Lay Down Your Guns

My daily routine involves very little TV watching; I gather almost all of these news stories from online sources or from friends and colleagues.

But on Friday I just happened to tune in to CNN as Brooke Baldwin was giving her final sign-off after 13 years at the network. She was the probably anchor there I respected the most -- warm, articulate, passionate but always professional. She seemed to make an effort to stay relatively neutral in a deeply polarized time and despite pressure from upper management.

All the cable news networks try to turn their news readers (i.e. anchors) into personalities they can market. This often means that any pretense of journalistic objectivity gets lost in the process. It's extremely difficult to be both an anchor and an honest journalist. Walter Cronkite set the standard a long time ago; few today can live up to his example. But Baldwin usually came pretty close, and for that I salute her.

I'm not well enough informed to know why she is leaving; no doubt network politics were at least partially at play. It's one more reminder that jobs come and go in all of our lives, but it's important to remain who you actually are, regardless of title or what your bosses demand of you.

Life is way too short to live any other way.

***

Gun violence has become so pervasive that it's uncomfortably predictable that the next mass shooting will be just around the corner -- actually as well as metaphorically. There have been at least 45 of these slaughters in the past month, where four or more people were murdered by a lone gunman.

Yet nothing I read suggests that there is any realistic hope of restricting people's access to the weapons of mass destruction in the U.S. Even though many of the shooters like the one in Indiana were "known" to authorities as potentially violent individuals before they acted out their murderous rampages!

That's because of the right to bear arms.

I don't know about you, but I've had enough of the Second Amendment to the Constitution for a lifetime. Too many others lives have been cut short for me to believe in the right to bear arms any longer.

If that makes me an outlier, maybe you can call me an unarmed outlaw...

***

The headlines:

* The U.S. has reported at least 45 mass shootings in the last month (CNN)

* Suspected gunman at FedEx facility was a former employee, police confirm (WaPo)

* With Militants Gaining New Footholds, Afghanistan No Longer Central to Counterterrorism Fight -- The new locations for terrorist groups are often much closer to vital Western interests and global shipping lanes than landlocked Afghanistan, from which President Biden said this week he will remove U.S. troops by September. (WSJ)

* The Bay Area has a large Afghan community, and many members moved there after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. They reacted to the announced U.S. pullout from Afghanistan. [NPR]

* Leaving Afghanistan, and the Lessons of America’s Longest War (New Yorker)

* Can The Afghan Army Hold Off The Taliban Without The U.S.? (NPR)

* Chicago’s police oversight group released footage of an officer fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy more than two weeks ago. Police said the shooting followed an "armed confrontation" with Adam Toledo, but video footage showed no gun in the boy's hand and that he complied by putting his hands up. “If you’re shooting an unarmed child with his hands in the air, it is an assassination,” Adeena Weiss-Ortiz, the Toledo family’s attorney, said. [HuffPost]

* Opponents of Myanmar coup form unity government, aim for 'federal democracy' (Reuters)

* Calls to impeach Bolsonaro are rising, but his grip on Brazil remains strong (WaPo)

* California regulators are stepping up their oversight of PG&E, after concluding the company was stumbling on wildfire safety by doing a bad job of removing trees and hazardous power lines. [Sacramento Bee]

* U.S. setting up $1.7B national network to track virus variants (AP)

* Andrew Yang leads new NYC mayoral poll — despite string of gaffes (NY Post)

* Two dozen U.S. senators sent a letter to the White House outlining steps to shutter the crumbling military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where many men have been held uncharged for nearly 20 years. (NPR)

* Konstantin Kilimnik, a longtime associate of Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, was a Russian agent who fed election data on U.S. citizens to the Kremlin, the Treasury Department said in announcing new economic sanctions on Moscow. During the 2016 presidential election, Kilimnik also provided the Russian Intelligence Services with “sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy,” it said. [HuffPost]

* Soaring retail sales and a sharp drop in jobless claims are the latest reflection of a quickening recovery and suggest a year of remarkable growth. (NYT)

* Fox News host Tucker Carlson doubled down on his support of the white nationalist "great replacement" theory this week, exciting white nationalists across America who think it will help their movement. VDare, a well-known white nationalist website, gushed over Carlson’s monologue like a proud parent. [HuffPost]

* Republicans desperate to oppose Biden’s jobs plan settle on a nonsense reason (WaPo)

* France Lawmakers Pass Contentious Bill Extending Police Powers (WaPo)

* Undocumented immigrants are on the front lines of the pandemic as essential workers but have been excluded from government stimulus and unemployment benefits.Over 30 workers in New Jersey have been on a hunger strike for nine days. [HuffPost]

* Teens slept 45 minutes more a night when their school district tried a new scheduling strategy (CNN)

* Elon Musk’s SpaceX wins contract to develop spacecraft to land astronauts on the moon (WaPo)

* Newborn Loses Faith In Humanity After Record 6 Days (The Onion)

***

So baby come on
Lay down your guns and surrender
Remember days we thought would last forever
Nothing better but we let them slip away
'Cause in the end we make the bed we lie in
Let's start trying, what's the point of talking about it

Songwriters: James Barnes / Richard Wjr Nowels

-30-

Forks in the Road

One recent family gathering involved a game where each player had to illustrate a secret word or phrase and the other players tried to guess what the picture represented. Thus if the word was "sandwich," you tried to draw something that the others would recognize as such.

