Giants and Fleas

Every now and again I remind myself about the actual scale of things.

In the media business, it took way too many years for executives to realize that Google, Facebook and the rest were going to disrupt their business model by taking over most of the advertising revenue. By the time they did see what was happening, it was too late.

That trend continues unabated. For example, total ad revenue at the top U.S. newspaper, the New York Times, fell 26 percent in 2020, to $392.4 million. But for the most recent period available (2019), Google earned a whopping $134.81 billion from ads! Facebook earned roughly half that amount ($69.66 billion).

So Google earns about 350 times as much ad revenue as the Times, and Facebook 175 times as much. These are giants; the Times is a flea.

Anyway, one of today's news items from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the Internet masters massively increased their advantage even further over the past year, thanks to the pandemic. We'll have to wait for the statistics on that. 

But that Facebook and Google are now being forced by some governments (Australia, Europe) to pay content providers for the privilege of profiting off of their content is in reality a case of tiny crumbs being dribbled out to companies that have been displaced by the digital revolution.

To be clear, I'm not complaining here or blaming any party; I'm observing. It's always good to keep the scale of things in mind when interpreting the relative power various parties have over our world. 

Talking about another matter of scale, one of the right wing's main whipping boys -- Antifa -- is a marginal collection of unarmed anarchists who have little discernible influence or impact on our society. At most, they are an annoyance. 

My experience with Antifa was having my reporters come back from peaceful demonstrations in the Bay Area to note that a few masked Antifites had broken some windows. That's about it. No politician defends them or espouses their philosophy. The Democratic Party wants nothing to do with Antifa.

But if you listen to the right wind extremist media, Antifa is a greater threat to democracy than the Proud Boys, Three Percenters and other armed rioters who assaulted the U.S. Capitol, killing people and attempting to overthrow the results of the election.

Nonsense.

There is no equivalence here, only the fanciful thinking of Trump followers that they can divert attention from the real threat, which is them.

I'll throw the Proud Boys one bone, however. They appear at least to have a sense of humor, albeit a sick one, whereas Antifa appears to have none.

But in the end this is no laughing matter.

There are no members of Congress who support Antifa. By contrast the Republican Party is littered with QAnon conspiracy sympathizers and those who refuse to denounce the violence committed by right-wing extremists.

Take your pick when deciding where the threat lies. It's a matter of scale.

***

* U.S. to Send Millions of Vaccine Doses to Mexico and Canada (NYT)

* Not Enough Vaccine Doses In Europe To Stop A 3rd Wave, German Health Minister Says (NPR)

* There's been relatively little data until now on how widespread coronavirus reinfection is. A study published in The Lancet this week shows most people are protected from getting reinfected for at least six months, but people ages 65 and older are far more likely than younger individuals to experience reinfection. [HuffPost]

* Public health experts say two barriers stand in the way of reaching herd immunity and getting back to life as we knew it -- Covid-19 variants and vaccine hesitancy. (CNN)

* How Racism and Sexism Intertwine to Torment Asian-American Women (NYT)

* "I grew up in the South as an Asian American. It was clear I wasn’t welcome." (WaPo)

* The Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center received 3,795 reports of anti-Asian racism since March 2020. Nearly 45 percent of them were from California. [Sacramento Bee]

* Big U.S. banks will have to resume holding an extra layer of loss-absorbing capital against U.S. Treasuries and central bank deposits from next month after the Federal Reserve said on Friday it would not extend a temporary pandemic regulatory break due to expire this month. (Reuters)

* The Justice Department’s antitrust division has been gathering information and asking whether Visa, the largest U.S. card network, has limited merchants’ ability to route debit-card transactions over card networks that are often less expensive. (WSJ)

* In France and across Europe, more students are facing food insecurity as the pandemic enters its second year and job cuts in their families take a widening toll. (NYT)

* IRS warns of potential delays for major child poverty initiative in $1.9 trillion stimulus (WaPo)

* Scientist behind coronavirus shot says next target is cancer (AP)

* Covid-19 Supercharged the Advertising ‘Triopoly’ of Google, Facebook and Amazon (WSJ)

* Why Are Jobless Claims Still High? For Some, It’s the Multiple Layoffs. (NYT)

* NASA completes major test on rocket that could take humans back to the moon (Reuters)

* Liberals Grow Impatient With Biden’s Foreign Policy Decisions (NYT)

* Judge limits evidence, refuses to move trial in Floyd death (AP)

* Chuck Schumer Stalls Climate Overhaul of Flood Insurance Program -- The Senate leader is objecting to a plan that would raise costs for some of his constituents by bringing flood insurance rates in line with climate risks. (NYT)

* Known For Its Floods, Louisiana Is Running Dangerously Short Of Groundwater (NPR)

