Tuesday, May 26, 2026

The Pope and (A)I

It’s unusual when I choose what the Pope says to be the  top story on my list of headlines, but Pope Leo’s comments on AI are a worthy exception to that rule.

The Pope showed that he understands the risks as well as the positive potential of AI in his statement. If I am reading him right, he’s recommending the kind of intelligent regulation of the risks that can evolve along with the technology, and consistent with our understanding of that evolution.

You might call it the beginning of a “regulatory dance.”

It won’t do to simply ban AI or to set it free like Section 230 did with the Internet. The preferred approach would be more like that we’ve achieved with nuclear technology, which is not been perfect but largely effective at preventing the worst outcomes.

I can identify with this on a personal level as it is similar to how my medical team is trying to help me manage my own chronic illness. As the illness progresses, our strategy evolves, seeking to keep it in check, one dance move at a time.

A benefit of this strategy is that I can keep on dancing, i.e., sorting the news and writing essays like this one.☺️

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Monday, May 25, 2026

First Off the Press


In his memoir, “Like a Rolling Stone,” Jann Wenner has a chapter called “The Scoop of the Seventies” devoted to the articles Howard Kohn and I wrote in 1975 about Patty Hearst and the SLA.

Part One of that series was called “The Inside Story.”

For most of the many months that story was in process, it was a secret known only to a very small group of us. We were uncertain when we would publish it, partly because Patty Hearst and her kidnappers-turned-colleagues were still underground, and we didn’t want to inadvertently be responsible for getting them caught or killed.

(Remember that all the rest of the group had died in a fiery shootout with the LAPD.)

As fate would have it, the FBI located and arrested Hearst and the others on a Thursday in September and publication of our article was set for the following Monday. All hell would be breaking loose upon publication because Jann had arranged for NBC’s Today show to cover the release exclusively, with the rest of the media invited to the office for what would prove to be a raucous press conference Monday morning.

Security around the release was tight; Jann hired Pinkerton’s to guard all the issues of the magazine except one.

The entire staff of the magazine was secluded at a resort near Big Sur for the long weekend while Howard and I stayed in San Francisco to tape our interview with NBC before we headed south to join the rest.

Finally, late Saturday afternoon, in Jann’s words, “Howard and David made it down…brandishing a copy of the new issue that no one had seen yet.”

A photo of that copy of the magazine we brandished that night is at the top of this post, with the words handwritten by Jann up top “Do Not Leave This Lay Around — David.”

So that’s the story. It turns 51 come September.

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Sunday, May 24, 2026

Last Goodbyes

There’s a line from an old country song that sticks with me: “The last goodbye’s the hardest one to say.” 

Yes, it’s hard to say goodbye to the people you love, so that line came to mind again Saturday when the time came to say my last goodbye to my sister, Kathy, who died recently at the age of 76.

A memorial service was held for her at her church in the small town in Michigan where she lived. I watched by courtesy of a YouTube video.

My youngest sister Carole delivered this remembrance:

“There were four of us siblings growing up and since Kathy was closest to me in age, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t look up to her. She was beautiful, with dark brown hair and eyes that could change from blue to green to gray, depending on what she wore and her mood.

“We were a close family, and many of Kathy’s favorite activities can be traced to our upbringing.

“Our mother loved words and language. She encouraged us to read and relentlessly corrected our grammar. Kathy and I shared a bedroom, and she often read to me before we went to sleep. Kathy loved fiction in many forms, and poetry, too.

“Our dad loved singing, and music was a major joy in Kathy’s life. She sang in our church choir with dad and me, and in the high school choir, and in the choir in this church for many years. Kathy loved old Broadway musicals, folksingers, and rock and roll. She also loved the traditional and new church music that celebrates Christmas and Easter.

“Kathy was an expert at many crafts, most notably knitting and sewing. She was a patient sewing instructor who helped others master computer-driven sewing techniques. She loved jewel tones, and both in her crafting and her clothing she was drawn to deep, rich blues, greens and purples.

“Kathy was an RN and worked as a neonatal intensive care nurse at Sparrow Hospital. Those little ones required constant observation and care, and her sensitivity and focus allowed so many to grow and thrive.

