From Watergate to Jan. 6th

"I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone but your dishonor will remain." — U.S. Representative Liz Cheney

***

Most Americans don’t remember the 1973 Watergate hearings because they weren’t alive yet or were too young to watch them. Only about one-third of the population is old enough to have done that. 

For the same reason, few Americans can remember the JFK assassination, or diving under their desks in air raid drills, the polio epidemic, the Vietnam War, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, MLK’s assassination or Robert Kennedy’s killing either. The fact is they didn't experience any of those shared traumas or joys that so distinctly shaped the older generation’s collective consciousness.

Most Americans probably know that the Watergate hearings ultimately helped drive a President from office and changed the entire direction of the country. Still, they didn’t witness it like we did, and that makes a huge difference.

But for those many younger Americans, the January 6th hearings now offer them the opportunity for the kind of shared pivotal experience Baby Boomers had — the kind that helps forge a national consensus about what we all agree is right and wrong and what simply cannot be allowed in our bipartisan unity.

But I fear that unlike us, our children and grandchildren will not have that experience because they won’t watch the hearings like we did with Watergate.

For one thing, the media world has fractured dramatically — television networks no longer attract audiences who experience epiphanies in real time collectively. And social media does the opposite — it filters everyone into niches and tribes. 

For another, the country is far more deeply divided politically than it was in 1973. Few minds are likely to be changed by anything Congress divulges over the coming weeks to bridge that gap.

That’s a pity. What anyone paying attention to the hearings will learn is the intimate details of how Trump and his allies plotted a coup that would have ended the American experiment with democracy and replaced it with an authoritarian regime.

That coup might have succeeded. More likely, responsible government officials and military leaders would have intervened, arresting Trump and installing the rightfully elected President Biden in his place.

But that would have fatally damaged U.S, democracy because we would never again be able to trust in a free and fair election outcome. And the military-industrial complex Eisenhower warned about would finally have emerged from the shadows to hold power openly.

This might all seem academic except that extensive planning is being done by Trump’s allies and similar-minded elements in the Republican Party for an attempt to repeat Trump’s actions in 2024 should the vote not go their way.

Learning about what happened in 2020 is critical to preventing a similar fate in 2024, which would shatter our hopes for a shared bipartisan future. The January 6th hearings are a must-see for that reason. 

TODAY’s LINKS: (6/11/22 — 44 stories from 25 sources)

1. The Biggest Takeaway From the First Night of the Jan. 6 Hearings Was About Mike Pence (Slate)

2. Dishonor, Trump’s and His Party’s, Is the Real January 6th Takeaway (New Yorker)

3. Liz Cheney: a Republican profile in courage after the Capitol attack (Financial Times)

4. The One Witness at the January 6 Hearing Who Matters Most — It’s you. (Atlantic)

5. ‘Trump Was at the Center’: Jan. 6 Hearing Lays Out Case in Vivid Detail (NYT)

6. Willliam Barr, Donald Trump’s own attorney general told the then-president that his claims of a “stolen” election were “bullshit,” according to videotaped testimony revealed at the House Jan. 6 select committee’s first public hearing. [HuffPost]

7. Panel witness remembers 'carnage' and 'chaos' at the Capitol (NPR)

8. How To Host A Congressional Hearing That Actually, Like, Does Something (538)

9. Trump Is Depicted as a Would-Be Autocrat Seeking to Hang Onto Power at All Costs (NYT)

10. Trump takes to Truth Social to fire back at Jan. 6 committee (The Hill)

11. Jan. 6 panel lets Trump allies narrate the case against him (Politico)

12. Trump says January 6 'represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country' (Insider)

13. Liz Cheney Takes On Trump, and Her Own Party (NYT)

14. Jan. 6 hearing won't move MAGA crowd, but this hero's testimony will reach people — She's a cop, a woman who for years served the force at the U.S. Capitol, the 'proud' granddaughter of a Marine. She put a human face on the committee's first hearing. (USA Today)

15. ‘Donald Trump was at the center of this conspiracy’ (MarketWatch)

16. Committee Lays Out Case Against Donald Trump (WSJ)

17. Furious Trump responds after violent video, Ivanka, Kushner and Barr used to skewer him (Independent)

18. The Jan. 6 hearing dominated the airwaves — except on Fox News (WP)

19. Tucker Carlson opened his Fox News show by making it clear that neither he nor Fox News would be broadcasting the House select committee hearing on the Capitol attacks. “This is the only hour on an American news channel that will not be carrying their propaganda live,” Carlson said. [HuffPost]

20. Bennie Thompson says Jan. 6 was the 'culmination of an attempted coup' (NPR)

21. "I was slipping in people’s blood": Eyewitnesses testify at Jan. 6 hearing (Axios)

22. U.S. Capitol riot hearing shows Trump allies, daughter rejected fraud claims (Reuters)

23. How a documentary film-maker became the January 6 panel’s star witness (Guardian)

24. Betsy DeVos says she resigned after learning Pence wouldn't support invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump in the wake of the Capitol riot (Insider)

