Sand Hill Road

The final hurdle to getting one of my jobs was for me to meet with a venture capitalist who backed the company. So I drove along Sand Hill Road until I located his office in one of the low-slung buildings that cluster like wildebeests on the African plain.

It was my first time venturing into the belly of the beast, though not my first time using mixed metaphors.

My interlocuteur was, like me, a middle-aged fellow, casually dressed with an easy smile and a ready sense of humor. As he thumbed through my resume, he brought up the obvious entries — Rolling Stone, Wired Digital, Stanford — and noted that the co-founders considering to hire me to work in their startup were about half my (and his) age.

“I can work well with Gens X and Y,” I replied, noting that is precisely what I did at Wired Digital, Stanford and elsewhere.

“These guys probably could use someone with experience,” he mused, more thinking out-loud than addressing me. We both appreciated the irony that these young men felt they needed the approval of one elder (him) to hire another one (me).

He said, “Do you have any questions for me?”

I did: “What do you think the chances are this one will make it?”

“Well, it’s an election year and that’s a good thing for their content. The problem will be how they adapt to the post-election period, when there will be a downturn in public interest.”

I nodded. As a career journalist, I was accustomed to ups and downs of audience interest around elections and I felt I knew something about how to adjust content strategies accordingly.

Leaving Sand Hill Road and heading back to my flat in the Mission, I knew that I had secured the VC’s blessing and that the job now would be mine.

Indeed it was; thus started one of those fast-moving spurts that characterized my career’s middle years. This time, I was able to forge one-off partnerships with several major media companies, as well as with some digital stars.

We quickly built a large following with our election coverage and all things looked rosy until the election passed. Then — poof! — our audience stopping growing and we had the awful feeling of being on an airplane stalling mid-flight, with nowhere to go but down.

Nothing we tried worked. So the co-founders abruptly laid me off one chilly wintry morning and soon after my departure, their startup crashed and burst into flames.

That particular VC knew what he was talking about.

HEADLINES:

• Donald Trump’s spying on leftwing groups recalls J Edgar Hoover’s Cointelpro (Guardian)

• A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds most Americans, including nearly half of Republicans, think Trump has been improperly cashing in on his presidency. (Reuters)

• U.S. Eyes Lower Tariffs on Metals and Autos in Canada Trade Deal (WSJ)

• North Korea fires 10 missiles day after Trump curtails South Korea joint drills (Guardian)

• Trump threatens ‘Economic D-Day’ for Iran and ‘tremendous’ consequences for its backers (CNBC)

• USS George Washington Move a ‘National Security’ Risk for US: Ex-Admiral (Newsweek)

• Hegseth Covered Up the Real Reason the USS Lincoln Wasn’t Resupplied (TNR)

• Longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes to retire, citing differences with Pentagon leadership (AP)

• U.S. Debt Hits $40 Trillion as America’s Borrowing Binge Continues (NYT)

• Putin makes rare admission that Kyiv’s huge strikes are ‘causing us harm’ (Independent)

• ‘With All My Heart, Natalie.’ Trump’s Most Devoted Aide Emerges. (NYT)

• Unhinged White House response shows senator’s ‘Natalie’ barb struck a nerve (Guardian)

• Who is Natalie Harp, Trump’s right-hand woman? (BBC)

• Meet Natalie Harp, the aide so close to Trump she once rode in an SUV trunk to accompany him (CNN)

• Melania May Be Behind MAGA’s Natalie Harp Freakout (Bulwark)

• Cancer treatment could face landmark moment with promising vaccine (WP)

• COVID is ‘growing’ in nearly every state, CDC reports. Here’s where levels are highest (The Hill)

• Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets, endangering public health, education and more (Guardian)

• Why homes once banished to trailer parks are filling the suburbs (WP)

• Human-caused climate change was the main driver of recent record-breaking sea temperatures around Europe, scientists said on Wednesday, warning of severe consequences for marine ecosystems and coastal communities. (Reuters)

