Reading archive 2026-06-17

Late Stage Groceries the groceryslop is endless

D.C. police fatally shoot man on Metro bus after he allegedly killed a woman: Officials say the man fled on the bus after shooting the woman on a sidewalk.

Reading archive 2026-06-12

Three teens arrested in connection with Chipotle brawl: MPD announced they have charged a 15-year-old and two 16-year-olds in connection with the crazy brawl that took place at the Chipotle in Navy Yard.

Parents are ‘going broke on berries’: The berry habit of the tiny humans in our households is breaking the bank.

Trump threatens new D.C. takeover if mayoral candidate Lewis George wins: Trump is legally barred from unilaterally revoking the city’s right to self-government, a step that would require an act of Congress.

The World Cup Is a Cash Grab. Fans Will Pay the Bill.: FIFA has built an $11 billion event that is too big to fail. But off the pitch, someone will win, and many others will lose. - "The organization’s relationship with the Trump administration has provided it with unfettered access to soccer’s largest untapped growth market and set it up to generate roughly $11 billion in total revenue for the upcoming tournament. It’s also put FIFA in a position of relative strength in negotiating with U.S. host cities. As part of its World Cup contract, the governing body maintains a full monopoly on not only broadcast and ticket rights but also concessions and sponsorships over the course of the tournament. The case FIFA made to host municipalities was, chiefly, that the residual economic benefits of accommodating the tournament—from tax revenue to increased business profits—would justify the costs attached to it. But this rationale was predicated on selling the World Cup to a full and open international marketplace—to say nothing of avoiding environmental pitfalls like economic slowdowns or widespread immigration enforcement–related fears. Now, with each of these one-time givens eroded, the arithmetic for host cities has been altered. Even more crucially, the math has been altered in ways that don’t apply to FIFA’s own accounting."

Reading archive 2026-06-10

A new wave of anti-immigrant violence hits U.K. as riots convulse Belfast: Attackers torched neighborhoods across Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, after a Sudanese asylum seeker was arrested and accused of stabbing a man.

Restaurants add World Cup service charges, fearing tourists won’t tip: Visitors to U.S. host cities may not know about tipping customs, so operators want to ensure that their workers share in the tournament’s financial benefits.

How to let go of things you don’t use and declutter your life: Hanging on to items that you aren’t actively using contributes to a chaotic existence.

Actually, the SAT Was Necessary After All: University of California faculty are in open revolt over the lack of standardized test scores.

Driving in America Is Headlight Hell: Car bulbs don’t have to be this blinding.

Eat More Deer: America is letting good meat go to waste.

Inside the White House Freakout Over the Epstein Files: The president’s top advisers gathered in a series of Situation Room meetings as they struggled to contain a scandal engulfing Donald Trump himself.

Reading archive 2026-06-2

Wild Blueberry Farms Across Maine Suffer as Climate Change Upends Growing Seasons: Like lobster rolls, wild blueberries are iconic in Maine. But heat and drought have set the plants back to a point where many small farmers are struggling against reduced yields and increased costs for mulch and irrigation. - "Wild blueberries are smaller and have a stronger flavor than their cultivated counterparts.

...

"One of the few native North American fruits, wild blueberry patches have often existed in the same spot for longer than the farms that now harvest them.

...

"Wild blueberries are smaller and have a stronger flavor compared to cultivated blueberries."

[ed. note: "Wild Blueberry" refers to Vaccinium angustifolium; there are tons of native North American fruits; this very article depicts "wild blueberries" as cultivated]

Tiny Footprints, a Blue Blanket: What I Can’t Forget About the Babies Who Died of Vitamin K Deficiency: The deaths of these babies likely could have been prevented with a long-standard vitamin shot. For reporter Duaa Eldeib, their autopsy reports painted the clearest picture of the tragedy of their short lives.

The Case for Impeaching and Removing Every Federal Judge and Supreme Court Justice Who Has Ever Been a Member of the Federalist Society or Endorsed Unitary Executive Theory.: A serious claim requiring serious consideration. - "This brings us to the load-bearing claim of the entire argument. Unitary executive theory is a different constitution. The doctrine claims constitutional authority that the text does not grant, that the framers explicitly rejected, that the first Congress did not exercise, and that no court recognized until the conservative legal movement invented the doctrine in the 1980s. The text of Article II vests executive power in the president and requires the president to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, language that imposes obligations rather than granting unilateral control. The framers, as Hamilton’s Federalist 77 makes explicit and as the rejected Pinckney motion confirms, did not grant the executive the unaccountable authority the doctrine claims. The first Congress built executive offices with mixed structures and independent components. No court endorsed the strong version of unitary executive theory until the conservative legal movement built the doctrine in the 1980s and spent forty years credentialing the judges who would convert academic argument into binding law. The doctrine functions as a replacement for the Constitution rather than an interpretation of it, offered by a political movement that could not amend the document through Article V and decided to install its preferred version through judicial appointments instead."

Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

Restoring the Flow: A Milestone in the Revival of the Everglades: The campaign to restore the Everglades has received a boost with completion of a key project that returns the flow of water to 55,000 acres that had once been drained for development. Experts see it as a major step forward in bringing back South Florida’s River of Grass.

The missing ingredient in plant-based food isn’t taste or nutrition: It takes more than flavor and texture to win a culture war.

Poland’s steely response to Russia’s hybrid warfare: Eastern European countries are keeping out Russia’s “weaponized migrants.” Reporters got a look.

What Colbert’s show ending means for the rest of late-night TV: “The Late Show,” an American television institution, goes off the air this week. It almost certainly portends changes to come for the classic television format.

Dozens of victims in Loudoun County rental scheme as woman accused of taking $100K+

Parking lots get hot and are bad for storm runoff. These groups are testing other options

Russian Position Weakening in Central Asia

5 ideas for how we survive the possible AI jobs apocalypse: Elon Musk, Elizabeth Warren and lots of policy wonks have suggestions to help workers hit by automation. Which would you bet your future on?

As Russia fails to achieve war aims in Ukraine, Putin needs a way out: European officials say Moscow's escalating aggression is a result of increasing difficulties that Russia is facing militarily and economically.

Utility bills in D.C. are rising. Here’s what to know.: Pepco and D.C. Water plan to raise monthly utility costs for customers in D.C., citing inflationary costs and supply chain strain.

‘It was cruel’: Scott Pelley confronts new ‘60 Minutes’ boss in fiery meeting: The veteran correspondent demanded answers on fired staff and the new executive producer’s qualifications for the job.

The rise of Janeese Lewis George, who could be D.C.’s first democratic socialist mayor: Focusing on workers’ and tenants’ rights, the council member would represent a drastic shift in the status quo if elected to the city’s highest office.

There are no Supreme Court vacancies, but some judges are acting like there might be: Speculation is swirling over potential departures at the high court, and firebrand conservative judges might be using flashy rulings to audition for the president.

As Ukraine’s fortunes improve, it’s ‘zugzwang’ time for Putin: Drone warfare has produced a bloody battlefield stasis reminiscent of World War I.

With Smithsonian under scrutiny, its leader curates a complex history show: Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has co-curated “American Aspirations” as the Smithsonian faces federal pressure. “Nobody has told us what to do,” he said, “and to be honest, I won’t let anybody tell us what to do.”

After a brutal winter, Ukraine’s drones are breaking Russian defenses: Russia’s advance has suddenly stalled, and Ukraine is fighting on its own terms — a comeback credited to Kyiv’s efforts to steadily strengthen the capabilities of its UAVs.

