Holding On

(Note: When I wrote the following essay a year ago, it was meant as a wakeup call. A year later, the danger remains, but resistance to Trump is growing. I am hopeful that in the end, democracy will prevail.)

There won’t be a press conference announcing that democracy has ended in America and there won’t be tanks rolling through the streets or foreign invaders telling us to shelter in place over loudspeakers.

It won’t be that dramatic when our democracy slips away.

And in fact it’s already doing so, week by week under the Trump regime. As Steven Levitsky, Lucan Way and Daniel Ziblatt explain in a guest essay in The New York Times: “today’s autocrats convert public institutions into political weapons, using law enforcement, tax and regulatory agencies to punish opponents and bully the media and civil society onto the sidelines.”

The authors point out that a fundamental right in a democracy is the right to oppose the government.

“Under authoritarianism, by contrast, opposition comes with a price. Citizens and organizations that run afoul of the government become targets of a range of punitive measures: Politicians may be investigated and prosecuted on baseless or petty charges, media outlets may be hit with frivolous defamation suits or adverse regulatory rulings, businesses may face tax audits or be denied critical contracts or licenses, universities and other civic institutions may lose essential funding or tax-exempt status, and journalists, activists and other critics may be harassed, threatened or physically attacked by government supporters.”

The authors go on to document that all of these things are happening under the Trump administration.

“The administration’s authoritarian offensive has had a clear impact. It has changed how Americans behave, forcing them to think twice about engaging in what should be constitutionally protected opposition. Consequently, many of the politicians and societal organizations that should serve as watchdogs and checks on the executive are silencing themselves or retreating to the sidelines.”

The authors continue: 

“So far, American society’s response to this authoritarian offensive has been underwhelming — alarmingly so….The acquiescence of our most prominent civic leaders sends a profoundly demoralizing message to society. It tells Americans that democracy is not worth defending — or that resistance is futile. If America’s most privileged individuals and organizations are unwilling or unable to defend democracy, what are ordinary citizens supposed to do?”

But the authors end on a hopeful note.

“There are signs of an awakening. Harvard has refused to acquiesce to administration demands that would undermine academic freedom, Microsoft dropped a law firm that settled with the administration and hired one that defied it, and a new law firm based in Washington, D.C., announced plans to represent those wrongfully targeted by the government. When the most influential members of civil society fight back, it provides political cover for others. It also galvanizes ordinary citizens to join the fight.”

Finally, there is this:

“America’s slide into authoritarianism is reversible. But no one has ever defeated autocracy from the sidelines.”

HEADLINES:

• U.S. attempt to open Strait of Hormuz tests fragile Iran war ceasefire (NPR)

• Iran opened fire on US warships; 6 small boats destroyed in retaliation: Centcom (The Hill)

• What to know as the US tries to open the Strait of Hormuz and a ceasefire wavers (AP)

• Hezbollah has paid a heavy price for going to war with Israel on March 2: Israel has occupied a chunk of southern Lebanon, displaced hundreds of thousands of its Shi’ite Muslim constituents and killed as many as several thousand of its fighters. (Reuters)

• Trump Faces the Complicated Reality of a Costly, Unpopular War in Iran (NYT)

• Supreme Court temporarily restores ability to receive abortion drug mifepristone by mail (CNN)

• Pentagon Firings Have Nothing to Do With ‘Culture’ (Bulwark)

• China thinks America is declining but still uniquely dangerous (Economist)

• Unsettled Kremlin tightens security around Putin amid assassinations and coup fears, intel report says (CNN)

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party was on ‌course to wintwo of four crucial state elections, expanding its influence and weakening its key rival half-way into his third term in office. (Reuters)

• What is, and isn’t, worrying about 100% debt to GDP (Axios)

• Meta’s public nuisance case in New Mexico has billion-dollar consequences (CNBC)

• Internal ICE records reveal widespread use of force in detention centers (WP)

• Jerome Powell Just Threw President Donald Trump Under the Bus One Last Time Before His Term as Fed Chair Ends (Motley Fool)

