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Why Do Deadly Viruses Spare Mosquitoes? Science Has an Answer
Mosquitoes carry some of the world's deadliest viruses, biting victim after victim for their entire lives without ever getting sick themselves. Scientists have long suspected a biological explanation,...
At least two people shot near Birmingham business
Just after 8:30 p.m., Birmingham police confirmed two victims in the shooting.
NYC teens say jobs and mental health, not policing, would curb violence
City safety officials heard from students who know victims of gun violence and people carrying guns.
Hilton business offers helping hand to displaced residents of Clarkson apartment building
Heartland business collecting donations for tornado victims
As the community of Mount Vernon begins to move forward, one local business is stepping up in an effort to aid those impacted by Sunday’s deadly tornado.
Two sides of a political chasm share one fear in Colombia’s presidential race: A return to the past
More than 10 million people are victims of the harshest acts of violence in Colombia’s six decades of armed conflict
Remembering the Emanuel 9 victims after a season of gun politics
In his latest commentary, Paul Hyde reflects on the 11th anniversary of the Mother Emanuel massacre, campaign ads, and the Charleston loophole.
Birmingham Police identify victim in Saturday homicide
Birmingham police have identified the man killed in a shooting Saturday afternoon as 34-year-old Jorge Fonseca of Birmingham. The shooting happened just before
In Retrospect: Poland, Russia, Europe
In April I spent a few days with Zryw, a Polish non-profit organization that recruits young people to enter politics and public life. Their aim is to build a new generation of civic leaders in Poland. I’ve followed their evolution from the beginning; my son is one of the founders. (“Zryw” means “impulse” or “burst of speed” in Polish). Julie Chmielewska, one of Zryw’s leaders, interviewed me at the event. Here is the conversation, lightly edited for grammar and context: Julia Chmielewska: Assuming that culture shapes institutions, could we conclude that some cultures are more prone to authoritarianism? Anne Applebaum: I don’t think so. Every culture, every nation, and every country has the potential for change. When we look at history, we can see that nations do change. Poland has changed, for example, from the 1980s to today. There’s a completely different mentality here than the one I encountered when I first visited, in 1988. The current generation sees the world through a different frame. So no, I don’t believe that certain nations are doomed to authoritarianism, or to anything. Of course, there are political and cultural traditions, but they can always be challenged. JC: So do you think there’s something intrinsic in human nature that pushes people to democracy, freedom? AA: I think there is something in human nature, a deep instinct, that pushes people towards freedom, yes. People who live in authoritarian countries – and I’ve heard this from them over and over again – sooner or later find themselves angered by a feeling of helplessness. They can see the unfairness of crooked courts, irrational political decisions. They naturally dislike the fact that somebody has all the power while they have none. In those circumstances, people who have no political background at all sometimes are politicized just by that frustration. I’m thinking of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, for example, who was a Belarusian housewife, until the circumstances of her husband’s arrest forced her to become a politician. I met a woman who is a Uyghur from China, and who had come to live in Turkey. After several of her family members were arrested, she too was propelled into a political role. These kinds of experiences make people interested in democracy or political reform, even if they thought they didn’t care. I also think that the opposite is true: some people instinctively prefer homogeneity, order, hierarchy. They don’t like the confrontation of opinions or the noise of debate, and they lean towards a single leader or a unified regime. I think that most of modern history is shaped by the clash between those two different sides of human nature. JC: Which force do you find more powerful today? AA: I think they both have a lot of power and there’s no way of predicting who wins. Even in countries that seem very shut off or stuck in an authoritarian system can change. We’ve seen that happen. And vice versa, I think democracies can also begin to fail and slide into authoritarianism. So it’s very important not to be complacent in either direction. JC: I want to go into your history and your experiences. You’ve lived in Russia during a time of incredible change in the late 80s, and then you came back to do research in post-Soviet Russia. AA: I was a student in Russia just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. I then traveled and worked there extensively in the 1990s, and I met people who really were full of hope. They hoped that Russia could become a democracy, or at least a place that guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of the press. These weren’t ideas that came from Washington. Although now the narrative in the Kremlin is different, I met many people who were working towards exactly that kind of transformation. A friend of mine ran a series of seminars – once a year, and then later several times a year, in cities all over Russia – designed to get people to discuss politics in new ways. She invited young politicians and journalists, as well as foreigners. I went to many of them, in Moscow as well as Volgograd and Novosibirsk. Over two decades, hundreds of people came to these seminars, and all of them wanted Russia to be different. I remain convinced that many Russians still want Russia to be different. It’s just that the old system, in the form of Putin, a representative of that system, returned. The KGB reimposed their power. And this wasn’t because of something to do with culture, this was to do with money and politics, and who was in charge. JC: You’ve partially answered my question... I wanted to ask whether that excitement of the 1990s was an exception from the Russian historical norm which has been rather authoritarian? AA: Of course, if you look at the history of Russia since the 18th century, there have always been liberal groups, reformers and revolutionaries. There were the Decembrists, in the early 19th century, and the rural populists later on, who tried to organize the peasantry. A significant group of liberal Russians appeared at the turn of the 20th century, people like the father of