Showing posts with label evolution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evolution. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Reading archive 2026-06-30

The all-natural way to fix the Reflecting Pool: Enlisting nature to help clean up the algae would be more patriotic than tossing in chemicals. - "I’ll be crystal clear: I don’t know if this approach would work. What I do know is that the current strategy has not survived contact with reality, and unless we try something different, we will fail, over and over again. 

"The United States isn’t known for learning quickly from its mistakes. There’s an apocryphal line from Winston Churchill that Americans will always do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else."

Iran’s leverage over Strait of Hormuz snarls Trump’s push for a deal: The U.S. president is set on bringing gas prices down and reaching a nuclear deal, but Iran has little incentive to cede its newfound power to control shipping traffic.

As war stalls, Putin concedes he never cut a deal with Trump in Alaska: Putin just admitted the Anchorage summit didn’t yield a plan to end the war in Ukraine — perhaps because he needs a real deal now.

Trump is using a $500M no-bid contract to build his White House ballroom: The secret agreement was routed through a White House office that typically handles repairs and furnishings and is exempt from competitive bidding requirements.

American agriculture is broken: Fixing it will require much more than the new farm bill can deliver - "Cheap cash crop exports also carry economic risk, as witnessed by China’s plummeting purchases of US soyabeans amid a trade war. The idea that the US should continue to spend billions of dollars bailing out farmers who are still being incentivised to keep producing a crop that their largest buyer no longer wants (China is actively moving towards more food independence) makes zero sense."

A Watergate Every Week J. D.: Vance contends that the scandal would be “a 12-hour news story” today. He’s probably correct, but the lesson isn’t what he claims.

A Long-Standing Theory of Childbirth Is a Myth: Delivering a human baby is not uniquely difficult.

Friday, February 27, 2026

Reading archive 2026-02-27

What Is Palantir? An FAQ.: The Peter Thiel–founded, ‘Lord of the Rings’–inspired company has a massive government presence and is seemingly always at the center of controversy. So, uh … why does hardly anyone know what it does? - "Born in Germany and raised partly in South Africa, Thiel was one of Trump’s earliest boosters in Silicon Valley and has been one of Silicon Valley’s biggest Republican donors. Politically, Thiel is often described as a libertarian, which is an interesting conclusion to draw about a guy whose work has consistently had the effect of enhancing state power and who once famously said, 'I no longer believe freedom and democracy are compatible.' There’s a sort of übermensch libertarianism that you often encounter in narcissists who see themselves as Ayn Rand protagonists; full of elevated ideas about their own grand destinies, they believe they themselves should live in unconstrained freedom, but they don’t really care if their housekeepers do. (Generally, they seem pretty happy with any hierarchy that places other people beneath them, which is not how libertarianism is supposed to work.) Maybe Thiel is that sort of libertarian? I wouldn’t know."

Trump, seeking executive power over elections, is urged to declare emergency: Activists who say they are in coordination with the White House are circulating a draft executive order that would unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting.

What Your DNA Reveals About the Sex Life of Neanderthals: Most people alive today carry fragments of Neanderthal DNA in their genome. Now scientists are gaining a more intimate understanding of the ancient encounters that put it there.

We’re about to turn night into day. Is that a good idea? - "If Reflect Orbital succeeds — a big 'if' for a company that has yet to launch a single satellite — it would by definition increase light pollution when it illuminates areas that have been in the dark. But Nowack said he can light cities with 'less total photons spilling into the environment than streetlights, with the same illumination level on the ground.' As for its effects on birds and other creatures, he said, 'we’re going to be doing these studies with the first satellites.'" [ed. note: lol that's bullshit]

Families frustrated with airline seating: ‘A 2-year-old should sit with their parents’: Should parents have to pay extra to guarantee an adjacent seat for their toddler?

As MAGA embraces Erika Kirk, Candace Owens goes on the attack: The right-wing influencer launched a video series about Charlie Kirk’s widow that is provoking outrage among conservatives — and raising Owens’s profile.

The hypothetical nuclear attack that escalated the Pentagon’s showdown with Anthropic: Start-up Anthropic and the U.S. military are careening toward a clash over government use of artificial intelligence — and whether it should be allowed to kill.