My seven-year-old granddaughter brought the rest of us to stitches when what we guessed was her drawing of a bulldozer turned out to be the (unfamiliar to her) phrase "fork in the road." She had patiently drawn a piece of silverware standing in the middle of a road.

As the others explained to her the figurative use of the phrase, I was reminded of the many occasions English learners have enriched my appreciation of the language. One time, a Chinese friend noticed a movement across the room and spoke up: "The mouse! It is running."

I'm pretty sure that was a direct translation from Mandarin.

***

One of the most dramatic features of California's version of democracy is the recall of elected officials. That seems to happen here more often than in most other states.

The highest-profile recall effort right now is directed against Gov. Gavin Newsom, mainly due to controversial and partisan aspects of the pandemic lockdown. A great deal of money is being spent both for and against the recall drive, and at present it appears there will be a special election to decide the matter.

But I doubt the recall will succeed in the end because there is no strong candidate that the Republicans can put up against Newsom, a rather charismatic politician.

Meanwhile, a lesser-known but equally significant recall effort is directed against San Francisco's progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin, another charismatic figure, supposedly because of rising street crime during the pandemic. He is an unusual lead prosecutor in that he grew up with parents who were in prison.

Boudin is the son of Weather Underground activists Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert; was raised by their fellow Weather members Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn; and his family lineage includes a long line of left-wing intellectuals, including the legendary journalist I.F. Stone.

Boudin was elected DA in 2020 over the opposition of the police union and the Democratic establishment, which in San Francisco has produced a long line of centrist politicians like Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom and another former DA, Kamala Harris. 

But Boudin is different from mainstream Democrats. His priorities include eliminating cash bail, refusing to assist ICE in arrests of undocumented immigrants, and establishing a unit to re-evaluate wrongful convictions. White-color crime and police accountability are among the problems he emphasizes. 

In an interview with Forbes, Boudin questioned whether the nation "can safely continue the national system of mass incarceration. Why do we need to take people to jail for non-violent offenses if what they really need is drug treatment or mental health services?"

Former state Senator Mark Leno is among those supporting Boudin against the recall drive.

 "Recently, elections were held and the voters' voices were heard. Now, just 16 months later, a minority of deep pocketed special interests want those voices silenced and their decision overturned," Leno stated in a news release. "We see this happening throughout California. Endless recalls will keep us all in a constant state of campaigns preventing our elected officials from doing their jobs. I support Chesa Boudin and the important work that he's doing. We should all oppose this recall for the unnecessary and disruptive impact it will have on our treasured democratic process."

Much of the money on both sides of the recall is coming from outside the state, according to an investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle. The money lining up against Boudin appears to be part of a concerted national effort by right-wing interests to undermine progressive initiatives wherever they are tried.

Personally, I strongly oppose the recall of Boudin. If our elected officials are punished for trying new ways to solve the seemingly intractable relationship between poverty and crime, how will we ever find solutions and create a healthier society?

I don't know if his ideas are the best ones or will work in the long run, but I'd rather have a DA who's open to trying new approaches to these issues than the normal bureaucrat who just locks petty criminals up and throws away the key.

All that accomplishes is the status quo, where poor people and minorities fill up our jails while rich criminals go free. Since we've reached another fork on this all-too familiar trail, why not try the branch less traveled?

***

The news: 

* Eight people confirmed dead in shooting at Indianapolis FedEx facility, police say -- The gunman killed eight people and injured at least four others late Thursday before killing himself, authorities said. (WaPo)

* When Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” first sounded the alarm on DDT and its devastating effects on birds and fish, our understanding of how this pesticide affected humans was just beginning. Chemicals can take years to reveal their insidious power, and so for decades, scientists have been piecing together — study by study — the reasons why DDT still haunts us today. First it was breast cancer in women who were exposed to this hormone-disrupting chemical in the 1950s and ‘60s. Then their daughters, who had been exposed in the womb. Researchers over the years have also linked DDT exposure to obesity, birth defects, reduced fertility and testicular cancer in sons. Now, a team of toxicologists, molecular biologists and epidemiologists at UC Davis and the Public Health Institute in Oakland have confirmed for the first time that granddaughters of women who were exposed to DDT during pregnancy also suffer from significant health threats: Higher rates of obesity and menstrual periods that start before age 11. (LAT)

* Many Afghans fear that without the umbrella of American protection, the country will be unable to preserve its modest gains toward democracy and women’s rights. (NYT)

* Biden's administration took steps to fulfill a campaign promise to undo a Trump-era ban on clinics referring women for abortions. The policy drove Planned Parenthood from the federal family planning program and created new complications for women trying to get birth control. [AP]

