Reading archive 2026-03-24

Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years: An investigation by The New York Times found extensive evidence that the United Farm Workers co-founder groomed and sexually abused girls who worked in the movement.

Exercise can lower Alzheimer’s risk. Scientists may have discovered why.: In an ambitious study, memory and learning abilities improved substantially after exercise among mice with a form of Alzheimer’s disease.

How Trump Killed Conservatism: The president has cultivated and encouraged the ugliest passions within the GOP, dousing the embers of hate with kerosene. [ed. note: a conservative write a paean to conservatism, yawn]

How the Midwest Became the Place to Move: It’s (mostly) about affordability.

The Strategic Follies of the Islamic Republic: The past half century reveals a record not of constant brilliance, but of consistent folly.

The Death of Millennial Feminism: Lindy West has unwittingly written the obituary for an era. - "Adult Braces is many things: a paean to the varied landscapes of America, an advert for #vanlife, a reminder to be grateful that your partner hasn't talked you into a throuple with a much thinner woman. It is also the tombstone for Millennial Feminism - that swirling brew of Media Twitter, blog snark, the Great Awokening, whaling on Lena Dunham, fat positivity, and boring straight people identifying as queer through accounting tricks."

Why I Stopped Forcing My Kid to Share: True generosity can’t be coerced.

Why is everyone hating on runfluencers now?" Instagram’s running influencers are facing backlash over an influx of injuries, falsified marathon times, AI-generated training plans and debates about privilege

Suicidal Bootlicking as a Method of Governance: Education and extraction in the cannibal South. - "Ken Griffin goes to Harvard, makes a fortune, builds his business in New York and Chicago, and then finally deigns to move his hedge fund down to Florida in order to not pay taxes, builds a private school, and then watches the kids of all his associates go back to Harvard. Do you think these masters of the universe are going to send their kids to the University of Florida or the University of Texas to learn some halfhearted religious bullshit? Hell no! They want the best educations for their kids. They will not be utilizing the educational systems that have been degraded in order to redirect more wealth into their own bank accounts. Harvard and Yale will educate a crop of imperial capitalists, grow their fortunes, deploy them down to desperate Southern states that they can plunder, and then accept their children back again in order to repeat the process. Notice what the Southern states themselves get out of this process: Less than nothing. They are making the ambient education levels of their own residents lower in order to be better exploited by out-of-state wealth. They are ensuring that their own residents will be less competitive with the Harvard cutthroats of the future. They are locking themselves into a perpetual cycle of having to offer ever more extravagant enticements for out-of-state rich people to come on down, because they robbed themselves of the ability to build their own ladder upwards by giving it all away to attract the last generation of out-of-state wealth. This deranged and suicidal cycle, at least, explains how this stupid system has gone on for so long. The way it is able to extract from the normal residents of a state in exchange for absolutely no positive return is a marvel to perceive."

2028 Dem hopefuls scramble for distance from AIPAC Democrats eyeing: White House bids are distancing themselves from the powerful pro-Israel group amid slumping support for Israel within the party’s base. - "'There are Iranian Americans that bundle money. There are Turkish Americans that bundle money. There are a lot of ethnic groups that bundle money, and often for things that I don’t agree with. But somehow AIPAC seems to be drawing a lot of attention, and that’s problematic to me,' Booker said. '[AIPAC] is not the problem in America. The problem in America is money in politics.'"

Decades after a Florida canal project was abandoned, advocates are trying to reunite 3 rivers

American Aviation Is Near Collapse: Fatal crashes, overstressed controllers, and endless security lines reveal a system teetering on the brink of failure.

How to get Big Tech to pay your energy bills: The most overlooked U.S. power plant isn’t a gas turbine or solar farm. It’s your house (and thousands of others), and firms are paying to use them to power data centers. - "Your home offers another solution to the energy shortage. The concept is simple. When thousands of homes are coordinated together by software into what are known as distributed or virtual power plants (VPPs), they can deliver or free up a power plant’s worth of electricity for the grid by dialing down consumption from smart appliances like electric water heaters or dispatching electricity from home batteries. This approach can bring hundreds of megawatts online in months, not the years it can take to build a new power plant."

Europe’s Far Right Is Turning on Trump: The president’s attempt to influence elections across the Atlantic is backfiring.

Reading archive 2025-11-24

How D.C. developers made big money on a taxpayer-funded housing project: Developers with political ties to Mayor Muriel E. Bowser stand to collect millions of dollars more than housing experts say is normal for an affordable housing project. - "'Bluntly, the taxpayers of D.C. are being screwed by this,' said Kirk McClure, a professor emeritus for the public affairs school at the University of Kansas and a former loan underwriter for the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency. He and two other experts who reviewed the financial records at The Post’s request questioned whether the District has adequate guardrails to prevent overpaying developers."

Is the past week a turning point for Trump’s second term?: The resignation of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a MAGA hard-liner, is just one sign of a possible rebellion in the president’s party as Trump struggles with low poll numbers.

The surprising issue driving a wedge between Trump and his MAGA base: President Donald Trump’s attempt to block states from regulating AI sparked pushback from Republicans concerned the tech will displace workers and harm children.

The cyberattacks are coming. Will anyone be there to stop them?: Trump administration job cuts worsen U.S. vulnerabilities to China and other cyber-adversaries.

Are millennials frozen out of the housing market? The reality may be more interesting.: An eye-catching report said the average first-time home buyer is now 40, but the story is more complex.

A suspicion from 2016 is becoming Democrats’ monster: The party is falling behind while Trump accelerates technology innovation.

Russian Exiles See Europe Visa Rule as Blow Against Them, Not Putin: The European Union said the decision was prompted by sabotage attacks in Europe, but Russians living abroad say Europe is punishing ordinary people.

EPA just approved new ‘forever chemical’ pesticides for use on food: Critics warn the EPA’s approvals of new PFAS pesticides could expose more Americans to “forever chemicals” through their food. - "The PFAS pesticides awaiting approval by the EPA all contain fewer than four fluorinated carbon atoms. That makes them 'ultrashort-chain' compounds, scientists say, which are highly mobile in the environment and hard to filter."

About This Account reveals the scale of X's foreign troll problem: X confirms what we already know: That many of the loudest MAGA accounts aren't actually American

Take these 4 steps now before your next data-breach notice: There are so many ways for scammers to circumvent security measures that you need to regularly check your accounts.

A hulking home addition is dividing neighbors and stumping officials: The sudden attention has left both neighbors distressed. “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,” one said.

Pirro’s charging powers expanded by D.C. federal court ruling: A judge ruled that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro can ask a local grand jury to indict cases that federal grand jurors have rejected. She said judges never should have questioned the tactic.

Witness exposes unusual tactics used to prop up mortgage fraud cases: A witness in the Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) case exposed surprising revelations about Trump officials and their attempts to reach an indictment.

This slap in the face to rural America is a chance to turn it blue: Democrats should be the party of aspiration — and talk like normal human beings. - "We’re not going to win the messaging battle if we say that Trump’s policies make people 'food insecure.' No, they make people hungry. Kentucky was hit hard by the opioid epidemic. I didn’t lose a friends and acquaintances to 'substance use disorder'; I lost them to addiction. Addiction is hard, it’s mean, and it kills people. So when people triumph over it, we should give them the credit they deserve by calling it what it is."

Some Republicans want to try to pass another mega-bill on health care: Lawmakers are exploring policy options — but they acknowledge it may be tough to get consensus.

How Democrats are building their own digital media army: The 2024 election spurred Democrats to seek out podcasts and social media creators to spread their message and catch up with their Republican counterparts.

U.S., Ukraine move closer together on peace plan after lengthy talks: The document, which Ukraine said was too favorable to Russia, has been substantially changed, officials say.

Zelensky may never have faced a more agonizing choice: U.S. officials tell me Trump’s peace plan is flexible, but a painful decision lies at its core.

Judge tosses cases against Comey and James, rules prosecutor appointment unlawful: The decision could end the prosecution of the former FBI director. The government could refile charges against the New York attorney general.

Reading archive 2023-11-03

Famed climate scientist has a new, dire prediction: Some scientists question the new study, which asserts that Earth is warming faster than previously estimated

Students hated ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Their teachers tried to dump it.: Four progressive teachers in Washington’s Mukilteo School District wanted to protect students from a book they saw as outdated and harmful. The blowback was fierce. - "Chaitna Deshmukh, a Mukilteo graduate, said she thinks 'To Kill a Mockingbird' fails to address the complex racial reality of 21st-century America." [ed. note: what single text does or even can?]

As Hong Kong stood up for democracy, a neighborhood was brutalized

Seriously, why aren’t millennials having kids?: Also, with birthrates plunging, why aren’t there more only children?

John Fetterman unleashed: ‘I’ve already been dead once’: After being treated for depression, the senator is finally having fun – and taking aim at some Democrats

Carjackings prompt finger-pointing and criticisms among D.C. officials: Mayor Muriel Bowser inaccurately described a youth’s criminal record, court records show

Grieving and angry, Maine residents demand change after mass killing

Opinion  Is the House GOP about to give Putin a pat on the back for his barbarism?

‘You just gaslit her’: How Dean Phillips’s first town hall went off the rails in N.H.

How Gaza’s tunnel network leaves Israel facing ‘three-dimensional’ war

Why Do Young Americans Support Hamas? Look at TikTok.: The app is digital fentanyl made by China. And it is brainwashing our youth against the country and our allies, argues Rep. Mike Gallagher.

Wild Horses Are Terrible for the West: They’re scourges, not symbols, of wilderness. - The herds are increasing at a fast clip, and the native biota has already suffered greatly. By shunning our responsibility to control feral horse herds like those found in the Salt River, we are delaying the inevitable, passing the difficult decisions down to the next generation, who will have to do the dirty work we refused, and without the chance to save the native species we abandoned. The Forest Service’s only mistake was waiting this long to attempt removal; anyone who truly values nature, the deserts, and their native species will support the relocation of feral horses from the Salt River Basin and everywhere else they are causing damage.

Reading archive 2023-01-27

Millennials Are Finally Buying Houses... And Making Them Ugly: What’s up with all these hideous renovations?

Family of 6-year-old who shot teacher speaks out for 1st time: Abby Zwerner was released from the hospital early this week. - "The family said the 'firearm our son accessed was secured.'" [ed. note: OBVIOUSLY NOT]

Downtown D.C.’s struggles mount as many workers remain remote

U.S. general warns troops that war with China is possible in two years: Gen. Michael A. Minihan, who oversees the Air Force’s fleet of transport and refueling aircraft, cited the 2024 presidential elections in Taiwan and the United States as part of his rationale

Reading archive 2022-07-22

Hawley’s effort to reap political rewards from Jan. 6 scampers off

‘Run Hawley Run’: Video of Josh Hawley fleeing Jan. 6 rioters sparks memes: The internet wasted no time before mocking the senator with memes ranging from Forrest Gump to Road Runner

Watchdog launches criminal probe over missing Secret Service messages

Russia to ‘run out of steam’ soon in Ukraine: U.K. intelligence chief: Richard Moore, the chief of MI6, also described Russia’s invasion as an ‘epic fail’

How Gen Z teens accidentally blew up the myth of the lazy millennial - "When demand for workers changes, teens feel it first. They’re more exposed to the cruelties of the economic cycle than any other group. And millennials have had worse economic luck than any generation in history. 

"Millennials entered the workforce amid two significant recessions and the jobless recoveries that followed, meaning they were always pitted against legions of laid-off, more-experienced workers, said Northeastern University economist Alicia Sasser Modestino."

A radical plan for Trump’s second term

Opinion  Girl Scouts should not sell a Maryland forest to developers

Reading archive 2020-05-27

Does "Fire Pink" Make Much of a Difference?

The unluckiest generation in U.S. history: Millennials have faced the worst economic odds, and many will never recover

Reading archive 2019-11-22

Barack Obama, conservative: The left and the right still misunderstand his politics.

The High-Paid DC Millennials Who Are Using Side Hustles to “Ball Out”: "I made $400 off a dog that was next to my house."

When a deep red town’s only grocery closed, city hall opened its own store. Just don’t call it ‘socialism.’

Reading archive 2019-05-31

Clarence Thomas tried to link abortion to eugenics. Seven historians told The Post he’s wrong.

Cory Booker and the Orthodox rabbi were like brothers. Now they don’t speak.: Their bond bridged religious and racial divides, but it collapsed in an increasingly divided country.

The average millennial has an average net worth of $8,000. That’s far less than previous generations.

Reading archive 2019-01-23

‘Nobody Is Going to Believe You’: The Bohemian Rhapsody director Bryan Singer has been trailed by accusations of sexual misconduct for 20 years. Here, his alleged victims tell their stories.

Millennial Burnout Is Being Televised: How Fyre Fraud and Tidying Up With Marie Kondo capture a precarious cultural moment

Reading archive 2018-05-01

Michelle Wolf Did What Comedians Are Supposed to Do

Facebook’s Privacy Changes Leave Developers Steaming

One Goal of Amazon’s HQ2: Learn the Lessons of Seattle: Amazon has surprised officials in cities vying for the company’s new headquarters by asking how to avoid soaring housing costs and paralyzing traffic.

Americans Are A Lonely Lot, And Young People Bear The Heaviest Burden

Reading archive 2017-10-02

Puerto Rico is all our worst fears about Trump coming real: A real crisis comes and Trump can’t handle it.

How good has U.S. cheese become? Good enough to worry the Italians.

The millennials who transformed D.C. after the recession are now leaving for cheaper cities

White American men are a bigger domestic terrorist threat than Muslim foreigners: Since Trump took office, more Americans have been killed by white American men with no connection to Islam than by Muslim terrorists or foreigners.

Reading archive 2017-09-08

Millennials are filling their homes — and the void in their hearts — with houseplants

Tomi Lahren, Meet The Great Great Grandfather Prosecuted For Forging His Citizenship Papers!

Andrew Sullivan: The Religious Right’s Suicidal Gay Obsession, also with thoughts on Confederate statues

The case for Trump-Russia collusion: We’re getting very, very close

On gay rights, conservatives — and the Trump administration — are in full retreat

Did lesbians cause Hurricanes Irma and Harvey? God knows.

The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election - "On Twitter, as on Facebook, Russian fingerprints are on hundreds or thousands of fake accounts that regularly posted anti-Clinton messages. Many were automated Twitter accounts, called bots, that sometimes fired off identical messages seconds apart — and in the exact alphabetical order of their made-up names, according to the FireEye researchers. On Election Day, for instance, they found that one group of Twitter bots sent out the hashtag #WarAgainstDemocrats more than 1,700 times."

Reading archive 2016-10-02

This Is Hillary Clinton's Millennial 'Problem' - "There are only so many times one can insist that young voters capitulate to a political party’s sole demand—vote for us!—in exchange for nothing.

"This might not seem such a bad thing. Positions shift. Parties evolve. A serious threat of millennial desertion might lead to a natural compromise: support, in exchange for real policy concessions going forward. So why have liberal pundits resisted such a move? Why are they intent on not just defeating but discrediting the ideological preferences of the young left, dismissing them not as a legitimate divergence but as mere ignorance and confusion?

"Perhaps the theory that political choices meaningfully reflect political preferences can help us here, as well. Many older people, including liberals, tend to be more conservative than younger voters. These ideological preferences are real, and we should take them as seriously as they should take the preferences of millennials. These older liberals would like their vision of society to prevail. They would like to win. It is therefore in their interests to discredit and defeat opponents of that vision, be they reactionary nativists or young anti-capitalists. One way to defeat them is to use their positions as public commentators in order to attack those opponents, to call them confused and unserious and dangerous. And so they have."

Whatever is actually in Trump’s tax returns is worse than what the New York Times says: Trump is making clear that whatever is really in his tax returns would be devastating to his campaign.

The most shocking part of Donald Trump’s tax records isn’t the $916 million loss everyone’s talking about

As news of Trump’s taxes breaks, he goes off script at a rally in Pennsylvania

Reading archive 2016-08-04

Republicans nominate dangerously insane person to lead America, then panic when he proves he’s dangerously insane

Hillary Clinton Leads Donald Trump in New Hampshire and Florida, Polls Show

Russell Westbrook’s Renewed Mission in Oklahoma City

Meet the Geeks Who Can Take Your Lunch Money

A Brief History of Silicon Valley’s Failures in China

Can Millennials Take a Joke?