So I read something...: cancer

Trump got his regime change in Canada. Now he may regret it.: Canada's prime minister secures a parliamentary majority and a stronger political hand. - "There’s the costly need to satisfy Quebeckers, brilliantly leveraging their inextinguishable separatist inclinations for more and more privilege, and historically standing in the way of an oil pipeline to the east. Add, now, Alberta’s malcontents, a minority (for the time being) that, wishing for a pipeline to anywhere, is pushing its own separatist cause. And, too, the Indigenous who, like Quebeckers, must constantly and expensively be placated but who, note, also play a vital role of opposition in a way that no party in Parliament actually can. First Nations here are able to challenge laws about resources, the environment and, most problematically, property title on the basis of treaties not respected and Indigenous rights that Canada is legally obliged to respect."

Scoop: NSA using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

The Tech Oligarch's Republic: A look at the Palantir manifesto, a logical conclusion of the War on Terror - "You will notice the summarized thesis of The Technological Republic is one that will line Palantir's pockets while presenting that fleecing as a strategic imperative, even a moral one. That much is par for the course for the military-industrial complex. But because Palantir is talking about AI dominance, embracing its perspective creates a national-security dependency on AI purveyors and on the providers of the interfacing tier between the government and AI, like Palantir's Maven Smart System. That is not par for the course for the military-industrial complex, which has for seven decades operated as a self-dealing partnership, not a dominance battle. The February clash between Anthropic and the Defense Department is the result of the discomfort that goes along with the dawning AI dependency."

D.C. lawmakers punt another vote to extend emergency youth curfew: While council members advanced a long-term version of a youth curfew, they couldn’t reach consensus on an emergency measure that would allow it to take effect immediately.

DC Council passes permanent youth curfew on first vote, sets second vote: An 11 p.m. curfew for those under 18 passed 8-5 in the first vote. It still requires a second vote and congressional review to become law.

2-year-old boy found safe after mother is shot to death in Northwest DC: The child was reported missing after his mother was shot to death in an alley during an argument.

Federal judge’s order allows popular D.C. bike lanes to remain: The Federal Highway Administration argued that the 15th Street lanes should be removed to improve traffic in preparation for celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary.

Is having separate bank accounts hurting your marriage?: Joint accounts are becoming less common. But couples who don’t pool their resources can end up erecting a wall in their relationship.

You’re probably washing your pants wrong. Here’s how to do it right.: Air-drying pants or using a no- or low-heat dryer setting is the best way to make sure they keep looking good and last a long time.

Before cutting off a family member, ask yourself these 9 questions: For some, distance is necessary. For others, the harder — and sometimes more meaningful — work is figuring out how to stay.

Why these treatments for one of the deadliest cancers are stirring such hope: Pancreatic cancer has stymied treatment advances for decades. Data from new clinical trials shows promise.

Campus dinners aim to repair Black-Jewish alliance, frayed by the Gaza war: At the Unity Dinners, students engage in word games and frank talk. Pittsburgh will host a dinner this week, with a tour of civil rights sites also on the menu.

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Reading archive 2025-05-20

As a Ukrainian American, I’ve been preparing for this betrayal My father taught me how resistance movements can persevere despite overwhelming odds.

As ‘Around the Horn’ ends, Tony Reali debates what went wrong: Canceled by the network, an ESPN staple ends this week. Its longtime host is still trying to understand why — and what’s next.

Plant-based meat has a problem. It may need more meat.: Blind taste tests show several blended meats are outperforming conventional meat, in addition to 100 percent plant-based products.

The New York Post judges The Fact Checker: After a scathing editorial, we re-examined three fact checks to see if they stood the test of time.

More say Metro is safe from crime, especially higher-income riders: A Washington Post-Schar School poll finds a spike in positive views about crime on Metro is driven by riders making more than $200,000 a year.

Five people fatally shot in D.C. in six days, police say: The killings appear to narrow the gap between the number of homicides this year and the number last year at this time.

How Colin Jost Became a Joke: The “Weekend Update” host knows exactly what he’s doing.

Shutting Down Salman Rushdie Is Not Going to Help: Two recent flare-ups over commencement speeches show how difficult—and necessary—truly defending free expression is.

‘We’re Definitely Going to Build a Bunker Before We Release AGI’: The true story behind the chaos at OpenAI - "Near the end of last year, the six largest tech giants together had seen their market caps increase by more than $8 trillion after ChatGPT. At the same time, more and more doubts have risen about the true economic value of generative AI, including a growing body of studies that have shown that the technology is not translating into productivity gains for most workers, while it's also eroding their critical thinking."

The Myth of the Poverty Trap: We know how to end extreme poverty. Why haven’t we done it? - "Unpack that a little bit, right? I mean, if you take it a little bit too literally than it's meant to be, it presumes that the guy doesn't know how to fish in the first place. Maybe, actually, he did know, and what he needed was a fishing rod. It presumes that the lake isn't getting overfished, right? Maybe there are tons of people out there fishing, and the big issue is sort of overextraction of natural resources, and we definitely should not be teaching more people to fish, right? It presumes, as you said, right, that we're good at teaching people how to fish. Maybe we're not. Maybe it's hard, and it's not something that we know how to do well. So there are all these sorts of assumptions baked into it, and that's why it's important to test. And you go out and test it, it actually doesn't."

New clues point to why colorectal cancer is rising in young people: Scientists identified a link between colorectal cancer and a toxin in the gut. Eating more fiber may help reduce your risk.

Local leaders say they’ll pay $5.6 billion to automate Metro: But a regional sales tax proposal to foot the bill doesn’t have enough support, D.C. lawmaker says.

We all have hemorrhoids. Here’s how to keep them happy.: Eating a fiber-rich diet and spending minimal time on the toilet may help prevent painful hemorrhoids

Gen Z users and a dad tested Instagram Teen Accounts. Their feeds were shocking.: Meta promised parents it would automatically shield teens from harmful content. Tests by young users and our tech columnist found it fails spectacularly on some important dimensions.

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Reading archive 2025-01-07

Drilling could resume where a 1969 oil spill inspired Earth Day: A plan by Sable Offshore to restart an oil pipeline that burst in 2015 has outraged Santa Barbara environmentalists.

Dems picked the wrong senator for Senate Judiciary leadership: They need a fighter on the committee, not a go-alonger. [ed. note: basically, Dick Durbin is a punk bitch]

These common medications could be releasing ‘forever chemicals’ into the environment: Researchers found that chemicals, including PFAS, from pharmaceuticals are entering into wastewater — which can be used as drinking water during times of drought.

Man escapes into storm drain after Beltway hit-and-run, police say: The man fled across the inner and outer loops in Fairfax County, state police said.

Accused of trespassing, Metro cuts some Maryland bus stops: Dispute over damaged roads will create longer walks for elderly and disabled residents nearby.

Amazon to release Melania Trump documentary: The film, scheduled to be released later this year, will give viewers an “unprecedented behind-the-scenes look” at the incoming first lady’s life, Amazon said. [ed. note: how embarrassing]

Cannon temporarily blocks report on Trump classified-documents probe: Two Trump employees charged alongside him in the classified documents case separately asked Judge Aileen Cannon to block the release.

Indians slam MAGA ‘war’ over H-1B skilled-worker visas as ‘racist’: As the top recipients of H-1Bs, Indians have been incensed by MAGA criticism of the program. - "Thakur said the visa system harms both American tech workers, who lose out on jobs, and Indian H-1B visa holders, who remain stuck in a relatively low-wage trap for years as they cling to the hope of obtaining lawful permanent resident status, or green cards. He accused the mainstream Indian news media, which used to be vocal about the brain drain until the late 2000s, of failing to get to the bottom of the issue because of its nationalist stance.

"'Everything in the big newspapers and television channels on H-1B is largely about the image of India’s IT prowess because it is the biggest story from the last few decades that we like to tell ourselves,' Thakur said. 'But like many stories, it is mired in self-deception.'"

