“While the trauma and terror that Bovino’s unit instills is certainly real and damaging, it’s remarkable to note how ineffective the force has turned out to be.” On ICE’s retreat from Chicago. / Doomsday Scenario Bovino is who E.B. White meant when he wrote, “I am deeply
China tells its citizens not to travel to Japan with Tokyo and Beijing locked in a fight over Taiwan. / BBC News China’s $49 billion luxury market is changing quickly, with domestic interest turning to homegrown labels. / Bloomberg [$] See also: L’Oréal takes a stake in mass-market Chinese skincare
Six French museums have been burgled since the beginning of September—one of them twice. / The Wall Street Journal [$] Brussels (mostly) bans bicycles in its 124-acre car-free zone. / Bloomberg CityLab Italy investigates citizens alleged to have taken sniper “safaris” to Sarajevo three decades ago. / BBC News A photojournalist
Last week’s US elections showed voters may welcome an anti-AI message, as winning candidates pledged to curtail the boom in data centers. / The New Republic See also: Data centers are cropping up in the wrong places in the US, with some areas having far too many, and sometimes
The world’s use of fossil fuels remains on track to peak before 2030, despite a recent surge in political support for coal, oil, and gas. / CarbonBrief “You don’t necessarily have to mention climate change to start adapting to it”—as seen across the United States. / Grist Thanks to
“I want you to understand that every issue you care about—any hope of participatory democracy—is downstream of this.” I want you to understand Chicago. / Aphyr One of DHS’s least-reported surveillance networks in the country is the one that operates every Saturday at college football games. / FOIAball
Dissecting the ways DHS’s propaganda paints agents as heroes—for example, by editing out the screams of children and families. / Chicago Sun-Times Elon Musk and DOGE’s destruction of USAID has, as of right now, caused the deaths of 400,000 children worldwide. / The New Yorker In the
A round-up of news links to help understand the siege of El Fasher in Sudan. / This Week in Africa Britain rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite intelligence warnings that El Fasher would fall. / The Guardian See also: A critique of typical writing about Sudan. / good chat Airlines in
Mamdani’s win just turned politics upside down, and certainly within the Democratic Party itself, which now has a chance to reinvent itself. / Garbage Day See also: Following Pelosi’s announcement that she won’t seek reelection, some guesses as to who might fill her San Francisco-based House seat.
Democrats win all the United States’ key races yesterday. At the same time, nothing from the night was too surprising. / Politico, Wake Up to Politics If Democrats want to continue winning, they need to run moderates and liberals both, say both Charlotte Alter and Ezra Klein. / X, The New York
