Mr. Dan Zak
@mrdanzak.com
Senior editor at The Atlantic. www.mrdanzak.com
One. Point. Four. Billion. Dollars. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Trump’s National Guard deployment in D.C. set to cost additional $1.4 billion
The estimate, provided to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, covers the period from Oct. 1, 2026, through the end of the president’s term.
washingtonpost.com
Ever since working on a story 22 years ago about Lyme disease creeping west across NY state, I've responded to "What's the scariest animal?" with the same answer. www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...
Kill the Ticks
America needs a bigger plan to control its tick problem.
theatlantic.com
New: We found 50 cops who misused Flock cameras and other license-plate readers for personal purposes, often to spy on their girlfriends or ex-wives. He "watched every single move I made. ... Who do you turn the chief of police in to?" wapo.st/3S6rTuo
She left her ex. He secretly tracked her through a network of policing cameras.
Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.
wapo.st
One part of Trump's $22 billion makeover of Dulles that's been missed is his big, beautiful, world-record 32,000-spot parking garage. That's *way* more parking than recent estimates show the airport needs, and it would tower over the historic terminal: www.notus.org/metro/dulles...
Let’s Talk About the Massive Parking Garage Trump Wants to Build at Dulles
The 32,000-spot deck would surpass both existing parking capacity and what airport officials have said is needed.
notus.org
Many people in the Maine town of Jay — having lost its loud and polluting paper mill — thinks a data center is a great alternative. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
The One Town That Wants a Data Center
The YIMBYism of Jay, Maine
theatlantic.com
"I love to walk through it in the very early morning, when the whole place has a sunbeams-through-the-windows-at-Grand-Central feel, long panels of light forming dramatic golden stripes all along the ceiling." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Dulles Forever
A plan to renovate one of America’s most hated airports will surely be popular—but the airport is actually fine the way it is.
theatlantic.com
“…debris from SpaceX satellites alone could kill or injure someone every two years.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/w...
A Ton of Space Junk Tumbles Unpredictably to Earth Every Week (Gift Article)
Flaming chunks of metal crash into homes, farms and parking lots. Who’s to blame? And who pays for the damage?
nytimes.com
Journalists: Retire “unlikely” from your vocabulary. We live on a hot rock in a cold galaxy. *Everything* is unlikely.
"'There’s a reason Jesus broke bread with his hands, touched lepers and healed with mud. You can’t send an avatar to the bedside.'" www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/u...
A Bay Area Pastor Made an A.I. Twin to Talk About God at Any Time (Gift Article)
To meet the growing needs of his congregation, Justin Lester created an A.I. duplicate of himself. Every day he sees more people using it.
nytimes.com
“We’re really crushing people who are desperately trying to pay their bills.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/b...
After Obamacare Cuts, Hospitals Are Treating More Uninsured Patients
More people who lost coverage after congressional Republicans ended enhanced federal subsidies are now seeking care in emergency rooms and unable to pay bills.
nytimes.com
“Something has been replicating in the American mind. It is not microbial. It cannot be detected by nasal swab. To treat an affliction, you must first identify it. But ‘there’s no diagnosis for this,’ Fauci says. ‘I don’t know what is going on.’” From 2022: www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/20...
Anthony Fauci is up against more than a virus
Two years into the pandemic, the threats and vitriol have not stopped. And the many Americans who still trust him are exhausted.
washingtonpost.com
As the redo of the White House Correspondents Dinner gets underway, TCM is showing “Sunset Boulevard.”
“Any way you cut it, it’s unprecedented," said Angela Lee, a professor at Columbia Business School who has never seen first-time fund managers raise so much money. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/b...
How Donald Trump Jr.’s 1789 Capital Is Cashing In Without Apology
The fledgling firm, run by the president’s oldest son and his partner Omeed Malik, has made investments in A.I. and defense technology that have tripled in value in just months.
nytimes.com
The adminsurrection continues: Election deniers are in charge now in Georgia. “With words like ‘emergency’ and ‘bunker,’ the skeptics have made routine election work *seem* like a covert-ops thriller.” www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...
The Election Deniers Are in Charge Now
In Georgia, where Donald Trump once tried to “find” more than 11,000 votes, election deniers are now in powerful election-board positions.
theatlantic.com
“‘Being precise allows you to make things up.’” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Colson Whitehead’s Big Score
As he closes out his Harlem crime trilogy with “Cool Machine,” the two-time Pulitzer winner turns again to the city that made him, and to the private ghosts behind his restless reinventions.
newyorker.com
Today is publication day for The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life. Find USA, Canada, and UK ordering links here: smallstuffbook.com The book is about how you got disconnected from the physical world, why it's not your fault, and how to reclaim gratification in everyday life.
Ten years ago today, J. D. Vance called Trump “cultural heroin” in The Atlantic: “To every complex problem, he promises a simple solution … He never offers details for how these plans will work, because he can’t," Vance wrote of Trump. Read the piece: theatln.tc/foJ8lGw3
“This week, I am French. I’m as French as a deposed dauphine, as French as a film plot of perfumed deceit.” www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
When France Plays Soccer, You Can’t Look Away
On the joys of watching Les Bleus at the World Cup
theatlantic.com
Ian Bogost last month on 747s, and the Qatari gift of Air Force One. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
U.S. ambassador to NATO: It’s good that the world is finally discovering that you can eat fast food in your car while taking a phone call.
Pushing the DC fireworks back 90-120 min will only make conditions worse when it comes to smoke hanging around. This year's weather could enhance the mess. www.capitalweather.com/dcs-firework...
DC's fireworks supershow this year could be a smoke-filled mess
Disrupted views are a common part of the DC fireworks show, even before it gets supersized like in 2026.
capitalweather.com
Had to whine in order to publish that first sentence on the left, 10 years ago. The compromise was turning “when” to “if.”
Phil Kennicott on the “Great American State Fair” and its thin crowds and “Northrop Grumman Sky Tunnel theater.” wapo.st/4uZJodn
As the Trump administration has pursued this agenda, the president’s sons & an investment bank run by the sons of Commerce Secretary Lutnick have also been looked for ways to profit from the critical metals frenzy, while their dads help push some of the same deals www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
"You could have been born at any point in time, but here you are, alive when ice cream, antibiotics, and indoor plumbing have all been invented, and Mel Brooks is turning 100." www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
Thank God for Mel Brooks
Happy 100th birthday to the funniest man who ever lived.
theatlantic.com
Trump said he paid for a new walkway himself ($689,000). Actually, taxpayers did—thru funds normally reserved for the Park Service. 900+ park projects across the U.S. received $0 this year, as money flows to Trump's ideas (like replacing stucco w/gold filigree): www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
'Rush Project at Request of POTUS': Trump Is Draining the National Parks to Pay for His Projects
Money once used for crucial national park repairs is now financing Trump’s redecorating projects.
theatlantic.com
As zeitgeisty pop songs go, I feel like ELLA LANGLEY’s “Choosin’ Texas” has grown massive enough to contain the vast unknowability of Texas itself — and I wrote about it for @notus.com www.notus.org/this-hugely-...
This Hugely Popular Country Song Has Surprising Parallels to the Texas Senate Race
“Choosin’ Texas” isn't about the future of democracy. Unless you want to hear it that way.
notus.org
“.. The development, confirmed to The Associated Press by a Pentagon official, comes amid a growing, weekslong, flu outbreak at the U.S. Air Force’s boot camp .. that has sickened nearly 300 people. @apnews.com apnews.com/article/pent...
