Reading archive 2026-07-13

As Trump administration offloads excess federal office space, what takes its place?: Federal real estate officials say the Trump administration’s accelerated push to sell underused federal buildings could reshape Washington and beyond.

D.C.’s highest earners may pay more in taxes under new council proposal: A measure introduced by D.C. Council member Brianne K. Nadeau would add a new tax on investments and other passive income for wealthy residents.

South African protesters go door-to-door forcing immigrants from their homes

Our Oldest Ally: America still needs France. - "American statesmen have always found France an ambivalent ally, but as much because of their own behavior as that of their counterparts. French money underwrote the American Revolution, bankrupting Louis XVI's government and paving the way for their own revolution within a decade of the end of the American war. There were almost as many French troops at Yorktown as Americans, and French-provided weapons, gunpowder, and expertise, not to mention timely French naval power, sealed the American victory. France's reward was vengeance on Great Britain for the defeat of the Seven Years War - and betrayal by Americans willing to cut a separate peace with King George III.

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"Today's French officials are calmer in their appraisal of the Trump administration than are many of their European counterparts. 'It's because we never really trusted you,' a French diplomat remarked to me with a grin over our breakfast croissants."

Survivors of Iranian attack that killed 6 U.S. troops say generals ignored warnings: The drone strike on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait occurred on the second day of the war. Those who were there say they fear no one will be held accountable. - "But when they arrived in Germany, military medical teams 'had no clue we had injured [personnel] on the flight,' said one of the soldiers. 

"Doctors told them that because the soldiers weren’t recorded on the flight’s manifest as medical evacuees, or listed in the military’s casualty-processing database as seriously injured, the hospital could not admit them, several soldiers said."

‘Widow’s Bay’ became a hit the old-fashioned way: Word of mouth, not the algorithm, turned Apple TV's horror-comedy into appointment viewing.

Nvidia Uses The Specter of Huawei to Make Its Chip Exports Case: Before Nvidia won approval to sell more chips to China, it told the U.S. government that Huawei could have enough chips to satisfy global demand. - "'Huawei simply does not pose a competitive threat to Nvidia globally right now,' says McGuire, formerly a national security official who helped design U.S. chip controls. 'Huawei’s chips are nowhere near as good, and it can’t make nearly enough of them.'

"Ironically, he adds, Nvidia has a lead over Huawei largely because of U.S. export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment, the lack of which has degraded China’s ability to make AI chips."

Detained by settlers, US Democrat Ro Khanna now faces pro-Israel attacks: Progressive congressman accuses Israeli military of ‘lying’ after settlers held up his van in the occupied West Bank.

Trump talks tough on Iran and Russia. For now.: Trump’s rhetorical reversals are welcome, but it’s hard to know what to make of them.

Left-wing challengers are beating House Democrats. These incumbents could be next.: Democratic incumbents have struggled against democratic socialists in several primaries this year. For other lawmakers, age has become a campaign issue.

Eating this food regularly could lead to greater longevity: Like it hot? Your heart, gut — and even your lifespan — may benefit.

Before Reflecting Pool, algae contractor had troubled project on a trash-infested river: Greenwater Services, owned by a Trump donor, has received two no-bid contracts from the government since the president returned to office.

Sen. Gary Peters backs Haley Stevens as Democrats brace for Michigan Senate fight: Party leaders are rallying around Stevens in a primary they see as crucial to holding the seat.

‘We’re Fighting Satan’: The War to Save Bees From a Hornet Invasion: As yellow-legged hornets spread through South Carolina’s Lowcountry region, threatening the local honey crop, a state team of bee defenders is racing to the rescue.

Reading archive 2025-06-26

House GOP holdouts threaten revolt over Trump and Senate’s tax bill: The Senate has overhauled President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, sparking serious concerns over federal spending and Medicaid in the House. - "But those holdouts have been through this saga before — and folded."

Zohran Mamdani’s victory is bad for New York and the Democratic Party: New York cannot take its greatness for granted. Mismanagement can ruin it. - "A massive minimum wage would depress low-skilled employment. His rent freeze would reduce the housing supply and decrease its quality. Cutting bus fares would leave a transit funding hole that, unless somehow filled, would erode service. Meanwhile, the grocery business operates on thin margins, and his plan for city-run stores would likely lead to fewer options, poor service and shortages, as privately-run stores closed rather than try to compete with city-subsidized shops."

Where each D.C. Council member stands on the Commanders RFK stadium deal: At least seven lawmakers are needed for Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s RFK stadium deal with the team to proceed.

This Pride Month, the Backlash Has Officially Arrived: Young LGBTQ people are facing the prospect of losing rights they thought they’d never have to worry about.

America’s Incarceration Rate Is About to Fall Off a Cliff: Long sentences and recidivism kept prison populations high for decades, but prisons are now starting to empty. - "As the snake digests the pig year after year, the American prison system is simply not going to have enough inmates to justify its continued size or staggering costs. Some states that are contemplating expanding their prison capacity will be wasting their money their facilities will be overbuilt and underused. By 2035, the overall imprisonment rate could be as low as 200 per 100,000 people. States should instead be tearing down their most deteriorated and inhumane correctional facilities, confident that they will not need the space.

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"The simplest available policy to accelerate the decarceration trend is to stop building prisons except in cases where a smaller, modern facility is replacing a larger, decaying institution. Though it will be nonintuitive to many reformers, particularly on the left, opposition to any such new facilities being private should be dropped. The principal political barrier to closing half-full prisons is the power of public-sector unions."

‘Everybody Knows Khamenei’s Days Are Numbered’: A well-placed group of Iranian insiders considers a future without the supreme leader.

The Trojan Horse Will Come for Us Too: The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East offer Americans a glimpse into the battles of the future—and a warning.

Why Won’t Zohran Mamdani Denounce a Dangerous Slogan?: The New York mayoral candidate’s defense of “Globalize the intifada” is very telling. - "The ambiguity of the slogan is not a point in its defense but a point against it. The dual meanings allow the movement to contain both peaceful and militant wings, without the former having to take responsibility for the latter."

What Chris Murphy Learned From the New Right: The standard-issue Northeast progressive wants to take the Democratic Party down a populist path.

Latinos Vote Differently Under Threat Voters who care most about economic issues will still coalesce as an ethnic bloc if their community is attacked.

Extreme Violence Without Genocide The plight of white South Africans is part of a much larger problem. - "Afrikaner farmers suffer, in this context, from what might be called the Willie Sutton problem. Why rob and assault them? Because that's where the money is. In rural areas, farmers have expensive motors and other agricultural equipment, and sometimes stashes of cash to pay workers."

Brace Yourself for Watery Mayo and Spiky Ice Cream: MAHA is coming for emulsifiers.

Why Isn’t Russia Defending Iran?: Backing the most anti-Western Middle Eastern power was convenient until it wasn’t.

The Magic Realism of Zohran Mamdani: The socialist New York mayoral candidate’s proposals don’t hold up to serious scrutiny. Will that matter?

The Tesla Brain Drain: The future of the struggling car company rests on Elon Musk more than ever before.

A Provocative Argument About What Creates Serial Killers: In her new book, Murderland, Caroline Fraser argues that the rise of these criminals has deep roots in the release of industrial waste. - "The author lays much of the blame at the feet of two Gilded Age families: the Rockefellers and the Guggenheims. The Rockefellers made their money in oil, and the Guggenheims in mining; they would later both own (and fight for control of) the profitable American Smelting and Refining Company, later known as ASARCO. ASARCO ended up all over the country, but Tacoma proved particularly attractive for its potential access to minerals. For nearly a century, a smokestack hundreds of feet high shot lead and arsenic into the sky."

Inside the Democratic Rupture That Undermined Kamala Harris’s Presidential Hopes: In the weeks before Election Day, it seemed like the candidate had two campaigns.

Reading archive 2025-05-16

Afrikaner resettled by Jewish-affiliated group denies antisemitism claims: Charl Kleinhaus, one of about 60 Afrikaners resettled as refugees under an executive order, said his social media posts were being taken out of context. - "In one post, he responded to video of a scuffle between Israeli police and Christians by writing that 'Jews are untrustworthy and a dangerous group.'"

This is what happens when we have a morally lost president: What’s needed more than anything at this moment is to make our leaders moral again.

26 hours and 33 failed amendment votes: This is Democrats’ masterclass in resistance: In the marathon committee session, Democrats showed how best to challenge Republicans on Medicaid.

Democrats: Save Medicaid but don’t defend it Democrats should push for change in the system. Oregon offers a model. - "Expansions in coverage, such as the Affordable Care Act, which I support, use public subsidies to make health care more affordable for individuals — which is not the same as reducing the cost of care. This simply gives more people access to the same inefficient and unsustainable system, which siphons billions of dollars away from health care to enrich private-equity investors and the shareholders of giant pharmaceutical and insurance companies."

Ed Martin publicizes ethics probe he says was wrongly disclosed: The former D.C. U.S. attorney nominee revealed he faces a legal disciplinary review in an all-office goodbye email, while claiming his confidentiality was violated.

Congress upended D.C.’s budget months ago — and still hasn’t fixed it: D.C. officials say if Congress does not pass legislation restoring the city’s 2025 budget, they will be forced to cut $400 million over the next five months. - "Congress most dramatically exercised its power over D.C. in the 1990s when it set up a control board to run the city’s finances as the District was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and plagued by fiscal mismanagement. But those who remember those austere days say it’s hardly a comparison to the present: The financial control board was set up to help turn the city around financially — its approach was 'paternalistic,' said Yesim Sayin, an economist who heads the D.C. Policy Center. 

"Now, 'this is pure harm,' D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said of the House holdup."

An isolated, angry Fetterman is yet another challenge for Democrats: Sen. John Fetterman increasingly goes it alone, worrying some fellow Democrats as they struggle to push back against Trump and retake the majority.

Supreme Court rules totality of circumstances must be considered in police shootings: The Supreme Court ruled that the totality of circumstances must be considered when determining whether a police shooting is justified, not just the seconds before an officer opens fire. - "The broader standard is likely to make it easier for victims to prove allegations of excessive force in court."

Comey under investigation for ‘threat’ to Trump on social media, officials say: The Trump administration accused the former FBI director of insinuating a call to violence in his Instagram post, which he denied.

Big U.S. cities grew in 2024, reversing covid-era population declines: Census Bureau data found most major cities increased in population, reversing a downward trend sparked by pandemic deaths and people fleeing for smaller towns. - "Demographers say immigrants are critical to sustaining the labor force, contributing to the tax base and compensating for the growing number of older Americans. Without such an influx, the United States could begin to resemble countries like Germany and Japan, which have among the world’s highest share of people over 65."

Russia takes hardline stance in Istanbul talks, meeting ends quickly: After dangling the possibility of attending, Trump says he will stay away but wants to meet with Putin, further weakening the Istanbul talks.

As Republicans weigh Medicaid work requirements, Georgia offers a warning: Only a small number of people were enrolled in the state program, and administrative costs exceeded spending on medical care. - "Just 12,000 of the nearly 250,000 newly eligible Georgians ultimately received Medicaid, the public health insurance program for the poor and disabled, well short of the state’s initial 50,000 goal. Administrative costs far outpaced spending on medical care. Some who do work had a tough time proving it to state officials — or their work, such as caring for ailing relatives, didn’t qualify."

Trump’s Legal Strategy Has a Name: And it has been deployed by would-be autocrats around the world. - "The pattern I have seen as I've studied democratic backsliding globally is what I call "court-baiting." To undermine public support for the judiciary, political leaders adopt policies that are popular but very likely illegal. Many courts then rule against the executive, and the executive uses their unpopular decision to condemn the judiciary writ large. Court-baiting is a potent strategy because it puts judges in a lose-lose position: Either strike down a popular policy and face public backlash, or allow the policy and erode legal limits on executive power. Such tactics are tailor-made to undermine judges' legitimacy, because elected leaders can claim to represent the "will of the people" and thus democracy when the courts block popular policies. Even when losing, these would-be authoritarians win."

Trump’s Third-Term Ambitions Are Very Revealing: The president sees the Constitution as an obstacle to be surmounted, not a repository of values that he must respect. - "More than a century ago, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. articulated what legal theorists call the "bad man" theory of law. The bad man, Holmes wrote, does not want to know what his obligations are. He wants to know only what will happen if he engages in a given course of action. If an action causes no adverse consequences to him - if he can get away with it - then the law provides no reason not to do it, even if someone with a different sense of law would regard that action as unlawful."

Trump’s Tactical Burger Unit Is Beyond Parody: Happy Meal Team Six

The Darker Design Behind Trump’s $400 Million Plane: Through Qatar’s gift of a luxury jet, Trump has escalated American soft corruption to a garish new extreme. - "Qatar needs to do this because there are many good reasons to be suspicious of Qatar, and no grassroots pro-Qatar constituency exists in the United States. The Gulf country hosts America's largest military air base in the Middle East, which is of interest to war planners but largely unknown to U.S. citizens. There are no American stans of Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, no college students hoisting Qatari flags on campus, no steady stream of English-language best-selling books that tout the country's virtues or vices."

America Is Having a Showboater Moment: The Trump administration talks tough on crime but shrugs off the work of real law enforcement. - "Governments that imprison indiscriminately and ignore due process have been known to post extraordinarily low murder rates: In the late 2000s, Syria's dictatorship reported a criminal-homicide rate half that of the United States. Eliminating crime isn't difficult if you eliminate freedom."

The Day Grok Told Everyone About ‘White Genocide’ What in the world just happened with Elon Musk’s chatbot? - "Ever since Elon Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X, the platform has crept further into the realm of the outlandish and unsettling. Porn spam bots are rampant, and Nazi apologia - which used to be extremely hard to find - frequently goes viral. But yesterday, X managed to get considerably weirder. For hours, regardless of what users asked the chatbot about - memes, ironic jokes, Linux software - many queries to Grok were met with a small meditation on South Africa and white genocide. By yesterday afternoon, Grok had stopped talking about white genocide, and most of the posts that included the tangent had been deleted."

An Eerily Familiar 20th-Century Hoax What happened when a mega-famous evangelist went missing?

Reading archive 2025-02-03 pt 1

Emails detail Saints' assistance to New Orleans Archdiocese in sexual abuse scandal

House GOP nears plan for Trump’s agenda — but may not have the votes: Republicans will attempt a tax and spending bill that will not require substantial budget cuts, but there may be serious math problems ahead.

Justice Department orders FBI purge, review of staff who touched Jan. 6 cases: Leaders appointed by the Trump administration are identifying potentially hundreds of FBI agents for possible termination, said people familiar with the plan.

As DOJ probes FBI’s Jan. 6 work and weighs firings, agents told to detail roles: FBI employees must explain in a questionnaire by Monday whether they were involved in the surveillance, arrest or trial of a Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot suspect.

Musk aides gain access to sensitive Treasury Department payment system: The access — granted by Scott Bessent, Trump’s newly confirmed treasury secretary — comes after the ousting of the agency’s top career official.

Trump opened the ‘valve’ on California water. It will probably be wasted.: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released reservoir water to meet Trump’s recent directive to funnel more water to Southern California. - "Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) called the water releases 'uncoordinated and unwarranted,' writing on X that it’s 'not being directed to LA where the fires are contained. And now, it won’t be available when farmers need it in summer.'"

D.C. sees neighborhood revival in Trump plan to downsize federal footprint: Local and Trump officials are looking to work together to turn obsolete federal buildings into a new neighborhood in Southwest D.C.

How Trump could transform D.C. real estate, from downtown to design: The longtime real estate developer’s campaign pledges and early actions as president portend changes to the District’s physical landscape.

D.C. Council is set to expel Trayon White. Some say that’s an overreach.: As the council appears set to expel White, lawmakers face questions from constituents about acting before his case has been adjudicated, and potentially overriding the will of voters. - "The council was on the verge of removing Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) during a 2019 ethics scandal, but he resigned before the vote. White himself was on the council committee that voted unanimously to recommend expulsion, even though Evans was never charged with a crime."

Ex-Federal Reserve adviser indicted on charge of economic espionage: John H. Rogers is accused of leaking inside information, briefing books from the Fed to two Chinese co-conspirators.

With tariffs and threats, Trump turns on America’s closest allies: Critics warn his posture could embolden China to expand ties to Latin American countries, and Russia to continue advances in Ukraine. - "'We — Americans — do not want to now join [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in trying to pull apart a sovereign country,' Michael McFaul, an ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama, wrote on Substack. 'Not only would that embolden Putin’s claim in eastern Ukraine … but greenlight [Chinese President Xi Jinping]’s seizing of Taiwan. If we think we need Greenland for national security, Xi can easily argue that he needs Taiwan.' 

"One senior European security official warned that an aggressive approach from Washington could easily backfire. 

"If the United States 'is not going to help Europe with Russia, Europe will not be able to help the U.S. with China,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to speak frankly about frustrations with Washington. 'Better work together.'"

Democrats are in trouble, and a provocative analysis offers ideas to repair the party: A tough new assessment says the Democratic Party needs to reassess the loss of support among groups of voters it has long taken for granted.

In a first, scientists find microplastics are building up deep in our brains: A new study shows that microplastics have crossed the blood-brain barrier -- and that their numbers are rising. - "In one study from Ross and other University of Rhode Island researchers, mice were given water laced with tiny polystyrene particles, the same type of plastic that is used in plastic foam and yogurt containers. After just three weeks of exposure, the mice demonstrated cognitive changes — including changes in the brain consistent with early markers of Alzheimer’s."

You could be spreading ‘forever chemicals’ on your garden. Here’s how to protect yourself.: What does the new EPA warning about PFAS-laden sludge in fertilizer mean for home gardeners? Here’s what you need to know.

Thinking Under Fascism: (Feels Like Hearing Under Water)

Extra Extra! Genocide!: The making of the New York War Crimes

Trump threatens to cut U.S. aid to South Africa over land law: Trump’s comments waded into a sensitive racial issue and deepened already sharp divisions between the United States and South Africa. - "Since 1994, the government has sought to redistribute land based on a voluntary 'willing-seller, willing-buyer' system and by paying compensation.

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"South Africa’s agricultural sector has more than doubled in value and volume since the end of apartheid in 1994, exporting now half of what it produces, he said — not the case in neighboring Zimbabwe, where large-scale land seizures devastated the economy, causing the migration of millions of citizens."

We’re Russian. We know what happens when Big Tech coddles dictators.: Tech companies are complying with dictators’ laws, compromising human rights and freedom of speech.

The Logic of Destruction: And how to resist it

Criminal records of Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump include rape, domestic violence