Saturday, August 22, 2026

Oh Canada

The Trump administration’s trade talks with Canada collapsed Friday, deepening the crisis between the U.S. and our neighbors to the north.

But I don’t have to look north to see Canada; all I have to do is look in the mirror.

I’m Canadian by virtue of my father’s birth there in 1916.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney “walked away,” in the words of the Times, “from what he thought was a bad trade deal with the United States. Many Canadians are behind him, but it will be costly.”

Trump has said that 50 percent tariffs will now go into effect on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods.

  • “By walking away, Mr. Carney chose a road that no major U.S. ally has taken: With his country’s economy on the line, he stood up to President Trump and refused to accept the administration’s offer of a new trade relationship with tariffs permanently baked in. Britain, the European Union and other major U.S. trading partners have agreed to smaller deals that have been volatile and often left them worse off.”

  • “Since he rose to lead Canada last year, Mr. Carney has put in motion a plan to help his country survive Mr. Trump’s presidency and, in the long run, thrive apart from the United States. One of his favorite lines is that “nostalgia is not a policy,” and he has told everyone who will listen that there is no going back to the old relationship with the United States — a close and familial, if lopsided, bond.”

  • “Instead, Mr. Carney has been traveling to secure new partnerships in Asia and Europe, a generational shift away from economic dependence on the United States, although that is unlikely to bear fruit fast enough to cushion the blow of the breakdown of the two countries’ relationship.”

For me personally, this feels like a divorce. It’s a tearing-in-half of the self kind of feeling. If I’m going to have to take sides in this divorce, I’ll stand with Canada.

HEADLINES:

  • Iran declares it has won the war as U.S. turns to economic warfare (CBS)

  • Trump Warns of ‘Economic D-Day’ Against Iran, but Tehran Is Well Acquainted With Sanctions (Military.com)

  • Tehran president says it is time to end war ‘in position of strength’ after Trump threatens ‘Economic D-Day’ (Independent)

  • Trump’s ‘economic D-Day’ claims first victim: Not Iran, but US markets (Al Jazeera)

  • The Iran War Is Eating the GOP’s Midterm Message Alive (Bulwark)

  • Trump increasingly lashing out at allies as victory in Iran war proves elusive (WP)

  • US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has warned militant Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank not to steal property owned by Palestinian Americans, describing such behavior as "a violation of God's law". (Reuters)

  • U.S.-Canada trade talks collapse, setting new 50% tariffs in motion (NBC)

  • Carney Stands Up to Trump in Trade War Despite the Risks (NYT)

  • U.S., Canada fail to reach a tariff deal, deepening trade war (CNBC)

  • Pentagon fires Stars and Stripes leaders who criticized DOD’s interference (WP)

  • Supreme Court allows Trump’s ballroom construction to continue for now (NPR)

  • Trump’s Ballroom Isn’t Just a Farce Anymore—It’s a Threat (Nation)

  • Ken Paxton and the Curious Case of the Missing $1,000 Pen (NYT)

  • Trump faces backlash over reports US navy carrier could be named after him instead of Black war hero (Guardian)

  • Interior spares California, Arizona, Nevada from most dramatic short-term Colorado River water cuts (The Hill)

  • Islamophobia’s Rise in Texas: ‘I Won’t Rest Until Every Muslim Is Gone’ (NYT)

  • It now seems possible to vaccinate against cancer (Economist)

  • Moderna, Merck breakthrough could usher in wave of cancer vaccines (CNN)

  • US ramps up Cuba sanctions and detentions of Americans returning from the island (AP)

  • Gun stash in German forest believed to be linked to Russia, say reports (Guardian)

  • A Celebrity Death and a Murder Trial Shine Light on Postpartum Mental Health (WSJ)

  • Argentina players, staff banned for combined 21 games after World Cup final brawl (NYT)

  • L.A. Mayoral Candidate Nithya Raman Says Legality of Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger “Should Be Decided in Court” (Hollywood Reporter)

  • Prince Harry and Others Told to Pay Daily Mail Publisher $13 Million (NYT)

  • California set to ban ‘addictive’ social media features to protect teens (WP)

  • From balloons to pans: in praise of useful tech (FT)

  • TikTok Settles With U.S. Over Child Privacy Concerns for $400 Million (NYT)

  • Scientists Revisited a Forest Experiment That Was Forgotten for 30 Years. What They Found Was Astounding (SciTechDaily)

  • I Saw the Future of AI in a Robot That Can Learn on the Spot (Wired)

  • OpenAI’s training pause is convenient. That doesn’t make it meaningless. (BI)

  • The AI ‘death zone’ is here and most corporate AI strategies are standing in it (Fortune)

  • How the A.I. Borrowing Binge Helps Drive Up Government Bond Yields (NYT)

  • Every Commercial On ESPN Past Midnight Just Straight-Up Telling Viewers They Have Prostate Cancer (Onion)

Friday, August 21, 2026

Bringing Trump 'Joy'

In today’s news, the controversial relationship between the 80-year-old Trump and his 35-year-old aide Natalie Harp is back up top.

The Daily Beast published two letters allegedly written by Harp that indicate the unusual intimacy of their relationship.

I’m not going to characterize it any more than that. Read the report and draw your own conclusion.

HEADLINES:

  • Natalie Harp’s Intimate Letters to Trump Revealed in Full (Daily Beast)

  • Natalie Harp Worked At White House For Over A Year Without Security Clearance, Report Says (Forbes)

  • The White House Freak-Out Over Natalie Harp (Atlantic)

  • Trump increasingly lashing out at allies as victory in Iran war proves elusive (WP)

  • Weary Aircraft Carrier Heads Home From the Middle East (NYT)

  • FBI thwarts an alleged ISIS-inspired plot to bomb New York Capitol building (NBC)

  • So About That Iranian Cyberattack on Our Water Supply (Slate)

  • Huge Russian strikes on Kyiv leave 17 dead as attacks spill over to Romanian and Moldovan territory (CNN)

  • Nato jets blow up suspected Russian sea drone near gas facility (Independent)

  • Croatia orders detention of Ukrainian man wanted in Germany for Nord Stream blasts in 2022 (AP)

  • FBI seizes former Congressman Eric Swalwell’s devices in sexual misconduct investigation (BBC)

  • The End of the European Summer (New Yorker)

  • Jennifer Hegseth’s Hands-On Role in Her Husband’s Pentagon (NYT)

  • Tearing Down the Wall Between Church and State in Texas (Money Trail)

  • More than 2,300 Mexicans sent to Guatemala and Honduras as Trump ramps up third-country deportations (AP)

  • Kentucky Gov. Beshear Keeps Pushing for Info on McConnell’s Health. He Says He’s ‘Heard Absolutely Nothing Back’ (Time)

  • ICE Arrests Captain in New York Boat Accident That Killed 2 (NYT)

  • The housing market is on pace for its worst year since 2011 (BI)

  • Paramount’s Purchase of Warner Bros. Could Cost 4,500 TV and Film Production Jobs and Hurt a Damaged Indie Film Biz (IndieWire)

  • Harry and Meghan to return to the press ‘lion’s den’ they sought to escape (Reuters)

  • The Hidden Debt That Apple Owes to the CIA (WSJ)

  • As the Old Files Open, One Family Confronts Another’s Dark Nazi Past (NYT)

  • San Francisco Bay Area dethroned as largest tech talent market (LAT)

  • Former SpaceX engineers are building a robotic factory for making steel parts (ArsTechnica)

  • When AI art has no author: Study finds generated images often can’t be traced to training data (MIT)

  • Don’t mistake chatbot intelligence for consciousness (Economist)

  • Texas student blew the whistle on a rogue AI hacking attempt. (Reuters)

  • Dad’s Driving Directions Hinge On Where Old Shell Station Used To Be (Onion)

Thursday, August 20, 2026

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:

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

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)

 

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

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:

Monday, August 17, 2026

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, August 16, 2026

Sunday Reads

HEADLINES: