks who ignore the health costs of coal plants]

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.

Reading archive 2025-12-15

Spectacle Alone Does Not Sell Books: Why American Canto stiffed. - "The book itself and the additional revelations about Nuzzi paint her not as an interesting, if tragic, figure, but something less interesting, a woman without a stable sense of self who lurches between toxic men seeking god know’s what to fill the hole in her spirit."

Donald Trump's Big Gay Government: On the town with the A-Gays of Washington, who have never been happier to be out, proud and Republican

The Cryptocurrency Scam That Turned a Small Town Against Itself: How did a successful, financially sophisticated banker gamble his community’s money away?

He leaned right in high school. Now he’s the Trump-trolling Portland Chicken.: The protests against ICE gave Jack Dickinson a taste of national celebrity, but more important they gave him a community he’d never had before.

We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.

Christian musician, who sang the national anthem for Trump at 2022 rally, is facing felony child pornography charges

Thanks a Lot, Boomers: Hey, boomers! Younger Americans would like a word. We’ve noticed that many of you are pretty upset about the state of the nation. And we get it. We really do. But do you ever stop and ask yourselves how we got here?

Reading archive 2025-12-05

Police make arrest in fatal shooting at MGM National Harbor: Benjamin Williams, 22, was located by police less than 14 hours after he allegedly killed Darnell Hawkins Jr., 23, in what police said was a targeted shooting in the hotel and casino’s food court.

Trump’s closure of Voice of America is coming back to bite him: As the president threatens Venezuela, Russia and China are filling the information vacuum.

How volcanoes upend the story of what sparked the Black Death: Volcanic eruptions could have fueled the spread of the Black Death plague across medieval Europe, according to a new study that pieces together evidence from ice cores, rare blue tree rings from ancient trees in the Pyrenees Mountains, historical accounts of famine and the grain trade.

FBI arrests Virginia man in Jan. 6 pipe bomb case: Justice Department officials said investigators revisited reams of evidence this year and found the “needle in a haystack” that led to a suspect.

The f-word. No, the other one.: A gay slur is having something of a cultural renaissance. Is that ... okay?

Meet the billionaire pushing taxpayer-funded school vouchers: How Jeff Yass, one of the richest people on the planet, uses politics to press his pet issue: school choice. - "Yass rarely if ever interacts with people he disagrees with on this subject. He volunteered to The Post that in business, he advises his employees to seek out alternative points of view. 'I always say, 'Go find the smartest person who disagrees with you,'' he said. 

"But he said he has never had a personal conversation with a public education advocate to try to understand their point of view. 'I would love to do that,' he said.

...

"In a 2021 conversation sponsored by the Adam Smith Society, part of a free-market think tank, he said that the U.S. is almost to the point where 'no one' is hungry, cold or lacks basic health insurance.

"'What’s the difference between a billionaire and a guy who’s making $100,000 a year? They’re both at home watching Netflix. And they’re both on their iPhones,' he said then. 'The disparity between how rich people live and how poor people live in America has never been smaller.'

"Government data shows that in 2024, there were 27 million uninsured Americans and in 2023, 18 million households were uncertain if they would have enough food. Wealth inequality has been rising for decades, with the richest families increasing their wealth at a faster rate than everyone else."

Reading archive 2025-11-21

FBI fired veteran employee for displaying Pride flag, lawsuit says: David Maltinsky, who worked at the bureau for 16 years and was training to become a special agent, says he was fired for displaying a Pride flag given to him by the FBI.

Tensions between renters and homeowners challenge Mamdani housing plan: The incoming New York City mayor’s plan relies on higher density in places where some neighbors oppose it. He is scheduled to meet Friday with the president.

Defuse political tension in your family with one simple question: A common misperception is fueling political arguments. But new research shows it’s possible to correct it, in ourselves and our political foes.

U.S. pushing Ukraine to sign peace deal by Thanksgiving or lose support: The U.S. is sending “signals” that everything could be off the table if Kyiv does not quickly sign a proposal, which was drawn up by special envoy Witkoff.

Former GOP staffer charged with fabricating anti-MAGA assault

Corruption probe close to Zelensky stokes E.U. unease over Ukraine aid: A scandal, involving kickbacks at Ukraine’s state nuclear power company, has revived concerns about European money being siphoned off by graft instead of helping fight Russia.

These salacious affairs are great for gossip and terrible for America: Olivia Nuzzi’s sordid tale of infidelity is a bad look for journalism ethics.

A New Era of Crony Capitalism: Washington hasn’t seen graft like this for at least a century.