“Kathy’s three children, their spouses and her grandson were so dear to her. She cherished the time spent caring for Desmond when he was a baby.

“Over the years, Kathy had many health challenges. After the doctors concluded she had lupus, she developed a sensitivity to light that limited her time outside. She managed to still enjoy the outdoors through the big picture windows at her home. Watching the deer, birds, and squirrels (and her dog Milo chasing those squirrels) was a favorite pastime. This time of year, she would have been buying seeds to plant her lettuce and tomatoes, and filling the hummingbird feeder with nectar.

“Kathy had an eye for detail. This made her an excellent proofreader when she worked for Rolling Stone, and it was one reason she was so good at nursing and at crafting. When she had cataract surgery, she chose to optimize her near sighted vision, so that she could see to knit and sew, since she didn’t mind wearing glasses for distance. She’s the only person (aside from their older sister) who could always tell my identical twin grandsons apart.

“She had a good sense of humor, too. On her birthday one year, our mom and dad made dinner for her family, and dad made a big deal about how he had cooked this meal for her, which was touching since he rarely cooked. Turns out she had trouble cutting it, because he served her a fake rubber steak!

“A few months later, for Dad’s birthday in November, Kathy got her revenge. She brought out a cake, and went on about it being a new recipe that she hoped would taste good. Dad started trying to cut it, only to discover that she had covered a kitchen sponge with icing!

“So they were even.

“Telling these stories makes me miss her even more. Daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, Kathy lives on in our hearts and our memories.”


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Saturday, May 23, 2026

Stillness and Motion

AAA reports that 39 million Americans are going on roadtrips this holiday weekend, which reminds me of my youth. We’d always go camping, a tradition several of my family members are carrying on as they enjoy trips of their own.

Gas prices are high, which reminds me of my father’s habit of always keeping a running total of fillups. He’d make a notation of how many gallons at what price and the mpg per fillup based on the odometer reading. He’d ask me to do those calculations in my head, and I did so.

I continued with that tradition for a while as an adult, but let it slip away as my life became more complicated.

Holding onto things as opposed to letting them go is much on my mind these days. I’ve been sorting through some of my possessions, discarding stuff I no longer need, and preserving the rest.

Unlike the 39 million others, I am not on the move this weekend. I’m stationary, watching the world spin around me and wishing that just for a moment everything could stay put.

But that is not the way of the world, which I, finally, must concede as well.

***

The resignation of Tulsi Gabbard from Trump’s cabinet makes almost complete the disappearance of women from top positions in his administration.

Her departure formalizes what was already the case — that she was out of the loop of those close to Trump as he continues to wage foreign policy from his gut. 

No one close to Trump will challenge him on that. But we, as a people, must.

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Friday, May 22, 2026

Genius Loves Company


By legend, Albert Einstein was a lone genius, coming up with ideas and concepts nobody else thought of. But according to a revealing article called “Not a Lone Genius” by CalTech professor Diana Kormos-Buchwald, the truth is more complicated. She based her article on The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, a 16-volume series of books co-edited by numerous scholars.

“He was not the genius working in an attic with a pen and paper,” she says. “Einstein may not have been working with large teams, but he was deeply embedded in the science community. Colleagues gave him advice and encouragement, but also criticized his work. And he, in turn, was instrumental in guiding and challenging others.”

The article notes that Einstein developed his special theory of relativity in 1905 with help from his college friend Michele Besso and his first wife, Mileva Marić.

He later perfected his general theory of relativity in 1915 with help from both Besso and another college friend, mathematician Marcel Grossmann.

Perhaps most illustrative of all was his involvement in experiments with younger physicists to test the structure of radiation and matter, and ultimately the development of the ground-breaking field of quantum mechanics. When approached by one of his young colleagues about being listed as a co-author on an important paper on that topic, Einstein demurred:

“I just don’t know whether I should count as a co-author since after all you did all the work...”

