Reading archive 2025-12-08

Pssst. Even a healthy Jayden Daniels hasn’t been very good.: The second-year quarterback’s regression from a starry rookie season goes beyond the fact that he has struggled to stay on the field for the Commanders.

The ACC broke the College Football Playoff, and Notre Dame paid the price: The trickle-down effects of a bloated conference crowning an illogical champion led to the Fighting Irish missing the 12-team playoff field.

Ask a Vet: Is it cruel to neuter my dog?: The debate over a common procedure — and why some countries view it as a form of mutilation.

Donald Trump’s Kennedy Center is showier, emptier and more political: In 10 months, the president has transformed Washington’s cultural hub. Now comes his biggest night yet: the Kennedy Center Honors.

A show of Australian Indigenous art should have inspired awe. It’s a mess.: “The Stars We Do Not See” at the National Gallery of Art tells — and muddies — one of the most fascinating stories in 20th-century art.

Glyphosate safety article retracted eight years after Monsanto ghostwriting revealed in court - "This is how man created Astrology, which is effectively a random collection of lights in a 2-D view of a 3-D universe from Earth, correlated with some human affair."

I was a red state governor. What I saw at Harvard surprised me. The spirit of association remains alive in unexpected places. - "What I’ve experienced may be a natural return to Harvard’s more moderate bearings, following noisy displays of intolerance by campus agitators in recent years. Or it may be due to the Trump administration’s forceful executive orders and fiscal pressure. Either way (and it’s probably both), let’s take the win and learn the broader lesson." [ed. note: he wasn't there, so how would he know it has changed at all?]

How Florida lost track of 30,000 students, a ‘cautionary tale’ for vouchers: The state’s auditor general found “a myriad of accountability problems” in the nation’s largest voucher program.

Trump announces $11 billion tariff relief for farmers: Farmers — particularly those who produce soybeans — have felt the effect of the president’s trade policies.

GOP bill to overhaul D.C. bail system could balloon jail population: Republicans in Congress want to end cashless bail in D.C. and hold more suspects in jail before trial. Watchdogs say it could push the jail system to the brink. - "Data shows that such instances are rare. In D.C., in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2025, 90 percent of people did not reoffend while released, according to the federal Pretrial Services Agency; about 1.2 percent committed a violent offense while released."

Suspect in Jan. 6 pipe bomb case appears in court as probe continues: News of Brian Cole Jr.’s arrest came as a shock to a person who has been in regular contact with him for more than a decade.

D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith is stepping down: D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser praised Smith for her service but did not offer a reason for her departure. Smith said she resigned to spend more time with family.

The quest to slow aging leads scientists into the powerhouse of cells: Texas A&M researchers create mini mitochondria factories using tiny nanoflowers.

Democrats, who once lambasted Trump on immigration, have grown quiet: The lack of a unified voice comes as the crackdown on minority communities, including legal residents, has grown more aggressive.

Why Miami’s Trump backers are clashing with the ‘America First’ wing over Venezuela: As Trump threatens strongman Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan and Cuban American supporters are urging the president to do whatever it takes to oust him. - "The Trump administration has said it is targeting Venezuela as part of a crackdown on drug trafficking, though the country is not one of the main suppliers of illicit drugs to the United States. Most fentanyl in the United States comes from Mexico, and most cocaine from Colombia. Very little of Venezuela’s drug production flows into U.S. borders, current and former U.S. officials say."

The tech fix that can clear the Western range of its barbed wire: GPS-based virtual fences clear migration corridors for wildlife while cutting costs for ranchers. - "This technology holds promise in part because ranchers themselves are not fence-lovers. Range fencing requires frequent repair, robbing ranchers of time they would prefer to invest in managing their herds. At upwards of $15,000 a mile, range fencing is also expensive, both to ranchers and to taxpayers. In 2018, the U.S. Agriculture Department subsidized more than $300 million of fencing on private ranch land.

"With virtual fencing, a cow is adorned with a solar-powered collar that communicates with a mapping app via satellite, cell or local reception tower to warn it — by an increasingly loud tone, followed by a mild electric shock — as it approaches a virtual fence line. Cows are not terribly smart, but they can be trained with the technology within a practice pasture in a few days. The current collars are a bit clunky. Cornell University scientists are developing an ear tag that does the same thing as the bulky collar."

The College Football Playoff Chose Outrage Notre Dame is out. Alabama and Miami are in. And the College Football Playoff committee just did what it does best. - "The conference title games exist to make money. To continue making money, they need teams to want to play in them. Telling the SEC runner-up that it would have made the playoff had it just stayed at home on Saturday, but now it’s been eliminated because it showed up and got its ass kicked, would undermine the entire point of college football: making people rich."