the writer Vladimir Nabokov, who was a Russian politician before the revolution. These groups were small in number, but sometimes had a broader significance. The Russian dissident movement in the 1950s and 1960s actually invented the modern human rights movement. It was their idea to hold the leaders of the Soviet Union accountable for the language they used, to remind them of the treaties they had signed and the promised they had made. They created the Helsinki group, for example, that held Soviet leadership to the language of the Helsinki Treaty, which formally ended the Second World War and which contained guarantees of human rights, at least on paper. That idea spread to Eastern Europe, and similar tactics were used here in Poland. (Benjamin Nathans recently wrote a great book about the Soviet dissidents, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause) JC: But seemingly, even if they do ever get power, they could never hold on to it. AA: We don’t know, because they have never really had power. But in any case, we also don’t know what will happen in the future. There is no reason to assume that Russia will forever be condemned to totalitarianism. Even during the first fifteen years of Putin’s regime there was some form of democratic politics. Only when the full-scale war began did he bring everything to an end: he shut down all remaining independent organizations and killed his most important opponent, Alexi Navalny. But does that mean he is popular, that he enjoys legitimacy? Even now, we don’t really know what Russians think about him, or about the war. There is no way of doing real polling in Russia because nobody will answer an independent pollster over the phone. JC: Do you think that the flock of young people, especially young men, who fled Russia after the start of the war represent a continuation of liberal movements that refuse to partake in the authoritarian state, or do you think they are moving for the sake of self-preservation – “I don’t want to go to the army, so I leave”? AA: I’m sure it’s both. I actually know many people who left Russia for political reasons either in the very last years before the war, or else just after the war began. JC: And do you see a change in the young generation versus the old one that have fled? AA: It’s hard for me to say because the people who I know were mostly already politicized. I do know some younger people who left, but most of them were already either active in the opposition, or working as journalists. Many of them very self-consciously think of themselves as maintaining Russian culture abroad, just as in the 20th century the Soviet dissidents or the anti-communist White Russians once thought of themselves as people who maintained the true Russian culture, outside of Bolshevik Russia. JC: Let’s move on to Poland. One of your first experiences with Poland was reporting on Margaret Thatcher’s first state visit, in the autumn of 1988. You followed her around the farmers’ market. AA: She was making a symbolic gesture. She wanted to welcome free markets, but the only one she could really visit was the farmers’ market at Hala Mirowska. JC: And I want to talk about this area because today you can look out of any window in that district, Mirów, and see rows and rows of skyscrapers. How does it feel to see a country built from the ground in such a short time, both politically and economically? AA: You know, when you’re living in a period of dramatic change, it’s always hard to know whether the change is positive or negative. The transformation in Poland created winners and losers, as well as new classes of people, new political movements of different kinds. At the time, it sometimes just felt like turbulence. Now, we can look back at the 1990s and early 2000s in Poland and see in retrospect that the country was headed in towards prosperity and European integration. In around 2009 or 2010, I remember speaking to a woman who worked cleaning government offices, and who asked me if her daughter should study in Amsterdam or in London. This seemed to me to be a real transformation, and it happened very fast: within a few years, Poles stopped feeling like second-class Europeans, and a generation of younger Poles appeared who had no qualms about crossing borders. JC: We again live in turbulent times. Do you think we’re heading towards positive outcomes? AA: I can’t make predictions, because everything that happens tomorrow depends on what people do today. Also, history doesn’t have a trajectory. It doesn’t move in a particular direction. You only think it does afterwards. As I said, you can look afterwards at Poland in the 1990s and you could say this was a period of great progress. But not everybody at the time saw that. Sometimes people are very wrong about a given country’s trajectory. I remember people writing about Ukraine in the 1990s, about how dangerous it was that Ukraine was independent, that this was going to be an anti-semitic state, that Ukrainian nationalism was going to come back... and although you can say many bad things about Ukraine, the country made many bad choices, actually it became a pretty tolerant state which now has a Jewish president and until recently a Muslim defense minister. JC: In the 1990s Poland’s and Ukraine’s GDP were roughly similar. Ukraine was even a bit richer. So the starting point was similar for both of these countries, but they’ve turned out very, very differently. Even if we stop in 2014. Why do you think Ukraine “chose East”? Was it external influence? AA: No, I think Ukraine was in a different position. First of all, central and eastern Ukraine had been part of the Soviet Union since the 1920s, and had therefore experienced a longer period of occupation, repression, Sovietization and even Russification. Ukraine did not have, as Poland did, an alternative elite: a large cadre of economists and politicians, who already had some experience in opposition politics and in independent thinking. In Poland, the transformative finance minister, Leszek Balcerowicz, had already thought about how an economy might be decentralized before he took office. We can argue about how successful he was, but at least he was prepared to try something new. In Ukraine, people weren’t prepared. For one, there hadn’t been much space even for an illegal opposition in the previous couple of decades. Ukraine was also in many ways still emerging from colonial occupation. For the previous couple of centuries, many of the most capable Ukrainians had moved to Russia, and the first generation of leaders in independent Ukraine tended to be former Soviet apparatchiks. They didn’t immediately seek to become closer to western Europe. Instead, they