“Authorities have charged or accused at least 50 law-enforcement officers of using license-plate readers for unauthorized purposes, including to stalk women without their knowledge or consent, a Post analysis of police and court records found.” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

How rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalking

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.

washingtonpost.com

“Consumer socialism tries to have it all: universal social provisions without universally steep taxes.” www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

The ‘Consumer Socialism’ Trap

The wrong way to solve the affordability crisis

theatlantic.com

MS NOW: The Trump admin has weakened America's post-9/11 counterterrorism defenses by downsizing staff, politicizing intelligence, cutting grants, and forcing federal agents to focus on immigration enforcement, according to a new report by Senate Democrats.

Trump has been dismantling post-9/11 counterterrorism protections, Senate report says

Democratic senators are accusing the White House of weakening U.S. defenses that were developed and refined in the 25 years since the 9/11 attacks.

ms.now

Hegseth’s ‘gold standard’ college exam tests middle-school math www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

Hegseth’s ‘gold standard’ college exam tests middle-school math

Held up as a new route to college admissions, the Classic Learning Test has instead become a remedial high-school graduation test in Florida.

usatoday.com

Project Sunrise, a 22-Hour Nonstop Flight, Is Coming. What Will It Be Like? www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/w...

What to Know About Project Sunrise, a 22-Hour Nonstop Flight Between London and Sydney

Qantas plans to launch the world’s longest commercial flight next year from Sydney to London, using specially manufactured Airbus jets.

nytimes.com

The Met Turns Orientalism Inside Out www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The Met Turns Orientalism Inside Out

In a new show, exotic fantasies are set beside paintings that depict the so-called East from within.

newyorker.com

“Since Donald Trump took office last year, according to a database maintained by ProPublica, close to sixty thousand immigration-related habeas petitions have been filed, which is more than in the previous sixteen years combined. The biggest spike in filings coincided with Operation Metro Surge.”

Inside ICE’s Largest Detention Center

On a military base in West Texas, where the government has built a sprawling tent complex to hold thousands of immigrants, deprivation and dire conditions are part of the design.

newyorker.com

Construction jobs' big pay raises make trades the 'it' career in 2026

Construction jobs' big pay raises make trades the 'it' career in 2026

Construction is a lucrative career this year as a labor shortage allows workers to command higher salaries.

bit.ly

“Paul Knoepfler, a professor at the University of California at Davis School of Medicine, has been tracking unproven peptide use in parallel to the marketing of stem cells by clinics.”

“But what sets apart the latest moves by Donald Trump Jr. is how he and Mr. Malik, through 1789 Capital, are cashing in on the policies of the current administration openly and without apology.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/b...

Donald Trump Jr.’s Investment Firm Posts Staggering Returns of 200%

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

“Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, accused the White House of trying “to turn the entire federal government into this one big slush fund to reward those aligned with the Administration and punish everyone else.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

An O.M.B. Plan to Defund Science—and Anything Trump Doesn’t Like

Under a new proposal, Administration officials could deny government grants to any group or project on the ground that it didn’t fit the President’s agenda.

newyorker.com

“Jack Watling, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute in London, wrote in an online commentary that, with the change at the top, Mr. Fedorov’s push for a data-driven approach to improve the military’s performance might now be possible.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/w...

Ukraine’s New Military Chief Faces a Monumental Test

Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi faces a balancing act between asserting the independence favored by military reformers and accommodating political input on battlefield strategy.

nytimes.com

“Spending on data-center construction in May rose 23% from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Yet data centers accounted for 8% of the total spending on private, nonresidential construction.” www.wsj.com/business/ai-...

AI Data-Center Construction Is Booming—but Not Much Else Is

Spending on new factories, warehouses and other industrial sites has been damped by rising costs.

wsj.com

“Essentially, “we’re talking about an administration that says, When people of color succeed, they took that opportunity out of the hands of a qualified white man,” Marc Brooks, a retired master sergeant in the Air Force, told me.” www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Being Black in Pete Hegseth’s Military

The secretary of defense is sending the message that Black service members are not welcome.

theatlantic.com

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

The Americans Shelling Out Five Figures for a Coat of Arms

A nation founded on the rejection of aristocratic traditions still yearns for them.

theatlantic.com

“The lawmakers’ efforts reflect growing public worry that the three conglomerates have become too large and rife with conflicts.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/08/b...

Lawmakers Target the Power of Health Insurance Giants

UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health and Cigna are battling efforts to break up their control over prescription drugs.

nytimes.com

www.freep.com/story/news/l...