• Redistricting war accelerates winner-take-all political combat that’s straining American democracy (AP)

• Trump’s influence in Republican primary elections is about to get stress-tested. A series of primaries in early May across deep-red territory in Indiana, Kentucky and Louisiana all feature entrenched GOP officials fighting back against Trump-backed challengers, and early signs indicate Trump’s preferred candidates may not always have the upper hand. The results of the primaries could provide a stark indication of whether the president’s legendary sway over the GOP is fading as his popularity sinks. [HuffPost]

• Mass shooting at Arcadia Lake in Oklahoma sends at least 23 to hospital; suspect search continues (ABC)

• The End of Cigarettes Is Coming (Atlantic)

• ‘Point of no return’: New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level, study finds (Guardian)

• The quest to save these Outer Banks homes from falling into the sea (WP)

• Mexico City is sinking so quickly, it can be seen from space (AP)

• Astronomers believe they've detected an atmosphere around a tiny, icy world beyond Pluto (AP)

• Musk wanted to settle with OpenAI just days before their courtroom showdown, new filing says (CNN)

• White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released (NYT)

• Foreign Exchange Student Doesn’t Realize He’s Being Bullied (Onion)

 

A Writer's "Fingerprint"

Those of us working at sites like HotWired and Salon in the early days of the web realized that we were sitting atop a technology that would profoundly change virtually everything about society.

With my background in investigative reporting, I was curious about how the process of solving mysteries might be affected by the arrival of massive searchable databases of networked information. One case that caught my attention was that of the Unabomber, who’d been carrying on his one-man reign of terror since 1978, eluding a massive FBI manhunt in the process.

So I discussed with colleagues whether the Unabomber’s manifesto published by the Washington Post might somehow be analyzed for tell-tale patterns that could uncover his identify.

The engineers I consulted said that the answer was “probably yes” in the future, but “not quite yet.” As it turned out, before this technology evolved, the brother of the man who wrote the manifesto recognized certain tell-tale word choices himself and alerted the FBI.

And that is how Theodore Kaczynski was finally identified and caught. A good  summary of the case is recounted in The Conversation.

Over the decades since Kaczynski’s arrest, the field of forensic linguistics has become far more developed, and now includes a number of tools to uncover plagiarism, strip away anonymity and solve crimes based on notes, letters and manifestoes.

And AI would seem to be an especially useful tool for stripping away anonymity from writing.

The basic concept here is that people’s writing voices can be as unique an identifier as their fingerprints. From the perspective of one who teaches writing, this is critical because many students start from more of a place of standardization, largely due to the way they learned to write in grade school.

Some were taught essentially to muffle their own voices.

My job, later on the down the road when they finally got to me, was to draw out their individuality, helping them diversify their word choices and rediscover their own unique style.

(Tomato Plant Mystery Update: We’ve installed a camera to try and identify the thief after a third plant disappeared.)

HEADLINES:

• Trump says US will start escorting ships through Strait of Hormuz (CNN)

• Trump’s war of words with Friedrich Merz takes toll on US-German relationship (The Hill)

• Top Republicans warn Trump’s Germany troop withdrawals send wrong message to Putin (NBC)

• The U.S. Military Drawdown in Europe Has Only Just Begun (Time)

• OPEC+ countries agree modest rise in production as Iran retains chokehold on key Strait of Hormuz (AP)

• White House running out of options to contain gas price backlash (WP)

• Abortion Providers Forced to Adapt After Court Blocks Pill Access by Mail (NYT)

• America got rich and got sad. A top economist says 2020 broke something that hasn’t healed (Fortune)

• Rudy Giuliani Is in ‘Critical Condition’ in Florida Hospital (NYT)

• How a weaker dollar is quietly making life more expensive (AP)

• What Does Tucker Carlson Really Believe? I Went to Maine to Find Out.(NYT)

• Publish and Perish (Slate)

• How A.I. Is Transforming China’s Entertainment Industry (NYT)

• The Lore of Sam Altman Is Being Tested Like Never Before (WSJ)

• Why the A.I. Job Apocalypse (Probably) Won’t Happen (NYT)

• Carlos Alcaraz Withdraws From French Open Over Career-Threatening Haircut (Onion)

 

Good Girls Making Trouble

When I was first breaking into journalism in the ‘60s, newsrooms were completely dominated by men. Women were confined to subservient roles. 