Reading archive 2025-11-17

Phillips Collection will sell O’Keeffe and other masterpieces, sparking backlash: After months of internal debate, the D.C. museum is forging ahead with an auction of artworks by Georgia O’Keeffe, Georges Seurat and others.

How the FBI’s massive search for the D.C. pipe bomber stalled: Agents on the Jan. 6 investigation scoured sales at Foot Locker, Home Depot, Lowe’s and other stores in a frustrating search for the culprit.

Federal agent shoots at car during D.C. chase, police say: The shooting marks the second time in a month that a Homeland Security agent has shot at a car while patrolling with D.C. police.

A great nation is reduced to fanciful hoping: America used to borrow for emergencies. Now it is mired in a perpetual debt emergency.

Trump faces heat from MAGA base on ‘America First’ agenda, Epstein: MAGA leaders erupted over the president’s assertion that the U.S. needs foreign workers. That rift and others have raised GOP concerns about enthusiasm ahead of the midterms.

The rise and importance of Secret Congress: (Shh, don't talk about it) [ed. note: from 2021] - "The core of the Secret Congress theory is that on highly salient issues, lawmaking is dominated by the question of which party controls which chambers and by how slim their majorities are. Under these circumstances, polarization is high and compromise is rare. Congress is prone to gridlock, and when solutions pass, they pass on a near party line."

GOP plans to replace Obamacare have failed. Here’s what lawmakers propose now. Lawmakers are racing toward a mid-December deadline, with Republicans hoping to present side-by-side legislation with Democrats’ plan to extend ACA subsidies. - "Many health economists have panned Trump’s plan, saying it is likely to create a 'death spiral' in the ACA marketplaces. Healthy people would be prone to drop coverage, using the subsidies to pay out of pocket for whatever limited health care they need, leaving sick people behind and causing premiums to skyrocket."

GOP-led Epstein probe in House creates political friendly fire for Trump: The Republican side of the committee investigating Epstein has kept pushing out troves of emails and documents, and Trump’s name keeps coming up.

On edge in small-town America: In a divided nation, one Wisconsin village feels everyday life begin to fray.

In shift, Trump says House should vote to release Epstein files: It is unclear whether the Senate would take up the measure if the House passes it. Trump would also need to sign the legislation to compel the release of the documents.

The first glimpse of post-Trump MAGA has arrived: With a push from Marjorie Taylor Greene, Donald Trump acquiesces over the Jeffrey Epstein files.

How the Epstein story keeps growing: Trump’s demand to investigate Democrats is political malpractice.

Trump defends Tucker Carlson for interviewing white nationalist Fuentes: “You can’t tell him who to interview,” Trump said about the former Fox News host and Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist who once called Adolf Hitler “awesome.”

Would your partner pass the ‘bird test’? It’s complicated, experts say: Two relationship experiments are flying high on TikTok — but they aren’t exactly foolproof.

Child poverty soars in Britain as working families struggle to keep up: Across Britain, families who once felt solidly middle class are losing their footing as rents, child care costs and food prices outpace wages.

Man fatally shot by D.C. police in Foxhall Road NW area: The shooting was reported in a house in the 4400 block of Reservoir Road NW.

Teen shot five people near Howard University during homecoming weekend, police say: Kaevaughn Dudley, 17, was arrested Friday and charged as an adult with assault with intent to kill.

The Right Is Now Transvestigating Charlie Kirk and His Wife, Erika: Transphobia truly impacts us all.

Japan tourism and retail stocks slide after row with China over Taiwan

Shocked by Trump’s profiteering? Here’s some perspective.: There are periods in American history when graft was the rule, not the exception.

How DHCD Forfeited $35 Million in Federal Assistance for Affordable Housing and Bailed Out a Well-Connected Developer: DHCD Director Colleen Green failed to disclose the loss of funding when asked during a D.C. Council hearing earlier this year.

Reading archive 2025-10-17

Voters facing skyrocketing electric bills turn ire toward politicians: Issues including the expansion of energy-hungry data centers, obscure surcharges on bills and clean-energy mandates are capturing the attention of frustrated consumers.

I Taped My Mouth Shut for 100 Days to Get a Better Jawline: TikTokers, celebrities, and self-declared health gurus are all touting the benefits of mouth taping. I tried it myself to investigate the hype.

Helsinki goes a full year without a traffic death: A city traffic engineer credits the success to lower speed limits and smarter design.

White, Legally Armed, and Primed for Political Violence: Ian Rogers was convinced it was up to him to save America. The gun industry’s sales tactics — playing up paranoia and glorifying combat — may be creating a pipeline of extremists willing to open fire.

'Link in Bio' Ruined All Our Brains A unified theory on the bad state of everything.

Study shows mountain lions are changing to adapt to human recreation: In Los Angeles, the animals are shifting to less daytime activity in areas where humans are roaming more frequently.

This isolated town in Maine could be a model for the clean energy future: Tidal power and solar would fuel a community microgrid to protect the island of Eastport from outages.

Why cranberry country is turning into wetlands: Massachusetts farmers began draining wetlands to make cranberry bogs more than two centuries ago. Now there’s a race to restore them.

What’s America’s largest ethnic group, and why did we get it wrong for so long?: The identity of America’s largest ethnic group has long seemed cut and dried. But new data is challenging the conventional wisdom.

Teacher dies after bat bites her at California school: Leah Seneng, a California teacher, was bitten by what officials called a “presumably rabid bat.” Her friend said she tried not to harm the bat in her classroom.

How much abuse can a local newspaper reporter take?: Republicans claim Tom Lisi’s reporting is lies to promote a liberal agenda. How should he respond? - "The lesson here? Toss out the noble but outdated industry wisdom that it’s best to avoid jawing with the haters because the work speaks for itself. Well, the people who need to hear the pushback aren’t reading the work that speaks for itself. Confront the media bashers wherever they practice their profession."

Consumer watchdog takes aim at credit card rewards programs: Major card issuers often play a “shell game” and deny consumers the rewards they have earned, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warns.

Man and woman charged after girl, 5, was shot by her 3-year-old brother: The child was critically wounded after her brother found a ghost gun in an apartment in Southwest Washington, police said.

The hidden science swirling in ‘The Starry Night’: The famous painting from Dutch post-impressionist Vincent van Gogh has sparked controversy among physicists.

Why Qatar is building an air force training facility at a U.S. military base: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho will host Qatari pilots at the military facility. The base will remain under U.S. jurisdiction.

China’s demographic crisis means it’s going to run out of workers

Reading archive 2025-03-24 pt 2

Why DOGE is struggling to find fraud in Social Security: Claims of massive problems by Elon Musk and President Trump are at odds with the agency’s audits and reports. - "Social Security is among the most scrutinized and audited agencies in government, with frequent probes by its 500-person Office of Inspector General. It pays outside auditors to examine its books. Congress grills agency officials. Last year, a major focus in congressional hearings led by the GOP wasn’t waste or fraud — it was about Social Security being too aggressive in clawing back accidental benefit overpayments."

Chuck Schumer Is Cautious for a Reason: Under fire from his own party, the Senate Democratic leader ponders the source of his core beliefs.

The Kennedy Center Performers Who Didn’t Cancel: When does quitting count as resistance, and when is it surrender?

Musk Comes for the ‘Third Rail of American Politics’: Donald Trump promised to protect Social Security. Elon Musk didn’t.

The Angry Canadian: How Doug Ford became Ontario’s chief enforcer - "Americans tend to think of Canadians as 'nice' and find the idea of angry Canadians funny. They are wrong on both counts. Americans are nicer than Canadians - warmer, friendlier, more gregarious. Canadians are polite. The difference is subtle but important. There is an unwritten civility contract girding every aspect of Canadian society. The Canadian equivalent of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is 'peace, order, and good government,' so enshrined in the constitution since 1867. 

"Most Canadians want uncomplicated lives, a desire for calm that can be misinterpreted by louder people as meekness. This is also a mistake. The bedrock of Canada's collective tranquility is the knowledge that misbehavior will not be tolerated, and, as in hockey, violations of the code of conduct will be met with hair-trigger aggression. Try cutting a line and see what happens."

The Global Populist Right Has a MAGA Problem: In Europe, Trump looks too extreme even for many right-wing insurgents.

LeBron James and the Limits of Nepotism: It’s embarrassing for everyone involved. - "Now, by appearing to threaten Smith, LeBron has not only acted like a petty strongman; he has drawn new attention to his son's disappointing season, enlarging the very story that he sought to suppress. It's a rare misstep for someone so media-savvy, who has amassed an enormous personal fortune while staying almost entirely scandal-free across a long career that began when he was still a teenager. The mistake is, perhaps, understandable. The emotions of parenthood are gigantic. They can knock anyone off their game, even the great LeBron James."

A Battle for the Soul of the West: The assault on Enlightenment values is tearing both Europe and America apart.

