Seeing a Wooden Moon

The eyes of human beings are sometimes said to be a “window to the soul.” 

I’ve heard Secret Service Agents brag that they can identify a potential assassin by looking into his eyes. But if so, why do they always wear sunglasses? 

Cops often claim they can tell whether a suspect is lying by how his or her eyes move under questioning.

Reporters often claim the same thing. I have done it. It’s tempting to think, after many hundreds of interviews, that you can identify the occasional prevaricator among your many honest sources.

But, I’m not so sure. There are those so convincing with their lies that even cops, reporters, and experts fall for their act.

Then, there is the role of eyes in physical attraction. We know from biological studies that a person’s pupils tend to expand when they look into the eyes of another they find attractive.

Trouble is, you may not be able to detect this (researchers say a special tool is needed to measure it), so you’ll probably have to rely on other cues if you find yourself in this sort of situation.

With our eyes we are constantly watching one another. We read. We watch movies, TV, and electronic text on computer monitors.

Our eyes also express our inner feelings. It all comes out in our eyes.

Tonight, the photo at the top of my post is an illusion. A “moon” painted on wood sitting on the slats of my back porch. I think of it as the Blue Moon of Kentucky.

Then again, it’s only one way of seeing, as per John Berger.

(I wrote this in 2008.)

HEADLINES:

• Trump says world has 10 days to see if Iran deal reached (BBC)

• U.S. Gathers the Most Air Power in the Mideast Since the 2003 Iraq Invasion (WSJ)

• Trump meets with top Iran advisers as war threat grows (Axios)

• Hitler’s Greenland Obsession (Atlantic)

• The Chaos of an ICE Detention (New Yorker)

• New Trump administration order could lead to the detention of thousands of legal refugees (AP)

• A Case Against 6 Democrats Lacked Urgency. Then Came a Swift Bid for an Indictment. (NYT)

• Judge Holds Government Lawyer in Contempt in Immigration Case (Bloomberg)

• As ICE Buys Up Warehouses, Even Some Trump Voters Say No (NYT)

• Hegseth invited Christian nationalist Doug Wilson to preach at Pentagon (WP)

• How genetic genealogy might help investigators in the Nancy Guthrie case (NPR)

• After leaving WHO, Trump officials propose more expensive replacement to duplicate it (WP)

• Trump Mulls a North American Trade Pact Without Canada (NYT)

• How China overtook the US in hypersonic arms and may leave air defences ‘powerless’ (SCMP)

• The Scientists Groveling to Trump Are Kidding Themselves (The Nation)

• Arts panel made up of Trump appointees approves his White House ballroom proposal (AP)

• King’s statement on former Prince Andrew shows how grave this crisis is for U.K. royals (NBC)

• A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to life in prison, after finding him guilty of masterminding an insurrection, stemming from his December 2024 attempt to impose martial law. (Reuters)

• After Avalanche Warnings, a Sierra Nevada Tragedy (NYT)

• Genetic discovery offers hope for global banana farming (Phys.org)

• How AI is transforming freelance journalism (Nieman)

• A.I. Is Giving You a Personalized Internet, but You Have No Say in It (NYT)

• Silicon Valley is building a shadow power grid for data centers across the U.S. (WP)

• China’s humanoids are dazzling the world. Who will buy them? (Economist)

• I hacked ChatGPT and Google’s AI – and it only took 20 minutes (BBC)

• Money Talks as India Searches for Its Place in Global A.I. (NYT)

• Man Annoyed He Has To Chew Current Food Before He Can Chew Next Food (Onion)

 

Creating a Sword (Out of a Pen)

When we opened the first office of the Center for Investigative Reporting in downtown Oakland in the fall of 1977, we were simply exercising our rights under the First Amendment.

We felt free to pursue whatever stories we wished, yet we had no outlet, publication, broadcast channel — nowhere to sell those stories.

That was its own form of freedom.

Very soon, we were busy looking into a range of topics, negotiating with various outlets, and raising money for our fledgling non-profit.

We were uniquely an organization devoted not only to supporting investigative journalism but doing it.