Meta ends fact checks as it prepares for Trump era CEO: Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook, Instagram and Threads will prioritize “free expression,” citing a “cultural tipping point.”

America needs a major culture shift on alcohol: Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy was right to highlight alcohol’s cancer risk.

Trump declines to rule out ‘military or economic’ force to expand U.S.: In a 70-minute, meandering news conference, the president-elect previewed his plans to disrupt the U.S. justice system — and global affairs.

Trump takes ‘America First’ to its expansionist endpoint: The Manifest Destiny of MAGA.

The legacy of Bidenomics: Maybe not much at all: Biden struggled to implement economic policies that will endure past his presidency.

‘Murdered In His Own Home’: Kentucky Cops Raid Wrong Home and Kill Innocent Man Over Alleged Stolen Weed Eater Despite Receiving the Correct Address At Least Five Times

The Curious Case of Lindy Li: How did a “Blue MAGA” influencer and fundraiser turn on Democrats so fast?

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Reading archive 2024-02-07

Opinion It’s the world’s leading killer. Make it the focus of the next breakthrough. - "Hypertension, the 'silent killer,' is the deadliest but most neglected and widespread pandemic of our time, killing more than 10 million people a year worldwide. More than a third of deaths from high blood pressure occur in adults younger than 70 years old and this proportion is even higher in low-income countries."

Opinion Republicans will never get another border security deal this good - "The element of the agreement perhaps most misunderstood among Republicans is a Border Emergency Authority that would allow the president to turn away most asylum seekers if more than 5,000 people arrive daily, measured over the course of several days, which has been the case every week but one in the past four months. This goes further than the Title 42 authorities Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden invoked during the pandemic, restricting migrants who are turned away from reapplying for a year. Practically, this authority would end the migrant caravans."

Toby Keith had stomach cancer. Symptoms can be easy to miss, doctors say.

A radical plan to save a rural oasis: Don’t pave the roads

Putin interview with Tucker Carlson shows Kremlin outreach to Trump’s GOP

D.C. Circuit considers claim of Jan. 6 jury bias ahead of Trump trial

How the world of recycling is about to be transformed: The world’s biggest builder of recycling plants says it will retrofit thousands of waste plants with AI tools to better sort recycling

Do you have a hunger habit? How to conquer mindless eating.

Does aspartame pose a health risk? Here’s what the science says.: A World Health Organization committee has named aspartame as a possible carcinogen. Health experts say the research behind the review is flawed.

Are turmeric supplements safe and good for health?: Research suggests that turmeric is an anti-inflammatory agent and an antioxidant, but its instability and poor absorption make it tough to study

Senate GOP blocks border deal; future of Ukraine, Israel aid unclear: National security spending for key U.S. allies will receive its own vote after the failure to pass border package.

Kobach, coalition demand Biden drop EPA lead pipe rule; Hays survey underway - "In Kansas, the EPA estimates 54,107 lead pipes remain while the Natural Resources Defense Council believes there are more than 160,000."

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Reading archive 2021-04-19

Opinion: Why the hope for peace is waning in Northern Ireland

Colorado judge used the n-word and proclaimed that ‘all lives matter.' Now she’s resigning.

Opinion: After eight years, the question remains: What’s the point of bitcoin?

Ex-officer who police say killed 3 in Austin has been arrested after 20-hour manhunt

Huge plastics plant faces calls for environmental justice, stiff economic headwinds: In Louisiana, Formosa Plastics Group plans a $9.4 billion manufacturing complex in a largely Black community - "The plant is being fought for its potential harm to health and the environment. It would be located a mile from the local elementary school and two miles downriver from the Sunshine Bridge, part of an 85-mile expanse from Baton Rouge to New Orleans that’s dubbed “Cancer Alley.” Under state environmental regulations, it would be allowed to emit more than 800 tons a year of toxic chemicals, nearly 6,500 tons of pollutants known to cause respiratory ailments, and more than 13.6 million tons of greenhouse gases annually.