The GOP’s Fears About Musk Are Growing: Some Republicans are starting to worry about what DOGE could mean for them and their constituents.

The Political Fight of the Century: For the first time in decades, America has a chance to define its next political order. Trump offers fear, retribution, and scarcity. Liberals can stand for abundance. - "As the cost of living rises in blue states, tens of thousands of families are leaving them. But the left isn't just losing people. It's losing an argument. It has become a coalition of Kindness Is Everything signs in front yards zoned for single-family homes. Liberals say they want to save the planet from climate change, but in practice, many liberal areas have shut down zero-carbon nuclear plants and protested solar-power projects, leaving it to red states such as Texas to lead the nation in renewable-energy generation. Democrats cannot afford to become the party of language over outcomes, of ever more lawn signs and ever fewer working-class families.

...

"Two political orders have defined the past 100 years. Each was forged by an internal crisis and external threat. From the 1930s until the 1960s, the New Deal reigned over American life. It enlarged the government in response to the Great Depression and provided an American reply to the global specter of communism. In the 1970s and '80s, stagflation converged with the gradual decline of the Soviet Union to make way for the rise of a second era: neoliberalism. For decades, conservatives fought to make government smaller, while progressives such as Ralph Nader found ways to make government weaker by submerging the state in lawsuits. If the New Deal birthed the age of bureaucracy, neoliberalism produced an age of vetocracy. Now we are living with the consequences of both. We have a government that is, oddly, both big and weak."

The Wild Trump Theory Making the Rounds on Wall Street: QAnon for tariffs - "To begin with, two of the principal goals are in direct conflict: Weakening the dollar would require foreign countries to sell off their large holdings of U.S. treasury bonds, but that sell-off would cause interest rates to rise, making the U.S. debt even more expensive to service. (This is where the magical 'century bonds' supposedly come in: foreign countries lining up to give America enormous heaps of free money.) Even the core premise underlying the theory—that a weaker dollar is the key to reviving American manufacturing—is shaky at best. Almost every rich country, not just America, has seen a sharp manufacturing decline in recent decades, suggesting that the trend is about much more than the relative strength or weakness of a single currency. 'It’s one thing if a plan makes sense in theory but not in practice,' Steven Kamin, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute and the former director of the Division of International Finance at the Federal Reserve, told me. 'This one doesn’t even add up in theory.'"

Reading archive 2024-11-01

Trump’s ‘grab them’ comment was history. Now TikTok is showing it to young voters.: As the audio clip circulates on the popular video app, Gen Z users are expressing their shock.

As smuggling rings made billions from migrants, the U.S. was sidelined: Migrant-smuggling has become a top income stream for criminal groups in Latin America but for years the U.S. government did little to dismantle these networks.

Carjacking suspect fatally shot by police after pursuit on I-95: Police said troopers spotted the vehicle, which had been carjacked in Maryland, and chased it on the major highway in Virginia.

Some Virginia voters think Vindman’s brother is the one on the ballot: The identical twin brothers’ similar faces, voices and roles in the first impeachment probe into Donald Trump have prompted a case of mistaken identity in the state’s battleground 7th District.

A year in the life of a leaf: Explore a leaf’s magical transformations across seasons.

Skateboard-wielding suspect accused of destroying D.C.’s tiki torch statue: The man was arrested on destruction of property and drug charges after police say he demolished the politically themed artwork.

Georgia official warns of likely Russian interference in presidential election: A video of Haitians saying they illegally voted for Kamala Harris is fake, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said, and likely a product of Russian troll farms.

Mike Johnson, who shares ‘secret’ with Trump, fights to keep the House: The Speaker could lead a conservative overhaul of the government. Or find himself in the political wilderness.

Opinion Who are we, America?: If we choose Trump this time, no one can claim to have been fooled or unaware.

Trump embraces violent rhetoric, suggests Liz Cheney should have guns ‘trained on her face’: The GOP nominee often describes graphic and gruesome scenes of crimes and violence, real and imagined.

Opinion What happened to all those subscriptions?: The Washington Post has suffered a subscriber desertion. What does it mean?

Black women in Georgia back Harris and fear a Trump presidency: In interviews, Black women expressed support for Harris and what her candidacy represents, as well as concerns about what a Trump presidency could mean for them.

Reading archive 2024-10-30

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reading archive 2024-10-25

D.C. AG sues major construction company, alleging pollution of waterways: Fort Myer Construction operates two asphalt plants in the District and is a preferred contractor with the city, with tens of millions of dollars in contracts over the years.

DC Council Passes Bill That Would Bring Thousands Of New EV Stations To The City

Satellite images show major expansion at Russian site with secret bioweapons past: New construction at a military research site near Moscow reveals a specialized laboratory complex designed to research and handle deadly pathogens, experts say. - "State Department officials have ridiculed Russian allegations that the United States is working on biological weapons, alone or with partners. But U.S. officials and experts say Russian scientists may legitimately believe that the threat exists, and thus feel justified in creating and testing new weapons."

Families sue D.C. for ending housing aid in unprecedented case: The city has sought to remove thousands of families from its rapid rehousing program. Officials have blamed years of extensions for creating an unsustainable financial burden.

Jill Biden has upgraded your next White House tour: ‘They weren’t dynamic,’ the first lady says of the old tours. So she helped reimagine the ritual.

Opinion On political endorsement A note from the publisher: [ed. note: "We are returning to our roots, which is to not endorse candidates, except when we do, which is whenever we want, which is not now, because I, William Lewis, am a Rupert Murdoch crony and wide-spectrum dirtbag."]

The Washington Post says it will not endorse a candidate for president Publisher William Lewis explained the decision as a return to the newspaper’s roots. - "The decision not to publish was made by The Post’s owner — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — according to the same sources." [ed. note: bracing gutlessness from a billionaire afraid of what a Trump win could do to his fortunes]

Jill Biden has upgraded your next White House tour: ‘They weren’t dynamic,’ the first lady says of the old tours. So she helped reimagine the ritual.

Poop statue appears on the National Mall to ‘honor’ Jan. 6 rioters: Visitors swarmed the controversial installation, which will be on the Mall until Oct. 30.

Does Ghost-Hunting Gear Work? We Tested Some in a Haunted Place to Find Out.

Why Fleetwood Mac is forever: “Dreams,” by Mark Blake, delves into Fleetwood Mac’s storied past and the enduring appeal of the band’s music.

Finally, a fresh argument against ‘wokeness’: In “We Have Never Been Woke,” Musa al-Gharbi argues that claims to support marginalized people are often little more than elite status competitions.

Meet Ukraine’s top fighting unit — at least that’s what its ad says: Ukraine’s brigades can recruit their own soldiers, and they compete with one another to craft the best advertising campaigns to sell the war.

Canada alleges much wider campaign by Modi government against Sikhs: Canada on Monday ordered six Indian diplomats to leave the country, including India’s top diplomat in Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, officials said.

In D.C. election, Initiative 83 push for voting changes is biggest wild card: I-83 would allow independents to vote in primaries and change D.C.’s voting method to ranked-choice. The D.C. Democratic Party has emerged as a chief opponent.

Opinion By electing Trump, America would break its closest allies’ hearts: Anxiety levels in Europe over the U.S. election are very high. - "Jørn Brøndal, chair of USD’s Center for American Studies, offered a view that turns 'America First' rhetoric on its head. 'I always saw Trump as an import from Europe,' Brøndal said. 'He’s outside the American mainstream and comes from a right-wing populist tradition in Europe that shows some of the same tendencies.' Brøndal said this before Trump, in the style of 1930s autocrats, spoke of immigrants bringing 'a lot of bad genes in our country right now.'"

North Carolina authorities arrest armed man after threats against FEMA workers: Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office confirms it made the arrest Saturday after learning of threat to Federal Emergency Management Agency employees working on hurricane relief.

Opinion Why Harris’s pitch to Muslim and Arab American voters is failing: Caught in the bind of the Gaza war, the VP failed to cement herself as the choice for this bloc. - "There’s a tendency in liberal circles to accuse these voters of betraying their own interests by supporting Trump or voting third-party. But Muslim and Arab voters aren’t abandoning Harris because they don’t understand what’s at stake. They’re abandoning her because they do." [lol let's see how that goes]

The Most Opinionated Man in America: Mike Solana, a Peter Thiel protégé, has made his Pirate Wires newsletter a must-read among the anti-woke investor class—and a window into what the most powerful people in tech really think.

Reading archive 2024-02-08

Inside the graffiti-covered L.A. skyscrapers that drew global attention

Is Taylor Swift a WAG?: And what even is a WAG now?

GOP leaders face unrest amid chaotic, bungled votes: Former president Donald Trump has used his perch as the GOP front-runner to bend Congress to his political whims

Senate votes to advance Ukraine-Israel package after border deal fails: More than a dozen Republicans joined with Democrats in 67 to 32 vote

Democrats sound alarm, take action against Biden’s third-party threats: Biden allies are increasingly worried about the potential threat posed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and Jill Stein

Fairfax County police to use Spider-Man-like lassos to subdue suspects

Five Red Line stations will close this summer to link Metro with Purple Line

Man charged with stealing FBI car from bureau headquarters in D.C.

