New(s)

 LINKS:

• Abortion pill mifepristone will remain available for now, Supreme Court says (AP)

• Russia says its air force accidentally bombed its own city near Ukraine (NPR)

• US to start training Ukrainian troops on Abrams tanks within weeks (Air Force Times)

• Manhattan DA Bragg, Jordan resolve dispute over deposition of former Trump prosecutor (ABC)

• There Is No A.I. — There are ways of controlling the new technology—but first we have to stop mythologizing it. (New Yorker)

• Google’s AI panic forces merger of rival divisions, DeepMind and Brain (Ars Technica)

• Report: Googlers say Bard AI is ‘useless,’ ethics teams told ‘not to get in the way’ (9to5google)

• Who Will You Be After ChatGPT Takes Your Job? (Wired)

• Big Tech is racing to claim its share of the generative AI market (Financial Times)

• Generative AI Will Make Over the Beauty Industry (WWD)

• Lyft to Cut at Least 1,200 Jobs in New Round of Layoffs to Reduce Costs (WSJ)

• Lyft's New CEO on Taking Over From the Company's Founders and Why the First Thing He Did Was Spend a Saturday Night as a Driver (Inc.)

• The Internet of the 2010s Ended Today — BuzzFeed News was more than a website: It defined an era. (Atlantic)

• DeSantis Signs Law Lowering Death Penalty Threshold in Florida (NYT)

• The Susan B. Anthony List lashed out at former President Donald Trump after he suggested that the question of abortion rights be left to the states. His "morally indefensible" position marks a break between the anti-abortion movement and the president who delivered their greatest victory. [HuffPost]

• Frequent shootings put US mass killings on a record pace (AP)

• GOP lawmaker who voted to unseat Tennessee three resigns after violating harassment policy (WP)

• When will US hit its debt ceiling and what happens if country defaults? (Reuters)

• Democratic anxiety emerges over Biden's debt ceiling stance (Axios)

• House GOP debt limit plan would block Biden’s student loan agenda, prohibit future relief (Politico)

• Why are we stuck with a Supreme Court justice who doesn’t follow the law? (LAT)

• Trump touts authoritarian vision for second term: ‘I am your justice’ (WP)

• In a Nation Armed to the Teeth, These Tiny Missteps Led to Tragedy (NYT)

• Afghan Women And Children Driven To Begging For Bread In Kabul (RFE)

• US Rules Out Talks on Afghan Taliban Recognition at UN-Hosted Meeting (VoA)

• Taliban orders women not to take part in Eid celebrations in two Afghan provinces (Independent)

• U.S. Positioning Troops for Evacuation of American Embassy in Sudan (NYT)

• Chile's President Gabriel Boric said he would nationalize the country's lithium industry, the world's second largest producer of the metal essential in electric vehicle batteries, to boost its economy and protect its environment. (Reuters)

• A Critical Arctic Organism Is Now Infested With Microplastics (Wired)

• America Fails the Civilization Test — The average American my age is roughly six times more likely to die in the coming year than his counterpart in Switzerland. (Atlantic)

• The Origins of Creativity — The concept was devised in postwar America, in response to the cultural and commercial demands of the era. Now we’re stuck with it. (New Yorker)

• When forgiveness is taught, practiced and achieved, the result is better mental and overall well-being, a new study found. (WP)

• Stoner Architect Drafts All-Foyer Mansion (The Onion)

Endings

 (NOTE: I first published this short piece 17 years ago at the end of my first month writing a personal blog. It has been lightly edited.)

Lots of writers have asked me over the years about the best way to write endings, or kickers, to their stories. This is an especially difficult question to answer when you're telling a sad or difficult story. How can you leave your readers with something other than an utter sense of hopelessness?

And, given the seriousness of, say, global environmental threats, should you even try to do that?

My answer is yes.

As to the how, whenever possible I'd recommend finding a life-affirming aspect to whatever story you are telling, and close with that. It takes some additional reporting and some hard thinking to locate the set of facts or perspectives that may allow readers to absorb all of the bad or sad news and still feel empowered to go on, better informed about dangers, but not necessarily bereft of hope.

Endings are as natural as beginnings. At the very end of my own stories, I like to find something to leave readers with that can encourage them to find even a small piece of inspiration going forward.

