It's All in the Telling

Over the years, I’ve developed a fondness for the singer Norah Jones, the soulfully exotic way she sings, and her large lovely dark eyes that always seem to convey wisdom beyond her years (she’s now 47).

But I never did the basic homework to understand her family roots. When I finally did, it turned out she is the daughter of the great Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar, who had such an enormous influence on George Harrison and the Beatles that it spread out to all the rest of us in the western world.

Her birth name was Geethali Norah Jones Shankar.

So that helps explain a few things. She is gifted at solo performances but she really comes alive in duets with just about anybody. Via YouTube I’ve seen her perform with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt, Tony Bennett, John Mayer, Wynton Marsalis, and many more, but maybe my personal favorite is when she performed “Love Hurts” with Keith Richards.

I don’t know how to categorize her singing -- jazz, rock, country, folk -- but I’m not sure that matters, because in my mind she’ll always be that person who could have stolen any show if she chose to but instead helped others to shine.

That is how it goes in life and work -- collaborators and partners invariably accomplish more together than they ever would have alone.

And for those who like Jones as much as I do, check out the one movie she starred in -- “My Blueberry Nights,” a 2007 romance directed by Wong Kar-wai, and co-starring an all-star cast of Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, and Natalie Portman.

One of my favorite parts of the film concerns two lovable (and frustrating) addicts she meets on the road --an alcoholic and a gambler. Rarely have I seen addicts portrayed with a more honest human touch than in this gem of a film.

The soundtrack is also great, including a song Jones wrote called “The Story.” And this is one story that has a happy ending.

HEADLINES:

• Trump trades threats with Iran’s leader as mediators struggle to save talks (Al Jazeera)

• Trump reiterates that ceasefire is over, but says U.S. to continue negotiating (CBS)

• US demands Iran publicly state that Strait of Hormuz is open and Tehran won't attack ships anymore (AP)

• Iran’s Supreme Leader Remains Absent, a Void at the Top of the Regime (NYT)

• Trump’s Forever War Is Finally Here (TNR)

• Aftermath: War’s On (American Prospect)

• Quills and conflict: How protection in the Strait of Hormuz is bought and sold (CNN)

• Times Journalists Subpoenaed as Trump Escalates Pressure on Media (NYT)

• Trump ousts election commission members in latest push to reshape US voting process (AP)

• Bipartisan Housing Bill Becomes Law Even Though Trump Refuses to Sign It (NYT)

• What we know about the Houston ICE shooting (NBC)

• Migrants who saw man killed by ICE in Houston say he did not ram officers (WP)

• Platner formally withdraws from Maine Senate race and Democrats announce process to name new nominee (AP)

• ‘No one planned for this’: The rapidly-evolving 18-day primary to replace Platner (Politico)

• The Supreme Court has ruled: One jury shouldn’t write the nation’s warning labels (The Hill)

• Believe the Hype About Teen Takeovers (Atlantic)

• Trump plan would fence Pennsylvania Avenue outside White House (WP)

• Trump’s fake “convention” in Dallas will choose neither a candidate nor a platform, but state parties are charging thousands for the privilege of a floor seat. [HuffPost] 

• 8 men indicted in planned drone and sniper attack on White House UFC cage-fighting show (AP)

• New Air Force One Lacks Defensive Countermeasures of Previous Model, Officials Say (NYT)

• What to know about ‘explosive diarrhoea’ parasite outbreak in US (BBC)

• Dozens hospitalized with cyclosporiasis as cases of gastrointestinal illness spike in 31 states (NBC)

• At least eleven people have died and 19 are missing in one of Spain's deadliest wildfires (Reuters)

• Anthropic found a hidden space where Claude puzzles over concepts (TR)

• Haves, have-nots and know-nots: Inside AI’s new class divide (Axios)

• China, Russia and Others Seek to Inflame Debate Over A.I. Data Centers (NYT)

• How exposed is your job to AI? (SFC)

• Apple Sues OpenAI, Accusing It of Stealing Company Secrets (NYT)

• FIFA Admits It Has No Idea Why Soccer Players Walk Out On Field With Little Kids (Onion)

Dance of the Narratives

In the old days, writers worked with photographers at newspapers and magazines to produce stories. Some editors seemed to expect the photographers to simply illustrate the stories told by the writers. But the better ones devised a different process with a richer outcome.

They saw that the visual and editorial narratives worked together more like interlocking vines, snaking in and out to produce a product much greater than the sum of its parts.

When we got the mixture right, there was an interactive chain that moved, much like how musical notes flow with words in a song.

And that’s true for good story-telling in any form. 

The process becomes more complex when you move from the world of print into multimedia — radio, TV, and the movies. Now, the actual or mediated voices and images of people enter the space between you and your audience.

