Sunday, December 10, 2023

Reading archive 2023-12-09

A harvest of memories: A family reunion. The annual corn harvest. An antique wedding dress. In rural Iowa, an aging couple with diverging politics reflects on the past and what people owe one another in the present. - "As Verna continued driving, now through farmland covered in drying corn crop, she passed solar panels, farm equipment and ethanol plants, all made possible by some combination of government grants, tax deductions, and subsidies. Sometimes she heard complaints about low-income families supposedly abusing safety-net programs like Medicaid. Verna wished her neighbors acknowledged what the government did for them, too. She thought about how the county wouldn’t even have an ambulance service if not for the now-maligned coronavirus relief funding. Nobody seemed to be making that case to voters here."

Trump camp escalates attempt to limit second-term talk from outside allies

Diminutive and mysterious, the Pentagon’s X-37B set to launch again: The space plane has spent the equivalent of 10 years in orbit over seven missions. But what those missions were remains unknown.


Friday, December 8, 2023

Reading archive 2023-12-07

D.C. announces 24/7 ‘real-time crime center’ to monitor CCTV cameras: Police departments across the region will be part of the effort, which comes as the city is experiencing a rise in homicides and carjackings

Penguin parents sleep for just a few seconds at a time to guard newborns, study shows

D.C. police charge two men in August triple shooting in Adams Morgan: Police on Tuesday arrested Renza Nieem Bryant, 37, and Jalonte Thompkins, 32, and charged them each with three counts of first-degree murder, according to court documents

Opinion  How an Ohio senator’s stunt proves the Trump dictatorship theory

Opinion  Liz Cheney reminds us of the stakes

Why extreme weather is making sugar more expensive around the globe

New research undercuts Republican views of racism: Republicans are more likely to say White people experience racism than Black people. That’s not true.

House censures New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman for pulling fire alarm - "'I find it terribly ironic that we are talking about censuring Mr. Bowman, and yet we never censured any of our colleagues who tried to overturn the election on January 6th,' McGovern said."

Washington Post staffers walk out in biggest labor protest in 48 years: The workers say they will cease work for 24 hours to protest deadlocked contract negotiations and the terms of a buyout offer. Management says it will keep the daily news report going.

Trump ‘dictator’ comment reignites criticism his camp has tried to curb

Monday, December 4, 2023

Reading archive 2023-12-04

Father arrested after missing Idaho baby and pregnant wife are found dead

Kari Lake struggles to court moderates, imperiling GOP Senate pickup: Lake’s outreach has been met with skepticism after her 2022 gubernatorial campaign resulted in deep-seated resentments

‘Everybody’s daughter’: The rape victim behind Kentucky’s viral abortion ad: Hadley Duvall helped Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear win reelection -- and she’s ready to campaign again in 2024

Howard University renovates affordable-housing ‘jewel’ with Amazon money

What home schooling hides: A boy tortured and starved by his stepmom - "Ginger, the family’s dog, watched the exchange from the living room, wagging her tail as she perched over a Joe Biden chew toy.

...

"But Brock, like his brother, still struggles with the memory of the person he did not help. Honesty is a trait Garvin encourages in his rescued sons, and they say the truth is that they bear some responsibility for what happened to Roman." [ed. note: encourages honesty, loves trump. Square that circle for me]

Trump attempts to spin anti-democracy, authoritarian criticism against Biden: The former president declared his 2024 campaign as a ‘righteous crusade’ against ‘tyrants and villains’


Reading archive 2023-12-03

Oil companies’ unexpected plan to tackle climate change: Saudi Arabia and other big fossil fuel entities sign onto initiatives to cut methane as they try to position themselves as part of the fix for climate change

Hard-right backtrack on spending levels leaves sour taste for colleagues: Fiscal fights have been at the heart of Republican conflict this year, including the debate over the top-line spending level for 2024