• Mamdani is going to town on the annoyance economy (BI)

• Harry and Meghan Will Move Back to Britain After 6 Years in U.S. (NYT)

• Lindsay Clancy’s trial puts postpartum psychosis in the spotlight (BBC)

• Scientists tracked kids for 8 years — the screen time result was unexpected (ScienceDaily)

• An AI boss just fired a worker in S.F. (SFC)

• OpenAI hit the brakes. Now what? (Verge)

• What Really Happens If China Wins the AI Race? (Atlantic)

• This may be the first academic profession to see its work taken over by AI (WP)

• Visit To Girlfriend’s Family Provides Illuminating Insight Into Why She’s Asian (Onion)

Sorting It All Out

What to remember; what to forget.

I think I’m at that stage of life when it’s time to sort things out. 

But then there’s this: Forgetting to remember; remembering to forget. It’s a blessing that I’m still able to make sense of my life, sort of, or at least those pieces of it I can still claim. 

On paper, the career is one thing. It is easy to retrace how I migrated from job to job, writer to editor, worker to executive, analog to web.

It was by most standards a successful career, although it didn’t really feel like it at times. But I was able to support my expanding family, while mostly doing work I believed in and was relatively good at.

Raising six kids was a challenge on many levels, but I think they know that I always tried to be there for them. I’m still learning things about how to be a better parent, if mainly through the process of watching them parent.

When to hold on; when to let go.

Love? Yes I fell in love more than once or twice and some of my relationships even lasted a while. But you never know with love. It can pop up all of a sudden in unexpected ways.

What to say; what not to say.

I never forget the friends I made along the way. I never forget the people who helped me. Most of all, I never forget my many, many mistakes. 

Now the challenge is to not forget to remember some and remembering to forget the others. That makes all the difference.

HEADLINES:

• Senator presses Hegseth, Caine for commitment to keep US military out of the midterm elections (AP)

• A Stunning Win for the Left in Florida: 6 Takeaways From Tuesday’s Primaries (NYT)

• S. Korea stresses US alliance amid confusion over Trump drill cut (NPR)

• Facing Quagmire in Iran, Trump Turns to a Familiar Face: North Korea’s Kim Jong-un (NYT)

• Trump says no talks with Iran taking place as standoff over Strait of Hormuz continues (CBS)

• U.A.E. Halts Trade Ties With Iran and Says It Was Targeted With Missiles (NYT)

• Iran is losing control of the Strait of Hormuz (CNN)

• Houthi Threat to Red Sea Shipping Rises (WSJ)

• Pentagon weighing smaller U.S. military presence in Gulf once Iran war ends (WP)

• The Moscow region is hit by a drone blitz as Russian missiles kill 10 in a Ukrainian village (AP)

• Russians pull billions from banks, fearing Kremlin will seize deposits for war (WP)

• Russia summons Japanese envoy following Putin's visit to disputed islands (AP)

• Preservationist group urges Supreme Court to keep White House ballroom paused (The Hill)

• Data centers, crypto, and tax revisions take center stage in Tuesday primaries (CNBC)

• White House Aide Natalie Harp Is at Center of Messy Brawl (WSJ)

• What to know about Natalie Harp, the Trump aide whom Ossoff put in the spotlight (WP)

• Trump’s Loose Grip on Reality Could Sink the Navy’s Ships (Nation)

• U.S. delays 50% tariff on Canadian imports. (NPR)

• US and Canada hold last-minute talks to stop Trump’s 50% tariffs (AP)

• Tariffs on Hold as Trump Claims Deal With Canada Is Near (NYT)

• National debt nears $40 trillion: How we got here and why it matters (PBS)

• White House Seeks to Lift Ban on Development in National Forests (NYT)

• Is big tech the new big tobacco? (Economist)

• Vaccine exemption rate for kindergarteners reaches record high: CDC (ABC)

• Nation’s Largest Reservoirs Are Drying Up, Threatening Life in the Southwest (NYT)

• President Donald Trump’s approval rating fell to the lowest level of his presidency, with an overwhelming majority of Americans concerned the U.S. war with Iran will last a long time [Reuters]

• Trump dwarfs his predecessors in the number of ultra-rich in his second White House, report shows (AP)

• California A.G. Rejects $1.88 Billion Paramount Bond, Says Company Wants a ‘Do-Over’ on Merger Delay (Variety)

• ABC sues FCC over challenge to its broadcast licenses, saying actions present ‘existential threat’ (AP)

• ‘The Daily Show’ faces uncertain future under Paramount (Semafor)

• White House attacks CNN reporter after Trump clash, invoking her children (WP)

• I’m a Psychiatrist. I’m Hearing Something New From Young Women. (NYT)

• The surprising ways reading fiction helps your brain (WP)

• Nicotine pouches have emerged as one of Big Tobacco’s most important bets on a future beyond cigarettes, offering rapid growth, attractive margins and, for now, lighter regulation than many rival smoking alternatives. (Reuters)

• Humans Love Having Pets. Seems Like Some Other Primates Do, Too. (NYT)

• The 25 most promising robotics startups in 2026 (BI)

• New data shows people are getting personal with AI (WP)

• Pete Hegseth Orders Military Blockade Of Woman Attempting To Walk Away From Him (Onion)

 

Fathers and Daughters

A subplot in the film Girls Like Girls is the relationship between 17-year-old Coley (Maya da Costa) and Curtis (Zach Braff), her father.

As the story opens, Coley and Curtis barely know each other, since he broke up with her mother when she was very young and apparently hasn’t seen Coley since.

Now that her mother is gone, Coley has moved in with Curtis and the two have an extremely awkward situation on their hands, characterized by his attempts to get close to her and her rebuffs, often with slammed doors and tears.

But Curtis, to his credit, doesn’t give up on his daughter, no matter how alienated she seems to become from him.

He doesn’t know what is going on with her emotionally, or about the strains on her new relationship with Sonya (Myra Molloy), but he finally breaks through to Coley through persistence and making clear he supports her no matter what.

“We can start by telling the truth,” he suggests.

That, I think, is the key during those torturous teenaged years — letting your daughter know you are there for her no matter what.

And although this father-daughter portrayal is secondary to the love story between Coley and Sonya, it’s one of factors that for me makes Girls Like Girls a great film.

HEADLINES:

• Dems plan Oman war powers push after Trump threatens bombing (Axios)

• Trump’s TACOs on Iran loom over his big threat to Oman (CNN)

• US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding expires: How and why it fell apart (Al Jazeera)

• U.S. and Iran Blow Through Deadline to Agree to a Broad Deal to End War (NYT)

• South Korea hopes for talks between US and North Korea after Trump downsizes military drills (AP)

• USS Washington to relieve USS Lincoln after concerns about the crew’s mental health (NPR)

• Supreme Court rebuffs Trump’s bid to overturn $5 million verdict in Carroll case (WP)

• Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) tore into President Donald Trump for botching the war on Iran, golfing, trading stocks and sleeping through meetings. But the one line that may have stood out most was a reference to aide Natalie Harp, who has grown so close to the president that he’s rarely seen without her nearby. [HuffPost]

• Blanche on whether DOJ will be independent: ‘I’m not going to pledge that’ (WP)

• Canada races to avoid new U.S. tariffs of up to 50% (NBC)

• Border Security Construction Paused at Big Bend National Park (NYT)

• Hundreds of migrants who recently entered Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta staged a protest on a popular urban beach, urging Spanish authorities to grant them asylum instead of sending them back to Morocco. (Reuters)

• CNN staffers brace for Paramount CEO’s potential plan to launch editorial board to oversee network (Fox)

