Fox Stands Up

I’m no fan of Fox News. 

It bears responsibility to a large degree for the rise of Trump and a large portion of his cabinet has been drawn from the ranks of former Fox hosts, including perhaps the worst secretary of defense in history, Pete Hegseth.

And it is Hegseth’s new policy barring Pentagon correspondents from doing their jobs reporting inside military headquarters that has caused an uproar among those defending the First Amendment.

Almost universally, media organizations have condemned Hegeth’s policy, and that includes Fox News.

So credit where credit is due. For once, Fox has done the right thing for the right reason.

Without an effective press aggressively covering the Trump administration’s reach for authoritarian power, our democracy is doomed.

Perhaps, even the decision-makers at Fox now recognize this is the case.

HEADLINES:

• News organizations, including Hegseth’s former employer Fox, reject new Pentagon reporting rules (AP)

• Hegseth’s legal fixer at the center of Pentagon’s new media restrictions (WP)

• Why I’m handing in my Pentagon press pass (NPR)

• News outlets broadly reject Pentagon rules before deadline for signing (WP)

• The Beacon of Democracy Goes Dark (Atlantic)

• Mental health, substance abuse staffers fired amid government shutdown (ABC)

• ICE’s use of full-body restraints during deportations raises concerns over inhumane treatment (AP)

• Marjorie Taylor Greene, tearing into her own party, says GOP men in Congress are ‘weak’ (WP)

• America Needs a Mass Movement—Now (Atlantic)

• Supreme Court reopens debate on key part of Voting Rights Act (WP)

• Trump’s gamble on Argentina looms over IMF-World Bank summit (Politico)

• Six killed after US strikes another boat off coast of Venezuela (CNN)

• Israel limits aid and keeps Rafah crossing closed in dispute over hostage remains (Guardian)

• Madagascar army says it has taken control after President Rajoelina impeached (France24)

• Jimmy Kimmel’s Rare Praise Of Donald Trump Ends With A Biting Twist (HuffPost)

• He supported the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Now he may be deported to the Taliban. (WP)

• Can America recover from Trump? Here’s what new data says. (Vox)

• Kathy Mattea Inducted Into Grand Ole Opry As Suzy Bogguss Invited To Join The Family (MusicRow)

• Google Meet launches an AI-powered makeup feature (TechCrunch)

• Financial Advisors Recommend Throwing Away Unopened Bills (Onion)

 

American Diary

There is a relatively obscure book I like to reread at times like these called Berlin Diary by William L. Shirer, who is much better known for The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

He published Diary in 1941 just as the cataclysm known as World War II was getting under way, and two decades before his other, larger work became a best-seller.

The reason I originally was attracted to earlier book, and still am, is that as an American journalist stationed in Europe, Shirer was able to capture the intrigue of a moment when everyone knew they were on the verge of something immense but none among them could possibly know the scale of what was about to happen, how bad it might get, or how it would all turn out in the end.

It is in these moments that we can hope for the best and prepare for the worst but we can’t know. The relationships with family and friends that we cultivate, solidify or reignite at these times have the potential to help sustain us through the difficult weeks, months and yeas to come.

The movie Casablanca provides those same kinds of insights into the emotional intensity of such moments to the screen, and not surprisingly in retrospect, it was released at roughly the same time as Berlin Diary.

Now it feels as if we may be at another one of those tipping points of history. Hopefully, this one will be less cataclysmic than global war, but the parallels between Trump and Hitler’s rise are too great to ignore. Trump is reshaping our lives and relationships as if we are collectively frozen in time watching a massive train wreck occur in slow motion.

It may prove to be at some future point that we were powerless to prevent it — that like Shirer and Edward R. Murrow we are merely eyewitnesses to the history unfolding before us. Alternatively, it may be that by speaking out, standing up, and reaching out that we can as yet still avert the disaster that would be the collapse of our democracy.

But whatever may be about to happen — or more hopefully, not happen — we’ll still all have each other, and now is a good time to acknowledge that those connections matter.

HEADLINES:

• What the Founders Would Say Now (Atlantic)

• Living Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are freed as part of Gaza ceasefire (AP)

• U.S. measles cases continue to climb, with outbreaks across the country (NPR)

• China accuses US of ‘double standards’ over tariff threat (BBC)

• Chinese Exports Surge, Giving Xi Stronger Hand in Trade Fight (Bloomberg)

• Media companies thought late night TV was irrelevant. Kimmel proved them wrong (NPR)

• The Indictment of Letitia James and the Collapse of Impartial Justice (New Yorker)

• Trust in the Supreme Court has eroded — its integrity must be restored (The Hill)

• A handful of US Senate Republicans are wrestling with the impending expiration of health insurance subsidies that are the primary sticking point in the government shutdown standoff that entered its 13th day. (Reuters)

• Historic wave of retirements is putting huge strains on the government (WP)

• The planet has entered a ‘new reality’ as it hits its first climate tipping point, landmark report finds (CNN)

• Border Clash Between Afghanistan and Pakistan Threatens a Wider Conflict (NYT)

• A New Algorithm Makes It Faster to Find the Shortest Paths (Wired)

• An AI became a crypto millionaire. Now it’s fighting to become a person (BBC)

• Ghoul Americans Celebrate Demonic Heritage Month (Onion)

 

Acts of Resistance

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. 

                                                                                                                   -- Edmond Burke

***

Good morning. It’s a new week and life in Trump's America continues to become more complicated in troubling ways.

But we still have, for now, our treasured freedom of speech. So for readers of this newsletter, I have a number of suggestions for ways to resist Trump’s grab for authoritarian power.

These are small acts, but they add up to a plan going forward.

• Join or support the “No Kings” protests next Saturday, the 18th.

• “Like” country singer Zach Bryan’s song, “Bad News”

• In California, vote “yes’ on Prop 50.

• Contact your Congressional representatives in the House or the Senate.

• Wear anti-Trump or anti-ICE items of clothing.

• Display anti-Trump or anti-ICE signs.

  Watch Jimmy Kimmel’s shows.

• Write op-eds or Letters to the Editor.

• Support the Human Rights Data Analysis Group.

• Support the Journal of the Plague Years.

• Support your favorite media outlet, especially local organizations and the Local NEWS Network.

• Forward this newsletter to a friend.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list — it’s just a smattering of scattershot ideas based on essays I’ve published recently.Those of you who are more-activist-oriented probably can do better. Feel free to add other ideas in the Comment section at the bottom of this newsletter.

And find your best way to join the Resistance.

Sunday Mix

HEADLINES:

• Mass layoffs begin as government shutdown stretches into second week (CBS)

• CDC cuts hit staff dealing with measles, Ebola and disease forecasting (WP)

• ‘Portland is Portlanding’: ICE protests shift tone as court weighs Trump’s troop deployment (Oregonian)

• Chicago TV journalist pushed to ground and arrested during Ice raid, later released (Guardian)

• Marc Benioff Says Trump Should Send Guard Troops to San Francisco (NYT)

• Trump announces 130% tariffs on China. The global trade war just came roaring back (CNN)

• Billionaire MacKenzie Scott doubles down on DEI with $42 million donation (Fortune)

• Scientists make incredible breakthrough that could change future of construction: ‘A significant advancement’ (TechCrunch)

• MIT rejects Trump administration deal for priority federal funding (WP)

• Joe Biden undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer treatment (ABC)

• Country music star facing MAGA ‘go woke, go broke’ threat got a mega-deal this year (PennLive)

• Sailing into Dictatorship (Journal of the Plague Years)

• Ghost of Gamergate (Slate)

• Why Hamas gambled on giving up Gaza hostages (Reuters)

• North Korea displays new long-range missile at a military parade celebrating Kim Jong Un (NBC)

• The Race to Stop AI’s Threats to Democracy (Reveal)

• AI videos of dead celebrities are horrifying many of their families (WP)

• Americans Demand Their Voices Be Heard And Also Some Kind Of Dessert You Get After Breakfast (Onion)

VIDEO:

Zach Bryan - Bad News 2 (Full Unreleased Song) | Anti-ICE Anthem | By Byte Jugglers

The Night Nurse

One hot, humid night in southern India many years ago, a night nurse lifted the mosquito netting around my bed and stepped inside, letting the net fall back into place behind her. She whispered, “Are you awake?”

I said yes. Her dark brown face was inches from mine. At first, all I could see were the whites of her eyes and teeth. I felt her breath falling softly against my skin, which was feverish and wet. She felt like a fresh breeze in the heavy tropical night.