* A year into the pandemic, it’s even more clear that it’s safer to be outside (WaPo)

* State and local governments are scrambling to distribute $25 billion in rental relief, leaving renters and landlords waiting weeks for funds. Orange County is a prime example of the obstacles officials face. (WSJ)

* U.S. preparing for 1-year COVID-19 booster shots (Reuters)

* 23.6% of Americans Fully Vaccinated; Nearly 200 Million Doses Administered. (CNN)

* Biden's administration is set to impose harsh sanctions against Russia to punish an array of offenses that Trump ignored, including hacking, election interference and bounties for the murder of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Biden said earlier that the days of "rolling over" to Putin were gone. [AP]

* U.S. expels Russian diplomats, imposes sanctions for hacking (AP)

* In the murder trial of ex-Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin, charged in last year's death of George Floyd, the defense tried to cast doubt on the prosecution case that Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck was what killed him. A defense expert testified that maybe it was carbon monoxide from car exhaust. [HuffPost]

* Dr. David Fowler, a medical expert called by Chauvin’s defense team, admitted under cross examination on that Floyd might have survived if he received immediate medical attention. (Court TV)

* Chauvin waived his right to testify as his defense ended. A verdict is expected next week. (Reuters)

* With George Floyd, a Raging Debate Over Bias in the Science of Death -- Critics say the profession of forensic pathology has been slow to acknowledge how big a role bias may play in decisions such as whether to classify a death in police custody as a homicide. (NYT)

* Coronavirus hot spots flare up across nation, pushing up hospitalizations (WaPo)

* California adopted the highest fuel tax in the nation in a bid to fix its highways. But four years later, the road repair program is facing a $6.1 billion shortfall. [Sacramento Bee]

* Parents can expect monthly child tax credit payments to begin in July under Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus, the IRS head told senators. Families eligible for full benefits will receive up to $3,600 for every child under 6 and $3,000 for each child under 18. [HuffPost]

* Dow breaks 34k, S&P hits fresh record high on tech rally (Reuters)

* The online learning community Brainly polled more than 2,000 students about their opinions, beliefs, and habits pertaining to the environment. Respondents ranged from middle school to college students. Nearly 44% of students said they are predicting that within 20 years, Earth’s environment will be worse than it is now, and 22% of students said that they think Earth’s environment will be entirely destroyed in 20 years. (PR Hacker)

 * ‘How to have sex’ was the most searched for sex tip in 2020 with 1,052,550 searches, with people from Utah turning to Google the most for an answer to this. (Gorkana)

* Study: 2.5 billion T-rex roamed Earth, but not all at once (AP)

* Apple creates fund for 'working forests' as part of carbon-removal efforts (Reuters)
* The Many Minds of the Octopus -- The weird way that the brainpower of octopus is distributed among their eight arms may have much to teach us about our own brains. (WSJ)
* Scientists Create Early Embryos That Are Part Human, Part Monkey -- An international team has put human cells into monkey embryos in hopes of finding new ways to produce organs for transplantation. But some ethicists still worry about how such research could go wrong. (NPR)

* Dodgers-Padres Has Become Baseball’s Best Rivalry (WSJ)
* Little League Coach Thinks Right Fielder Has Potential To Be A Great Novelist (The Onion)
***

Seems like love should be easier to bear
But it's such a heavy load 
Worldwide traveler, you ain't been nowhere
Till you've traveled down love's road

I know I may be just a stranger 
Lover, let me warn you there's the danger
Of the fork in love's road

Songwriters: Ronald White / Smokey Robinson / Warren Moore / William Robinson Jr.

-30-

If Only for a Night

When I was a young boy and my family left to go home after a camping trip, an overwhelming sense of nostalgia often swept over me. I'd walk around the camping spot one last time, noting the twigs and stones I'd played with, the view of the lake through the trees, and the way the grass was pressed down where our tent had been.

Why did I feel so sad after only a week in that spot?

Reading a new dispatch from Bloomberg News about the millions of dollars cities are spending simply to move homeless encampments brought this memory back with disturbing clarity. The actions by city officials may be understandable -- their housed citizens often demand some sort of action -- but they virtually always prove fruitless.

Homeless people will just set up new camps in some other corner of the city.

I don't know for sure, but I suspect at least some of the homeless folks dislodged in this manner must feel a similar ache of loss about changing locations as I did back then. The circumstances are completely different, of course, as I had a home to go back to and they don't. But our common humanity is the issue here, not who is housed and who isn't.

Seeing the expansive rambling encampments here in the Bay Area, I'm struck by how hard people have tried to make themselves a home in the nooks and crannies available to them.

There's some fundamental aspect humanity involved in trying to adapt to whatever environment we find ourselves in. As I watch shows like "Lost" or "Alone" with my kids and grandkids, it is striking how hard the participants work not only to find food and water but just to simply build a little safe spot in the wilderness, if only for a night.

Maybe we need to think about that the next time our elected officials roust another homeless group for no real reason but to get them out of sight. These are our fellow human beings who were just trying to nest, and perhaps they need to say goodbye to a spot, no matter how modest, before they are forced to move on.

