Bay Area Gonzo Memories

It's always fun for me when I get the opportunity to promote the work of other journalists and writers I respect.

Today, Peter Richardson is out with a piece from his upcoming book, "Savage Journey: Hunter S. Thompson and the Weird Road to Gonzo."  It is published in 48 Hills,  a local journalism site run by Tim Redmond.

Richardson and Redmond are two of the people who make the relatively small but potent Bay Area journalism scene great.

This particular article deals with one of the many contradictions of Hunter Thompson -- that early in his career he railed against the Hearst media empire only to work for its former flagship San Francisco Examiner later on.

The key to that transition is Will Hearst, grandson of the legendary media baron William Randolph Hearst, and the connection between the two was made at Rolling Stone, when the magazine was still in San Francisco.

Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner hired Will to be the first editor of his offshoot Outside magazine. Later, Will took the reins at the Examiner and directly or indirectly hired a bunch of us former Stoners, most notably Hunter.

I worked there as an editorial writer for several years as a supplemental job while I held down other positions here and there. Later I published a remembrance in the Examiner when Hunter died in 2005.

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THE HEADLINES:

* WHEN HUNTER THOMPSON WORKED FOR HIS ARCH-ENEMY—THE HEARST CORPORATION -- The legendary Gonzo journalist hated the big corporate empire—but spent years working for it. That's a key part of local media history.  (Peter Richardson/48 Hills)

* A C.I.A. Fighter, a Somali Bomb Maker, and a Faltering Shadow War -- The hunt for an elusive Somali militant illustrates why Al Shabab, despite a decade of American covert action, are at their strongest in years. (NYT)

* Sudan’s military detains prime minister, Cabinet members in apparent coup (WP)

* Military forces detained at least five senior Sudanese government figures as the country’s main pro-democracy group called on people to take to the streets to counter an apparent military coup. Sudan has struggled with a transition to democracy since long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir was toppled by mass protests in 2019. [AP]

* International rights group Amnesty International said it would close its Hong Kong offices because a China-imposed security law had now made it "effectively impossible" for rights groups to work freely without the risk of reprisals. (Reuters)

* A knot of problems with Amazon’s system for handling paid and unpaid leaves has led to devastating consequences for workers. (NYT)

* The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is “very carefully” watching a mutated form of the coronavirus called “delta plus,” the agency’s director said, as cases of the delta subvariant continue to rise in the U.K. That subvariant, AY.4.2, makes up just 0.1% of all cases in the U.S., according to the CDC. It’s not yet clear whether it is in fact more transmissible than the delta variant. [HuffPost]

* Fauci predicts vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 could be available early November (WP)

* They Studied Bats to Prevent Pandemics. Now They’re Blamed for Potentially Causing One. -- The search for COVID-19’s origins has put risky bat research under the microscope. (Vice)

* COVID-19 vaccines for kids aged 5 to 11 could be available by early next month amid promising study data released by Pfizer and BioNTech, Dr. Anthony Fauci said. A panel of outside advisers is scheduled to weigh in on the Pfizer jabs on Tuesday. The FDA typically follows its advisers' advice, but is not required to do so. [HuffPost]

* China to start vaccinating children to age 3 as cases spread (AP)

* Their Jobs Made Them Get Vaccinated. They Refused. -- The willingness of some workers to give up their livelihoods helps explain the country’s struggle to contain the pandemic. (NYT)

* Just as Florida’s COVID-19 situation is improving after leading the nation in infections and deaths, GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is offering bonuses to anti-vaccine cops in other states to work in Florida and interact with the public. DeSantis told Fox News he wants to hand out a $5,000 bonus for vaccine-rejecting officers to work in Florida. He doesn’t yet have the money to do so, but plans legislation allocating the funds. [HuffPost]

* Germany portrays itself as a climate leader. But it’s still razing villages for coal mines. (WP)

* Greenhouse gas levels hit record; world struggles to curb damage (Reuters)

* After wildfires, upward of 10,000 damaged trees must be removed, which will keep a nearby highway closed to visitors who seek the world’s two largest sequoia trees. (AP)

* Bomb Cyclone and ‘Atmospheric River’ Pummel California With Rain and Wind (NYT)

* Copious rainfall, mountain snow batter California, raising mudslide threat (WP)

* VIDEO: Streets Flood as 2 Storms Converge in Northern California -- Heavy rains caused flooding and landslides in parts of the Bay Area and parts of Northern California on Sunday as a “bomb cyclone” and an “atmospheric river” pummeled the region. (NYT) 

* Is the worst of the storm over? (SFC) * Afghan women lawyers on the run face life in limbo abroad (Reuters) * Hertz Orders 100,000 Teslas, Part of Plan to Electrify Fleet (WSJ) * Whistleblower Haugen says Facebook making online hate worse (AP) * Two years ago, Apple threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from its app store over concerns about the platform being used as a tool to trade and sell maids in the Mideast. (AP) * Young People Say Disconnect Keeps Them From Church --  Half of people between 13 and 25 surveyed by a nonprofit said they felt out of sync with their houses of worship on race, gender, immigration rights and more. (WSJ) *  NFL Referee Can’t Believe How Old He Looks In Video Replay (The Onion)