Why I Got Thrown Out of a Jasmine Crockett Rally: The crowd was fired up. The candidate was on her game. And I was escorted out by armed guards. - "'Are you Elaine?" she asked. I recognized her from the entrance of the event, where I had identified myself as she'd waved me into the building's press area. Yes, I answered. 'Her team has asked you to leave,' she said. When I asked why, the staffer looked at her phone and read dutifully: 'They just said, 'Elaine from Atlantic, white girl with a hat and notepad. She's interviewing people in the crowd. She's a top-notch hater and will spin. She needs to leave.''"

Trump’s Favorite Voter-ID Bill Would Probably Backfire: Congressional Republicans are trying to pass a strict “election integrity” law that seems almost custom-designed to disenfranchise their own supporters. - "Trump beat Kamala Harris among voters who didn't regularly participate in elections. In the low-turnout, off-cycle elections that have happened since then, Democrats have overperformed dramatically, suggesting that their advantage with the most educated, plugged-in voters remains strong. In other words, the politics of voter ID have not caught up to its new partisan implications. Making voting more difficult would most likely hurt Republicans' chances, yet they're pushing hard to make that happen; meanwhile, Democrats, who insist that Trump and a MAGA Congress are existential threats to American democracy, refuse on principle to help Republicans sabotage themselves.

...

"The Democratic analyst David Shor has found that Democrats dominated in 2024 with voters whose political identity was very important to them. If every eligible voter had voted, Shor concluded, Trump would have won by five points instead of one and a half."

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Reading archive 2026-02-04

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Reading archive 2025-09-23 pt 1

The Age of Corporate Capitulation Won’t Work: Donald Trump came for Jimmy Kimmel. Disney folded immediately. It’s not just bad morals. It’s bad business. - "With the exception of Paramount, which was recently sold to an owner aligned with that machine, each of these institutions would have been better served by fighting back. Not only because it was the right thing to do, but because it’s more likely to work. The Trump presidency is built on projecting an air of absolute power, but it’s deceptively weak in many ways. Trump is the most unpopular president of this century. His polling, by any normal standard, is terrible. His coalition of right-wing influencers has fractured over the Epstein files and conspiracy theories linking Israel to Kirk’s killing. Trump is elderly, seemingly in poor health, and increasingly out of touch. His cult of personality is the only thing holding his frayed administration together. 

"This is not, in other words, a regime too powerful to be resisted; it’s only playing one on TV. Speed and the appearance of inevitability are its strongest allies. Anything that slows it down or exposes its limitations is a threat. Any resistance that articulates a case against it openly and publicly is another threat. It can’t risk looking bogged down, looking constrained, or looking like it’s forced to plead a case. The moment that paper-thin perception of invincibility fails, the whole bogus facade becomes in danger of collapse. This is why Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s full-throated assault on Trump’s plan to send federal troops into Chicago seemed to genuinely rattle the administration, which has mostly responded with avoidance. It’s why even the tepid resistance Harvard has offered to Trump’s attempts to force it to submit to him has left it in a stronger position than its more subservient peers."

Threatened by Trump, Canada tries to make up, team up with Mexico: Canadians mused last year about a U.S.-Canada trade deal that cut out Mexico. Prime Minister Mark Carney is visiting President Claudia Sheinbaum to mend ties.

I’m a former creationist. Here’s why ‘follow the science’ failed.: The moment I finally admitted that Darwin was right didn’t feel liberating. It felt like grief.

An exemplary survey of race portends trouble for the Smithsonian: President Donald Trump singled out “The Shape of Power” for criticism, but the show was a success.

One of the rarest birds in the world finds a city sanctuary in Hong Kong

He got an entire country running on clean energy. Can he do it again?: Ramón Méndez Galain helped Uruguay decarbonize its grid in just five years, with 98 percent of its energy coming from renewable sources.

Solar tax credits are ending. Here’s why that could be good for solar.: It could force the industry to address the issues that have made installing solar more expensive in the U.S. than elsewhere in the developed world.

D.C. firefighter shot, says he gave up on 911 and called his own station for help: He survived, with a bullet still in his chest, after others who heard the gunfire called 911 and medics arrived. A 17-year-old suspect has been charged as an adult.

A shutdown would give Trump more power over federal spending: Congress is racing toward a government shutdown deadline, and Democrats worry the White House could have more control over spending either way.

The U.S. promised fliers better passenger rights. What happened?: The Transporation Department has rescinded a proposal to expand compensation for flight cancellations and significant delays.

How a complete stranger tried to steal my dead father’s home: In the midst of my grief, I learned I was also the victim of deed fraud.

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

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

Monday, July 28, 2025

Reading archive 2025-07-28 pt 2

The Sea Slug Defying Biological Orthodoxy: Symbiosis may be more important to evolution than scientists once thought.

The Worst-Kept Secret of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Trump turned a far-right fantasy—ethnic cleansing in Gaza—into U.S. policy. He needs to reject it. - "One of the more poorly kept secrets of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that many of those involved would prefer to take all the land and have the other side disappear. A 2011 poll found that two-thirds of Palestinians believed that their real goal should not be a two-state solution, but rather using that arrangement as a prelude to establishing 'one Palestinian state.' A 2016 survey found that nearly half of Israeli Jews agreed that 'Arabs should be expelled or transferred from Israel.' A poll in 2000, conducted during negotiations toward a two-state solution, found that only 47 percent of Israelis and 10 percent of Palestinians supported a school curriculum that would educate students to 'give up aspirations for parts of the 'homeland' which are in the other state.'"

Tomato Season Is Different This Year Come fall, Americans will once again be stuck with flavorless grocery-store tomatoes. Because of tariffs, they’ll also be more expensive.

Pick tomatoes at color break: Ripening off the vine extends harvest, quality with no taste difference

Why China Won’t Stop the Fentanyl Trade: The opioid that kills tens of thousands of Americans every year has become a source of political leverage that Beijing won’t easily give up. - "From one standpoint, China's actions are easy to understand. Its leadership is behaving as many other rational state actors would exploiting the power it possesses over a strategic competitor. But the grisly truth is that, in this case, China's power derives from mass death. Chinese leaders continue to use American lives to forward their political aims, rather than taking the small steps necessary to save them. That choice is one of the starkest demonstrations that the regime's priority of narrow self-interest over the global good won't be changing anytime soon."

Trump’s Ukraine Policy Deserves a Reassessment: The president is easily caricatured—but there are better ways to explain his choices.

A Democrat for the Trump Era: Jasmine Crockett is testing out the coarse style of politics that the GOP has embraced. - "Through her hearing-room quips and social-media insults, she's become known, at least in MSNBC-watching households, as a leading general in the battle against Trump. The president is aware of this. He has repeatedly called Crockett a 'low-IQ' individual; she has dubbed him a 'buffoon' and 'Putin's hoe.' Perhaps the best-known Crockett clapback came last year during a hearing, after Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia made fun of Crockett's fake eyelashes. Crockett, seeming to relish the moment, leaned into the mic and blasted Greene's 'bleach-blond, bad-built, butch body.' Crockett trademarked the phrase which she now refers to as 'B6' and started selling T-shirts."

When It Feels Good to Root for a Bad Guy: The film Eddington inspires an uncomfortable empathy for its most twisted character.

The Mistake Parents Make With Chores Shooing young children away from the kitchen and the laundry can have a lasting effect.

Monday, September 2, 2024

Reading archive 2024-09-01

Protests escalate in Israel after 6 hostages’ bodies are recovered in Gaza: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli American, and five others Hamas took hostage on Oct. 7 were killed “shortly before” being found, the Israel Defense Forces said.

U.S. plans to present ‘take it or leave it’ Israel-Gaza cease-fire deal soon: Officials hope grim discovery of bodies of six hostages in Gaza will renew urgency for a deal — but say they may walk away if it does not.

Ukraine launches massive drone attack on Russian energy infrastructure: Russia said it downed 158 drones in what appeared to be one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks yet. Fires broke out at energy facilities, including in Moscow. - "Ukraine’s allies have imposed restrictions that prevent it from using many weapons inside Russia, especially for long-range strikes, which Kyiv says would limit Russia’s capacity to carry out attacks on civilians. Ukraine has relied instead on domestically produced drones to strike targets deep inside Russia."

Musk’s Twitter investors have lost billions in value: Elon Musk bought Twitter with a combination of his own money, bank loans and capital raised from friends and associates. Here’s how far his investors are underwater.

Science is rewriting the history of horse domestication: As they spread, horses reshaped ecology, social structures and economies at a never-before-seen scale.

Opinion We escaped from Afghanistan. We landed in Houston. Where are we now?: Reflections on the anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal and a dangerous journey.


Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Reading archive 2024-08-06

This High Schooler Invented an A.I.-Powered Trap That Zaps Invasive Lanternflies: Using solar power, machine learning and her family’s patio umbrella, 18-year-old Selina Zhang created a synthetic tree that lures the destructive species

I Put Up a Fence in Maine. Why Did It Cause Such a Fuss?

Harris chooses Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as VP pick: Walz, who has a record of winning over rural conservative voters, is little-known on the national stage.

EPA takes emergency action to stop use of dangerous pesticide: The pesticide, known as DCPA, is known to harm fetuses and “needs to be removed from the market immediately,” an EPA official said.

How I fed my family for days with food that was bound for the trash: A new generation of apps are rescuing food from the landfills at a fraction of the retail price at restaurants and grocery stores.

Opinion How to harden our defenses against an authoritarian president: A commander in chief with little concern for legal limits holds a big advantage over any lawful effort to restrain him.

Trump keeps attacking their spouses. Top GOPers keep supporting him anyway.: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) is the latest to find a family member in Donald Trump’s crosshairs.

RFK Jr. says he left a dead bear in Central Park as a joke a decade ago: In 2014, New York City authorities were baffled by the appearance of a dead bear cub in the park. Now the presidential candidate says he was responsible.

‘Ultra-cheap energy for every household’: could a different kind of tariff change everything? Rising block tariffs and national energy guarantee systems are almost unknown in Europe – but are flourishing elsewhere - "The idea is simple: the first block of energy, which is calculated to meet essential needs from heating to cooking and lighting, is either given at a reduced rate or free. The cost a unit then rises in additional blocks, meaning wealthier homes with excessive or non-essential consumption pay more."

The future of paper could come from gene-edited trees: Scientists are working to develop a tree that could ease the production of paper, resulting in less energy use and less pollution. - "The result: They cut the lignin content in some of those varieties almost in half. They also were able to boost the concentration of cellulose — the key ingredient in paper production — compared with lignin, making the trees better for pulping. The team published their findings last year in the prestigious journal Science."

I’m an oncologist. Here’s what I do to reduce my own cancer risk.: A recent study estimated that 40 percent of new cancer diagnoses in U.S. adults were due to modifiable factors such as diet and lifestyle.

Secretaries of state urge Musk to fix AI chatbot spreading false election info: Grok, the AI search assistant on Musk’s X platform, suggested that Kamala Harris had missed the ballot deadline in nine states. She hasn’t.

Boys are flocking to gymnastics classes, thanks to pommel horse guy: Representation matters in all forms, especially when an Olympic athlete like Stephen Nedoroscik is so relatable.

With Vance’s elevation, Pennsylvania voters reexamine Trump’s views on women: “Now that you’ve got Kamala in there, you’ve got a whole different ballgame,” one independent Pennsylvania voter said.

Opinion Republicans suddenly love crypto. Americans should beware. The cryptocurrency lobby is lining up behind Donald Trump. Voters should see nothing good in this.

Taiwan is readying citizens for a Chinese invasion. It’s not going well.: The government extended mandatory military service and revamped reservist training in an effort to make Beijing think twice. But it’s already falling short. - "While President Biden has repeatedly said he would send the U.S. military to defend Taiwan, Trump has made no such promises. Asked what he would do in an interview last month, Trump said that Taiwan was “9,500 miles away” and should pay for American defense."

Opinion How the broken immigration system is pushing skilled workers to enter illegally

Ex-GOP congressman Riggleman endorses Harris, rips Trump’s ‘thirst for power’: The former congressman was twice endorsed by Donald Trump but broke with him over Jan. 6.

Opinion  Trump seems to forget it’s not 2016 anymore. And he’s frustrated.: After nine long years, his old way of campaigning just isn’t going to cut it.

JD Vance’s Marine buddies back his service over his politics: Critics call his about-face on Trump an affront to the military’s most basic values. His friends say attacks on his service are out of bounds.