looked for some kind of economic and political “third way” and an accomodation with Russia. Ukraine became stuck in this position, half-in, half-out and became pretty profoundly corrupt. JC: The Polish alternative elite had a vision of where they wanted the country to go. I think the general perception now is that this vision ends with the next election, right? Is this a natural process of gaining power? AA: Their vision, and it was shared by the time by politicians who now call themselves both left and right, was that Poland should join the EU and NATO, as fast as possible. My husband (Radek Sikorski) was in the very first government that said it wanted to join NATO. At the time this was taken very badly in Washington: the demand for NATO membership absolutely came from Poland, not from the US. But even then, in the early 1990s, many Poles already understood that the Russian sphere of influence would grow once again, that it was important to become part of the transatlantic alliance and an integrated Europe as fast as possible: NATO, the EU, the Council of Europe, all of the trading and security alliances. That consensus lasted through several different governments and over many years, even governments containing former communists. For twenty years, right, left and center disagreed about many things, but they all agreed on the direction that the country should go. In retrospect, that consensus created the basis for prosperity in Poland. JC: And regarding the Polish-Ukrainian relations. We know that antagonisms, e.g. the myth of Wołyń [a massacre of Poles that took place in what is now Western Ukraine, in 1943] are increasingly used in Polish political discourse today. In Ukraine, nationalist historians make heroes out of UPA, the Ukrainian revolutionary army, which is held responsible for this tragedy. Where do you see a start for burying the hatchet? Is the reconciliation of our nations possible? AA: So here’s a strange thing: For more than a decade after they both gained independence, Poland and Ukraine participated in a number of projects that were designed to solve exactly these kinds of Polish-Ukrainian differences. Books were published that were jointly written by Polish and Ukrainian historians, monuments were built. These projects were successful: If you’d asked me this question in 2010, I would have said that there are no real historical issues between Poland and Ukraine, that the two countries had mostly reconciled. For a number of reasons, this began to shift. In Poland, children and grandchildren of victims of the Wołyń massacre felt their tragedy hadn’t been fully recognized. In Ukraine, nationalist groups wanted the UPA partisans who had fought against the Soviet Union recognized for their heroism, despite the fact that some in this broad and not well-defined group were also linked to Wołyń. In both eastern Poland and western Ukraine, the memory of the ethnic cleansing that took place there in the late 1940s - Poles were moved West, Ukrainians East - to accomodate new borders has left feelings of displacement and bitterness. The wave of Ukrainian immigration, which started before the war, may have provoked some of this. But don’t underestimate the role played by Russia, which has always wanted to create discord between Poland and Ukraine, and pumps out propaganda to that effect in both countries. Vandalism on both sides of the border, damage done to cemeteries and monuments, is sometimes carried out by provacateurs working for Russia, just to create bad feelings. The Polish-Ukrainian conflict also hides a different reality: although there are real grievances and bad memories, the truth is that the biggest tragedies both nations experienced in the twentieth century were inflicted by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. That should unite these two countries, not divide them. JC: This week (19.04.2026 – Ed.) in Hungary we saw that using historical narratives to create grievance has no longer worked. Are you optimistic about the direction after Orban’s loss? AA: The Hungarian election was really important because it shows that people can actually resist powerful, dominant propaganda. The ruling party Fidesz controlled all of the TV, 90% of the newspapers, the constitutional court, the bureaucracy... and yet people had the nerve to vote against it and resist it. It’s also an important election because Hungary created a huge network of well-funded think tanks and foundations that were funding other far right groups and projects. So that loss is going to have a knock-on effect in other places too, maybe even in Poland. JC: What you’ve said about resisting propaganda reminds me of one of the interviews you did about talking to Russians in the post-Soviet era who claimed that people knew that the system was lying. Why do people choose to believe in these regimes anyway? AA: Because it’s useful. Stephen Kotkin, an American historian, once described how people would learn how to “speak Bolshevik”: It was just a language that you needed to use in order to get by in society. If you didn’t talk the way the regime wanted you to talk, then you might have problems, or lose your job, or your kids would not get into university. It was a way of getting along. Communist Poland was similar, at least in the early years. When I was writing a book about the Sovietization of Eastern Europe after World War II, I met a lot of people who wanted to talk a lot about the war, when many of them had done really heroic things. But almost nobody wanted to talk about the decade afterwards, between 1945 and 1956. This was when you had the short period of terror, violence and Polish Stalinism. To stay safe, people felt the need to just go along with what others were saying, or stay out of politics, or use communist jargon without necessarily believing it. I don’t judge them for it, and I wouldn’t describe all of those people as collaborators. It’s easy to feel moral certainty in retrospect, because we know that communism ended. But if you were living in 1949, it might not have been clear to you that communism was going to end. In very repressive societies, maybe about 10% of people who are really evil – collaborators, torturers. Maybe 10% of people are really brave and who find ways to resist. And then around 80% of people have kids, they have parents, they have to have jobs and they’ve had to get through it somehow. Strange though it may sound, I’ve found that the work I did on that book is now very useful in explaining some of what’s going on in the United States today. There are plenty of members of the Republican Party in Congress who know perfectly well that Donald Trump says many things that aren’t true. But