Then came my generation. As Baby Boomers, many of us were active in the antiwar and civil rights movements, and soon every other form of inequity came into focus for us -- especially misogyny and homophobia.

In the media industry, women started demanding equal opportunities.

One series that examines this is “Good Girls Revolt,” the 2016 Amazon production based on Lynn Povich’s 2013 book of the same name, thinly fictionalizing the events that led women employees to challenge the existing order at Newsweekmagazine.

And according to this version, there was at least as much “sex, drugs and rock n roll” at Newsweek as at Rolling Stone.

Early in the Amazon series and once later on, a character playing Nora Ephron makes an appearance -- she is accurately portrayed as having quit Newsweek because the magazine used her work but didn’t give her a byline, which was emblematic of how women were treated at the time.

Of course, Ephron simply went on to become a not only a successful writer, most famously at Esquire, but a screenwriter/producer responsible for films like “Sleepless in Seattle”, “Silkwood”, “When Harry Met Sally”, “Julie and Julia”, “You’ve Got Mail”, and many others.

It’s difficult to think of a journalist-screenwriter with a better resume during her lifetime; she died in 2012 at age 71.

Overall, the “Good Girls” series focuses on a group of women trying to make it at Newsweek, but the men in supporting roles represent the mixed feelings my generation of male journalists had as we saw our female colleagues battle for their rights. Our bosses were all men who expected us, not the women, to eventually take their places, but some of us sided with our female colleagues instead.

I liked the series; it brought back a lot of memories. 

And back in the real world, the battle for gender equality in journalism was hardly resolved by that one lawsuit, but today women are well represented in all kinds of journalism, although pay and power disparities persist.

(Tomato Plant Mystery Update: A second tomato plant has been stolen after nightfall. I suspect a raccoon may be the thief.)

HEADLINES:

• Germany says US troop withdrawal ‘foreseeable’ as Nato seeks clarification (BBC)

• How Germany May Have Misjudged Trump’s Anger on Iran (NYT)

• Top Republicans express concern over withdrawal of US troops from Germany – as it happened (Guardian)

• Trump’s disapproval rating reaches new high, Post-ABC-Ipsos poll finds (WP)

• What’s Iran’s 14-point proposal to end the war? And will Trump accept it? (Al Jazeera)

• GOP war powers resolution argument triggers a furor between Trump, lawmakers over Iran (The Hill)

• White House says the Iran war is ‘terminated’ (Reuters)

• For a Time, the U.S. Protected Democracy (Atlantic)

• What to know about federal court ruling blocking mailing of widely used abortion pill (PBS)

• King Charles charms America and avoids pitfalls during his four-day whirlwind US tour (CNN)

• Rogan rips ‘ridiculous’ Kimmel backlash over Melania Trump joke (The Hill)

• Stephen Colbert Gets Ready to Hang It Up (NYT)

• What do Ukraine’s robot soldiers mean for the future of warfare? (Al Jazeera)

• Zuckerberg won’t rule out more job cuts at Meta (Reuters)

• Elon Musk went to court. The judge wasn’t amused. (WP)

• Musk testimony dominated first week Musk v. Altman. ‘You can’t just steal a charity’ (CNBC)

• Table Tennis Champion Too Weak To Hoist Trophy Over Head (Onion)

 

Sweet Desires

Every now and then it happens. The light splashes a leaf, turning what appeared to be green into half a rainbow. Or, a sudden breeze stirs a glass-like pond, making you shiver.

These moments freeze like ice. You can’t really move your eyes away even if you try.

Painters live for moments like these; all artists do.