Maybe in fact they're not all that much different from you and me.

***

Way down in my curated headline list is an intriguing report on what people think of journalists -- just how much public trust we have lost over recent decades even as our employment prospects have withered and our former outlets have been shuttered.

The survey cited by AP indicates that many people are put off by the obvious biases and slants  expressed by media figures they assume are journalists -- because they appear on programs that purport to be news shows.

Not to pick on anyone in particular, but in this manner the Tucker Carlsons and Don Lemons of the world are destroying the confidence real journalists need to do our jobs. They have a pulpit but they couldn't report their way out of a paper bag if it were placed over their pretty faces.

I've chosen to boycott all such programs regardless of political slant because they add nothing useful to my life. Meanwhile, many decent reporters I know are unemployed or paid for doing trivial stories about trivial matters. While our democratic society deteriorates into polarized camps of ignorant partisans...

***

As Biden prepares to exit Afghanistan, the U.S. cannot ignore the likely fate of Afghan women who have made such strides for equality, once the Taliban consolidate power in that country.

CNN's report from Musa Qala is a cautionary tale. There, women cannot leave their homes with male escorts. There is no education for girls.

The original reason for invading Afghanistan -- capturing Osama Bin Laden and avenging 9/11 -- was accomplished years ago. But the oppression of Afghan women is a moral outrage the world cannot sit by and tolerate.

As is the case with our Israel policy, the U.S. needs to calibrate its foreign aid, military might, and moral leadership to help make the world a better place if that is still possible.

Or maybe that is simply the hopeless wish of a former Peace Corps Volunteer...

***

The news:

* Capitol Police Told to Hold Back on Riot Response on Jan. 6, Report Finds -- Despite being tipped that “Congress itself is the target” on Jan. 6, Capitol Police were ordered not to use their most powerful crowd-control weapons, according to a scathing new watchdog report. (NYT)

* A new study into homeless encampments found that cities are paying millions in clearance costs to move homeless people from one camp to another. [Bloomberg]

* Loneliness is rampant. A simple call, or hug, may be a cure (AP)

* An aggressive Israeli settlement spree during the Trump era pushed deeper than ever into the occupied West Bank — territory the Palestinians seek for a state — with over 9,000 homes built and thousands more in the pipeline, an AP investigation showed. If left unchallenged by the Biden administration, the construction boom could make fading hopes for an internationally backed two-state solution — Palestine alongside Israel — even more elusive. Satellite images and data document for the first time the full impact of the policies of then-President Donald Trump, who abandoned decades-long U.S. opposition to the settlements and proposed a Mideast plan that would have allowed Israel to keep them all — even those deep inside the West Bank. (AP)

* Democrats signal limited patience for GOP opposition to Biden infrastructure package (WaPo)

* What it's like to live in a town where everything is controlled by the Taliban -- Women are banned from leaving their homes without a male companion and nobody dares ask about schooling for girls living here. Taxation, that's sometimes fair and often on the rich but compulsory, can be prey to rival taxmen and lead to beatings and imprisonment for non-payment. Justice is dispensed in mobile courts with adulterers jailed or killed and some reoffending thieves hanged in public. Bread, clothing and even the occasional smartphone are gifts for fighters. This is 2021, in a Taliban stronghold: Musa Qala, a town in Helmand province that dozens of Americans, British and Afghan soldiers died fighting for over nearly two decades. (CNN)

* Biden says ‘we cannot continue the cycle’ in Afghanistan (WaPo)

* World stocks rally to record highs (Reuters)

* U.S. Budget Deficit Widened to a Record $1.7 Trillion for Six Months, as Stimulus Checks Fueled Spending (WSJ)

* What We Know About The Suspect Who Planted Bombs Before The Capitol Riot (NPR)

* The Only Ones Arrested After a Child’s Rape: The Women Who Helped Her -- The assault of a 13-year-old girl in Venezuela and the arrest of her mother and a teacher who helped her end the pregnancy have forced a national debate about legalizing abortion. (NYT)

* Israel plays spoiler in Biden’s Iran gambit (WaPo)

* A Mysterious Suicide Cluster -- Young people in a Missouri college town kept killing themselves. (New Yorker)

* Days after a computer hack allegedly masterminded by Israel caused widespread damage to its nuclear program, Iran said it would boost its uranium enrichment in response to what President Hassan Rouhani said "is an answer to your evilness." [AP]

* China Poses Biggest Threat to U.S., Intelligence Report Says (NYT)

* House panel to vote on slavery reparations bill for first time, supporters are calling it an important milestone (WaPo)

* With massive pools storing wastewater still needed to cool Japan's ruined reactors nearly full, the country has approved a plan to empty the radioactive waste into the Pacific Ocean. South Korea strongly objected to the dumping, set to start in two years and continue for a decade. Japan says the waste, containing radioactive tritium, is harmless. [AP]