25. Here's what to expect for the Jan. 6 committee's future hearings (NBC)

26. Former Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio and two other members of the far-right group pleaded not guilty to seditious conspiracy charges that were filed against them earlier this week in connection with their alleged roles in storming the Capitol. (Reuters)

27. Watchdog says Afghan Taliban detaining, torturing civilians (AP)

28. Outgunned Ukraine Needs More Weapons Fast as Russia Advances, Officials Say (WSJ)

29. Putin links territorial aims to Russia’s imperial past (WP)

30. Ukrainian forces were holding their positions in intense street fightingand under day and night shelling in Sievierodonetsk, officials said, as Russia pushes to control the bombed-out city, key to its objective of controlling eastern Ukraine. (Reuters)

31. White supremacists are riling up thousands on social media (AP)

32. Poll: Support for controlling gun violence hits its highest point in a decade (NPR)

33. US will end Covid-19 testing requirement for air travelers entering the country (CNN)

34. How did the pandemic begin? China must help find the answer. (Edit Bd/WP)

35. China calls theory that Covid originated in Chinese lab ‘politically motivated lie’ (Guardian)

36. Salvadoran women jailed for abortion warn US of total ban (AP)

37. Chesa Boudin is out in San Francisco, but his agenda is alive in California (Politico)

38. Inflation rises significantly in May, up to 8.6% year over year (ABC)

39. Inflation Hits New Four-Decade High on Broad Price Gains (WSJ)

40. A dearth of IPOs, a plunge in stock prices and slowing global economic growth are clouding the outlook for revenue at global investment banks after pandemic spending by governments and central banks fueled a blockbuster 2021. (Reuters)

41. Scientists release first analysis of rocks plucked from speeding asteroid (Phys.org)

42. Scientists found microplastics in fresh Antarctic snow for the first time. (WP)

43. Bruising bananas to create elaborate works of art (BBC)

44. Walgreens To Begin Keeping Most Valuable Employees Behind Glass (The Onion)

Left-Wing Hotbed?

[NOTE: The first session of the bipartisan Congressional hearing on the January 6th riot (watch on CSPAN) happened too late for today’s newsletter.]

***

It was inevitable that in the wake of the recall of San Francisco D.A. Chesa Boudin there would be an outpouring of analyses from national press outlets stating the obvious.

That the city of St. Francis may not be the far-left enclave they thought it was.

Welcome to reality. I lived in San Francisco for 50 years and it never seemed like much of a left-wing enclave to me. In head-to-head battles, the most progressive candidates for mayor over the years, like a Matt Gonzalez or an Art Agnos, usually lost. 

What the city was, and to a certain extent still is, has been a place with a relatively high degree of tolerance for alternative lifestyles, personal experimentation and creative thinking. It also is very much a center of innovation, which contributes to a certain diversity of political opinions.

Like most big cities it skews heavily Democratic but also has many independents and small-L libertarians. And though it is only the fourth-biggest city in California and 17th-biggest in the country, it has produced an impressive list of mainstream Democratic politicians with national clout.

Most of them — Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Jerry Brown, Willie Brown — would be labeled centrists in the rest of the hemisphere or in Europe.

The problem actually is that America as a whole is a center-right country that is deeply divided socially over such non-brainers as abortion rights, same-sex relationships, marijuana use, seasonal diets, disability rights, multilingual services and diverse gender identities.

Not in San Francisco, which is socially tolerant. Newsom’s big political breakthrough came when as mayor he started blessing same-sex marriages before the rest of the country caught up to reality. 

Personally, I would’t call that a leftist decision but a long overdue, humanistic act. Besides, when it comes to politics, the real issues are not social in America but economic and geopolitical — wealth inequality and the drift toward authoritarianism. Maintaining a large prison population of the poorest people is key. Controversies like opposing abortion and gay marriage are simply useful tools for those who support an authoritarian future. 

As a region, the Bay Area attracts leaders who are not afraid to serve as role models and speak out on natters of conscience like gun violence and racism. Steve Kerr, head coach of the Warriors is a current example, or Gabe Kapler, manager of the Giants. And don’t forget Colin Kaepernick — yep, he was a San Francisco 49er when he took that knee.

So you can use whatever label you prefer for them. I prefer bravery — people of courage, conviction, and who are committed to making a difference for those who need help the most.

Those same descriptions fit Chesa Boudin. Additionally, he understands and opposes the dangerous drift toward authoritarianism. I guess that makes him a leftist. Thanks largely to a $7.2 million campaign of fear funded by billionaires and conservative carpetbaggers, he is temporarily out of office. But he also made some serious strategic errors, perhaps out of political naiveté, like underestimating how angry residents are about car break-ins, homelessness and drug use, which have little to do with his job, but were pinned on him anyway.

Think about it. If San Francisco were actually a hotbed of left-wing voters he would still be in office. Right?

Case closed.

The good news is that although the truly idealistic leaders who believe in trying to make our society a better place for everybody can easily be knocked down by fear-mongers in one election, they’ll be back. More importantly, the principles they stand up for, like criminal justice reform, will be back as well.

And you can count on San Francisco for that.

TODAY’s LINKS: (6/10/22 — 45 stories from 30 sources)

1. A Capitol Police officer injured on Jan. 6 recalls the chaos and carnage (NPR)

2. Jan 6. Hearing Live Updates and Analysis: Committee Lays Out Case Against Donald Trump (WSJ)

3. Jan 6 hearings: Furious Trump responds after violent video, Ivanka, Kushner and Barr used to skewer him (Independent)

4. Bennie Thompson says Jan. 6 was the 'culmination of an attempted coup' (NPR)

5. "I was slipping in people’s blood": Eyewitnesses testify at Jan. 6 hearing (Axios)

6. U.S. Capitol riot hearing shows Trump allies, daughter rejected fraud claims (Reuters)

7. How a documentary film-maker became the January 6 panel’s star witness (Guardian)

8. Zelenskyy says Severodonetsk battle may determine fate of east Ukraine (CNBC)

9. Russia Is Racing to Cement Its Control in Southern Ukraine (NYT)

10. Ukrainian troops claimed to have pushed forward in intense street fighting in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, but said their only hope to turn the tide was more artillery to offset Russia's massive firepower. (Reuters)

11. Ordinary Ukrainians wage war with digital tools and drones (Financial Times)

12. Where did it go wrong for Chesa Boudin, San Francisco’s ousted progressive DA? (Guardian)

13. Progressive Backlash in California Fuels Democratic Debate Over Crime (NYT)

14. Were The California Primaries A Blow To The Progressive Movement? (538)

15. SF Mayor London Breed addresses Chesa Boudin recall (KRON)

16. Chesa Boudin supporters react to San Francisco district attorney recall outcome (Fox)

17. DA Chesa Boudin recalled. San Francisco voters’ message to America: This is us. (Mission Local)

18. Why San Francisco fired Chesa Boudin (New Yorker)

19. Dems confront criticism on crime after San Francisco defeat (AP)

20. What California District Attorney Chesa Boudin's recall means for Democrats (NPR)

21. What Chesa Boudin’s successor will have to do (SFC)

22. Election 2022: Primary results compound Democrats’ fears they are losing ground on crime (WP)

23. What’s the deal with California’s low voter turnout? (Politico)

24. As Survivors Demand Action, House Passes Gun Bill Doomed in the Senate (NYT)

25. Suspect held as Brazil steps up search for missing British journalist and researcher in remote Amazon (CNN)

26. Threats, Then Guns: A Journalist and an Expert Vanish in the Amazon (NYT)

27. We Don’t Know Neptune at All (Atlantic)

28. Facebook pages for local Republican Party groups saw greater engagement over local Democratic Party pages as news of a Facebook algorithm change came to light in 2018, according to new research. [HuffPost]

29. First hearing for Jan. 6 committee will focus on far-right groups (WP)

30. What we know about Trump’s actions as insurrection unfolded (AP)

31. FBI arrests Michigan gubernatorial candidate on charges related to involvement in January 6 riot (CNN)

32. NASA joins the hunt for UFOs (WP)

33. Discovery of second repeating fast radio burst raises new questions (Space.com)

34. The U.S. plans to turn a huge underwater canyon into a marine sanctuary.

    — The Hudson Canyon, about 100 miles off the coast of New York City, rivals the Grand Canyon in size and is home to hundreds of species including sperm whales and deep-sea turtles. (WP)

35. 65,000 year-old ‘Swiss Army knife’ proves ancient humans shared knowledge, research says (Guardian)

36. Europe's 'largest ever' land dinosaur found on Isle of Wight (BBC)

37. Beefalo, a bison-cattle hybrid, is being touted as the healthy meat of the future (NPR)

38. A 'dangerous and deadly heat wave' is on the way, the weather service warns (CNN)

39. Small cancer drug trial sees tumors disappear in 100 percent of patients (WP)

40. Shanghai and Beijing went back on fresh COVID-19 alert after parts of China's largest economic hub started imposing new lockdown restrictions while the most populous district in the Chinese capital shut entertainment venues. (Reuters)

41. What Is Stagflation? What to Know About the World Bank’s Global Economic Outlook (WSJ)

42. Foster Farms: The poultry giant based in Livingston announced Tuesday that it’s been sold, marking the end of 83 years of family ownership. (Modesto Bee)

43. The Mars rover accidentally adopted a pet rock (Salon)

44. Golden State Warriors in wait-and-see mode after Stephen Curry caught up in scrum in Game 3 loss (ESPN)

45. Grandfather Clock Does Loop-The-Loop With Pendulum When No One Looking (The Onion)

The Village Girl's Tragedy (Afghan Conversation.34)

[NOTE: This is the latest in a series of ongoing conversations I have been having with a friend in Afghanistan about life there since the Taliban seized power. I am withholding his identity out of concern for his safety.]

