News Reporter

Tuesday, 7 July 2026

Must-see America 250 content!

Friend,

I'm thrilled to announce a must-see mini-documentary made in the patriotic spirit of America 250.

It’s called Sister, Soldier, Surgeon. And it features the kind of hero America desperately needs in these days when the virtue of patriotism is in short supply.

Based on a book by best-selling author Leisa Marie Carzon, this roughly 15-minute documentary tells the extraordinary story of Sr. Deirdre Byrne—religious sister, U.S. Army Colonel, and surgeon.

Sister, Soldier, Surgeon is available now, on our Zeale digital platform.

Sister Deirdre ministered at Ground Zero on September 11. She deployed to Afghanistan as a combat surgeon during Operation Enduring Freedom. She helped rescue civilians hiding from the Taliban. She regularly travels to war-torn Sudan to provide lifesaving medical care to inhabitants under siege and serves the poor worldwide.

She also helps women seeking to reverse their abortion decision.

Sister Deirdre’s story of service on the battlefield, in the E.R., and on the front lines of the pro-life movement is a clarion call to holiness that has led to countless conversions.

Join us in celebrating the life of a courageous sister who is a role model for Americans, Catholics, women, and girls nationwide.

CatholicVote is proud to have played a role in raising the funding for Sister, Soldier, Surgeon which makes the arrival of today’s release on Zeale all the more exciting for us.

Go to Zeale right now and treat yourself to the most inspiring quarter-hour anywhere in the digital space.

Once you’ve finished enjoying Sister, Soldier, Surgeon please share it with others.

“Sister Dede” as we are honored to call her, is a dear friend of CatholicVote—a friend whose story we believe everyone deserves to know.

Go forward bravely,

Kelsey Reinhardt

President & CEO

CatholicVote

Climate Coach: How to stop ChatGPT from ruining how you think

July 4th sale: Read for $20 Billed as $20 for the first year, then $140/year. Pricing subject to change. Cancel anytime. →

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By Michael J. Coren

(Emma Kumer)

Welcome. This week, a feverish Pacific Ocean and stoves with batteries. But first, is ChatGPT ruining how you think?

AI may be making our work better, but there’s also new evidence it’s making our thinking worse.

When AI tools are accurate — and they’re getting better every month — the gains can be profound. The costs are less obvious but could be just as real: a steady erosion of our natural intelligence.

Imagine hiring a personal trainer. Your goal is to get stronger. But when you go to the gym, you tell your personal trainer to lift the weights for you.

The next hour is a blur of motion as “you,” via your hired muscle, lift more than ever before in your life. Each time you call out another set, the trainer lifts hundreds of pounds with perfect form. Having never broken a sweat, you inscribe your name on the building’s wall of fame.

That, in a sense, is what many do with AI when they direct it to solve the algebra equation, draft the client memo or write the code, achieving the task at hand, but eroding their own ability to accomplish it.

If all you care about is outputs — weight lifted or code shipped — the results can be virtually indistinguishable from having done the work yourself. But if you care about becoming a stronger, more skilled, and more capable person, this kind of AI assistance can leave you empty handed.

Can you use AI in the mental gym without losing cognitive muscle?

The answer boils down to deciding what work we want to do and what we’re willing to offload to machines. A few recent studies point the way toward preserving what makes us human amid the rise of artificial intelligence.

Is AI on your mind? Write me at climatecoach@washpost.com. I read all your emails.

Click here to read the column

Field Sample

A cross-border mission successfully rescued Feliks the eagle. In a plot out of an action movie, Feliks the eastern imperial eagle was returned to his home in Serbia after flying to Syria and being kidnapped and sold across borders in the Middle East.

Watch Feliks‘ return.

Feliks, an Eastern imperial eagle which flew from Serbia across North Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and Syria, where he fell victim to traffickers, looks out from a cage at Palic Zoo after returning in Serbia, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Learning Curve

Most Americans have air conditioning. But about 3 million households lack a cooling system, according to the Post’s analysis of data from the National Weather Service and the Census Bureau.

“Heat risk, it’s not evenly distributed,” said Ali Abazeed, Detroit’s chief public health officer.

Read more about some of the cities that were most at risk during this past week’s heat dome.

Temperatures reached the triple digits as the nation celebrated its 250th birthday.

The honor guard sweats as he guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on the first day of a major heat wave on July 01 in Arlington, VA (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)

The Post shared the images that captured the heat. See how Americans weathered a sweltering heat dome on America’s sesquicentennial.

On the Climate Front

From The Post:

D.C. was forecast to be hotter than 99 percent of the world

Philadelphia turned a deadly heat wave into protections for millions

Federal firefighters describe burnout, staff cuts and fatalies

The Pacific Ocean’s fever is an ominous sign

From elsewhere:

This heat wave is just a test (Heatmap)

The U.S. is kicking out Chinese firms, but keeping their tech (Economist)

Trump pardons violators of the Clean Air Act (New York Times)

Stoves are turning into batteries (Canary Media)

After writing about an all-natural way to fix the Reflecting Pool, Dawn of Millington, Maryland wrote that her neighborhood is also home to a Delmarva bay. These small shallow, freshwater wetlands are unique to the Delmarva Peninsula on Maryland’s Eastern Shore — and home to a remarkable array of rare and endangered species.

“Ours is small, but we have used it only to enjoy the songs of Peepers and Bullfrogs,” she wrote. “It’s been dry many times, but supports wildlife in every season, wet or dry.”

Delmarva Bays (Virginia Tech)

Send me your photos and stories at climatecoach@washpost.com

See you next Tuesday,

Michael Coren, Climate Coach

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