* Biden approval grows as more Americans receive vaccinations (Reuters/Ipsos)

* House Votes to Give Millions of Dreamers and Farmworkers a Path to Citizenship (NYT)

* NY prosecutors interview Cohen an 8th time in Trump inquiry (AP)

* A Pandemic Winner: How Zoom Beat Tech Giants To Dominate Video Chat (NPR)

* (A) number of writers publishing via Substack have begun arguing that this strategy makes the company seem less like a technology platform and more like a media company (a familiar debate around Facebook and other online giants) — or at the very least, like a technology platform that also makes editorial decisions subject to scrutiny and criticism." (TechCrunch)

* "Should I even be writing this?" More on Substack controversy. (Notes From A Small Press)

* 21% of U.S. adults said they’re experiencing high levels of psychological distress; among those, 28% said the pandemic has changed their lives in “a major way,” according to a recent Pew survey. (538)

* Florida has introduced a mandatory $500 fine for anyone caught trying to figure out state’s actual death toll numbers. (The Onion)

***

Trouble
Oh, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble
Feels like every time I get back on my feet
She come around and knock me down again

Worry
Oh, worry, worry, worry, worry
Sometimes I swear it feels like
This worry is my only friend

-- Ray LaMontagne

-30-

Rain of the Blues

(Twitter/Gavin Newsom)

It's raining and I'm listening to the blues. The rain is coming straight down; usually it is driven by the wind in from the ocean and slams into us at an angle.

The blues were a big influence of what became rock and roll. These songs were recorded by black artists in the 1920s and beyond.

Rock and roll did not have a name until 1954. But it wast the Delta blues, Robert Johnson (1911-1938) in particular, that influenced Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Robert Plant and others who brought it all home in the 1960s.

Slowly over the years the genres have merged and separated back out over again into something new and ever changing. You can call it any name you wish. To me it all goes with the rain.

***

There are many different kinds of writers and they all have different habits and inputs. Some write outside, some write inside. Some drink coffee, some prefer whiskey. Some don't drink at all.

For many, place matters. Some like to write in a coffee house, some in a garden. There are those who write on a train and there certainly are those of us who like to write when it rains.

Experts concerned with our mental health during the pandemic (below) recommend writing to relieve some of the depression and anxiety many are experiencing. They recommend writing in a journal.

Maybe you share it, maybe you don't. But the process may help.

***

When journalists connect the anti-Asian rhetoric of Trump and the six victims in Georgia's mass shooting, they are not diminishing the deaths of the other victims who were not Asian.

Every life lost matters equally, regardless of race, obviously. But when we cover massacres like this one, we have to take note of the venues, the perpetrator's statements and past behavior, the weapons used, the demographic characteristics of the shooter and the victims, and the political environment surrounding the whole sordid episode.

Blaming China for the virus was a staple of the Trump era, just one of his many messages of racist hate. His entire political career, which hopefully is over, was based on resentment of anyone not white and on the fear that white privilege is threatened by the diversity that in fact is the most beautiful aspect of this society.

I say I hope his political career is over but that is far from certain. He and his minions lurk in the shadows, spewing his hateful rhetoric and plotting his return.

Meanwhile, innocent people were killed at Asian-owned massage parlors. It is our duty to make the connection with Trump. Anything less would be irresponsible. 

***

The news:

* Smaller cities and communities are turning into ‘Zoom towns’ and competing with coastal hubs as workers move to find more space and lower costs. (WSJ)

* Christian leaders wrestle with shooting suspect’s Southern Baptist ties (WaPo)

* Proud Boys Leaders in Four States Are Charged in Capitol Riot -- Prosecutors accused prominent members of the far-right nationalist group of conspiring together in connection with the Jan. 6 attack. (NYT)

* White Supremacists Plastered The U.S. With More Physical Propaganda Than Ever In 2020 (BuzzFeed)

* There are lots of people working overtime to try to prove that the mass shooting of six Asian women wasn’t motivated by bigotry. It was. (The Nation)

* Authorities have charged Robert Scott Palmer, 53, who was caught on video attacking police officers with a fire extinguisher during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. HuffPost, building on the work of online sleuths who dubbed him #FloridaFlagJacket, first revealed his identity March 5. [HuffPost]

* FBI releases video of 10 violent suspects from Capitol riot who remain unidentified (WaPo)

*Americans will be getting extra time to prepare their taxes. The Internal Revenue Service says it's delaying the traditional tax filing deadline from April 15 until May 17. (AP)

* 12 Republicans opposed Congressional Gold Medals for police who protected them on Jan. 6 (WaPo)

* U.S. Senate confirms Becerra as top federal health official (Reuters)

* ‘When Normal Life Stopped’: College Essays Reflect a Turbulent Year -- This year’s admissions essays became a platform for high school seniors to reflect on the pandemic, race and loss. (NYT)