they avoid criticizing him because it’s inconvenient, because they would get in trouble, because someone would attack them on the internet. So actually you don’t even need mass terror to get people to conform. JC: Is Gen Z reinventing agency? AA: We’ll see. In any generation you can find groups of people who want agency. If you live in a society that’s unfair, for example where a tiny number of people have captured most of the wealth, then at a certain point people rebel. This is always easier for younger people, who have you have less to lose. The question now is how the internet will affect the relationships between citizens and the state, and how it will change organizations. The “Twitter revolutions” people spoke about as early as 2008-9, mass protests organized online, have often proved to be very superficial. Although you can easily join something just by clicking, the work of creating a real movement requires physical participation. Successful mass movements of the past, for example the Civil Rights movement in the United States, were built by people who had spent many years together. They had participated in non-violent workshops together. They practiced and prepared. Just using the you can get everybody to show up at a certain moment, but then when the protest is broken up, nothing happens. It’s also true that the repressive regimes have more recently learned how to use the internet to undermine leaders and movements. Most of all, they now understand how to make people cynical. The form of propaganda that most modern authoritarians use - and I think the Russians really pioneered this - deploys sneering cynicism. Instead of praising the rulers, the regime propagandists mock the opposition movement leadership for being supposedly corrupt or sexually degenerate, with the goal of undermining any kind of idealism. JC: MAGA grew on the internet? AA: MAGA is a real grassroots movement. They had symbols, red hats, they showed up at rallies. But you’re right that the cynicism, the sarcasm and the distrust that the movement embodies came originally from the internet, and this is different. Fifty years ago, most European political parties had a social base in real organizations, in trade unions for Social Democrats, in church groups for Christian Democrats. As people stopped going to church and as the trade unions became smaller, the social base of these parties disappeared. Now people who wouldn’t have known one another in the past meet on the internet and create new movements, many of which don’t last. JC: Is history ending? Going in stale circles? AA: History never ends. In truth, human beings want contradictory things at the same time: order and freedom, stability and change. These things are never resolved, and when a society swings too far in one direction, people always push it the other way. But each time that happens, the result is different. Certainly it is true that we are now in a period when old philosophers and ideas from the 1930s are undergoing a revival. Carl Schmitt, who was a philosopher who was very influential on the Nazis, is back as an influence on both the far left and the far right, once again inspiring people to think that all politics has to be existential, that all politics is about defining and defeating enemies. In the US, some are also bringing back dominionism, the idea that we need a Christian and not a secular state. It’s also true that we are living through a more fundamental shift. The old left-right divide, which was mostly about the size of the state, is much less important now. Instead, we are arguing about more fundamental things: what are our rights, what protects our freedom. Or how much power do we want to give small elites, versus how much power to give ordinary people. In America a small group of very wealthy people now control information, because they control the social media platforms and AI, which means they determine what people will read and learn. Finding a way to preserve preserve zones of autonomy and independent thinking, this is going to be the main task for the next generation. JC: What is the one book that a person interested in Central Europe should read? AA: You could read my book “Iron Curtain: the Crushing of Eastern Europe” which tells the story of how the Soviet Union imposed its culture on the region. Or read Tim Snyder’s history of the region, “The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus 1569-1999.” And everyone should read “The Captive Mind” by Czesław Miłosz, which describes exactly the phenomenon we were talking about: why do people collaborate? I joined Scott Galloway and the brilliant Fiona Hill in a discussion about the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the future of global power, and what these conflicts reveal about America's role in the world. Scott told us that this was the 400th edition of his podcast, which is quite a number: My friend Francesco Chiamulera runs a brilliant series of literary events, Una Colline di Libri, A Hill of Books, in the Prosecco Hills, a region of vineyards and elegant hill towns in the Veneto, north of Venice. We did an event in Vittorio Veneto and also drove and biked around the countryside. Buy Autocracy Inc Buy Iron Curtain Open Letters, from Anne Applebaum is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Estranged Husband Charged In Slaying Of Winsted Business Owner
The victim had obtained a protective order in April, according to police.
Jan. 6 debanking probe once floated as way to pad anti-weaponization fund
A Justice Department probe examining whether some of the nation’s biggest banks closed accounts of defendants charged in the 2021 Capitol riot and others for political reasons has been raised to the Trump administration as a way to support it’s efforts to compensate people the president claims were victims of weaponization, according to people briefed on the matter.
Texas Tech had the chance to become a great success story, but chose to be a victim instead
By throwing all its weight behind Brendan Sorsby, Texas Tech drastically altered its public perception
Brendan Sorsby isn’t a victim. He’s the latest face of America’s public health crisis
Texas Tech QB's injunction may allow him to play, but the problem remains: Online betting and a growing gambling addiction among young men.
Orlando Health doctor recalls Pulse response and trauma response lessons
Dr. Chadwick Smith, a trauma surgeon at ORMC, recalls treating Pulse shooting victims and how the response impacted hospital preparedness.
The next victim of the Supreme Court’s voting rights decision will be workers
The Trump administration wants to extend Justice Sam Alito’s approach to race to everything.