It is exactly what is meant by the concept of loving somebody so much that you can actually let them go, in the end, when that's the right thing to do. It hurts, and the pain is beyond intense. But is also is the kind of ending that implies new beginnings -- for both of you. 

An ending coated with love really isn't an ending per se, but a transition to a future neither of you can yet envision. When that new stage finally arrives, you'll both feel better for the way you let each other go--not by isolating, withdrawing, and denying, but by embracing, supporting and loving.

At least that's how I see it. :)

(Since first publishing this piece in 2006, I’ve gone on to write almost 5,000 other essays.)

LINKS:

• Large, creative AI models will transform lives and labour markets (Economist)

• The next arms race: China leverages AI for edge in future wars (Japan Times)

• This new technology could blow away GPT-4 and everything like it — The Hyena code is able to handle amounts of data that make GPT-style technology run out of memory and fail. (ZDNet)

• How to worry wisely about artificial intelligence (Economist)

• AI-generated spam may soon be flooding your inbox – and it will be personalized to be especially persuasive (The Conversation)

• Elon Musk threatens to sue Microsoft over using Twitter data for its A.I. (CNBC)

• Fox News Remains an Aberration in American Journalism (NYT)

• Dominion Voting Systems’ decision to settle its defamation suit with Fox News for $787.5 million was one of the biggest stories of the week, yet the right-wing network itself barely made a peep about it. In total, Fox News’ broadcast coverage of the agreement reportedly amounted to about six minutes. [HuffPost]

• After high-flying start, DeSantis hits stumbling blocks on road to 2024 (WP)

• What’s in the House G.O.P. Debt Limit Bill (NYT)

• Republicans finally have a debt ceiling plan. Will Democrats blink? (Vox)

• House Republicans pass transgender sports ban for schools (NBC)

• Biden 2024 campaign announcement coming as soon as next week (AP)

• Suspect who allegedly shot 6-year-old neighbor and her parents in North Carolina has been apprehended in Florida (CNN)

• Semi-automatic rifle ban passes Washington state Legislature (AP)

• Ralph Yarl, Kaylin Gillis and other senseless shootings rattle US (BBC)

• IRS agent alleges Hunter Biden probe is being mishandled (AP)

• Senate invites Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts to testify in wake of Clarence Thomas ethics scandal (CNBC)

• White Tennessee lawmakers speak out for insurrection in honoring Confederate history (The Conversation)

• Alec Baldwin charge to be dropped in movie set shooting case. (AP)

• BuzzFeed News Is Shutting Down, Company Laying Off 180 Staffers (Variety)

• U.S. existing-home prices fall nearly 1% in March, the biggest drop in a decade (MarketWatch)

• Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks (Economist)

• The world could breach a new average temperature record in 2023 or 2024, fueled by climate change and the anticipated return of the El Nino weather phenomenon, climate scientists say. (Reuters)

• Sea level rise could wash away turtle breeding grounds around the world, researchers say (ABC)

• How melting Arctic ice could be fueling extreme wildfires in the Western U.S. (NPR)

• Biden pledges $500 million to curb Amazon deforestation (WP)

• Here's what will happen if Colorado River system doesn't recover from 'historic drought' (ABC)

• U.S. tracking more than 650 potential UFOs, official says (CBS)

• Ukraine refugees face uncertainty and precarity as displacement persists (NPR)

• Taliban may be getting bulk of US aid sent to Afghanistan (Military Times)

• UN chief to convene meeting to work on way forward on Afghanistan (Reuters)

• US Afghanistan watchdog tells Congress he can’t guarantee American aid is ‘not currently funding the Taliban’ (CNN)

• Millions close to hunger after WFP cuts food aid to Afghanistan (Al Jazeera)

• 6.38 million years ago: Satan plants the first cannabis seed on the Asian continent to tempt future Christians. (The Onion)

A Small "W"

 Roughly three-quarters of a billion dollars sounds like a lot of money. and it is, but we have to keep a sense of perspective about the settlement Fox News reached with Dominion Voting Systems.

That payment represents less than six percent or about one-eighteenth of Fox’s annual revenue of $14 billion.

Now Fox will presumably settle its outstanding lawsuit from the other voting system plaintiff, Smartmatic, in a similar fashion. Then the network faces other potential legal and insurance costs in additional lawsuits, the outcomes of which are unknown.

