Reading archive 2026-07-07

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

...

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

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

Reading archive 2026-06-05

A Shocking Betrayal of Black Americans - "The attack on democracy and Black political power in the South was made possible by justices in Washington, a president from Queens and a Democratic Party that has so far failed to stop them." ed. note: fuck you

As scandals follow Graham Platner, Democrats are losing patience: The Maine race is considered crucial to Democrats’ hopes of flipping the Senate, but Platner’s web of controversies is overshadowing other issues.

A surging liberal gives Democrats anxiety over Senate chances: Abdul El-Sayed, who is leading in many polls, is unapologetically progressive. Democratic leaders fear he could cost the party in November.

Reading archive 2026-05-15

Metro lost $50M in bus fare evasion alone in just 9 months Nearly 70% of bus riders don't pay, Metro said.

Metro wants to double Stadium-Armory station's capacity for new RFK site: WMATA's board met Thursday about improvements to the Stadium-Armory Metro station they say are necessary before the new Washington Commanders stadium opens in 2030 at the old RFK site.

Emails show FBI Director Kash Patel’s Hawaii trip included ‘VIP snorkel’ at a Pearl Harbor memorial

Trump administration aims to roll back limits on toxic wastewater from coal-fired power plants - "In 2024, the EPA strengthened wastewater rules over coal-fired power plants that keep coal ash — a byproduct of burning coal — in unlined, uncovered dumps that leach toxic heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and selenium into groundwater. 

"In the rule, the EPA required plant owners to report whether the groundwater was contaminated and, if so, pump and treat the contaminated groundwater before discharging it into streams and rivers, Thom Cmar, an attorney for environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, said."

Serious. Has a spine. No wonder he’s leaving Congress.: Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) isn't seeking reelection. That’s a loss for the country.

The Smithsonian’s most contested exhibition is back on view, mostly intact: National Portrait Gallery curators have found a way to counter the Trump administration: with facts.

In northern Ukraine, it was boy vs. Russian drone. The boy won.: A soldier taught a 12-year-old how to disable the fiber-optic drones that Russia has been using to hunt Ukrainian civilians in a campaign the U.N. has labeled a war crime.

Tumultuous, bloody week unfolds in Ukraine and Russia after brief ceasefire: A Russian airstrike on a Kyiv apartment complex that killed at least 24 people and a Ukrainian strike on residential buildings and an oil refinery in Ryazan, Russia, suggested no end is in sight to the war.

Parents of teens who break curfew in D.C. will be prosecuted, DOJ says: The Justice Department’s crackdown on crime comes ahead of 250th anniversary events in the nation’s capital.

A golden statue of Trump draws mixed reactions at his golf course: Online, the glittering statue has become a flash point. In real life, golfers seem less excited.

Reality check: AI-generated images have left us questioning what is real. But the godfather of digital forensics, Hany Farid, is not giving up - "Of course, even the most thorough and well-reasoned investigation may not always persuade doubters. Farid learnt this the hard way in 2009, when he analyzed a 1963 photo of Lee Harvey Oswald holding the rifle he would later use to kill President John F. Kennedy. Conspiracy theorists—and Oswald himself—had long claimed the photo was faked, pointing to unusual features like the shadows on Oswald’s face. But Farid’s analysis found nothing wrong. 'I wrote this little paper, and I thought, all right, this will be the end of this,' he says. Instead, people invested in the conspiracy theory turned on Farid, suspecting he was part of the cover-up. They claimed that his father’s job at Eastman Kodak—which had made the film on which Kennedy’s assassination was captured—somehow implicated him, and even wrote to Dartmouth asking for him to be fired. 'This is how batshit crazy it was,' he says."

The Election Deniers Are Winning: The universe of people pressing debunked theories is so broad that it’s a feature of the system.

Too Much Is Happening Too Fast: The AI boom is meant to overwhelm you.

Reading archive 2026-05-06

DC Council passes permanent youth curfew with amendments, heads to congress The passage of curfew legislation allows MPD to set curfew zones, restricting groups of eight or more teens from gathering in certain parts of the city.

White House East Wing debris dumped at nearby golf course has toxic metals, report says

An investigation into crime stats is roiling D.C. police. Here’s what to know.: Multiple high-ranking D.C. police officials face termination or other disciplinary action, after allegations that statistics had been manipulated.

D.C. police chief says 13 officers may be fired after crime stats investigation: The proposed discipline, which would include high-ranking officials, is related to an internal probe of the alleged manipulation of crime data, the interim police chief said.

Road pricing in DC will benefit drivers the most - "In every place where road pricing exists, it faced strong opposition prior to implementation before swinging to widespread support once the effects of reduced traffic became immediately clear. The Bowser administration has a particular distaste for road pricing. During the Committee on Transportation and the Environment’s government-witness budget oversight hearing for DDOT on April 30, Director Sharon Kershbaum said that the agency would not be studying it further. 

"This is a mistake. The council should fund further study of road pricing, so that our next mayor’s DDOT can get to work on it on day one. 

"Charging drivers for the negative externalities of their trips — congestion, worsening air quality, noise pollution, putting other people at risk of being killed or injured with their vehicles — is a proven way to create a reality where everyone gains time back from their commutes, breathes cleaner air, and is far less likely to be harmed on our streets."

Ward 3 has been unwell for a century. More housing is the cure - "Chevy Chase was patient zero. An infection of low density land use and racial exclusion then spread like a disease throughout the rest of Ward 3. To the west, white residents of Tenleytown who belonged to the Friendship Citizens Association teamed up with a new generation of CCLC investors to forcibly displace their Black neighbors in Fort Reno. 

"In the 1920s, under the guise of “beautification,” they successfully lobbied a federal board to raze Reno over the adamant objections of Black Washingtonians; by the 1950s, Black residents had been totally evicted. Today, Fort Reno consists of a park and a middle school, and is surrounded by expensive single-family homes. Multifamily housing in the pipeline nearby, likely to rent or sell for a little less than $1.6 million, has stalled."

