Monday, March 16, 2026

Work's Meaning

When it comes to the physical evolution of the human species over time, our bodies — including our brains — have changed very little. Slowly it seems most of us get a bit bigger, a bit heavier and quit a bit less hairy.

What about our behavior? Are we getting smarter?

Well, we’ve gotten more sophisticated in using tools, building nests, crafting comfortable clothing, inventing vehicles that let us zoom around the planet, and establishing routines that are meant to optimize pleasure.

We’ve improved our medical knowledge and expanded our lifespans.

And we’ve been able to accomplish all these things largely by inventing technologies.

But are we happier?

Technology inherently is neither good nor bad. It is officially neutral like Switzerland, although neutrality also is a relative concept. But if there are imperatives to the evolution of our species they probably include a technological component, i.e., we are going to continue to experiment and develop technologies that extend our reach — physically, mentally and maybe even emotionally.

Artificial intelligence and robotics are the latest examples of this imperative. No government or religion seems able to stop this process.

But technological progress is also inherently disorienting and disruptive. It was becoming commonplace several years ago to describe each new upheaval of our traditional industries in terms that it had just been disrupted by the internet, or by a digital device, or a software application.

Suddenly it seemed that all of the middlemen, all of the intermediaries who held our society together were being thrown out of work. The technical term is that they were getting disintermediated.

Travel agents? Disintermediated.

Secretaries? Disintermediated.

Taxi drivers? Disintermediated.

Publishers? Disintermediated.

Finally, a year ago, this process reached the federal government in the form of Elon Musk’s DOGE.

Government workers? Disintermediated. 

Now even the tech companies are facing mass layoffs, blaming AI. Meanwhile, the disrupters always ask the same rhetorical question. Why do we need all these people anyway?

I know the answer.

It turns out that we get something pretty valuable from the intermediaries. Something we need every bit as much as food, water, clothing, and blankets when it’s cold..

We need to be cared for; we need to be taken care of now and then; we need to be helped. At the same time, we need to be able to take care of the people we love. In our jobs, we need to be able to feel that our work matters.

It’s what gives our lives meaning. We need to feel we are helping make things better, not worse. And a lot of the fired federal workers fit into that category. And so do the tech workers.

It’s also why the Trump administration has had to quietly rehire some of those federal workers laid off over the past year. And also why AI can never replace humans at work.

Because we care.

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Sunday, March 15, 2026

Kathy



My sister Kathy Richardson. (August 29, 1949 - March 10, 2026). My two sisters and I mourn her loss. Her three children and grandson were with her at the end.



(Carole, Kathy, David,Nancy)

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Saturday, March 14, 2026

49 Years Ago, CIR is Born



In April 1977, Lowell Bergman and I were discussing how to form a new journalism organization in the wake of the demise of our informal muckraking unit inside Rolling Stone.

Over the preceding two years at the magazine’s headquarters at 625 Third Street in Soma, we’d pulled together a half dozen or so reporters to pursue investigative stories, which had resulted in some good stories and also a ton of trouble.

Along with a bunch of awards, we had proven an ability to attract death threats and huge libel suits, among other forms of attention. We had both been unceremoniously dumped by Jann Wenner just before Christmas 1976 when he announced he would be taking the magazine to the east coast.

Our idea was to form a non-profit to carry on that type of work and Lowell brought an ally into the mix -- Dan Noyes, who he’d met in the “Arizona Project.” That was a group investigation into the murder of journalist Don Bolles, which in turn led to the creation of another non-profit group, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE).

The three of us -- Bergman, Noyes and myself -- co-founded the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) later in 1977. A large group of advisers helped us launch the organization and we settled into an office in downtown Oakland.

But back in April, we had been still discussing what such an organization should be, what it should do, what its essential identity should be.

Today, 49 years later, CIR and IRE have long been staples of the journalism world and we are working individually on our memoirs. In that context, Lowell recently unearthed an old type-written letter he had sent to Dan that April. Dan and I had not yet met and Lowell wanted to introduce him to my thoughts on the subject.

“I talked with Weir --as expected he is enthusiastic. Interestingly, David presented the following perspective: (the group should have) two major groups of activity: publications and community involvement.”

This old letter is a prime example of why I spend so much energy beseeching people to preserve their journals, letters, notes and files whenever possible. Until Lowell sent a copy of it to me recently, I had absolutely no memory of having said those things.

But clearly I was envisioning not only a journalism organization but one that would attempt to root that work in the communities where we worked.

The Bay Area was our base. It was a region with deep contradictions -- idealism, activism and hope with violence, cynicism, and deeply entrenched reactionary media organizations, notably the old Hearst daily, the San Francisco Examiner.

We couldn’t know it at the time, but that same newspaper would be transformed by a talented group of our peers, including the heir to the Hearst publishing empire, Will Hearst, into an excellent newspaper in its final decades.

We participated in that transformation. We also found our way into relationships with dozens of other media groups -- CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, 60 Minutes, 20/20, Mother Jones, New West, New York, NHK, BBC, etc., here and around the world.

There were many ups and downs in the early years, including press conferences denouncing us, and/or announcing libel suits and more death threats, but ultimately CIR survived and thrived. How that came to be is the story the three of us need to tell in our memoirs.

NOTE: Early in 2024, Mother Jones and CIR merged into a single organization.

HEADLINES:

  • U.S. Military Attacks Iran’s Oil Export Hub, Trump Says (NYT)

  • Trump: ‘When oil prices go up, we make a lot of money’ (The Hill)

  • Ships identify themselves as Chinese around Strait of Hormuz during Iran war to avoid attacks (AP)

  • 6 killed in U.S. refueling plane crash; Iran’s new supreme leader ‘likely disfigured,’ Hegseth says (NBC)

  • Weakened by War, Iran Hits Back by Strangling a Vital Waterway (NYT)

  • A complex tug-of-war inside the White House is driving US President Donald Trump’s shifting public statements on the course of the Iran war, as aides debate when and how to declare victory even as the conflict spreads across the Middle East. Read our exclusive. (Reuters)

  • Wall Street Bankers Offered Lucrative Access to Join the Pentagon (NYT)

  • Why China could emerge a winner from Trump’s global energy shock (WP)

  • The ‘Chinese Dream’ is shrinking for Gen Z (BI)

  • Cuban President Acknowledges Talks With Trump Administration (NYT)

  • The US may move some of its anti-missile system - and it’s sparking unease in South Korea (BBC)

  • A federal judge criticizes the government for pursuing an investigation of Jerome H. Powell. (NYT)

  • Election Records Handed Over to the FBI in Maricopa County, Arizona, Could Be Fatally Flawed, Experts Say (ProPublica)

  • Shot by Border Patrol, Then Called a “Domestic Terrorist” (New Yorker)

  • Old Dominion shooter convicted of Islamic State ties released from prison just 2 years before attack (AP)

  • Synagogue Attacker Killed Himself During Gunfight With Guards, Officials Say (NYT)

  • The US slashed research for cancer, Alzheimer’s, mental health — and nearly everything else (Vox)

  • E.P.A. Moves to Weaken Limits on a Cancer-Causing Gas (NYT)

  • A new wave of disrupters takes on American health care (Economist)

  • Congressional Democrats say Trump tariffs will cost US households more than $2,500 this year (AP)

  • China’s nuclear warhead storage a ‘highly concentrated risk’, US report says (SCMP)

  • MPs ‘deeply troubled’ by BBC World Service funding uncertainty (BBC)

  • They Want to Rebuild. Can They Afford to Prevent the Next Fire, Too? (NYT)

  • The Fog of AI (Atlantic)

  • How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world (TR)

  • China’s DeepSeek gives US tech giants a run for their money as Microsoft and others expand AI push in Africa (BI)

  • Working in A.I. Lifted Their Compensation. Now They Want Prenups. (NYT)

  • Inside the Dirty, Dystopian World of AI Data Centers (Atlantic)

  • Meta Delays Rollout of New A.I. Model After Performance Concerns (NYT)

  • Trump, Mitch McConnell Clash In Oval Office Over Where They Are (Onion)

 

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Friday, March 13, 2026

Pushing Autocrats Aside

I wrote the a year ago. It still holds:

The Guardian has put into words what many of us have been fearing for some time: “(Trump) is leading the world’s oldest continuous democracy to a once unthinkable destination.

“Eviscerating the federal government and subjugating Congress; defying court orders and delegitimising judges; deporting immigrants and arresting protesters without due process; chilling free speech at universities and cultural institutions; cowing news outlets with divide-and-rule. 

“Add a rightwing media ecosystem manufacturing consent and obeyance in advance, along with a weak and divided opposition offering feeble resistance. Join all the dots, critics say, and America is sleepwalking into authoritarianism.”

The Guardian article is very long and goes into great detail before ending on a surprising and welcome positive note.

Norm Eisen, a lawyer and founder of State Democracy Defenders Action, says “There is reason for hope but nobody knows. Will we go the way of Brazil, Poland, Czech Republic, where I was ambassador, all of which pushed out autocratic regimes in recent years? Or will we go the way of Hungary and Turkey, which failed to oust autocrats? It remains to be seen but I, at least, am hopeful.”

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Thursday, March 12, 2026

Echoes of a Past War

The Trump administration keeps emphasizing that the U.S. military is by an overwhelming margin the most powerful in the world.

And I have no doubt that by conventional ways of measurement that is a true statement.

But when it comes to whether the U.S. will “win” the war with Iran, regardless of how strong our military may be, there are some historical precedents that are relevant.

People my age remember the Vietnam War. In that case we were also assured by our government that our military was far superior to that of our enemy. Accordingly, the U.S. bombed and bombed, but the war never seemed to end.

Instead, the Vietnamese pursued unconventional means and eventually overcame the U.S. advantage to win the war.

Although Iran’s military may be far inferior to the U.S.’s, it is employing drones and other relatively inexpensive technologies to attack targets in the Strait of Hormuz and the neighboring countries that house U.S. military facilities.

It is not a random thought that Iran may prevail in the end, at least to the extent Trump ends the conflict, declares “victory” and moves his attention elsewhere, perhaps to Cuba.

Such a victory declared by Trump would be, of course, pyrrhic in nature. And only the latest reminder of what happened in Vietnam.

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Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Wednesday Mix

HEADLINES:

  • ‘Largest ever’ oil reserve release agreed by 32 countries, as Strait of Hormuz ships attacked (BBC)

  • At Least 3 Ships Are Struck In and Around a Key Gulf Oil Passage (NYT)

  • US will end war with Iran ‘on our timeline,’ Hegseth says (CNN)

  • Oil prices are volatile amid conflicting reports about security in the Strait of Hormuz (NBC)

  • Aluminium, Helium and Sulfur: The Iran War Is Affecting More Than Oil (NYT)

  • Why emergency oil releases won’t fix this crisis (CNN)

  • What Americans think about the war in Iran, according to recent polls (AP)

  • Human Rights Watch accuses IDF of unlawful use of white phosphorus in Lebanon (TJP)

  • Is the war in Iran over or just beginning? When confronted about the mixed messages from his administration, Trump said it's "both" on Monday. But some of his own advisers are now urging him to map a way out of the conflict, amid concerns that a continued war could fuel further political backlash, according to The Wall Street Journal. [HuffPost]

  • Iran is wagering it can outlast the United States and Israel - not militarily, but by grinding the war into a brutal contest of endurance. Its strategy is stark: Unleash drones and missiles, cut vital energy routes and jolt global markets hard enough to force Washington to blink first. Read our analysis. (Reuters)

  • RFK Jr’s pick to review Covid vaccines authored misleading research, experts say (Guardian)

  • How the special election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene is testing the power of Trump’s endorsement (CNN)

  • Judge limits crowd control devices at Portland ICE building, says federal officers must identify themselves (OPB)

  • Wyoming governor signs ban on abortions after about 6 weeks but cites misgivings (AP)

  • In Marjorie Taylor Greene’s District, a Trump-Backed Candidate Advances (NYT)

  • Trump reiterates threat of a ‘friendly takeover’ of Cuba as fuel crisis deepens (CNBC)

  • Whistleblower claims ex-DOGE member took Social Security data to his new job (WP)

  • The Weather-Changing Conspiracy Theory That Will Never End (Atlantic)

  • The Bay Area Considers the Unthinkable: Life Without BART (NYT)

  • Meta hires duo behind Moltbook (Axios)

  • Research: How AI Is Changing the Labor Market (HBR)

  • AI Layoffs Are a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (Atlantic)

  • MAGA Voter Claims She Loves High Gas Prices (Onion)

 

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Monday, March 09, 2026

Revolt of the Elders

Consider that people my age have been around for almost a third as long as the United States of America. Our lifetimes have spanned its entire post-WW2 period of global hegemony, and our fortunes have generally risen along with the nation’s.

But all of that has come with certain costs, including deep political divisions, obscene wealth disparities and severe environmental damage .

And now we fear that one of those costs will be our democracy itself.

We know that what Donald Trump is doing goes far beyond the normal yin and yang of politics, or the cyclical pendulum swings from right to left. He appears to be systematically dismantling the federal government in a naked grab for complete power.

Our nation was founded in a rebellion against autocratic power and formed to resist it should that threat ever appear at these shores.

Well, that time has come.

As elders, we must now speak out. We can’t check out just because we’re old and tired or that we’re too busy. (We’re not that busy.) We must do our part to help save what matters most while we still can.

Trump can still be stopped, so let’s stop him. Why revolt? Because he is revolting.
(This is from last March. It remains true.)

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