Opinion  The NABJ interview with Trump provides a model for media coverage No other sit-down this cycle has laid bare as much about the candidate. - "The mainstream media now faces a test of sorts. After the June 27 debate, the media spent three weeks flooding the zone with coverage of Biden’s frailty, in effect demanding every Democrat to defend Biden or distance themselves from him, and consulting a host of experts on aging. Failure to deploy similarly exacting treatment of Trump would confirm Democrats’ complaints that there is a bizarre double standard in coverage that allows Trump to escape appropriate scrutiny. It’s long past time to stop using euphemisms and soft-pedaling his bigotry. (As I have noted, the vast majority of outlets also have steered clear of assessing Trump’s mental and emotional state, despite repeated episodes in which his slurred speech, verbal glitches, incoherent ranting, mixing up people and bizarre references are obvious to anyone watching.)"

Why are humans such good distance runners? Science offers an answer.: At Paris Olympics, abundant sweat glands, little body hair, arched soles and spring-like Achilles tendons prime endurance runners to excel. - "We have physical features that are unusual or unknown in the rest of the animal kingdom, including abundant sweat glands, relatively little body hair, arched soles and springlike Achilles tendons. We have an abundance of slow-twitch fibers that are efficient for endurance pursuits. (Fast-twitch muscles are better for sprinting.)"

Opinion  Why not run a team against Trump? Kamala Harris should borrow from the best comic books and get a band together.

Monday, July 29, 2024

Reading archive 2024-07-29

The picture of early-human origins in Africa grows more complex: Researchers say multiple groups of early modern humans intermingled and spread across Africa, not just in small areas in the east and south, before moving to Europe and Asia. 

With Vance’s rocky debut, Republicans ask if Trump’s VP bet will pay off: Sen. JD Vance has had a challenging start as the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee, leaving the Trump campaign to try to clean up his controversial past comments.

How Kamala Harris took control of the Democratic Party: Party officials and campaign aides raced to flip an entire brand from fading hope to salute emojis.

Sanctions crushed Syria’s elite. So they built a zombie economy fueled by drugs.

How India’s warm embrace of Kamala Harris grew chilly: India was excited about Kamala Harris in 2020. Four years later, the reaction to her presidential bid is more complicated.

Maduro declared winner of disputed Venezuelan election: The opposition, which had warned of the potential for fraud, was expected to challenge the result.

How Elon Musk came to endorse Donald Trump: The world’s richest man favored Biden in 2020, but he has since become a vocal Trump supporter.

With Biden out and Harris in, down-ballot Democrats plot 2024 gains: “The additional enthusiasm that the Democrats have shown will obviously help down-ballot races,” GOP political consultant Whit Ayres said. “Whether that will be enough to overcome the other negatives and challenges remains to be seen.”

For Ukrainian diver, 10 meters from water, 1,500 miles from father at war: Oleksii Sereda, 18, is at his second Olympics, but the first since Russian invasion.

They have jobs, but no homes. Inside America’s unseen homelessness crisis.: Homelessness, already at a record high last year, appears to be worsening among people with jobs. - "Many who spoke with The Washington Post said they’re trapped in an impossible position — making too much money to qualify for food stamps and other types of government assistance, but not enough to secure housing."

Inside the powerful Peter Thiel network that anointed JD Vance: A small influential network of right-wing techies orchestrated Vance’s rise in Silicon Valley — and then the GOP. Now the industry stands to gain if he wins the White House.

Justice Dept. settles with ex-FBI officials over leak of anti-Trump texts: Fired FBI agent Peter Strzok will receive $1.2 million, and former bureau lawyer Lisa Page will receive $800,000 to resolve their claims that the Trump administration’s Justice Department violated the Privacy Act.

He finally met his son — then killed the mom and grandmother, a jury found.: Prosecutors argued that Keanan Turner killed Ebony Wright and her mother after Wright filed for custody and child support to help care for their son.

For some District ANC commissioners, a difficult decision to run again: Data from the D.C. Board of Elections shows that as of Friday, 117 out of 345 commissioner seats did not have a single interested candidate.

Amtrak just took over Union Station. What does it mean for riders?: After years in court, Amtrak gained control of Union Station on Monday. Here’s how it’ll affect the station experience.

Far-right in uproar after Israel detains reservists over Gaza detainee abuse: Far-right demonstrators broke into Israel’s Sde Teiman base to protest the detentions of guards.

Paris Olympics organizers sorry for Last Supper at Opening Ceremonies: The tableau included a woman in the role of Jesus and drag queens and gay icons as disciples. It was crashed by a man in blue as Dionysus, the Greek god of revelry.