Did a Black undercover NYPD detective unwittingly aid Malcolm X’s assassination?: Raymond Wood allegedly wrote a letter that proves he did. Historians don’t believe it.

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Reading archive 2018-01-10

The US has reached the last stage before collapse

A Gay Husband, a Dire Diagnosis and the Best-Laid Plans

Netanyahu’s son brags about prostitutes, $20 billion deal for friend’s dad in strip club rant

Who is attacking Russia’s bases in Syria? A new mystery emerges in the war.

Why Are Our Most Important Teachers Paid the Least?: Many preschool teachers live on the edge of financial ruin. Would improving their training — and their pay — improve outcomes for their students?

Some birds are so stressed by noise pollution it looks like they have PTSD

Meet the Most Toxic Plant in North America

Rep. Darrell Issa, who was GOP’s attack dog against top Democrats, will retire

Mueller adds veteran cyber prosecutor to special-counsel team

A 7-year-old Pakistani girl was raped, strangled and left in a dumpster

Monday, November 6, 2017

Reading archive 2017-11-04 through 2017-11-06

Elizabeth Warren and Donna Brazile both now agree the 2016 Democratic primary was rigged - "The timeline here is also important. Many of those emails described above came after it was abundantly clear that Clinton would be the nominee, barring a massive and almost impossible shift in primary votes. It may have been in poor taste and contrary to protocol, but the outcome was largely decided long before Sanders ended his campaign. Brazile doesn't dwell too much on the timeline, so it's not clear exactly how in-the-bag Clinton had the nomination when the alleged takeover began. It's also not clear exactly what Clinton got for her alleged control.

"This is also somewhat self-serving for Brazile, given the DNC continued to struggle during and after her tenure, especially financially. The op-ed is excerpted from her forthcoming book, 'Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House.' Losses like the one in 2016 will certainly lead to plenty of finger-pointing, and Brazile's book title and description allude to it containing plenty of that."

White House attacks legacies of both Bush presidents after reports that they refused to vote for Trump

Commerce Secretary’s Offshore Ties to Putin ‘Cronies’

Saudi Arabia Arrests 11 Princes, Including Billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal

Citigroup, Twitter, Lyft: Prince’s Arrest Touches Many

India turns to public shaming to get people to use its 52 million new toilets

They spent years planning to live with Alzheimer’s disease. The GOP tax bill threatens those plans.

In glyphosate review, WHO cancer agency edited out “non-carcinogenic” findings

A fake shooter and ‘false flag’ rumors at the hospital — how dark online hoaxes came to Texas

Brazile says she found ‘no evidence’ that Democratic primaries were rigged for Clinton

Monday, October 30, 2017

Reading archive 2017-10-30

She bought 26 Lady Gaga tickets to celebrate beating cancer. She never made it to the concert.

A NIGHT AT THE GARDEN

Einstein scribbled his theory of happiness in place of a tip. It just sold for more than $1 million.