Famous writers at New Yorker are up in arms after fact-checker’s firing: The media company dismissed four employees, including a fact-checker at the 100-year-old magazine, for “extreme misconduct.” Many of its famous writers are outraged.

The Stories We Tell Ourselves About the American Revolution: Ken Burns unpacks the Revolutionary War—and explains why history doesn’t repeat, even if human nature never changes

Reading archive 2025-11-20

I love your sweater. Is it made from gay sheep wool?: Grindr organized a fashion show made from the wool of gay sheep. Wait, what?

House votes to undo law allowing senators to sue over Jan. 6 subpoenas: It faces an uncertain future in the Senate, despite most eligible senators saying they won’t sue.

Mystery Fuels Unease in Maine Woods: Who Bought Burnt Jacket Mountain?: An anonymous new owner fenced off beloved trails and put up surveillance cameras in a region with a long tradition of allowing public access on private land.

Why ‘Twin Peaks’ Still Looks Incredible Decades Later: Director of Photography Ronald Víctor García shares all the metaphorical direction Lynch would give him to nail the show's warm vibes.

It’s the ‘most important fish in the sea.’ And it’s disappearing.: If the menhaden decline continues, striped bass could be next to vanish. - "This isn’t a debate over red tape — it’s a fight over who controls the base of the Atlantic’s food chain: the public that depends on a healthy ocean or a private fleet that treats it like an industrial feedlot.

...

"Omega Protein’s dominance, however, is sustained not by biology but by politics. Although it employs fewer than 300 full-time workers, the company wields outsized influence in Richmond. Its lobbyists, including the powerhouse legal and public affairs firm McGuireWoods, have long worked both sides of the aisle — Republicans for their support of commercial interests and Democrats for their emphasis on union jobs — to block conservation efforts."

U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols: The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”

U.S. delivers peace plan for Ukraine, sparking fears of ‘capitulation’: Kyiv’s European partners said they should be involved in proposals for the security of Ukraine and Europe, indicating they hadn’t even been briefed on the plan. - "Special envoy Steve Witkoff is quietly pushing a plan that contains provisions that Ukraine has long opposed, including forcing it to cede strategic territory not yet seized by Russia in the eastern Donbas region and agreeing to significant reductions in the size and effectiveness of its military, according to two people familiar with the negotiations."

As Trump plans backfire, Democrats are ahead in House redistricting fight :After early redistricting wins, Trump faces setbacks over maps for Texas, Indiana and other Republican-led states, frustrating his allies.

Republican overseeing Alamo renovation ousted after ‘woke’ social media post: Kate Roger, a Republican, has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against state officials after a social media post and PhD dissertation led to her losing the job of overseeing a massive renovation of the Texas landmark.

CDC in turmoil after agency backpedals on debunking vaccines-autism link: The CDC’s website now says health authorities ignored evidence of a potential connection between vaccines and autism, despite dozens of studies showing no link.

What If Aliens Don’t Actually Do Science?: Daniel Whiteson and Andy Warner Consider the Many Forms Inquiry Can Take, In Our World and Others - "To make bread or swords, humans didn’t have to know what was going on at the microscopic level. People all over the globe had fantastically impressive technology long before we had our modern, mathematical, empirical science."

Democrats Finally Realize It Isn’t 2016 Anymore: Members of the left and the center seem to have concluded that, to win elections, each side needs to become more like the other.

Part 1: How I Found Out

Reading archive 2025-10-30

D.C. residents outraged after housing-retail plan flips to industrial: The developer says the mixed-use project is no longer viable due to D.C.’s sluggish economy and rising construction costs.

After a federal agent shot at a D.C. driver, claims of a police cover-up: A Homeland Security agent shot into a man’s car. The agency said Tuesday he was trying to hit them with the car. A D.C. police report about the arrest does not mention gunfire or any attempt to ram officers.

The best source of critical minerals is driving down U.S. streets

2 U.S. prosecutors suspended after describing Jan. 6 attack as carried out by ‘mob’: Suspensions come in the case of a 2021 Capitol rioter arrested two years later with guns near former president Barack Obama’s home.

Judge praises suspended prosecutors before sentencing man for bomb hoax: Two prosecutors were earlier removed from Taylor Taranto’s case after filing a sentencing memo that referred to Jan. 6. as a “riot.”

The choreographed fakery of American politics: East Wing edition: Trump’s residential immodesty is nothing compared with his anti-constitutional immodesty.

The Shutdown is About to Get a Lot Worse: November 1 is the date to watch.

School staff testify they warned 6-year-old who shot teacher was a threat: Abby Zwerner, the teacher wounded in her classroom in 2023, is suing a former assistant principal for gross negligence.