It’s easy to overdo it. Then the story becomes preachy or melodramatic like in a soap opera. Good editors know that in most cases, less is more. Just let the sounds and the pictures tell the story. Silences become magnified, which is useful on any level.

In the end, in any good story, what the teller leaves out, the listener will fill in.

HEADLINES:

• U.S. and Iran Sink Into Violent Cycle After Latest Strikes (NYT)

• How a push to disarm Hezbollah is deepening divisions in Lebanon and raising fears of civil war (AP)

• U.S. intensifies strikes on Iran’s coast along Strait of Hormuz (WP)

• Man fatally shot by ICE in Houston was not intended target, DHS says (BBC)

• It’s not me, it’s them: Platner goes down snarling with graceless exit video (Guardian)

• Who will replace Graham Platner on the Maine ballot? These Democrats are raising their hand (AP)

• Trump targets Spain, NATO backs Ukraine: Is the alliance still united? (Al Jazeera)

• U.S. Olympian David Hearn pleads not guilty to charges in Reflecting Pool vandalism case (NBC)

• Trump ‘immediately’ asking US Supreme Court to reconsider birthright citizenship case (BBC)

• Who Can Hold ICE Accountable? (Atlantic)

• Losing in Ukraine, is Putin finally down to his nukes? (The Hill)

• LGBTQ+ cruise ship refused entry to Egypt days after Turkey turned it away (Guardian)

• Security Precaution Led Trump to Use Old Air Force One in Leaving Turkey (NYT)

• Judges block Trump administration’s attempts to deny access to public service loan forgiveness to its perceived foes (The Conversation)

• High earners are rushing to use this vacation-rental tax break (BI)

• The secret to good questions (Economist)

• Colombia's court on the conflict with FARC rebels in limbo as president-elect vows to dismantle it (AP)

• China and Taiwan were bracing for possibly the most destructive tropical storm in years as Typhoon Bavi churned southeast of Taiwan, with winds near 124 mph, and as parts of China were still reeling from Typhoon Maysak. (Reuters)

• ‘Hysteria’ Grips San Francisco’s Housing Market as A.I. Wealth Pours In (NYT)

• News outlets urge a judge to sanction OpenAI in a high-stakes AI copyright fight (AP)

• Can A.I. Keep a Parent Alive? (New Yorker)

• National Opera Lays Off 200 Phantoms (Onion)

 

Into the Future

Starting off the week, I spoke to a group of interns at the earliest stages of their careers in journalism. It is tempting on occasions like that to reminisce. After all, when I was their age, reporters smoked in newsrooms, had green lampshades, and composed their stories on manual typewriters.

But if interns want to know about that distant past stuff, they can read novels or watch old black-and-white movies. My agenda when spending time with them is to talk about their future.

And in that context there are two items in the news I’d recommend to anyone concerned with the future of work, both in the near-term when nobody drives any longer and robots dominate most workforces, and well beyond that.

The first item, courtesy of Martin Abraham in Malaysia is an article in Psychology Today titled “Humans Are Fast Evolving Into an Astonishing Lifeform” by Dr. Eric Haseltine.

According to this article:

• We have entered an era of hyper-communication that may be rapidly changing the human species.

• Evolutionary biology suggests we may be evolving into super-organisms that limit our individual autonomy.

• Loss of autonomy has lead to recent social unrest from aggregations such as globalization and immigration.

As of 2025, young Americans aged 18-24 got an average of 109.5 texts per day, sent 40-50 themselves, checked their phones 46-74 times a day, and if they are teens got an average of 240 notifications a day from apps. Adults got an average of 117 professional emails a day.

All the rest of us averaged a third of the time we were awake glued to our electronic communications devices.

What this may be doing to us at home and work is the article’s focus.

***

The second recommendation I have about the future of work comes courtesy of John Jameson. It is an excellent half-hour interview by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now with journalist Karen Hao, who has written a new book called “Empire of AI.”

Hao finds examples of people around the world using AI in limited, positive ways and casts doubt on whether AGI (artificial general intelligence) is really imminently within our grasp.

She believes, as do other experts I’ve recommended on the topic, that under proper human control, AI tools will perform tasks in ways that will make the future not an apocalypse but a brighter place.

At least as a speaker (I’ve not yet read her book), Hao has an unusual ability to make AI accessible to the lay person. Plus the interview left me feeling much more hopeful about our future with robots.

We all need to know where our society is going, well beyond when we’re part of it. These articles offer some clues.

(This one is reprised from this week last year.)