• Prediction market traders see roughly 1-in-4 odds Paramount’s bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery fails (CNBC)

• Zuckerberg faces potential reckoning in court over Instagram’s effects on teens (WP)

• The first anti-AI protester to be jailed has a message for OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta: ‘Regain your humanity’ (Guardian)

• US to tell partners they must pick sides in AI race with China (Reuters)

• Trump aims to rebuild defenses against bioweapons as AI fears rise (WP)

• China Wants to Shape What the World’s A.I. Knows (NYT)

• Todd Blanche Vows To Remain Fully Independent Of The Law (Onion)

Girls Like Girls

The age-old debate when it comes to movies based on books is over which is better, the book or the movie?

Well that becomes a rather odd choice when the same person creates both the book and the movie.

Such is the case of Hayley Kiyoko’s film, Girls Like Girls, released theatrically this past June and as of this past weekend on Peacock. 

The story centers around 17-year-old Coley (Maya da Costa), who in the summer of 2006 has relocated from San Diego following her mother’s death by suicide to a small town in Oregon to live with the father she barely knows, Curtis (Zach Braff).

There she meets Sonya (Myra Molloy), who invites her to hang out with her group of teenagers.

Coley and Sonya are immediately attracted to each other, which upsets Sonya’s boyfriend, Trenton (Levon Hawke), who then becomes more possessive of Sonya and hostile toward Coley.

As tensions within the group rise, another boy, Alex (Alozie LaRose), is kind to Coley when she is feeling like an outcast.

The girls struggle to protect their nascent relationship, amid self-doubts and the excruciating pain of a first love, let alone one outside of social norms and expectations. There are misunderstandings and heartaches; high highs and low lows.

The usual labels for a semi-autobiographical story like this are a “coming-of-age” story or a “coming out” film, both of which would be accurate, but this special project transcends those categories to become a universal story about loneliness, attraction, ambivalence, discovery, rebellion, acceptance, rejection, love and hope.

In the end, this is a story about hope.

Director Hayley Kiyoko is a multi-talented actor, singer and author. She wrote several of the songs for the film’s soundtrack, including her 2015 hit single and viral video, “Girls Like Girls.” The song plays over the credits rolling after the film’s ostensible ending.

But — Spoiler Alert! — be sure to let the song play out and the credits to finish because there is still one last scene in this little gem of a film.

As for the debate about the book vs. the movie, the book Girls Like Girls, which was published in 2023, apparently based on the music video, reads almost like a backstory for the movie, which leads me to believe that that was Hayley Kiyoko’s intent all along.

The book utilizes the conceit of Coley and Sonya’s diary entries to reveal their inner feelings for each other, whereas much of the tension in the film revolves around whether Coley’s love for Sonya is unrequited or will be returned.

The book removes that tension, which makes it far less satisfying for me than the film, but I’m sure the book proved essential to the actors as they learned their parts.

Girls Like Girls from Focus Features is not a big budget affair; the film was shot in British Columbia in just 23 days and some of the scenes in the Final Cut were first or second takes. Some additional notes:

• Maya da Costa is Canadian of Portuguese and Vietnamese descent.

• Myra Molloy was born and raised in Bangkok to a Thai mother and an American father.

• Levon Hawke is the son of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman and younger brother of actress Maya Hawke.

• Hayley Kiyoko’s parents are Canadian figure skater and choreographer Sarah Kawahara and actor/comedian Jamie Alcroft.

At a time when political leaders seek to sow fear about our differences, this film and the people who made it are testament to the positive contributions of diversity in all of its forms.