Federal small business loans open to local victims of drought
The U.S. Small Business Administration announced low-interest loans to small businesses and nonprofits affected by the drought that began April 28.
DA Larry Krasner publicly criticized Mayor Cherelle Parker as he flirts with running for her office
Krasner took a letter to Parker's office saying that he needs an additional $5.6 million from the city to bolster shootings investigations, domestic violence prosecutions, and victim services.
Mental health counselor accused of child sex crimes, federal authorities searching for more victims
A mental health counselor is accused of child sex crimes, and federal investigators believe there are more victims.
Mental health counselor accused of child sex crimes, federal authorities searching for more victims
A mental health counselor is accused of child sex crimes, and federal investigators believe there are more victims.
Mental health counselor accused of child sex crimes, federal authorities searching for more victims
A mental health counselor is accused of child sex crimes, and federal investigators believe there are more victims.
Mental health counselor accused of child sex crimes, federal authorities searching for more victims
A mental health counselor is accused of child sex crimes, and federal investigators believe there are more victims.
Personal data on mental health patients stolen in provider group hack
In what’s being called a “data security incident,” Acadia Healthcare confirmed a compromised email account led to sensitive data on patients being accessed by hackers. The full number of victims is being tabulated.
'It’s not acceptable': Lejeune toxic water victims rally outside Capitol
People exposed to toxic water at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune decades ago voiced pent-up frustration outside the U.S. Capitol Thursday.
Man sentenced in 2023 death of Glenwood South business owner David Millette
One of the victim's family members called the sentence a "gross inadequacy."
Minister dismisses ‘two-tier justice’ claim in light of Henry Nowak tragedy as ‘slur’ on police
Politicians on the right have politicised Novak’s death and suggested there is a ‘two-tier’ policing system that victimises white people
Austin health agencies move to protect sexual health services as Safe Alliance closes
With the Safe Alliance set to shut down its sexual assault victim services next week, local public health leaders are moving to protect other critical sexual he
Trump retreated on his payout fund, but some Republicans want proof it’s dead
The Justice Department backed off a court fight over the nearly $1.8 billion fund for alleged victims of unfair prosecution. GOP senators say a pause isn’t a promise.
Banner employee facing sexual assault, kidnapping charges
The victim reported she felt if she yelled for help, she would be sedated or restrained.
Man arrested for attempted homicide after shooting victim at Carlisle Sports Emporium
CARLISLE, Pa. (WHTM) — A Harrisburg man was arrested for allegedly shooting a victim at the Carlisle Sports Emporium Saturday night. Naeem Thomas, 21, of Derry Street in Harrisburg, was charged wit…
Pols & Politics: Massachusetts GOP candidate considers lawsuit over fraudulent signature collections
Republican Lt. Gov. candidate Anne Brensley is speaking out after reportedly falling victim to fraud by a political consultant she hired to collect ballot signatures for her campaign.
Business owners step up to help Dallas apartment building explosion victims as donations of all kind pour in
Judge temporarily blocks payouts from Trump's $1.8B 'anti-weaponization' settlement fund
A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from paying any claims through a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for the Republican president's allies who believe they were victims of a weaponized government.
Gov. DeSantis signs HAVEN Act, expanding protections for domestic, dating violence
Under the soon-to-be effective measure, Florida will study a first-in-the-nation silent alert system for victims unable to safely call 911.
Managing the Second Victim in Healthcare
After a patient safety incident, clinicians need confidential, empathetic, and nonpunitive support — not blame — to prevent burnout and silence, reduce repeat errors, and improve reporting and care quality.
3 Red Cross volunteers die of Ebola as number of cases rises in Uganda
The volunteers are thought to have contracted the virus during a humanitarian mission in DR Congo in March and are believed to be “among the first known victims of the outbreak.”
Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio tells PBS News he believes he's owed tens of millions from DOJ fund
The former leader of the extremist, far-right group that played a major role in the Jan. 6 insurrection says he’s “excited” about the announcement of a $1.776 billion fund for people who believe they are victims of the justice system.
