Good morning. Showers today with a high around 68. More rain is likely into the evening, with an overnight low near 64. The Nationals are scheduled to host the Braves again this afternoon. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
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I can’t stop listening to:
Ron Sexsmith, “Fallen.” I was lucky to discover Ron Sexsmith via k.d. lang‘s cover of this enchanting song on “Hymns of the 49th Parallel,” her thundering salute to Canadian songwriting. Sexsmith, a True North legend himself, plays Jammin Java tonight with Andy Hawk.
Take Washingtonian Today with you! I’ve made a playlist on Spotify and on Apple Music of my daily music recommendations this year.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
That didn’t AG well: US Attorney General Pam Bondi faced blowback from the right yesterday after she announced the Department of Justice would “‘absolutely target’ protesters engaging in ‘hate speech,'” an example of which she considered an Office Depot employee who declined to print posters for a vigil to honor slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Conservatives who’d fought for bakers and florists, for instance, to have the right to refuse service to gay people getting married were kind of freaked out by the new policy. A “senior Justice Department Official” walked back her remarks. (NYT) Beyond their insult to the First Amendment and Supreme Court precedent, Bondi’s comments even “ran afoul of Kirk’s own commentary.” (CNN) Ouch: “Every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself, that law school failed,” Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said yesterday. (Politico)
New era of intellectual consistency ends quickly: President Trump “has begun a major escalation in his long-running efforts to stifle political opposition in the United States.” (NYT) GOP lawmakers vowed to cancel people who criticized Kirk after his death, including US Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. (Washington Post) The Department of Justice quietly deleted a report “showing that white supremacist and far-right violence ‘continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism” in the United States.'” (404 Media) With the exception of X owner Elon Musk, social media companies have tried to lie low on this one. (NYT) In fact, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that Musk’s suit against Media Matters for America, which he claims disparaged X by reporting “the site had placed ads for major brands next to extremist content,” can continue in Texas. (Reuters)
Meanwhile, in actual post-Kirk shooting developments: Utah prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for Tyler Robinson, who is accused of shooting Kirk. (Reuters) A leak of messages attributed to Robinson “bears little resemblance to the media version” of his motives. (Ken Klippenstein) George Zinn, who initially claimed he was Kirk’s assassin, “has been charged with 4 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor after FBI agents examined his phone and found images of underage girls” on the device. (TMZ)
Talkin’ Kash: FBI Director Kash Patel lashed out at US Senator Adam Schiff of California during an oversight hearing yesterday when Schiff asked him whether he thought the “American people were ‘stupid’ enough to believe his answer that the Bureau of Prisons independently made the decision” to move convicted sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell to a lower security prison after she claimed she never saw Trump “in any inappropriate setting” with Epstein. Patel called Schiff a “buffoon,” and committee chair Chuck Grassley “pounded his gavel repeatedly, saying, ‘Both of you be quiet.’” (Politico) Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana pressed Patel to release more documents in the Epstein matter, saying, “The issue’s not gonna go away.” Patel is due back on the Hill today. (Politico) In other FBI news: Agents are searching for a man they say rammed a gate at the agency’s Pittsburgh Field Office. (CBS News)
Shutdown countdown: Democrats in Congress won’t go for a GOP plan for a stopgap measure to fund the government past the end of this month. (NYT) Meanwhile: GOP members of the House “voted in near lockstep Tuesday to again cede congressional power over tariffs to President Donald Trump.” (Politico)
Administration perambulation: South Korea “will look into whether human rights violations were committed against the 317 South Koreans who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Georgia this month.” Many Koreans are outraged by the treatment the detained people described. (NYT) US and Chinese officials are moving toward allowing Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake to control TikTok. Trump extended the pause on a ban of TikTok until December. (WSJ) Erika McEntarfer, the former Bureau of Labor Statistics chief who Trump fired after a dismal job report, “pointed to what she called ‘not a good list’ of other countries where statisticians have been pushed out over disappointing statistics.” (WSJ) Four people were arrested in the UK after they projected images of Trump with Epstein onto Windsor Castle as the President arrived in Britain yesterday. (NBC News)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Venerable Georgetown University hangout the Tombs instituted a $5 cover charge on weekend nights, but it reversed course after students organized a boycott.
• On Friday, Ovi’s Great Crunch, a bran flake cereal that celebrates Alex Ovechkin, will debut at Giant Food. (The bran was his idea.)
• Here’s where you can celebrate Taylor Swift‘s new LP when it’s released on October 3, a date previously best known as the day after Sting‘s birthday.
• It’s Hot List o’clock! Each month our critics list the new eateries they’re particularly excited about. Here’s the new installment.
• These eight fitness trackers may help you with sleep, relaxation, or getting stronger.
Local news links:
• The DC Council will return from recess today. Here’s a good overview from Martin Austermuhle of what they’ll be dealing with. (The 51st) One of the first orders of business will be finishing up the RFK deal. (WAMU)
• The House passed crime bills aimed at DC’s criminal code yesterday. (NYT) The chamber has been curiously silent, however, on whether it will fix the $1 billion hole it blew in DC’s budget earlier this year. (WTOP)
• Former US Naval Academy midshipman Jackson Fleming was charged with making an online threat against the school that led to a lockdown and the mistaken shooting of another midshipman last week. (NBC4 Washington)
• DC cops shot and killed a man in Palisades last night. They said he “was charging at them wielding knives.” (WTOP)
• Dulles is planning a VIP facility, which, like airport luggage stores, Washingtonian Today will probably never see the inside of! (WBJ)
• Chipotle would like Rexmark, Union Station’s former landlord, to return the $443,361.13 the fast-casual chain mistakenly paid it in rent. (WBJ)
Wednesday’s event picks:
• Take the kids (or yourself, no judgment here) to see “The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show” at Imagination Stage.
• The theme for this month’s NMWA Nights event is radical feminism.
• Films on the Green is scheduled to show “Amélie” outdoors between the National Gallery of Art West Building and the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Check les temps before you allez là-bas!
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Know a local hero? Nominate them to join our next class of Washingtonians of the Year. We’re looking for anyone who makes our area a better place. Nominations are due by September 30.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