So far, Fox has not really been hurt financially to any great extent, although its libel/defamtion insurance coverage should go up in response. Even so, as I’ve noted previously, this will probably precipitate a rise in the rates for such policies industry-wide, which will hurt everybody else in media, courtesy of Fox.

The sad irony is that there is no other major media company that has come anywhere close to the barrage of lies and propaganda Fox delivered about the 2020 election. My PC friends on the left like to criticize mainstream media like the New York Times for blindspots and supposed biases, perhaps with justification, but I’m sorry, none of that is even in the same universe as Fox’s crimes against truth and democracy.

Fox News is, bluntly, a voice for authoritarianism. Every concerned citizen should stand firmly against its election-denial campaign. The legal settlement is but a tiny victory in that regard.

We can hope more such victories for truth and fairness are to come, as the integrity of our democracy is what is at stake here.

LINKS:

• Dominion Was Never Going to Save Our Democracy From Fox News (The Intercept)

• Fox News still faces $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic (WP)

• Fox is not out of the woods yet. (Reuters)

• SpaceX’s Starship Rocket Explodes After Launch (NYT)

• Supreme Court extends nationwide abortion pill access through Friday (WP)

• The only way to get to the truth of the Clarence Thomas scandal (CNN)

• Meta starts its next round of layoffs (Vox)

• Snapchat is releasing its AI chatbot to everyone for free (Verge)

• AI will destroy Hollywood as we know it (Fast Company)

• Artists Worry About Survival as AI Changes the Game for Creative Work (WSJ)

• Zelensky and Putin Make Dueling Trips to Front Line in Ukraine (NYT)

• “We don’t know where, we don’t know when, but we know it’s coming”—Ukraine’s counter-offensive (Economist)

• China readies supersonic spy drone unit, leaked document says (WP)

• Republican McCarthy unveils plan to lift US debt ceiling, cut spending (Reuters)

• 2 Texas cheerleaders shot after getting into wrong car in parking lot (ABC)

• 2 teens arrested in Alabama Sweet 16 shooting that killed 4 and injured 32 (NBC)

• Tennessee moves to shield gun firms after school shooting (AP)

• 'Now is the time!' Sheryl Crow, Amy Grant push Tennessee lawmakers, governor for action on gun violence (NewsChannel5)

• Oklahoma sheriff says recording of killing talk was illegal (AP)

• Pentagon Details Review of Policies for Handling Classified Information (NYT)

• Why Are We So Afraid of Nuclear Power? (Mother Jones)

• Rising sea levels may have forced the Vikings out of a successful settlement (CNN)

• 70-Year-Old Mystery Over Bizarre 'Tully Monster' May Finally Have Been Solved (ScienceAlert)

• Remembering the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the people who fought back (CNN)

• China appears to be ramping up construction on its new Antarctic station (NBC)

• Top UN Official Proposes Meeting to Discuss Recognition of Taliban (VoA)

• State legislators have introduced more than 400 anti-trans bills this year. At least 29 bills in 14 states have become law since January, already surpassing the total for 2022. (WP)

• Donald Trump's Trading Cards Collapse in Value (Newsweek)

• Cash-Strapped Fox Forced to Sell Kevin McCarthy (New Yorker)

Hope re: AI

When it comes to artificial intelligence, I want to be hopeful, I really do. But the danger is so palpable, it’s impossible to ignore.

In previous posts, I’ve tried to strike a balance between hope and dismay over AI; today I’m leaning back to the hopeful side.

The link that provides a measure of hope resides under an unlikely headline, however: “'Godfather' Scientist Says Superhuman AI May Eliminate Humanity” (Yahoo).

The scientist involved, Geoffrey Hinton, after more than 40 years researching in the field, says he thinks we have up to 20 years before AI is capable of acting on its own, and therefore potentially capable of destroying us. That’s the hopeful part.

"I think it's very reasonable for people to be worrying about these issues now, even though it's not going to happen in the next year or two," Hinton says.

Twenty years should be enough time to conduct the thorough public debate so desperately needed in this matter, and to establish the global regulatory regime necessary to keep general purpose AI confined within the bounds of reason.

A lot like how nuclear power and nuclear weapons are regulated — imperfectly but for the most part effectively. There will be mistakes along the way; we just have to hope they are not irreversible.

In the meantime, the benefits of AI in the field of medicine and beyond may be considerable and should begin to be realized.

Now I’m an optimist by nature, so take that into account here, but today maybe just because the sun is shining I’m feeling hopeful about humanity’s ability to control AI, and that we may ultimately achieve a better future with it.

On the other hand, I have to think that way because the alternative is unacceptable.

My previous posts on AI include:

• Hit the Pause Button!

• The Meaning of Life 2.0 (Or at least of work)

• Data Times

• Some Non-Geeks, Please

• To Be or Not To Be -- Obsolete

• Human Intelligence

NEWS LINKS:

• The Red States Experimenting With Authoritarianism — They’ve become laboratories of autocracy. (Atlantic)

• Fox Settles Defamation Lawsuit With Dominion for $787.5 Million (NYT)

• Is artificial intelligence advancing too quickly? What AI leaders at Google say (CBS)

• Why Chatbot AI Is a Problem for China — If the technology is only as good as the information it learns from, then state censorship is not a recipe for success. (Atlantic)

• What Keeps a Leading AI Scientist Up At Night (New York)

• “America simply is able to get more out of its workers than other rich countries”—lessons in productivity (Economist)

• Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich denied detention appeal in Moscow (CNN)

• Biden-McCarthy escalate tit-for-tat over debt ceiling deal (The Hill)

• 84-Year-Old Is Charged in Shooting of Black Teenager Who Went to Wrong House (NYT)

• Oklahoma officials accused of talk of killing journalists (AP)

• SCOTUS steps back into abortion quagmire less than a year after toppling Roe (Politico)

• 'A gamechanger': this simple device could help fight the war on abortion rights in the US (Guardian)

• Schumer will move to replace Feinstein on Judiciary panel this week (The Hill)

• Trump team prepares to fight efforts to block him from ballots over Jan. 6 —

  Attorneys from two nonprofits plan to argue that the U.S. Constitution bars Trump from office because he engaged in an insurrection during the attack on the U.S. Capitol. (WP)

• Donald Trump Must Face the Music (Newsweek)

• The Clarence Thomas Scandal Is About More Than Corruption (Politico Mag)

• As Migrant Children Were Put to Work, U.S. Ignored Warnings (NYT)

• How DeSantis became Florida’s most powerful governor in a generation (WP)

• Outmaneuvered by Disney in his attempt to punish the company for criticizing him, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) continues his revenge quest by putting its rides under state oversight, even though the company’s ride inspection regime is already far more rigorous than required. DeSantis said his hand-picked board also could use land it now controls to set up a new state prison there. Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D) dismissed the idea as “some dystopian BS.” [HuffPost]

• There may be an easy way to help kids eat more healthy food. Spending more time at dinner. Children ate “significantly” more fruits and vegetables when families took 30 minutes to eat, rather than 20 minutes, a new study found. (WP)

• How disappearing ice in Antarctica threatens the U.S. (NPR)

• ‘Without the ice cap, we cannot live’: the Andes community devastated by climate crisis (Guardian)

• A silent crisis in men’s health gets worse (WP)

• Putin visits two regions in Ukraine, Russia presses assault on Bakhmut (Reuters)

• Supreme Court: India court hears historic same sex marriage case (BBC)

• China’s economy grew 4.5% in the first quarter, the fastest pace in a year (CNBC)

• China's economy gathers speed, global risks raise challenges to outlook (Reuters)

• Worthless Degrees Are Creating an Unemployable Generation in India (Bloomberg)

• Reclusive Taliban leader releases end-of-Ramadan message (AP)

• UN ready for ‘heartbreaking’ decision to pull out of Afghanistan — Officials say it will leave in May if Taliban cannot be persuaded to let local women work for organisation (Guardian)

• Center Offers Hope And Healing For Female Afghan Refugees In Tajikistan (RFE)

• UN predicts Afghan economy would contract if aid drops 30% (Reuters)

• Embarrassed Man Accidentally Says ‘Hello’ To Coworker Instead Of ‘I Feel Like Crying All The Time’ (The Onion)

 

The Cloud

In Missouri, a 16-year-old sent to pick up his younger brothers rings the wrong doorbell and is shot through a glass door in the head and arm. Thankfully, the boy, who is black, will survive. The homeowner is white.

In New York, a 20-year-old woman riding in a car that turned into the wrong driveway is shot and killed.

