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Elected to Serve. Selling Out Instead?
Marjorie Taylor Greene recently made headlines — not for something she said, but for something she bought. Stocks. She spent up to $315,000, snapping up shares right around the time President Trump posted on Truth Social, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY.” But Greene isn’t alone. Not even close.
The LGBTQ classroom debate just went national
The three most diverse cities in America — Gaithersburg, Silver Spring, and Germantown — are all nestled in Montgomery County, Maryland, found right outside Washington, DC. That’s why the Supreme Court case Mahmoud v. Taylor so important — and so emotional. In one of the most diverse school districts in America, a major question is being asked: Can public schools require students to learn about LGBTQ+ people even if their parents think it conflicts with their family's religious beliefs? This week, we asked you to weigh on this important topic.
Is "Mr. Too Late" About to Get Fired?
The person with arguably the most sway over the direction of the economy does work out of a fancy building in Washington, but it isn’t the president. It’s the chairman of the Federal Reserve, the powerful institution often known simply as “the Fed.” And President Trump has the man he calls “Mr. Too Late” in his sights. Why is he so angry with the Fed chief, and will he fire him?
What They Don’t Want You to See
A look into how Trump administration stacks up to other recent presidents – including George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden – when it comes to transparency.
$15 Million of Your Tax Money is Going to This Dictator
The story of Kilmar Abrego García — a Salvadoran man wrongfully deported from Maryland to El Salvador— pulls back the curtain on a growing alliance between President Donald Trump and President Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s self-anointed “world’s coolest dictator.” But this isn’t just a Trump bromance with a charismatic strongman. It represents a concerning shift in the approach to governance and criminal justice, one where human rights, due process, and even national borders become negotiable for the right price. And the implications stretch far beyond immigration policy.
What I’m reading…
How Dreams of Buried Pirate Treasure Enticed Americans to Flock to Florida During the Roaring Twenties
By Greg Daugherty for Smithsonian Magazine
1925 marked the peak of the Florida land boom. But false advertising and natural disasters thwarted many settlers’ visions of striking it rich in the land of sunshine
How trash from ancient humans is protecting these coastal islands today
By Andrew Chapman for National Geographic
The barrier islands off the coast of Georgia are littered with millions of oysters left behind by Indigenous peoples. New research shows they’re still protecting the land.
Subtitling Your Life
By David Owen for The New Yorker
Hearing aids and cochlear implants have been getting better for years, but a new type of device—eyeglasses that display real-time speech transcription on their lenses—is a game-changing breakthrough.
Huh? The valuable role of interjections
By Bob Holmes for Knowable Magazine
Listen carefully to a spoken conversation and you’ll notice that the speakers use a lot of little quasi-words — mm-hmm, um, huh? and the like — that don’t convey any information about the topic of the conversation itself. For many decades, linguists regarded such utterances as largely irrelevant noise, the flotsam and jetsam that accumulate on the margins of language when speakers aren’t as articulate as they’d like to be. But these little words may be much more important than that.
Telling the Bees
By Emily Polk for Emergence Magazine
Bees have long been witness to human grief, carrying messages between the living and the dead. Finding solace in the company of bees, Emily Polk opens to the widening circles of loss around her and an enduring spirit of survival.
What I am listening to…
Oklahoma City: After the Bombing
StoryCorps
StoryCorps marks the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing through the voices of multiple people who were there that day.
Master Slave Husband Wife with Ilyon Woo
Here’s Where It Gets Interesting
You may not be familiar with their names, but William and Ellen Craft were a determined enslaved couple who made their escape through disguise and performance, and in their success, defied the limitations of gender and race. I talked with Ilyon Woo, author of “Master Slave Husband Wife,” which beautifully depicts their epic journey from slavery to freedom.
What I’m watching…
Why social health is key to happiness and longevity
TED Talks
You know it's important to take care of your physical and mental health. But what about your social health? Social scientist Kasley Killam shows how feeling a sense of belonging and connection has concrete benefits to your overall health — and explains why it may be the missing key to living a longer and happier life.
Climate Change Is Erasing Our History. Can We Stop It?
Evident Media
"Museum on Fire" takes viewers on a global journey to chart the impacts of climate change on humanity's cultural heritage — from endangered archeological digs in Alaska to a disappearing historical site on the coast of Tanzania.
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