Maryland’s Democratic Senate president blocks anti-Trump redistricting fight: Gov. Wes Moore and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, two of Maryland’s top Democrats, want a special session to redistrict. Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said no.

Why we’re forcing Senate votes on Trump’s tariffs: Do our colleagues side with U.S. consumers or back the president’s economically damaging policy?

I emigrated from Vietnam. Halloween in America astonished me.: Coming from a communist-run nation, I was baffled by glimpses of life in my new home.

Trump moves to block public servants from loan forgiveness based on ideology: Those who work with undocumented immigrants, provide gender transition care for minors or publicly protest could be blocked from student loan forgiveness under a new rule.

The surprising reason home prices remain stubbornly high: A growing number of home sellers are taking lingering properties off the market instead of lowering their prices.

Jury acquits Virginia man who called for Trump’s assassination Defense attorneys for Peter A. Stinson argued that his posts on Bluesky were protected under the First Amendment.

This gay Republican could make history. He’d like to talk about something else.: Virginia’s John Reid could become the country’s first openly gay Republican elected to statewide office. Attacks from within his party have made his sexuality an issue, he says.

Former Illinois sheriff’s deputy convicted in killing of Sonya Massey: Sonya Massey called 911 from her Springfield, Illinois, home in July 2024 to report a prowler. Sean Grayson was one of two deputies to respond to the call.

Reading archive 2025-10-01

Congressional Democrats embrace government shutdown, a risky move: House Democrats gave Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries a standing ovation in a caucus meeting Monday evening, praising his feisty posture toward Donald Trump.

Trump administration seeks to exert control over government shutdown: Officials canceled projects in Democratic states, posted partisan messages on government websites and warned that federal layoffs will begin soon.

My Thoughts on the Riyadh Comedy Festival - "Clearly you guys don’t give a shit about what the rest of us think, but how can any of us take any of you seriously ever again? All of your bitching about 'cancel culture' and “freedom of speech” and all that shit? Done. You don’t get to talk about it ever again. By now we’ve all seen the contract you had to sign."

‘Veep’ Creator Armando Iannucci Struggling To Fund Trump Project Amid MAGA Retribution Fears

Hegseth wants to return the military to 1990 — a dark time in its history: The early 1990s saw the U.S. Navy rocked by the Tailhook sexual assault scandal, exposing a dark underside of military culture.

Flooded outfield results in criminal charges for two Maryland firefighters: The Montgomery County incident was apparently sparked by baseballs flying over protective netting and into a fire station parking lot.

Legalized blackjack and poker among D.C. mayor’s proposals to boost economy: Bowser is also putting forward measures related to street vending, zoning and taxation — ideas the D.C. Council had removed from this year’s budget proposal.

Who will win the shutdown fight? Neither side will like the answer.: Washington’s obsession with claiming victory in the shutdown cycle is pointless. - "Kamala Harris offers a hard lesson in how short-lived a good news cycle can be when it comes to the make-or-break skill of winning national elections. Harris had a good rollout in her opening weeks, a sterling Democratic convention in Chicago and a strong debate. In the end, how much good did all that do her?"

Maryland speeders to pay more, D.C. changes health care under new laws: Laws going into effect Oct. 1 will also bring about changes to late fees on past-due rent, driver’s license emblems and violence interruption programs.

WorldPride festival’s predicted economic boon fell short, D.C. says :Trump administration actions seen as targeting the LGBTQ+ community caused some visitors to stay away.

Threatened with jail, CEO agrees to shut down ride-hailing app in D.C.: Empower’s CEO agreed in court Tuesday to a two-week deadline to stop operating in the city, but the company said afterward it would continue to fight.

D.C. police sergeant arrested by city and federal task force: Montez Clark, 27, has been charged with nine crimes, including assaulting a federal police officer. He has worked at the police department since July 2019.

Saudi comedy festival draws big names and backlash Human rights advocates and some comics say the festival, at which Bill Burr, Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart are performing, whitewashes abuses. - "'A lot of the 'you can’t say anything anymore!' Comedians are doing the festival,' Okatsuka said, appending a laughing-crying emoji."

Fight gearing up over D.C. bill to recycle bottles and cans for cash: The D.C. Council is holding a hearing Wednesday on a proposal to add a 10-cent fee to bottle and can purchases that would be refunded if people recycle.

Hegseth wants to return the military to 1990 — a dark time in its history: The early 1990s saw the U.S. Navy rocked by the Tailhook sexual assault scandal, exposing a dark underside of military culture.