Pro-Kremlin lawyer’s turn against Putin reveals rift in Russian power circles: Ilya Remeslo was put in a psychiatric hospital after criticizing Vladimir Putin. Now free, he said that he will not stop his crusade against the Russian president.

The pro-Israel political consensus is collapsing in both parties: On the campaign trail and elsewhere, the U.S. alliance with Israel has gone from a bipartisan consensus to a subject of fierce debate among Republicans and Democrats alike.

Why is Trump backing off San Francisco? These results.: Democrat Daniel Lurie is using technology to make the city safe again.

EU urges US to stick to tariff deal terms: The United States must respect its tariff agreement with the EU, the bloc's trade chief told his American counterpart Tuesday, after President Donald Trump threatened to hike levies on European cars.

One Chinese Town’s Fight Against the Desert Attracts: Thousands Launched by a local man, an anti-desertification initiative in the country’s arid northwest went viral after being featured on a popular show. [ed. note: Chinese agitprop]

Europeans Are Quiet Quitting the United States: European leaders have now not only lost faith in Donald Trump’s U.S. presidency, but also in America’s hegemony as a whole. But short-term challenges make an immediate divorce unwise. - "Some paragons of Atlanticism have recently chosen European providers for long-term structural contracts instead of American ones. The Dutch central bank ditched Amazon Web Services in favor of the German Lidl as their cloud operator, and Denmark’s defense ministry opted to purchase the Franco-Italian SAMP/T air defense system instead of U.S. Patriot batteries. Both decisions were driven in no small part by considerations for European sovereignty, in light of a crisis of U.S. reliability."

For Ibram X. Kendi, It’s Nazis All the Way Down: His new book describes the “Great Replacement” theory as a convoluted plot, but fails to explain why it appeals to people in the first place. - "Great Replacement, in Kendi's widening definition, starts to encompass so many disparate examples that it loses its explanatory power. Is Canada's conservative politician Pierre Poilievre a 'great replacement leader'? Kendi's logic for including him is largely based on the fact that Poilievre spoke to the concerns of those 2022 trucker protesters who were responding to COVID lockdowns by demanding a return of their 'freedoms.' He was addressing constituent complaints about business closures and school lockdowns, which is what all sorts of politicians did. El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, makes it onto the board because of his harsh crackdown on gangs, though crime was genuinely an acute problem in the country and most Salvadorans were very happy to see him attack it. He has weakened democratic institutions and countenanced claims of torture and other abuses, but I'm not sure this puts him ideologically in league with Orbán and Le Pen."

Progressive Activists Are Sometimes on the Wrong Side of History: Thinking otherwise can enable the left’s worst instincts, as a speech at the University of Michigan’s commencement showed. - "Concern and empathy for Palestinian suffering and anger at Israel's excessive counterattack are admirable, but the movement's ambition is not limited to that. Michigan's pro-Palestine activism is primarily organized by Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, which is the local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a national network. Both the national group and its Michigan chapter have endorsed the October 7, 2023, attacks. Adult progressives' insistence on viewing their activities as mere youthful idealism makes it impossible to question those positions."

Judicial Supremacy Has Arrived: Last week’s Supreme Court decision didn’t just undermine the Voting Rights Act. It foreclosed the possibility of any new Voting Rights Act in the future, too. - "Shelby County and Brnovich were damaging, but their effects on representation are more marginal-affecting voters' ability to participate, but at levels that could still have been overcome electorally, at least in most races. Callais is different in kind. In the near term, majority-minority districts across the South will evaporate. Over successive redistricting cycles, the result will likely be the most significant contraction of Black congressional representation since the end of Reconstruction, potentially the most precipitous fall in American history, a contraction that would have seemed, not long ago, unthinkable.

...

"But Callais reaches something deeper, about constitutional democracy itself: about whether the Constitution, the law of laws, means what elected branches say it means, and whether those elected branches can act on that meaning. The Court has declared that the branch of government most accountable to the people cannot legislate its way toward a more inclusive democracy."

Reading archive 2026-05-05

With gas prices so high, how much will you actually save with an EV?: Gas prices are expected to remain high because of the Iran war, increasing the cost advantages of switching to electric vehicles over gas-powered cars.

Multiple D.C. Police Leaders Face Termination Over Crime Data Manipulation

Indie music has been invaded by fake fans and cynical viral campaigns​. Here’s how deep it all goes

They thought their disabled daughter was safe. A pregnancy revealed her rape.: She’s blind and can barely speak, and her family is suing her group home, caregivers and state agencies. “The whole system failed Kamryn,” her mother says.

5 things mosquito experts do every summer to avoid getting bitten: Looking for pest prevention strategies that work? Researchers share how they prevent mosquito bites and keep the bugs at bay on their properties.

U.S. mission to reopen Strait of Hormuz will be temporary, Hegseth says: The defense secretary says the ceasefire holds despite Iranian attacks on U.S. forces. He said the United States would call on allies to take over the mission to reopen the waterway.

For a Time, the U.S. Protected Democracy: A requiem for the Voting Rights Act - "Like previous VRA-related decisions, Callais was 'narrow,' in that it did not strike down the law itself. But although the edifice built at great expense-by Fannie Lou Hamer, by John Lewis, by the bloodied limbs of Mississippi sharecroppers and Alabama marchers-has not been entirely bulldozed, only the facade remains. The VRA has not been dealt a "blow"; the decision did not merely defang it. The law is dead, and no matter what happens in the coming elections, politics in America has been forever changed. For most of the nation's history, the former Confederate states have worked hard to minimize the political influence of Black residents in particular. Now they have full cover to do so again."

Europe Without America: The Iran war has given European leaders new impetus to plan for self-defense. - "The Trump administration didn't bother making specific requests of its European allies for the war against Iran. Instead, each day brought new, conflicting signals. At first, the message was that the United States and Israel could handle it. Then Trump lashed out on social media, saying that allies 'should have been there.' But the Trump administration never told key European partners what specifically it wanted from them in Iran, multiple European officials told me. The Pentagon spokesperson told me that the administration 'has been consistently and repeatedly clear about the demand signal to allies to contribute to addressing a threat that affects Europe as much as America and our Middle East allies. The notion that the Department did not convey these requests widely and clearly is demonstrably false.'"

