Origin Story: Global Dumping Ground

Many years ago, I gave a speech about the “Circle of Poison” in North Carolina. It was one of many such speeches I gave all over the world.

After the speech, a member of the audience approached me and asked to speak confidentially. “It’s not just hazardous pesticides that are being exported to poor countries,” said this informant.

“You should check out the export of hazardous waste.”

During our brief conversation, I ascertained that this person was a state official with direct evidence of the problem.

I didn’t take any notes, and the source left without giving me any contact information. They just wanted to plant the idea.

When I returned home from that trip, I put together a small team to look into the allegations that U.S. companies were shipping hazardous waste abroad.

And that was the origin of the Center for Investigative Reporting’s many-faceted “Global Dumping Ground” investigations.

First we broke the story in The Nation. Then we established a major investigative project that eventually led to a PBS documentary with Bill Moyers, a book, and more articles.

There were awards and impacts and continuing exposes but nowhere was that original tipster acknowledged — until now.

HEADLINES:

• Trump says no one will control Strait of Hormuz (Al Jazeera)

• U.S. and Iran Trade Strikes, Further Threatening Negotiations (NYT)

• US justice department launches criminal investigation into Trump accuser E Jean Carroll (BBC)

• Cornyn’s Defeat Fuels Tensions With President Trump in Senate G.O.P. (NYT)

• They’re All Ken Paxton Now (Mother Jones)

• Trump is getting the Republican Party that he wants. But can he win in the midterms? (AP)

• Biden sues Justice Department to stop release of audio from interviews (NBC)

• New Fed report warns of ‘remarkable’ increase in households skipping meals due to food costs (CNN)

• Stephen Colbert gets the last laugh on CBS (Salon)

• ICE detainees are dying by suicide at an ‘alarming’ rate, an AP investigation finds (AP)

• Trump’s green card memo kicked off a holiday weekend of panic (BI)

• Trump’s effort to redraw electoral maps ahead of November’s midterm elections ran into resistance this week from Senate Republicans in South Carolina and a panel of three federal judges in Alabama. Twelve South Carolina Republicans joined Democrats in voting against eliminating the state’s lone Black-majority House district, citing political and logistical concerns. The judges in Alabama ruled that the Republican-backed plan “intentionally discriminated based on race.” [HuffPost]

• Kennedy’s Push to Curb Antidepressants Has Shaken Psychiatry (NYT)

• These popular household fruits are coated with the most pesticides and forever chemicals (Independent)

• Trump Administration to Send Americans Exposed to Ebola to Kenya (NYT)

• A senior Ukrainian commander sees an imminent 'turning point' in war with Russia (Reuters)

• Russia just passed a law allowing its central bank to down drones (CNBC)

• Russia pressures U.S., Ukraine’s allies to flee Kyiv, threatening ‘systematic strikes’ (NBC)

• Israel and Hezbollah clash along a strategic Lebanese river (AP)

• Japan’s Point of No Return (Foreign Affairs)

• This big university system is embracing AI. Students and faculty aren’t all on board (NPR)

• Pete Hegseth Shaking With Rage After Imagining Plus-Sized Astronaut (Onion)

Kickers

A year ago, I had some advice for Trump, the reality TV star, as he pondered whether to start a war with Iran, by way of a writing lesson:

When writing a screenplay, you use a three-act format. One description of this type of narrative structure is as follows.

Act One: You introduce the characters and set the scene. Let’s say there’s a monkey and a tiger in a meadow near a forest. The tiger chases the monkey through the meadow, almost catching him at the end of act one.

Act Two: Lots of action. The monkey barely escapes the tiger through various maneuvers until he is cornered near a very tall tree. By the end of the act, the monkey has climbed up the tree with no visible means of escape as the tiger circles below.

Act Three: Using his wiles, the monkey tricks the tiger into looking away while he scampers down the tree and into the forest. A wild chase ensues with the monkey barely eluding capture again and again. Finally, at the far edge of the forest, the tiger forces the monkey up an impossibly tall tree, one we can’t imagine the monkey ever getting down from. 

Now you’ve reached to the conclusion. You have to resolve this story somehow.

I sometimes use this example with students to make a simple point — you better know how the story will wrap up before you begin to write it.

Cut to Trump. If he was going to bomb Iran, he damn well better know how he would end that war before he started it.

Otherwise he will end up with one more story with a bad ending.

HEADLINES:

• Trump’s War Is Staggering to an Incoherent Defeat (Atlantic)

• US launches new strikes on Iran, targeting missile sites and boats (BBC)

• Tehran labels US attacks ‘gross violation’, says it is prepared to respond (Al Jazeera)

• Iran Warns of Retaliation After U.S. Strikes (WSJ)

• The energy shock is not over yet (FT)

• South Carolina Senate Does Not Act on New Midterm Map, Defying Trump (NYT)

• Federal court blocks Alabama’s midterm gerrymandering plan, a blow for Republicans (Politico)

• Thomas, Alito Dissent as Supreme Court Blocks Florida From Suing California (Newsweek)

• Paxton Routs Cornyn in Senate G.O.P. Runoff With Trump’s Backing (NYT)

• America’s ugliest primary? Texas Republican infighting could hand Senate seat to Democrat (Guardian)

• Democrats feud over stock trading as they sharpen anti-corruption case against Trump (AP)

• Trump’s advanced age and threats to his life serve as reminders of his own mortality (CNN)

• American journalist charged with serving as unregistered agent for China (Politico)

• Trump administration proposes NDAs for all federal workers (WP)

• Russia tells Marco Rubio U.S. citizens should leave Kyiv ahead of ‘systematic’ strikes on Ukrainian capital (CNBC)

• Ukraine’s latest defense against Russian missiles: Making them miss (Politico)

• Evacuation zone shrinks after ‘worst-case scenario’ of Southern California chemical tank explosion averted, officials say (ABC)

• The Great Depopulation (Atlantic)

• Ebola patients flee health facilities amid attacks. (Reuters)

• New Ebola Vaccine Reportedly Nearing Clinical Trials (Forbes)

• 6 things a neurologist does to keep his brain healthy (WP)

• Why science is becoming less innovative (Economist)

• Elon Musk is losing the culture war — he just doesn’t know it yet (MS Now)

• Iran’s national soccer team will sleep in Mexico and travel to the US on the days of its three World Cup matchesafter Washington declined to host the squad for the tournament, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said. (Reuters)

• AI Agents Plunged the Tech World Into Chaos. Here’s Exactly How That Happened (Wired)

• ‘You can’t control everything’: the rise in plastic surgeons asked to create ‘AI face’ (Guardian)

• These Robots Are Making Meals for a Nonprofit in San Francisco’s Tenderloin (Wired)

• Anthropic aligns with Vatican over White House as Pope Leo stokes AI fears (WP)

• Artificial Intelligence Floods Court Dockets with Home-Brewed Lawsuits (NYT)

• &R Block Location Mistaken For ‘Backrooms’ Fan Event (Onion)

The Pope and (A)I

It’s unusual when I choose what the Pope says to be the  top story on my list of headlines, but Pope Leo’s comments on AI are a worthy exception to that rule.

The Pope showed that he understands the risks as well as the positive potential of AI in his statement. If I am reading him right, he’s recommending the kind of intelligent regulation of the risks that can evolve along with the technology, and consistent with our understanding of that evolution.

You might call it the beginning of a “regulatory dance.”

It won’t do to simply ban AI or to set it free like Section 230 did with the Internet. The preferred approach would be more like that we’ve achieved with nuclear technology, which is not been perfect but largely effective at preventing the worst outcomes.

I can identify with this on a personal level as it is similar to how my medical team is trying to help me manage my own chronic illness. As the illness progresses, our strategy evolves, seeking to keep it in check, one dance move at a time.