Bonus 228: The $1.776B Political Question
Every so often a story comes along that is so brazen, so cleanly emblematic of the moment we are living through, that staying quiet about it feels like a kind of complicity unto itself. Monday’s announcement by the Department of Justice that the Acting Attorney General has unilaterally created a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate so-called “victims of lawfare” is one of those stories. And the reason I want to write about it here, in a newsletter ostensibly devoted to the Supreme Court and the law and politics surrounding it, is that I’m increasingly worried that we’re asking the wrong institution to save us from one of the most offensive, alarming, and anti-constitutional things we’ve seen from any president in American history. As I explain below the fold, the Anti-Weaponization Fund is not principally a legal problem awaiting a judicial fix. It is a shockingly egregious political abuse—the President suing his own government, purporting to settle with himself, and routing nearly $2 billion from the Treasury to his own supporters as a not-so-subtle (and not-so-formal) reward, if not an incentive, for political violence. And the Constitution’s answer to political abuses of this kind and magnitude is a political remedy, not a legal one. In his majority opinion in NFIB v. Sebelius (the Affordable Care Act case from 2012), Chief Justice Roberts defended the Court’s endorsement of Congress’s power to adopt the individual mandate by noting that it is “not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.” As much of a judicial supremacist as I am, that sentiment is, for better or worse, an entirely correct (and, in the long term, normatively desirable) institutional assessment. One can believe in substantial judicial power without believing that literally every political dispute in our country can and should be resolved by unelected judges. The real upshot of this latest headline (among so, so many other similar headlines) is that it is past time to reinvigorate impeachment—not because conviction is realistic in this Senate, or even because impeachment itself is feasible in this House, but because forcing every member of Congress to vote on the record whether this brazen, corrosive, and affirmatively dangerous corruption is impeachable is itself a point worth fighting for (and fighting with our friends over). Assuming the courts will save us absolves our political leaders of both responsibility and accountability for allowing this kind of mischief to continue, and it absolves all of us of our responsibility to refuse to tolerate those who would just as quickly shrug their shoulders and move on. For those who aren’t paid subscribers, we’ll be back (no later than) Monday with our continuing coverage of the Supreme Court. For those who are, please read on.
Data breach on New York public health system claims 1.8M victims, leaking biometric data to hackers
First revealed in March, the incident was confirmed to be months long. NYC Health + Hospitals blamed the intrusion on an unnamed third-party vendor. Stolen data includes medical records, finger and palm prints, and location data from patients and workers alike.
Why legal experts say Trump's new 'anti-weaponization' fund is unprecedented
President Donald Trump’s administration has created a nearly $1.8 billion fund to pay people who say they were victims of government “weaponization,” raising questions about whom among his allies and supporters – including those who rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6 – might get payouts from taxpayers, as well as what kind of influence Trump will wield over the fund.
Doctor's kit found on Mount Vesuvius victim in Pompeii
A man who died in Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 was carrying a medical kit with him, new scans reveal.
Justice Department announces a $1.7 billion 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' fund to compensate Trump allies
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in announcing the fund in a statement that it was "a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress."
Butterflies 15 hosts mental health expo for women survivors
Butterflies 15 will host a mental health expo for victims of human trafficking at the Main Library on Tuesday. From 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., stop by the ...
Colorado legislators pass bill to strengthen sex crime victim protections
A Colorado bill that supporters say would strengthen victim protections and mandate law enforcement training on how trauma can affect survivors of sex crimes and domestic violence is on its way to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk for signing. Senate Bill 26-095 recently passed unanimously in the Senate and was mostly unopposed in the House, where […]
Samsung’s RAM Shortage Struggles Claims Another Victim As Exynos 2700 To Witness One Trade-Off, Despite Being The Most Advanced 2nm SoC
Samsung is expected to use its most advanced 2nm process for the Exynos 2700, but that won’t keep the latter safe from cost cutting
National Science Board a victim of the Trump administration’s cancel culture
The proposed cuts to basic science threaten to cede our longstanding leadership to other countries, most notably China.
1 injured, 3 in custody after shooting at Oxford business Friday
The victim was taken to a local hospital and later released.
Here’s how health officials are tracing people who came in contact with hantavirus victims
Hantaviruses do not spread easily between people.
Aging family kept falling for scams, built no-code app for $20 to help
Matter Sanner, 54, vibe coded an app using Cursor called ScamSkeptic for his aging family, who had fallen victim to scams.
People once risked everything just to keep their hats on
Centuries ago in England, hats weren’t just accessories—they were statements of power and rebellion. Refusing to remove a hat could challenge authority, even in courtrooms and before kings. People valued their hats so deeply that robbery victims sometimes begged to keep them over money. In a world where going bareheaded signaled poverty or madness, hats shaped identity, respect, and even family discipline.
5 businesses in Garfield Park are latest victims in smash-and-grab robberies
INDIANAPOLIS — Several small businesses in the Garfield Park neighborhood are the latest victims of smash-and-grab robberies. Those break-ins happened earlier Wednesday morning. “…
Study shows risks for mental health workers in residential treatment facilities
A study published eight years ago found that each year, on average, one mental health worker is a victim of homicide in residential treatment facilities.
Carrollton shooting suspect was tired of business associates ‘taking his money,’ report says
Seung Ho Han told police he targeted the shooting victims in Carrollton over a failed $75,000 business deal involving his sushi restaurant and property investments.
Study Shows LGBTQ+ Youth in the U.S. Face High Rates of Suicidality and Victimization, Worsened by Anti-LGBTQ+ Politics
Your Support Saves LGBTQ+Youth's Lives Every DayDonate LGBTQ+ young people who reported living in very accepting communities attempted suicide at […]
Hawaiʻi Balks At Funding Maui Fire Victim Health Study
Lawmakers did not pass a bill that would have funded the continuation of the most comprehensive study of the long-term health effects of the wildfires.
2 dead, 3 injured after business dispute turns violent, police say
Police say a man shot five people, killing two, in back-to-back shootings because he was angry over business dealings with the victims.
Taiwan player victim of ‘inappropriate contact’ at UK table tennis event
Officials say a female player was subjected to inappropriate physical contact during a security check.