Often when in Europe on business trips, I would visit museums, which at that time, were unlike their American counterparts; you could walk right up to a painting as if to touch it. On those visits, I came to admire the use of color and light; for some reason the black in a Rembrandt always struck me not as the absence of light but as the essence of beauty.

Of course it wasn’t always black, it may have been green. Splashed by the light it could turn into half a rainbow if you looked long enough.

This memory came back to me when I discovered the 2003 film version of the historical novel “Girl With a Pearl Earring.” The book and the film re-imagine the character who might have inspired what was arguably the Dutch baroque painter Johannes Vermeer’s greatest painting.

As per the book, the film posits that Vermeer’s model for the painting was his maid, though there is no evidence this was the case. The original actors cast for the film were Ralph Fiennes and Kate Hudson, but when they both left the project before production started (he for “Maid in Manhattan”), 17-year-old Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth stepped into the roles.

The unresolved sexual tension between these two yields the story (and in the fictional version the painting) and Johansson does resemble the girl in the actual piece to a remarkable degree. The film also contains scenes that present the Dutch environment of the 1600’s as a replication of Vermeer’s painting style -- a luminous realism celebrating how light animates our surroundings if we just care to look.

The girl’s expression in the painting is the look of knowing she is desired and daring to look back. You don’t have to be an artist to appreciate that.

But you do have to see.

HEADLINES:

• Pentagon orders withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany as Trump escalates feud with Merz (Fox)

• The Real Reason Iran Hasn’t Struck a Deal (Atlantic)

• Poll: Trump’s fight with Iran is as unpopular as the Iraq and Vietnam wars (WP)

• Hegseth says clock paused on deadline to seek approval for Iran war (BBC)

• Oil prices fall after Iran sends updated peace proposal to mediators in Pakistan (CNBC)

• A senior United Arab Emirates official said Tehran could not be trusted over any unilateral arrangements it makes for the Strait of Hormuz, in a sign of deep mistrust on all sides as efforts to end the Iran war remain at an impasse.(Reuters)

• Trump administration says its war in Iran has been ‘terminated’ before 60-day deadline (AP)

• U.S. Debt Tops 100% of GDP (WSJ)

• Trump says he’s raising EU auto tariffs to 25% without clarifying how (CNBC)

• Trump fumes as Jerome Powell plots future at Federal Reserve (The Hill)

• Supreme Court decision sets off gerrymandering scramble (CNN)

• Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Halts Abortion Pills by Mail (NYT)

• Speaker Mike Johnson once longed for a ‘normal Congress,’ but that seems long gone in the House (AP)

• China and America Are Courting Nuclear Catastrophe (Foreign Affairs)

• Thousands in US to join ‘no school, no work, no shopping’ May Day protest in economic blackout (Guardian)

• The Whistleblower Who Uncovered the NSA’s ‘Big Brother Machine’ (MIT)

• Disappearing before our eyes: One photographer’s passion project of capturing local newsrooms (AP)

• Signed, Sealed, Delivered —What happens whensomeone throws a message into the sea? (New Yorker)

• California Police Can Start Ticketing Driverless Cars (NYT)

• Silicon Valley is slashing jobs. Don’t blame AI. (WP)

• I’ve Covered Robots for Years. This One Is Different (Wired)

• So, About That AI Bubble (Atlantic)

• Moonshot AI and Other Chinese Firms Weigh Corporate Overhaul in Wake of Meta-Manus Deal Reversal (The Information)

• Go start a business (Axios)

• Top AI companies agree to work with Pentagon on secret data (WP)

• Reporters at McClatchy Withhold Bylines in Dispute Over A.I. Content (NYT)

• Racehorse Receives Carrot Every Time He Wins $2 Million For Owner (Onion)

 

The Great Tomato Plant Mystery

A couple weeks ago, my daughter-in-law sent over six young tomato plants for my birthday.

I placed them into some loose, moist soil in a gardening box in the backyard, patted the soil down firmly, watered them and ever since have been tending to them on a daily basis.

