Reading archive 2025-10-27

Missing money, staged break-in alleged in AU professor murder trial: In the first week of testimony, Montgomery County prosecutors have alleged financial wrongdoing and a $500,000 insurance policy were behind defendant Jorge Rueda Landeros’s crime.

GOP lawmakers raise pressure on Smithsonian over space shuttle fight: Texas legislators, who want the Smithsonian’s Discovery shuttle moved to Houston, accused the institution of potentially violating anti-lobbying laws. The institution has said the move would break the spacecraft apart.

What happens when a conservative group visits an HBCU homecoming?: Turning Point’s Blexit group is on a tour of historically Black campuses in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s slaying. Howard University students weren’t impressed.

I’m shocked — shocked! — to find that gambling is going on in the NBA: The one thing sports can’t survive are fans who no longer trust the games to be on the level.

A colossal Buc-ee’s broke a small Colorado town: In the fight to preserve Palmer Lake something has already been lost: civility.

Young Republican Messages Highlight a Disturbing Trend - "But clearly to a portion of the young right, the actual substance of what provocateurs have been saying has been worth celebrating — not just their right to say it."[ed. note: National Review]

How Jack Smith’s strongest case against Donald Trump collapsed: Seeking to get the classified-documents case to a jury before the 2024 election, the special counsel made a fateful decision that some in his office saw as a misstep.

Reading archive 2025-10-23

This Post Should Have Been Shorter

Musk doubles down in fight with Trump administration, risking his empire: The tech executive has shown little sign of backing down from a battle over the future of NASA. It has spilled into the Transportation Department, which oversees regulation for Tesla.

Study finds mRNA coronavirus vaccines prolonged life of cancer patients: Health records of more than 1,000 cancer patients receiving immunotherapy for lung and skin cancer showed they gained additional benefit after vaccination. - "'RNA preceded DNA evolutionarily, so cells don’t like RNA from the outside world coming in,' said Elias Sayour, one of the authors of the new paper and a pediatric oncologist at University of Florida Health. 'So when that happens, that sets off all the alarms of the human body. The 911 signals we’re in trouble.'"

Trump is ignoring the real threat matrix: A puzzling pivot to the Caribbean increasingly leaves Europe to answer Putin’s aggression on its own. - "'Great-power suicide' is how former CIA director William J. Burns described the self-inflicted damage to national security resources in a recent article for the Atlantic. 'We’ve put at risk the network of alliances and partnerships that is the envy of our rivals. We’ve even gutted the research funding that powers our economy,' he wrote.

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"This politicization of U.S. intelligence has begun to erode the confidence of partners. The two leaders of the Dutch intelligence agencies told a Dutch newspaper last week that they were reducing the amount of intelligence they shared with the CIA and National Security Agency. 'We sometimes don’t tell things anymore, that is true,' said Peter Reesink, head of the military intelligence agency. 'We are very alert to the politicization of intelligence and to human rights violations,' explained Erik Akerboom, head of the civilian spy agency."

Frustration grows over Trump bailout of Argentina: Republican officials are speaking out, but Trump says cattle ranchers don’t understand how much his policies have helped them.

I want the GOP to keep control of the House. But not this way.: My fellow Indiana Republicans shouldn’t cave to White House pressure to redistrict.

Putin says U.S. sanctions are ‘serious’ but won’t make Russia stop war: President Donald Trump’s sanctions against two of Russia’s largest oil companies come as the European Union passes its 19th package targeting the energy sector.

Russia acquired Western technology to protect its nuclear submarine fleet: Russia secretly used front companies to buy Western technology and erect a surveillance net in the Arctic where its submarines operate, an investigation shows. - "At the center of the Harmony procurement network was a company, Mostrello Commercial Ltd., that was headquartered in Cyprus, which is part of the European Union, but served as a front for Russia’s military industrial complex, accounting for tens of millions of dollars in purchases of sensitive equipment, according to court records and other documents. Russia did not respond to requests for comment."

Reading archive 2025-10-22

Health insurance sticker shock begins as shutdown battle over subsidies rages: Many states have shown rising premiums ahead of open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans. Congress is deadlocked over extending covid-era subsidies that bring costs down.

Trump is creating two classes of federal workers: Paid and unpaid: Within the same agencies, some employees are drawing their salaries during the shutdown, and others are working without pay. - "Where and how the administration is finding money for those salaries — and whether the maneuver is legal — remains unclear, experts said.

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"At the FBI, for example, special agents are getting paid, but translators, some attorneys and support staffers are not. The FBI Agents Association wrote in a statement that this is a shortsighted strategy."

How Obama maneuvered behind the scenes to fight Trump on redistricting: The ex-president’s involvement reflects the deep anxieties he has about Trump’s agenda and has propelled him into a more political, public-facing role than he envisioned.

Reading archive 2025-10-21

‘It broke me’: Inside the FBI hunt for the online predators who persuaded a 13-year-old to die

After Israel’s war halted, who is clashing with Hamas in Gaza?: The Doghmush clan reportedly fought against Hamas in a clash that killed at least 27 people.

My Gaza is ready for peace. Hamas is trying to destroy it.: Trump’s ceasefire created two Gazas: one striving for a better future, the other ruled by fear.

Video shows Hamas fighters executing Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel

Trump’s attempt to gut special education office has some conservative parents on edge: The president called the layoffs a part of cuts to “Democrat programs,” but children across the nation would be impacted.

New English exam sidelines 6,000 truckers, testing U.S. supply chain: The Trump administration withheld $40 million in funding for California, saying the state was not enforcing a language requirement for long-haul drivers.

Government shutdown showcases Mike Johnson’s increasingly bold style: Johnson, nearly two years into his speakership, is taking a hard line in shutdown negotiations.

Rubio promised to betray U.S. informants to get Trump’s El Salvador prison deal: To secure Washington’s access to El Salvador’s most notorious prison, the secretary of state made an extraordinary offer to President Nayib Bukele. - "The deal would give Bukele possession of individuals who threatened to expose the alleged deals his government made with MS-13 to help achieve El Salvador’s historic drop in violence, officials said. For the Salvadoran president, a return of the informants was viewed as critical to preserving his tough-on-crime reputation. It was also a key step in hindering an ongoing U.S. investigation into his government’s relationship with MS-13, a gang famous for displays of excessive violence in the United States and elsewhere."

With a phone call, Putin appears to change Trump’s mind on Ukraine. Again.: It was the latest swing in Trump’s position on the war that often shifts following contact with Putin, who has shown skill in influencing the U.S. president.

In tense meeting, Trump told Zelensky to concede land, meet Putin’s demands: Following the trip to Washington, Zelensky has set up a series of calls and meetings with his main European backers.

Trump keeps getting played by Putin. Will Budapest be different?: A Russia-Ukraine ceasefire might be possible if only Trump would apply more pressure on Putin.

Budapest bust shows pressure works on Putin: Russia blinks again.

Trump says he doesn’t want ‘wasted meeting’ with Putin, delaying summit: The decision came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Trump’s call for a ceasefire contradicted the understandings he reached with Putin.

Climate change is coming for D.C.’s trees, and the city won’t look the same: The Post examined data that shows how the decisions being made now about what trees to plant in place of dying ones will change the city’s treescape.

Travel ban separates Cuban families, divides community loyal to Trump: Cuban Americans trying to bring relatives from the island to the U.S. are seeing their claims rejected. The denials have exacerbated tensions in Florida over Trump’s immigration policies.

Fatal shooting is third D.C. killing in a week: Despite the recent killings, the rate of homicides in Washington has declined substantially over more than two months.

How China weaponized soybeans to squeeze U.S. farmers — and spite Trump: China, the world’s biggest importer of soybeans, has stopped buying U.S. crops to put pressure on Trump ahead of his trade-focused meeting with Xi Jinping.

Reading archive 2025-10-17

Voters facing skyrocketing electric bills turn ire toward politicians: Issues including the expansion of energy-hungry data centers, obscure surcharges on bills and clean-energy mandates are capturing the attention of frustrated consumers.

I Taped My Mouth Shut for 100 Days to Get a Better Jawline: TikTokers, celebrities, and self-declared health gurus are all touting the benefits of mouth taping. I tried it myself to investigate the hype.

Helsinki goes a full year without a traffic death: A city traffic engineer credits the success to lower speed limits and smarter design.

White, Legally Armed, and Primed for Political Violence: Ian Rogers was convinced it was up to him to save America. The gun industry’s sales tactics — playing up paranoia and glorifying combat — may be creating a pipeline of extremists willing to open fire.

'Link in Bio' Ruined All Our Brains A unified theory on the bad state of everything.

Study shows mountain lions are changing to adapt to human recreation: In Los Angeles, the animals are shifting to less daytime activity in areas where humans are roaming more frequently.

This isolated town in Maine could be a model for the clean energy future: Tidal power and solar would fuel a community microgrid to protect the island of Eastport from outages.

Why cranberry country is turning into wetlands: Massachusetts farmers began draining wetlands to make cranberry bogs more than two centuries ago. Now there’s a race to restore them.

What’s America’s largest ethnic group, and why did we get it wrong for so long?: The identity of America’s largest ethnic group has long seemed cut and dried. But new data is challenging the conventional wisdom.

Teacher dies after bat bites her at California school: Leah Seneng, a California teacher, was bitten by what officials called a “presumably rabid bat.” Her friend said she tried not to harm the bat in her classroom.

How much abuse can a local newspaper reporter take?: Republicans claim Tom Lisi’s reporting is lies to promote a liberal agenda. How should he respond? - "The lesson here? Toss out the noble but outdated industry wisdom that it’s best to avoid jawing with the haters because the work speaks for itself. Well, the people who need to hear the pushback aren’t reading the work that speaks for itself. Confront the media bashers wherever they practice their profession."

Consumer watchdog takes aim at credit card rewards programs: Major card issuers often play a “shell game” and deny consumers the rewards they have earned, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warns.