The Pixel 11 could be the next victim of the RAM shortage
The Pixel 11 could get a RAMaggedon downgrade.
MIRAMAR BEACH BUSINESS OWNER ARRESTED FOR BATTERY AND OPERATING AS A MASSAGE THERAPIST WITHOUT A LICENSE
WALTON COUNTY, FLA— The owner of a massage practice in Miramar Beach is facing criminal charges for a second time after a victim reported being inappropriately touched during a massage. This...
REPORT: Warriors are sick of Steve Kerr's political activism
Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr's left-wing political activism has reportedly caused internal frustration, but considering him a victim of political persecution is too far.
Man shot outside sports bar in Philadelphia's Frankford section
Investigators say more than a dozen shots were fired, and the victim was hit six times.
UT Health San Antonio physician identified as shooting victim
SAN ANTONIO - A doctor who was shot on Wednesday morning while walking his dog has been identified as 30-year-old Jonathan Desposorio.According to the San Anton
Dear Abby | Sexual abuse victim isn't interested in forgiveness
Dear Abby: My earliest memories are of my father molesting me when I was 4, 5 and 6. My mother knew. I had appendicitis when I was 4, and she
Neal Milner: We Are All Victims Of The Sylvia Luke Mess
Her decision not to run for reelection doesn’t address the bigger problem — how inept the state is when it comes to corruption investigations.
The Osmo Pocket 4 Is the First True Victim of the US Government's DJI Ban
The Osmo Pocket 4, a follow-up to the uber-popular Pocket 3, didn't get FCC authorization before DJI was added to its Covered List, so it won't be coming to the US anytime soon.
The Osmo Pocket 4 Is the First True Victim of the US Government's DJI Ban
The Osmo Pocket 4, a follow-up to the uber-popular Pocket 3, didn't get FCC authorization before DJI was added to its Covered List, so it won't be coming to the US anytime soon.
Adobe fixes PDF zero-day security bug that hackers have exploited for months
It's not clear how many people were compromised by this hacking campaign, but a security researcher said the hackers were targeting victims since at least November 2025.
Bayern Munich exec condemns treatment of fans in Madrid
Were FC Bayern fans victimized in Madrid?
Neandertals may have hunted and eaten outsiders, chilling cannibalism study finds
A cave in Belgium has revealed unsettling evidence that Neandertals selectively cannibalized outsiders, focusing on women and children. The victims weren’t from the local group and appear to have been treated like prey, with bones butchered for meat and marrow. This suggests the behavior wasn’t ritual, but practical—or possibly linked to intergroup conflict. The discovery paints a darker, more complex picture of Neandertal life during their final millennia.
Health-Related Quality of Life in Burn Injury Victims Attending a Specialized Institution
Introduction Burn injuries cause long-term physical, psychological, and social consequences that substantially affect health-related quality of life (HRQOL), particularly in LMICs. The eviden...
Accusation of sexual assault threatens Swalwell governor bid
The Democrat running for governor categorically denied any misconduct involving congressional staffers. Then the San Francisco Chronicle published an article quoting an alleged victim.
SANE-SART’s Keiran Swift named to North Bay Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 of 2026
The advocate for families and human trafficking victims “balances empathy with professionalism, demonstrating resilience in a high-stress field while maintaining a solution-oriented mindset.”
UT Health San Antonio researchers report breakthrough findings significantly reducing symptoms for combat PTSD victims - UT Health San Antonio
UT Health San Antonio researchers report breakthrough findings significantly reducing symptoms for combat PTSD victims
Victim identified in deadly Tallahassee sports bar shooting; Police pursuing ‘all leads’
Tevin Gaines, 32, was identified Tuesday by the police department as the man shot and killed inside Zingales Billiards & Sports Bar during what officers said was a “large physical altercation.”
UT Health San Antonio researchers report breakthrough findings significantly reducing symptoms for combat PTSD victims - UT Health San Antonio
Adding navigated TMS to psychotherapy can ‘greatly improve’ quality of life Contact: Steven Lee, (210) 450-3823, lees22@uthscsa.edu SAN ANTONIO, April 7, 2026 – An advanced version of a procedure using magnetic fields to stimulate brain nerve cells in treating depression was significantly effective for 85% of active military and veterans suffering from combat post-traumatic stress […]
Cluster Munitions and the Politics of Enforcement
The Use of Cluster Munitions Doesn’t Draw the Same Scrutiny When Israel or Israeli Civilians Are the Victims of Attacks
What a Clunker! Braves 17, Dbacks 2
Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks fell victim to an early-season clunker in the series opener, thanks to an explosive eight-run fifth inning from the visiting Atlanta Braves. Getting bitten by the big inning is quickly becoming an unwelcome narrative for this young Arizona club. In a game that offered few positives, one standout moment provided a bright […]
As manufacturing jobs decline, Vermont business leaders take their concerns to the Statehouse
Also in Final Reading: Budget battles, crime victim notifications and endorsements.
