As it Burns

 Whenever I watch kids play pickup sports, their first step is to set up the ground rules.

They have to establish the boundaries between what is in-bounds and what is out-of-bounds. They use whatever is at hand — bushes, trees, logs, rocks, or trash..

Then there are the rules about how the game is to be played, what is legal and what is not, how scoring and ultimately winning is to be determined.

I’ve watched kids argue over those rules for so long that the actual game, once it gets underway, almost seems like an afterthought. 

Nevertheless, most of the time they play within the agreed-upon rules.

Such is and should be the state of human affairs from childhood on. We encourage childish games to train for “real life.” For example, professional sports leagues, one of our main forms of entertaining ourselves while the actual world burns, employ elaborate ground rules.

Meanwhile, what about those who conduct the bloody conflicts around the world? What are their rules?

This morning, the horrible war in the Middle East is on “pause.” Both sides are holding their fire while a handful of innocents are reunited with their families. 

But angry fingers get itchy. When the pause ends, the slaughter of innocents will resume, even though the “rules of war” will no doubt be followed by the good guys. In the process, I hear that stocks on Wall Street are up, money is being made. Maybe Bob Dylan got it right. The “Masters of War” get their share.

So let me ask you this. What are we to tell our children?

HEADLINES:

• US Hopeful Americans Will Be Released in Future Hostage Groups (Bloomberg)

• Biden’s resistance to cease-fire could alienate youth voters in 2024 (WP)

• How Biden Might Recover (Atlantic)

• Courts Strike Down Gun Control Measures in Two States (NYT)

• Judge rejects attempt to enshrine abortion rights on Nevada ballot (The Hill)

• Exposure to widely used insecticides decreases sperm concentration, study finds (Guardian)

• New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 1993, according to a legal summons. Adams has denied the allegations, saying he doesn't remember meeting the woman who is seeking $5 million in relief. A flurry of new accusations have been made public as people hurry to file before New York’s Adult Survivors Act expires today. [AP]

• The world’s biggest iceberg is on the move (CNN)

• Russia is starting to make its superiority in electronic warfare count (Economist)

• Afghan embassy in India shuts down citing lack of support, Taliban pressure (Reuters)

• Far-right protesters burn and loot in Dublin in worst violence ‘in decades’ (WP)

• Long a Bastion of Liberalism, the Netherlands Takes a Sharp Right Turn (NYT)

• Oakland’s unprecedented triple exodus is a unique sporting tragedy (Guardian)

• What is OpenAI Project Q*? AGI Superintelligence Explained (Tech.co)

• Sam Altman and the OpenAI power struggle, explained (CBS)

• The Week When AI Got High on Its Own Supply (Gizmodo)

• OpenAI turmoil exposes threat to Microsoft’s investment (Financial Times)

• The Fight for the Soul of A.I. (NYT)

• Family On Tropical Cruise Almost Getting Tired Of All The Unforgettable Memories (The Onion)