* As corporate America and Big Law line up against Republican voter suppression laws inspired by Donald Trump's election lies, Michigan -- with a Democratic governor -- has become an unlikely battleground. Despite opposition from big Michigan-based companies, including General Motors, Ford and Quicken Loans, the GOP legislature is poised to ram through restrictions to curb voting by people of color. [NYT]

* The U.S. plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions dramatically in the next decade. Scientists say it's crucial that the U.S. succeed. Still, many of the positive effects won't arrive for decades. (NPR)

* Purple sea urchins have decimated California’s kelp forests, which scientists estimate have shrunk 95 percent. One solution is to eat the urchins. A Guardian writer tried it. [The Guardian]

* A glacier in Alaska is moving 100 times faster than it should (Yahoo News)

* Stephen Curry passed Wilt Chamberlain as the Warriors’ career scoring leader. His postgame total of 17,818 surpassed Chamberlain’s 17,783. (NYT)

* A study of the public’s attitude toward the press reveals that distrust goes deeper than partisanship and down to how journalists define their very mission. The study by the Media Insight Project, a collaboration between the American Press Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, suggests ways that news organizations can reach people they may be turning off now. “In some ways, this study suggests that our job is broader and bigger than we’ve defined it,” said Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute. (AP)

* Owl Upset After Yet Another Discussion With Parents Devolves Into Hooting (The Onion)

***

Long as I remember
The rain been comin' down
Clouds of mystery pourin'
Confusion on the ground
Good men through the ages
Tryin' to find the sun
And I wonder
Still, I wonder
Who'll stop the rain

-- John Fogerty

-30-

T is a Lovely Letter

That so much is moving through the news pipeline this week means I've got a lot on my mind to get down on paper, I mean on screen. There's an urgency to all of this.

First, the day-in day-out struggles and beauties of raising LBGTQ kids. Other forms of discrimination receive a lot more media exposure, which is not necessarily a bad thing for these children. Just being left alone by the media machine can be a blessing when so much of the publicity is negative.

Our best understanding of human sexuality suggests that it ranges along a spectrum based on who we are attracted to; similarly our gender identity is often independent of our biological characteristics altogether.

Just grasping these fundamental truths seems to be beyond the capability of some, who instead choose to retreat behind ancient biases and fears. In my case, I confess that I was pretty broadly ignorant about the "T" in this spectrum until a girlfriend of mine introduced me to the transcendental beauty of the trans population in San Francisco.

She had a connoisseur's appreciation for women's clothing and the way in which people choose to present themselves. Those qualities allowed her to help me see trans people in a new way.

So it is with pleasure that I see the NCAA may stop holding championship games in states with anti-trans laws on the books.

Hallelujuh! This represents progress.

***

Onward to more news. When will enough sane people get sick of Israel's disgusting behavior in the Middle East to force it to stop? The way Mossad provokes Iran every time there is some hope of a rapprochement with the U.S. is getting sickening. And no one should forget the ongoing maltreatment of the Palestinians whose territory Israel occupies.

There is no way for an intellectually honest person to express concern for the indigenous populations in North and South America, Taiwan, Australia and many other places without condemning Israeli persecution of the native people within and on the other side of its borders.

I'm not questioning Israels' right to exist. Just its horrible, unjustified behavior toward the Palestinians. This is a stain on humanity and it is far past the time for the U.S. government to use its substantial leverage to force Israel to clean up its act and learn to live in peace with its neighbors. 

***

Finally, some good news as the Wall Street Journal takes note of how beneficial even ten minutes of journal-writing per day can have in anyone's life. I know I resemble a broken record promoting this habit but I'll never apologize for that.

Keep track of your life -- your movements, your feelings, your observations! I know many people feel they cannot write effectively, but don't let that be an excuse to not at least try. Some of the most moving and elegant stories I have ever read comes from people who would never identify as writers.

It's the story that matters -- much more than the form. That's how we teach children when they are learning to write. We say don't worry about spelling or punctuation; phonetic words are fine and there's time to master those other details later on.

No, write as if your life depends on it. Because it may. And if you are old like me, those dizzy spells may well be mini strokes and hints that your days may be numbered. If so, the stories you withhold now will never get told.

And that would be a pity.

***

News:

* U.S. federal health agencies recommended pausing the use of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine after six recipients developed a rare disorder involving blood clots. (Reuters)

* A Push to Move the Golf Course Atop a Native American ‘Stonehenge’ -- Historians hoping to preserve the ancient Octagon Earthworks in Newark, Ohio, as a UNESCO World Heritage site face a problem: the golf club that leases the property (NYT)

* Minnesota killing adds to the anger, and the stakes, as Chauvin trial nears its end (WaPo)

* Fox News host Tucker Carlson doubled down on comments he made days ago about the "great replacement" theory, a racist, far-right doctrine that imagines white people are intentionally being replaced with immigrants and minorities. The Anti-Defamation League has called on Fox News to fire Carlson. [HuffPost]

* Apple backs far-reaching emissions disclosure rules. (Reuters)