* YouTube is rolling out a short-form video-streaming service on its platform in the United States as it looks to better compete with rival TikTok in the hugely popular category. (Reuters)

* Postal Service finds no evidence of mail ballot fraud in Pa. case cited by top Republicans (WaPo)

* Facebook developing wristband to support augmented reality glasses (Reuters)

* Troubled U.S.-China ties face new test in Alaska meeting (AP)

* One Of Biden's Biggest Climate Change Challenges? The Oceans (NPR)

* Endangered Gazelles Make a Comeback on the Edge of a War Zone  -- Hunted nearly to extinction worldwide, a wild mountain gazelle finds a helping hand on the Turkish-Syrian border. (NYT)

* Our solar system’s first known interstellar visitor, Oumuamua, is neither a comet nor asteroid as first suspected and looks nothing like a cigar. A new study says the mystery object is likely a remnant of a Pluto-like world and shaped like a cookie. Arizona State University astronomers reported this week that the strange 148-foot (45-meter) object that appears to be made of frozen nitrogen, just like the surface of Pluto and Neptune’s largest moon Triton. (AP)

* Living through a global pandemic has messed with our mental and emotional health in countless ways. If you’re looking for ways to cope, consider starting a journal. Mental health professionals have long touted the benefits of journaling: It can alleviate stress and act as a tool to help manage anxiety and depression. That’s important right now given that the vast majority — 90% — of American adults report dealing with emotional distress related to COVID-19. (HuffPost)

* Police Warn Asian Americans To Be On Guard For More Random, Motiveless Attacks  (The Onion)

***

Last night I had a dream
My baby alrigth with me
Last night I had a dream
My baby alrigth with me, yeah
All alone since you left me
Ain't no man I used to be

Many days, many nights
I see the same dream, baby
Many days, many nights
I see the same dream
Alone since she left me
Ain't no man I used to be

Why don't you leave me baby?
Why don't you leave my dream alone?
Why don't you leave me baby?

Why don't you leave my dream alone?
Alone, please let me now
Why don't she stay?
Why don't she go?

-- Blues Cousins

-30-

The View From Outside

In the wake of yet another mass shooting by yet another lone white male, it's hard to resist the notion that the killers are basically the same person coming back over and over. These massacres are occurring with increasing frequency; the weapons are usually semi-automatics, and the victims tend to be anyone other than lone white males.

In this case, six of those killed were Asian females, arguably the least threatening people in this society.

Police believe race was not a factor because the murderer claimed he was a "sex addict" and that he killed these women out of "revenge;" that he wanted the "temptation" of the massage parlors where they worked to go away.

That this horrific assault happened in a time of growing anti-Asian violence in the U.S. escaped nobody, and it is difficult to forget the relentless racist terminology of a "China virus" used by Trump and his minions over and over in this context.

As always, language has consequences, and now fresh blood is on the hands of those who have stirred up hate for their own political advantage. Meanwhile, it is always worth reminding ourselves that race is an entirely social construct -- it has no basis in science.

To repeat, scientifically speaking, there are no "races," only the human race.

It's also worth noting that the origin of the virus that causes Covid-19 remains unproven, but it most likely originated around Wuhan, China sometime in 2019. And while the Chinese government has not been forthcoming about who the earliest victims were and whether they had ties to a bio research lab in Wuhan, there is no evidence that the virus was some sort for deliberate act.

Most likely it is yet another case of an active virus mutating and jumping from one animal species, probably bats, to humans, although as I've repeatedly noted, the case remains open.

Lately I've been noticing in news reports that the CDC has started referring to some of the  Covid mutations as "variants of interest," which is the same type of language law enforcement uses when pursuing "persons of interest" after a crime.

This underscores the war-like nature of the battle against Covid, where the weapons are not those used to inflict massive casualties but those used to prevent mass casualties.

The whole mess is polarized and politicized beyond hope, as the maskless, poorly educated white supremacist forces (and their enablers) battle with our better forces of reason and science. In that sense we are living in the dark ages once again, where the bad guys show up now and again killing some of the rest of us as we struggle to save the entire human race.

***

My home-schooling grandson recently read Jack London's "The Scarlet Plague," written in 1913 before the terrible flu pandemic later that decade. Improbably, the book also predicted a major pandemic in our time -- a century before it happened.

It's a short book -- his edition is 64 pages -- and I pointed out to him how remarkable it is that London was so prescient. He shrugged. Then again, I'm about three-quarters of a century old and he's 12. Whereas this pandemic has occupied only 1.3% of my time on the planet, it's taken up six times as much of his, which is well beyond the margin for error.

Nevertheless, London's warning is a timely reminder that our artists often sense and communicate the dangers that lurk in our society when nobody else is noticing. And our artists tend to live out on the periphery looking in.

It turns out the view is much clearer from out there.

***

Family: We're all feeling proud of Aidan, my son who was on the front lines of the Covid battle last year as an EMT, transporting sick people to area hospitals. Now he is in working as a medical assistant, and has been trained to administer the Covid vaccine. 

He has volunteered to do so this Saturday in San Francisco, where he will probably treat around fifty people. Thank you to him and all the volunteers serving us on the front lines.

***

The news:

* Suspect who killed eight, including six Asian women, frequented spas --The suspect indicated he had issues with sexual addiction and the shootings may have not been motivated by racial hatred, law enforcement officials said.(Reuters)

*For more than a year, Asian Americans have faced an alarming deluge of racist attacks and harassment, such as being shunned, spit on and denied services. While the current wave of racism is tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, it's one chapter of a long history of racism and discrimination. (HuffPost)

* Asian Americans, already traumatized by a rising tide of hate, violence and rhetoric, have been living in fear for months.The murders  further disoriented and horrified a community already unfairly stigmatized by racial association during a pandemic that originated in China. And they laid bare for the rest of the country the agony of yet another minority group left to question its place in America, at a time of rising attacks and harassment amid cresting White nationalism and domestic extremism. (CNN)

* Fetishized, sexualized and marginalized, Asian women are uniquely vulnerable to violence (CNN)

* “The WHO should have the ability to march in and investigate something that is affecting the world." How scientists' hunt for the origins of Covid-19 was hobbled at many turns. (WSJ)

* White supremacist propaganda surged in 2020, ADL report says (AP)

* Texas Three Percenters member charged in Jan. 6 riot set up security company to circumvent gun laws, obtain high-grade weapons, U.S. alleges (WaPo)

* Surge in Migrants Defies Easy or Quick Solutions for Biden (NYT)

* The world’s thirst for gasoline isn’t likely to return to pre-pandemic levels, the International Energy Agency forecast, calling a peak for the fuel that has powered personal transportation for more than a century. (WSJ)

* From Amazon To FedEx, The Delivery Truck Is Going Electric -- It's not just passenger cars: Delivery companies are updating their vans and trucks with electric models as they look to save on fuel and cut maintenance costs. (NPR)

* A Japanese court ruled Wednesday the government's ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional, recognizing the rights of same-sex couples for the first time in the only Group of Seven country that doesn't acknowledge their legal partnership. [AP]

* House Democrats bring back Medicare-for-all, seeking to push Biden left (WaPo)

* Vaccinating Children Seen As A Key Step Toward COVID-19 Herd Immunity (NPR)

* A coronavirus outbreak at the Farmer John pork processing plant in Los Angeles County began last February. A year later, many working conditions remain the same and the outbreak never went away. [Mother Jones]

* Former President Donald Trump said he recommends that people get the coronavirus vaccine, even as a poll shows Republican men are the most likely group to say they won't get it. Trump and his wife, Melania, quietly received the shot at the White House in January. [HuffPost] 

* An investigation into the coronavirus response in the Bay Area found case rates for Latino residents that were four times higher than for white residents. [The Mercury News]

* IRS expected to delay tax-filing deadline to mid-May as agency grapples with backlog (WaPo)

* Trump’s Incomplete Border Wall Is in Pieces That Could Linger for Decades (NYT)

* Scientists Create Living Entities In The Lab That Closely Resemble Human Embryos (NPR)

*.A forgotten Cold War experiment in Greenland has revealed its icy secret. It’s bad news for the planet. (WaPo)

* Ringo Starr Readies His Lockdown Project: A Mini-Album Titled ‘Zoom In’ (WSJ)

* Drawing A Line In The Mud: Scientists Debate When 'Age Of Humans' Began -- Scientists on five continents are hunting for geological evidence to pinpoint exactly when humans became a major force shaping life on Earth. But settling on the date could unleash a larger debate. (NPR)

* Biden administration wants the financial sector to face up to climate risk (WaPo)

* "It's gotten to the point where you can't watch a porno without being inundated by swearing." (The Onion)

***

Freedom (Oh)
Freedom
(My) Freedom
You've gotta give for what you take
Freedom (I'll hold on to my)
Freedom
(My) Freedom
You got to give what, to give what, give what you take
Yeah!
You got to give what, give to what, to give

May not be what you want from me
Just the way it's got to be
Lose the face now
I've got to live

-- Michael George 

-30-

Time For Voices

One of the saddest commentaries on the state of our culture is a new report that some college sexual assault victims have welcomed remote learning as a way to feel safe. 

Think about that.

Meanwhile, in addition to the demonstrations in Britain following Sarah Everard's murder, women are protesting sexual violence in Australia following accusation of rape by officials in powerful positions.

