J. Brian Houston

Student veterans, advisers say VA cuts are derailing their educations Already slow, the process of getting GI Bill benefits has gotten even slower since cuts to government staffing, veterans and their advocates say. Some student veterans are dropping out.

‘Complete nightmare’: Student veterans, advisers say VA cuts are derailing their educations hechingerreport.org/complete-nig...

Opinion | How Short-Term Thinking Is Destroying America

How short-term thinking is destroying America www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/o...

How AI, Healthcare, and Labubu Became the US Economy The Three Americas and aspirational displacement

This is an excellent article on the state of the US economy (and culture) kyla.substack.com/p/how-ai-hea...?

Opinion | Cigarettes and Our Quest for Embodied Pleasures

As I get older I think about all the physicality we miss these days a lot. Not just ciagarettes but casettes, newspapers, videotapes, etc. Many things are gained in our digital world but certainly some sort of rooting in the moment and environment is lost. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/o...

College isn't in the plans for many rural students despite stepped-up recruiting efforts America’s rural high school students are less likely to go to college than their urban and suburban peers.

College isn’t in the plans for many rural students despite stepped-up recruiting efforts apnews.com/article/rura...

A divide is widening in the US economy as the biggest banks and technology groups shrug off Donald Trump’s tariffs to post huge earnings gains while consumer-facing companies struggle with rising costs: https://on.ft.com/3U8jswb

Extreme Weather Survivors Share the Tools That Helped Them Get Through Disaster There’s no formula for recovering from a natural disaster, but some items help more than others. Nine disaster survivors share what got them through the storm.

No one is ever truly ready for a disaster, but the stories here — told in the survivors’ own words — show that any preparation is better than none.

The Secret to Reindustrializing America Is Not Tax Cuts and Tariffs. It’s Regulated Competition. | Washington Monthly From airlines to energy, America became a capitalist superpower in the 20th century based on careful market rules. It can do so again.

The Secret to Reindustrializing America Is Not Tax Cuts and Tariffs. It’s Regulated Competition. washingtonmonthly.com/2025/06/01/t...

ICE Took Half Their Work Force. What Do They Do Now?

Excellent reporting on immigration raids in Omaha. The impact on business and people. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/u...

Texas Lawmakers Largely Ignored Recommendations Aimed at Helping Rural Areas Like Kerr County Prepare for Flooding Texas lawmakers’ inaction on flood prevention often hits rural and economically disadvantaged communities the hardest, experts said.

NEW: Over the years, Texas legislators have declined to pass at least three bills that would create siren or alert systems, a tool that Kerr County officials tried to secure for years before the July 4 flooding.

By Lexi Churchill & @lomikriel.bsky.social, w/ @texastribune.org

Opinion | Trump Is Winning the Race to the Bottom

“One reason the U.S. economy had such a good Cold War was that the American university had an ever better one” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/o...

Some Texas Officials Didn’t Respond to Flood Alerts, Echoing the Tragedies of Hurricane Helene Weather warnings predicted devastation from both the Texas floods and Hurricane Helene. But in both disasters, people were left in harm’s way.

The National Weather Service sent urgent alerts about potentially life-threatening danger hours in advance of the flash floods, leaving time to try to evacuate those in harm’s way.

In Texas, some local officials did just that. But others did not.

Read @jenniferberryhawes.bsky.social's story:

We rewatched “The West Wing” recently and it was basically nonsensical what constituted a political crisis/scandal in the early 2000s.

A decade of missed opportunities: Texas couldn't find $1M for flood warning system near camps Over the last decade, an array of local and state agencies have missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to avert the type of disaster that swept away dozens of youth campers and others in Kerr County, Texas.

Over the last decade, an array of Texas state and local agencies missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to avert a disaster like the one that killed dozens of young campers and scores of others in Kerr County on the Fourth of July.

Yes. Was there too.

News 9 radar damaged in apparent attack by anti-government militia group Oklahoma City television station News 9 is reporting an anti-government militia group targeted its weather radar system.

An Oklahoma City TV station says it's weather radar was damaged by an individual and that an anti-government militia took responsibility, claiming that radar is used to control the weather. (via @kosuradio.bsky.social)

The Surprising Scientists Hit by Trump’s D.E.I. Cuts

Powerful story from Kate Zernike from the NYT

Covers the diversity of young scientists targeted by the anti-DEI BS. Definitely worth a read and a share.

[Gift link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/u...

As Texas Flood Raged, Camp Mystic Was Left to Fend for Itself www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/u...

Camp Mystic Cabins Stood in an ‘Extremely Hazardous’ Floodway (Gift Article) An analysis of flood maps shows that several buildings, including those where children were sleeping, were in known hazard zones. A $5 million expansion in 2019 did nothing to alleviate the problem.

Camp Mystic Cabins Stood in an ‘Extremely Hazardous’ Floodway www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Opinion | As the Texas Floodwaters Rose, One Indispensable Voice Was Silent

At NWS “the long-serving meteorologist in charge of ‘warning coordination’ — had recently taken an unplanned early retirement amid cuts pushed by (DOGE). He was not replaced.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/o...

The Texas Flash Flood Is a Preview of the Chaos to Come Climate change is making disasters more common, more deadly and far more costly, even as the federal government is running away from the policies that might begin to protect the nation.

NEW: The Texas Flash Flood Is a Preview of the Chaos to Come

Climate change is making disasters more common, more deadly and far more costly, even as the federal government is running away from the policies that might begin to protect the nation.

By @abrahm.bsky.social

In Flooded Texas, Questions About FEMA’s Role and Fate

In Flooded Texas, Questions About FEMA’s Role and Fate www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/c...

The Texas Floods and the Lives Lost at Camp Mystic There will be time to sort out whether the tragedy could have been averted, but the devastation is still unfolding, and it is already unfathomable.

“Blame, if properly placed, can spur action and save lives in the future. But blame is also a means for the pattern-searching, cause-and-effect-oriented parts of the human brain to seize control of an uncontrollable and unfathomable set of circumstances.” www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

‘It’s a nightmare.’ U.S. funding cuts threaten academic science jobs at all levels “There is a lot of pressure to essentially leave the country or not pursue research,” one Ph.D. student says

‘It’s a nightmare.’ U.S. funding cuts threaten academic science jobs at all levels www.science.org/content/arti...

Opinion | Why Americans Can’t Buy the World’s Best Electric Car

“We can coddle American companies with tariffs, but it won’t change the fact that we are losing badly.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/o...

America's Founders Valued Higher Education Political attacks are undermining the system of higher education that the Founders cherished.

America’s Founders Valued Higher Education time.com/7297240/high...

Opinion | Texas Hill Country Is Underwater, and America’s Emergency Lifeline Is Fraying

“With each passing day, the federal government is becoming less prepared to face the next big disaster. And as the risk grows, the ability to deliver on its vital disaster response mission is shrinking.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/o...

Officials Feared Flood Risk to Youth Camps but Rejected Warning System

Officials Feared Flood Risk to Youth Camps but Rejected Warning System www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/u...

Here's a timeline of the catastrophic Texas floods NPR has compiled a timeline of when local, state and federal officials posted warnings on social media as well as the timeline of events as presented by local officials.

NPR has compiled a timeline of when local, state and federal officials posted warnings on social media as well as the timeline of events as presented by local officials.

As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas

Key roles at NWS unfilled and lack of county disaster response in central Texas may have contributed to flood imact www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/u...