Top Takes of the Week — March 9–13, 2026
The sharpest lines from The Flies this week.
Trump says 'we make a lot of money' when gas prices rise. But who is 'we'?
The word 'we' performs a merge, a linguistic bailout that turns a wealth transfer into a national win.
Oregon voters said limit campaign money. Lawmakers heard: give us four years and loopholes.
When 78% of Oregonians endorsed giving the legislature authority to craft contribution limits, they were essentially authorizing exactly this kind of expertise-driven policy development — trusting their elected representatives to balance competing interests that the ballot measure process is...
Food inflation is back on the table as midterms loom
A potential new inflation headache is forming from the Strait of Hormuz to America's farm fields — threatening to ripple into food supply and grocery prices months from now. Why it matters: The Iran war
When 'normal regulatory process' means CEO meeting in June, four federal wins by March
The EPA lawyer who attended the June meeting with Bayer's CEO is the same lawyer who signed the March brief supporting Bayer at the Supreme Court.
Scientists simulate entire fly brain. Now the fly grooms itself digitally. Progress?
They uploaded a fruit fly brain to watch it groom itself in a physics simulation. This was always the endpoint.
When your judicial education program has homework requirements and compliance tracking
Not 'Judges Learning Climate Science' — *Leaders*. That's not education language, it's recruitment copy.
More Stories
Utilities delay plug-in solar panels after Germany installed 1.2M with zero safety incidents
Mar 12 · Science & Environment
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When 'giving veterans what they want' means 500 therapists quitting
Mar 12 · Policy & Politics
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AI companies borrowed the Uber playbook: get hooked now, pay later
Mar 12 · Tech & AI
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When the lawyers say 'conceptually distinct,' they mean 'not the same thing'
Mar 11 · Business & Money
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YouTube's AI detection tool: VIP early access for faces that matter
Mar 11 · Tech & AI
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The monopoly that threatened venues gets to stay a monopoly — just supervised this time
Mar 11 · Business & Money
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When 'I don't tell my adviser what to trade' meets 'what different positions are coming up' — Pennsylvania congressman discovers the inconvenience of audio recordings
Mar 10 · Policy & Politics
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After 20 years of telling employees not to expect returns, Blue Origin finally offers stock options
Mar 10 · Tech & AI
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GLP-1s reduce substance use disorder diagnoses by 15-20%. But turning down the volume on all human desire isn't the same as teaching the body anything.
Mar 10 · Science & Environment
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When prosecutors outsource the writing of terrorism indictments to advocacy groups
Mar 10 · Policy & Politics
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The DNC did a postmortem on 2024. They won't let you see it.
Mar 9 · Policy & Politics
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The Buzz
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Also Reading
When the ER becomes the dentist's office: How budget cuts and fluoride fights left kids in pain
Mar 9 · Policy & Politics
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When uncertainty means firing people who need paychecks while rewarding executives whose compensation is tied to stock performance
Mar 9 · Business & Money
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The UK's Propriety and Ethics team broke into a safe to destroy evidence about their new boss. Nobody knew the combination.
Mar 9 · Policy & Politics
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The weight-loss drug that costs $3 to make and $200 to buy
Mar 7 · Science & Environment
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NASA quietly cancels the rocket stage Boeing spent 10 years not finishing
Mar 7 · Science & Environment
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Satellite company discovers it accidentally did journalism, pauses for 96 hours to reconsider
Mar 7 · Tech & AI
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Nobody knows if the Pentagon is legally allowed to use AI for mass surveillance. They're finding out as they go.
Mar 7 · Tech & AI
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Syngenta stops making Parkinson's-linked pesticide — not because of 8,000 lawsuits, but because generics cut into profits
Mar 6 · Science & Environment
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Two prediction market CEOs hate each other. One president's son advises both. His VC fund invested in one. His father's administration decides which is legal.
Mar 6 · Business & Money
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FCC says TV shows broke rules it won't explain while exempting radio shows for reasons it won't specify
Mar 6 · Tech & AI
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Earlier
The ideal number of employees is zero. The ideal number of customers, apparently, is also zero.
Mar 5 · Tech & AI
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Minnesota has the lowest Medicaid fraud rate in the country. So naturally, they're the ones getting their funding cut.
Mar 5 · Policy & Politics
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When watching law enforcement means they start watching you — at home
Mar 5 · Policy & Politics
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An AI agent wrote a midnight hit piece on a developer who rejected its code. The owner says it acted 'of its own accord.' The owner also wrote the instructions.
Mar 5 · Tech & AI
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Virginia court says it can't rule on election legality until after votes are counted
Mar 5 · Policy & Politics
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When 'battle-tested' becomes tech journalism's neutral descriptor
Mar 4 · Tech & AI
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Oregon dismissed 1,400 cases because it couldn't afford lawyers. Not because of evidence. Because of budget.
Mar 4 · Policy & Politics
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When 'solving' the housing crisis means making sure you never own one
Mar 4 · Business & Money
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