During my final years before retirement, several of the investigative projects I helped coordinate focused on #Metoo cases in various sectors of California's economy including the yoga industry.

The consensus is that sexual harassment is about power not sex, and while I generally agree with that, it may also be true that for the men who engage in this behavior it may also be about sex in a certain distorted way.

That's because many men traditionally have associated having power with greater access to women and there is plenty of data suggesting that having more resources does enhance men's chances to obtain women's affection.

As long as everything remains consensual, no one should have much of a problem with that, but any hint of coercion or a quid pro quo tips the delicate balance over the top. A decent man can make a mistake, but repeated encroachments of this kind are both illegal and as we know, extremely hurtful.

That would appear to be the case in the controversy surrounding Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York.

Men's sexual needs are the subject of countless jokes and movies, but the connection between sexual fantasies and power is an area that remains murky and poorly understood. We can hope that the recent gains due to the #Metoo movement will be permanent, and it is significant that this is an area where investigative journalists -- women and men -- really have made a difference working together.

Much remains to be done, that's obvious. This weeks demonstrations in Britain and Australia are reminders that when women band together and speak out, the rest of the world will listen.

***

Arguments I find frustrating and no longer care to tolerate:

* Blaming women for violence committed against them.

* Blaming homeless people for being homeless.

* Blaming addicts for being addicts.

The news:

* Thousands of women took to the streets in cities across Australia on Monday to protest violence and discrimination against women. This comes as accusations of rape grow in the country’s halls of power. (AP, Reuters)

* Some college sexual assault victims have welcomed remote learning due to the pandemic because it has kept them safe from their attackers. “It took the entire country shutting down for me to feel safe. It feels like a real slap in the face,” said Michaela, a student sexual assault survivor. [HuffPost]

* Man who killed at least 8 and wounded one at massage parlors in the Atlanta area was arrested; many victims were Asian. (Fox)

* California Gov. Gavin Newsom has enlisted a roster of progressive stars— including Stacey Abrams, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders — to fight the recall effort. (NYT)

* For a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has required millions of American parents to do the impossible. They’ve been asked to work and parent full time. They’ve been forced out of the workforce, but expected to somehow support their families. They’ve been tasked with keeping their kids safe at home, while also finding ways to support their mental health as children struggle with loneliness. And a comprehensive new report from the American Psychological Association shows the considerable toll those pressures — and others — have taken on the mental and physical health of parents with children under the age of 18 at home. [HuffPost]

* The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its declassified report on foreign threats to 2020 U.S. elections Tuesday, which concludes that foreign adversaries -- including Russia -- did attempt to interfere. Russia's efforts were aimed at "denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the U.S." (CNN)

* President Biden’s sweeping stimulus package includes the largest single infusion of federal aid that public transportation has ever received, allowing agencies to scrap plans for draconian cuts. (NYT)

* Coca-Cola and Home Depot, both based in Georgia, have voiced opposition to Republican-led efforts to restrict access to voting in the state. The corporate firepower boosts activists' efforts against two bills moving through the Georgia General Assembly that would make it harder for people to vote, disproportionately so for racial and low-income minority areas. [HuffPost]

* Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discussed the findings of a new study that suggests three feet, not six feet, was sufficient distance for students if they adhere to safety precautions. (AP)

*Republicans remain steadfastly hesitant to take a coronavirus vaccine, with a new poll showing that 42% say they will probably or definitely not get the shot, compared with 17% of Democrats. The vaccination campaign could falter if it becomes another litmus test in America's culture wars. Fox News personalities are sowing doubts and Donald Trump has failed to endorse the shot, even though he was secretly vaccinated. [AP]

* Moderna Gives First Vaccine Shots To Young Kids As Part Of COVID-19 Study (NPR)

* The administration is seeking help in urging Republicans to get inoculated. But the president said he was not sure how much value there was in enlisting his predecessor. (NYT)

* Employers with large on-site workforce can set up COVID-19 vaccine clinics: CDC.(Reuters)

* Uber avoided paying into unemployment as government aid helped thousands of its drivers weather the pandemic (WaPo)

* Anyone in Oklahoma can now get the Covid-19 vaccine, thanks to several Native tribes (CNN)

* Astronomers Can't Hear Signals From Space Because Earth Is Too Loud (WSJ)

* Google gets into sleep surveillance with new Nest Hub screen (AP)

* Sharp, 'Off The Charts' Rise In Alcoholic Liver Disease Among Young Women (NPR)

* U.S. Capitol Police will begin scaling back some of the fencing around the Capitol that's been there since the Jan. 6 insurrection, saying there is now no "known, credible threat against Congress" that warrants the fortifications. [HuffPost]

* U-Conn., Stanford, S. Carolina and N.C. State earn top NCAA women’s basketball seeds (WaPo)

* The Worst Dust Storm in a Decade Shrouds Beijing and Northern China (NYT)

