Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Leadership

The culture wars that continue to shape many of our political conflicts are really just very old battles over an imagined past versus an imagined future. Or at least some people’s idealized versions of a past, i.e., the suburban 1950s, over other’s idealized visions of a future, i.e., 1960s Woodstock.

But of course the roots of the conflict are much older and deeper than that.

Every parent of a young child knows that for some reason, human babies fight over resources, seemingly out of instinct. Fighting between siblings, for example, seems to be natural and much of the socializing process involves teaching toddlers concepts like sharing and fairness.

Or if you prefer one word, it would be empathy. But it’s not entirely clear that empathy can be taught; some people naturally have it, others perhaps less so. Some, most unfortunately, not at all.

In any event, the underlying urge for each individual to take care of him or herself remains throughout life, balanced against the instinct to care for others. But sadly, we now once again find ourselves inside a culture seemingly interminably at war with itself over personal matters, like gender identity, sexual orientation and behavior, resource allocation, discrimination in its many forms, religious beliefs, the list is endless.

Actually, the list covers just about everything.

Regrettably, certain politicians seem to build almost their entire political identity by staking out one extreme slice of the culture war pie.

The problem with those on either extreme is they need to demonize the other side in order to prove their own worth. And in the process, they just make everything worse.

We don’t need extremists for leaders. We need people who bring us together. The past was never as good as those who idealize it would have us believe, and the future will never be either.

Like toddlers, we need to learn how to play and share together and to resolve our inevitable conflicts peacefully and with mutual respect. We don’t need to make each other into false enemies. We live neither in the past nor in the future. And we need leaders who recognize that.

Tonight is the annual State of the Union address. You be the judge.

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Monday, February 23, 2026

Losing Our Poets and Our Topsoil

(From 2021)

With the passing of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a significant guardian of San Francisco’s post-war bloom has left us. For me, like so many others, his City Lights bookstore was on my bucket list in 1971 when I arrived here. I saw Ferlinghetti there on several occasions. He even rang me up once.

Over the years, I’d meet up with writers whose pieces I was editing at City Lights and we would migrate to one of the nearby cafes -- Vesuvio or Trieste -- to work over coffee. It made us feel cool. The spirit of the Beats from the 50s permeated everything we did as our version of an alternative culture made up of the hippies of the Haight and the radicals of Berkeley went seriously viral.

In 2001, I edited an interview of Ferlinghetti conducted by my friend Ken Kelley. The poet was in a nostalgic, unhappy mood, as he watched gentrification drive high rents that made the lifestyles of poets, artists, freelance journalists and the rest of us so much more difficult than it had been in his younger years.

His spirit was generous -- he wanted us to have the experiences that had inspired him.

By 2015, I was at KQED when we interviewed him again, and he expressed his ongoing disappointment with how the city had seemingly abandoned its old spirit to become an elite playground for rich people.

But change is inevitable and the good old days were never quite as good as our memories suggest. There was a lot of poverty in San Francisco, especially among minorities back then and there still is, and I’m afraid that all of us who identified with the beatniks, hippies and radicals haven’t collectively been able to change that in any lasting way.

None of that is to disparage the spirit of Ferlinghetti. He probably accomplished more than he realized by remaining a symbol of an alternative way to live life and also by simply living so long. Until Monday he was still among us, although most current residents of his city probably didn’t know that. Now he is gone, everybody knows that.

That’s how it is with death. You don’t know what you had until it is gone.

***

Among the obscure but extremely important news stories this week is a report on the continuing loss of fertile topsoil in the part of the country where I grew up -- the upper Midwest. Scientists have long since established that this devastating loss is due to modern industrial farming methods.

The use of chemicals, both fertilizers and pesticides, is largely to blame. These kill off beneficial creatures that keep the soil healthy, including earthworms that aerate the soil -- keeping it moist and oxygenated. Before petrochemicals, multiple microorganisms also contributed to this vital process.

