Morning Coffee (6/20/19)

FINALLY, New Hampshire: Gov. Sununu signs bill declaring Juneteenth a state holiday

‘Never again’ means nothing if Holocaust analogies are always off limits

Prominent Uighur Writer Dies at Chinese Internment Camp

E.P.A. Finalizes Its Plan to Replace Obama-Era Climate Rules

Good for him: A Pride Flag is flying over California’s Capitol. Gavin Newsom says it’s sending a message

Which 2020 Candidates Have The Most In Common … On Twitter?

Librarian of Congress Names Joy Harjo the Nation's 23rd Poet Laureate (THE FIRST NATIVE AMERICAN POET LAUREATE. Sigh.)

GOOD: Nxivm’s Keith Raniere Convicted in Trial Exposing Sex Cult’s Inner Workings

Whoa: Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje stepping away from competition

In the Bronze Age, Bagels Were Tiny

Morning Coffee (6/19/19)

U.N. Report Calls for Investigation of Saudi Crown Prince in Khashoggi Killing

Patrick Shanahan withdraws from consideration as Trump’s secretary of defense

SCOTUS Just Killed Off Virginia’s Racial Gerrymander. Its Decision Will Affect Elections for Years to Come.

Trump’s 2020 message: “Depraved” Democrats “want to destroy you”

Mitch McConnell, Too, Welcomes Russian Interference

Joe Biden's Approach to Governing Won't Work

Eight Women Accuse Hollywood Filmmaker Max Landis of Emotional and Sexual Abuse: ‘We’re Not People to Him’

ABOUT TIME: Carnegie medal goes to first writer of colour in its 83-year history

NOPE: Facebook Plans Global Financial System Based on Cryptocurrency

It looked like a simple domestic murder. Then police learned about the alien reptile cult.

Morning Coffee (6/11/19)

Justice Dept. Agrees to Turn Over Key Mueller Evidence to House

Chao created special path for McConnell’s favored projects

Oh no: Supreme Court will hear a major attack on anti-discrimination law

White House blocked intelligence agency’s written testimony calling climate change ‘possibly catastrophic’

Oh: Barr compares being Trump’s attorney general to D-Day invasion

Reporter’s Arrest Sets Off Widespread Protests in Russia

Julián Castro is the first presidential candidate to visit Flint

The New Socialism Panic Is the Right’s Trick to Justify Supporting Trump

Ugh: Daniel Barenboim’s Contract Is Extended Despite Bullying Accusations

I'm so glad he's finally being held accountable: Life as a Nxivm ‘Slave’: Branding, Whippings and Cold Showers

Morning Coffee (5/27/19)

Me elsewhere: TV news for the week.

European Election Results Show Growing Split Over Union’s Future

Inside the secret plot to turn senior Venezuelan officials against Maduro

The Guardrails Have Failed

TurboTax Uses A “Military Discount” to Trick Troops Into Paying to File Their Taxes

Pro-Choice Men: Here’s What You Need to Know

We asked the dads running for president what they do for child care

Harriet Tubman is already appearing on $20 bills whether Trump officials like it or not

FLDS and Seth Jeffs are now digging into Minnesota

'Phenomenal' 2,300-year-old bark shield found in Leicestershire

Fungus that draws gold from its surroundings discovered in Western Australia

Afternoon Tea (4/1/19)

The Indefatigable Spirit of Agnès Varda

This was very interesting: How Is Your Judaism Different From Your Parents'?

Once & Future Coauthors Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy on Writing with Your Soul Mate

Stepping Into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun

Her Father Murdered My Mother. Then, We Became Friends.

Afternoon Tea (1/8/19)

Vice doesn’t want to humanize Dick Cheney. So instead, it (maybe) demonizes America.

This made me want to read her books: Sally Rooney Gets in Your Head

The Soccer Politics of Morocco

Scientists Have 'Hacked Photosynthesis' In Search Of More Productive Crops

The Jonestown We Don't Know

Afternoon Tea (12/20/18)

American Women of the Far Right

The Real Sex Lives of Historical Queens

The Homer We Want

Translating Life in Iran

40 Years Later: How We Talk About Jonestown And Why It Matters

Morning Coffee (8/5/18)

Venezuelan President Targeted by Drone Attack, Officials Say

‘We are Q’: A deranged conspiracy cult leaps from the Internet to the crowd at Trump’s ‘MAGA’ tour

Trump Administration Unveils Its Plan to Relax Car Pollution Rules

Trump’s wildlife protection council is mostly trophy hunters and donors, lawsuit says

Kris Kobach’s Lucrative Trail of Courtroom Defeats

The sad last act of Rudy Giuliani

How The Modern Mainstream Media Would Cover The End of Slavery

Beyoncé Given Unprecedented Control Over Vogue’s September Issue Cover, Sources Say

Huh: John Green wants you to read tiny books

I am skeptical: MTV Preps ‘The Royal World,’ an Aristocratic Reality Show

Morning Coffee (7/28/18)

I'm away, so this was written in advance. Back to normal in a few days!

Cohen claims Trump knew in advance of 2016 Trump Tower meeting

The Trump GOP-Russia Alliance Is A Natural Alliance

Whistleblower Provides Emails That Show Stormy Daniels' Arrest Was Pre-Planned

Montana Governor Sues I.R.S., Warning of ‘Foreign Money’ in Elections

ISIS Is Shaking Britain’s Anti–Death Penalty Resolve

!!! New Evidence for a Hidden Lake on Mars

Wow: Ta-Nehisi Coates Is Leaving The Atlantic

Eee! Lin-Manuel Miranda, Michelle Williams, Sam Rockwell Team for Fosse-Verdon Series at FX

Seagram’s heiress arrested for role in controversial “sex cult”

Women, Stop Volunteering for Office Housework!

Afternoon Tea (7/25/18)

Oregon's Racist Past

How Finland Rebranded Itself as a Literary Country

On the Normandy Cheese Trail

Instagram Is Changing How We Define A Public Figure, Not Necessarily For The Better

Donegal's 'screamers': The story of 1970's Atlantis Commune

Weekly Rec: Cult Faves Podcast

I'm picky about podcasts, mostly because a. most of the time I'd rather just read about something and b. I have a hard time figuring out when I can fit them into my life regularly, so I'm always way behind. But! There's a new podcast that I've been actually keeping up with, so clearly that is HIGH PRAISE and you should give it a try. It's called Cult Faves and it is, indeed, about cults. It's hosted by YA writer Gwenda Bond and journalist Cher Martinetti; they pick a cult a week and one of them does the research and sort of walks the other through it, which is a nice format - conversational without being too meandering. (They do have some off-topic chat as well, mostly at the beginning of the episodes, about what's going on in their lives/the world; that kind of thing sometimes bugs me but their personalities and the balance work for me here.) The latest episode is about NXIVM (a.k.a. the Alison Mack sex cult) and I'm very excited to listen to it later this evening. Give it a try!

Afternoon Tea (5/22/18)

The CIA made a Magic: The Gathering-style card game for training agents, and we played it

Five Great Romance Reads for Mental Health Month

From the Fug Girls: What It’s Like to Spend 24 Hours in Windsor with 100,000 Fans Waiting for a Glimpse of Meghan Markle

Twenty-Four-Karat Chicken Wings and the Allure of Eating Gold

I'll ALWAYS read about cults: 'Wild Wild Country' Reminds Me of My Upbringing

Afternoon Tea (5/17/18)

Her Darkest Role: Actress Allison Mack's Descent From 'Smallville' to Sex Cult

I love this: New York cabbies have a surprisingly wholesome secret: group chats

There's some interesting culinary history here: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Wedding Cake Breaks with Centuries of Royal Tradition

The Big Sleep Test

The Mysterious Death of Henriette, Duchesse d’Orléans

Afternoon Tea (4/26/18)

This was fascinating: Who Picks Out the Playlists You Hear While Shopping?

And this story is WILD: Monsieur Bébé: The Brief, Strange Life of Raymond Radiguet

From Yoga Teacher to Cult Leader (Helena Blavatsky is involved, AS YOU'D EXPECT.)

1968: When the Communist Party Stopped a French Revolution

Lover, sorceress, demon: Circe's transformations

Morning Coffee (3/27/18)

Linda Brown, Who Was At Center Of Brown v. Board Of Education, Dies

The most radical part of Anderson Cooper’s interview with Stormy Daniels

Bernie's Russia Problem

In Seville, Burial of Civil War Commander Reopens Decades-Old Wounds

They arrested Keith Raniere!!

Oh, how sad: Remembering Philip Kerr

This is... not wildly surprising: Tinder's parent company sues Bumble over patents

!!! Gina Rodriguez To Star As Carmen Sandiego In Netflix Live-Action Feature

What Makes Some Hair Curly? Not Quite What Scientists Thought

Medieval Women With Artificially Deformed Skulls Migrated to Form Strategic Alliances

Afternoon Tea (12/11/17)

The First Photos of a Pearl Harbor Warship’s Watery Grave

The Politics of Myanmar's Changing Tea Culture

Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Greatest Natural Disaster in American History

The Unexpected Logic Behind Area Codes

The Curious Case of August Engelhardt, Leader of a Coconut-Obsessed Cult

Afternoon Tea (7/12/17)

This is really neat: 22 Ambassadors Recommend the One Book to Read Before Visiting Their Country

The Secret (Lunch) Lives of Remarkable Women

Silenced by the Rest Cure: A history of the psychological treatment for nervous women

This Unremembered US-France ‘Quasi War’ Shaped Early America’s Foreign Relations

How Literature Helped My Father and I Survive Life in a Cult

Morning Coffee (5/31/17)

Oh, Germany, WE'RE ALL PERPLEXED, I promise: Germans perplexed as Trump escalates feud

Congress expands Russia investigation to include Trump's personal attorney

Shocker: Trump administration plans to minimize civil rights efforts in agencies

James Mattis Is the Last Adult Standing in Trumpworld. That’s Unsettling for a Lot of Reasons.

Get ready for tears: The Place Where Letters To Hillary Clinton Go

The Republicans' War on Medicaid

11 Years Old, a Mom, and Pushed to Marry Her Rapist in Florida

This is WILD: The Knife of Aristotle Isn't Just a Fake "Fake News" Site—It's a Cult

Oh interesting: The Ringer, Bill Simmons’s Site, Will Switch Its Host to Vox Media

Two WWII Bombers Have Officially Been Found Off the Coast of Papua New Guinea

Morning Coffee (1/2/17)

ICYMI, I have a new email newsletter about what I'm reading. Sign up here!

Nixon's Vietnam Treachery

‘Putin’s Rasputin’ has lauded Donald Trump as a ‘sensation’

While we're at it: The Murder of Rasputin, 100 Years Later

Documentary filmmakers fear more legal challenges in Trump era

Sigh: Poll: Republicans less supportive of Obamacare repeal since election

I want to go there: Universal CityWalk's AMC Theater redesign: No concession lines, a total black box auditorium and a social lounge

Wow, this cult story: Thirty Years in Captivity

!! 'Mythical' Sea Blob Finally Spotted a Century After Its Discovery

Wow: BMW remotely locks a thief inside a car

It's not your grandma's Book of the Month Club

A leaf from Mozart's grave: curiosities from British Library Music Collections

Morning Coffee (1/1/17)

Happy New Year! Thanks so much for reading.

NEWS: If you'd like to hear more from me about the books I'm reading, come subscribe to my newsletter! It's basically a little diary I'm sending out a few times a week about reading and life.

How to survive 2017: believe in protest, barricade your uterus and tax yourself

Of course they did: Mar-a-Lago sold tickets to New Year’s Eve party with Trump

Oh yay, the American Girl doll of the year is an African-American girl named Gabriela, the first non-white Girl of the Year in several years.

How Russians Pay to Play in Other Countries

I think this gets a lot right about the discussion around Milo Yiannopolous's book deal.

A Majority Agreed She Was Raped by a Stanford Football Player. That Wasn’t Enough.

The most dangerous thing about fake news sites is not what they say, but how they say it

I contributed to this roundup of the Best Female Performances on TV in 2016

What Happened To This Cult Leader's Lost Treasure?

Huh: Scottish spirits are soaring (but it’s gin, not whisky)

I'm going to join the Book Riot 2017 Read Harder Challenge. Join me!