Einstein was a tinkerer and inventor of gadgets, including a patented refrigerating system. And he was an original thinker, who indeed came up with brilliant ideas. But perhaps his true genius was as a synthesizer, a collaborator, and a mentor of younger people.

And there might be a lesson in that for the rest of us.

(I published an earlier version of this in 2021.)

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Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Becoming a Nurse

Tuesday morning was hot all over the Bay Area, which is something you can generalize about when you traveled back and forth between the mainland and the tip of the peninsula that we call San Francisco.

Hundreds of us gathered at the old Paramount Theatre in downtown Oakland for the pinning ceremony for nurses in the Samuel Merritt University graduating classes.

One of those honored was my son Aidan, seen in the photo above grinning and wearing a hat. (The others are his younger brother, Dylan, his younger sister, Julia, and his Mom, Connie.)

I’m in there too, messing up the shot as I tried to lean into the frame but appeared to be falling over instead.

From the speakers at the event, I learned that men now account for 11 percent of our nursing population. As far as Aidan’s career is concerned, the RN degree is a stepping stone on his way to becoming a nurse practitioner, which requires another year and a half of studies, clinical work, testing and the type of endurance that has gotten him this far.

Afterwards, at a cafe in San Francisco, he talked about the parts of the work that resonates for him. “We are with people on their happiest days and also at their saddest moments. It’s part of what gives this work meaning.”

Later in the car alone on the way back across the Bay Bridge, I thought to myself that I could not be prouder of my son for the profession he’s chosen.

HEADLINES:

  • There Has Never Been an Example of Presidential Corruption Like This (NYT Edit Bd)

  • Jan. 6 officers sue over $1.8B pot they call ‘slush fund’ for ‘insurrectionists’ (NBC)

  • Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers Tuesday that “anybody” can apply for payouts from the Justice Department’s new “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” after he was asked whether it would include people convicted of assaulting law enforcement. [HuffPost]

  • The End of Thomas Massie Is the Beginning of Something New (Slate)

  • The Trump paradox: What’s good for him is weighing down his party (WP)

  • Cracks are forming in US President Donald Trump's base. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Republican support softening - particularly on the cost of living. (Reuters)

  • US indicts former Cuban President Raúl Castro (CNN)

  • For communist Cuba, it’s the beginning of the end (The Hill)

  • U.S. crude oil falls below $100 per barrel after Trump says Iran talks in final stages (CNBC)

  • The oil shock is coming for America (FT)

  • How Iran Gained Leverage in the War (NYT)

  • Xi and Putin highlight their friendship and cooperation in Beijing visit (AP)

  • Russia and China warn of the 'law of the jungle' in world affairs (Reuters)

  • Kennedy fires heads of task force that sets insurance coverage rules (Axios)

  • The San Diego Mosque Shootings Were a Crime Made for and by the Internet (NYT)

  • Google’s AI is being manipulated. The search giant is quietly fighting back (BBC)

  • San Francisco turns to AI to avoid collisions between ships and whales searching for food (AP)

  • AI for Good? The Case Against AI Doomerism (YouTube)

  • OpenAI Prepares to File to Go Public in Coming Weeks (NYT)

  • Squirrel Unaware He Embroiled In Months-Long Feud With Homeowner (Onion)

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The Sixth Chick

On an otherwise unremarkable afternoon, I watched what appeared to be a lone quail pick its way down a hillside, turning first this way, then that, gradually charting a zig-zag course west to east, north to south across the field.

As I was wattching, five chicks came into view following their mother. They too turned from west to east, north to south, replicating her course almost perfectly.

I’m sure there were slight deviations in their paths but I didn’t notice anything dramatic. They were a team — one big one leading the way, five little ones following and learning in the process.

As they gradually snaked their way out of view, something else caught my eye. It was a sixth chick, far behind, lurching wildly from further up the hill. This one didn’t replicate the path of its mother and siblings.

Instead it forged its own route as it raced to catch up with the clutch.

That sixth chick, always somehow out of step. We’ve probably all known one.

***

The great tomato plant mystery came to its sad end when the sixth and final plant disappeared overnight. The camera we had trained on the plant ran out of batteries, so the thief got away undetected.

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