Why Stocks Keep Going Up: The boom is not as untethered from reality as it may look.

The One Tax the Rich Can’t Escape: New York’s proposed pied-à-terre tax is unlikely to chase anyone away. - "There is also a harder truth underneath the political rhetoric. Blue cities cannot keep taxing their way out of their budget problems. The differentials between high-tax and low-tax states are now too large, and the mobility of the rich too real, for that playbook to keep working. Cities like New York have to get serious about the cost side of their budgets-about efficiency, productivity, and what they spend. The revenue side alone cannot close the gap. A pied-à-terre tax is a useful tool if it is used smartly, but it is not a substitute for running the city well.

"None of this means the idea of taxing the rich is wrong. The inequality that has built up in this country has reached levels that are corrosive to the economy and to the fabric of our cities. But income taxes and wealth taxes cannot do the job at the city or state level. They have to be levied at the national level, where there is no state line to cross. Local governments should tax what cannot move, which means fixed assets and real estate above all. A pied-à-terre tax is one version of that idea, and there are others. For cities like New York, the lesson is straightforward. Stop trying to tax what the rich can carry with them, and start taxing what they want to keep."

The End of Cigarettes Is Coming The U.K. is phasing out smoking.: How long will Americans tolerate tobacco—and other vices?

The Iran War’s Ramifications Have Only Just Begun: U.S. goals haven’t been met, but the war will cause long-term disruptions.

Micah Lasher, Child Magician The race for New York’s Twelfth District keeps getting more interesting.

Making America’s Houses Bigger May Have Been a Mistake: Millennials are abandoning the idea of living in a giant home.

All the Sad Young Chinese Professionals: China’s urbanites are learning the price of prosperity.

She dreamed of a natural birth in Mexico. Now, she believes she was drugged.: In a complaint filed with Mexican prosecutors, Jennifer Nosek alleges that her midwife, Heather Baker, caused her baby’s death.

She dreamed of a natural birth in Mexico. Now, she believes she was drugged.: In a complaint filed with Mexican prosecutors, Jennifer Nosek alleges that her midwife, Heather Baker, caused her baby’s death. - "The couple also allege that after their son’s death, Baker [the midwife] urged them not to tell the police that she was a midwife or that they’d paid her but to identify her only as a friend. Lemos [the father], worried that an open investigation would delay the release of their son’s body, agreed. There was no autopsy, and the baby’s death certificate says he died of perinatal asphyxia, a condition in which a fetus or infant fails to get enough oxygen."

Reading archive 2026-05-03

Why America’s best fighter jets are being made with deadweight: China has a near monopoly on metal critical to modern warfare. - "More than 300 new F-35 fighter jets are reportedly being delivered without their next-generation radars. Instead, they are leaving the factory with ballast weights in their nose cones — deadweight placeholders for a device the United States cannot currently source at scale."

He spent 60 years building Black political power. He sees a wipeout coming.: Press Robinson was the first member of his family to vote and the first Black person to win a seat on the Baton Rouge school board. He thinks a Supreme Court ruling will erase political gains African Americans have made across the South.

Reading archive 2026-04-28

Researchers say remote Lake Superior island’s wolves are thriving as packs prey on moose

Clean energy pushes fossil-fuel power into reverse for ‘first time ever’

An AI trained on 13,000 virtual worlds just projected our renewable energy future: It beat the International Energy Agency's forecasts—and it says 2°C is still on the table

Why Trump’s ballroom can’t host the White House correspondents’ dinner: The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is an independent celebration of press freedoms. - "Let us also note the irony that the current president has barred Associated Press reporters from White House events and that his Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, threatens the independence of television journalists with metronomic regularity. But now Trump wants to host at the White House a dinner supposedly celebrating the press’s freedom from government coercion."

Ukraine took Russia’s best punch. It wants to teach Europe what it learned.: The country’s fighters gave the continent's defense chiefs a blunt message: You forgot how to fight. We can help.

A Trump-branded nuclear power project thrilled investors. Then came the crash.: Corporate drama and a stock plummet at Fermi America are raising questions about the sustainability of the wider artificial intelligence boom.

UAE to leave OPEC amid Hormuz oil crisis, a blow to Saudi Arabia: The departure weakens the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, long criticized by Trump, as the global economy reels from the Iran war energy shock.

MAHA’s Perfect Villain: Glyphosate highlights the movement’s horseshoe politics and has nothing to do with vaccines.

The Age of American Caesarism: The legal right spent decades empowering the presidency. Now it must reckon with the system it helped create. [ed. note: a conservative attempts and fails to reckon honestly about how the conservative legal movement endangers the republic]

The Pentagon May Not Be Telling Trump the Full Picture About the War: Vice President Vance is worried that the U.S. is running low on weapons. - "Pentagon leaders' positive portrayals present an incomplete picture at best, people familiar with intelligence assessments told us. According to those internal estimates, Iran retains two-thirds of its air force, the bulk of its missile-launching capability, and most of its small, fast boats, which can lay mines and harass traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. At least in terms of resuming stalled maritime commerce, 'those are the real threat,' one person told us."

Reading archive 2026-04-17 pt 1

A New Kind of Hybrid Car Is About to Hit America’s Streets: The car industry says it has an answer for drivers wary of going electric.

If your heart stopped right now, would a stranger save you? It depends on your sex.: Why women are less likely to receive CPR—and less likely to survive

DC Mayor extends juvenile curfew citing weeks of disorderly behavior, violence: The curfew zones were put in place in response to "teen takeovers," large gatherings of kids and teenagers promoted on social media.

D.C. police lieutenant charged with seeking to have sex with a minor: Matthew Mahl, a D.C. police lieutenant, allegedly exchanged sexually explicit text messages with a Maryland detective pretending to be a 15-year-old boy.

How to save money on tree work and still get good results: Even healthy trees need a little branch management from time to time.