Child’s Play: Tech’s new generation and the end of thinking

If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you: Did you think I wouldn’t be able to tell? I can tell. - "The reason it’s so hard to get AI to stop hallucinating is that it’s permanently hallucinating. Its whole existence is one long lurid trip. Most of the time, the AI’s hallucinations bear a spooky resemblance to reality. But what they speak is the language of angels, in which, like the chirping of birds, there is neither truth nor lies."

Reading archive 2026-05-01

 I Turned Our Lawn Into a Meadow: And it’s been awesome.

A Catholic case against lawns: Catholic social teaching offers a framework for rethinking the use of outdoor space to nurture the shared flourishing of all creation. - "Lawn culture represents a mindset of control, consumption, and individualism. Lawns reflect not only questions about sustainability and creation care, but they also raise issues about wealth and human dignity and the use of resources that could benefit the common good. Catholic social teaching offers Catholics a framework for rethinking the use of lawn space not only to protect the environment but to nurture the shared flourishing of all creation."

Will labor unions destroy D.C. transit?: Quality is relatively high — at an unsustainable price.

Does drinking water prevent kidney stones? Here’s what experts say." Increased hydration is considered the best way to prevent kidney stones. A new study suggests it’s not that easy. May 1, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. EDT

Trump’s border wall expansion just bulldozed an ancient tribal site: Construction in the Arizona desert damaged an enormous Indigenous ground etching resembling a fish that is thought to be at least 1,000 years old. - "The Department of Homeland Security has issued waivers so that border wall construction does not have to follow laws that protect the environment or Indigenous sites, which normally require extensive study and planning to limit damages."

A long-standing Senate tradition is being quietly undermined: Senate Majority Leader John Thune has resisted Trump’s pleas to kill the filibuster, but Republicans circumvented it in trying to fund immigration enforcement agencies.

Trump’s allies float a specious theory about treaties: Another dubious attempt to justify aggrandizing power in the executive branch. - "The 'unitary executive theory' is an idea percolating in America’s political and judicial debates. Its radicalism includes insistence that the president may unilaterally withdraw the nation from treaties to which the Senate has consented."

America’s obesity problem isn’t about costs. We just love junk food.: Junk food is cheaper than healthful food, but a new study reinforces taste preferences play a bigger role than prices. - "Researchers recruited Type 2 diabetes patients who were at risk of food insecurity. Their average BMI was 36, which is classified as obese. All participants got standard-issue diabetes care information, but one group was also given a 'produce prescription,' a debit card good for $80 per month of fruits, vegetables or legumes. 

"The hypothesis was that access to free produce would improve the diets, and therefore some of the health metrics, of the group that got the prescription. 

"But it didn’t."

Reading archive 2026-04-30

Gun found during fight in Blake High School parking lot, police say: A short time later, a young man was taken to an area hospital with a gunshot wound. Police have not said if that victim is a student or not.

Trump administration seeks access to medical records of millions of federal workers

A D.C. mayoral hopeful’s close ties to unions are drawing new scrutiny: A complaint alleges Janeese Lewis George’s campaign is improperly sharing staff with unions tied to an independent expenditure committee backing her. The campaign denies it.

On chaotic day, Johnson navigates multiple internal revolts in House: Over hours on and around the chamber’s floor, the speaker and fellow Republican leaders cajoled holdouts on a surveillance bill, DHS funding and farm policy.

The invisible force making food less nutritious - "Ultimately, Myers said, the best way to protect human health is for people to stop releasing so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which not only depletes the nutritional value of crops but leads to escalating heat waves, intensifying floods and lengthening droughts that hurt food production around the globe."

Maine Gov. Janet Mills drops out of race to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins: The primary had become a referendum on the Democratic establishment.

The terrible Michael Jackson movie exposes a central cultural question: The film is indefensible. The impulse to see it is deeply human.

An Untapped Energy Goldmine Is Buried Beneath the US—and No, It’s Not Oil: Massive lithium reserves in eastern states could replace 328 years of U.S. imports, according to new research by the U.S. Geological Survey.

As Saudis pull funding, LIV Golf seeks investors to continue: The Saudis spent billions backing the upstart PGA rival and luring top stars, but the league never found its footing. - "The financial scale of LIV’S failed effort was enormous. The PIF’s total investment is projected to surpass $6 billion, according to figures from Money in Sport, with the PIF spending at a rate of roughly $100 million per month in recent years. Tournament purses and bonuses alone are expected to approach $2 billion, while many top players received nine-figure signing deals. LIV’s U.K.-based entity reported losses of $461.8 million in 2024, and the overall venture was widely viewed as losing hundreds of millions annually."

Russia scales back Victory Day plans as Ukraine’s military reach expands: Moscow is reducing the footprint of its foremost annual military parade amid a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia.

The Real Fight for the Smithsonian: Its museums, more than any others, shape the nation’s narrative. No wonder the country argues about it.

‘We Are Learning to Bully Back’: How Europe got Trump to cave on Greenland

The Sports Conspiracy That’s Too Easy to Believe: When the 49ers lost in the playoffs, some fans embraced a theory about electromagnetic waves instead of facing reality.

The Real Reason ICE Agents Wear Masks: Face coverings may work less to protect federal agents from danger than to make it easier for them to do unconstitutional things. - "It is not 'doxxing' federal agents for the public to know who they are. We are supposed to know who they are, because that is how we hold them accountable. This is why police officers wear visible badge numbers and name tags. The responsibilities they are given are not compatible with anonymity.

...

"According to an analysis by Alex Nowrasteh at the Cato Institute based on data from last year, "law enforcement officers who don't work at ICE or Border Patrol have a death rate 6.3 times higher than that of immigration enforcement officers." In fact, the report found, immigration agents are at no greater risk than regular people: 'The chance of an ICE or Border Patrol agent being murdered in the line of duty is about one in 94,549 per year, about 5.5 times less likely than a civilian being murdered.'

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"On Sunday, ProPublica revealed the names of the two agents involved in the Pretti shooting: Border Patrol officer Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez. Suffice it to say that two Hispanic Americans killing a white person trying to prevent them from harassing or deporting other Hispanic people, on the orders of Stephen Miller - a Jewish American whose ancestors fled pogroms in Eastern Europe - is a uniquely grotesque expression of the American melting pot in action."

Stop Meeting Students Where They Are: What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.

How America Lost Control of the Seas: Thanks to decades of misguided policy choices, the U.S. has an astonishing lack of maritime capacity.

Feudalism Is Our Future: What the next Dark Ages could look like - "In 2008, desperate for cash, Chicago privatized its parking meters, selling off the rights to all the revenue for 75 years to a group of investors led by Morgan Stanley. A 'true-up' provision in the contract requires the city to compensate investors for lost revenue when meters are taken out of service—a provision that weighs on decision making whenever the city considers projects that would eliminate meters or favor mass transit over cars. The rights to operate toll highways have been sold off by some jurisdictions to private companies, including foreign ones. The fine print in the contracts often prevents improvements to adjacent roads on the grounds that such enhancement would create undue competition. Private prisons generally put a quota clause into their agreements. States and municipalities may be hoping, as a matter of policy, to reduce their prison populations, but the beds in private prisons must be filled regardless."

Reading archive 2026-04-23

Is the Day of the Data Center About to Be Over?: Marco Arment's Setup as the Canary in the Coal Mine—or, Rather, as the 50 Mac Mini Server Farm Vastly More Efficient than the NVIDIA-Powered Cloud-Bound Hyperscalers...