Man and woman charged after girl, 5, was shot by her 3-year-old brother: The child was critically wounded after her brother found a ghost gun in an apartment in Southwest Washington, police said.

The hidden science swirling in ‘The Starry Night’: The famous painting from Dutch post-impressionist Vincent van Gogh has sparked controversy among physicists.

Why Qatar is building an air force training facility at a U.S. military base: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho will host Qatari pilots at the military facility. The base will remain under U.S. jurisdiction.

China’s demographic crisis means it’s going to run out of workers

Reading archive 2025-10-16

We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly: Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy - "Russell Vought embodies the radicalization of the conservative movement; his example captures how far removed from democratic politics the Trumpist Right is. Vought is convinced to be fighting a noble war against a vast leftist conspiracy that has supposedly taken over the country and is destroying the nation. He dreams of a comprehensive 'counter-revolution' and believes that any measure, regardless of how extreme, is justified in this struggle against the 'leftist' enemy. But if you only listened to The Daily, you wouldn’t get any of that."

Engineers turn fish biology into a breakthrough microplastic laundry filter:  Inspired by the filter feeding mechanisms of basking sharks and manta rays, a startup called Cleanr has developed a filter that traps over 90% of microplastics released in each wash cycle.

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction: The Washington Post reviewed leaked audio from four off-the-record lectures the tech investor delivered in San Francisco over the past month that fused beliefs about religion and technology.

Trump’s new foreign aid plan eyes $50 million for Greenland’s polar bears: Documents reviewed by The Post show the administration may invest significantly in protecting vulnerable wildlife, proposals that stunned critics of its moves to gut foreign assistance.

8 takeaways from the Spanberger and Earle-Sears debate in Virginia: Republican Winsome Earle-Sears talked over Democrat Abigail Spanberger in a chaotic debate in the Virginia governor’s race that touched on trans students, Trump and more.

Trump pledged to make D.C. ‘safe and beautiful.’ His administration cut $40M in homeland security funds. The Trump administration cuts to grants in D.C. and 11 states geared toward anti-terrorism and other emergency responses has been paused by a federal judge while they are being challenged in court. - "'You complain about public safety in the District of Columbia, and what are you doing? Defunding their police,' said Richard S. Madaleno Jr., who is the chair-elect of the region’s Homeland Security Executive Committee, an arm of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments that helps local jurisdictions prepare for emergency situations."

Under pressure to curb crime, D.C. Council examines school absences: New legislation would direct D.C.’s Department of Human Services to investigate thousands of truancy reports.

Smithsonian visitors arrive to locked doors as federal shutdown continues: Across the National Mall on Sunday, tourists hastily rearranged plans as they realized D.C.'s downtown attractions had run out of money to operate.

Is it America’s fate to decline and fall? Here’s what history says.: The American experiment will soon turn 250. Is its time running out? - "Broadly speaking, the Athenian spirit is associated with golden ages. When civilizations were open to influences from merchants and migrants, and when they let people experiment with new ideas and innovations, they prospered. This required tolerance of pluralism and surprise, as well as institutions and norms to restrain rulers’ arbitrary use of power."

Reading archive 2025-10-15

She won her election, but the House speaker still has not sworn her in: Congresswoman-in-limbo Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, has mounted a media campaign meant to shame House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Can tourism be respectful? Native Hawaiians have a plan.: Hawaii wants visitors to appreciate Native culture. But larger economic forces pose a threat to the “regenerative” revolution.

Professor who teaches about antifascism moves to Europe after death threats: A Rutgers University professor who wrote a book about antifa received the death threats after he commented on President Donald Trump designating the movement a “domestic terrorist organization.” - Several far-right activists and other social media users homed in on Bray in late September, after he was quoted in news stories about President Donald Trump’s executive order designating antifa as a 'domestic terrorist organization.' Bray described antifa — a far-left decentralized global movement whose proponents oppose fascism — to The Washington Post at the time as 'a kind of coalition politics of all kinds of radicals' and 'not a group.'

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"One online activist called Bray a 'domestic terrorist professor,' and another shared the address of his home in New Jersey. The campus’s chapter of the conservative student group Turning Point USA then launched a petition Thursday to demand that the university fire him, referencing Trump’s executive order and claiming Bray is a risk to their safety."

A quarter of FBI agents are assigned to immigration enforcement, per FBI data: The large number of reassignments — about 3,000 agents — reflect a vast reshaping of the agency and could put other priorities at risk. - "Agents have been pulled from duties related to cybercrimes, drug trafficking, terrorism, counterintelligence and more, the statistics show. Agents assigned to immigration enforcement are working with ICE to locate and arrest people in the country illegally."

Why this one area of cities is usually the poorest: The Department of Data went looking for geographic patterns in poverty, and stumbled upon a surprising culprit.

Katie Porter’s bid for governor is getting noticed – but not how she wants: Two viral videos have brought unwelcome attention to the former congresswoman, who has been leading polls in the 2026 California governor’s race.