* Scientists Find New Invasive Mosquito Species In Florida (NPR)

* Israeli archeologists discover new Dead Sea Scrolls for first time in 60 years (WaPo)

* According to new data from the CDC, California has the second highest life expectancy for its population among states, behind Hawaii. [CBS]

* FAA to extend ‘zero tolerance’ policy for bad behavior while federal mask mandate is in place (WaPo)

* Facebook Reaches Deal With News Corp. Australia To Pay For News Content (NPR)

* Facebook Inc is rolling out a new publishing platform in the coming months in the United States that lets independent writers and journalists reach new audiences and monetize their work through email newsletters and individual websites. Competition is heating up in the space between firms like Substack, Medium, and Twitter’s recently acquired Revue, which lets content creators try out a mix of paid and free email newsletters to reach potential readers. Facebook’s new platform, which let writers monetize via subscriptions, will be integrated with Facebook Pages, the company said, adding it will also allow writers to create groups to engage with their reader community. (Reuters)

* Zookeepers Confirm Pandas Not Mating Because They’re Scared Of Messing Up Friendship (The Onion)

***

From the Library of Congress: "The text of what would become the Ninteenth Amendment was originally drafted by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and introduced to Congress in 1878, then rejected in 1887. The Constitutional ammendement was proposed again in 1914, in 1915, in 1918, and in February 1919, failing to win addequate votes each time, until it was proposed again in May of 1919 and passed. Consequently the women's suffrage movement spanned over seventy years, and included various styles of songs to promote the cause during that time, until the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment by the states required thirty-six states in 1920. The songs sung by the suffragists were rarely recorded until long after their cause was won."

Rise up, women, for the fight is hard and long;

Rise up in thousands singing loud a battle song.

Right is might, and in strength we shall be strong

And the cause goes marching on

Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah! The cause goes marching on.

-- Theodora Mills

-30-

Safe Inside

"Females (are) most likely to be victims of domestic homicides (63.7%) and sex-related homicides (81.7%)." -- Bureau of Justice Statistics

The disappearance and murder of Sarah Everard when she was walking home earlier this month in Britain has sparked widespread protests that raise the issue of why women were told to stay inside while a similar curfew was not imposed on men. 

A policeman was arrested for Everard's alleged kidnapping and murder.

Since that arrest, public protests have erupted much like the George Floyd protests last summer, both in the middle of the stay-at-home restrictions due to Covid-19.

Men often are at loss for words about this issue. But this is precisely where the use of language becomes relevant. Well-meaning men, myself included, might say something like "as a father (brother, husband, colleague, etc.), I'm outraged that this has happened."

But of course the danger is not only about the women connected to us, it is about violence against *any* woman anywhere anytime. So the language needs to be universal and without qualification.

Any man with even a modicum of empathy realizes that women go through their entire lives never feeling as safe as we do out of doors. Equally horrible, due to domestic abuse, many women do not feel safe inside either.

Men are overwhelmingly the perpetrators of this violence, rarely the victims. And most men simply do not live with that same kind of fear.

But it's not like if we start using more inclusive language this problem will suddenly go away. Violence by men against women will continue. But maybe the women protesting would begin feeling more like they are being heard if officials took a more radical approach and imposed a curfew on men whenever a sexual predator is known to be on the loose. 

How about: "All men are to stay inside or face possible arrest during this crisis. Women are free to move about with impunity."

That might begin to change the conversation. 

***

The news:

* Deb Haaland Confirmed by Senate as First Native American to Head Interior Department (WP)

* The “Reclaim These Streets” movement in Britain asks why the police demand sacrifices of women rather than forcing men to change to end violence. “It makes my stomach rot,” one organizer said. (NYT)

* There is a severe shortage of data tracking Covid deaths among homeless people in the United States. [Stat News]

* Climate change is making the West so hot and dry that even the iconic saguaro cactus is under threat (WP)

* Widespread vaccinations and warmer weather could mean outdoor concerts this summer, with possible indoor shows later in the fall. (WSJ)

* Police Shrugged Off the Proud Boys, Until They Attacked the Capitol -- Two Proud Boys accused of leading a mob to Congress followed a bloody path to get there. Law enforcement did little to stop them. (NYT)

* Two Charged With Assaulting Officer Who Died After Riot (HuffPost)

* WHO scientist says no deaths linked to COVID-19 shots, urges against panic (Reuters)

* Two underwater robots will comb the waters off Santa Catalina Island looking for barrels of toxic DDT waste that were dumped there in the 1980s. (LAT)

* Colorado and Wyoming See Record Blizzard (WP)

* China’s capital and a wide swath of the country's north were enveloped Monday in the worst sandstorm in a decade, forcing the cancelation of hundreds of flights. (AP)

