Lawrence Lease
Bio
Alaska born and bred, Washington DC is my home. I'm also a freelance writer. Love politics and history.
Stories (252)
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Is Al-Sharaa’s Syria A Success?
Electricity isn’t something most of us think about. We flip a switch, the lights come on, and that’s that. But in Syria—where infrastructure has spent more than a decade in ruins—48 hours of uninterrupted electricity can feel like a revelation.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in The Swamp
The Night the Texans Ended the Chiefs Dynasty
The NFL loves chaos, and Week Whatever-This-Is delivered it in buckets. Across the league, standings flipped upside down like a bad parlay. The Rams jumped back to the top of the NFC. The Bears plummeted from the one seed all the way to seven. And in Arrowhead—home of nine straight AFC West titles—the Kansas City Chiefs walked straight into a wall built by the Houston Texans. It wasn’t subtle, it wasn’t pretty, and it absolutely mattered.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in Cleats
Netflix is Wrong, Going to the Movies is Not an Outdated Experience
Hollywood woke up Friday morning to the kind of news that makes agents skip breakfast, studio executives break into cold sweats, and industry group chats explode in all caps. After a bidding war that felt like a live-action crossover of Succession and Shark Tank, Netflix officially entered exclusive negotiations to purchase Warner Bros. for just under $83 billion. Eighty-three. Billion. Dollars. Even for an industry built on massive egos and even bigger budgets, that number rattled the room.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in Geeks
WWE Returns That MUST Happen In 2026
When wrestling fans talk about dream returns, we tend to float the obvious names — the icons, the disruptors, the nostalgia megastars who can blow the roof off an arena with one familiar guitar riff or a single raised eyebrow. But 2026 is shaping up to be a different kind of crossroads for WWE, one where strategic returns could rebuild divisions, revive midcard chaos, and give the product a much-needed jolt of the unpredictable. And look, I’m not shy about this: some departures over the last few years stung. They left holes on the roster that never quite got patched over, vibes that no one else replicated, momentum that evaporated the second those talents walked through the exit doors.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in Geeks
What NXT Stars Will Be on John Cena’s Farewell Show?
Every once in a while, pro wrestling delivers one of those rare moments where the outcome on paper completely contradicts the impact in reality. This past week at Madison Square Garden was exactly that kind of moment for Je’Von Evans. Despite losing matches on both Monday and Tuesday, he walked away looking more polished, more legitimate, and more obviously destined for superstardom than many wrestlers do after months of televised victories. It was a week built not on triumphs, but on transformation, and Je’Von Evans emerged from it as one of the most talked-about names in the industry.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in Geeks
What Happens to Child Abusers in Prison?
Some crimes are so disturbing that society can hardly speak about them without recoiling. People who harm children, the elderly, or the disabled occupy a level of infamy that sets them apart even from murderers and gang leaders. In the outside world, they’re viewed with disgust. Inside prison, that disgust transforms into something far more dangerous. What many people don’t realize is that stepping into a correctional facility doesn’t offer these offenders a clean slate or anonymity. Instead, it places them at the very bottom of a rigid social order that thrives on dominance, violence, and punishment administered from within.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in Criminal
North Korea has Infiltrated the Tech Sector.
North Korea, long known as the most sanctioned and isolated regime on Earth, has somehow managed to insert its workers into hundreds of American companies. These aren’t operatives sneaking across borders or Cold War sleeper agents hiding behind suburban picket fences. They’re remote developers who appear in Zoom meetings, clock in from supposedly legitimate addresses in Japan or South Korea or Seattle, write code that passes muster, and collect paychecks like any ordinary employee. They’ve landed roles in AI labs, fintech startups, media organizations, blockchain firms, and even defense contractors—the exact spaces most countries try desperately to secure from foreign interference.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in The Swamp
Europe Needs to Get its Shit Together. NOW
If you spent any time in left-leaning American spaces just before Thanksgiving, you probably noticed the frustration simmering beneath the surface. On November 10th, a group of Senate Democrats unexpectedly broke ranks, joined Republicans, and voted to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. They gained nothing. They protected nothing. They surrendered after weeks of chest-thumping about holding firm. For Americans on the left, it felt like their leaders had folded a winning hand without even looking at the cards.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in History
Forged in Fire: The Untold Story Behind China’s Most Powerful Leader
If you want to understand the world we’re stepping into, you have to understand Xi Jinping. That realization hit me years ago—quietly at first, and then with the force of a geopolitical earthquake. Every headline, every trade dispute, every military exercise in the Taiwan Strait, every shift in global alliances… somehow, it all traced back to a single man who, for most of his life, existed in the shadows.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in BookClub
How Gen Z Killed Chipotle: The Rise, Glory, and Slow Fade of America’s Fast-Casual King
For a long stretch of the late 1990s and early 2000s, Chipotle wasn’t just popular. It dominated. The chain that once redefined fast food with massive burritos, customizable bowls, and an aura of coolness practically owned the lunch crowd. College students swore by it. Young professionals stood in lines that wrapped out the door. Even people who normally couldn’t care less about fast food had an opinion on what protein belonged in a proper burrito bowl.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in FYI
The Cracks in the Coalition: Inside the Unraveling of Trump’s Once-Unstoppable Alliance
When Donald Trump descended that now-legendary golden escalator inside Trump Tower on June 16th, 2015, he launched what most pundits assumed would be a doomed vanity campaign. What followed, of course, was anything but. Trump assembled one of the most unusual political coalitions in modern American history: Rust Belt factory workers and Wall Street donors, rural evangelicals and suburban business owners, border hawks and free-market Republicans. Groups that historically regarded each other with suspicion—or outright hostility—somehow found themselves voting in the same direction.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in The Swamp
“Kill Everybody”: The Double-Tap Scandal Rocking Washington—and Why the World Is Paying Attention
For a story involving two words, the political fallout has been seismic. According to a bombshell Washington Post investigation, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allegedly issued a verbal command on September 2nd that may go down as the most consequential utterance of his career—and perhaps the most dangerous for America’s global standing.
By Lawrence Leaseabout a month ago in The Swamp