Three foods you can make in 5 minutes that taste better than stuff in the store: These homemade foods are cheaper and yummier than what you can buy at the supermarket and can reduce the amount of packaging and processed food in your life.

The unflattering secrets revealed so far in Elon Musk’s latest legal feud: Hundreds of court filings have revealed cringey texts, emails or private diary entries of Musk, Sam Altman, other OpenAI founders and other public figures.

Trump team defends redistricting push as GOP faces limited gains: After a Virginia vote pushes seats toward Democrats, Republicans turn to Florida and the courts to claw back an edge. - "'If you’re going to pick a fight, at least win it,' Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary for George W. Bush, said on X. 'The other side will always fight back. All this was foreseeable and avoidable. We should not have started this fight.'"

Bowser, Pirro slam D.C. Council after new delay on emergency youth curfew: While council members advanced a long-term version of a youth curfew, they couldn’t reach consensus on an emergency measure that would allow it to take effect immediately.

D.C. police arrest man in killing that prompted Amber Alert for boy: Authorities were searching for Royce Hawkins after his mother was fatally shot in an alley Tuesday night in Northwest Washington.

After stolen cars from DC ended up in Africa, 6 charged in vehicle-theft ring

Reading archive 2026-03-19

Trump Is Learning That His Bullying Has Consequences: Allies are not eager to assist a superpower that’s shown them no loyalty. - "In the past, Denmark and other European countries that viewed good relations with Washington as the foundation of their security would have been more willing to assist 'even if they weren't on board with the military mission per se,' Søndergaard said. "It's pretty clear this is not the case anymore." Proof of that came last night, when Denmark's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, gave a forthright answer to a question in a televised debate about whether she could still call the United States her country's most important ally. 'No, I can't do that anymore,' she said, instead pointing to Europe, especially other Nordic countries, as well as Canada.

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"Germany's position reflects a pragmatic response to a pattern of U.S. behavior. Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the foreign-affairs committee in the German Parliament, ticked through the blows with me: downgrading Europe's importance in annual national-security and defense strategies, dialing back support for Ukraine, and delivering a boost to the Kremlin's war economy by lifting some sanctions on Russian oil. All of this, naturally, has repercussions. "It strains the transatlantic relationship," Kiesewetter told me today. 'We do not see Trump as a trustworthy ally anymore.'"

A Possible Upside to the Iran War: Perhaps inadvertently, Trump is revealing the limits of China’s Axis of Autocracy. - "Villa suggests that China's leaders could burnish the country's reputation in Latin America by fighting U.S. hard power with soft power, expanding aid and investment in the region. Yet this looks unlikely. Although China is a major trading partner for Latin American countries, Beijing's generosity can be limited. Villa estimates that even after the Trump administration's cuts to USAID's budget, Beijing's international aid amounted to only 5 percent of what Washington handed out around the world last year. 'There's no indication that China will close that gap,' he told me."

Glimpsing Victory in Iran: The campaign has already delivered major wins for American national security, but something much bigger is starting to come into view.

Everyone but Trump Understands What He’s Done: Allied leaders know that any positive gesture they make will count for nothing. - "Specifically, they remember that for 14 months, the American president has tariffed them, mocked their security concerns, and repeatedly insulted them. As long ago as January 2020, Trump told several European officials that ;if Europe is under attack, we will never come to help you and to support you.; In February 2025, he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he had no right to expect support either, because ;you don't have any cards.; Trump ridiculed Canada as the ;51st state; and referred to both the present and previous Canadian prime ministers as ;governor.; He claimed, incorrectly, that allied troops in Afghanistan ;stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,; causing huge offense to the families of soldiers who died fighting after NATO invoked Article 5 of the organization's treaty, on behalf of the United States, the only time it has done so. He called the British ;our once-great ally,; after they refused to participate in the initial assault on Iran; when they discussed sending some aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf conflict earlier this month, he ridiculed the idea on social media: 'We don't need people that join Wars after we've already won!'"

The Iran War’s Next Threat Is to Food and Water: A prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz could unleash a humanitarian crisis.

This app is quietly reformulating America’s food supply: Food scanning app Yuka is empowering consumers to demand that processed food brands make their products healthier. - "Dariush Mozaffarian, a Tufts University cardiologist and director of its Food Is Medicine Institute, faults Nutri-Score as relying on 'outdated science,' such as penalizing some healthy fats, while lacking evidence it leads individuals to eat meaningfully better over time. 'It’s not terrible,' he said, “but I don’t think it’s great." (Mozaffarian has helped develop his own nutritional index called the Food Compass). 

"Other food experts say Yuka unhelpfully demonizes additives that can be dangerous at high doses but are usually present in tiny amounts. Some may not be 'high-risk' at all: Yuka puts MSG in that category, despite scientific bodies from the FDA to WHO declaring them safe in typical amounts after multiple randomized controlled studies."

Trump has choked off Cuba’s oil supply. China is stepping in with solar.: Chinese-backed solar parks could be supplying as much as 10 percent of Cuba’s electricity, researchers say.

Economic fallout from U.S.-led war is hitting the rest of the world harder: Because of greater exposure to disruptions in the Middle East, such as high natural gas prices, businesses and consumers outside the U.S. are being hit harder by the war in Iran.

Britain is ready to admit it has an America problem: Washington’s unquestioned leadership of the West’s postwar alliance system is dissolving. - "Despite Britain’s conventional ammo stocks having whittled down to the point it could barely sustain a week of high intensity warfare with Russia, London was willing to put its specialist skills and weaponry behind Ukraine while Washington dithered. This included airlifting NLAW anti-tank weapons to Kyiv and telling Britain’s long-standing in-country training mission to stay put as other Westerners withdrew theirs. By the time I arrived in Kyiv, the United Kingdom had spent two years not following but pushing the United States, all while being much more present on the ground.

...

"The truth is it is not Britain, with its rocky politics and strained public finances, that is seriously rearming. It’s Germany. With Berlin aiming to hit 3.5 percent of GDP on defense by 2029, the balance of power in Europe is going to shift radically. A Europe still allied to Washington but primarily defended by Europeans is in sight. But neither Britain nor France are ready for their German partner suddenly overshadowing them militarily. Unless the U.K. raises its defense budget to generate more deployable assets to secure Europe’s perimeter, London’s return to relevance risks being a passing moment in between two Western security orders."

This Emirati billionaire put a voice to Gulf anger over Trump’s war in Iran: In a post on X, the hotel magnate lambasted the president for not considering collateral damage, although he later told The Post: “I blame Trump, but I blame the Iranians more.”

The nation’s accelerating self-assassination: The national debt is heading for $40 trillion. Blame “Total Boomer Luxury Communism.” - "The fastest-growing age cohort is people 65 and older. They are high-propensity voters because the more government subsidizes them, the higher are the stakes of politics for them. And because of their powerful incentive to vote (in order to defend and enlarge their benefits), the political class has a permanent incentive to intensify the elderly’s incentive by enriching those benefits. Last year, the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act increased the standard tax deduction for seniors — and only for them.

...

Thomas Jefferson said spending money to be repaid by posterity is 'swindling futurity on a large scale.' There is, however, no injustice in borrowing from the future to fund public goods — those from which all citizens, present and future, will benefit. Such goods — physical (roads, dams, harbors, defense) and intellectual (education, scientific research) — are the infrastructure enabling society’s dynamism. The swindle that has become normal is perpetrated by generations in power funding their consumption of government goods by burdening — borrowing from — future generations."