HEADLINES:

• As China Pushes to Expand in Asia, Trump Focuses on Iran (NYT)

• Trump orders Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea (AP)

• Trump’s Overture to Kim Jong-un Strains Alliance With South Korea (NYT)

• This Sprawling Chinese Refinery Is Bankrolling Tehran (WSJ)

• Trump threatens to bomb Oman with Iran war stuck in stalemate as 60-day negotiation period ends (CBS)

• Israel's Ben Gvir advocates killing '30 to 40' people in Gaza nightly while speaking to ex-hostage (AP)

• Iran’s other nuclear weapons option — plutonium bombs (The Hill)

• There’s a reason why Israel has done little to rein in settler violence. It’s not just Netanyahu (AP)

• Trump says White House needs ‘military complex’ as courts block his ballroom (WP)

• Democrats demand answers from Trump on USS Abraham Lincoln conditions (Guardian)

• Lala is again a tropical storm, sending drenching rain and winds across Hawaii (NPR)

• Angry at the Supreme Court, liberals push a slew of plans for overhauling it (WP)

• Paramount rejects reports it may sell CNN as pressure builds for concessions in WBD merger dispute (BTN)

• Cassidy attacks ‘crazy, stupid’ Trump comments on vaccines as he denies regret for RFK Jr. vote (Independent)

• How Cyclospora Evaded the U.S. Food Safety System to Sicken Thousands (NYT)

• Canadian business braced for 50% US tariffs (FT)

• The Republicans Are Going to Kill People—but Not Until After They Vote (TNR)

• US military base schools put new emphasis on Western civilization and Christianity (AP)

• Todd Blanche reaffirms ‘anti-weaponization’ fund is ‘dead’ (The Hill)

• Todd Blanche declines to pledge independence from White House (Guardian)

• Lake Powell, the vital reservoir for the Southwest, hits record low (USAToday)

• Trump told Ukraine it had no cards. Then Kyiv took the war to Russia (AP)

• Bot Meets Bot — Are we ready for a world where machines are mostly talking to each other? (NYT)

• These ‘Masturbation Consultants’ Were Hired to Pleasure Themselves With AI (Wired)

• We asked ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity for financial advice: what we got was practical, but with big blind spots (The Conversation)

• Announcers Watch Angels-Royals Game In Total Silence (Onion)

TODAY’s LYRICS:

Girls Like Girls” by Hayley Kiyoko

[Intro]
Ooh, boy
Ooh, boy
Ooh, boy (Boys)
Ooh, boy

[Verse 1]
Stealing kisses from your missus
Does it make you freak out?
Got you fussing, got you worried
Scared to let your guard down
Boys (Ooh, boy)
Boys (Ooh, boy)
Tell the neighbors I’m not sorry
If I’m breaking walls down
Building your girl’s second story
Ripping all your floors out

[Chorus]
Saw your face, heard your name, gotta get with you
Girls like girls, like boys do, nothing new
Isn’t this why we came? Gotta get with you
Girls like girls, like boys do, nothing new
Girls like girls, like boys do, nothing new

[Post-Chorus]
Boys
Ooh, boy
Ooh, boy

Sunday Reads

HEADLINES:

• Homes reportedly swept away as Hurricane Lala triggers flash flood emergency on Hawaii Island (HNN)

• Ukraine targets Moscow in mass drone attack as Russia bombards Kyiv (Al Jazeera)

• US pulls last aircraft carrier in Asia as Trump focuses on Iran and the Western Hemisphere (AP)

• Iran Tells Trump: ‘Accept The Reality’ He Can’t Make Strait Of Hormuz U.S. Territory (Forbes)

• U.S.-Iran ceasefire set to expire with talks at a standstill (Politico)

• The Iran War Is Now About Who Blinks First Under Economic Pressure (WSJ)

• Navy Carrier’s Problems Are Tied to Attacks on U.S. Base Early in War (NYT)

• US aircraft carrier furore is emblem of growing disquiet over Iran war (FT)

• US wants Netanyahu to condemn West Bank settler siege (Reuters)

• Trump accuses nonprofit organization of revealing ‘top military secrets’ in ballroom case (The Hill)

• New White House East Wing renderings reveal gold additions (Axios)

• Trump’s grocery photo op returns to haunt him (Reuters)