Sheffield taps former Bedrock exec to attract national retailers

Addofio Addo will lead Detroit's retail strategy to bring national and regional brands to neighborhood commercial corridors.

freep.com

“Dillingham estimates it will need to spend an additional $166,015 in the 2027 fiscal year to heat buildings and fuel vehicles.” www.wsj.com/business/ene...

The Iran War Has Oil-Rich Alaska Freaked Out About $9 Gas

Trump’s energy agenda is poised to boost the industry, but Alaskans are reeling from war-driven price increases.

wsj.com

“In Nevada, Rep. Susie Lee derided the legislation as the “largest transfer of wealth from working families to the rich in history.” www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Democrats invoke ‘big, beautiful bill’ far more than Republicans as midterms near

Republicans continue to tout some provisions of the law, including tax cuts, but its overall unpopularity has provided Democrats ammunition for the midterms.

washingtonpost.com

“The law “contained the largest rollback in federal support for health coverage ever,” said Elizabeth Williams, a senior policy manager for KFF’s program on Medicaid and the uninsured.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

A year in, here’s how Trump’s tax law is affecting your budget

Americans got bigger tax refunds following passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but deficits rose, and the social safety net weakened.

washingtonpost.com

“The historic European Protestant traditions that were the forebears of the American church placed great emphasis on learning and on doctrine, but the result was a faith that tended to be aristocratic and élitist. Revivalism democratized Christianity.”

[…]“a single drone costing just $500 destroyed a strategic bomber worth tens of millions of dollars”—or its ingenuity in hijacking Russian telecommunications, but the fact that it could happen at all.

The Strange Defeat of Nuclear Deterrence

And the Coming Crisis in Strategic Stability

reader.foreignaffairs.com

“Days before his inauguration, Trump launched his memecoin, $TRUMP, which surged to a peak market capitalization of nearly $15 billion before plunging 97% to about $400 million today. In September 2024, Trump and his sons helped launch World Liberty Financial, the family’s flagship crypto venture.”

Trump Made $1 Billion on Crypto Deals While His Fans Lost a Fortune

Roughly two-thirds of investors in the president’s memecoin are currently in the red.

wsj.com

“The White House in July 2025 announced an “AI Action Plan” aimed at providing a blueprint for winning the artificial-intelligence race, including streamlined permitting for data-center development and chip factories.”

“Christopher J. Mutimer, a lawyer for Major Watson, said it was a “beautiful irony” that an active-duty Air Force major in full uniform had been arrested on the steps of the Capitol just before the July 4 holiday.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/03/u...

Air Force Detains Officer Who Called for Trump’s Impeachment at Capitol

nytimes.com

“The Pentagon’s defense strategy issued in January signaled that the U.S. would reduce its military presence in Europe as it focuses more on the western Pacific and the Western Hemisphere.” www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Exclusive | Hegseth Prepared a Bombshell Plan to Cut Troops in Europe. Then It Got Nixed.

The defense secretary wanted to adjust U.S. troop levels in Europe but pulled back after his plan was floated to the White House.

wsj.com

“The RSF [Rapid Support Forces]has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023. The war has left more than 150,000 people dead and more than 12 million displaced in what the United Nations has described as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.”

Sudan paramilitary group committed crimes against humanity, rights group says

Amnesty International says Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces systematically targeted civilians, including children, and carried out ethnic cleaning.

washingtonpost.com

“Exposure to ionizing radiation of the kind produced by some materials used in nuclear power plants can damage the cells in a person’s body and the DNA inside, causing harms such as an increased chance of developing cancer, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.”

Federal nuclear agency moves to relax radiation exposure rules

The proposal from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in line with an executive order from President Donald Trump to speed up the approval of new nuclear facilities.

washingtonpost.com

ICE detainees are increasingly subject to physical force, including punches, kicks, takedown maneuvers, restraint holds and restraint chairs, as well as less-lethal weapons such as Tasers and pepper spray, The Post reported earlier this year, based on a trove of internal ICE records.

An ICE detainee sought treatment for mental illness. He died in a struggle with guards.

The family of Geraldo Lunas Campos is suing detention center operators and guards over his death. Records show he repeatedly requested treatment for his mental illness.

washingtonpost.com

“In almost any other conflict, these haunting truths would be seared into national memory. Yet more than 120 days since at least one U.S. missile struck an Iranian primary school, there remains no final accounting of what happened.” apnews.com/article/iran...

As the Pentagon stays quiet, AP reconstructs a US strike that killed over 100 Iranian children

The Feb. 28 attack on a primary school in southeastern Iran was the deadliest reported strike in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. Most of the victims were children.

apnews.com