‘Trump is aiming for dictatorship’. That’s the verdict of the world’s most credible democracy watchdog: Sweden’s V-Dem Institute warns that the US is no longer a liberal democracy. And autocracy is creeping across Europe too - "Another aspect of America’s rapidly deteriorating democracy, according to the report, is the removal of internal guardrails that protect the federal government from abuse of power. When I ask Lindberg how we should read the findings, his response is emphatic. 'Trump has fired inspector generals and higher levels of civil servants across departments, and replaced them with loyalists. This is exactly what Orbán and Erdoğan did. They remove the constraints on power. It should be obvious by now that Trump is aiming for dictatorship.'"

None of These People I Insulted Want To Die For Me in The Strait of Hormuz?: The Trump people, on top of everything else, do not know ball. PLUS: U.S. military AI usage killed an Iraqi student in 2024 - "Thirty years ago, while basking in the dawn of U.S. hyperpower, imperial policymakers liked to say that 'superpowers don't do windows'—that is, the unglamorous, menial tasks of hegemony, which ought to be performed by client states. We are a long way from that now. The Iraq War (and then the Afghanistan surge) showed that even at the height of U.S. unipolarity, there were serious political limits to the participation of partner militaries in unpopular American wars of choice. Now, at the historical end of U.S. unipolarity, there simply was never going to be any appetite to save the Americans from their own mistakes.

That reticence would confront any administration reckless enough to engage in an unprovoked aggression against what remains a formidable regional power. But this is the Trump administration we're talking about. Last year, the Trump administration levied massive tariffs on its traditional allies, basically as imperial tribute. Not two months ago, Trump threatened Europe over Greenland, and in doing so clarified his position that Europeans ought to be vassals of the United States. Marco Rubio—this time to European applause—placed Europe within a claimed American sphere of influence. Some of those European countries at first issued statements of support for the U.S. against Iran, particularly when the Iranians held the Gulf at risk, despite Mark Carney's fire at Davos about exiting the U.S. security umbrella. But the last thing insulted states are going to do is send their own navies into the line of fire on behalf of a contemptuous and aggressive patron. This is real basic shit."

Walgreens robberies rattled D.C.’s Chinatown. The ringleader is going to prison.: Gianni Robinson, who prosecutors say orchestrated an inside job of seven robberies at the iconic drugstore location starting in 2023, was sentenced to 10½ years.

House panel gives green light to bill to eliminate DC traffic cameras

Six Federal Scientists Run Out by Trump Talk About the Work Left Undone: “There’s been a fundamental destruction,” one researcher said. It’s going to “take a very, very long time to rebuild.”

Men can get out of the manosphere. Here’s what former incels say about why they left

After the Iran war, the global economy will never be the same: The fighting may end, but the inflationary and investment effects across the region will not.

A prolonged war in Iran could hand China the commodity it prizes most: But a short, decisive campaign could cause Beijing to think twice about taking Taiwan.

Reading archive 2026-02-23

The No. 1 item food stamps buy is a travesty. Now states can say no. [ed. note: when the Obama administration tried this, it was nanny-state nonsense]

Judge Cannon orders secrecy for report on Trump classified-documents case: A federal judge in Florida blocked public release of special counsel Jack Smith’s extensive report into the classified-documents case against President Donald Trump. - "Cannon attempted to differentiate the release of Smith’s report from other cases [such as Robert K. Hur's case against Biden], saying that there was no precedent for releasing a report in a case in which the charges have been dismissed and the defendants maintain their innocence. The lack of precedent existed largely because Cannon’s order dismissing the case on the grounds that Smith’s appointment was unlawful was, itself, unprecedented." [ed. note: this fucking cunt]

This economic idea transfixed Wall Street and Washington. It may be a mirage.: Massive investment in AI contributed “basically zero” to U.S. economic growth last year, Goldman Sachs has calculated.

As Andrew fell, Queen Elizabeth II held out hope, and Charles and William fumed: As sordid allegations engulfed Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II showed a mother’s love, King Charles III a brother’s fury, and Prince William, a nephew’s dismay.

Are ‘flushable’ wipes really flushable?: After flushed wipes caused a sewage spill in the Potomac River, local authorities are reiterating their call to ignore the “flushable” label.

Reading archive 2026-02-09

 Killers without a cause: The rise in nihilistic violent extremism: “The message is there is no message.”

The AI boom is so huge it’s causing shortages everywhere else: The $700 billion AI spending spree has few precedents. Good luck finding an electrician or a reasonably priced smartphone.

Another ludicrous canceling of a name from the past: Shaming the dead is an asinine culture warriors’ pastime. Now it’s the great diarist Samuel Pepys’s turn. - "It is notable that the ire of activists never seems to be directed at Karl Marx, whose repeated use of the most objectionable racial slurs in his personal correspondence is curiously overlooked. Meanwhile, protesters in Portland, Oregon, in a 2020 demonstration that organizers called an 'Indigenous Day of Rage,' tore down statues of former presidents Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt."

Ice dance will incorporate queer culture unlike in any other Olympics: Officials asked teams to open their millennial playlists and skate their first program to music from the ’90s.

Will Texas elect a Democratic senator?: James Talarico, a liberal minister-in-training, fights an uphill battle to capture a GOP Senate seat in deep-red Texas.

The unflinching hosts of ‘I’ve Had It’ aren’t backing down: Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan have emerged as effective political commentators.

American Milk Has Changed: A dramatic increase in fat content is causing pains in the dairy industry.

Reading archive 2025-12-30

Byron Donalds faces racist attacks in Florida’s ugly GOP gubernatorial primary

How a landlord responded when tenants formed a union, stopped paying rent: In Kansas City, Missouri, where housing costs are rising at twice the national average, a successful rent strike at one building inspired another across town in what is poised to become a national movement.

As Russia’s war grinds on, its society is fraying: The Kremlin presents the country as strong, united and on an inevitable path to victory, but as peace negotiations drag on, Russian society is deteriorating. - "'Everyone still wants to take Odesa. It’s a common opinion: People want to go to Odesa on vacation again,' Gribova said. 'For us, this is a civil war between Russians and Russians who have forgotten a bit that they are Russians, that’s all.'"

The U.S. may have a secret weapon against rising electricity prices: Most of the year, grid utilization is around 50 percent. Could that be used to lower prices? - "When utilities build more infrastructure — more poles, more wires, more power plants — they also get to profit from those investments. They can’t make a profit from their operating expenses, the cost to keep the existing system running. 'If they were in the apple business, they get paid for planting more trees, not growing more apples,' said Amit Narayan, the co-founder and CEO of GridCARE."

Black-footed ferrets born in Virginia in cloning-research milestone: Eleven kits born this summer at a National Zoo facility are the descendants of ferrets cloned from decades-old frozen cells.

As rumors swirl after political killings, this GOP lawmaker draws a line: Minnesota state senator Julia Coleman knew both Charlie Kirk and Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman. She is fed up with the conspiracy theories around their deaths. - "Coleman sees conspiracies and misinformation trending more on her own side, the political right, but believes the problem transcends partisan loyalties. In Minnesota, traumatized legislators have stayed away from Hortman and Kirk conspiracy theories, and many have been speaking out against them, Coleman said."

I fed my dog vegan kibble for a year. Why the switch is now permanent.: Vegan pet food is gaining human and animal fans alike, as people look to reduce their household’s environmental impact and enhance their pets’ health. - "'As long as you’re feeding your pet a commercial food, you are doing right by your pet,' says Fox. 'This has been researched to death. All that research says that dog food is what’s best for dogs. It’s almost worse for cats, who have very specific needs.'"