A benefit of this strategy is that I can keep on dancing, i.e., sorting the news and writing essays like this one.☺️

HEADLINES:

• Pope Leo Warns of Risks From A.I. in 42,300-Word Encyclical (NYT)

• California chemical tank no longer under threat of catastrophic explosion (ABC)

• As Talks to End War Resume in Qatar, U.S. Conducts Strikes on Iran’s Gulf Coast (NYT)

• Trump says U.S. and Iran nearing a peace deal. (NPR)

• U.S.-Iran Peace Deal Nearer, But Could Take Days to Nail Down, U.S. Official Says (NYT)

• Why Trump’s possible Iran deal may be almost as divisive as his decision to wage war (CNN)

• With Big Decisions Ahead, the Supreme Court Collides With a Testy Trump (NYT)

• Redistricting ruling roils Supreme Court with corruption, bias claims (The Hill)

• Trump’s Self-Indulgence Deepens G.O.P. Fears in Midterms (NYT)

• Where Trump’s $1.8 billion payout fund gets its money and how it could work (WP)

• There’s a Way to Stop Trump’s I.R.S. Slush Fund (NYT)

• Russia hits Ukraine with an Oreshnik missile in one of the war's biggest attacks on Kyiv (Reuters)

• Captured Ukrainian Baba Yagas Are Becoming Russia’s Drone Of Choice (Forbes)

• ‘America First’ Shadows Visit by Rubio to Repair Rift With India (WSJ)

• Grocery prices are still rising. Here’s what’s gone up the most (SFC)

• The Longevity Secrets Helping Athletes Blow Past the Limits of Age (NYT)

• Scientists discover simple way to relieve arthritis pain without pills or surgery (ScienceDaily)

• Google tops OpenAI’s math breakthrough — 9 to 1 (RundownAI)

• Huawei reveals a chip design breakthrough. (Reuters)

• Pope elevates AI ethics to a religious imperative with first encyclical (WP)

• Inside the British Lab Hunting for Dangers Lurking in A.I. (NYT)

• Park Gazebo Celebrates 20th Year Without A Sober Person Inside It (Onion)

First Off the Press

In his memoir, “Like a Rolling Stone,” Jann Wenner has a chapter called “The Scoop of the Seventies” devoted to the articles Howard Kohn and I wrote in 1975 about Patty Hearst and the SLA.

Part One of that series was called “The Inside Story.”

For most of the many months that story was in process, it was a secret known only to a very small group of us. We were uncertain when we would publish it, partly because Patty Hearst and her kidnappers-turned-colleagues were still underground, and we didn’t want to inadvertently be responsible for getting them caught or killed.

(Remember that all the rest of the group had died in a fiery shootout with the LAPD.)

As fate would have it, the FBI located and arrested Hearst and the others on a Thursday in September and publication of our article was set for the following Monday. All hell would be breaking loose upon publication because Jann had arranged for NBC’s Today show to cover the release exclusively, with the rest of the media invited to the office for what would prove to be a raucous press conference Monday morning.

Security around the release was tight; Jann hired Pinkerton’s to guard all the issues of the magazine except one.

The entire staff of the magazine was secluded at a resort near Big Sur for the long weekend while Howard and I stayed in San Francisco to tape our interview with NBC before we headed south to join the rest.

Finally, late Saturday afternoon, in Jann’s words, “Howard and David made it down…brandishing a copy of the new issue that no one had seen yet.”

A photo of that copy of the magazine we brandished that night is at the top of this post, with the words handwritten by Jann up top “Do Not Leave This Lay Around — David.”

So that’s the story. It turns 51 come September.

HEADLINES:

• Trump tells US negotiators ‘not to rush’ into deal with Iran (BBC)

• White House says Iran deal could take days (Axios)

• Details emerge of a potential Iran deal as US cites progress (AP)

• The ‘warrior ethos’ promises victory — history says it leads to defeat (The Conversation)

• Orange County toxic tank on path to spill or explode; experts searching for solutions (ABC)

• Oral arguments are taking forever. Supreme Court justices have had enough (CNN)

• Tech billionaires used performance drugs in secret. Now they’re selling a revolution. (WP)

• The Democrats’ Civil War (Journal of the Plague Years)

• Trump Is Setting His Sights on Restricting Legal Immigration (NYT)

• Russia hits Kyiv with hypersonic ballistic missile in ‘deranged’ attack (Guardian)

• How Ukraine Found the Cards To Win, Without Help From the U.S. (Time)

• Ukraine is turning private companies loose on Russian attack drones (BI)

• U.S. support for Taiwan complicated by Middle East war, Trump’s reconciliation with China (WP)

• American who gave US$5,000 to China farmer for tree planting decades ago invited to view forest (SCMP)

• Marco Rubio combats Cuban-American backlash as he seeks Havana deal (FT)

• Suspected gunman dead after exchanging fire with Secret Service near White House (WP)

• Three generations, one roof, and a new American dream (BI)

• Becerra versus Steyer — or someone else? Answers to these FAQs may help voters make a choice (SFC)

• Bruce Springsteen is a model for how celebrities should resist Trump (Guardian)

• What to know about the AI models that are jolting Washington (Politico)

• Venture Capitalist John Doerr Says AI Is the Biggest Tech ‘Tsunami’ Ever (WSJ)

• With AI now reading student names at graduation, not everyone is applauding (WP)

• OpenAI Announces Construction Of New Data Center On Top Of Sick Child (Onion)

 

Last Goodbyes

There’s a line from an old country song that sticks with me: “The last goodbye’s the hardest one to say.” 

Yes, it’s hard to say goodbye to the people you love, so that line came to mind again Saturday when the time came to say my last goodbye to my sister, Kathy, who died recently at the age of 76.

A memorial service was held for her at her church in the small town in Michigan where she lived. I watched by courtesy of a YouTube video.

My youngest sister Carole delivered this remembrance:

“There were four of us siblings growing up and since Kathy was closest to me in age, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t look up to her. She was beautiful, with dark brown hair and eyes that could change from blue to green to gray, depending on what she wore and her mood.

“We were a close family, and many of Kathy’s favorite activities can be traced to our upbringing.

“Our mother loved words and language. She encouraged us to read and relentlessly corrected our grammar. Kathy and I shared a bedroom, and she often read to me before we went to sleep. Kathy loved fiction in many forms, and poetry, too.

“Our dad loved singing, and music was a major joy in Kathy’s life. She sang in our church choir with dad and me, and in the high school choir, and in the choir in this church for many years. Kathy loved old Broadway musicals, folksingers, and rock and roll. She also loved the traditional and new church music that celebrates Christmas and Easter.

“Kathy was an expert at many crafts, most notably knitting and sewing. She was a patient sewing instructor who helped others master computer-driven sewing techniques. She loved jewel tones, and both in her crafting and her clothing she was drawn to deep, rich blues, greens and purples.

“Kathy was an RN and worked as a neonatal intensive care nurse at Sparrow Hospital. Those little ones required constant observation and care, and her sensitivity and focus allowed so many to grow and thrive.

“Kathy’s three children, their spouses and her grandson were so dear to her. She cherished the time spent caring for Desmond when he was a baby.

“Over the years, Kathy had many health challenges. After the doctors concluded she had lupus, she developed a sensitivity to light that limited her time outside. She managed to still enjoy the outdoors through the big picture windows at her home. Watching the deer, birds, and squirrels (and her dog Milo chasing those squirrels) was a favorite pastime. This time of year, she would have been buying seeds to plant her lettuce and tomatoes, and filling the hummingbird feeder with nectar.

“Kathy had an eye for detail. This made her an excellent proofreader when she worked for Rolling Stone, and it was one reason she was so good at nursing and at crafting. When she had cataract surgery, she chose to optimize her near sighted vision, so that she could see to knit and sew, since she didn’t mind wearing glasses for distance. She’s the only person (aside from their older sister) who could always tell my identical twin grandsons apart.

“She had a good sense of humor, too. On her birthday one year, our mom and dad made dinner for her family, and dad made a big deal about how he had cooked this meal for her, which was touching since he rarely cooked. Turns out she had trouble cutting it, because he served her a fake rubber steak!

“A few months later, for Dad’s birthday in November, Kathy got her revenge. She brought out a cake, and went on about it being a new recipe that she hoped would taste good. Dad started trying to cut it, only to discover that she had covered a kitchen sponge with icing!

“So they were even.

“Telling these stories makes me miss her even more. Daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, Kathy lives on in our hearts and our memories.”

HEADLINES:

• Is Trump trying to turn Texas blue? (Silver Bulletin)

• Trump administration to force foreigners in the U.S. to apply for a green card abroad (NPR)

• Trump’s $1.8 billion payout fund isn’t required to reveal how it actually works (WP)

• Ebola outbreak now third largest recorded and “spreading rapidly” (ArsTechnica)

• Why Trump might be losing the Iran war (Reuters)

• US and Iran move closer to extending ceasefire by 60 days, say mediators (FT)

• Trump says he’s “50/50” on Iran deal, decision by Sunday (Axios)

• U.S. seeks Iran ceasefire extension as war threats loom (WP)

• Trump says peace talks ‘getting a lot closer’ (Al Jazeera)

• Deadliest coal mine explosion in China in years kills at least 82 people, local officials say (AP)

• Rubio meets Modi during India visit with energy high on agenda (BBC)

• Gaza flotilla activists describe Israeli abuse, including rape (Reuters)

• One Killed in Exchange of Gunfire With Secret Service Near White House (NYT)

• 911, Please Hold (Reveal)

• Inside Amazon: 12 employees describe life under layoffs, AI pressure, and 5-day RTO (BI)

• Even If You Hate AI, You Will Use Google AI Search (Wired)

• AI doesn’t need a regulator. It needs a referee. (WP)

• MLB Attempts To Reduce Human Error With New Electronic Bat Boys (Onion)

Stillness and Motion

AAA reports that 39 million Americans are going on roadtrips this holiday weekend, which reminds me of my youth. We’d always go camping, a tradition several of my family members are carrying on as they enjoy trips of their own.

Gas prices are high, which reminds me of my father’s habit of always keeping a running total of fillups. He’d make a notation of how many gallons at what price and the mpg per fillup based on the odometer reading. He’d ask me to do those calculations in my head, and I did so.

I continued with that tradition for a while as an adult, but let it slip away as my life became more complicated.

Holding onto things as opposed to letting them go is much on my mind these days. I’ve been sorting through some of my possessions, discarding stuff I no longer need, and preserving the rest.

Unlike the 39 million others, I am not on the move this weekend. I’m stationary, watching the world spin around me and wishing that just for a moment everything could stay put.

But that is not the way of the world, which I, finally, must concede as well.

***

The resignation of Tulsi Gabbard from Trump’s cabinet makes almost complete the disappearance of women from top positions in his administration.

Her departure formalizes what was already the case — that she was out of the loop of those close to Trump as he continues to wage foreign policy from his gut. 

No one close to Trump will challenge him on that. But we, as a people, must.

HEADLINES:

• Tulsi Gabbard Resigns as Intelligence Chief (NYT)

• Trump’s revenge on Republican dissidents may imperil his own agenda (NBC)

• Trump immunity from IRS audit shocks experts, who warn it could undermine trust in tax system (AP)

• The DOJ Just Admitted to Weaponizing a Prosecution Against Trump’s Foes (Slate)

• Trump officials tried to ban half of US voting machines, citing conspiracy theories. (Reuters)

• Judge Dismisses Criminal Case Against Abrego Garcia (NYT)

• Tucker Carlson: Massie loss ‘obviously the death of MAGA’ (The Hill)

• Green Card Seekers Must Leave U.S. to Apply, Trump Administration Says (NYT)

• All charges against Chicago protesters dropped in latest ICE case to unravel (Guardian)

• Poll shows voter confidence in economy plummeting to a nearly 4-year low (WP)

• Congo suspends funeral wakes and big gatherings in Ebola outbreak, as WHO upgrades risk assessment (AP)

• More than 340 local news outlets are limiting the Internet Archive’s access to their journalism (Nieman)

• Microsoft is hitting ctrl+alt+delete on its leadership structure (BI)

• Trump abruptly cancels EO signing event after top AI firm CEOs declined to go (ArsTechnica)

• The AI Superstars Who Say a ‘Vibe Slop’ Crisis Is Coming (WSJ)

• We tried Google’s AI glasses and they’re almost there (TechCrunch)

• Mathematicians stunned by AI’s biggest breakthrough in mathematics yet (New Scientist)

• A.I. Videos Help Reality TV Antagonist Break Through in L.A. Mayor’s Race (NYT)

• Pressure from Silicon Valley helped block Trump’s expected order on AI (WP)

• Anti-Aging Millionaire Announces He Has Split Back Into Sperm And Egg (Onion)

 

Genius Loves Company

By legend, Albert Einstein was a lone genius, coming up with ideas and concepts nobody else thought of. But according to a revealing article called “Not a Lone Genius” by CalTech professor Diana Kormos-Buchwald, the truth is more complicated. She based her article on The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, a 16-volume series of books co-edited by numerous scholars.

“He was not the genius working in an attic with a pen and paper,” she says. “Einstein may not have been working with large teams, but he was deeply embedded in the science community. Colleagues gave him advice and encouragement, but also criticized his work. And he, in turn, was instrumental in guiding and challenging others.”

The article notes that Einstein developed his special theory of relativity in 1905 with help from his college friend Michele Besso and his first wife, Mileva Marić.

He later perfected his general theory of relativity in 1915 with help from both Besso and another college friend, mathematician Marcel Grossmann.

Perhaps most illustrative of all was his involvement in experiments with younger physicists to test the structure of radiation and matter, and ultimately the development of the ground-breaking field of quantum mechanics. When approached by one of his young colleagues about being listed as a co-author on an important paper on that topic, Einstein demurred:

“I just don’t know whether I should count as a co-author since after all you did all the work...”

Einstein was a tinkerer and inventor of gadgets, including a patented refrigerating system. And he was an original thinker, who indeed came up with brilliant ideas. But perhaps his true genius was as a synthesizer, a collaborator, and a mentor of younger people.

And there might be a lesson in that for the rest of us.

(I published an earlier version of this in 2021.)

HEADLINES:

• Republicans cancel votes amid fight over Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund (NBC)

• GOP leaders abruptly cancel House vote on Iran war powers, shielding Trump from rebuke (CNN)

• Backlash to Trump’s $1.8B settlement fund delays GOP immigration bill (AP)

• Trump says he’s sending 5,000 more troops to Poland (NPR)

• The Supreme Court turns its back on 60 years of Black enfranchisement (FT)

• Autopsy of the autopsy: How the DNC’s 2024 post-mortem turned into a crisis (CNN)

• CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten said the longtime Democratic “fantasy” of turning Texas blue could actually happen in this year’s U.S. Senate race. “The GOP is right to be scared,” he wrote on X. (HuffPost)

• Russia and China condemn US over indictment of former Cuban leader (BBC)

• Iran is consolidating control of Hormuz (Reuters)

• This hard-line Iranian general is a major player in talks with US over war (AP)

• Iran reviews U.S. peace proposal as Trump says he’s willing to wait ‘a few days’ (CNBC)

• Russia flexes its nuclear muscles as tensions rise with NATO. (Reuters)

• UN backs historic climate crisis ruling, despite US attempts to stop resolution (Guardian)

• Trump tried to silence late-night hosts. They’re mocking him even more. (WP)

• RFK Jr. fires leaders of group that sets guidelines for preventive health screenings (AP)

• How Europe is fighting for digital sovereignty (Economist)

• SpaceX reveals plans for what could be the biggest-ever IPO (AP)

• Google is about to ruin the internet (BI)

• This Literary AI Scandal Changes Everything (Atlantic)

• The White House tore down AI rules. Now it’s building new defenses. (WP)

• Trump calls off AI executive order over concern it could weaken US tech edge (AP)

• Meta Lays Off 8,000 Employees, as A.I. Casualties Mount (NYT)

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Trying To Draw Foul While Shooting Free Throw (Onion)