• Americans sour on Donald Trump’s economy as affordability strains intensify (FT)

• Democrats Reshape 2028 Presidential Primary Calendar, and Put South Carolina First (NYT)

• A tour of the 7 key Senate races (Silver Bulletin)

• Why Kansas might elect its first Democratic senator in nearly 100 years (WP)

• Why standing at your desk may be little better than sitting (Economist)

• Is Paramount’s Merger-Hungry David Ellison Making it Up As He Goes? (TPM)

• Fauci, RFK Jr., and the Latest in American Health (Reveal)

• ‘Very extreme’ wildfire conditions stretch across Europe (Reuters)

• Jason Arday, Cambridge professor accused of plagiarism, is found dead (NPR)

• Double jeopardy could spell end of state case after Luigi Mangione’s guilty plea (Guardian)

• Plan to build apartments over a Nazi bunker reignites debate in Berlin (WP)

• You need a telescope for this Anthropic IPO valuation (Reuters)

• AI can design new viruses. That’s not as scary as it sounds. (WP)

• Manager Calls Bullpen Just To Say Hi (Onion)

 

The Ghosts of Balkh

(NOTE: I published the first version of this essay in 2021 right after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan. It also appears in an anthology published by Journal of the Plague Years. This week the Taliban’s treatment of the Afghan people is back in the news.)

For me and many others who love Afghanistan this week has been a struggle. It’s difficult to express our feelings about the situation in English; it would be much easier in Dari. That language encourages the intimacy of connection and the pain of loss in ways it is awkward to do in English.

English is a language of the brain; Dari is a language of the heart.

When you encounter a friend in a village in Afghanistan, you both stop where you were headed to embrace, hold hands and inquire about each other’s heart, body, mind, family, and so on. It can be a long list and if you’ve not met recently, these greetings may take a while.

And when you really stop and think about it, what is it that matters more in life than expressing how we feel about each other?

In Dari you are able to say “my heart loves your heart” in a way that does not imply romantic love but does capture how much you truly care for each other. It doesn’t sound odd at all.

Meanwhile, in America all too often our encounters start with “How are you?” And end with “Fine. You?”

In fact it is so unsatisfying to me that I try, and I know this is weird, to adapt something of Dari rituals when talking with my American friends. Each person is made of specific qualities I value, so despite the limitations of our language, I always try to say what I mean and to mean what I say.

Especially when I say “I love you,” that is exactly how I feel.

***

As an aggregator of the news, one of my main goals is to locate what is hopeful about otherwise crushing developments if I can, but in the case of Afghanistan right now this is difficult.

Some news reports suggest that the Taliban have fundamentally changed, but I doubt that. They say they will extend amnesty to government workers, respect the rights of women, and preside over a peaceful transition of power, but those are empty promises until we see proof.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of historical precedent for what usually happens when guerrilla forces assume power, and that record is soaked with the blood of innocents.

Sadly, Afghanistan has been criss-crossed by conquerers throughout its recorded history. Just to mention a few of the empires that resulted: Alexander the Great and his Macedonians, the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Indo-Sassanids, Kabul Shahi, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Kartids, Timurids, Hotakis and the Durranis.

In their oral histories, Afghans most often bring up the Mongol invaders, starting with Genghis Khan in 1221. And they talk about him and others as if they are still around the next bend.

For example, just north of the town of Taloqan is a magnificent landmark known as کوه بز سیاه, which translates as Black Goat Mountain.

While riding in the back of a truck from Khanabad packed with people, goats and chickens fifty years ago, I spoke with a man who recounted stories that have been passed from father to son over the past thousand years.

“When they rode in last time, the Mongols cut off the heads of a million people,” he said, repeating an account that I had heard many times before.

“And they will be back. Just on the other side of Black Goat Mountain there are hundreds of thousands of Mongols waiting to return.”

I guess he was referring to the peaceful Uzbek population of Takhar Province, living in what has long been a poor agricultural area.