In Alabama, four young black people are killed and 32 others injured at a “sweet 16” birthday party. 

In Tennessee and Kentucky, communities are trying to recover from recent mass shootings and politicians are struggling to react to public demands for more gun control. Two black legislators are reinstated after being expelled from the Tennessee statehouse by white leaders for loudly joining the protesters.

There have been at least 160 mass shootings already this year in the U.S. and it’s only spring. Uncounted other deaths and injuries like those in Missouri and New York continue as well.

Race sometimes is a factor, sometimes not. Guns are the common element here. And you better not get the address you’re looking for wrong.

Florida, meanwhile, has a governor who would like to be president, opposes gun control and wants to whitewash (literally) the history taught schoolchildren by omitting mentions of slavery and the resulting legacy of racism from school textbooks.

This toxic mixture of guns and race continues to tear America apart. There seems to be little hope for meaningful reforms at any level of government in the “red” states, and so the slaughter will continue into the future.

And if leaders like DeSantis have their way, the ignorance that fuels fear, violence and racism will only intensify and deepen, making everything worse.

At sunrise it was a beautiful day here on the west coast, but early on a dark cloud appeared, hiding the sun away. Before long, it stretched from coast to coast over a land that refuses to come to grips with the most difficult and uncomfortable parts of its past.

LINKS:

• Google CEO says he doesn't 'fully understand' how new AI program Bard works after it taught itself a foreign language it was not trained to and cited fake books to solve an economics problem (Daily Mail)

• You Can’t Regulate What You Don’t Understand (O’Reilly)

• Elon Musk agrees A.I. will hit people ‘like an asteroid,’ says he used Obama meeting to urge regulation (Fortune)

• What’s new in the world of generative AI? (TechCrunch)

• OpenAI’s CEO Says the Age of Giant AI Models Is Already Over (Wired)

• Google faces A.I. threat: The tech giant is sprinting to protect its core business with a flurry of projects, including updates to its search engine and plans for an all-new one. (Cal Today)

• ChatGPT Can Decode Fed Speak, Predict Stock Moves From Headlines (Bloomberg)

• How AI Is Building the Next Blockbuster Videogames (WSJ)

• F.B.I. Arrests Two on Charges Tied to Chinese Police Outpost in New York (NYT)

• Fiscal crisis nears as McCarthy takes debt ceiling plan to Wall Street (WP)

• Democratic senators favor forcing House vote on debt limit increase (The Hill)

• Pentagon, Intelligence Agencies Face Calls for Details on Leak Probe (WSJ)

• A 20-year-old woman was shot and killed after accidentally turning into the wrong driveway in upstate New York, officials say (CNN)

• Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) called out her fellow GOP members for their “silence” on gun violence and “extreme” positions on abortion. "There are plenty of things that we can be doing besides offering prayers and silence," Mace said, but stopped short of calling for gun control beyond tightening background checks for gun buyers. [HuffPost]

• Trump’s House GOP allies take fight to Manhattan DA’s turf (AP)

• Trump’s Fund-Raising: From Sluggish to Surging After Indictment (NYT)

• Republican donor pauses Ron DeSantis funding over abortion and book banning. (Guardian)

• Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas now reportedly plans to amend his financial disclosure forms to include a 2014 deal to sell properties in Georgia to his billionaire friend Harlan Crow after a ProPublica report revealed the undisclosed transaction. [HuffPost]

• Sudan Fears ‘Ghost of Civil War’ as Explosions Rock Capital (NYT)

• Rival armed forces intensify battle for control of Sudan as civilian death toll rises (NBC)

• Ukraine seeks re-opening of grain transit via Poland as import bans mount (Reuters)

• Ukraine’s counter-offensive is drawing near (Economist)

• U.S. Ambassador Visits WSJ Reporter for the First Time in Moscow Prison (Daily Beast)

• In Pakistan, Economic Crisis Mutes Ramadan Celebrations (NYT)

• In Japan, the Group of Seven rich nations set new collective targets for solar power and offshore wind capacity, agreeing to speed up renewable energy development and move toward a quicker phase-out of fossil fuels. (Reuters)

• The 100-year-old-mistake that’s reshaping the American West (Vox)

• Ancient DNA reveals secrets of empire that pushed China to build its Great Wall (CNN)

• Researchers released robot trash cans in NYC to see how people would react (NPR)

• Writers strike looms after members vote to shut down film and TV production (CNN)

• JUICE spacecraft launched to investigate the habitability of Jupiter’s icy moons (Verge)

• Covid is still a leading cause of death as the virus recedes (WP)

• McDonald’s is upgrading its burgers (CNN)

• Conflict-Avoidant Vending Machine Accepts Canadian Coin (The Onion)

 

The Inside Story at 48

 Nostalgia isn’t really my thing. Looking back has its virtue, I know, but the present is perplexing enough and there is always the future to consider. So most of the time I really prefer to look ahead. That’s why I write these daily essays about current events and trends rather than writing a memoir.

But every now and again, something comes up that calls for an exception to the rule. 

***

(I first published this a year ago. The title has been updated.)

On Saturday, my co-author Howard Kohn and I returned to the site of the former Rolling Stone office at 625 Third Street in Soma where we wrote our three-part series about the Patty Heart kidnapping 47 years ago.

It was called “The Inside Story” and was our big break. We were both 28 at the time.

Our former colleague, Ben Fong-Torres, wrote a song about the Hearst saga and performed it at a nightclub when we were in attendance. 

In Ben’s words:
"I wrote … songs for amusement…at Rolling Stone magazine in the Seventies…at least two (of my) songs were performed. One, to the tune of Bob Dylan's Hurricane (The Ballad of Reuben Carter), celebrated the magazine's big scoop in 1975 on the Patricia Hearst/SLA kidnap and aftermath. I vaguely recall doing the song, with real musicians behind me, on a couple of occasions, including a nightclub, the Boarding House:

Doorbell rang out in the Berkeley night
Into the apartment house they burst
Knocked down Steven Weed with hardly a fight
And made their getaway with Patty Hearst!

Here comes the story of the Rolling Stone
Of David Weir and of Howard Kohn
They found the trail of Patty Hearst
And they wrote about it first."

Although Howard and I have remained close friends and colleagues to this day, and worked on countless projects together over the years, especially in Hollywood, we never co-authored any other major stories after the Hearst trilogy.

And our recent visit to the old office building was one of the first times we have been back there together since the magazine left San Francisco for New York in 1977.

The same building now serves as the local headquarters for Ubisoft, the French video game company.

LINKS:

• Fox News, Dominion Defamation Trial Delayed Amid Network’s Push to Settle. (WSJ)

• Google Devising Radical Search Changes to Beat Back A.I. Rivals (NYT)

• Superintelligence is possible — A University of Oxford professor explains how conscious machines are possible. (Big Think)

• A New Approach to Computation Reimagines Artificial Intelligence (Quanta)

• AI Tasked With Destroying Humanity Now Trying New Tactic — "Humans are so naive to think that they can stop me with their petty threats and countermeasures." (Futurism)

• Of Course This Is How the Intelligence Leak Happened — National-security leaks. Insurrections. Bank runs. Group chats are now the most powerful force on the internet. (Atlantic)

• A new kind of leaker: Spilling state secrets to impress online buddies (WP)

• Lindsey Graham calls fellow Republican ‘irresponsible’ for defending Pentagon leaker (Guardian)

• Russians boasted that just 1% of fake social profiles are caught, leak shows (WP)

• Sudan unrest: What are the Rapid Support Forces? (Al Jazeera)

• A mass shooting tied to a teen birthday party leaves 4 people dead and a ‘multitude of injuries’ in Alabama (CNN)

• Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reportedly has been claiming thousands of dollars annually from a shuttered real estate firm (CNBC)

• Clarence Thomas should follow the Abe Fortas precedent and resign gracefully (The Hill)

• Marjorie Taylor Greene spent $65,000 in campaign funds on home fence — The fence cost $10,000 more than the median household income in her district (Independent)

• Tax Me If You Can — The things rich people do to avoid paying up. (New Yorker)

• Iowa to spend millions kicking families off food stamps. More states may follow. (WP)

• Across the country, abortion rights advocates rally in support of abortion pill access (NPR)

• Judge rejects Trump's bid to learn juror names at defamation trial (Reuters)

• Trump, facing probes, seeks to assert dominance over GOP at donor retreat (WP)

• Taliban Prove to Be Formidable Tax Collectors, Putting Squeeze on Afghans (WSJ)