The ‘dossier’ and the uranium deal: A guide to the latest allegations

John Boehner Unchained: The former House speaker feels liberated—but he’s also seething about what happened to his party. - "Republicans, having spent and borrowed extravagantly during the Bush years—and expanded the reach of the federal government with No Child Left Behind, the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, and the bailouts—now faced a conservative backlash. Pivoting sharply, GOP lawmakers greeted the election of Barack Obama in 2008 with unified opposition to his stimulus package. This brought accusations of hypocrisy. 'People thought we had spent too much. Thought the tax cuts were too much,' Boehner says. 'OK, fine—we need to look ahead. We’ve got a spending problem.'
...
"The rising influence of Heritage and other 'outside groups' on the right—Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, Tea Party Patriots—made the speaker’s job infinitely harder. Egged on by an angry GOP base, they repeatedly cornered Republicans into fights they couldn’t possibly win. The defining implosion of their first year in the majority came in late July when it was revealed that Jordan’s staff had been conspiring with outside groups to pressure RSC members—Jordan’s own members—to vote against Boehner’s debt deal. It was a stunning breach of decorum and a confirmation of what Obama had already figured out: that Boehner wasn’t dealing from a place of strength. Jordan apologized profusely to the conference, but it was too late. Whatever trust once existed between the warring GOP factions had vanished, never to return—and it destroyed Boehner’s credibility with Democrats. 'He could practically never deliver his votes,' Pelosi tells me. When I ask Boehner about this, during a rain delay at Wetherington, he smirks. 'It’s hard to negotiate when you’re standing there naked,” he says. “It’s hard to negotiate with no dick.'
...
"The resentment toward Boehner was rooted in many grievances, some more legitimate than others. Without question, he ran the House in a top-down fashion inherited from Gingrich, centralizing the policymaking process in leadership offices and spurning input from back-bench members. He would also anger conservatives by allowing deadlines to creep up, refusing to state the conference’s strategy because he knew they would disapprove—and then he would jam them at the last minute. There also was outrage at his punitive tactics. In late 2012, he had kicked Huelskamp and several other conservatives off key committees as punishment for their votes against leadership initiatives. It was predictable: The earmark ban had robbed Boehner of his best tool to incentivize on-the-fence members, leaving him to lead with all sticks and few carrots. With outside groups actively recruiting primary challengers, members in red districts often saw no political upside in voting with the leadership—a dynamic Boehner could not counter.
...
"Boehner worries about the deepening fissures in American society. But he sees Trump as more of a symptom than the cause of what is a longer arc of social and ideological alienation, fueled by talk radio and Fox News on the right and MSNBC and social media on the left. 'People thought in ’09, ’10, ’11, that the country couldn’t be divided more. And you go back to Obama’s campaign in 2008, you know, he was talking about the divide and healing the country and all of that. And some would argue on the right that he did more to divide the country than to unite it. I kind of reject that notion.' Why is that? 'Because it wasn’t him!' Boehner replies. 'It was modern-day media, and social media, that kept pushing people further right and further left. People started to figure out … they could choose where to get their news. And so what do people do? They choose places they agree with, reinforcing the divide.'

"He continues: 'I always liked Rush [Limbaugh]. When I went to Palm Beach I would always meet with Rush and we’d go play golf. But you know, who was that right-wing guy, [Mark] Levin? He went really crazy right and got a big audience, and he dragged [Sean] Hannity to the dark side. He dragged Rush to the dark side. And these guys—I used to talk to them all the time. And suddenly they’re beating the living shit out of me.' Boehner, seated in his favorite recliner, lights another cigarette. 'I had a conversation with Hannity, probably about the beginning of 2015. I called him and said, ‘Listen, you’re nuts.’ We had this really blunt conversation. Things were better for a few months, and then it got back to being the same-old, same-old. Because I wasn’t going to be a right-wing idiot.'"

Nancy Pelosi isn’t going anywhere. Will it help or hurt Democrats in 2018?

Fix this democracy — now 38 ideas for repairing our badly broken civic life

The 6 worst things men have said about sexual harassment in just one month

‘I’m the victim here’: Corey Feldman defends himself in contentious ‘Today’ interviews

Megyn Kelly blasts Bill O’Reilly on her NBC morning show

Mueller’s moves send message to other potential targets: Beware, I’m coming

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Reading archive 2016-08-03 part II

A new reason we haven't found alien life in the universe

'Alien megastructure' continues to not be aliens in latest study

Trump Foreign Policy Adviser Traveled To Russia Prior To Changes In GOP Platform

Joe Scarborough: Donald Trump Repeatedly Asked Why We Couldn't Use Nukes

Runaway Trump Train Picks Up Speed As Aides Can't Grab The Controls

CNN's Corey Lewandowski Reignites Donald Trump's Long-Debunked 'Birther' Conspiracy Theory

Obama's American Idea

Setting the Body's 'Serial Killers' Loose on Cancer

Trump Tells Virginia Town It’s Failing, Cites the Wrong Place

I was Capt. Khan’s commander in Iraq. The Khan family is our family.

So I read something...

Thursday, June 25, 2026

Reading archive 2026-06-25

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Reading archive 2026-04-22