Reading archive 2026-05-15

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reading archive 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 2025-07-09

Think you’re cleaning your water bottle enough? Wrong.: Here’s how often you should be cleaning your water bottle, and how to do it correctly.

To Save Nature, Make It Sacred: Beyond science and policy, the key to protecting Earth’s most vulnerable ecosystems may lie in the human capacity to treat certain places as sacred. - "The lake’s sacrosanct status does not rest on formal enforcement or economic incentives but on a moral orientation that has become embedded in the community’s relationship to place. Visitors care for the lake of their own accord; threat of punishment is not required."

Chesapeake Bay is stagnating. Here’s what could help.: This big pollution problem isn’t quite solved.

If Emanuel runs, he’ll bet on candor defeating the ‘culture police’: The former mayor of Chicago talks about what ails the Democratic Party, and how to cure it.

D.C. Democrats tarnish themselves by resisting ranked-choice voting: Initiative 83 would make the election system fairer. The D.C. Council should fund its implementation.

Canadian troops arrested in alleged plot to seize part of Quebec: The suspects are accused of stockpiling an extensive arsenal and conducting military-style training while building an anti-government militia, police said.

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 2025-06-26

House GOP holdouts threaten revolt over Trump and Senate’s tax bill: The Senate has overhauled President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, sparking serious concerns over federal spending and Medicaid in the House. - "But those holdouts have been through this saga before — and folded."

Zohran Mamdani’s victory is bad for New York and the Democratic Party: New York cannot take its greatness for granted. Mismanagement can ruin it. - "A massive minimum wage would depress low-skilled employment. His rent freeze would reduce the housing supply and decrease its quality. Cutting bus fares would leave a transit funding hole that, unless somehow filled, would erode service. Meanwhile, the grocery business operates on thin margins, and his plan for city-run stores would likely lead to fewer options, poor service and shortages, as privately-run stores closed rather than try to compete with city-subsidized shops."

Where each D.C. Council member stands on the Commanders RFK stadium deal: At least seven lawmakers are needed for Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s RFK stadium deal with the team to proceed.

This Pride Month, the Backlash Has Officially Arrived: Young LGBTQ people are facing the prospect of losing rights they thought they’d never have to worry about.

America’s Incarceration Rate Is About to Fall Off a Cliff: Long sentences and recidivism kept prison populations high for decades, but prisons are now starting to empty. - "As the snake digests the pig year after year, the American prison system is simply not going to have enough inmates to justify its continued size or staggering costs. Some states that are contemplating expanding their prison capacity will be wasting their money their facilities will be overbuilt and underused. By 2035, the overall imprisonment rate could be as low as 200 per 100,000 people. States should instead be tearing down their most deteriorated and inhumane correctional facilities, confident that they will not need the space.

...

"The simplest available policy to accelerate the decarceration trend is to stop building prisons except in cases where a smaller, modern facility is replacing a larger, decaying institution. Though it will be nonintuitive to many reformers, particularly on the left, opposition to any such new facilities being private should be dropped. The principal political barrier to closing half-full prisons is the power of public-sector unions."

‘Everybody Knows Khamenei’s Days Are Numbered’: A well-placed group of Iranian insiders considers a future without the supreme leader.

The Trojan Horse Will Come for Us Too: The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East offer Americans a glimpse into the battles of the future—and a warning.

Why Won’t Zohran Mamdani Denounce a Dangerous Slogan?: The New York mayoral candidate’s defense of “Globalize the intifada” is very telling. - "The ambiguity of the slogan is not a point in its defense but a point against it. The dual meanings allow the movement to contain both peaceful and militant wings, without the former having to take responsibility for the latter."

What Chris Murphy Learned From the New Right: The standard-issue Northeast progressive wants to take the Democratic Party down a populist path.

Latinos Vote Differently Under Threat Voters who care most about economic issues will still coalesce as an ethnic bloc if their community is attacked.

Extreme Violence Without Genocide The plight of white South Africans is part of a much larger problem. - "Afrikaner farmers suffer, in this context, from what might be called the Willie Sutton problem. Why rob and assault them? Because that's where the money is. In rural areas, farmers have expensive motors and other agricultural equipment, and sometimes stashes of cash to pay workers."