They seemed to be adapting to the relocation pretty well, responding to the sunshine and the water I give them from a watering can every day around noon.

Until yesterday.

When I went out back to look in on them, only five remained. One of the smaller tomato plants had simply disappeared, roots and all.

Gone without a trace.

I have to say that in my many years of gardening, this has never before happened. Who stole my tomato plant?

It wasn’t a mole burrowing from below, because the plants are in a box.

I’m thinking the thief had to be a bird, although I’ve never seen that happen before. There was no hole and no tracks around where the plant had been.

So if anyone sees a bird’s nest with a small tomato plant wrapped into it, please let me know.

HEADLINES:

• Trump slams Germany’s Merz again as rift over Iran war widens (Al Jazeera)

• The UAE doubles down on Israel and America (Economist)

• The Iran War’s Ramifications Have Only Just Begun (Atlantic)

• The US is pushing for other countries to form an international coalition to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a State Department cable (Reuters)

• Congress votes to end record shutdown, sending DHS funding bill to Trump’s desk (NBC)

• Public rejects Trump’s ballroom by wide margin (WP)

• Trump taps Nicole Saphier for surgeon general after pulling Casey Means nomination (CNBC)

• Louisiana congressional primaries are suspended as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling (AP)

• What Alex Padilla says Democrats should do about the Voting Rights Act ruling (Politico)

• Can the E.P.A. Survive Lee Zeldin? (New Yorker)

• This ABC Showdown Is Different (Atlantic)

• Meta lost 20 million users last quarter (Verge)

• Ukraine bets on battlefield AI as the race for weapons autonomy intensifies (AP)

• The Bloomberg Terminal Is Getting an AI Makeover, Like It or Not (Wired)

• OpenAI blames ‘nerdy personality’ for ChatGPT obsession with goblins (NBC)

• Musk fights in court to portray himself as hero, not villain, in founding of OpenAI (WP)

• A.I. Spending Sets a Record, With No End in Sight (NYT)

• Elon Musk Seemingly Admits xAI Has Used OpenAI’s Models to Train Its Own (Wired)

• Overambitious Man Wants To Get 2 Things Done Today (Onion)

Civil Rights Regression

When the Supreme Court struck down what remained of the Voting Rights Act on Wednesday, it completed the reversal of one of the signature achievements of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Previously, black people in the segregated South and elsewhere faced obstacles to voting; the Voting Rights Act provided a remedy for that problem.

But racism is deeply engrained in American society, not just in the South but everywhere and the problem has become more complex as America has gotten more diverse.

When it comes to the progressive era of civil rights, I remember attending and covering the last demonstration led by Martin Luther King — it was in Memphis in late March 1968. At that march, a mixture of hope and fear hung in the air over our heads as thick as the Beale Street Blues. 

Hope that change might yet be possible; fear that violence might lay just around the corner. Both proved to be true. MLK was assassinated a week later and the Voting Rights Act proved to be his greatest legacy.

Sadly, the rights of our non-white citizens have now reverted to their pre-movement status of 60 years ago, thanks to a reactionary Court packed by Trump. What will be required is a new movement to reclaim those rights on behalf of everyone.

HEADLINES:

• Supreme Court Further Weakens Voting Rights Act (NYT)

• The Gerrymandering Wars Are Just Beginning (Slate)

• Florida lawmakers approve redistricting plan intended to give GOP four more seats (WP)

• How much can Trump screw with the midterms? (Silver Bulletin)

• A Divided Fed Holds Rates Steady (NYT)

• Iran war has cost the U.S. $25 billion so far, Pentagon official says (NBC)

• Two months into a war with the US and Israel, Iran no longer has a single, undisputed clerical arbiter at the pinnacle of power — an abrupt break with the past that may be hardening Tehran’s stance as it weighs renewed talks with Washington. (Reuters)

• Hegseth to Congress: We Have No Iran Plan But Give Us 1.5 Trillion Anyway. (Mother Jones)