A few hundred miles to the west of Takhar, during a visit to Mazar-e-Sharif, I heard similar tales about the Hazara population living in a nearby isolated valley. “They will ride in here soon, so watch out.”

Nearby are the ruins of Balkh, a legendary city in the pre-Mongol era, with some of the most ghostly remains I have ever visited. Somewhere in my boxes in storage may still be the shards of pottery I collected at the site, which appeared to be many centuries old.

Balkh is where historians confirm that Mongol hordes did in fact decapitate many residents when they struck, and if the eerie winds whistling through the area are not the voices of those long dead, my imagination must have betrayed me.

Among Afghanistan’s intractable problems is the stark reality that it less an actual country than the cobbled together homeland for at least seven major tribal groups. Besides the Uzbeks and the Hazara, there are the Tajiks, Pashtus, Turkomans, Baluchis, and Nuristanis.

Plus four or five smaller groups, most notably the Kochi, who are nomads.

The name of the country means “Land of the Afghans,” which is what the largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, call themselves. That name leaves every other group out, which complicates matters immensely.

My point here is that Afghanistan has plenty of internal problems without outsiders like the British, Russians and Americans getting involved. No foreign occupier ever stays for long anyway, because the local people simply won’t tolerate them.

And once the foreigners leave, the Afghans get back to business as usual. What that means is inter-ethnic competition and violence.

So as of August 2021, after decades of operating as a guerrilla army, the Taliban have to figure out how to somehow govern what many believe to be an ungovernable land. Not only are the traditional tribal loyalties an issue, the big cities, especially Kabul, have modernized over the past 20 years and millions of men and women are now educated.

The educated class wants nothing of the ancient ways. They want what all modern people want — a peaceful life, a better life. Will the Taliban throw all of that progress away and chop off the head of the modernizing society they’ve inherited? Or will they grow into the moment and embrace the future?

The ghosts of Balkh have been waiting a thousand years for the answers to those questions.

HEADLINES:

• The Taliban has taken a terrible toll on the education of girls — and boys as well (NPR)

• Afghan Women Erased From Public Life in Five Years of Taliban Rule (NYT)

• The Taliban are vile. Democracies must still engage with them (Economist)

• Truth Social’s sale of fast access to Trump posts draws legal concerns (WP)

• 5 people shot at Virginia State University as police investigate multiple shooters (AP)

• Magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes off Indonesia’s coast, killing at least 38 (NPR)

• Karoline Leavitt Finally Tells the Truth—as She Leaves Press Sec. Job (TNR)

• The livin’ is no longer so easy: How carefree dreams of ‘summertime’ are fading in 2026’s swelter (AP)

• Is there a summer COVID-19 surge this year? Yep, it’s ramping up again (NPR)

• Deaths of 3 ICE Detainees Prompt Questions About Medical Care (NYT)

• US special forces ready to step up combat drills in Philippines and help deter aggression in Asia (AP)

• Trump shrugs off concerns about dismal conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln (Axios)

• Hormuz traffic slows further after US threatens more economic pressure on Iran (Reuters)

• Saudi Arabia announces start of Red Sea defence alliance: Will it work? (Al Jazeera)

• Israeli settlers’ siege of Palestinian homes draws a sharp US rebuke (AP)

• The US says it can keep up a naval blockade on Iran 'indefinitely,' as oil traders and policymakers wonder whether global oil stocks are big enough to weather another six months of war. (Reuters)

• DOJ deploys tactic to strip naturalized Americans of citizenship (PBS)

• Trump asks Supreme Court to allow ballroom work to continue (BBC)

• Here’s how Lake Mead water crisis could affect California (ABC)

• California Ignored Sexual Abuse of Women in Prison, Justice Dept. Says (NYT)

• My encounter with Carlos the Jackal, the world’s first celebrity terrorist (WP)

• Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO (AP)

• Philanthropy’s best-kept secret: the more you have, the less you’re required to give (Fortune)

• Salvage Company Hoping to Sell Titanic Artifacts Challenges Court’s Role (NYT)

• 1965 Hit, Sung by a 19-Year-Old in Response to Bob Dylan, Began Its 3-Week Run at No. 1 61 Years Ago Today (Parade)

• AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users (Economist)

• The web’s newest weapon against AI scrapers is a font (ArsTechnica)

• Apple trains its own AI model for the Chinese market (Reuters)

• American anxiety about AI is becoming a political force in the midterms (AP)

• Trump Downplays Significance Of Trump Tower Found On Epstein Island (Onion)

 

Resilience

Every now and then I discover a little gem of a story that seems to have escaped public attention. Such is the case with “Changeover,” a low-budget film from 2016 about a teenager who is suffering from PTSD after losing her parents in a car crash.

She won’t speak to anybody and is suicidal when brought to live with her only living relatives, an uncle and his young son.

The film tells the story of the awkward but sincere efforts by the uncle (Estes Tarver) to bring the girl (Madeline Taylor) back from the depths of hell. He is aided by a therapist (Carrie Marshall).

They all give understated but impressive performances that resonate emotionally with the viewer. The film handles difficult topics — loss, grief, depression, anxiety — with grace and hope.

In the end, it is a story of resilience.

The film is available free (with ads) on YouTube and is not to be confused with the New Zealand horror film called “The Changeover.”

HEADLINES:

• Sailor went overboard from the USS Abraham Lincoln last month as conditions on the ship prompt lawmakers’ demand for answers (CNN)

• Officials Demand USS Abraham Lincoln Investigation as Families Raise Alarm (Newsweek)

• Russian Strikes on Dozens of Grain Ships Threaten Global Food Supplies (NYT)

• Ukrainian drones strike a major refinery deep inside Russia, setting it ablaze (AP)

• Covert CIA program said to be behind mysterious attacks on Galápagos boats (WP)

• Tehran Has to Make a Choice (Atlantic)

• GOP senators not happy with Trump administration’s handling of Iran funding request (The Hill)

• U.S. Investigated Left-Leaning Groups During Minnesota Immigration Crackdown (NYT)

• Flock Safety instituting new privacy measures in response to backlash (Fox)

• ICE Plans to Give Officers Gloves That Can Deliver Electric Shocks (NYT)

• Judge dismisses Trump administration lawsuit alleging Harvard failed to protect Jewish students (Reuters)

• As Abdul El-Sayed breaks a barrier, anti-Muslim vitriol surges on multiple fronts (AP)

• The Democratic field for president is starting to take shape. (WP)

• Paramount Has Discussed Creating a Board to Ensure CNN’s Independence (WSJ)

• Inside Paramount, employees say they have bigger concerns than a reported plan to ditch California (BI)

• Kennedy Center Board Decides to Inscribe Trump’s Name on Building (NYT)

• Why Karoline Leavitt might be impossible for Trump to replace (CNN)

• The Next Global Economic Crisis Could Be Made in China (Foreign Affairs)

• California announces voluntarily cancellation of common commercial pesticide Paraquat (Sacramento Bee)

• The secret network fueling megayacht sales (BI)

• A blue whale’s call, pitched so low it sits below the threshold of human hearing, can travel 1,600 kilometres through the ocean’s deep SOFAR channel — a natural acoustic tunnel discovered by the US Navy during the Second World War that whales had been using for millions of years before we found it. (ScienceBlog)

• The Silicon Valley Health Trend Making Doctors Nervous (NYT)

• Mangione lawyers to meet federal prosecutors amid reports of plea deal (BBC)

• It May Be Time to Panic About AI (Atlantic)

• Silicon Valley’s AI boom is remaking American charity (Economist)

• Tearful Mark Zuckerberg Smothers Metaverse Avatar With Digital Pillow (Onion)