Good morning. Sunny with a high of 51 today and a low of 30 overnight. There’s a chance of conversational snow Saturday. The Wizards host Cleveland tonight and Atlanta Saturday, and the Caps are at home against Utah on Sunday. Oh, and there’s a football game Sunday. Moving on, Jayden Daniels was named the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year last night—pretty good first year on the job! Alex Ovechkin scored against Philadelphia last night and is now 16 goals away from breaking The Record. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address at the bottom of this post.
I can’t stop listening to:
Ofege, “It’s Not Easy.” This Nigerian band’s 1973 debut LP, “Try and Love,” is a gorgeous swirl of psychedelia, melody, and teen spirit, and it’s a very nice document to play on a Sunday morning. The sentiment behind this song feels apt for the moment around DC right now—maybe chase it with “This Year” by the Mountain Goats? We are going to make it.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Get the heck out of DOGE: Marko Elez, an Elon Musk lieutenant, resigned yesterday after racist posts surfaced. (WSJ)
Fork off: A federal judge paused the deadline for the Trump/Musk buyout offer. (Washington Post)
Meanwhile: The administration will lay off most of USAID’s 10,000 workers. (NYT) EPA laid off 168 people who worked on environmental justice efforts. (Politico) The administration plans to lay off thousands of workers at HHS. (WSJ)
The courts: A judge in Seattle has issued another injunction against Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order. (NYT) Labor unions sue over Trump’s dismantling of USAID. (CNN) State AGs (or should that be AsG?) plan to sue over DOGE’s access to Treasury’s payment systems. (NYT)
Congress wants to pick up your garbage now? Mike Lee and Andy Ogles introduced a bill to repeal DC Home Rule. (Mike Lee) Rude: That’s a day after DC announced new ““We Demand Statehood” tags (DC DMV) Flashback to November 7: “Could Trump’s Second Term Spell the End of Home Rule in DC?” (Washingtonian)
People in the news: Trump has moved to fire Ellen Weintraub from the FEC, but she says he can’t. (NYT) Caroline Pham, the acting chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, removed someone who was investigating her. (Bloomberg) The Senate confirmed Russell Vought. (NYT)
Cancel culture: The conspiracy theory about Politico (NYT) preceded an order for all government agencies to end their subscriptions to media products. (Axios)
One great read, by Sylvie McNamara
Chris Hayes, “The Sirens’ Call”
In Chris Hayes’s new book, “The Sirens’ Call,” he writes that a defining aspect of contemporary existence is “a feeling that our very interior life, the direction of our thoughts, is being taken against our will.” That’s basically because of tech companies, whose whole economic model is resource extraction—like an energy company pulls oil from the ground, tech companies extract our attention. But attention, Hayes writes, is not merely a commodity; it’s the substance of human life. It’s literally the medium of consciousness. Our whole existence consists of a series of things we’ve paid attention to, either because we’ve chosen to attend to them, or because our attention has been irresistibly compelled. That, he says, is why tech saturation feels so bad. Tech exists to rip our attention from the things we value (our families and friends, our hobbies and passions) toward things that are profitable (political outrage, salacious misinformation, videos of strangers unboxing things they’ve bought). And wouldn’t we prefer to spend our attention—and therefore our lives—on things that are nourishing, that make us feel like ourselves? More from Sylvie.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
A Capitol Hill rowhouse listed at $700K is one of the open houses we recommend this weekend.
DC-area constituents are burning up their representatives’ phone lines to convey worries about Trump and Musk.
“I want UDC to be the type of institution that any District resident would at least consider”: An interview with Maurice Edington, the university’s president.
DC’s Restaurant Week has officially ended. Now it’s time to check out other restaurant weeks nearby.
A detective and a chef for the Commanders got married. And here’s another lovely wedding with a great-looking menu!
Spoon emojis have become a way to say “fork you” to Trump and Musk.
Local news links:
• The FAA will reduce the number of flights that come into National Airport. (Washington Post)
• Why wasn’t Arlington County Fire Department’s water rescue team involved in rescue efforts after last week’s crash? (ARLnow)
• Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health will open on the St. Elizabeths East campus April 15, the same day United Medical Center is scheduled to close. (Washington Post)
• CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield has secured naming rights to the Entertainment & Sports Arena, also on the campus. (WBJ)
• Bad news for my fellow dessert fans: Pastry chefs are harder and harder to find. (WCP)
• “[T]here’s never been a graffiti beef like this before”: A dispute between two DC artists could head to court. (Washington Post)
• Local celebrity spotted. (PoPville)
Weekend event picks, by Briana Thomas:
• The Washington Wizards’ Friday Night Concert Series returns with headliners Backyard Band and Junkyard Band, and rapper T.I.
• Jabari Jefferson’s new Black history exhibition “Sacred Spaces,” a tribute to local African American historic figures Harriet Tubman and Benjamin Banneker, opens in Annapolis.
• Take in a collection of DC-themed oil paintings, tapestry, and more at the “The District 51 Art Show” exhibit at Touchstone Gallery.
• Ring in the Lunar New Year with bites from local food trucks, and live cultural performances at Twin Lakes Golf Course (Sat, free, Fairfax).
• Kids can watch a Josephine Baker-inspired performance Saturday with Culture Queen.
More event picks here. And don’t miss Briana’s recommendations for Valentine’s Day events. It’s in one week!
Did you miss our 100 Very Best Restaurants List? It’s here. If you love your workplace, now’s your chance to nominate it for Washingtonian’s next Great Places to Work contest. Register here to get the ball rolling.