Dear David:

Long before the Taliban, the situation for girls in Afghanistan villages was too often tragic. About six years ago, something happened in our village that received no press coverage because it is in a remote area.

There was a tall, pretty teenage girl who had brown eyes and blond hair. I will call her Soraya. She was a humorous and good-natured girl, but had a cruel father who beat her when she disobeyed his strict orders. 

Boys in the village always talked of her beauty; girls talked about her father’s oppressive nature.

One day Soraya decided to go with a girlfriend to a bazaar which was far away – an hour by car. But her father opposed her to going to such a place, so she made the trip in secret. However, when she got to the bazaar it turned out her father was there also and he saw her. 

When they got home, the father beat his daughter unmercifully and threatened that there would be more to come.

At dinner time that night news spread throughout the village that Soraya had poured gasoline on herself and set herself on fire. Neighbors rushed to her side and extinguished the fire, but it was too late to save her. She died a week later.

Soraya’s story, though extreme, shows the type of challenges girls faced in many places even before the Taliban came to power. Now, under the Talibs, it is truly intolerable.

TODAY’s LINKS (6/9/22 — 31 stories from 15 sources)

1. The pocket of resistance that the Taliban doesn’t want to talk about (WP)

2. Global Growth Will Be Choked Amid Inflation and War, World Bank Says (NYT)

3. The U.S.-Russia conflict is heating up — in cyberspace (WP)

4. Russia claims advances in Ukraine amid fierce fighting (AP)

5. Ukrainian troops holding out in the ruins of Sievierodonetsk came under renewed heavy assault from Russian forces who see the capture of the industrial city as key to control of the surrounding Luhansk region. (Reuters)

6. Fear and Destruction Turn Ukraine’s Front-Line Cities Into Ghost Towns (WSJ)

7. Ukraine’s strategic dilemma in Sievierodonetsk: Stand and fight, or pull back? (NYT)

8. n southern Ukraine, another major battleground in the war, authorities warned that Russian attacks on agricultural sites including warehouses were compounding a global food crisis that has stirred concerns of famine in some developing countries. (Reuters)

9. The world is finally reacting to India’s descent into hate (WP)

10. Police in northern India arrested a youth leader from the Hindu nationalist ruling party for posting anti-Muslim comments on social media after derogatory remarks by another party official about the Prophet Mohammad led to a diplomatic furor. (Reuters)

11. A U.S. woman pleads guilty to leading an all-female ISIS battalion (NPR)

12. Capitol attack’s full story: Jan. 6 panel’s chilling details (AP)

13. Jan. 6 committee Chair Bennie Thompson says the U.S. came close to losing democracy (NPR)

14. Rick Caruso and Karen Bass head to a runoff in the Los Angeles mayor’s race. (NYT)

15. Is This the End of the George Floyd Moment? (Atlantic)

16. America is two nations barely on speaking terms (Financial Times)

17. A looming Supreme Court decision on abortion, an increase of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and the midterm elections are potential triggers for extremist violence over the next six months, the Department of Homeland Security said. [AP]

18. Six Predictions About the End of Roe, Based on Research (Politico)

19. Tech’s Decade of Stock-Market Dominance Ends (WSJ)

20. Yen slides to new 20-year low against dollar (NHK)

21. US has a "very serious" problem with Covid-19 vaccine uptake (CNN)

22. FDA advisers recommended the Novavax coronavirus vaccine. A shot made from more traditional — and more time-consuming — technology than the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines. It may be easier for some to tolerate. (WP)

23. Climate change: Ukraine war prompts fossil fuel 'gold rush' - report (BBC)

24. As the Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Utah Faces An ‘Environmental Nuclear Bomb’ — Climate change and rapid population growth are shrinking the lake, creating a bowl of toxic dust that could poison the air around Salt Lake City. (NYT)

25. Climate-driven flooding poses well water contamination risks (AP)

26. Swarms of Crab-Like Creatures Found in River 1,600ft Beneath Antarctic Ice (Newsweek)

27. An “explosion of child deaths” is coming to the Horn of Africa if the world focuses only on Russia's war in Ukraine and doesn’t act now, UNICEF warned. Humanitarian assistance has been sapped by global crises like COVID and now the war. Prices for staples like wheat are rising quickly and millions of the livestock that provide families with wealth have died. [AP]

28. Brazil police arrest man in connection with journalist’s disappearance (Guardian)

29. Bones Found in 1974 May Be Linked to Serial Killer, Authorities Say (NYT)

30. New unusual repeating fast radio burst detected 3 billion light-years away (CNN)

31. Visa Announces Cards Can Now Be Inserted, Swiped, Tapped, Bent, Clapped, Rolled, Shoved, Thrown, Dangled, Slid, Or Whacked (The Onion)

Dawn's Early Light

In San Francisco, the measure to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin, Proposition H, passed. According to the Department of Elections, a little over 25 percent of eligible voters came out to pass the initiative by something like a three-to-two margin.