• Afghan diplomat running UN mission in New York despite Taliban's objections, without money (AA)

• Ex-MP Atiq Ahmed, brother shot dead on live TV in India (Al Jazeera)

• Determined to Flee China, Thousands Take a Long, Dangerous Route to the Southern U.S. Border (WSJ)

• There’s new light — and lingering questions — in the mystery of Wuhan (WP)

• Cyclist Clearly Loves Signaling Turns (The Onion)

Today’s Lyrics:

“The Older I Get”

Sung by Alan Jackson

Songwriters: Adam Wright / Hailey Whitters / Sarah Turner

The older I get
The more I think
You only get a minute, better live while you're in it
'Cause it's gone in a blink
And the older I get
The truer it is
It's the people you love, not the money and stuff
That makes you rich

And if they found a fountain of youth
I wouldn't drink a drop and that's the truth
Funny how it feels I'm just getting to my best years yet

The older I get
The fewer friends I have
But you don't need a lot when the ones that you got
Have always got your back
And the older I get
The better I am
At knowing when to give
And when to just not give a damn

And if they found a fountain of youth
I wouldn't drink a drop and that's the truth
Funny how it feels I'm just getting to my best years yet
The older I get

And I don't mind all the lines
From all the times I've laughed and cried
Souvenirs and little signs of the life I've lived

The older I get
The longer I pray
I don't know why, I guess that I've
Got more to say
And the older I get
The more thankful I feel
For the life I've had and all the life I'm living still

76

from Claire

From Julia

From Sophia

My 76th birthday was special. On Friday the 14th we had Korean BBQ and the Comolli's gave me presents and a brownie cake Laila baked. Daisy helped me by cutting the brownies and choosing the order in which I opened the gifts.

On Saturday, Peter & Claire hosted a party and Claire made the fruit dish pictured above. Laila, Daisy an I drove in and Aidan, Dylan and Meg and Julia came over. It was only the fourth time in the past three years that the younger sibs and older sibs have come together.

As I watched them mix and converse, my eyes filled with tears. Julia asked if I was okay and I said "allergies,"
 

The Links

• Marjorie Taylor Greene defends alleged Pentagon leaker as ‘white, male, Christian’ (Independent)

• The Narcissists Who Endanger America — Leaked classified documents, a 21-year-old airman, and the weakness that is hardest for the U.S. national-security community to spot (Atlantic)

• US intelligence was aware of four extra Chinese spy balloons, leaked Pentagon data reveals (Independent)

• Republican 2024 Hopefuls Embrace Gun Politics at N.R.A. Meeting (NYT)

• Dominion's $1.6 billion suit against Fox to begin on Monday (Reuters)

• Sudan: Army and paramilitary force claim control of key sites (BBC)

• Cash App Founder Stabbed After Dispute Over Suspect’s Sister, Court Docs Say (Daily Beast)

• Who is Khazar Elyassnia, sister of accused Lee killer, Nima Momeni? (KRON)

• Cash App founder stabbed with kitchen knife after drinking with suspect’s sister, filing says (WP)

• The End of Faking It in Silicon Valley (NYT)

• Is Twitter finally dying? After an extraordinarily chaotic past few weeks, the slow death of Twitter seems to be speeding up. (Vox)

• Generative AI can deliver life-changing disease treatments (Cointelegraph)

• Elon Musk founds new AI company called X.AI (Verge)

• What to know about Arcturus, a new coronavirus subvariant the WHO is tracking (WP)

• A Single Judge Shouldn’t Have This Kind of National Power — Nationwide injunctions have become a serious problem in American law. (Atlantic)

• The controversial article Matthew Kacsmaryk did not disclose to the Senate (WP)

• Ghosts Past and Present Cross Paths as War Comes to Nuclear Wasteland (NYT)

• How Japan's big plans for a 'hydrogen society' fell flat (Japan Today)

• Japan's prime minister evacuated unhurt after explosion at speech (Reuters)

• Taiwan highly vulnerable to Chinese air attack, leaked documents show (WP)

• In predicting the future of science, a few classic films got it eerily right (CNN)

• Vast New Stores of Water Reported on the Moon (IEEE Spectrum)

• Body dysmorphia in boys and men can fuel muscle obsession, doctors say (WP)

• Man Forced To Reverse-Engineer Point In Midst Of Meandering, Absentminded Rant (The Onion)