And that took money. Luckily, there were a few wealthy individuals and small foundations ready and willing to come to our aid. Over the decades, we acquired our share of enemies as well as friends. Some people considered us heroes, albeit with flaws, others branded us as traitors.

We persisted.

Establishing the Center was a conscious act in exercising our rights under the First Amendment half a century ago. Today’s free speech heroes, flawed though they may be, include the late-night talk show hosts standing up to a regime hell-bent on shutting them down, directly or indirectly through regulatory pressure.

Every era requires champions to preserve these important rights. The details of and motivations for their actions may be hazy, but I commend Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel for standing up for the rights that the rest of us continue to depend on.

HEADLINES:

• Senate Candidate James Talarico Pulled In $2.5 Million After Unaired Colbert Interview (Forbes)

• Stephen Colbert’s CBS Reveal Should Send A Chill Down Your Spine (HuffPost)

• Stephen Colbert uses his show to roast CBS in feud over FCC rules (WP)

• A late-night monologue, a shocking suspension – and a reinstatement. Jimmy Kimmel’s still taking risks (CNN)

• What to know about the ‘equal time’ rule Stephen Colbert says led CBS to pull his Talarico interview (AP)

• FCC Chairman Confirms “Enforcement Action” Underway Against ABC’s ‘The View’, Calls Stephen Colbert-James Talarico Incident A “Hoax” (Deadline)

• The Latest Ploy to Help Republicans Win Elections (Atlantic)

• Democratic-led cities move to block ICE, setting up clash with Trump (WP)

• Minnesotans Just Won a Huge Court Victory Against ICE (Slate)

• Environmental groups sue Trump’s EPA over repeal of landmark climate finding (Guardian)

• Andrew arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office as King says ‘law must take its course’ (BBC)

• 8 confirmed dead after Tahoe avalanche (SFC)

• Why it’s becoming so expensive to buy a car in America (WP)

• Trump Bets on Diplomacy Without Diplomats (NYT)

• Iran and the US reached an understanding on main “guiding principles” in talks aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said. (Reuters)

• Trump moves closer to a major war with Iran (Axios)

• U.S. Military Moves Into Place for Possible Strikes in Iran (NYT)

• Ukraine peace talks end abruptly after Zelenskiy says Russia is stalling (Reuters)

• ‘Difficult’ Russia-Ukraine peace talks end without breakthrough (BBC)

• Epstein files suggest acts that may amount to crimes against humanity, say UN experts (Guardian)

• As Israel takes steps to claim land in West Bank, U.S. stands by (WP)

• OpenAI’s acquisition of OpenClaw signals the beginning of the end of the ChatGPT era (VentureBeat)

• China’s DeepSeek year (Economist)

• Coworker Laid Off Solely For Performance-Related Reasons Warns AI Coming For Everyone (Onion)

Mailing It In

It’s obvious that the Trump gang will do everything in its power to win this year’s midterm elections, with all 435 seats in the House of Representatives on the ballot as well as 33 in the Senate.

Millions of people (including me) depend on mailing in their ballots when we have elections. Donald Trump has long opposed ballots by mail, making unsubstantiated claims that it is a source of widespread fraud.

This was one of many things that he complained about during his first term and is now trying to do something about in his second.

Read the first six links below for an in-depth perspective on the issue. And thanks to Brian Mulkey for alerting me to the first two.

HEADLINES:

• Trump Won’t Cancel Elections. There’s a Far More Dangerous Plan in Motion. (Existentialist Republic)

• Here’s What the New USPS Rule Means for Voting by Mail (CLC)

• Trump’s Claims About Noncitizens Voting Are False. We Can Prove It. (Cato)

• Noncitizen voting is rare. Why is Washington so focused on it? (Politico)

• Ex-Recorder Richer Dismisses Illegal Alien Voting Concerns As ‘Bogus’ Despite Fraud Convictions (AZ Free News)

• NAACP asks a judge to limit FBI use of seized Georgia voter records (AP)

• Jesse Jackson was the living bridge between King and Obama (Guardian)