Brace Yourself for Watery Mayo and Spiky Ice Cream: MAHA is coming for emulsifiers.

Why Isn’t Russia Defending Iran?: Backing the most anti-Western Middle Eastern power was convenient until it wasn’t.

The Magic Realism of Zohran Mamdani: The socialist New York mayoral candidate’s proposals don’t hold up to serious scrutiny. Will that matter?

The Tesla Brain Drain: The future of the struggling car company rests on Elon Musk more than ever before.

A Provocative Argument About What Creates Serial Killers: In her new book, Murderland, Caroline Fraser argues that the rise of these criminals has deep roots in the release of industrial waste. - "The author lays much of the blame at the feet of two Gilded Age families: the Rockefellers and the Guggenheims. The Rockefellers made their money in oil, and the Guggenheims in mining; they would later both own (and fight for control of) the profitable American Smelting and Refining Company, later known as ASARCO. ASARCO ended up all over the country, but Tacoma proved particularly attractive for its potential access to minerals. For nearly a century, a smokestack hundreds of feet high shot lead and arsenic into the sky."

Inside the Democratic Rupture That Undermined Kamala Harris’s Presidential Hopes: In the weeks before Election Day, it seemed like the candidate had two campaigns.

Reading archive 2025-05-02

My Gen Z daughter asked if now is the time to invest as the market dips: Buying stocks when they’re cheap is fine, as long as it’s a minor tactical shift on top of a steady investing strategy.

New tariff sparks tomato war between importers and Florida growers: Cherry, grape and vine-ripened specialties are popular in the United States, but most of them will be subject to new duties being slapped on tomatoes from Mexico.

As wreckage piles up, Trump and his aides retreat to fantasyland: Every remark spins a different strand of make-believe.

Russia worries about a U.S. tilt toward Ukraine after minerals deal: Since the beginning of the new administration, it seemed Russia’s needs and views of the war were being promoted by Trump officials, but the tone appears to be changing.

GOP balks at approving even a fraction of Musk’s DOGE cuts: Republican lawmakers have told administration officials that pushing sweeping cuts through Congress will be difficult.

Your online orders may cost more now that a tax loophole has closed: The Trump administration’s elimination of the “de minimis” exception has implications for businesses ranging from Etsy sellers to e-commerce behemoths.

Senate overturns EPA rule on seven highly toxic air pollutants: If also passed by the House as expected, the action will be the first time Congress has weakened protections under the Clean Air Act.

Trump once joked about a third term. Now, he says it’s no laughing matter.: The president’s mixed message makes it hard to know how much he is seriously toying with the idea, which most legal scholars say is expressly forbidden by the Constitution.

White House budget calls for $163 billion in federal cuts next year: The document will tee up new spending battles with Congress as the administration seeks a range of policy changes.

Why preserving old-growth forests is a complex task: Conservation projects save more than just trees, but different forests require very different caretaking strategies.

Suspect who targeted Shapiro cited views on Palestinians, warrant says: Cody Balmer, 38, described his views in a call to 911 reporting the attack. His brother said that Balmer suffered from mental illness. - "Dan Balmer also said Cody Balmer was politically independent and had urged his family to vote for Donald Trump in November."

Mother duck lays 8 eggs on downtown D.C. building’s rooftop terrace: Staff at the Planet Word museum decided to set up a duck cam, where viewers can watch the bird hang out.

Amid Trump’s trade war, China launches a PR blitz (and it might win): China has long tried to present itself as the world’s true champion of globalization, with little success. Now Beijing has a new opening to push its message.

Trump’s folly is piling up. And America is weaker for it.: The president just gave China a get-out-of-jail-free card. - "China was rapidly detaching itself internationally by dumping chaos on its trading partners. Beijing’s mercantilism was to its economic policy what the wolf warriors were to its foreign policy: a recipe for isolation.

...

"Attacking alliances and allies left the U.S. alone in its China contest. At a moment when Trump could have further set China back, his tariffs have isolated America instead."

Reading archive 2025-04-24

Scientists say they can calculate the cost of oil giants’ role in global warming: Climate advocates hope this sort of model could result in court rulings that make polluters pay. The oil and gas industry contests the science.

Trump’s EPA cuts could be ‘catastrophic’ to Chesapeake Bay, activists warn: The EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program has worked to restore the bay’s waters and fish and plant life since 1983, but severe cuts could jeopardize this progress.

Chesapeake Bay’s oysters make a steady comeback: The Maryland mollusks have survived decades of overharvesting, disease and drought.

U.S. agencies alarmed by China’s curbs on exports of rare-earth minerals: Beijing’s curbs on rare earth exports, used to make military drones, consumer electronics, electric cars and more, have caused alarm across federal agencies.

D.C. loses coveted triple-A bond rating due to federal actions: Moody’s cited federal workforce and spending cuts, a sluggish commercial real estate market and uncertainty over whether Congress will cut Medicaid. - "In making the downgrade, Moody’s cited the Trump administration’s 'substantial cuts to the federal workforce' that are expected to hurt the city’s economy. And it revised the city’s outlook to 'negative,' pointing to a still-sluggish commercial real estate market, the “increased likelihood” of deeper federal spending and workforce cuts and the uncertainty surrounding whether Congress will make cuts to Medicaid — a major fear among D.C. officials and local hospitals."

What science says about artificial food dyes amid RFK Jr.’s push to ban them: In some studies, synthetic food dyes used in the United States have been associated with hyperactivity and behavioral effects in children.

Elon Musk had the government in his grasp. Then it unraveled.: The billionaire head of the U.S. DOGE Service clashed with Trump Cabinet officials well before he announced he would soon head back to Tesla.

The Evolution of the Alpha Male Aesthetic

Tree emergency The entire city's urban canopy is facing deep cuts

How Italy got its citizens — and me — to adopt a rigorous recycling scheme: Italy has become a global leader in recycling, in part by relying on households to do a lot of the work.

Russia bombards Kyiv, provoking rare rebuke from Trump as peace talks stall: The massive attack on Kyiv and other cities in the early morning came after President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Ukraine’s leadership.

The Courage to Be Decent: The Trump administration wants to make us too afraid to look out for one another. Don’t let them.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Girlboss: Strapped in next to Gayle King and an all-women crew aboard Jeff Bezos’ rocket, the pop star set a record for the most feminist publicity stunt in history as she smashed through the glass ceiling of Earth itself.

Realistic roles for hydrogen in the future energy transition

Reading archive 2025-04-14

Ja Morant dares the NBA to punish him, knowing it won’t pull the trigger: The league wants the Grizzlies star to learn a lesson, but its weakness has taught him that the outrage is only pretend.

Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.: Air pollution fell substantially as the city restricted car traffic and made way for parks and bike lanes.

She’s been D.C.’s mayor for a decade. Here’s how her vision changed the city.

Detransition, maybe: A Moroccan influencer announced he was no longer transgender. What did it mean?

The nurse in the NYC subway: As subway assaults rise and calls for safety increase, a psychiatric nurse must decide who is a risk.

How the Caribbean could turn a plague of seaweed into fuel and fertilizer: Sargassum seaweed is a problem throughout the Caribbean. But scientists are exploring the opportunities it may offer.

How the Caribbean could turn a plague of seaweed into fuel and fertilizer: Sargassum seaweed is a problem throughout the Caribbean. But scientists are exploring the opportunities it may offer.

simulacra for bootlickers

‘It’s just not sustainable’: D.C. restaurants pushed to the brink: In the wake of wage hikes and government layoffs, some owners say they can’t keep treading water. - "Full-service restaurants, Greenbaum says, were built on a decades-old model in which diner tips offset part of labor costs. Voters upended that model without understanding how it would affect the restaurants they love.

"'Why is that not understandable how catastrophic that is?' she asks. 'Unless you think that we’re all lying and we make a ton of money.'" [ed. note: WHY AM I DIRECTLY SUBSIDIZING YOUR LABOR COSTS?]

How Much Trouble Are DC Restaurants Really In?: A restaurant association survey found 44 percent of full-service casual restaurants are likely to close this year.

How a trade war becomes a shooting war: Trump and Xi, take note: The United States and China risk falling into a trap over tariffs.

Don’t look at your 401(k), they said. I looked.: The myth of the 401(k) is that we are all in charge of our own destinies. What does that matter now?

Trump charmed Bill Maher. The comedian’s fans don’t find it funny.: After a decade of trading insults, Trump and Maher enjoyed a White House dinner. Liberals continue to wrestle with whether to engage the president as they oppose him.

Trump’s tariffs war is sparking uncertainty for North Carolina farmers: “It’s always been a guessing game here on the farm, but I think it’s more of a guess now than it’s ever been in my lifetime,” one North Carolina farmer said last week.

Reading archive 2025-01-14

Steve Bannon derides Elon Musk, vowing to limit influence over Trump: His comments reflect an intensifying battle over Musk’s West Wing sway as Trump prepares to take office. - "Bannon told the Italian newspaper that Musk’s ideas are 'really about the implementation of techno-feudalism on a global scale.'"

Bats use storm fronts to ‘surf’ the skies when they migrate, study finds: A new study study sheds light on a little-known phenomenon: the long-distance migration treks of nocturnal bats.

D.C. attorney general sues federal government over Anacostia River pollution: The lawsuit claims that the U.S. government for decades used the Anacostia as a “cost-free toxic dumping ground.”

Teen sentenced to year’s probation in attack on model at McDonald’s: The October assault on the gay model occurred outside a McDonald’s in the 14th and U streets area in Northwest Washington.

How New Orleans failed to protect Bourbon Street from attack, block by block: Major security lapses preceded the vehicular-ramming attack that left 14 dead, according to a Post examination of visual evidence and accounts from witnesses.

15 science-based ways to reduce your risk of dementia: From diet and exercise to protecting against hearing loss and maintaining social connections, there are ways to improve our health and reduce dementia risk, experts say.

On Kansas back roads, I found people who are solving problems: They’re past “What’s the matter with Kansas?” and are finding common ground.

The looming Eurasian menace: As China, Iran, Russia and North Korea lock arms, the U.S. should begin its response preparations. - "The United States also lacks the resources for this new round of rivalry. The U.S. military is designed to defeat only a single enemy in a major conflict. U.S. military spending is nearly as low, as a percentage of gross domestic product, as it has been at any time since World War II. Its defense industrial base is in pitiful shape. Yet as hot wars rage in the Middle East and Europe, and a Sino-American cold war intensifies in the Asia-Pacific, the United States could easily face conflicts in two or more regions simultaneously — or find itself fighting a rival that is receiving help from other adversaries."

Head of the International Court of Justice is named Lebanon's new prime minister: Lebanon’s new president has asked prominent diplomat and jurist Nawaf Salam to form the country’s new government after Salam was named prime minister by a large number of legislators

After economic meltdown and war with Israel, Lebanon's new prime minister vows to rebuild: Lebanon’s prime minister-designate has vowed to rebuild the country following years of economic meltdown and a 14-month war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group

NATO launches new naval operation in Baltic sea after severed cables: The Baltic Sentry operation comes amid mounting European fears of sabotage after a string of murky disruptions to underwater cables in the sea that borders Russia.

Montgomery County considers plastic-bag ban, doubling tax on paper bags: An inspector general’s report said the county’s current bag policy has been inefficient, leading to millions of dollars in lost revenue. - "Under Stewart’s proposal, those receiving food assistance, including from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC), would be excused from paying the paper-bag tax. Stewart said the intent was to mitigate the bill’s impact on lower-income people for whom 10 cents a bag is a heavier burden and for those who often transport groceries home via public transportation." [ed. note: STUPID]

Compass Coffee co-founders split amid claim of misspent covid funds: The former Marines who founded the D.C. chain are mired in acrimony as Harrison Suarez accuses Michael Haft, scion of a business empire, of family racketeering enterprise.

This group says natural gas bans hurt minorities. It has gas industry ties.: The Energy Poverty Awareness Center, which fought climate legislation in Maryland, has ties to a group that is partly funded by oil and gas companies. - "The measure would not have affected the state’s nearly 2.6 million existing housing units. It also would not have restricted other appliances such as gas stoves, which have recently emerged as a flash point in the nation’s culture wars. 

"In his testimony sent to state lawmakers, however, Baxter wrote that the bill could force Black households in Baltimore to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a host of new green technologies."

Elon Musk’s Boring Company Is Tunneling Beneath Las Vegas With Little Oversight

Society is making you sick, GOP says. Too bad their plans will make you sicker.: “Make America Healthy Again” might be a laudable plan — if GOP policies didn’t contradict GOP goals.

The U.S. government runs on Celsius. Just ask anyone on Capitol Hill.: The energy drink is consumed by politicians, journalists and even the speaker of the House, who maintains his own stash.

Kristi Noem, a homeland security chief hopeful, banned in parts of her state: South Dakota’s tribes barred the governor from setting foot on their land after she said drug cartels operate there — an allegation the nations’ leaders deny. - "Brendan Johnson, a former U.S. attorney for South Dakota, said that to suggest that cartels use reservations as operating bases is a fundamental misunderstanding of the economics of the drug trade. 

"Drugs are smuggled across the border to larger cities such as Kansas City, Missouri, Denver and Chicago and then flown into smaller rural communities, he explained in a recent interview. 'These small communities are not lucrative targets for a cartel,' he said. 'It would make no sense for them to set up some sort of business empire on the reservation.'"

I was born liberal. The ‘adults in the room’ still have a lot to learn.: To rebuild liberalism, we’ll need to recover what the word used to mean. - "The old liberal epistemology at least rested on egalitarian and universal premises. We believed that everyone was capable of entering to some degree into the mental worlds and lived experience of others, because all of us, regardless of race, creed, ethnicity or sexual orientation, were rational human creatures. This rationalist universalism disintegrated in the 1980s and 1990s, attacked by a new generation of 'progressive' scholars as masculinist, colonialist, racist and fundamentally condescending. This assault was supposed to awaken us to 'intersectionality'— the interaction of disadvantages — but instead of drawing hurt constituencies together, it fragmented them into highly sectarian and identity-based political groupings that foreclosed on alliances, shared understandings, and common political projects across race, class and gender."

Buy or leave, Starbucks tells nonpaying customers in policy reversal: The new policy states that Starbucks spaces “are for use by our partners and customers” — and warns that violators will be asked to leave.

Jack Smith’s subtle indictment of the Supreme Court: The special counsel’s final Trump-Jan. 6 report breaks little new evidentiary ground but directs plenty of suggestive criticism at the nation’s highest court.

Reading archive 2024-12-11

Bike lanes are consuming our streets and parking spaces: Readers push back against pesky bike lanes in D.C. and around the country.

Bikes deserve just as much of a place in the road as cars: Readers contest Marc Fisher’s column about the real purpose for D.C.’s new bike lanes.

Bowser, GOP lawmakers forge unlikely alliance over return-to-office mandate: Bowser’s first test before emboldened GOP representatives focused on federal workers and funding for inauguration security.

Luigi Mangione ‘had so much to offer’ — now, he is a murder suspect: “As I knew him, he was a creator, not a taker of life,” one former classmate said of the man charged in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Severe pain shaped UnitedHealth CEO murder suspect’s view of health system: Luigi Mangione described his struggles with back issues on Reddit and vented frustration over health-care industry.

Footage shows Mark Gastineau still prickly with Brett Favre over sack: The matter arose in an ESPN documentary, prompting the former quarterback to say “there was no malice on my part” toward the Jets lineman.

Trump’s fake-it-till-you-make-it autocracy: Get rid of all permitting? Unwind birthright citizenship? Easy-peasy, if you pretend the myriad laws preventing such moves don’t exist.

Foster advocacy group disputes that arrested member assaulted Rep. Nancy Mace: The foster advocacy group says the man simply shook hands with the congresswoman.

Progress on inflation stalled in November as prices rose: Prices rose by 2.7 percent annually in November, up slightly from earlier in the fall.

All the light we would rather not see: Light pollution is bad for our health and the environment. But turning off a few switches can help.

The upcoming housing battle that could roil mortgage costs even more: The first Trump administration tried to remove two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, from government control. The second one might finish the job.

There’s something scarier than rising costs behind Trump’s victory: A broader dissatisfaction with liberal market democracy is churning up authoritarianism around the world. - "The economic interpretation of voters’ embrace of Trump is suspect not just because it is so narrow. For all the polls demonstrating Americans’ grim assessment of the economy, consumers have kept up spending as if they have few worries in the world. For all the gripes about the cost of living, real wages for typical American workers have been rising faster than inflation."

EPA Issues Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Protect Salmon from Chemical Used in Rubber Products: EPA advances process under Toxic Substances Control Act in response to Tribal petition - "For example, there are data showing that 6PPD-quinone is toxic to fish, with coho salmon being the most sensitive species studied to date. However, there are still uncertainties about the potential impacts of 6PPD-quinone on human health, as well as the potential for exposure from other sources of 6PPD-quinone."

RFK Jr. wants fluoride out of drinking water. Oregon shows what’s coming.

How Trump’s tariffs could spark a trade war and ‘Europe’s worst economic nightmare’: European countries could be among those hardest hit if Trump follows through on tariffs. The European Union says it wants to negotiate but is prepared to retaliate.

Ukraine races to develop its own long-range weapons to counter Russia: Troops have demonstrated their skill with long-range drones by hitting deep inside Russia, but experts say they need the punch and power of ballistic missiles, as well.

Afghan blast kills key minister, shocking Taliban: Khalil Haqqani was the acting minister for refugees and a key member of the notorious Haqqani network.

CIA official Asif Rahman pleads not guilty in leak of secret files on Israel: U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered pretrial detention for Rahman, 34, finding that he posed a risk to national security.

Report finds ‘substantial evidence’ Trayon White violated D.C. code of conduct: Council members will meet Monday to consider sanctioning White based on the findings — which could result in White’s expulsion from the council.

Susan Smith, who drowned her sons in 1994, is denied parole. Here’s what to know.: Smith spent 30 years in prison for murdering her two sons by driving them into a lake in a case that drew worldwide attention.

Reading archive 2024-11-22

Labor unions prepare for battle against Trump’s federal workforce plans: A federal labor leader expects “all kinds of actions that will be punitive to federal employees and their unions,” and promises to “pursue all legal options” against Trump policies.

Bowser unveils new housing development in historic Barry Farm: Two buildings will bring 247 new units of housing to the Barry Farm neighborhood, where a promise to revitalize the community is taking shape.

For Trump inauguration, D.C. residents call for Airbnb blackout: Some residents are encouraging other hosts not to rent or to increase their prices for inauguration weekend.

How a change in rice farming unexpectedly made India’s air so much worse: No one anticipated that an initiative to save groundwater by delaying the annual rice season would aggravate northern India’s already miserable air pollution. - "Some scholars have shown how crop burning releases black carbon, a greenhouse gas even more effective than carbon dioxide at absorbing light and warming the atmosphere. Some scientists, and even the Indian government, have found that black carbon, commonly known as soot, is falling onto the glaciers of the Himalaya Mountains, heating the surface and quickening the melting."

This rare weather phenomenon is happening simultaneously in the Northwest and Northeast: First a bomb cyclone and an atmospheric river. Now a double Fujiwhara effect. What it all means.

Reading archive 2024-09-30

Android’s latest nightmare: Millions of devices infected by sneaky malware

Lessons in landscaping — and diplomacy — from a 37-year career: Stephen Crisp says goodbye to his role as the head gardener at Winfield House, the U.S. ambassador’s residence in London.

How ignored warnings at Boar’s Head plant led to a deadly listeria outbreak: Filthy conditions, aging equipment and haphazard cleaning at the Jarratt, Va., plant may have made some of its products microbial time bombs waiting to explode.

D.C. mayor, attorney general at odds over juvenile justice reform: The disagreements were on display at a recent D.C. Council hearing, where Attorney General Brian Schwalb proposed various changes to how troubled children are handled.

What to expect if port workers strike, and how it may affect the economy: Negotiations between longshoremen and port operators broke down in June and the two sides have barely been speaking. The current contract expires at midnight Monday.

Scientists just discovered why Earth’s atmosphere is leaking: It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field.

‘You’ll be okay’: Trump’s message to Hurricane Helene victims draws attacks: Critics tied the recent remark to a proposal in Project 2025, a conservative plan, to privatize weather forecasting now done by government agencies.

Harris team quietly courts big-name GOP endorsements: Anti-Trump conservatives are serving as emissaries to bring prominent Republicans on board, hoping to influence rank-and-file voters. - "Romney, who has frequently criticized Trump, has also expressed concerns about endangering the safety of his family if Trump is elected again, a fear also voiced by others who have spoken out against the former president." [ed. note: he's afraid of how awful Trump is, so he won't do everything he can to stop him]

Opinion Keep your eye on the Florida Senate race: Democrats see a path to an upset against Rick Scott.

James and the Jefferson Elm

He bought his dream home. In 10 years, it could fall into the ocean.: David Moot secured a three-bedroom, two-bathroom bungalow with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean for just under $400,000 — but its days are numbered.

Fire at Georgia chemical plant releases chlorine into the air, authorities say: Rockdale County officials ordered people to evacuate the area near the BioLab plant in Conyers, Ga., and they said others should stay home to avoid the “harmful irritant chlorine.”

Opinion Mark Cuban: Kamala Harris’s business whisperer: As a successful entrepreneur, he can make the business case against Trump — and for Harris.

How Philadelphia election workers will race to count votes this fall

Reading archive 2023-02-05

China blames U.S. politics for ‘overreaction’ to suspected spy balloon

Trump Denies Pentagon’s Claim That China Flew Balloons Over U.S. During His Term: “China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP,’" the former president wrote, calling the Pentagon's claim of "at least three" incidents "fake disinformation."

The Colorado River drought crisis: How did this happen? Can it be fixed?

Land-dwelling rats are upending life for coral reef fish: When rats invade tropical islands, they can trigger a chain reaction that reverberates all the way to coral reefs, researchers say - "Bathed in smelly guano, algae around bird-filled islands is more nutritious, previous research has shown. Both coral and fish appear to grow faster around rat-free islands. Scientists have found the fertilizing effect of guano, too, from the Scattered Islands near Madagascar to Fiji in the South Pacific."

The deepening chill of Afghanistan’s second Taliban winter: Washing clothes in the snow, heating homes with scavenged trash, families struggle to survive

Meet Nimbee, the mascot who scorns bike lanes, development and change: Nimbee wants his hive, and yours, left alone — and he’s not afraid to sting (with words) anyone who disagrees with him - "'I dislike anyone or anything that threatens to change my neighborhood from what it was like the day I moved here. Any change that happened up until that moment is totally cool, though, and should be given historic preservation protection in perpetuity.' ...

"'I’m totally for affordable housing! I’m also for multi-family housing, density, public transit, and all kinds of things like that. I just don’t want any of it near me, on the way to where I’m going, or any place where I would have to even look at it. That’s all.'"

Comparing green funeral options, from composting to natural burial to water cremation: Throwing a funeral that leaves Earth a bit better off, maybe

Spending time in nature may protect against the risk of dementia: Older adults who lived in an area with more green space had a lower rate of hospitalization for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, a large study showed

Opinion  Artificial light harms our bodies and souls. It doesn’t have to be this way. - "Too often, city planners assume adding more light is an effective way to address crime. Yet many lights are used in ways — unshielded and shining into the sky, blazing over empty parking lots through the wee small hours — that serve little purpose. While artificial light at night might make us feel safer, there is no clear evidence that it actually improves our safety."

Opinion  D.C. must address its crime issue - "We have funded violence interrupters and social workers for 30 years. This is not a new idea. Unfortunately, it has never worked. Let’s figure out why before spending more money. 

"At a recent meeting, Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said one young man told him people don’t commit as many crimes in Maryland and Virginia because 'they don’t play.' Well, if we want a safer city for our residents, we should create the same atmosphere here: We don’t play."