Homeland Security seeks emergency demolition of historic buildings in D.C.: DHS Secretary Kristi L. Noem, in a memo obtained by The Washington Post, said the buildings “constitute a present risk to life and property.” Preservationists contend no evidence of an emergency exists.

The Truth About Immigration That MAGA Doesn’t Acknowledge: American families rely on immigrants to take care of their children. - "In the first half of this year, Trump's ICE agency made twice as many arrests as it did under the Biden administration during the same period last year. These efforts seem to have created a chilling effect, making many female immigrants scared to show up for work. According to a report from the New America Foundation published earlier this month, the arrests were associated with a loss of about 39,000 foreign-born child-care workers. Meanwhile, 77,000 U.S.-born mothers of kids under 5 dropped out of the workforce."

Conservatives Want the Antebellum Constitution Back: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments are in trouble. - "The Constitution of the Roberts Court is not color-blind. It is a Constitution that permits discrimination on the basis of race, but forbids alleviating discrimination on the basis of race. And over the next year, the Court will face more cases that could further erode both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, pushing America back toward what some on the right believe is the true, Antebellum Constitution.

...

"The blood of Confederate soldiers who would never own a slave watered southern fields because they saw slavery as the cornerstone of their social and economic order. The Populists failed to ameliorate the deprivation of the Gilded Age because white laborers who had more in common with their Black counterparts chose the psychological wage offered by Jim Crow over the literal wages that might be earned through brotherhood. The MAGA elite offers a similar fantasy today, though the number of Trump voters who will see a loved one deported or their paycheck dwindle will eclipse by orders of magnitude those who rub shoulders with donors in his new ballroom. 

MAGA's ruling caste will not be as overtly racially circumscribed as in the past. But we can trace its contours in the Trump administration's policy decisions and legal victories, and the Roberts Court's resurrection of the Antebellum Constitution. The path the justices are walking leads to Calhoun's paradise: an America where a class of stateless children can be denied education and medical care; where people of color must carry identification papers if they don't want to be harassed, detained, imprisoned, or worse; where workers can be subject to invidious discrimination without recourse; where the military points guns at the taxpayers who fund it; and where the official ideology of the state is vindicated by elections the ruling party cannot lose. It will be a society of the dominators and the dominated. But it will not be a democracy worthy of the name.

‘It’s Very Controversial, but I Love Nick Fuentes’ The white-supremacist influencer cast a shadow over Turning Point USA’s annual gathering. - "Young anti-Fuentes attendees I spoke with also repeated the same sentiment about him to me: The Boomers don't get how much of a problem he is for the future of the right. 'It's true the Groypers are here,' Dimas Guaico, a 29-year-old advocate with Generation Zion, told me. 'I feel like a lot of the leadership here, including TPUSA leadership, haven't done enough to call Groypers out. Now I feel like it's too late.'"

There Were Two Charlie Kirks: A new book by the right-wing activist, who was murdered in September, has moments of seriousness, beauty, and cross-partisan appeal.

CBS and CNN Are Being Sacrificed to Trump: Media conglomerates want the president’s permission for mergers—and control of news outlets is at stake. - "The fate of Warner Bros. Discovery is no longer a regulatory matter. It is a medieval tournament, in which the king invites rival bidders to compete for his approval. To acquire the media company, the aspirants - Paramount and Netflix - will have to offer a sacrifice: Whoever can damage CNN the most stands to walk away with the prize. 

This is one of those moments in Donald Trump's presidency when an event that would otherwise be recognized as a death knell for democracy somehow fails to elicit the outrage it deserves. Warner Bros. Discovery owns CNN, whose coverage Trump views as hostile to his administration. So he is abusing the government's merger-approval power in order to insist that the next owner of the venerable outlet mold its journalism to his liking.

...

"The whole system, including the courts, can no longer be counted on to provide a buffer against Trump. Over the past several months, Trump has transformed once-independent agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission into extensions of his will. (And the Supreme Court is likely to lend its imprimatur to this power grab in the Trump v. Slaughter decision it will hand down next year.) Those agencies were created, exuding the ethos of the Progressive era, with a simple mandate: to make technocratic decisions that transcend partisanship. That is why they were required to be bipartisan in composition. Strip them of that independence, and regulatory approval becomes something closer to royal favor."

The Other Way the ‘Super Woke’ Left Discriminates Race and gender aren’t the only categories that determine who gets special treatment. [ed. note: this poor sad fucker]

Get Ready to Start Hearing About Aileen Cannon Again: The Florida-based judge is likely to once again play a central role in politics in the new year.

Reading archive 2025-12-19

Offshore windfarms enhance function of coastal waters and diversity of aquatic life, say researchers - "Dr. James Tweedley from Murdoch University's Harry Butler Institute said the impact on fish and other aquatic life was, in large part, due to the rough surfaces of turbine monopiles providing a surface for sessile organisms (unmoving organisms such as barnacles and oysters) to thrive."

Kirk’s widow endorses Vance as MAGA infighting rages: Erika Kirk told a Turning Point USA conference that she would work to elect JD Vance president in 2028, at an event in which MAGA divisions were on full display.

The NYC subway is drowning. Here’s how to save it.: Subway systems around the world are struggling to cope with flooding as the planet warms.

The source of your fish may change how many ‘forever chemicals’ you eat: Most of the seafood Americans eat comes from abroad — and that means they’re exposed to a higher level of “forever chemicals,” or PFAS, through contaminated fish, according to a new study released Thursday.

Tech moguls close to Trump see the midterms as a path to long-term power: As politicians in both parties raise concerns about the impacts of AI, political groups backed by tech investors and Meta plan to intervene in midterm races.

Lawmakers criticize Trump’s bid to take over D.C. golf courses: Default notice issued to National Links Trust did not identify specific violations as required by the lease with the National Park Service.

Lewis George gains early momentum in D.C. mayoral bid with union support: Janeese Lewis George, the Ward 4 D.C. Council member, locked in endorsements from five labor unions Wednesday as the mayoral race kicks off.

D.C. auditor finds advisory neighborhood commissioner misused public funds: The auditor found that Salim Adofo, the ANC 8C chair who ran for D.C. Council twice, used government funds for politics and referred the case to the D.C. attorney general.

Trump’s pardons wipe out payments to defrauded victims: In addition to clearing prison sentences, the president’s clemency actions have erased millions in restitution payments. - "Found guilty of securities and wire fraud in 2022, [Trevor Milton] remained out on bond as he appealed his conviction. Last year, he and his wife donated more than $2.5 million to boosting Trump’s campaign. Milton has repeatedly insisted he did nothing wrong and has been promoting a documentary proclaiming his innocence.

...

"Asked about the pardon, Nikola investor Steve Bush pointed out that Milton was represented during the trial by Brad Bondi, the brother of Attorney General Pam Bondi. 'I mean, come on,' said Bush, 51, who lives in New Jersey and works at a rock quarry. He said he lost more than $50,000."

Reading archive 2025-08-28

Trump officials discussing ownership stakes in defense firms, Lutnick says: The commerce secretary said there is a “monstrous discussion” among administration officials about making deals similar to what the president announced with Intel this week.

D.C. mayor praises federal surge, angering residents and pleasing Trump: “We know that we have had fewer gun crimes, fewer homicides and we have experienced an extreme reduction in carjackings,” D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said Wednesday.