* Regular booster vaccines are the future in battle with COVID-19 virus, top genome expert says (Reuters)

* Thousands March In Australia As Another #MeToo Wave Hits The Country (NPR)

* California could get $150 billion from the new coronavirus relief bill. Nearly half will go to residents through checks and expanded unemployment benefits. Billions more would go to public and private schools, vaccination efforts, testing and contact tracing efforts. There’s also money for public transit agencies, airports and child care. (AP)

* Cuomo Should Not Resign, Say Half of New Yorkers in a Poll (WSJ)

* 11.5% of Americans are fully vaccinated. (CNN)

* Climate Watch: On the Outer Banks, homeowners in Avon are confronting a tax increase of almost 50 percent to protect their homes, the only road into town, and perhaps the community’s very existence. (NYT)

* U.S. President Joe Biden remains committed to his campaign pledge that no one earning less than $400,000 should see an increase in their taxes, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday. (Reuters)

* For Voting Rights Advocates, a ‘Once in a Generation Moment’ Looms -- Opposition to restrictive Republican voting laws — and support for a sweeping Democratic bill — fuels a movement like none in decades. (NYT)

* Biden administration will use Dallas convention center to shelter migrant teen boys (WP)

* Michigan, Illinois, Gonzaga and Baylor are the four #1 seeds in this year's NCAA Tournament. (NCAA)

* Capitol Police Will Begin Scaling Back Fencing Put Up After Riot (NYT)

* Long-Term Care Residents Need Visitation to Thrive, Advocates Say (SF Public Press)

* Scientists found a fossilized dinosaur sitting on eggs containing fossilized embryos (Boing Boing)

* At bedtime, parents often neglect to properly wrap up their newborn infant in enough aluminum foil. (The Onion)

***

"Safe Inside"

Will you call me to tell me you're alright?
'Cause I worry about you the whole night
Don't make my mistakes
I won't sleep, I won't sleep
If you're home I just hope that you're sober
Is it time to let go now you're older
Don't leave me this way
I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside

-- Songwriters: Emma Rohan / James Arthur / Jonathan Hugh Quamby

-30-

Pi Slices and Raindrops

The rains settled in over the Bay Area on Pi Day, which for all math geeks is a special one. It also this year was tax day for me and some of my dependents as we compiled the documents and did the calculations that will help our accountant or Turbotax take it the rest of the way.

Traveling through the rain reduces the usual spectacular landscape around here to a tiny tight bubble, where there might as well be no ocean, no bay, no mountains, no huge city, just one car ahead, one car behind, and the spray beating on your windshield.

That's a moment worth remembering, the windshield wipers slapping' time...

On a much more personal note, the essay I published yesterday called "My Song" happens only when I'm singing on tune. A couple of you likened it to an impressionist painting, which gratified me. Not only is that a school of art I love but my life feels like it belongs as one, framed. A veteran publisher told me recently that if I were to publish a memoir I should consider calling it "Slivers" or "Slices," because that's the only way my life made sense to him.

Carrying that metaphor forward, if every life can be likened to a loaf of bread, some can probably be seen as a whole, whereas it is extremely difficult to view mine that way. My life got cut up along the way as I veered over this way and then back that way. I did one thing, then another, quite different thing I was in one relationship, then another, then another, then another...I had a child, then another, stopping at six. I'd had roughly 25 jobs when I stopped counting. I lived in lots of different houses, buying and selling a half dozen of them. I checked in and out of many hospitals and nursing facilities; am no stranger to the back of an ambulance with an EMT vehicle, lights on or off.

Depressions? Moods? Diagnoses? Therapists?

Books. I published four books. Articles -- many hundreds. Words? Millions.

Slices. Slivers. Whenever I try to put it back together it makes no sense at all, not to me. Once he falls, Humpty Dumpty stays in pieces. Only a romantic would see a whole.

I'm a leaf not a tree.

***

One frustrating thing about publishing at Facebook is the company strips the links out of the news headlines I collate here, so they become naked. You can't just click through and see the whole article for yourself. Today, for one day only, I'm adding the links back in, as an experiment.

Even with this, for most of the content you'll hit a paywall unless you subscribe to that news service. But some of them -- CNN, AP, Reuters -- should yield the entire story when you click because those are free, like me.

The battle over who makes money off the content we journalists create is a central feature of our time, which I have been noting here regularly for the past year, and elsewhere for the past 25 years. The coming of the Internet disenfranchised the established media, which media executives were slow to comprehend. By the time they did, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Apple and Amazon had already won the war.

In fact the world of media didn't know the tech companies were in the advertising business until they had a monopoly over it.

Now those original content providers are fighting back here and there, winning little victories in Australia and Europe and pinning their hopes on dubious legislation here in the U.S. The corruption of money is so complete in the U.S. political system that there is little hope of any relief soon, other than perhaps the good will of the good folks at the helm of the giant tech companies.

