Persistence

 (This essay is from two years ago.)

If you were to ask me the one trait that characterizes the best investigative reporters, it would be something resembling stubbornness. To get the kinds of stories others miss requires an unwillingness to give up just because the process becomes difficult or the path twisted.

By the same token, these reporters often encounter additional resistance inside their own media organizations, because the stories can take a long time, consume resources, and raise all sorts of internal concerns including legal issues.

So staying the course requires a certain type of individual, one that seems to be becoming more scarce in today’s media environment. There still are great stories being produced here and there but they are rarer now.

But this Thanksgiving I’m grateful for the ones who remain.

***

Like many older people, the pandemic enforced an unwanted disruption of my so-called “golden years.” I couldn’t go anywhere or see anyone and the only color that readily comes to mind for the year 2020 and the first part of 2021 is “gray.”

Some of that gloom has lifted now, as in measured steps I am getting out a bit and seeing a few people now and then.

But the world has changed and I am no longer as sure how to navigate it as I was in the past. I no longer live where I lived for 17 years, work where I worked for 7 years, or own a car.

So I have to adapt. One day recently I decided to walk a mile southeast through the hills to the pharmacy where a prescription was waiting for me. I was uncertain of the route, and the normally reliable Google seemed uncertain as well.

I’d never walked the route before and it was challenging. Google claimed the walk should take me about 18 minutes but in the end with many course corrections it required an hour and a half. Along the way, I’d gotten unceremoniously booted out of a construction site I’d inadvertently stumbled onto and barely avoided getting hit by a bicyclist on what I’d presumed was a walking path.

The bicyclist, at least, was apologetic. For which I was grateful, since I figure pedestrians must have become scarce during the worst of the pandemic.

Afterward, I called Lyft for the ride home.

HEADLINES:

• Israel and Hamas agree to hostage deal, four-day pause in fighting in Gaza (Axios)

• Netanyahu says war against Hamas will not stop after cease-fire (AP)

• The pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is starting to tell (Guardian)

• Israel-Gaza war: only a two-state solution can bring real peace, China president says in first public speech on conflict (South China Morning Post)

• A Gaza journalist regarded as a giant in the Palestinian media industry was killed by Israeli bombing in Gaza City, the latest in a growing series of journalist deaths in the region. [HuffPost]

• AC-130 Strikes Iranian-Backed Militants Following Missile Attack (DoD)

• A Paradigm Shift in America’s Asia Policy (Foreign Affairs)

• Federal appeals court deals a blow to Voting Rights Act (AP)

• Dangerous weather in forecast for Thanksgiving travel (ABC)

• Border Patrol sending migrants to unofficial camps in California's desert, locals say (NPR)

• Democrats’ border problem is getting real (WP)

• Trump’s Dire Words Raise New Fears About His Authoritarian Bent (NYT)

• A Supreme Court case about stocks could help make Trump’s authoritarian dreams reality (Vox)

• The (second) exile of Marjorie Taylor Greene — The MAGA favorite is on the outs with most of her Republican colleagues and adrift now that her ally is no longer speaker. (MSNBC)

• Biden can’t spin his way to re-election (Financial Times)

• EPA considers approving fruit pesticide despite risks to children, records show (Guardian)

• Facing pressure in India, Netflix and Amazon back down on daring films (WP)

• All the Newspapers’ Men (New Yorker)

• Renting alone is too expensive for Gen Z (Axios)

• 60 years after JFK's assassination, the agent who tried to save him opens up (NPR)

• Why Can’t We Quit “The Morning Show”? (New Yorker)

• Army ants use collective intelligence to build bridges. Robots could learn from them (NPR)

• Sam Altman returns as OpenAI CEO in chaotic win for Microsoft (Bloomberg)

• How Sam Altman Ran Afoul of the Keepers of the AI Faith (Nation)

• OpenAI’s turmoil is about more than Sam Altman (CNN)

• OpenAI’s Board Approached Anthropic About Merger (The Information)

• The Mystery at the Heart of the OpenAI Chaos (Wired)

• OpenAI drama explains the human penchant for risk-taking (WP)

• OpenAI’s future hangs in balance amid stand-off between staff and board (Financial Times)

• Will AI Render Programming Obsolete? (MIT)

• The Long Shadow of Steve Jobs Looms Over the Turmoil at OpenAI (NYT)

• Teacher Forms Strong Bond With Things That Do Standardized Tests (The Onion)