States are tracking ‘impostor nurses,’ a growing problem since the pandemic: Aliases in different states. A contract under a classmate’s name. Experts say a challenging form of health-care fraud is endangering patients.

Trump floats an unusual Republican National Convention before the midterms: Democrats are also considering holding such a gathering before the November 2026 elections.

‘De minimis’ loophole is ending; here’s what it means for online orders Consumers may see higher costs and potential delays as the Trump administration halts an exemption that allowed goods below $800 to enter the country duty-free.

At the world’s biggest bug farm, 10 billion maggots recycle food waste: An industry based on insects’ natural recycling abilities could help limit the environmental damage from our food system.

No, the White House Is Not Getting a 90,000-Foot Extension: But Trump’s doomed proposal does give us a revealing glimpse into his state of mind.

Scientists hail major breakthrough in developing holy grail of renewable energy: artificial photosynthesis: New discovery addresses one of biggest obstacles to artificial photosynthesis – a technology long seen as a potential source of carbon-neutral fuels

Trump’s federal stake in Intel prompts GOP complaints

Reading archive 2025-07-21

A Push for More Organ Transplants Is Putting Donors at Risk: People across the United States have endured rushed or premature attempts to remove their organs. Some were gasping, crying or showing other signs of life.

DC police commander suspended, accused of changing crime statistics Police union says directive to change offense classifications comes from command staff.

Trump exempts more than 100 polluters from environmental standards

‘The ghost of Epstein is haunting Trump’s presidency’: inside the ‘Maga’ revolt

Pregnant Mother in Tennessee Denied Care for Being Unmarried: The 2025 Medical Ethics Defense Act allows physicians to deny care to patients whose lifestyles they disagree with

Putin sticks to Ukraine war despite erosion of Russia’s global clout: Putin’s refusal to compromise on Ukraine, analysts say, is a colossal error costing Russia regional influence, lucrative energy markets and its place in the world.

Man dies after being pulled into MRI machine by chain necklace: The 61-year-old was wearing a large metallic chain around his neck when he was drawn into the machine, Nassau County police said. He later died of his injuries.

5 misunderstood foods and how to spot nutrition myths: Are raw milk, seed oils, uncured deli meat and more good for you?

Does red meat cause cancer? Here’s what the science says.: The data is concerning enough that the benefits of frequently eating red meat don’t outweigh the risks.

Four people have died from flesh-eating bacteria in Florida. Who's at risk?: The culprit, Vibrio vulnificus, thrives in warm seawater and can get into the body through open wounds in the skin.

Here’s the most baffling part of the Republican budget bill: A last-second budget deal spares states from cuts to food assistance if they make more mistakes. - "A few examples: Based on 2024 error rates (the closest we can get to the 2025 error rates upon which the initial carve-out will ultimately be based), Florida, which has a high error rate, would avoid nearly $1 billion in cuts in the first year alone. At the same time, Texas would get hit with a more than $700 million bill because its error rate is too low. Because of its higher error rate, New York would avoid roughly $1 billion in cuts — while California, which has a lower error rate, would pay almost $1.85 billion."

Former robber turned law professor in D.C. found guilty of assaulting wife: After nearly 11 years behind bars, Shon Hopwood became a lawyer and joined the Georgetown University faculty. Now, convicted again, he faces a return to prison.

‘Missing middle’ housing plan in Montgomery County faces backlash: A proposal to allow duplexes, triplexes and small apartments in certain corridors zoned for single-family homes is generating frustration and confusion among residents who fear how this will affect their neighborhoods.

Reading archive 2025-17-18

The Paramount comics, Colbert and Stewart, are sharp critics of the '60 Minutes' deal: Stephen Colbert returned from vacation loaded for bear - "'I am offended,' Colbert said in his monologue Monday night. 'I don’t know if anything — anything — will repair my trust in this company. But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.'"

Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ canceled by CBS, to end in May 2026: The announcement came days after Colbert spoke out against the $16 million settlement paid by CBS News parent Paramount to settle a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump.

The end of Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ has implications beyond late-night TV: The comedian has criticized CBS parent company Paramount Global for settling its lawsuit with President Donald Trump.

What made ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ special, in six clips Colbert, whose long-running show will be canceled in May, managed to break through the trappings of late-night TV to charm and surprise his audience

In Epstein Case, Follow the Money, Democratic Senator Says: Senator Ron Wyden has found that four banks waited until Mr. Epstein’s arrest on federal charges to flag $1.5 billion in suspicious transactions. Mr. Wyden wants the documents made public.

The best TV show I’ve seen in a decade: Give ‘Adolescence’ all the Emmys.

DOGE Put Free Tax Filing Tool on Chopping Block After One Meeting With Lobbyists: A key operative from DOGE initiated plans to potentially kill Direct File, the free tax filing tool developed by the IRS, after offering assurances it would be spared from cuts.

Activists try to preserve IRS’s Direct File now that Trump has ended it: The program offered free tax filing for two years under Biden. Republicans shut it down, but a small group hopes to keep the code around for a future administration to use.

Israel strikes the Gaza church the pope used to call nightly, killing 3 The Rev. Gabriel Romanelli of the Church of the Holy Family used to speak every night with Pope Francis before the pontiff’s death.

In reversal, senators advance FBI’s planned move to Reagan Building in D.C.: Maryland leaders tried to prohibit the FBI from financing the relocation with money designated for a suburban campus in Greenbelt --- but Sen. Lisa Murkowski changed her stance.

D.C. protesters try a different tactic for spreading their message: Umbrellas

Attorney General Bondi expected to seek release of Epstein grand jury testimony The attorney general said she would ask a court Friday to unseal pertinent grand jury records. That’s a portion of what would be included in the Justice Department’s broader investigative file.

America, meet the Trump-Mamdani voter: Yes, such a person exists. Should anyone be surprised?

Kansas City poured millions into a grocery store. It still may close. More cities and states are experimenting with the concept of city-owned grocery stores, but these experiments often don’t account for social issues. - "At a community meeting last year, Pierson played videos of security incidents so graphic he gave a warning in advance — a naked woman parading through the store throwing bags of chips to the ground, another person urinating in the vestibule and a couple fornicating on the lawn of the library in broad daylight.

..

"Part of the problem is the city’s lack of a jail, Young said. The left-leaning council closed the previous facility in 2009 as a cost-saving measure — a move the Kansas City Star has called a '$250 million mistake' — and so people arrested for minor crimes are quickly released instead of being held in rural counties miles away."

Most warming this century may be due to air pollution cuts: Satellite data suggests cloud darkening is responsible for much of the warming since 2001, and the good news is that it is a temporary effect due to a drop in sulphate pollution

Everyone’s the hero of their own story: How to comprehend the incomprehensible - "If your goal is to actually change someone’s mind — not just to feel like you won, or produce a nice YouTube clip, but to actually change their mind — then you should be operating in the conversation as if you’re talking to the hero of the story, who is basically good but has been misled."

EU Approves 18th Round of Sanctions Against Russia

Reading archive 2025-07-16 pt 2

Another Moderate Republican Opts Out: For the likes of Don Bacon, quitting Congress has become a familiar endgame.

Flattery, Firmness, and Flourishes: World leaders and diplomats quietly swap strategies for managing Trump.

The Biggest Myth About the YIMBY Movement: There’s nothing centrist or conservative about the push to lower housing costs. - "This is what a populist antitrust effort in housing looks like: undoing regulatory capture, breaking up economic gatekeeping, and creating a fairer market. And yet, in a spectacular act of projection, NIMBYs accuse housing advocates of conservatism even as they defend the interests of wealthy landowners protecting their cultural and economic turf. This smear campaign is meant to freeze blue-state efforts to help people struggling to afford a place to live. And if the broader left fails to recognize this NIMBY misinformation for what it is, it might work."

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food: Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.

Putin Needs to Believe He Can’t Win: The way to get a peace agreement is to change the battlefield.

Reading archive 2025-07-16 pt 1

My health and my politics walk into a doctor’s office …: My palliative care doctor and I have almost nothing in common. We’re still learning from each other. - "Her response included a touch of humor. 'I appreciate hearing more about how you were raised and how you view our standing in this life and beyond. But I guess it leaves me wondering, how is this working out for the world? And what happens to moral people when they die? If nothing happens after we die, what’s the point of striving for justice and caring about others in this life? Might as well be selfish, greedy, live the good life and then die.'" [ed. note: what are the morals of someone who strives for justice and cares for others in expectation of heavenly rewards? That makes the moral atheist a significantly greater person.]

Airplanes are loud and may damage your hearing. Here’s what helps.: Even if you are on a flight free of crying babies, the engine noise can be substantial.

Are a few people ruining the internet for the rest of us?: Why does the online world seem so toxic compared with normal life? Our research shows that a small number of divisive accounts could be responsible – and offers a way out

Nursing homes struggle with Trump’s immigration crackdown

From Food Aid to Dog Chow? How Trump’s Cuts Hurt Kansas Farmers.: Kansans created Food for Peace, for 70 years a font of rural income and pride. Now at least one grain broker is trying to sell grain that once fed the world as dog food.

Trump’s Vietnam Agreement Bodes Poorly for Future Trade Deals

The Ruthless Ambition of Stephen Miller

FEMA removed dozens of Camp Mystic buildings from 100-year flood map before expansion, records show

How the rightwing sports bro conquered America

For Hard-Right Lawmakers, Trump’s Shift on Epstein Is Just the Latest Breach: Right-wing Republicans have also criticized the president’s stances on Iran and Ukraine, hinting at a broader fraying of his political coalition.

WHY MANY AMERICAN GARDENS ARE FULL OF MULCH?

American Father and Vlogger Tricked Into Front Line Combat by Russia: The Texas man is the latest in a string of Americans lured to Russia by propaganda, yet confronting a reality that is altogether different than the utopia they were sold.

Human Collapse: Russia Moves to Conceal Severe Demographic Crisis: Russia has begun to restrict access to data relating to demographic statistics in a sign that they are likely to reveal a deteriorating population situation.

D.C. Ward 8 voters return indicted Trayon White to office after expulsion White beat opponents ANC Chair Salim Adofo, attorney Mike Austin and public servant Sheila Bunn for the seat.

Democrats have only one escape route Unifying behind platitudes isn’t the way out of irrelevance. Making voters choose is.

Inside the Silicon Valley push to breed super-babies: Investors say genetic prediction services for embryos, used by Elon Musk and others, are a trust fund for future children. Many scientists are skeptical. - "But the paper laying out that breakthrough, published last year in the peer-reviewed journal F&S Reports, is fundamentally flawed, according to Stanford’s Yatsenko and Aleks Rajkovic, chief genomics officer at the University of California at San Francisco Health Center for Clinical Genetics and Genomics. It excluded results that didn’t fit its thesis, Yatsenko said, and both scientists said that by using Orchid’s own lab to check those results, its authors didn’t adhere to ideal scientific practice. Orchid said that the paper’s findings had been verified by independent labs and that there were 'zero discrepancies' in the results."

You might be fooling yourself about peanut butter, plus 5 other protein mistakes: Are you eating enough protein at breakfast? Most people aren’t.

DOJ hits states with broad requests for voter rolls, election data: Election clerks in both parties, already facing harassment and lawsuits over Trump’s false 2020 election claims, worry about efforts to examine voting machines.

Reading archive 2025-07-03

Congressional intern from Massachusetts killed in D.C. shooting: Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a 21-year-old rising senior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, worked for Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas.

‘Beautiful’ coal and ‘ugly’ solar? See these projects for yourself.: Trump likes to make an aesthetic case for fossil fuels. See how coal, oil and gas projects compare to solar and wind.

‘Beautiful’ coal and ‘ugly’ solar? See these projects for yourself.: Trump likes to make an aesthetic case for fossil fuels. See how coal, oil and gas projects compare to solar and wind.

Paramount betrays ‘60 Minutes’ and the rest of us: Parent company caves to baseless suit by Donald Trump.

The Republican shift against American pluralism: From race to same-sex marriage, Republican voters are turning against inclusion. - "Saying that 'everyone is welcome' has become a political statement in the way that 'science is real' has become one. Not because these statement themselves are political or even particularly controversial. No, they are now tainted with politics because they reject the right’s rejections of both objectivity and pluralism."

A Big, Bad, Very Ugly Bill: “Beautiful” it is not.

A Classic Childhood Pastime Is Fading: Kids on bikes once filled the streets. Not anymore.

Canada’s Terrible New Freedom: This Canada Day, Trump is fueling a very different kind of nationalism.

What a ‘Spiral of Silence’ Can Do to a Democracy: Protests show people they are not alone in caring about an issue.

They Didn’t Have to Do This: By passing Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, congressional Republicans have talked themselves into an incomprehensibly reckless plan.

Twenty-Four Hours of Authoritarianism: Donald Trump had a very busy Tuesday. - "None of these moves is a one-off. All follow what has become standard practice in the second Trump term. The president has declared a new order in which the supporters of his insurrection have been vindicated and freed from any consequences for their crimes, the president claims sole authority over the government's powers of spending and regulation, and these powers are to be used only to punish his enemies and reward his friends."

New York Is Hungry for a Big Grocery Experiment: Small towns have tried public grocery stores. How would they fare in a major city?

Trump’s Betrayal of Ukraine: Bridget Brink, the former ambassador to Ukraine, on that country’s war with Russia, America’s betrayal of Ukraine, and why she resigned - "The United States has built, since 1945, an extraordinary system of peace and security embracing much of the planet. It is a system from which many countries benefit, but Americans too. That Americans do not need to learn a second language in most cases; that they can travel about the world with a feeling of security; that when they do business, they do business under legal systems that are often inspired by the American example; that when they travel as tourists or students or in any capacity, they can put down a credit card, and if they have a dispute, have that credit card dispute adjudicated, usually under American law - all of those things that we take for granted as we move about a world that is ever more accommodating to the American way of life and to American interests, all of that is one of the prizes for the American investment in global peace and security."

Reading archive 2025-07-01

Single-use plastic is a scourge of takeout. Here’s how I tried to escape it.: Most food deliveries come wrapped in petrochemicals. But there are ways to reduce the disposable plastic delivered to your door.

Senate passes Trump’s tax bill, sending it to House for final passage: The bill extends tax cuts from Trump’s first term and slashes roughly $1 trillion from Medicaid and other health-care programs. - "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) repeatedly vowed the bill would not pass without deeper spending cuts. Instead, the Senate Finance Committee wrote a bill hundreds of billions of dollars more expensive than the House’s, and simultaneously more punitive toward Medicaid."

New McMillan site townhouses in D.C. mark next step in redevelopment plan: The near-completion of townhouses on the site, which city literature and the developer refer to as the Reservoir District, is the next step in the project.

Philadelphia Transit System Votes to Cut Service by 45%, Hike Fares

Private jet carbon emissions are soaring. Here’s who pollutes the most.: A new study found that the United States was responsible for 55 percent of the pollution emitted by private jets globally. - "'If you look at individual airports that are polluted from private jets, Van Nuys Airport [in Los Angeles] popped out,' Rutherford said.'“This is getting a lot of visibility because it’s where the celebrities and influencers are all parking their planes.'"

JD Vance’s prior vision for populism is largely absent from GOP tax bill: While a senator, Vance proposed a sharp break in the party’s economic orthodoxy that some experts say is not reflected in the legislation.

We are eating the Earth. The result will be catastrophic.: “We Are Eating the Earth,” argues for producing more food on less land to avert climate crisis. - "If it comes, disaster might be due to a lack of humility among eco-posers. Grunwald bravely challenges the dippy, but influential, cult of 'organic' farming and Luddite opposition to genetically modified foods. Nothing is more urgent for the climate’s future, he argues, than producing more food for a growing world on fewer square miles of land. We know how to do it, he shows, and we’re getting better all the time.

"Humans who love the planet should cheer scientific advances in agriculture; farms need more genetically engineered products, not fewer. Yet the fad is back-to-yesteryear. While “factory” farms feed millions with increasing care and efficiency, wasteful little Edens offshore the world’s hunger. The forests and peatlands destroyed are out of sight of Hollywood and the Hamptons."

Justice is coming for Vladimir Putin: A new tribunal targets the act that made all subsequent Russian war crimes in Ukraine possible.

The GOP’s big, fat warning sign to the bond market: This is not how budgeting should work. - "As I’ve explained before, this is not how budgets work. It’s like saying renewing your Netflix subscription should count as free, because you got used to having the streaming service already. Or each time you buy another Starbucks coffee, it doesn’t cost you anything, because you’ve enjoyed Frappuccinos before. Or if your current car lease expires, getting a new one is now complimentary, because you already got used to the convenience of having a car."

Musk-Trump battle erupts anew over GOP spending bill Elon Musk threatened to launch a new political party as the president mused over fresh scrutiny of the former DOGE chief’s federal subsidies.

A town tried to heal racial divides. It energized Confederate supporters instead.: What started as an effort to promote racial unity in Edenton by reconsidering its most prominent downtown symbol has done the opposite.

The Birth-Rate Crisis Isn’t as Bad as You’ve Heard—It’s Worse: Humanity is set to start shrinking several decades ahead of schedule.

The Whole Country Is Starting to Look Like California: Housing prices are rising fast in red and purple states known for being easy places to build. How can that be? - "The Sun Belt, in short, is subject to the same antidevelopment forces as the coasts; it just took longer to trigger them. Cities in the South and Southwest have portrayed themselves as business-friendly, pro-growth metros. In reality, their land-use laws aren't so different from those in blue-state cities. According to a 2018 research paper, co-authored by Gyourko, that surveyed 44 major U.S. metro areas, land-use regulations in Miami and Phoenix both ranked in the top 10 most restrictive (just behind Washington, D.C., and L.A. and ahead of Boston), and Dallas and Nashville were in the top 25. Because the survey is based on responses from local governments, it might understate just how bad zoning in the Sun Belt is. 'When I first opened up the zoning code for Atlanta, I almost spit out my coffee,' Alex Armlovich, a senior housing-policy analyst at the Niskanen Center, a centrist think tank, told me. 'It's almost identical to L.A. in the 1990s.'"

Trump Insults America—Again: The president of the United States seems to have no interest in appealing to a national sense of pride or honor. - "In my many travels to university campuses over the years, I have often heard that America is only one of many horrendous regimes in the world. Usually these pronouncements came from students trying out new intellectual clothes in the safety of an American classroom, or from radicals on the faculty for whom anti-Americanism was a central part of their academic credo. And I know, especially from studying the Cold War, that presidents in my lifetime did a lot of shady, immoral, and illegal things. But I have never heard a president of the United States sound like a graduate student who's woozy from imbibing too much Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn."

Reading archive 2025-06-30

Nancy Mace privately asks Trump aides to unfreeze Mercedes EV funds: The program, set up through President Joe Biden’s climate law, would benefit a Mercedes-Benz plant in South Carolina. - "Roughly 85 percent of the investments unlocked in part by the 2022 law have come in Republican districts, according to an analysis last year by E2, a nonpartisan group."

No bones, no scales, no problem: The first lab-grown salmon sold in the U.S.: Wildtype’s cell-cultivated salmon is the first seafood to earn FDA approval, marking a significant milestone for the alternative protein industry.

Young Republicans are fueling the GOP’s generational divide on Israel: “To be ‘America First,’ the Stars and Stripes must come before the Star of David,” said one 20-year-old conservative. - "'I get most of my information from podcasts, from Twitter, from real-time updates, as things are happening,' he said. 'I feel like older generations typically still rely on cable news and newspapers, whereas either the information is more delayed or it’s more of a manufactured narrative.'"

Man who kicked customs dog at Dulles ordered to leave U.S.: A 70-year-old man pleaded guilty to attacking Freddie the Beagle and was ordered to pay $840 in vet fees.

Mamdani faces Islamophobic attacks from GOP lawmakers, commentators: The latest barrage has included comments from Republicans in Congress, with some calling on the likely Democratic nominee for New York mayor to be ‘deported.’

As indicted ex-D.C. lawmaker seeks election, opponents urge voters to move on: Trayon White Sr., expelled from the D.C. Council in February after a bribery arrest, faces three challengers who all hope the electorate wants someone new.

How park visitors responded when asked to report anti-American signs Most comments reviewed by The Post were positive, though some visitors complained that there were too many mosquitos and “not enough moose.”

Giant crowd at Pride in Budapest defies repressive new Hungarian law: With the support of the city’s liberal mayor, organizers of Budapest Pride took to the streets in defiance of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s effort to ban the event.

Morale craters at State Department as mass layoffs loom: Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called the agency “bloated,” yet as violence spiked in the Middle East, staff say they’ve been asked to work extra hours.

Russia unleashes its summer offensive with an army mired in problems: Russia’s army has vast manpower and equipment advantages over Ukraine, but its progress has been slow and Russian military bloggers blame a culture of military corruption.

The billionaire betting on crypto — and the skeptic betting against him: Michael Saylor earned billions selling company stock to buy bitcoin. Jim Chanos, who famously shorted Enron, is suspicious.

CEOs Are Quietly Telling Us the Truth: AI Is Replacing You: They say AI is just a tool to help workers. But read between the lines, and the message is clear: your job is already on the line.

What the Islamophobic Attacks on Mamdani Reveal: Rather than cement its new multiracial coalition, the MAGA movement seems almost desperate to break it apart. - "Just a few months ago, Trumpists were bragging about the multiracial working-class coalition that got them a second term. Now it's as if they've forgotten that coalition entirely. Or perhaps, at some level, they don't want to keep it intact, because they refuse to recognize those communities as fully American, or even fully human."

The Invisible City of Tehran: Secret spaces are layered beneath the visible ones like the traces of ink on a palimpsest.

The Red State Where Republicans Aren’t Afraid of Trump: Some of the last remaining GOP holdouts hail from the same state.

The Iran-China-Russia Axis Crumbles When It Matters: Beijing likes allies who needle the U.S., but it values stability even more. - "Since World War II, leaders of Western democracies have successfully collaborated in part because they have shared a common worldview. Whether Iran's Islamic theocrats can say the same about Xi, the leader of an avowedly atheist state, or Putin, who now positions himself as the champion of Orthodox Christianity, is another question entirely."