Iran says Strait of Hormuz is now open amid push to end war: President Trump welcomed the announcement, but U.S. officials said the naval blockade on vessels leaving from and going to Iranian ports remains in effect.

Nothing ever dies. It merely becomes embarrassing.: OR: the Halo theory of science - "The secret sauce of science is supposed to be falsifiability: it ain’t science unless you can kill it. If I claim that all swans are white, and you show up with a black swan, then I’m supposed to bid a tearful goodbye to my theory and send it to that big farm upstate where it can frolic and play with all the other failed hypotheses. 

"Falsification sounds straightforward until you actually try it. You show up with your black swan, and instead of admitting defeat, I go, 'Hmm, well is it really black? Is it actually a swan? Seems more like a dusky-looking duck to me!' And we publish dueling papers until the end of our days.

...

"This is the situation we appear to be in with many theories in psychology. We can’t say whether they’re 'real' or not. Somewhere out there, the Spartans may live on. But if we’ve been studying something for decades and people look at all the evidence and they still doubt whether it exists at all, we have to admit: that’s cringe. 

"Cringe doesn’t mean wrong! Continental drift was cringe.2 Germ theory was cringe.3 Smallpox vaccination was cringe.4 All of them went from mortifying to undeniable. Maybe truly revolutionary theories must follow that trajectory. If a scientific idea is young and it’s not cringe, it probably has no promise. But if it’s old and it’s still cringe, it probably has no merit."

Another Energy Crisis Is Here. This Time, the Way Out Is Different. - "This is the first energy shock where clean energy is not a moral or long‑term bet, but the cheapest and fastest way for low‑ and middle‑income countries to protect macroeconomic stability, food security, and fiscal space."

This is the scariest question about Putin — and Trump: The Russian president's back is to the wall. That makes him more dangerous.

A Pillar of the Economics Establishment Admits That It Was Wrong: In a new report, the World Bank thinks better of its old free-market absolutism. - "In this context, the World Bank's implicit message to the rest of the world appears to be: Yes, industrial policy can work if done correctly. But please, for the love of God, don't do what America is doing."

Trump Voters Are Over It: A shocking number of the president’s supporters have turned against him.

The DNA Fix for Aging: Everyone’s DNA keeps mutating. Could correcting those errors lead to longevity?

The Quiet Way Authoritarianism Begins to Crumble: Among the many reasons for Viktor Orbán’s defeat was the rural clubs where citizens relearned democratic habits.

Israel Moderates Are Losing the Democratic Party: Their position has become untenable. But liberal Zionists can adapt. - "The theoretical case for a two-state solution remains as sound as ever. The trouble is that the Palestinian side has rejected repeated attempts by Democratic presidents to bring about the birth of a Palestinian state, and that Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his right-wing coalition do everything they can to subvert such a solution. At some point, supporters of the two-state solution have to take 'no' for an answer. The United States is effectively supporting a one-state solution whose entire strategy rests on an endless cycle of responding to terrorism with military force (a process of periodic attacks that Israel calls 'mowing the lawn') in place of any diplomatic path.

...

"Liberal Zionists can win an intra-Democratic argument against anti-Zionist radicals, but they can't win it while burdened with support for subsidizing settlements and a strategy of endless conflict. The most extreme anti-Zionist activists won't be satisfied with anything short of committing the Democratic Party to Israel's demise. But the most left-wing position in recent Democratic primaries - on Iraq in 2004, on health care in 2016 - has rarely been adopted by the candidate who emerges as the party's eventual nominee."

Reading archive 2026-01-29

How Battlefield Tech Was Used in Minneapolis: Our reporter Thomas Gibbons-Neff, who deployed twice to Afghanistan as a Marine and later was our Kabul bureau chief, looks at the battlefield technology used for an immigration arrest at a home in Minneapolis. [ed. note: video]

The powerful tools in ICE’s arsenal to track suspects — and protesters: Biometric trackers, cellphone location databases and drones are among the surveillance technologies that federal agents are tapping in their deportation campaign. [ed. note: horrifying]

Removal of flags for fallen Danish soldiers at U.S. Embassy sparks backlash: There was no malicious intent in removing the flags, said a State Department spokesperson, who added that the flags had been replaced.

Anthropic Is at War With Itself: The AI company shouting about AI’s dangers can’t quite bring itself to slow down.

If You Tax Them, Will They Leave?: A California wealth-tax proposal makes a high-stakes bet on billionaire psychology.

The Program That’s Turning Schools Around: The key to closing the achievement gap may lie outside the classroom.

Russia’s top diplomat rejects key part of deal to end war with Ukraine: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismisses security guarantees demanded by Ukraine for any deal, once again saying the current regime in Kyiv should end. - "It is precisely the lack of high level officials in the Abu Dhabi talks that show they aren’t serious, said European Union foreign policy head Kaja Kallas, noting that the Russian delegation consisted of military and intelligence officials."

Trump faces fresh MAGA blowback for efforts to ‘de-escalate’ in Minnesota: The president’s response to widespread public dismay over the shooting death of another Minnesotan has put him in a bind with his own base.

Handling of Pretti investigation has some prosecutors on verge of quitting: Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis, frustrated by the response to the shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, have suggested they could resign en masse.

I’ve reported on UFO sightings for decades — and come to this conclusion

What the Neocons Got Right: David Brooks on moral collapse, the limits of politics, and what the neocons got right about America. Plus: Another ICE shooting in Minneapolis and Netflix’s Death by Lightning. - "And so what you have in the Trump administration is people with the same profile as the Dartmouth Review crowd: They went to elite schools, but they hated what they found there. That's Steven Miller, who went to Duke. That's Pete Hegseth, who went to Princeton. That's J. D. Vance, who went to Yale Law. Now, you can go down the list. It's Elon Musk and Donald Trump went to Penn. And so these are not pro-conservative. These are oppositional nihilists who hate the liberal establishment. And I found it easy, when I was saying college, to be more conservative than my professors but still have reverence for their learning. But these people do not have reverence for learning; they just want to offend the bourgeoisie. And so that's what it's become. And then they've produced spawn of young people who just think, That's cool. That's edgy. And of course, you have to up the dosage when you're giving people edgy nihilism - it just has to get worse and worse and worse. And as Richard Weaver, a philosopher from the 1950s, said, The problem with the younger generation is they haven't read the minutes to the last meeting. And so you get a group of people who, when they see fascistic behavior, don't understand where that eventually leads." [edit: also a bit on Reconstructions vs. modernization in the 1880s via Death by Lightning]

A case that lets billionaires spend big on elections never reached Supreme Court: While Citizens United became shorthand for unlimited political spending, a less-recognized campaign finance case made super PACs a reality. - "'SpeechNow, building upon the terrible flaws of Citizens United, has created a road map for billionaires and wealthy special interests to spend unlimited amounts of money to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens,' attorney David Kolker, who unsuccessfully argued the SpeechNow case on behalf of the FEC, told The Washington Post in an interview. 'This distorts our democratic process.'"