Sen. Murphy calls GOP border meltdown ‘bizarre, maddening’

Special counsel report paints scathing picture of Biden’s memory: Hur’s report could reopen a line of attack that Biden’s team has tried hard to tamp down

Utah teen athlete faces threats after state official posted photos questioning her gender

Reading archvie 2024-02-03

A journalist goes undercover to reveal the absurdity of the art scene: In ‘Get the Picture,’ journalist Bianca Bosker paints a portrait of people who talk ‘like they were trapped in dictionaries and being forced to chew their way out’

U.S. strikes in Syria and Iraq kill dozens of militants

Rethinking Monarchs: Does the Beloved Butterfly Need Our Help?: The Eastern monarch butterfly has long been thought to be in peril, but new studies indicate that its U.S. populations are not in decline. Scientists say the biggest threat the species faces is from well-meaning people who rear the butterflies at home and release them. - "De Roode is a coauthor of a third potentially game-changing study published in the Journal of Animal Ecology in 2022. It found that there has been a significant rise in OE prevalence since the early 2000s. The researchers attribute this spike to the increased density of monarchs in places where they lay their eggs, due in large part to the mass rearing of monarchs in confined spaces, and the widespread planting in recent years of non-native milkweeds, including the tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) favored by monarch admirers. This surge in parasitism, they warn, may already be impairing the species’ migration: Their research indicates that in years when the summer OE infection rate was high, the winter colony size was unexpectedly low."

How the nation’s capital became an outlier on violent crime: Republicans blame Democrats for DC’s rising violent crime. The reality is much more complicated.

The French farmers’ protests are more complex than they seem: Farmers’ frustration over French and EU regulations are a new dimension in a longstanding problem.

An officer's hope: ‘That better day is coming,' DC police veteran says

This ancient material is displacing plastics and creating a billion-dollar industry

Recording captures judge, prosecutor, undersheriff talking about killing Kansas couple

Reading archive 2022-08-11

FBI: Armed man tried to breach Cincinnati field office, sparked chase and shootout: SR-73 shut down, lockdown in place for buildings in area

With Feds Circling, Trump Asks Allies: Who’s ‘Wearing a Wire’?: As the investigations heat up, the former president and his advisers are pointing fingers — and looking for “rats”

Hyperbolic GOP claims about IRS agents and audits

Opinion  Gay men can fight monkeypox ourselves — by changing how we have sex

Historians privately warn Biden that America’s democracy is teetering: When Biden met with historians last week at the White House, they compared the threat facing America to the pre-Civil War era and to pro-fascist movements before World War II

What if the ancient Greeks and Romans actually had terrible taste?: Antiquities reproduced in vivid color, now on view in ‘Chroma’ exhibition at the Met, may look garish to modern eyes

Beto O’Rourke confronts heckler laughing during speech on Uvalde shooting: The Democratic candidate for Texas governor lashed out, telling the heckler: ‘It may be funny to you ... but it’s not funny to me’

What Is Really Unprecedented Is the Criminality: Republican outrage to the raid on Trump is telling. - "While it is factually true that there is no history of a former American president being raided by the Feds, these observations implicitly treat the FBI’s behavior as the source of the historic break. The reason Donald Trump is the first former president to be treated like a criminal is that he is the first former president who is a criminal.

...

"If a Trump prosecution risks setting off some deeper crisis in the system, that is because Republicans formed a loyalty to a man who rose to his position by flouting the law."

In the Ukraine war, a battle for the nation’s mineral and energy wealth

FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say: Attorney General Merrick Garland wouldn’t discuss the search but said he personally signed off on asking a judge to approve it

Reading archive 2022-07-27

Philippines scraps Russian helicopter deal - AP

Johnson County school board might ban trans students’ pronouns, choice of bathroom

Human bones, stolen art: Smithsonian tackles its ‘problem’ collections: The Smithsonian’s first update to its collections policy in 20 years proposes ethical returns and shared ownership. But will it bring transformational change? - "'I had to chuckle … that the Smithsonian thinks they’re a leader in this. They are not,' said Tina Marie Osceola, an enrolled member of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and director of its Historic Preservation Office, which has been trying for 11 years to get the Natural History Museum to return the remains of 1,400 ancestors. 'They are the best bad example we have in the country.'"