HEADLINES:

• At the NATO Summit, Trump declares Iran ceasefire is ‘over’ (NPR)

• U.S. Launches New Strikes on Iran, Military Says (NYT)

• Inside Trump’s Oval Office Decision to Ditch the Iran Ceasefire (WSJ)

• Sabre-rattling to ‘tremendous love’: erratic Trump dominates final hours of Nato summit (Guardian)

• ‘We may just do it without a deal’: Trump muses about new blockade in Strait of Hormuz, taking over Kharg Island (Yahoo)

• In shift, Trump praises Zelensky, will let Ukraine build Patriot missiles (WP)

• NATO pledges 70 billion euros for Ukraine as Trump praises peace ‘progress’ (Al Jazeera)

• Denmark says it will defend Greenland as Trump threatens to revive NATO crisis (WP)

• Platner Suspends Senate Bid in Maine After Rape Accusation (NYT)

• Platner’s disastrous candidacy exposes rifts that could dampen Democrats’ Senate hopes (BBC)

• McConnell health update demanded by Gov. Beshear as Senate vacancy questions grow (CNBC)

• Judge Orders $5 Million Trump Judgment Be Released to E. Jean Carroll (NYT)

• The game theory of replacing Graham Platner (Silver Bulletin)

• Global Economy, Hit by Iran War and Inflation, Faces Sharp Slowdown (NYT)

• A Mexican father was shot and killed by an ICE officer. His son is demanding an independent probe (PBS)

• Judge Convicted of Obstructing Immigration Agents Faces No Prison Time (NYT)

• The Ukraine Lesson Taiwan Keeps Missing (Foreign Affairs)

• I Built a Self-Improving AI, and So Can You (Wired)

• Meta Unveils an A.I. Image Generator (NYT)

• OpenAI set to launch most capable GPT model after delayed rollout. (Reuters)

• Crowd Boos After Little Boy Steals Foul Ball From Adorable 42-Year-Old Man (Onion)

Relics

Today I was thinking that I maybe should be in the salvage business -- rescuing the castoffs of this throwaway society, restoring them, and preserving them as artifacts. 

I’ve been collecting things for at least half a century. Old bottles, coins, stamps, magazines, books, photos, postcards, baseball cards -- the list goes on — not to mention the memories they evoke.

Today’s find was this old portable typewriter -- the laptop of its time. I used to work on a machine like this, and in fact, I still had one until recently, when in a weaker moment I discarded it.

Thanks to one of my neighbors, it didn’t get far. And today, following the local custom of putting whatever you don’t want anymore out on the sidewalk for anyone passing by to claim, I now have retaken possession of this portable Remington. 

It makes that old comforting sound that a century ago came from the open windows in Rudyard Kipling’s compound in India, as he pounded out his stories on tropical nights.

Or Conrad, Hemingway, Faulkner, all warm-weather writers, take your pick. For many decades, this was the sound of literature and the sound of journalism. Even as recently as the Watergate scandal of 1974, the signature film made of Woodward and Bernstein’s legendary reporting that ended Richard Nixon’s presidency, closes with a sequence of headlines typed on an old manual typewriter.

Relics. If I ever write a memoir, I should do it on this. On second thought, strike that, but its photo might make a good book cover.

(This is an excerpt from 2007.)

HEADLINES:

• Trump says Iran ceasefire is ‘over,’ U.S. will ‘hit them hard tonight’ (CNBC)

• Trump is playing with economic fire by calling the peace deal with Iran ‘over’ (CNN)

• Midtown Manhattan buildings evacuated after columns found buckling at high-rise construction site (ABC)

• Democrats Clash Over Who Replaces Platner Even Before He Exits (NYT)

• Assault allegation rocks Platner’s Senate campaign, prompting Democrat to take ‘time to reflect’ (WP)

• The Supreme Court Just Made It Easier for Presidents to Sabotage Their Successors (Slate)

• More than 440,000 people became millionaires in the US last year (The Hill)

• Trump is gaining surprising leverage over Iran (CNN)

• The pastor who wants to repeal voting rights for women is becoming more mainstream (NPR)

• Trump arrived in Ankara to join a closely watched NATO summit as the U.S. president has repeatedly trashed the military alliance. (HuffPost)

• Wikipedia Is Battling for the Soul of the Internet (NYT)

• Foreign Investment Rises, But Developing Countries Squeezed By AI Focus, Says UN (WSJ)

• China Built Cheap AI. Now It’s Building a Great Wall Around It (Gizmodo)

• How to stop ChatGPT from ruining how you think (WP)

• Alibaba’s A.I. Is a Hit, but Hard to Turn Into a Moneymaker (NYT)

• Report: Trump Made $1.4 Billion As President Off Selling Tupperware To Friends (Onion)

 

Today's Biggest News

Dear Readers:

This morning there is the usual array of international news, national news, state news, regional news and local news I could report on or discuss.

But instead I have some happy personal news: A new grandson, Dean Nicholas Weir, 6 lb. 6 oz., joined us as of 9:45 pm July 5th!

This brings my number of grandchildren to nine —six boys and three girls, aged two days up to 19.

HEADLINES:

• Mourners throng funeral procession in Tehran for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (AP)

• Nearly a Million Investors Lost a Total of $3.8 Billion on Trump Crypto Coin (NYT)

• Graham Platner denies sex assault claim as Democrats urge him to quit Maine Senate race (CNBC)

• Top Democrats call on Graham Platner to drop out as sexual assault allegation emerges (CBS)

• Charlie Kirk’s family attends hearing for suspect charged with his murder (BBC)

• Under Trump, spouses of U.S. citizens face policy changes in the immigration system (NPR)

• ‘Killer Robots’ Must Be Banned, U.N. Secretary-General Says (WSJ)

• He wrote a scathing message to ICE. Federal agents showed up at his door. (WP)

• Trump makes strange claim that ‘George Washington had two desks’ to justify getting rich off his presidency (Independent)

• At Trump’s Direction, Federal Agencies Are Abandoning Discrimination Cases

  (NYT)

• Microsoft cuts 4,800 across Xbox, sales divisions, redeploys hundreds more (Seattle Times)

• Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs across sales and Xbox (BI)

• When It Comes to Energy Use, AI Agents Could Make Chatbots Look Like Pocket Calculators (Gizmodo)

• Are Humanoid Robots Ready to Be Deployed? (New Yorker)

• Inside the secret AI war between Silicon Valley and China (WP)

• Adam Sandler Unwinds After Busy Weekend Officiating 6 Back-To-Back Weddings (Onion)

The Past Is Not Enough

I’d gotten so used to talking through career plans and options with younger friends that it caught me off-guard when one of them asked me recently. “So what’s next for you?”

It’s easy to fall into a trap when you are in your late 70s and retired. The trap is assuming that whatever you did for a career ended when you collected your last paycheck.

And that you have essentially checked out for good.

The friend who asked me that question is half my age and in the middle of her career, which we’d been discussing over dinner.

But now she had turned the tables.

“I don’t know,” I stumbled. “I guess I’d still like to do something that matters — to write something that matters. Maybe a book.”

After dinner I thought about our exchange. What am I going to do with this time that is in a sense borrowed time? It’s a question that will take some of that time to answer.

HEADLINES:

• What Trump’s July 4 Speech Revealed (Atlantic)

• Khamenei’s other sons appear at his funeral in Iran as new supreme leader remains in hiding (AP)

• The Strait of Hormuz has reopened — why that might be a problem for the oil market: Chart of the Day (Yahoo)

• Tennessee national guard troops shoot man dead in Memphis (Guardian)

• Supreme Court’s dramatic moves will reshape elections — and give the GOP a midterm boost (WP)

• How the Supreme Court has changed on transgender rights since 2020 (CNN)

• Trump urged FIFA to review Balogun’s suspension before star was cleared for World Cup (WP)

• How the president is putting his imprint on the nation’s capital (AP)

• Zelenskyy demands Western support after Russian strikes kill 12 in Kyiv (Politico)

• In Strike After Strike, Ukraine Is Bringing the War to Crimea (NYT)

• Trump Offered in Conversation With Putin to Help With Ukraine Settlement – Kremlin Aide (Moscow Times)

• Naming Police Officers Who Kill in California (Structural Zero)

• Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Marriage Plot (New Yorker)

• How a young Jefferson’s plea to the king helped ignite America’s fight for independence (WP)

• Founding Fathers Smile Down On America From Outer Space (Onion)

Sunday Mix

HEADLINES:

• Hell Arrives in Washington (Atlantic)

• Trump rants about communism in delayed America 250 speech before he joins Melania to watch fireworks (Independent)

• July 4: U.S. history in dispute (Reuters)

• Why America at 250 Still Cannot Face Slavery (Reveal)

• Washington DC’s Fourth of July parade canceled due to soaring temperature (Guardian)

• Trump pardons a major donor and violators of the Clean Air Act (WP)

• Trump Targets Not Just Georgia’s Vote, but Also Trust in Elections (NYT)

• Stateless (Journal of the Plague Years)

• Millions in Tehran for funeral of Ali Khamenei (Al Jazeera)

• ‘It is a crisis’: Putin under increasing pressure from Ukraine war (The Hill)

• Russia runs short on gasoline (Reuters)

• ‘She absolutely crushed it’: Ocean rower set to smash California-to-Hawaii speed record (SFC)

• This mistake helped transform 22-year-old George Washington into a leader (WP)

• Apes: they’re just like us (Reuters)

• Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding, the ultimate Swiftian experience (WP)

• The hidden cost of empathy at work (BI)

• How the world’s top AI models were revived (Axios)

• The Quest to Make Humanoid Robots Safe Enough for Humans (WSJ)

• Nation Turns 250 Despite Presence Of Irish (Onion)