As my eyes adjusted to the faint light in the room, I gradually became aware that she was patiently and systematically capturing the mosquitos flying around inside my netting one by one. This was a laborious process; often she would miss the insect on her first try but would persist until she succeeded. Whenever she caught one, she would carefully lift the net and allow it to fly off free into the night.

I thought I might be dreaming or hallucinating — both of which occurred at that time in that place — but this was real. She kept at it until every last insect had been freed from threatening me, a pale six-foot-tall young man whose weight had plummeted down to 97 pounds as I was battling a combination of typhoid fever and salmonella.

During the weeks of our nightly meetings under the mosquito netting, I grew to depend on her visits. I also was slowly recovering my strength until I could be released from the hospital. As I got to know the day nurses who had brought me back from the near-dead, I discovered the reason why the night nurse was assigned to that shift.

She had suffered from a disfiguring case of smallpox as a child, resulting in a bad scarring of her face.

By my last night in the hospital, I was no longer sweating my fluids away, so when she came to check on me her breath felt warm. “You will be going,” she whispered. “Good-bye.”

“Good-bye, and thank you,” I whispered back. “I think you are the most beautiful nurse of all.”

HEADLINES:

• Trump officials say “substantial” federal worker layoffs have begun (Axios)

• Trump announces 100 percent tariff on China in response to rare earth controls (The Hill)

• Joe Rogan Tears into Trump’s Immigration Crackdown: ‘Horrific’ (Newsweek)

• L.A. County Considers Emergency Declaration Over Immigration Raids (Cal Today)

• Tensions mount between Trump administration, judges (WP)

• What the Founders Would Say Now (Atlantic)

• Trump Threatens to Cancel Meeting With China’s Xi and Impose New Tariffs (NYT)

• Trump Launches Wild Self-Soothing Posting Spree After Nobel Snub (Daily Beast)

• Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction (WP)

• Blast at a Tennessee explosives plant leaves multiple people dead and missing, sheriff says (AP)

• Israeli hostage release countdown begins as Palestinians return to Gaza’s north (CBS)

• The universe is too big for us to be alone, right? A NASA scientist weighs in (Boing Boing)

• Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica (CNN)

• The Simple Steps That Can Prevent Dementia (WSJ)

• I’m a neuroscientist. Here’s how to maintain good cognitive health at any age (Independent)

• It sure looks like Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has no idea what a placenta is. [HuffPost]

• This experiment could end all life. Or it won’t. Should we try it? (Vox)

• The A.I. Prompt That Could End the World (NYT)

• ICE Boasts Zero Murders Committed By 5-Year-Olds Since Child Detainments Began (Onion)

Extreme Measures

 These are extreme times and they require some choices I would prefer to avoid.

Take gerrymandering, the practice by which the party in power redraws Congressional districts to squeeze more seats out of the electorate. I hate it.

But yesterday I mailed in my ballot in California’s special election in favor of Proposition 50.

This is the measure proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to counter the move by the GOP in Texas to gerrymander up to five seats in next year’s midterm election.

I don’t mean to be overly dramatic, but that election — assuming it is not cancelled under some sort of pretext by Trump — may be our best chance to check Trump’s naked grab for complete power.

To do so we will need any extra seats Newsom can squeeze out of my state to counter Texas.

Extra times sometimes require hard choices. This is one.

HEADLINES:

• The Moral Foundation of America (Atlantic)

• The Nobel Peace Prize Didn’t Go to Trump (AP)

• Venezuela’s opposition leader Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize, White House critical (Reuters)

• Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivals (Guardian)

• Israel and Hamas sign Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal (Reuters)

• The Insurrection Problem (Atlantic)

• Pentagon’s revised press rules are unacceptable, journalists’ group says (WP)

• Hegseth’s firing of Navy official compounds ‘culture of fear’ inside Pentagon (Politico)

• Pete Hegseth Wants Women Out of the Military—and He’s Not Hiding It (ACLU)

• Pam Bondi More ‘Reprehensible’ Than Nixon’s Attorney General: Ex-White House Lawyer (HuffPost)

• Oregon bid to block Trump’s National Guard orders hits skeptical appeals court (Axios)

• Kristi Noem calls Oregon leaders liars, says feds will ‘double down’ in Portland (Oregonian)