These are not bad people; I know some of them, but they disintermediated mainstream media people from their audiences and revenue sources before they knew what had hit them or why.

***

The news (with links one time only)

* Two Decades After the ‘End of Welfare,’ Democrats Are Changing Direction <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/13/business/economy/child-poverty-stimulus.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20210314&instance_id=28048&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=57875746&segment_id=53393&user_id=e9c50ecce0bae13e757cc06f3250b959> -- The pandemic and a set of other economic and social forces changed the calculation for Democrats when it comes to government aid. The question now is how long the moment will last. (NYT)

* U.S. push for Afghan peace has renewed ‘urgency,’ but some fear it could backfire <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/03/13/afghanistan-us-plan-risks/?utm_campaign=wp_todays_headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_headlines> -- The approach is an attempt to reach a peace deal within weeks by applying unprecedented pressure to negotiating teams on both sides of the conflict. (WP)

* The Imperious Rise and Accelerating Fall of Andrew Cuomo <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/13/us/politics/andrew-cuomo-scandals.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20210314&instance_id=28048&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=57875746&segment_id=53393&user_id=e9c50ecce0bae13e757cc06f3250b959> -- Even as he tries to plot a political survival strategy in the face of sexual misconduct allegations, Mr. Cuomo is an object lesson on the dangers of kicking people on the way up. (NYT)

* At least 14 Myanmar protesters killed in Yangon suburb, local media say <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-politics/at-least-14-killed-in-myanmar-district-after-chinese-factories-burned-media-say-idUSKBN2B602C?il=0> (Reuters)

* U.S. and Iran warily circle each other over reactivating nuclear deal <https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/online-harassment-female-journalists/2021/03/13/ed24b0aa-82aa-11eb-ac37-4383f7709abe_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_evening_edition&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_evening> (WP)

* Paris may face new lockdown as ICUs fill up <https://apnews.com/article/pandemics-pakistan-islamabad-coronavirus-pandemic-europe-48d675ad33ab33fff3c78fe74e36dfcc> (AP)

* The Past Year Has Taught Me a Lot About Nostalgia <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/11/opinion/covid-isolation-narrative.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20210314&instance_id=28048&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=57875746&segment_id=53393&user_id=e9c50ecce0bae13e757cc06f3250b959> -- Yearning for the Before Times as a mythic era risks obscuring the ways in which the Before was really many different kinds of before. (NYT)

* White House Weighs How to Pay for Long-Term Economic Program <https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-weighs-how-to-pay-for-long-term-economic-program-11615714201?mod=hp_lead_pos3> (WSJ)

* Protesters Defy Covid Restrictions to Rally for Slain London Woman <https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000007652762/sarah-everard-memorial.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20210314&instance_id=28048&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=57875746&segment_id=53393&user_id=e9c50ecce0bae13e757cc06f3250b959> -- Thousands of people gathered at Clapham Common on Saturday, the London park near where Sarah Everard, 33, was last seen alive. Her death led to an outpouring of anger and solidarity over violence against women. (AP, Reuters)

* Microsoft Executive Says Tech Consolidation Threatens Journalism <https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000007652363/microsoft-journalism-tech-hearing.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20210314&instance_id=28048&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=57875746&segment_id=53393&user_id=e9c50ecce0bae13e757cc06f3250b959> -- Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, told Congress he supports the Journalism Competition and Protection Act, which empowers news publishers to collectively bargain with online platforms like Facebook and Google. (AP)

* Some Senators Want Permanent Daylight Saving Time <https://www.npr.org/2021/03/13/976859476/some-senators-want-permanent-daylight-saving-time> (NPR)

* Last Pickle Delighted To Finally Have Whole Jar To Self (The Onion)

***

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin' for a train
When I's feelin' near as faded as my jeans
Bobby thumbed a diesel down just before it rained
And rode us all the way into New Orleans

I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandana
I's playin' soft while Bobby sang the blues
Windshield wipers slappin' time
I's holdin' Bobby's hand in mine
We sang every song that driver knew

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose
Nothin', it ain't nothin' honey, if it ain't free
And feelin' good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues
You know feelin' good was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee

From the Kentucky coal mines to the California sun
Yeah, Bobby shared the secrets of my soul
Through all kinds of weather, through everything we done
Yeah, Bobby baby kept me from the cold

One day up near Salinas, Lord, I let him slip away
He's lookin' for that home and I hope he finds it
Well, I'd trade all my tomorrows for one single yesterday
To be holdin' Bobby's body next to mine

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose
Nothin', and that's all that Bobby left me
Well, feelin' good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues
And feelin' good was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee

Songwriters: F. Foster / K. Kristofferson

-30-