Biden endorses Supreme Court reforms, amendment to limit immunity: For Biden, who has long resisted calls for Supreme Court reform, the call marks a major shift in his posture toward one of the three branches of government.

Walking the Line: Chinese migration surge tests President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping - "Republican lawmakers say the concerns are more than justified. They point to media reports of at least 100 incidents in recent years in which Chinese nationals were caught or suspected of trying to gain access or information about U.S. military installations.

...

"Likely part of Beijing’s concern, analysts and lawyers say, is the potential for politicized Chinese migrants to become part of dissident communities abroad. 

"'The [Chinese] police told my parents, tell your son not to speak any more or do any protests,' said Zhou Zheng, a recent migrant living in Los Angeles who joined groups that protested Xi’s November visit to San Francisco. He’d made the decision to walk the line after he was detained during protests in China.

"While the number of Chinese migrants is relatively tiny in terms of the country’s population, its impact is significant for a government that has sought to advertise its political system abroad. 

"'It’s never looks good when people are willing to trek through the Darien Gap to get out of your country,' said Meredith Oyen, associate professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, referring to the dangerous jungle crossing between Panama and Colombia."

How the "Working Class Republican" Scam Works: A brief description of how this is all gonna go.

How to Jujitsu the Culture Wars: It’s time to make Republicans regret that they ever posed as anti-elites.

Meet the queen of the ‘trad wives’ (and her eight children): Hannah Neeleman, known to her nine million followers as Ballerina Farm, milks cows, gives birth without pain relief and breastfeeds at beauty pageants. Is this an empowering new model of womanhood — or a hammer blow for feminism? - "That is the biggest paradox: in selling the life of a stay-at-home mother, Neeleman and the other trad wives have created high-earning jobs. They are being paid to act out a fantasy. 'So for me to have the label of a traditional woman,' she continues cautiously, 'I’m kinda like, I don’t know if I identify with that.'

...

"One day she mentioned to Daniel that she was getting the five-hour flight from Salt Lake City to New York, back to Juilliard. She didn’t realise his dad owned the airline. 'So Daniel was, like, 'I’m on that same flight!' ' she says. 'I remember checking in and them saying, 'You’re 5A and you’re 5B.' I just thought, no way, that’s crazy!' Daniel smiles: 'I made a call.' He had pulled strings at JetBlue. And so began their first date." [ed. note: this piece is vicious]

My day with the trad wife queen and what it taught me: An interview published last weekend with internet star Hannah Neeleman at her Utah home, Ballerina Farm, has sparked a global social media debate. Our writer, Megan Agnew, revisits her time with the mother of eight - "But it was also a life of contradictions. Children not allowed screens, but who are reality TV characters online for millions. A stay-at-home mother who has made a career out of being so. An analogue, old-fashioned farm, only working because it is underwritten by social media cash. A choice — modern in her ability to have one — to do something so very traditional.

..

"Women who work in a paid job feel terrified that by promoting the seeming peace and harmony of a traditional home life, Neeleman is threatening their ability to choose otherwise. They fear they are going to experience guilt or resistance if other women do choose otherwise. 

"Women who look after their children full-time feel judged or patronised for doing so by the women who haven’t, their choices seeming threatened, too. And so, out of fear comes anger, like a bloke punching a wall when his wife leaves him."

I lived as a trad wife for a week. It was awful: Modern women are falling for traditional wife influencers. There’s a darker side, says Harriet Walker

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Reading archive 2016-08-02

Our weird lack of hair may be the key to our success

Trump blasts New York Times: ‘They don’t write good’

Republicans denounce Trump as confrontation with Muslim parents escalates

Donald Trump proves he hasn't read the Constitution in statement claiming he has

Democracies end when they are too democratic.

The Most Anti-Trump Voters Look A Lot Like Kasich Supporters

The First Republican Member of Congress to Back Hillary Clinton

The Mind of Donald Trump - Steve Jobs was, in my opinion, every bit Trump’s equal when it comes to grandiose narcissism. He heaped abuse on colleagues, subordinates, and friends; cried, at age 27, when he learned that Time magazine had not chosen him to be Man of the Year; and got upset when he received a congratulatory phone call, following the iPad’s introduction in 2010, from President Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, rather than the president himself. Unlike Trump, he basically ignored his kids, to the point of refusing to acknowledge for some time that one of them was his.

Why Can't Hillary Clinton Stop Lying?