Why this Democrat refuses to retaliate against Trump’s GOP redistricting: Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson sank Democrats’ plan to pick up a congressional seat in Maryland, despite the rank-and-file tide seeking an aggressive fight against Trump.

America’s plan to protect pedestrians failed. A young woman’s death reveals why.: U.S. officials encouraged cities to adopt Vision Zero to save lives. Driver opposition and a lack of money derailed it.

The deadliest roads in America: The number of pedestrians killed by vehicles in the United States has surged amid neglect and lack of investment by transportation authorities.

Reading archive 2026-01-21 pt 2

What to know about Syria's main Kurdish-led force and its deal with Damascus after days of clashes: The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces are set to merge into the Syrian army after suffering major setbacks

Trump’s Attack on Democracy Is Faltering: One year into the president’s second term, the country’s institutions and civil society are still checking his authoritarian impulses. - "Trump's malice and incompetence alienates voters, who then publicly voice their discontent, encouraging other political actors and institutions to see him not as a crusading avatar of national destiny but as a weakened figure. The law firms that caved early to Trump have suffered from a loss of talent and business, a development that may encourage other firms to fight back. Many news organizations have continued their aggressive reporting on the administration despite threats to the freedom of the press."

Reading archive 2026-01-13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reading archive 2026-01-08

The Smithsonian Faces New Pressure to Submit to Trump’s Will: The institution, long regarded as independent, is facing a White House deadline to hand over records about its content and will see turnover that could reshape its governing board.

D.C. leaders push back on U.S. DOT proposal to ban city traffic cameras: The proposal could cost D.C. more than $100 million and strike at the heart of traffic safety efforts.

Can AI do your job? See the results from hundreds of tests.: Comparing how AI systems and humans did on real work assignments shows how close tools like ChatGPT really are to taking jobs away from people.

U.S. vows to control Venezuela oil sales ‘indefinitely’: The move comes as officials struggle to persuade U.S. firms to invest in expansive drilling operations there. - "Using taxpayer-funded cash subsidies to incentivize oil companies to pump abroad would be unprecedented, industry analysts say. But the White House faces a steep challenge persuading firms to drill in a politically and economically unstable country that has burned them in the past by expropriating assets worth billions and then leaving U.S.-built oil infrastructure to rot."

The McMansion Got a New Look This Year. Enter: the McModern: The mass-produced version of the American dream is sleeker and more private than ever - "Whatever does make the cut determines the building’s massing. 'If you look at McMansions, the form follows the function, and the function is the accumulation of amenities,' says Wagner. 'It’s the interiorization of the city into a single building.' Amenity proliferation represents a more extreme definition of contemporary luxury living, she adds. 'The mindset of the rich in America is that they have no obligation to social life,' Wagner says. In other words, they want to create a space where everything is at their fingertips and there’s no need for them to mix with the outside world.

"This 'castle doctrine,' Wagner calls it, finds its roots further back in history, as does the showiness of the mass, scale, amenities, and views offered by McModerns. At the front, these homes are screened for privacy with plants or behind gates. 'After a maze of gardens or pathways, when you finally step into the entrance and foyer, you want the money shot,' says Ippolito. Once inside, 'you want to design glimpses of it through all the windows as you pass the house.'"

Why is crime plummeting in the most liberal places in the world?: Plus: less has changed than people expected in 1998, falling American death rates, and more

Eleanor Holmes Norton’s longtime staffer to run for her seat in Congress: Trent Holbrook, who most recently was the congresswoman’s senior legislative counsel, joins a crowded field hoping to serve as D.C.’s nonvoting delegate.

Why D.C.’s next council member will be chosen by lawmakers, not voters: In an unprecedented situation, the D.C. Council will select an interim member to serve until a special election is held. How exactly to proceed is causing infighting. - "Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (I-At Large) resigned from the council effective Monday to set up a mayoral run. D.C. law says it is up to the council to select an interim replacement, but the law is vague on exactly how lawmakers should go about choosing their new colleague."

Five years after Jan. 6, officers describe the toll of defending the Capitol: In his first day in office, Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 people in the Jan. 6th Capitol riot. The country has moved on, but for some the day still looms large.

Senate passes bill to block further military action in Venezuela: Though largely symbolic, the vote was a rare assertion of Congress’s role in using lethal force after the stunning raid to capture Nicolás Maduro.

Tony Dokoupil Eats Heaps Of Shit In First Week As CBS News Anchor - "The key to Weiss's professional success has always been her self-absorption, her ability to convince herself, and those in positions of wealth and influence, that her own strange perspective is the dominant one."

Pardon my coup: Accurate political journalism requires a bias toward democracy - "Donald Trump and his supporters do not believe in the fundamental aspect of democracy: the legitimacy of the opposition. Members of the MAGA tribe are authoritarian in their wielding of power. They have a weak, at best, commitment to free speech and expression. They believe in the unrestricted use of military power. And their leader is a liar and a cheater who has teased countless times to remain in power beyond his last term in office."

The Military Isn’t MAGA: The Trump administration attempts to silence veterans. - "When criticizing the leader becomes a crime, being a criminal becomes an obligation."