• Brace for the Single Largest Spike in Health Insurance Premiums—Ever (Mother Jones)

• Scientists Completed a Toxicity Report on This Forever Chemical. The EPA Hasn’t Released It. (ProPublica)

• HHS hits back at former surgeons general who wrote op-ed saying RFK Jr. is endangering nation’s health (ABC)

• Pope Leo urged the world’s Catholics to help immigrants in his first major document, which invoked one of the late Pope Francis’ strongest criticisms of Trump’s anti-immigration policies. (Reuters)

• Stephen Miller Cited ‘Plenary Authority,’ Then Paused. Conspiracy Theories Started Flying. (NYT)

• The Great Whitewashing of American History Orchestrated by Generalisimo Donald Trump (Daily Kos)

• X-rated, AI-generated country songs are taking over the internet (Economist)

• Will AI destroy us? Consider the nature of intelligence. (WP)

• Bored National Guard Goes Door To Door Asking If Chicagoans Have Any Order They Need Restored (Onion)

MUSIC: Zach Bryan - Bad News (Cover Full Song) | “Didn’t wake up dead, or in jail”

Bad News, Country Style

Unless you’re into country music, you may not be familiar with Zach Bryan. He’s a 29-year-old singer-songwriter and Navy veteran from Oklahoma.

As a singer, Bryan has had a string of hits, won numerous awards, and has sold over 30 million albums and singles.

As a writer, he’s had a number of hits as well, including I Remember Everything, featuring Kacey Musgraves, who I’ve profiled previously (Follow Your Arrow).

Bryan released some lines from a new song, “Bad News,” this week, including this: “And ICE is gonna come bust down your door, try to build a house no one builds no more, but I got a telephone, kids are all scared and all alone.”

The line provoked an outraged reaction from members of the Trump administration, who considered it an attack on Trump’s violent immigration policy. But Bryan explained the song is about his love for the country and anyone who uses it “as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are.”

Bryan added: “Left wing or right wing we’re all one bird and American. To be clear I’m on neither of these radical sides,” he said. “To all those disappointed in me on either side of whatever you believe just know I’m trying my best too and we all say things that are misconstrued sometimes. Everyone have a great day and I love each and every one of ya!!!”

We could use more Zach Bryans, people who just tell the truth. 

Video: Zach Bryan - Bad News [Unreleased]

HEADLINES:

• The American Experiment (Atlantic)

• Israel and Hamas Reach Deal on Hostage and Prisoner Exchange (NYT)

• Central witness undermines case against James Comey, prosecutors concluded (ABC)

• Comey Pleads Not Guilty and Will Seek to Dismiss Charges as Vindictive (NYT)

• Some 58% of Americans - including seven in 10 Democrats and half of Republicans - think the president should send armed troops only to face external threats, a sign of unease as Trump increasingly deploys National Guard troops to police American cities. (Reuters)

• A quarter of FBI agents are assigned to immigration enforcement, internal data shows (WP)

• More FAA staffing shortages as government shutdown enters 8th day (CNN)

• Who Can Lead the Democrats? (NewYorker)

• Welcome to Zero Migration America (Economist)

• 1 in 5 people in US is Latino for first time in history (NewsNation)

• Noem threatens ‘four times’ more federal officers to Portland after meeting with mayor (ABC)

• Professor who teaches about antifascism moves to Europe after death threats (WP)

• Speaker Johnson said he’d swear in new House Democrat ‘as soon as she wants.’ Now Republicans are backtracking (CNN)

• Justin Pearson, ‘Tennessee Three’ Democrat, to Run for Congress (NYT)

• Zach Bryan responds to backlash over song ‘Bad News’ amid claims it is anti-ICE (NBC)

• Trump posts on Truth Social that Chicago Mayor Johnson, Gov. Pritzker “should be in jail” (CBS)

• Russia escalates warning as Trump considers sale of Tomahawks to Ukraine (WP)

• 29-year-old former Uber driver arrested in connection with starting deadly Palisades Fire (NBC)

• How Israel’s invasion has shattered lives, livelihoods and learning in Gaza (WP)

• Anthropic’s ‘anti-China’ stance triggers exit of star AI researcher (South China Morning Post)

• Will AI destroy us? Consider the nature of intelligence. (WP)

• MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ Awarded To Inventor Of Eatin’ Shirt (Onion)