Around midnight, Boudin gave a remarkably upbeat speech to a crowded room filled with supporters at The Ramp, one of the city’s great funky joints on the southern waterfront, in which he promised to continue his fight for criminal justice reform. 

What happens next is somewhat chaotic. San Francisco Mayor London Breed gets to appoint somebody to fill the D.A. position on an interim basis until the next general election in November. The winner of that election gets to hold the office for one year and then needs to stand for re-election in November 2023 when the normal election cycle gets back on schedule.

Boudin can run again this November if he chooses to, or in November 2023 for that matter, but he has not yet announced his intentions.

One thing is clear. As a result of the massive pro-recall funding from conservatives that fueled the campaign against him, the 41-year-old progressive now has a degree of national name recognition most politicians spend decades trying to achieve. Almost all of them fail.

Therefore, regardless of what he decides to do next, Boudin has emerged politically as the winner from the vote on Tuesday night.

***

Whenever I struggle to maintain perspective and a sense of humor on the state of the world around here, I think back on various experiences that occurred in my past.

Many years ago, my oldest son was one of the star players on a remarkable little league team that won 18 straight baseball games, landing them in the state regional playoffs. If they could win one more game, they would advance toward a chance at the state championship and beyond. If they lost, their season would be over.

It was one of those foggy weekdays only those of us in Northern California would recognize as summer when they played another team from a neighboring district for the honor. The two squads were well-matched and played each other to a draw for the entire game until the last inning when our side lost by a lone run.

We all felt crushed, especially, we assumed, the boys. Afterwards, according to custom, the families gathered at a local pizza joint to close out the season — moms, dads, siblings, grandparents, coaches and players. Like many of the other parents, I was playing hooky from my job to be there with my son.

As a group of us sat together around a large table, commiserating, some of us literally crying in our beer, we suddenly realized that our young sons were nowhere to be seen. Where had they gone?

For a moment it was like that tragicomic scene in “School of Rock” when principal Rosalie Mullins says “ I've just been informed that all of your children are missing.” 

Well, just like in the movie this one had a happy ending, because it turned out there was an unknown (to us) side room in the restaurant packed with video games, where the boys were clustered, laughing and whooping and having a great old time. 

We may have been focused on losing the game but they had already moved on.

TODAY’s LINKS: (6/8/22 — 34 stories from 19 sources)

1. What's next for Chesa Boudin? Maybe another run for DA — Even though he has been recalled by San Francisco voters, District Attorney Chesa Boudin could be back on the ballot in six months to run for the office he just lost…(I)n 2019 he topped all opponents in all three rounds of the general election and instant runoffs, demonstrating that there was support for his reformer agenda. He also has a campaign organization up and running that could swiftly shift directions from the recall to the Nov. 8 election. (SFC)

2. What the Boudin recall does—and doesn’t—mean for SF politics

   Low turnout, a deeply warped media narrative, and right-wing billionaire money framed a very conservative outcome. That's the real story. (48 Hills)

3. World Bank warns global economy may suffer 1970s-style stagflation (WP)

4. Russia claims advances in Ukraine amid barrages, troop boost (AP)

5. Ukraine’s position has ‘worsened’ in fight for Severodonetsk (WP)

6. Potent Weapons Reach Ukraine Faster Than the Know-How to Use Them (NYT)

7. Ukraine conflict settling into 'WW1-style trench warfare' (BBC)

8. Zelenskiy: 'Every chance' to fight back in Sievierodonetsk (Reuters)

9. Ukraine retakes parts of Sievierodonetsk amid brutal street fighting (CNBC)

10. Guerrilla Attacks Signal Rising Resistance to Russian Occupation (NYT)

11. Russia's defense minister said the Ukrainian ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol, seized by Russian forces, have been de-mined and are ready to resume grain shipments. Agricultural exports from southern Ukraine have been blocked since Russia invaded. (Reuters)

12. Russian defense minister: Russia controls 97% of Luhansk (NHK)

13. Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says stalemate with Russia ‘not an option’ (Financial Times)

14. GOP senators surprisingly bullish on prospects for a bipartisan gun deal (Politico)

15. Big City Mayors, Furious About Mass Shootings, Fear Sweeping Gun Limits Are Out of Reach. (NYT)

16. Where Democrats And Republicans Differ On Gun Control (538)

17. Boris Johnson Has Only Delayed the Inevitable (Atlantic)

18. Exclusive: Michigan widens probe into voting system breaches by Trump allies (Reuters)

19. Fake Trump electors in Ga. told to shroud plans in ‘secrecy,’ email shows (WP)

20. Hundreds charged with crimes in Capitol attack (AP)

21. Proud Boys leader and top members charged with seditious conspiracy over January 6 (CNN)

22. US sees heightened extremist threat heading into midterms (AP)

23. Beginning in prime time on Thursday, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol will hold hearings and explore many ribbons of inquiry. But Americans are exhausted over gun violence, racism, gas prices, the COVID-19 pandemic and so much more. It's a huge story, but will Americans muster the strength to tune in? [AP]

24. Crypto industry scores a big win under long anticipated Senate bill (WP)

25. A newfound, oddly slow pulsar shouldn’t emit radio waves — yet it does (ScienceNews)

26. Astrophysicists Create “Time Machine” Simulations To Observe the Lifecycle of Ancestor Galaxy Cities (SciTechDaily)

27. Watchdog’s report details millions looted from Afghan government during Taliban takeover (WP)

28. With Cubans leaving en masse, much of Cuba's real estate is up for sale (NPR)

29. Three Police Officers Placed on Leave After Watching Man Drown in Arizona (WSJ)

30. During Watergate, John Mitchell left his wife. She called Bob Woodward. (WP)

31. The Lie That Helped Kill the Labor Movement (Politico)

32. You’ll soon be able to unsend iPhone messages. — A software update coming this fall will let you edit texts or unsend some entirely, Apple announced yesterday. (WP)

33. ‘Hit an iceberg’: KFC switches to cabbage due to lettuce shortage (Guardian)

34. 6 Hours That Man Will Utterly Squander After Work Fantasized About For Entire Day (The Onion)

TODAY’s LYRICS:

“Helpless”

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 

There is a town in North Ontario
With dream, comfort, memory to spare
And in my mind, I still need a place to go
All my changes were there

Blue, blue windows behind the stars
Yellow moon on the rise
Big birds flying across the sky
Throwing shadows on our eyes
Leave us

Helpless, helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)
Babe, can you hear me now?
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)

The chains are locked and tied across my door
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)
Babe, sing with me somehow
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)

Blue, blue windows behind the stars
Yellow moon on the rise
Big birds flying across the sky
Throwing shadows on our eyes
Leave us

Helpless, helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless)
Helpless, helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless, helpless)

Helpless, helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless, helpless)
Helpless, helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)

Geek Blame

A New Yorker piece this week tells the story of a former coder in the CIA named Joshua Schulte who allegedly gave away state secrets to WikiLeaks in “the single largest leak of classified information in the agency’s history.” 

That’s enough of a story on its own but the author decided to go on to make a much broader generalization about a group of people he likens to Schulte.

“We live in an era that has been profoundly warped by the headstrong impulses of men who are technically sophisticated but emotionally immature,” Patrick Radden Keefe writes, of Schulte, but also of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and others. “A particular personality profile dominates these times: the boy emperor.”

I don’t know Musk or Zuckerberg but I recognize what Keefe is doing here. He’s repeating a stereotype of the characteristics of the geeks who have been at the center of the technological tsunami that has transformed our age.

I’m not going to challenge that stereotype today because there is a certain degree of truth to it, as there is with most stereotypes. But it is a fairly simplistic and convenient way to explain away the gigantic social, economic and political changes we are all coping with.

It’s quite easy to blame coders en masse for this unless you happen to know a bunch of them. Then it becomes a bit more complicated. I grant that many people who love to write code often focus more on that than on developing their social skills or their emotional intelligence.

Then again, coders rarely end up as the people who run things, either. Instead, most of the people in charge of the giant tech giant corporations Keefe is concerned about are businessmen (very few women) who specialize in making money, marketing expensive products, creating monopolies and financing political initiatives and candidates who further their business interests.

Meanwhile, I’ve known plenty of coders who strike me more like novelists, poets or artists than “boy emperors.” They love what they do and they are good at it. And plenty of them are idealistic too, which is why we have had such a powerful open-source movement and currently are seeing so much new energy devoted to what is called Web.3.

A lot of them are as devoted to making the world a better place as any other subgroup of society.

I’m certainly not defending Musk or Zuckerberg here, both of whom strike me as good examples of “boy emperors,” although one can argue that their main creations — Facebook, Testa and SpaceX — are doing at least as much good for people as harm. But I am always concerned when a writer in a major magazine paints an entire community of people with one pejorative brush.

It reminds me of what some have said about other groups — women, racial and sexual minorities, the elderly and on and on. Stereotypes may be useful to a point until they lead to blame for what is messed up about society and then they start doing real harm to our collective understanding of how the world actually works.

For that we would need to take a much deeper look than blaming the geeks.

TODAY’s LINKS (6/7/22 — 41 stories from 24 sources)

1. A tough-on-crime DA doesn’t translate to lower crime rates — New study compares SF, Sacramento—and finds that a more progressive approach to criminal justice is associated with lower crime rates. (48 Hills)

2. California is about to experience a political earthquake. Here's why (CNN)

3. The Limits of San Francisco’s Liberalism — If Boudin loses, the criminal-justice-reform movement in San Francisco and across America could be dealt a grievous blow, at least in the short term. (New York)

4. Backers of the campaign to recall Boudin have raised more than twice the funds of his supporters (SFC)

5. A liberal D.A. finds voters’ moods have changed even in San Francisco (WP)

6. In San Francisco, Democrats Are at War With Themselves Over Crime — Fueled by concerns about burglaries and hate crimes, San Francisco’s liberal district attorney, Chesa Boudin, faces a divisive recall in a famously progressive city. (NYT)