Justice Dept. investigating Trump’s actions in Jan. 6 criminal probe: People familiar with the probe said investigators are examining the former president’s conversations and have seized phone records of top aides

Opinion  The U.S. is a lot stronger than Russia. We should act like it. - "Does Sullivan really believe that Putin will launch World War III if the United States supplies rockets with a range of about 180 miles but will hold off as long as we’re supplying only rockets with a range of about 50 miles? Or that the provision of HIMARS, NASAMS air-defense systems, 155mm howitzers, Phoenix Ghost drones, Javelins and Stingers isn’t too provocative — but fighter aircraft and tanks would be?"

Doctor in 10-year-old rape victim’s abortion faces AG inquiry, threats - "Rokita and his office have repeatedly questioned whether Bernard reported the procedure to the state, even as records obtained by The Post show that the physician reported the girl’s abortion to the relevant agencies before the legally mandated deadline to do so. The attorney general has continued to cast doubt on the physician, despite Gerson Fuentes, 27, being charged with rape in the child’s case earlier this month."

Manchin says he has reached deal with Democrats on economy, climate bill

Stolen artifacts, some from 400s B.C., returned to Italy from New York

Republicans have a nonsensical argument against the same-sex marriage bill: They’re glossing over a very real threat these protections could face.

Opinion  Most third parties have failed. Here’s why ours won’t. [ed. note: lol]

She was 12 and behind the wheel before a fatal crash. Her family asks why.

Reading archive 2022-06-07

The Pithiest Critique of Modern Conservatism Keeps Getting Credited to the Wrong Man: “Wilhoit’s Law” was created by a different Frank Wilhoit.

Email to Giuliani reveals plan to keep Trump in office on Jan. 6, court records show

What science tells us about the mood-boosting effects of indoor plants

Opinion  A shocker in the Proud Boys indictment exposes the right’s long game - "'This regeneration through violence is going to be with us for a long time,' Lowndes said, 'because it is fundamental to the right-wing political imagination.'"

Trump call Jan. 6 to ‘walk down to the Capitol’ prompted Secret Service scramble: Agency’s actions are part of the Jan. 6 committee’s probe into Trump’s role in inciting the violent attack

Transcript: Race in America: Giving Voice with Bisa Butler

Both Republicans and Democrats prioritize family, but they differ over other sources of meaning in life

Reading archive 2021-07-06

Their neighbors called covid-19 a hoax. Can these ICU nurses forgive them?: For the nurses in the Appalachian highlands who risked their lives during the pandemic, it is as if they fought in a war no one acknowledges.

House Democrats take different approach to economic, national security threats posed by China

The scientists fighting to save the ocean’s most important carbon capture system The population of kelp forests, which help clean the air, has fallen dramatically. That has environmentalists worried. - "The fate of the world’s kelp forests may depend on controlling its sworn enemy — sea urchins — and the Nature Conservancy, an Arlington-based environmental group, says it has a plan. It is touting urchins as a culinary cuisine, hoping to appeal to commercial fishermen who could scoop them out of the ocean. It is also attempting to increase the population of their natural predators, sea stars and growing kelp in controlled environments before releasing the algae back into the sea."

A classic Silicon Valley tactic — losing money to crush rivals — comes in for scrutiny: Facebook’s latest product, a newsletter platform called Bulletin, exemplifies a strategy that some critics think should be illegal - "Asked for comment on Facebook Bulletin, Substack spokeswoman Lulu Cheng Meservey said, 'The nice shiny rings from Sauron were also 'free.''"

Untangling The Long-Armed Mystery Of The Bigfin Squid: The elbowed, spindly appendages of the bigfin squid have long stunned the public. But scientists say there is more to this deep-sea dweller than its ghostly appearance.

A Smithsonian museum turns to art, not science, to hammer home a warning about Mother Nature

He says he helped his country. A decade later, the government accused him of fraud.

Reading archive 2021-03-02

‘Reading the story today makes me cringe’: Female stars and the media machine of the early 2000s

Donors gave a House candidate more than $8 million. A single firm took nearly half of it.

Pangolins are elusive, nocturnal and threatened by illegal trading. A nonprofit in Vietnam seeks to save the scaly mammals.

Bicyclist killed after being struck by hospital shuttle bus in Northeast Washington, police say

Lightning Strikes Twice: Another Lost Jacob Lawrence Surfaces: Its owner, a nurse living on the Upper West Side, flagged a worker at the Metropolitan Museum’s information desk. “Listen, nobody calls me back. I have this painting. Who do I need to talk to?”