• Judge invokes George Orwell’s ‘1984’ in ordering restoration of Philadelphia slavery exhibit (The Hill)

• She’s a US citizen, but this 10-year-old knows where to hide at school if ICE shows up (CNN)

• US judge says wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia can’t be re-detained (Al Jazeera)

• Pride Flag’s Removal From Stonewall Violated Federal Law, Suit Says (NYT)

• Stephen Colbert says CBS blocks James Talarico interview from air (CNBC)

• Rep. James Talarico On Confronting Christian Nationalism, And Strange Days In The Texas Legislature (YouTube)

• CNN's Anderson Cooper is planning to leave CBS's "60 Minutes" as a correspondent after nearly two decades of contributing to the show. [HuffPost]

• U.S. and Iran say progress made in Geneva nuclear talks (Axios)

• US build-up of warships and fighter jets tracked near Iran (BBC)

• The Epstein files have brought a wave of resignations and investigations (WP)

• Trump’s Climate Repeal Will Kill America’s Transition From Gas Guzzlers to EVs (Mother Jones)

• Sheriff says Guthrie family ‘cleared’ as suspects in Nancy Guthrie kidnapping (LAT)

• This Bonobo Just Did Something Scientists Thought Only Humans Could Do (ScienceAlert)

• Can consciousness ever be understood — this side of death? (Nature)

• China’s tech shock threatens the U.S. AI monopoly and is ‘just getting started’ (CNBC)

• Why an A.I. Video of Tom Cruise Battling Brad Pitt Spooked Hollywood (NYT)

• Trump Asks When He Gets To Kill Olympians Who Lost (Onion)

Inside and Out

During periods of rainy chilly weather, I sometimes stay inside, bundled up and bingeing on melodramas streamed on my computer. Watching these interlocking stories, I gradually sink into their world, as opposed to mine.

Both are worlds of longing.

Some of the time, our worlds seen to be in synch, i.e., they’re drinking a cup of tea or coffee and so am I. Or when they’re getting drowsy…

***

As much as I might try, I can’t escape the larger realities surrounding me. Autocracy, AI, climate change — they rarely come up in the fictional world and when they do, they are a source not of comfort but of greater unease.

So at times like these, there seemingly is no escape, real or imagined. Thus I return to my old habit of sorting through and presenting the news, even when the greater patterns elude me.

Because though I can’t see solutions, there is always the hope that someone reading these words will. We’re all longing for a better world.

After all, we’re all in this together.

HEADLINES:

• Will AI terminate democracy? And why did Gallup terminate its approval ratings? (Silver Bulletin)

• Why Young Voters Are Turning on Trump (Atlantic)

• Jesse Jackson, Charismatic Champion of Civil Rights, Dies at 84 (NYT)

• I followed the new food pyramid for a week. It was rough. (Business Insider)

• The Disastrous First Year of RFK Jr. (Bulwark)

• The race to succeed McConnell showcases how the GOP has soured on him (WP)

• Stop Meeting Students Where They Are (Atlantic)

• With Latest Rollback, the U.S. Essentially Has No Clean-Car Rules (NYT)

• What the Royal Family’s Links to Slavery Mean in the Age of Epstein (New Yorker)

• Iran is pursuing a nuclear agreement with the US that delivers economic benefits for both sides, an Iranian diplomat was reported as saying (Reuters)

• The Case for Keeping ICE and CBP Defunded (American Prospect)

• Republicans and Democrats unite to condemn Trump’s attacks on allies (Guardian)

• What if Our Ancestors Didn’t Feel Anything Like We Do? (Atlantic)

• Israel’s cabinet approved further measures to tighten Israel’s control over the occupied West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, a move Palestinians called a “de-facto annexation”. (Reuters)

• Early Mars was warm and wet not icy, suggests latest research (Conversation)

• The myth that women are more naturally empathetic than men (BBC)

• An economist explains why he’s still ‘bullish on America’ — AI and all (WP)

• Bookseller Scrambles To Hide All The Classics After Seeing Emerald Fennell Approaching Door (Onion)

Slip-Sliding Away

This is President’s Day in America and it’s worth considering what leading political scientists are saying about the state of our democracy. Thanks to NPR, we know the following:

Staffan I. Lindberg, the director of Sweden's V-Dem Institute, which monitors democracy across the globe, says the U.S. has already crossed the threshold and become an "electoral autocracy."

Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard University and co-author of How Democracies Die, puts it this way:

“I would argue that the United States in 2025-26 has slid into a mild form of competitive authoritarianism,” Levitsky said. “I think it’s reversible, but this is authoritarianism.”

Under competitive authoritarianism, countries still hold elections, but the ruling party uses various tactics — attacking the press, disenfranchising voters, weaponizing the justice system and threatening critics — to tilt the electoral playing field in its favor.

There are those who disagree, of course, but most of the leading scholars are deeply concerned.

So am I.

Read the entire report from NPR here.

HEADLINES:

• Concerns over autocracy in the U.S. continue to grow (NPR)

• ‘It’s never too late’: Savannah Guthrie’s new plea for mother’s release as FBI analyses glove (BBC)

• Why these researchers say AI could be mortal threat to democracy (SFC)

• This Is What Destroying the Vaccine Market Looks Like (Bulwark)

• DHS says immigration agents appear to have lied about shooting in Minnesota (NPR)

• America is on the verge of a new type of racial reckoning (CNN)

• Primary season has arrived. Why these races matter so much in 2026. (WP)

• Farmers Are Aging. Their Kids Don’t Want to Be in the Family Business. (WSJ)

• The vanishing 16-year-old driver (Business Insider)

• Rubio slams European policies on climate, migration as he calls for unity (Al Jazeera)

• Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’ (AP)

• Deep in China’s Mountains, a Nuclear Revival Takes Shape (NYT)

• Epstein files fallout takes down elite figures in Europe, while U.S. reckoning is muted (NPR)

• ‘I feel like a ghost’: new father deported by ICE to Bhutan that exiled his family (Guardian)

• Trump and Netanyahu align on Iran pressure but split on endgame (Al Jazeera)

• 5 Ways to Handle a Robot When It Goes Rogue (CNET)

• AI is advancing too quickly for research to keep up (Axios)

• Finnish Ski Jumping Team Caught Tampering With Earth’s Gravitational Field (Onion)

A Different Me

Most of the time I am what I appear to be — an older gentleman who politely observes social norms and rarely gets into trouble. I generally think before I speak or act, and am a model of discretion.

It wasn’t always the case. Much of my career as an investigative journalist, for example, was based on the kind of risk-taking that led to some dicey moments.

When Howard Kohn and I wrote the first part of our three-part series of stories about Patty Hearst and the SLA in Rolling Stone in 1975, we found ourselves at the center of what can only be described as a media hysteria. 

At that age (28), I felt free to be reckless. My first death threat came over the phone from a woman who I recognized as the girlfriend of one of the SLA “soldiers” then imprisoned for assassinating Oakland School Superintendent, Marcus Foster. The motive for this murder of the first black superintendent in Oakland history was such a twisted mess that no one of rational mind could possibly explain why these people killed this decent man.

By the time that threat came in, those associated with the SLA had killed a number of innocent people besides Foster. Besides the death threat, we were getting all sorts of interesting phone calls. 

Among the worst was a conference call from Bill Kunstler and Lenny Weinglass, leftist attorneys and heroes of mine, who told us we would “never publish again” if we went ahead with publishing our stories.

Then, the head of the FBI’s San Francisco office said he would “cut (us) off at the knees” if we didn’t show him our next draft before we published.

Both turned out to be empty threats.

Then, a much more useful call came -- from people who said they were those who had eluded the police and the FBI when Patty and her three closest companions (Bill and Emily Harris and Wendy Yoshimira) were captured. Without divulging the details. Howard, Jann and I determined that these guys were the people they claimed to be.

Their call dictated the terms of how we would get the information they wanted to give us. It was to be found in an envelope taped under the pay-telephone on a corner under a freeway in downtown San Francisco.

We all looked at one another in Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner’s office and agreed I would be the one to fetch this potentially valuable package. Jann’s secretary drove me in a van to the appointed place, and I then walked across the street in the open to retrieve the package. Anyone from any number of hidden vantages could have easily blown me away, and of course these guys had the weaponry to do so.

When I reached the booth and located the manila envelope, the hardest part was walking back to the van, because any SLA shooter watching would know for sure by now that it was me.

That walk across Fifth Street back to the van and Jann’s secretary was uneventful. No shots rang out, and we high-tailed it out of there, and back to the office. Unfortunately, the “communication” turned out to be worthless rhetorical crap; and I don’t remember whether Howard and I even used it in Part Two of our series that October.

But somehow I always knew I wouldn’t die that day. So I suppose that “reckless” in those years meant ignoring death threats. There’d be more of them, along with legal threats, more hate from the PC crowd and so forth. It all went with the territory when I was young and strutting my stuff.

Later on, being “reckless” would come mean other things. But that’s a story for another day.

HEADLINES:

• With Trump’s plot to reshape our nation, mass deportation is only the beginning. (Reveal)

• Va. Supreme Court paves way for Democrats to add four seats in Congress (WP)

• Trump’s Minnesota Retreat Points to the Power of Public Anger (NYT)

• Rubio speech signals US-Europe relations are bruised but still friendly (BBC)

• Russia killed Alexei Navalny with frog toxin, UK and four European allies say (Guardian)

• Trump has no time to defend, plenty of time to sue (Reuters)

• Royal Navy to patrol Greenland for Trump (Telegraph)

• Homeland Security Wants Social Media Sites to Expose Anti-ICE Accounts (NYT)

• U.S. military prepares for weeks-long operation against Iran (Reuters)

• T.S.A. Workers Brace for Another Shutdown They Didn’t Cause (NYT)

• The Disappearance of Nancy Guthrie (New Yorker)

• Search for Nancy Guthrie reaches 2 weeks, no arrests after authorities swarm nearby home (CNN)

• U.S. faces largest measles outbreak in 30 years (Reuters)

• They Are in Love but Don’t Speak the Same Language (NYT)

• The covid reality check for AI hype (WP)

• Pitchers And Catchers Report To Spring Training Dance (Onion)

 

Weekend Readings

(From my youngest daughter when she was 8.)

HEADLINES:

• Guard Troops Fully Withdraw From Chicago, Portland and Los Angeles (NYT)

• US homeland security department on track for shutdown after funding bill fails in Senate (Guardian)

• A bipartisan effort to save health subsidies failed. Will ICE reform be different? (NPR)

• This Is How a Child Dies of Measles (Atlantic)

• Trump calls climate change threat to public health ‘a scam’ but scientific findings show otherwise (PBS)

• Judge rejects Hegseth bid to punish Sen. Kelly for video message to troops (WP)

• Justice Dept. Sues Harvard Over Admissions Inquiry (NYT)

• The emerging divisions in the MAGA movement that pose a risk for Republicans' control of Congress in the midterms. (Reuters)

• Inside the internal outrage over Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s ICE jokes(Business Insider)

• US says it caused dollar shortage to trigger Iran protests: What that means (Al Jazeera)

• Trump’s push for Greenland reveals a political weak spot, new AP-NORC poll finds (AP)

• German Officials Needle Trump at Munich Security Conference (NYT)

• Britain’s High Court says government illegally banned Pro-Palestinian group (NPR)

• The Epstein Files and the Hidden World of an Unaccountable Elite (NYT)

• Savannah Guthrie’s nightmare is unfolding on our screens (WP)

• Famed Texas forensic artist releases sketch of masked suspect in Nancy Guthrie case (Austin Statesman)

• How Not to Understand Slavery (Atlantic)

• Bondi Suggests Culver City Has a Crime Problem. Culver City Has a Problem With That. (NYT)

• A Wave of Unexplained Bot Traffic Is Sweeping the Web (Wired)

• Kid Rock Sells Entire Music Catalog For Extra-Large Bucket Of Cheese Balls (Onion)