7. Rising Crime Tests Progressive Prosecutors (WSJ)

8. How a billionaire mall magnate pulled ahead in the Los Angeles mayoral race (Politico)

9. 2022 midterms: What to watch in primaries in 7 states (AP)

10. California primaries offer key tests for both parties (Politico)

11. The Surreal Case of a C.I.A. Hacker’s Revenge (New Yorker)

12. Biden announces new executive actions to spur domestic solar, clean energy development (CNN)

13. At least 12 dead in another weekend of mass shootings across America (NBC)

14. Gun violence continued to plague the U.S. over the weekend, with shootings in eight states piling onto a heartbreaking toll that includes Buffalo, Uvalde and Tulsa. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, three people were shot dead and 14 others were injured by gunfire or being run over by vehicles. In Philadelphia, multiple shooters opened fire in a crowded nightlife district, killing three and wounding at least 11. [NPR]

15. After weekend of gun violence, expert says there is "disconnect" between public's demand for action and what policymakers will do (CBS)

16. Senators say gun deal is within reach, but without Biden’s wish list (WP)

17. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has been leading bipartisan talks in the Senate on gun control legislation, said more Republicans are at the table working toward changing gun laws and investing in mental health than “at any time since Sandy Hook.” [HuffPost]

18. A Chilling Assassination in Wisconsin — Could the killing of a retired judge in Wisconsin signal more attacks to come? (Atlantic)

19. Suicide Prevention Could Prevent Mass Shootings (538)

20. Struggling in Ukraine’s East, Russian Forces Strike in Kyiv (NYT)

21. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s new warning to the West against sending longer-range rocket systems to Ukraine came as his forces claimed to have destroyed Western military supplies in their first such airstrikes on Kyiv in more than a month. The attack showed that Russia still had the capability and willingness to hit at Ukraine’s heart, despite refocusing its efforts to capture territory in the east. [AP]

22. Ukraine in ‘very difficult’ fight after Russia’s Donbas advance, says top security official (Financial Times)

23. Intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces raged in the streets of the industrial city of Sievierodonetskin a pivotal battle for advantage in eastern Ukraine, the provincial governor said. (Reuters)

24. Russia Seeks Buyers for Plundered Ukraine Grain, U.S. Warns (NYT)

25. Musk threatens to walk away from Twitter deal (AP)

26. Musk Threatens to End Twitter Deal Over Data Request (WSJ)

27. Why US gas prices are at a record, and why they'll stay high for a long time (CNN)

28. The U.S. has wasted over 82 million Covid vaccine doses (NBC)

29. How long covid could change the way we think about disability (WP)

30. Conservative attorney George Conway accused former President Donald Trump of leading a “multifaceted criminal conspiracy” aimed at shutting down a legitimate election and overthrowing democracy. [HuffPost]

31. Republican Representative Liz Cheney warned that the nation's democratic system is threatened by ongoing efforts to deny the legitimacy of Trump's 2020 election loss. "People must pay attention. People must watch, and they must understand how easily our democratic system can unravel if we don't defend it," Cheney said. (Reuters)

32. Google Is Liable for Defamatory Videos Targeting Lawmaker, Australian Court Rules (WSJ)

33. Bonn climate conference: World is "cooked" if we carry on with coal, US says (BBC)

34. ‘I’m living in the bubble’: the man who helped bring Nixon down, 50 years on (Guardian)

35. Nixon’s Plan to Threaten the CIA on JFK’s Assassination (Politico)

36. After more than 23 years, the victim of a 1999 Yolo County murder was identified using genetic genealogy (Sacramento Bee)

37. USS Monitor, Civil War ship sunk off North Carolina, is in "astounding condition after being on the seafloor for 160 years," experts say (CBS)

38. Draymond Green is the engine of this Warriors team (ESPN)

39. Fears for safety of British journalist missing in Brazilian Amazon (Guardian)

40. More than 20 amino acids found in samples from Ryugu asteroid (NHK)

41. Unclear Whether Grandpa Having Good Time (The Onion)

 

Shelter from the Storm

Political campaigns are like military campaigns without the heavy artillery. Plus they have an agreed-upon end date. At least, it used to be agreed-upon, before Donald Trump and his ilk. 

So traditionally, the day before an election is the last day for activists to hope without knowing whether the outcome will have made it all worthwhile. It’s the final day that the opposing campaigns can fully commit themselves to the battle with everything they’ve got because one way or another, the next day is judgement day.

So there is one final, frenetic push to get out the vote, rally the troops, and make one last appeal to the voters for support.

By contrast, Election Day itself will probably feel weirdly calm. The campaigns finally do come to an end even though this may not be the actual day the result is known. 

Mail-in ballots, slow counting methods, the razor-thin majorities that seem to prevail in many major contests plus challenges all could delay the result.