* California is one of the states with the worst disparities in vaccinating its Latino population, despite a statewide mandate meant to target underserved communities. [CNN]

* A drought on the border between Oregon and California could lead to cuts in irrigation water to farmers in order to sustain endangered fish species central to the heritage of local tribes. [AP]

* The Los Angeles Unified School District is considering extending the next school year by two weeks to make up for lost time learning and to address trauma from pandemic school closures. [Los Angeles Times]

* At Chauvin trial, defense’s use-of-force expert says former officer was ‘justified’ in use of force (WaPo)

* Chauvin defense team attempts to put George Floyd’s drug addiction on the stand (WaPo)

* After Nuclear Site Blackout, Thunder From Iran, and Silence From U.S. -- The Americans and Israelis have worked together in the past to impede Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but the U.S. denies that was the case in the latest sabotage. (NYT)

* Iran to begin 60% uranium enrichment after nuclear site incident (Reuters)

* Kristen Clarke faced abuse for taking on Trump. Now she’s poised to lead Justice Dept.’s civil rights team. (WaPo)

* While most Americans have weathered the pandemic financially, about 38 million say they are worse off now than before the outbreak began in the U.S. (AP)

* Myanmar Coup Puts the Seal on Autocracy’s Rise in Southeast Asia -- Not long ago, democracy seemed to be surging in the region. But in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and elsewhere, it is in trouble (NYT)

* Biden to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, officials say

 (Reuters)

* More than 300 businesses and investors, including such giants as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, are calling on the Biden administration to set an ambitious climate goals. (AP)

* As GOP-led states seek to exclude transgender athletes from sports, the National Collegiate Athletic Association issued a statement reaffirming its support for transgender student-athletes competing on teams that align with their gender identity. The organization suggested it may not hold championship games in states with anti-trans laws on the books. [HuffPost]

* We should celebrate trans kids, not crack down on them (WaPo)

* Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull testified that Rupert Murdoch has done more to divide and damage America with the help of Donald Trump than Vladimir Putin has. The parliamentary hearing was prompted by a petition that was signed by half a million Australians calling for an investigation into Murdoch’s media empire. [HuffPost]

* Not Your Usual Police Chief: Biden Picks Trump Critic to Run Border Agency (NYT)

* How Journaling Can Help You Live Your Best Life -- Just 10 minutes a day of writing can be effective, says an author and life coach who suggests: “make yourself the hero in a story of your own making.”(WSJ)

* A woman softball pitcher from the University of North Texas made NCAA Division I history by throwing a perfect game in which she registered all 21 outs by strikeout. (NPR)

* Geologists Recommend Eating At Least One Small Rock Per Day (The Onion)

***

Loving you
Isn't the right thing to do
How can I ever change things
That I feel

If I could
Maybe I'd give you my world
How can I
When you won't take it from me

You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way

-- Lindsey Buckingham

-30-

"On the Cover of the Rollin' Stone"

The average elderly person is a walking history lesson, even if they themselves and the people around them often forget that. This came up recently when my 25-year-old, Dylan, asked me a question about something he's reading for graduate school that took me back 45 years to September 1976, when Lowell Bergman and I co-authored a piece in Rolling Stone called "Revolution on Ice."

The book he's reading covered some of the same ground as our article, which focused on the massive disruption effort the U.S. government employed against the Black Panther Party through its program code-named COINTELPRO.

Our article (though not our picture) was indeed featured "on the cover of the Rollin' Stone," as Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show would have put it, but we weren't rock stars and we probably didn't "buy five copies for our mothers." (Shel Silverstein was the guy who actually wrote those classic lines.)

Dylan was curious about what I thought about the Panthers this long afterward, and also about David Horowitz, a key character in the book he's reading. David was a leftist and a big supporter of the Panthers who very publicly turned against the group and became an extreme right-winger after the bookkeeper for the group, Betty Van Patter, was murdered in 1974.

The only way I could answer my son's questions was that sometimes I have to hold two, seemingly contradictory ideas in my head at the same time when evaluating people and organizations. I explained that while the Panthers did some really great things like standing up to police violence, creating a free breakfast program, and promoting a positive image for young black men, they also devolved into essentially a street gang involved in violent crime that victimized many people, including BettyVan Patter.

Horowitz never could get over his own feelings of guilt and responsibility for recommending Betty for her job with the Panthers. And that was perhaps the major factor causing him to swing from what was probably an excessively extreme position on one side of the political spectrum to a similar position 180 degrees away on the other.

For Dylan and me, this may have been one of the first times that I was able to get substantively involved in one of his academic matters since he was a little boy, somewhere around third grade. I doubt I talked much about the Panthers as he was growing up; in fact I think it has been the Black Lives Matter movement in the past year, arising in response to the murder of George Floyd, that has provoked renewed interest among his generation in the  iconic groups from the Sixties.

We compared notes and agreed that history moves in cycles. If you wait long enough, everything comes around again. In the meantime I'm glad *I've* been around long enough to voice an opinion he finds relevant.