Selwyn Rogers: Bearing Witness to Violence
Howie and Harlan are joined by trauma surgeon Selwyn Rogers, who reflects on caring for victims of gun violence and speaking with families in their darkest moments—and explains why the problem must be understood as a shared societal responsibility. Harlan examines new evidence suggesting U.S. healthcare spending has grown more slowly than expected; Howie discusses a retracted Lancet article that highlights the risks of undisclosed conflicts of interest.
Car slams into Redlands business, one injured
The victim was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
WTC health advocates point to delays in getting new conditions covered
Victim advocates are raising concerns about staffing shortages and leadership shake-ups.
Ayaneo says selling its Windows gaming handheld ‘is no longer sustainable’
The RAM shortage claims another victim.
9/11 survivors’ health care secured for next 15 years
The World Trade Center Health Program secures funding for 15 more years, ensuring healthcare access for 9/11 survivors and victims' families.
Opinion | Jesse Jackson, the Prophet Who Became a Politician
He challenged black Americans in the 1960s and ’70s, then retreated into victimhood and grievance.
Millions of iPhones hit by hackers using new DarkSword spyware
The exploit doesn't even require anything to be downloaded on a victim's iPhone.
Two men have been charged with running a fraudulent contracting business in Lower Merion
The Lower Merion Police Department is urging anyone who believes they were a victim of contractor fraud by Jake Fox and Scott Bradley to contact law enforcement.
E. coli outbreak linked to raw cheddar cheese allegedly sickens 7 people across multiple states
E. coli outbreak allegedly linked to raw cheddar cheese affects 7 people across California, Texas and Florida, with most victims under 3 years old.
Pair accused of operating fake contracting businesses in Lower Merion Township
Police in Lower Merion Township are looking to identify further victims of an organized fraud scheme involving fake contracting businesses.
Jeffrey Epstein victims and Bank of America reach settlement
The lawsuit brought by Jeffrey Epstein victims alleged Bank of America facilitated the pedophile's sex-trafficking operation.
Who Will Be the Packers’ Next Quarterback Redemption Story?
The Green Bay Packers have become victims of their own success. Matt LaFleur has had to rely on backup quarterback Malik Willis several times over the past two seasons. Willis stepped up impressively, leading the Packers’ offense to nine touchdowns with only one turnover in 11 games. Willis clearly benefited from working with LaFleur and the […] The post Who Will Be the Packers’ Next Quarterback Redemption Story? appeared first on The Lead.
Mills proposes permanent funds for crime victims
The money through the Victims of Crime Act, which Mills says will help cover a federal funding shortfall, pays for domestic violence and sexual assault services, civil legal representation for victims and services for elder abuse victims.
Apple's HomePad gets delayed again, rumor claims
The mythical tablet plus smart speaker combo has been a victim of Apple's struggles with AI. For a very long time, Apple has been rumored to be working on...
Fake Google Security site uses PWA app to steal credentials, MFA codes
A phishing campaign is using a fake Google Account security page to deliver a web-based app capable of stealing one-time passcodes, harvesting cryptocurrency wallet addresses, and proxying attacker traffic through victims' browsers.
Man shot dead outside business in Southwest Houston
A man was shot and killed outside a business in the 11400 block of Bissonnet Street, southwest Houston, on Friday night. Police responded to a shooting call at around 10:30 p.m. and found the deceased man in the parking lot. Details about the victim or suspect are currently unavailable, and the Houston Police Department Homicide division is investigating.
Democrats could not even stand for ‘victims of political violence,’ TPUSA contributor says
Turning Point USA contributor Jack Posobiec discusses Democrats’ anti-State of the Union rallies on ‘Fox News @ Night.’
Trump defends immigration crackdown at State of Union as approval ratings plummet
To defend an increasingly unpopular immigration crackdown during his State of the Union speech, President Trump highlighted the victims of crimes perpetuated by undocumented immigrants.
Guest List for State of the Union Includes Epstein Victims, Erika Kirk and U.S. Olympic Hockey Players
Democratic lawmakers invited victims of Jeffrey Epstein and of President Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
Adolescent Social Health May Foretell Loneliness, Aggressive Behavior, Study Suggests
Teens who are lonely and those who experience conflict in their home life are more likely to act aggressively toward peers or become victims themselves. These are some of the findings in a new University of California, Davis, study that creates a detailed picture of children’s social lives by identifying patterns and predictors of adolescent social health.
Adolescent social health may foretell loneliness and aggressive behavior
Teens who are lonely and those who experience conflict in their home life are more likely to act aggressively toward peers or become victims themselves. These are some of the findings in a new University ...
iOS 26.4 Enables Stolen Device Protection by Default for All iPhones
Starting with iOS 26.4, Stolen Device Protection will be enabled by default and turned on for all iPhone users. Stolen Device Protection adds extra security in case of physical iPhone theft. Apple implemented Stolen Device Protection back in 2023 after reports about a new iPhone theft method. Thieves would spy on an intended victim to learn their passcode, then steal the target's iPhone. With the passcode, criminals were able to empty bank accounts, access passwords, and turn off Find My.
Brentford XI vs Macclesfield – Predicted lineup and team news
Brentford travel to face non-league Macclesfield on Monday night while they aim to avoid becoming the latest victim of the competition’s ultimate giant-killers.The Bees moved into the top seven of t...