Major Evangelical Adoption Agency Will Now Serve Gay Parents Nationwide: The decision comes as more cities and states require organizations to accept applications from L.G.B.T.Q. couples or risk losing government contracts.

A mom reported her 6-year-old missing. She’d actually run him over and thrown him in a river, police said.

The making of Madison Cawthorn: How falsehoods helped propel the career of a new pro-Trump star of the far right: Cawthorn has emerged as one of the most visible figures among newly arrived House Republicans, who have promoted baseless assertions and pushed a radicalized ideology that has become a driving force in the GOP [ed. note: dude lies about everything]

‘Nobody came, nobody helped’: Fears of anti-Asian violence rattle the community

Reading archive 2020-12-07

Arizona Legislature 'cannot and will not' overturn election, Republican House speaker says

UPDATE: Kemp again refuses Trump’s demand to overturn election

The African American History Museum Has Restored DC’s Rediscovered Last Supper Frieze: Studio Acting Conservatory built its new Columbia Heights home around the discovery of a lost sculpture inspired by the Black Arts Movement.

Two cheers for the Never Trump conservatives

National Zoo’s giant pandas will head to China in three years

In the Georgia runoff, just showing up for the debate was apparently the hardest part

Trump’s Most Malicious Legacy The outgoing president leaves behind a tribalistic, distrustful, and sometimes delusional political culture. - "This may be Donald Trump’s most enduring legacy—a nihilistic political culture, one that is tribalistic, distrustful, and sometimes delusional, swimming in conspiracy theories. The result is that Americans are disoriented and frustrated, fearful of and often enraged at one another."

A fight for forest equity in Southeast D.C. takes on new urgency amid pandemic

Florida police raid house of fired data scientist who alleged state manipulated covid-19 stats

Reading archive 2020-11-29

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

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

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

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

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

Marco Rubio is already suiting up for the politics of destruction

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

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

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

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

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

What hunting Bigfoot taught a Republican congressman about politics

China sharply ramps up trade conflict with Australia over political grievances

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

...

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

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

Reading archive 2020-11-13

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

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

Passengers on first cruise in Caribbean test positive for coronavirus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reading archive 2019-05-24

The Real Reason Fans Hate the Last Season of Game of Thrones: It's not just bad storytelling—it’s because the storytelling style changed from sociological to psychological

New Law Would Help Bees—but Could Leave Other Pollinators out in the Cold: Proposed legislation focuses mostly on threats to honeybees and their wild cousins

He pledged to kill ‘as many girls as I see’ in mass shooting. After second chances, he’s going to prison.

Looted Nazi art and LGBT rights merge in recovery of Polish painting: After their prized 17th-century portrait is revealed to have been stolen from Poland’s National Museum, Los Angles same-sex couple turns setback into equality campaign

Reading archive 2018-12-03

An artist suffered mysterious symptoms for years. Then she realized her sculpture was poisoning her.

Minneapolis police decorate Christmas tree with racial stereotypes in majority-black neighborhood

Athlete to Activist: How a Public Coming Out Shaped a Young Football Player’s Life

The Conscience of a Conservative: It should not fall to the only black Republican senator to block a man who spent his career seeking to disenfranchise minority voters from being appointed to the federal bench.

Reading archive 2017-09-05

Why the Works of Visionary Artist Jacob Lawrence Still Resonate a Century After His Birth: His vibrant and bold paintings tell stories of liberation, resistance and resilience

Obama calls President Trump’s decision to end DACA ‘wrong,’ ‘self-defeating’ and ‘cruel’

Officer shoots Ohio newspaper photographer after confusing his tripod and camera for a gun

The biggest beneficiaries of the government safety net: Working-class whites

Is Anybody Home at HUD? A long-harbored conservative dream — the “dismantling of the administrative state” — is taking place under Secretary Ben Carson. - "HUD has emerged as the perfect distillation of the right’s antipathy to governing. If the great radical-conservative dream was, in Grover Norquist’s famous words, to 'drown government in a bathtub,' then this was what the final gasps of one department might look like."

Disabled, or just desperate?: Rural Americans turn to disability as jobs dry up

Generations, disabled: A family on the fringes prays for the “right diagnoses”

The Upwards Failing of Colin Trevorrow and Why It Matters

The Art of Failing Upward

When the Rich Said No to Getting Richer

Our Broken Economy, in One Simple Chart

Democrats should take the class warfare message to upscale suburbs: It worked for Jeremy Corbyn, and the opposite failed for Jon Ossoff.

4 lies Jeff Sessions told to justify ending DACA

The Russian Company That Is a Danger to Our Security