***

Monday evening I "attended" a discussion moderated by the aforementioned Lowell Bergman at U-C Berkeley on the First Amendment in the Internet Age. The guest speakers, Martha Minow and Erwin Chemerinsky were terrific.

There seemed to be a consensus that we're living through an era when the explosion of information via the web has outpaced any governmental ability to both protect free speech and limit the spread of mass propaganda like that promulgated by Donald Trump.

The danger is the mass distribution of lies can in fact become the mass basis of fascism. Democracy cannot survive those conditions, as it relies on the fragile balance among citizens of a consensus on what is truth and what is *not* truth.

Thus we are living in perilous times, which is recognized clearly by the intellectuals speaking and attending that virtual event.

But I also sense a consensus among thoughtful people that we may be powerless to change the dynamics undermining that which we desperately need to survive as a civilized society.

If that sounds dire, we need only go back in another place and time in history, Germany in the 1930s. The danger, in the form of Trump and his allies remains eerily similar to Hitler's rise. They represent a ticking time bomb that could destroy everything we hold dear.

***

The headlines:

* Biden faces growing Republican skepticism over infrastructure plan (Reuters)

* Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg encouraged evangelical Christians reluctant to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to consider that the shots might be a “part of God’s plan.” About 40% of white evangelical Protestants said they likely would not get vaccinated, according to a poll conducted last month, compared with about 25% of all Americans. [HuffPost]

* Recent Rise in Covid-19 Cases Driven by Younger People (WSJ)

* Blackout That Hit Iran Nuclear Site Appears to Be Israeli Sabotage (NYT)

* More Bloodshed in Myanmar as Crackdown on Coup Protests Continues (NYT)

* As Chauvin’s ex-bosses condemn him, ‘policing in America is on trial’ (WaPo) 

* Cardiologist testifies that Derek Chauvin’s acts caused George Floyd’s death (WaPo)

* Recently, a study by researchers with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, found that fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke can be several times more harmful to respiratory health than from other sources. (NYT) * Crowds of counterprotesters showed up to oppose a planned “white lives matter” rally in Huntington Beach: “I’m here to help keep the peace and show people we are not violent rioters and also to reject the KKK and white supremacy.” [Orange County Register] * San Franciscans rallied in solidarity with India’s farmers. [KQED] * Don’t Get Attached to Your Favorite College Basketball Player. He May Transfer. -- More than 28% of 4,500-plus scholarship basketball players in the NCAA’s Division I have indicated a desire to transfer, anticipating new rules that wouldn’t force them to sit out a year. (WSJ) * Domestic terrorism incidents surge, led by white supremacists, far right (WaPo) * The San Francisco Giants welcomed some 9,000 spectators to their home opener at Oracle Park, after fans showed proof of being vaccinated or a recent coronavirus test. (SFGate) * Nepal’s Rhino Population Grows, Likely Boosted by Covid-19 Closures (WSJ)

* India records another surge in COVID-19 cases (AP)

* Drained by a Year of Covid, Many Mayors Head for the Exit -- Local officials nationwide are announcing plans to step back from elected office. Many offer the same explanation: Covid burnout. (NYT)

* FDA to urge limits on heavy metals in baby foods, starting with arsenic and lead (WaPo)

* Controversial Theory Suggests Aliens May Have Built Ancient Egypt’s Intergalactic Spaceport (The Onion)

***

P.S. Dr Hook & the Medicine Show did appear on the cover of Rolling Stone the year after their hit record on March 29, 1973, but in caricature form rather than a photograph. The group's name was not used; instead the caption read simply, "What's-Their-Names Make the Cover."

***

Well, we're big rock singers
We got golden fingers
And we're loved everywhere we go ("That sounds like us")
We sing about beauty and we sing about truth
At ten thousand dollars a show (right)
We take all kinds of pills that give us all kind of thrills
But the thrill we've never known
Is the thrill that'll getcha when you get your picture
On the cover of the Rollin' Stone

wanna see my picture on the cover
(Stone) wanna buy five copies for my mother (yes)
(Stone) wanna see my smilin' face
On the cover of the Rollin' stone ("That's a very, very good idea")

I got a freaky ole lady name a Cocaine Katy
Who embroiders on my jeans
I got my poor ole grey haired daddy
Drivin' my limousine
Now it's all designed to blow our minds
But our minds won't really be blown
Like the blow that'll getcha when you get your picture
On the cover of the Rollin' Stone

wanna see our pictures on the cover
(Stone) wanna buy five copies for our mothers (yeah)
(Stone) wanna see my smilin face
On the cover of the Rollin' stone

-- Shel Silverstein

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Remembering One Another

A wonderful story this weekend in the Journal ponders whether we are the same people coming out of the pandemic as we were going in, at least in the sense of our goals and priorities.

Okay, I'll go first. 

In March 2020 I was living in an assisted living facility south of San Francisco, walking slowly with a cane, and confined to my room due to fears about the dangers Covid-19, especially among older people.

I was just starting posting daily essays to Facebook.