The Giant, Voracious Sea Lions That Humans Cannot Stop: Killing the protected animals may be the only way to stop them from eating too many of the Pacific Northwest’s endangered salmon.

The Friend-Group Fallacy: Many people yearn for a crew, but having one is not actually the norm.

Reading archive 2025-10-31

As Hong Kong waged shadow war in Britain, ex-Royal Marine became a casualty: U.K. officials have tracked what they describe as an escalating campaign of surveillance and intimidation against Hong Kong exiles living in Britain.

He’s cleared 35,000 pounds of trash from Miami’s mangroves and isn’t done yet

Judge says she’ll likely order Trump administration to send SNAP funds to states: The move could keep food assistance flowing despite the federal government shutdown.

D.C. police chief wants to make juvenile curfew zone policy permanent: Lawmakers declined to extend the temporary measure enacted in the summer because, they said, the public hadn’t weighed in.

Teen charged with killing girlfriend, shooting congressional intern: Naqwan Lucas, 18, is the third teen arrested in the slaying of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym on a D.C. sidewalk this summer.

Trump now plays by China’s rules: The U.S. wins through openness and innovation, not tariffs and centralized planning. - "President Donald Trump loves playing by China Rules. He seems to admire Xi Jinping’s power — personal, discretionary, centralized. In his second term he has threatened blanket tariffs, personally intervened in the semiconductor supply chain, demanded a government stake in Intel, carved out special permissions for selling Nvidia chips in China (while taking a 15 percent cut for the U.S.) and acted as the banker on TikTok’s sale."

Presidential power and the Supreme Court’s own stature ride on this case: The momentous tariffs case will undermine or buttress the Constitution’s separation of powers.

Ohio approves new House map giving Republicans a leg up in two more seats: The new map received rare bipartisan agreement because Republicans who control the state legislature did not want to risk an election challenge from Democrats.

As U.S. ramps up the pressure, Venezuela pleads with Moscow, Beijing for help: Documents show Maduro drafted letter asking Russia for missiles, radars and upgraded aircraft as U.S. forces amass in the Caribbean.

In Trump’s GOP, the once-mighty tea party is hard to find: Since the movement upended politics 15 years ago, Republicans have moved in a sharply different direction under MAGA — with many tea party veterans along for the ride. - "'We feared government tyranny. We feared a strong executive. We feared oppressive government, any president who would take a flamethrower to the Constitution,' said former congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois, a tea party Republican who has since become a podcaster and anti-Trump Democrat. 'Now, the very thing we feared is in office.'"

Reading archive 2025-10-22

Health insurance sticker shock begins as shutdown battle over subsidies rages: Many states have shown rising premiums ahead of open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans. Congress is deadlocked over extending covid-era subsidies that bring costs down.

Trump is creating two classes of federal workers: Paid and unpaid: Within the same agencies, some employees are drawing their salaries during the shutdown, and others are working without pay. - "Where and how the administration is finding money for those salaries — and whether the maneuver is legal — remains unclear, experts said.

...

"At the FBI, for example, special agents are getting paid, but translators, some attorneys and support staffers are not. The FBI Agents Association wrote in a statement that this is a shortsighted strategy."

How Obama maneuvered behind the scenes to fight Trump on redistricting: The ex-president’s involvement reflects the deep anxieties he has about Trump’s agenda and has propelled him into a more political, public-facing role than he envisioned.

Reading archive 2025-10-07

Tesla said it didn’t have key data in a fatal crash. Then a hacker found it.: The critical evidence was presented last month to a jury, which found the company partially liable for the 2019 crash in Key Largo, Florida.

The Taliban are reaching out — and some countries are responding: Anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe, concerns about militancy in Asia and acceptance that the Taliban regime is unlikely to collapse soon present a diplomatic opening.

His wife was dying, his federal job crumbling. It tested his faith — in God and Trump.: One federal worker was rejected three times from the administration’s early resignation offer. Would he blame the president he voted for? - "Brandon hit pause. Trump’s treatment of the federal workforce was clearly an error, he thought. The president had delegated authority to bad people, especially Musk and the young engineers running DOGE, who didn’t understand or care about the government and the people who made it function. But Trump had a lot to manage, Brandon thought. He probably didn’t know about everything Musk and DOGE were doing." [ed. note: "If the fuhrer knew!", or naive monarchism]

‘I escaped a Russian prison — only to end up in an American jail’: Dozens of Russian dissidents have been expelled from the US and forcibly returned to Russia with the co-operation of immigration authorities - "When the dissidents arrived in Russia, the Russian authorities were given documents relating to their asylum applications in the US. Those dossiers, outlining their political beliefs and criticisms of Putin, could be used to prosecute them back home, campaigners believe."

The Anti-Trump Strategy That’s Actually Working: Lawsuits, lawsuits, and more lawsuits

Ukraine’s Most Lethal Soldiers: From the front lines in Kherson, with a unit that kills Russians for points

Judge in Comey case is known for sparing but powerful remarks in court: U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff, a former public defender nominated by President Joe Biden, has a reputation as a measured jurist.

To defeat the Texas gerrymander, Democrats need to go nuclear: It’s not enough for blue states to redraw their maps. Leaders need to hit the GOP where it hurts most.

It’s Time for Soft Secession: How blue states can use their economic clout to stand up to Trump’s agenda—starting with California. - "As my colleague Ari Berman has noted: 'In 1790, the country’s most populous state, Virginia, had 12 times as many people as its least populous, Delaware. Today, California has 67 times the population of Wyoming. Fifteen small states with 41 million people combined now routinely elect 30 GOP senators; California, with 39 million residents, is represented by only two Democrats.'

...

"Blue states could lure away techies, doctors, nurses, and electricians with relocation bonuses. We could institute tax and other incentives to pull new factories and data centers away from red states. We could selectively terminate professional licensing reciprocity. We could ease commerce between friendly states and make it difficult for unfriendly ones."

Eventually You're Going to Have to Stand for Something: On accepting the fascist offer and being better than Ezra. - "Klein has demonstrated his commitment to open discourse and public debate; first by having prominent hatemonger Ben Shapiro (friendship status uncertain) on to his podcast to chat for a couple hours about the need for unity; next, by having on his friend Ta-Nehisi Coates—who has written an excellent piece criticizing Ezra's Kirk piece—so Klein could talk at Coates for an hour about how we need to be practical to regain power, and how those practicalities are going to have to come at the expense of the humanity of some of our neighbors, and how having historical conversations about who in fact has been killing who is all a little too much of a downer. The fact of interview with Shapiro and the content of the interview with Coates exposed Klein's moral emptiness in ways that he should find deeply embarrassing.

...

"This is the grain of sand at the center of the pearl of my ire, because 'we are going to have to live here with each other' is the exact premise that Republicans do not agree with any of us about, and while Klein in his remarks pays lip service to some of the recent proofs of this clear fact, his analysis of what to do about it he excises this reality entirely. In his mind, he and Kirk were just two guys, both trying to change the country for what they thought was good. It's a bond. Never mind that what Kirk thought was good was the American military in the streets of Chicago, and mass kidnapping in service of a white ethnostate, and the end of bodily autonomy for women and queer people, and so forth. In the Klein world, moral clarity about abuse is polarizing, and polarization, not abuse, is the problem to solve.

Should you brush your teeth before or after breakfast? What experts say.: There are pros and cons for both.

Three people found fatally shot in D.C. in three days: Three youths, one with a gun, took a moped in broad daylight on Capitol Hill.

Federal workers not entitled to back pay after shutdown, budget office claims: The government shutdown entered its seventh day Wednesday with no end in sight. The White House says a 2019 law doesn’t guarantee retroactive pay.

D.C. teacher aide on leave after allegedly putting hot sauce in autistic boy’s mouth: A D.C. teacher aide has been placed on leave after allegedly putting hot sauce in the mouth of a nonverbal autistic student.

Country singer Zach Bryan warns ICE will ‘bust down your door’ in new song: Bryan, a Grammy winner, upset some right-wing fans when he appeared to criticize U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a teaser of a new song.

Reading archive 2025-09-17

A seamlessly unserious president: Damage from Trump’s protectionism mounts domestically as danger abroad rises. - "Before Alaska, Trump threatened Russia with 'very severe consequences' unless it took certain steps toward a Ukraine settlement. When Russia took none of them, and suffered no consequences, Trump emitted another gust of bluster: He would put a recalcitrant Russia in a 'rough situation.' It is probable that Putin yawned when, last Friday, Trump said his patience was 'running out fast” and 'we’re going to have to come down very, very strong.'"

The GOP cut parts of Obamacare. Now it’s at the center of a funding fight.: Democrats are asking for restored health care subsidies and funding in exchange for their support, but Republicans are daring them to risk a shutdown over the issue.

D.C. police shoot, kill man they say ran at them while holding knives: The man’s parents called officers to their Northwest Washington home. Police said the man was acting “erratic.”

D.C.’s $3.7 billion Commanders stadium deal to face final vote today: The D.C. Council is debating potential adjustments to the massive plan to redevelop the old RFK Stadium site, some of which the Commanders expressed “deep concern” about.

Warming your feet can be as effective as sleep aids for faster sleep: Your new mantra: Heat your feet to get better sleep.

‘More Hawkish Than When I Arrived’: A View From Inside China - "Second, 'our allies are our superpower,' Burns said. This is America's decisive asymmetric advantage. China has 14 neighbors and no treaty allies, save one with North Korea. The U.S. has a formidable network of powerful democracies in the Indo-Pacific and Europe who share its concerns. 

"As Burns noted, when the U.S. adds the power of its alliance system to its own, America is 'significantly more powerful' than China. Antagonizing friends in Japan, South Korea, or Europe with punitive tariffs isn't tough—it's a 'strategic mistake,' as Burns put it, that weakens the U.S.’s hand against its primary competitor."

Four Bipartisan Efforts That Could Become Law: Checking in on across-the-aisle legislating.

The real enemy of democracy sneaked up on me: I used to be a cautious optimist, but social media has changed our politics for the worse.

Anti-Trump influencers flood the White House’s new TikTok account: The rocky rollout of the president’s official presence on the social platform showcases the challenges he faces among younger people online, even as he says he’s nearing a deal to get it sold to U.S. owners.

Bill Cassidy cast the key vote for RFK Jr. What is he thinking now?: The GOP senator has invited Susan Monarez, the former CDC director, to testify on Wednesday about her concerns that Kennedy is threatening vaccine access in America.

Britain and France’s debt crises are bad. America’s will be worse.: Washington’s fiscal failings mirror Europe’s economic mess. - "America’s economy, workforce and tax code are not equipped to finance the expanding Social Security and Medicare shortfalls. France and Britain are at least debating solutions. The U.S. continues to slash taxes, add benefits and ignore unfathomable budget deficits. Yet the laws of math and economics always win eventually, and Americans are dangerously ill-prepared for what is coming."

Reading archive 2025-08-21

Israeli government official arrested in Nevada in internet crimes against children sting Tom Artiom Alexandrovich was released and returned to Israel after being charged with luring a child for a sex act

Is the U.S. Ready for the Next War?: With global conflicts increasingly shaped by drones and A.I., the American military risks losing its dominance.

There is no ‘Trump doctrine’ in foreign policy. Just chaos

Republicans want to rig the midterm elections. Will they succeed?

A Right-Wing Influencer Tried to Be a Tradwife. It Almost Broke Her.

US Attorney Pirro's office admits grand jury refused ICE interference charges — twice: Federal prosecutors told a judge they had failed twice to secure an indictment against Sidney Lori Reid for allegedly assaulting an FBI agent during an ICE arrest.

Factories from GE to Kraft Heinz lose immigrant workers, stressing those who remain

Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer to a ‘country club’ prison is outrageous

Trump says he has ‘solved’ 7 conflicts. Here’s what to know about them.: As Trump pushes for a peace deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he says he has ended a growing list of conflicts. In some of them, his role remains contested.

Limits of Trump’s diplomacy clear as Moscow balks at Ukraine plan: Moscow has resisted a Putin-Zelensky summit and security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump claims that the Kremlin’s position has changed, leaving analysts puzzled. - "'Some still imagine that, in exchange for land, the Kremlin might accept security guarantees for Ukraine, tolerate the presence of peacekeepers, or even acquiesce to the continued arming of Kyiv,' [Boris Bondarev, a former senior Russian diplomat who resigned over Putin’s Ukraine invasion] wrote. 'This is fantasy. It will not happen.'"

PorNO! How age verification exposed the power of friction in the internet age: Introducing Scrappy theory, a convoluted bastardisation of nudge theory - "The success of this approach reminded me of nudge theory. Without banning porn, the policy initiative has significantly reduced access. Over time, this ought to constrain the industry. But rather than nudging users towards preferred behaviour, this legislation has created a friction that disinclines them from exhibiting non-preferred behaviours. It reminds me of Scrappy-Doo, perpetually imploring the gang to 'lemme at ‘em!', yet constantly being held back. Like Scrappy, feeling the finger on his collar as he raises his fists, British pornophiles have been restricted from destructive behaviours because the incentive to do action A (visit PornHub) is offset by the deterrent of action B (create PornHub account)."

MAGA erupts after Israeli official charged in child sex ring flees U.S.

Reading archive 2025-08-06

Why one epidemiologist won’t let his kids play on artificial turf fields: A turf war is raging over artificial grass. Here’s how nervous parents can navigate it.

Data from Calif. and D.C. shows how minimum-wage hikes can hurt: Recent experience underscores the perils of raising minimum wage above what the market can bear.

Reject the Commanders stadium deal: Even after tweaks, the deal still amounts to corporate welfare that the NFL team and its billionaire owner do not need. - "Even if the Commanders were to pull out of the deal, residents might be better-off. A separate report from the council’s budget office — written before the deal was revised — compared tax revenue from mixed-use development of the RFK site with and without the stadium. It projected that, over the course of 30 years, the site would generate about $1 billion more in revenue and $1.4 billion more in economic activity without the stadium."

Bowser needs a reality check on the D.C. stadium: City politicians and the team are promising growth on a scale that football stadiums don’t generate.

Texas election map fight swells into national political warfare: The battle over Republicans’ push to create more safe red U.S. House seats seats has widened, with red and blue states moving to counteract each other and ambitious politicians vowing aggressive partisan combat.

Reading archive 2025-08-05

D.C.’s Zoning Commission approves developer’s reworked McMillan site plan Jair Lynch’s plan to scale back the size of a grocery store in the new Reservoir District neighborhood is given the green light.

Momentum builds toward Netanyahu’s plan to occupy all of Gaza: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to discuss the move with top defense officials today, and Defense Minister Israel Katz is promising to “professionally implement” whatever the government decides.

Scientists say they’ve solved the mystery of starfish that turn to goo: Sea star wasting disease has killed billions of starfish and destroyed kelp ecosystems. In a study published Monday, researchers say they found the culprit.

One gene reveals clues to why humans thrived and Neanderthals didn’t: Humans and Neanderthals are virtually identical at the genetic level. Scientists are probing the differences to understand why we are here, and they aren’t.

Woman who ran over children in crosswalk on their way to school given 4 months: The judge in the case called the punishment ‘woefully inadequate.’

China is winning the trade war Trump started: On many fronts, Trump is inadvertently aiding China’s anti-American dictatorship. - "The countries that have done trade deals with Trump can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that their situation could be much worse. But Trump’s bullying is leaving hard feelings in its wake. One former Japanese trade official called the U.S. deal “humiliating,” while a Japanese economist called it 'completely unacceptable for Japan.' That’s an odd way to treat allies that the United States needs to contain China."

The AI spending boom could have real consequences for the U.S. economy: As revisions to U.S. jobs numbers call into question economic growth, Big Tech is becoming an even more important part of American prosperity.

This isn’t the same Democratic Party as Trump’s first term: Polls show a base of voters who are growing more liberal and less trusting of leaders in both parties.

D.C. area is feeling toll of federal spending cuts. These charts show how.: Amid signs of a broader economic slowdown, unemployment is up, spending is slowing and signs of strain are emerging across key sectors that once helped prop up the national capital region.

Latino GOP lawmakers voice worry about Trump’s mass deportation campaign: They expressed fears that the inroads Trump and the GOP made with Latino voters in 2024 could erode.

Smithsonian to restore Trump to impeachment exhibit ‘in the coming weeks’: A placard referring to Trump’s two impeachments was removed from the National Museum of American History in July, after the Smithsonian agreed to perform a “content review.”

Reeling over alleged child sex ring, Alabama community asks: ‘Did no one know?’: At prayer meetings and other gatherings, Bibb County residents have grappled with the realization that horrific crimes may have been happening in their town.

The simple way Democrats should talk about Trump and Epstein

Texas Democrats decamp to Illinois to deny Republicans a quorum on redistricting: In response, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to try to remove the Democrats from the state Legislature and said some of them may even be "felons."

Supreme Court tees up Louisiana redistricting case that could undercut Voting Rights Act

The Billionaire Behind Mysterious Immigration Ads Targeting Miami Republicans: “Deporting immigrants is cruel,” some of the ads against Cuban Americans in Congress read. Michael B. Fernández wanted to “wake up” Miami’s conscience.

Sneaking Into the Spy Museum’s New Vault

Reading archive 2025-07-31

Musk ordered shutdown of Starlink satellite service as Ukraine retook territory from Russia: Soldiers panicked and drones surveilling Russian forces went dark.

Notes on Spite: (With apologies to Susan Sontag)

The Post exposed this farmer’s struggle. Then the USDA called.: JJ Ficken signed up for a federal grant along with 140 other farmers across the country. In January, Trump froze the funding, upending many of their lives.

The Rich Are Not Like You and Me: That's a problem for social science. And more importantly for us - "The Trump administration is defending the US based tech economy and looking to extend it as a tool of power and influence. The tech owner class is increasingly willing to return the favor, and the idiosyncrasies of all involved are reshaping world politics."