Mono-cropping plays a deleterious role, as does the use of heavy machinery, which compacts the soil. These various factors increase the runoff that causes rainfalls to carry soil away -- permanently.

Of course, these mechanical and chemical techniques also boost overall food production, helping to feed the world.

By contrast, organic farming methods rely on time-tested techniques like crop rotation, composting, mulching, biological pest and weed control, and diversity to preserve and renew topsoil during the farming process.

Organic farming is time- and labor-intensive. It yields food that is more local and seasonal in nature, healthier and often much tastier than the industrial produce available in your typical supermarket. But the overall output is lower.

Also, the fruits and vegetables grown this way may have some scarring and not be as pretty as their industrial counterparts; they also are more expensive, but we as consumers have to be willing to shoulder these tradeoffs for a healthier, sustainable food system that will last into the future.

Again, the headline is that we are losing the topsoil that enables this alternative lifestyle. Death isn’t funny that way. You don’t know what you had until it is gone.

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Sunday, February 22, 2026

Traveling's Angels


 One part of my travel experiences was crossing the International Dateline multiple times, gaining or losing a day in the process, reliving a date on the calendar or missing it altogether. One year, for example, I missed my birthday as I was fast-forwarded from the day before to the day after.

That experience certainly helped me empathize with those born on Leap Day. But it also is the closest to time travel I’ve ever achieved.

Another memory of travel is days and nights spent walking around foreign cities in Europe, Asia and South America, usually with a new acquaintance as my guide. It would not be a far stretch to imagine I could have fallen in love on one of those walks, say in Brussels, Paris, Taipei, Madrid, London, Kuala Lampur, Singapore, Amsterdam or Tokyo; perhaps on occasion that actually happened.

But since my memory is fickle and it flickers rather than illuminates, any reality it contains has merged with my still-strong sense of imagination. That’s why a certain kind of love story resonates with me, an example of which is the 2015 film “Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong,” featuring Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg.

The film is set in Hong Kong, which is one of the many cities where I have also walked around several times. It depicts how the pair meet as strangers and fall for each other during two random encounters a year apart. It is sweet, sensitive, subtle and hopeful.

And it will remind some of “The Before Trilogy,” set in Europe in 1995, 2004 and 2013. In the second (and best) of those films, a couple spends the entire film walking around Paris, talking and (re)falling in love in the process.

Both the Tomorrow and Before films are about human connection through conversation. Travel is often lonely; international travel especially so. Being alone in an American city is one experience; being alone overseas can be more extreme. You truly can feel lost and in need of somebody to help you feel found again.

This does not require romance, at least not in the conventional sense of the term. But maybe it is when we are at our most vulnerable that we succumb to temptation or perhaps in a less judgmental sense when we actually find our true selves. Both could be true, or neither. Of one thing I am quite certain. It is at such times of need and longing that we can turn into each other’s angels.

(I published the first version of this essay in 2021.)

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Saturday, February 21, 2026

The Stumbler


With the above, Mark Fiore has captured not only Trump’s ridiculous and dangerous Board of Peace initiative but his entire twisted way of seeing the world. Trump has never outgrown his past as a real-estate developer who bullies anyone standing in the way of getting what he wants.

Friday’s decision by the Supreme Court declaring his much-vaunted tariffs illegal is the biggest slap in the face the judicial system has dealt Trump so far. Lower courts have ruled against his mass deportations, his demolition of federal agencies, and his efforts to seek revenge on his political enemies.

Trump’s petulant, vitriolic response to the Court’s decision was classic. He slapped a new global ten percent tariff on everything from everybody in a move that may or may not be legal.

My guess is that Trump’s anger over this embarrassing setback will not be confined to economic measures. Given the huge military buildup in the Persian Gulf, Iran looks like an all-too-convenient target for his wrath at this dangerous moment.

We indeed have a President out of control, along with a system that is built to resist that. The question is, in the end who will prevail — the tyrant or the system?

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Friday, February 20, 2026

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)

 

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Thursday, February 19, 2026

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.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2026

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)

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