• Trump's approval rating sank to the lowest level of his current term, as Americans increasingly soured on his handling of the cost ‌of living and an unpopular war, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. (Reuters)

• The UAE’s OPEC exit is not about oil; it is the end of Gulf solidarity (Al Jazeera)

• Cole Allen took selfie before Trump assassination attempt at WHCA dinner, prosecutors say (CNBC)

• New Disney Boss Is Tested by Trump and His Administration (NYT)

• US will issue commemorative passports with Trump’s picture for America’s 250th birthday (AP)

• ‘If it wasn’t for us, you’d be speaking French’: King and Trump joke at dinner (BBC)

• Australia moves to tax Meta, Google and TikTok to fund newsrooms (AP)

• Legendary Country Outlaw, a 8-Decade Music Pioneer, Turns 93 (Parade)

• Why Humanoid Robots Are the Ultimate AI Frontier (Bloomberg)

• The Man Behind AlphaGo Thinks AI Is Taking the Wrong Path (Wired)

• A.I. Bots Told Scientists How to Make Biological Weapons (NYT)

• Musk testifies in trial over OpenAI’s future: ‘It’s not okay to steal a charity’ (WP)

• Google Signs A.I. Deal With the Pentagon (NYT)

• JD Vance Still Waiting For Secret Service To Retrieve Him From Secure Hiding Area (Onion)

 

The King Speaks

There is an art to public speaking, especially in these politically charged times, and King Charles displayed a masterful command of that art in his address to Congress Tuesday, which was charming and remarkably persuasive.

The King managed to articulate multiple points of disagreement with the Trump administration, but deftly avoided direct criticism and somehow united Democrats and Republicans on issues upon which they rarely agree, like the war in Ukraine, the exercise of checks and balances on executive power, and support for the environment.

He gently chided those, including Trump, who have questioned the U.S. role in NATO, the UN and reminded his audience of the significance of such alliances generally.

Perhaps he was most eloquent when speaking subtlety but effectively about climate change, never mentioned it by name but referencing “melting Arctic glaciers” and tying economic success directly to proper stewardship of nature.

It was, as I said, a masterful performance. We can only hope that some of our political leaders were actually listening, because if they were they might learn a thing or two about governing in a democracy from the king of the nation that spawned ours..

HEADLINES:

• Who holds the cards in Iran-US talks? (Al Jazeera)

• Trump warns Iran ‘better get smart soon’ as he weighs military options over Strait of Hormuz (NBC)

• Iran’s economy has been battered. Its leaders still think Trump will blink first (AP)

• Trump Skeptical of Iran’s Strait of Hormuz Proposal (WSJ)

• U.S. is ‘being humiliated by Iran,’ says Germany’s Merz, as Europe’s patience wanes (CNBC)

• What are OPEC and OPEC +, and why has the UAE quit? (Al Jazeera)

• The diplomacy at play behind the King’s speeches (BBC)

• Could the Florida Gerrymander Blow Up on the GOP? (Bulwark)

• ‘It’s bizarre’: Californians grapple with revelation that suspected Trump gunman was neighbour (BBC)

• King Charles’s rare state visit offers U.K. a chance to mend ties with Trump (WP)

• Epstein scandal lingers in background of King Charles’ visit to Washington (CNN)

• F.C.C. Orders a Review of ABC’s Broadcast Licenses (NYT)

• FCC to direct Disney-owned TV stations to file early license renewals, source says (NBC)

• Kash Patel’s Implausible Lawsuit Against The Atlantic (New Yorker)

• Trump Administration Secures New Indictment Against Comey (NYT)

• Judges rule Pentagon can require reporter escorts during policy appeal (The Hill)

• Supreme Court Appears Divided Over Roundup Weedkiller Case (NYT)

• An amateur just solved a 60-year-old math problem—by asking AI (SA)

• Altman, Musk and the A.I. Spectacle Come to ‘The Town’ (NYT)

• Farmer Buys Guardian Dog To Protect Livestock From RFK Jr. (Onion)