At present, I'm living with family members northeast of San Francisco, haven't used that cane in many months, and am still posting daily essays to Facebook, along with aggregations of news headlines and song lyrics. I'm not at all confined to the indoors, am fully vaccinated and frequently travel around the area and beyond.

But has anything fundamentally changed?

During the intervening period I've apparently given up on one fantasy -- going back to full-time employment. Although I believe I am fully capable of filling a job somewhere, I've been out of the game long enough that I probably would no longer be willing to endure the kind of organizational nonsense that followed me around job to job throughout my 55-year career.

It's not like I had horrible bosses; some of them were pretty bad but others were nice people, even friends. But although I'm a team player and very loyal, the hierarchical structure of organizations doesn't suit my nature. So, in one way I've changed this past year -- choosing that there will be no more jobs. 

But working hard seven days a week without a job is not a problem. Telling my stories seems urgent after recovering from a stroke and other ailments.

I can also say that I more deeply value friendships, both old and new, than I did a year ago. I always liked the people I was fortunate to become close with, but now I look forward to our interactions with the sense that each meeting could be one of our last.

And since we apparently only live once, why not tell each other how much we love one another any chance we get? The negative emotions may feel real enough in the heat of a moment, but given time and reflection, they will pass.

So many people have died from Covid-19 in the past year -- hundreds of thousands in the U.S. and millions around the world. This pandemic will be remembered by our descendants for a long time. Maybe that's why what I've composed is essentially a journal of life during the pandemic -- to get it all down, at least from one person's perspective.

Thank you to anyone seeing this for taking the journey with me. Will we remember our trip together?

***

My son working in a medical unit based in the Mission District has been one of those vaccinating people all day long on Saturdays and I asked him if anything has surprised him about the people coming to get the shot. 

"I never would have guessed how many people are terrified of needles," he said. "It's the main problem we have. One big guy, maybe 60, was shaking so badly I had to tell him that unless he could calm down, it was going to be much more difficult for both of us than it needed to be."

He also told me about one main trick vaccine administrators use with children but also with anyone to avoid them tensing up at the last second, which is also not an ideal way to receive the shot. 

"We say, 'this will just be a little poke', then we start counting 'one...two...' but we have already poked them by 'one'."

***

The headlines: 

* Covid-19 Was a Wake-Up Call for Lifestyle, Career Changes -- Americans who went into the pandemic aren’t the same people coming out, instead emerging from a year of introspection with new goals, priorities and concerns. (WSJ)

* More than 100 corporate leaders discuss action against voting bills -- Executives from major airlines, retailers and manufacturers talked about potential ways to show they oppose the controversial legislation, including by halting political donations and even delaying investments in states that pass the restrictive measures. (WaPo)

* The administration is under intensifying pressure to expand its capacity to care for as many as 35,000 unaccompanied minors, part of a wave of people crossing the border. (NYT)

* Australia made a plan to protect Indigenous elders from covid-19. It worked. (WaPo)

* Israel's defense minister pledged to cooperate with the United States on Iran, voicing hope that Israeli security would be safeguarded under any renewed Iranian nuclear deal that Washington reaches (Reuters)

*  Iran described a blackout at its underground Natanz atomic facility an act of “nuclear terrorism,” raising regional tensions as world powers and Tehran continue to negotiate over its tattered nuclear deal. (AP)

* California police fire officer who was a Proud Boy, saying they have no tolerance for ‘hate groups’ (WaPo)

* CEO Pay Surged as the Pandemic Upended Economy -- Median pay for the chief executives of more than 300 of the biggest U.S. public companies reached $13.7 million last year. (WSJ)

* Afghan President in ‘Desperate Situation’ as His Power Is Undermined (NYT)

* Florida is full of invasive species. They’re coming for the rest of us. (WaPo)

* Facebook to turn Menlo Park headquarters into vaccination site (Reuters)

* Brazil’s virus outlook darkens amid vaccine supply snags

 (AP)

* Rise of Variants in Europe Shows How Dangerous the Virus Can Be (NYT)

* Essential but invisible: Coronavirus keeps 200,000 merchant sailors stuck at sea (WaPo)

* The Latest: Single-day high for cases in Ontario, Canada (AP)

* As the United States shifted with the anxieties of the 1980s, baseless conspiracy theories about satanic cults committing mass abuse spread around the country. (NYT)

* Harvard and its peers should be embarrassed about how few students they educate (WaPo)

* Thailand hits new daily record with nearly 1,000 virus cases (AP)

* Maryland Passes Sweeping Police Reform Legislation (NYT)

* Bowen Yang steals SNL playing the iceberg that sank the Titanic (WaPo)

* Distant Planet Terrified It Might Be Able To Someday Support Human Life (The Onion)

***

I will remember you, will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
Remember the good times that we had?
I let them slip away from us when things got bad
How clearly I first saw you smilin' in the sun
Want to feel your warmth upon me
I want to be the one

I will remember you, will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories

Songwriters: Sarah McLachlan / Seamus Egan / Dave Merenda

-30-