But regardless of all that, Monday is the last day before whatever is going to happen happens. And that would be today.

Everybody involved in the battle feels an overwhelming sense of anticipation. Hope is balanced by dread. One way or another, for those who have committed themselves to this battle, very soon it will be time to seek shelter from the storm.

Today’s Links: (6/6/22 — (36 stories from 21 sources)

1. In San Francisco, Democrats Are at War With Themselves Over Crime — Fueled by concerns about burglaries and hate crimes, San Francisco’s liberal district attorney, Chesa Boudin, faces a divisive recall in a famously progressive city. (NYT)

2. Progressive Prosecutor Movement Tested by Rising Crime and Angry Voters —San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and other prosecutors advancing progressive measures around the U.S. face electoral challenges (WSJ)

3. Chesa Boudin’s recall is in the national spotlight. S.F. voters could decide much more than his fate (SFC)

4. If criminal justice reform can't survive in San Francisco, can it survive anywhere? (LAT)

5. Woodward and Bernstein thought Nixon defined corruption. Then came Trump. (WP)

6. How Will Trump’s Primary Messages Affect the Midterms? — The former President has been sowing white-grievance politics and lies about election corruption from Pennsylvania to Wyoming, setting the scene for a potential constitutional crisis. (New Yorker)

7. Trump’s Ukraine impeachment shadows war, risks GOP response (AP)

8. Putin warns United States against supplying Ukraine longer range missiles (Reuters)

9. Ukraine Counterattack Takes Back Parts of Key Donbas City (WSJ)

10. As Battles Rage, Ukraine Rejects Macron Plea Not to ‘Humiliate’ Russia (NYT)

11. Ukraine’s volunteer ‘Kraken’ unit takes the fight to the Russians (WP)

12. Ukraine Is Struggling to Export Its Grain, and Here’s Why (WSJ)

13. As Ukraine loses troops, how long can it keep up the fight? (AP)

14. Ukrainian President Zelenskiy visits front-line troops (Reuters)

15. Wikipedia acts as a check on Putin (WP)

16. U.S. skeptical U.N.-Russia talks will free trapped Ukrainian grain (Politico)

17. Five ways Russia's invasion may play out (BBC)

18. Finland’s spy chief surprised at lack of Russian reprisals over Nato bid (Financial Times)

19. 3 dead, 14 shot in mass shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee (ABC)

20. As gun violence marks America, mayors wonder which town will be next (WP)

21. The Mass Shootings Where Stricter Gun Laws Might Have Made a Difference (NYT)

22. Buttigieg sees 'insanity' in reaction to gun violence (Politico)

23. More than 50 people are feared dead in an attack on a Catholic church in Nigeria (NPR)

24. Bangladesh container depot fire claims dozens of lives (NHK)

25. Afghanistan's misery — Under Taliban rule, Afghans are suffering from widespread hunger, desperate poverty, and brutal oppression. (The Week)

26. World Bank approves three emergency projects for Afghanistan (Siasat Daily)

27. What Are the New COVID-19 Omicron Variants BA.4 and BA.5? (Prevention)

28. Inflation divide: The wealthy splurge, the poorest pull back (AP)

29. Beware partisan ‘pink slime’ sites that pose as local news (WP)

30. The idea of working in the office, all day, every day? No thanks, say workers (NPR)

31. As California's big cities fail to rein in their water use, rural communities are already tapped out (CNN)

32. What Are Ocean Predators Doing So Deep Underwater? (Atlantic)

33. The Depp-Heard trial highlights the importance of talking to teens about dating violence (CNN)

34. How AI Could Help Predict—and Avoid—Sports Injuries, Boost Performance (WSJ)

35. Digital mapping reveals network of settlements thrived in pre-Columbian Amazon (Guardian)

36. Area Bird Creeped Out By Bird Watcher (The Onion)

TODAY’s LYRICS:

“Shelter from the Storm”

Bob Dylan

'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm

And if I pass this way again, you can rest assured
I'll always do my best for her, on that I give my word
In a world of steel-eyed death, and men who are fighting to be warm
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm

Not a word was spoke between us, there was little risk involved
Everything up to that point had been left unresolved
Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm

I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail
Poisoned in the bushes an' blown out on the trail
Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm

Suddenly I turned around and she was standin' there
With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair
She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm

Now there's a wall between us, somethin' there's been lost
I took too much for granted, I got my signals crossed
Just to think that it all began on an uneventful morn
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm

Well, the deputy walks on hard nails and the preacher rides a mount
But nothing really matters much, it's doom alone that counts
And the one-eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm

I've heard newborn babies wailin' like a mournin' dove
And old men with broken teeth stranded without love
Do I understand your question, man, is it hopeless and forlorn
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm

In a little hilltop village, they gambled for my clothes
I bargained for salvation and she gave me a lethal dose
I offered up my innocence I got repaid with scorn
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm

Well, I'm livin' in a foreign country but I'm bound to cross the line
Beauty walks a razor's edge, someday I'll make it mine
If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm