Reading archive 2026-01-08

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reading archive 2025-04-28 pt 1

Video casts doubt on Ed Martin’s apology for praising Nazi sympathizer: Trump’s pick for top D.C. federal prosecutor said he didn’t know about the man’s statements, but Martin had discussed the antisemitism allegations in podcasts.

U.S. attorney for D.C. accuses Wikipedia of ‘propaganda,’ threatens nonprofit status: Trump appointee Ed Martin accuses the online encyclopedia of “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda to the American public.”

Big, big trouble at ‘60 Minutes’: Executive Producer Bill Owens steps down, for reasons that are way too predictable.

Amazon slows forecast on HQ2 job growth as D.C. region hurts for employment: The tech giant added a few hundred jobs at HQ2 in Northern Virginia last year — and requested almost $6.5 million in state subsidies — but seems less like the economic cushion for the region that many hoped it would be.

D.C., Commanders plan to announce deal for new stadium at RFK: Details of the deal — which must be approved by the D.C. Council — are expected to be announced by Commanders principal owner Josh Harris and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) at a news conference Monday morning.

D.C., Commanders announce $3.7B deal to move team to RFK Stadium: The development, anchored by a roofed, 65,000-seat stadium, will be funded primarily by the Commanders, who would put up $2.7 billion, while D.C. taxpayers would pay $500 million.

Carolyn Hax: Friend demands constant attention, enforced by silent treatments: A friend turns to the silent treatment when the letter writer doesn’t keep her constantly informed of plans.

These experts on aging, now seniors themselves, see things differently: Their advice and thinking about resilience, adaptability and outlook have shifted.

CIA official’s son killed fighting with Russian army in Ukraine: Michael Gloss, 21, whose mother is a senior CIA official and father an Iraq War veteran, suffered from mental illness. He died in April 2024 in eastern Ukraine, fighting with Moscow’s forces.

How Lindsey Graham is accommodating himself to Trump’s foreign policy: “Yeah, I think Europe’s gone woke, don’t y’all?” the one-time hawk asked a crowd back home in South Carolina.

What to know to save a life: The key to heart attack survival: Bystander training on spotting and using defibrillators can greatly improve cardiac arrest survival, but many people don’t know what to do.

‘This Is Not How We Do Science, Ever’: The Trump administration is manipulating government-sponsored research to get the answers it wants. - "This is consistent with everything Trump and his allies have revealed about their views on science since January: that it is not a means to better understand objective reality, but a political weapon that they must guard against, or deploy themselves."

Congressional Republicans Might Set Off the Debt Bomb: Their new budget framework is the most irresponsible in modern history—and will put the American economy on a very dangerous trajectory. - "Budget deficits of $1.8 trillion—heading toward $3.6 trillion within a decade under current policies—can be addressed only by putting all spending and taxes up for reconsideration. The popular targets of government waste, defense cuts, and taxing the rich can contribute at the margins, but the unforgiving budget math will force most long-term deficit reduction to come from the lead deficit drivers of Social Security and Medicare, as well as middle-class taxes. Of course, those three reform categories face intense bipartisan opposition. Ultimately, the bond market will leave Washington with no alternative."

Inside the Fiasco at the National Security Council: Firings and leadership challenges have destabilized an institution that has little margin for error. - "The disorder at the NSC, officials told me, stems from Trump's impatience with process, disregard for the law, and insistence on loyalty in place of expertise. They also said it reflects the president's distrust of Waltz, a former Florida congressman and Green Beret who served in the George W. Bush administration as an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney."

Has Trump found a path to peace in Ukraine?: Security guarantees and other hard details remain, but there are signs of movement.

‘Bone collector’ caterpillar, a new species, wears outfit of body parts: The caterpillar species with a macabre fashion sense was discovered by researchers in Hawaii. Its casing is a disguise to fool the spiders with which it lives.

Pup’s death at D.C. luxury building sparks push for ban of deadly plant: The Carolina jessamine is widely known to be toxic to dogs and children.

China plans to build a nuclear power plant on the Moon: The plans come as China steps up its ambitious space programme

China asks Korea not to supply products using rare earths to US defence firms, paper reports

A Ticking Clock on American Freedom: It’s later than you think, but it’s not too late.

What Would Be Worse Than a Recession?: The loss of America’s economic hegemony - "In the words of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the onetime French finance minister, the role of the dollar as the world's reserve currency constitutes an "exorbitant privilege" for the United States, a privilege made more exorbitant by Treasury debt's role as the world's safe-haven investment. The country can borrow cheaply and power out of recessions quickly because of this privilege. Yet it depends on investors' trust in American financial institutions and American governance. Trump's trade war is making people question whether the United States deserves to have its privilege revoked."

I’ve Seen How This Plays Out for Ukraine: Appeasement won’t stop Putin. - "The Trump administration's proposed agreement would recognize Russia's illegal annexation and freeze the war's front lines. But nothing I've lived through suggests this would be the end of it. Each concession has been followed by another demand. Every new border has eventually been redrawn. Crimea wasn't the end. Neither was Donetsk. Neither was Mariupol. It's not difficult to see what comes next."

Reading archive 2024-06-27

Virginia and Maryland in spat over Chesapeake Bay crabbing plans: Environmentalists and Maryland officials blast a vote by Virginia officials to explore winter dredging of blue crabs.

Ed Helms’s podcast explores a Washington Post scoop that rocked America: The second season of “SNAFU” covers a break-in at an FBI building and the Post reporter who covered it.

$10M offered for Russian accused in ‘WhisperGate’ malware attack on Ukraine: A federal grand jury indicted Russian national Amin Stigal this week on allegations that he conspired with the Russian military to hack Ukrainian computer systems before the war.

Inside the battle to release controversial Trump movie ‘The Apprentice’: Ex-NFL owner and Trump backer Dan Snyder is a funder of the production company that helped produce the Cannes hit, which stars Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong. Is the company also blocking the film’s U.S. distribution?

What state best represents America?: This week, we take a stab at identifying the most normal state in the nation and discover that, by at least one measure, it’s the state you’d least expect.

How water could be the future of fuel: A new generation of fuels could power planes and ships without warming the planet. - "The danger of using grid power for hydrogen production is that, across the United States, just like in Texas, 60 percent of that energy comes from fossil fuels. Making hydrogen from electricity that dirty is worse than simply making it from fossil fuels, according to an April 2023 analysis from Energy Innovation, a clean energy think tank.

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"A truck running on diesel made from hydrogen using only renewable electricity would create 89 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions over the course of its lifetime than a truck burning diesel made from petroleum, according to a 2022 analysis from the European nonprofit Transport & Environment."

He lived near a dam his whole life. Then floods washed his house away.: David Hruska hopes his family’s restaurant in Mankato, Minn., won’t also succumb to the flooding.

A guide to anxiety-free hosting — no dinner required: Having people over doesn’t have to mean a huge party or an elaborate dinner. Here’s how to take the stress out of getting together with friends.

Reading archive 2024-04-13

DC police dealt thousands of guns; ATF demands answers after concerning number found at crime scenes - Eight years later as COVID-19 took hold in the District (and, as federal statistics show, gun purchases rose rapidly), D.C.’s longtime lone licensed dealer closed his business. A D.C. police spokesperson told the I-Team, 'MPD was required to operate as an FFL from April 3, 2020, until January 4, 2021, to uphold a constitutional right in the District.'"

Germany bars doctor who worked in Gaza, shuts down Palestinian conference - "The conference — and Salman Abu Sitta’s participation in particular — stirred controversy before it even began, with Germany’s antisemitism commissioner, Felix Klein, saying he was in favor of banning the author from entering the country. The furor related to a January blog post in which Salman Abu Sitta wrote that he 'could have been one of those who broke through the fence' if he were younger and still lived 'in the concentration camp called the Gaza Strip.'"

General warns House on Ukraine: ‘The side that can’t shoot back loses’: Within weeks, Russia will be able to launch 10 artillery shells for every one round fired by Ukraine without additional U.S. aid, Gen. Christopher Cavoli said

The joys and challenges of interracial friendships

A drone factory in Utah is at the epicenter of anti-China fervor: After struggling for years for survival, U.S. small drone manufacturers are getting a second shot, despite prices many times higher than China’s DJI

Opinion  How Gen Z took over incel slang - "Here’s how that can work: I like to watch videos on urban planning, and I recently got a TikTok complaining that 'it’s so hard being a walkpilled cardiomaxxer in a carcel gascucked state like Arizona.'"

Prosecutor will probe possible coverup in investigation of teacher’s shooting: Months after a 6-year-old boy in Newport News, Va., shot a first-grade teacher, authorities say they are still examining whether others are culpable - "Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard E. Gwynn, the top prosecutor in Newport News, Va., said his office will probe why one of the shooter’s discipline files disappeared and the other had material removed from it.

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"The special grand jury wrote that police obtained a search warrant for the boy’s disciplinary files, but the documents were missing when investigators went to the school to get them. They were the only disciplinary files missing from the school. 

"LaQuiche Parrott, the director of elementary school leadership for the district, eventually returned one of the files, but the special grand jury said it was missing all of its disciplinary records, including documentation about the choking incident in kindergarten. The other file remains missing.

"Parrott said she could not recall how she got the disciplinary file, which the special grand jury called 'highly suspicious.' The panel questioned whether she might be engaging in a coverup and recommended Parrott be investigated for obstruction of justice. Parrott did not return calls from The Washington Post seeking comment."

Opinion  This is why Trump supporters will believe absolutely anything

A narco revolt takes a once-peaceful nation to the brink

Reading archive 2016-08-07

Do Your Friends Actually Like You?