Squirrel & Apple

When the news becomes beyond bad, close to overwhelming, I don’t know about you but I turn my attention to small things, things more in my immediate control. Like watching a squirrel outside my window hold an apple in its paws, munching away.

A squirrel eating an apple is something I can wrap my mind around, unlike a war, impending climate change or a wannabe dictator.

My daughter said she watched a squirrel pick a lemon from one of our trees, however, and I do wonder what that was about. Maybe to make some lemonade?

Seriously, the news is relentlessly bad these days, and it’s unlikely to improve soon. There is still a small hope that negotiations can return the hostages and delay war but I doubt it.

Meanwhile, I’m keeping an eye out for that squirrel.

HEADLINES

• JP Morgan CEO warns world may be facing ‘most dangerous time’ in decades — Jamie Dimon says Israel-Gaza conflict may have ‘far-reaching impacts’ on energy prices, food costs and international trade (Guardian)

• A troubled world economy points to global catastrophe (The Hill)

• Residents flee Gaza City as Israel tells 1.1mn to leave (Financial Times)

• U.N. warns evacuation will have ‘devastating’ results (WP)

• After Israel visit, lawmakers see big role for U.S. military in Hamas conflict (Politico)

• Hamas says 70 people, mostly women and children, killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza’s fleeing convoys (AP)

• Trump’s turn against Israel offers stark reminder of what his diplomacy looks like (CNN)

• As Deaths Soar in Gaza From Israeli Strikes, Egypt Offers Aid, but No Exit (NYT)

• Doctors in Gaza describe the war's devastating impact on hospitals and health care (NPR)

• Humanitarian groups issuing increasingly dire warnings (WP)

• House GOP picks Jim Jordan as speaker nominee amid leadership crisis (CNN)

• With Scalise out, all eyes on Jim Jordan in chaotic House speaker race (ABC)

• Top House Republican Wants Help From Democrats to Pick a Speaker (Bloomberg)

• Finding a Tech Job Is Still a Nightmare (Wired)

• Aging in America Shouldn’t Be This Hard (Nation)

• Flying Cars Are Here - And You Can Buy This One For Less Than $100,000 (Forbes)

• Michigan Is The No. 1 Team In The Country (SI)

• How ChatGPT and other AI tools could disrupt scientific publishing (Nature)

• Dumbing down or wising up: how will generative AI change the way we think? (Conversation)

• Unemployed Dad Channels All His Energy Into Creating, Running Haunted House (The Onion)

On the Brink

Israel has amassed 350,000 troops on the border with Gaza and appears poised to invade, seeking to destroy Hamas after last weekend’s brutal massacre of Israeli civilians.

Two million people live in Gaza City, the most densely populated place on earth. Hamas is embedded with the population.

Israel has been bombing the city systematically for days in preparation for the invasion. Although the stated goal is to take out Hamas, the collateral damage will inevitably occur on an unimaginable scale.

Israel has told 1.1 million people to evacuate but there is nowhere for them to go. Hamas has told them to stay in place.

It seems that the rest of the world is just standing by and watching, unable and unwilling to stop this disaster from happening.

Dark days lie ahead.

HEADLINES

• Israel’s evacuation order to northern Gaza ‘impossible’, says UN (BBC)

• Humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza (WP)

• Israel hammers Gaza with airstrikes as Hamas' atrocities revealed (CNN)

• Hamas Militants Had Detailed Maps of Israeli Towns, Military Bases and Infiltration Routes (WSJ)

• The Israeli military says it’s preparing for a ground operation in Gaza (AP)

• ‘We’re not going anywhere,’ Blinken tells Netanyahu; at least 27 Americans killed in Israel-Hamas war (CNBC)

• U.S., Qatar agree to stop Iran from tapping $6 billion fund after Hamas attack (WP)

• Syria's two main airports out of service after Israel strikes (France24)

• Israel Hamas war: UK evacuation flights begin as humanitarian crisis engulfs Gaza (Euronews)

• Israel said there would be no humanitarian break to its siege of the Gaza Strip until all its hostages were freed, after the Red Cross pleaded for fuel to be allowed in to prevent overwhelmed hospitals from "turning into morgues." (Reuters)

• Israel Violence Underscores the G.O.P. Divide on Foreign Policy (NYT)

• Things In Palestine May Never Be the Same Again (The Nation)

• Israelis and Palestinians are facing their moment of greatest danger since 1948 (Guardian)

• Rescuers in Gaza Struggle With Dwindling Fuel and Lack of Equipment (NYT)

• CIA acknowledges 1953 coup it backed in Iran was undemocratic (AP)

• Scalise Withdraws as Speaker Candidate, Leaving G.O.P. in Chaos (NYT)

• Republicans fail to coalesce around speaker choice, leaving House in limbo (WP)

• Sen. Menendez is accused of being an unregistered agent of Egypt’s government in updated indictment (AP)

• The United Auto Workers union announced its nearly four-week strike against the “Big Three” automakers was expanding to Ford’s truck plant in Kentucky. The walkout marks the first time during the strike that the union has targeted the production of large pickups, a big moneymaker for Ford. [HuffPost]

• Washington Post cuts follow rapid expansion, unmet revenue projections (WP)

• Inside the Taliban’s luxury hotel (Guardian)

• What Happened to Empathy? (Atlantic)

• The Secret to Living to 100? It’s Not Good Habits (WSJ)

• Deforestation in Bolivia has jumped by 32% in a year. What is going on? (Guardian)

• Google’s AI-powered search experience can now generate images, write drafts (TC)

• Google to defend generative AI users from copyright claims (Reuters)

• The Chatbots Are Now Talking to Each Other (Wired)

• How genAI is revolutionizing the field of economics (CNN)

• University Installs Red-Light Phones For Conservative Students Being Assaulted By Progressive Beliefs (The Onion)

 

Not a Chance

 When I woke up a few minutes ago, I thought I’d been reading an article. It was an intricate, beautifully written article, the kind I aspire to write myself.

It was about many things but ultimately it was about a peaceful world achieved through wisdom, restraint, forgiveness and love.

Peace as an alternative to war. “All we are saying,” as the songwriter wrote, “is give peace a chance.”

But when I shook myself fully awake, I knew I’d been dreaming — an incredibly vivid dreaming but only a dream nonetheless. Because this morning’s headlines are all about war.

Nobody is talking about peace. Instead, voices like that of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who has an uncanny ability to say the worst possible thing at times like this, and therefore issued the following statement, “We’re in a religious war here. I am with Israel. Do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself. Level the place.”

Level the place. Graham’s answer to the unspeakable butchery conducted by Hamas is unconscionable genocide against the Palestinian people whose land Israel occupies, which of course is a root cause of the entire problem.

I’ll list the headlines now but first I want to say that the dream was in being asleep and imagining a better world where decency prevailed.

The nightmare is being awake in a world filled with revenge, where nobody wins and everybody is less for it.

HEADLINES

• Why Hamas and Israel reached this moment now — and what comes next (NPR)

• More Bloodshed Will Never Resolve the Israel-Palestine Conflict (Bloomberg)

• The attack on Israel has been called a ‘9/11 moment’. Therein lies a cautionary tale (Guardian)

• Israel bombs south Lebanon after Hezbollah rocket fire (Reuters)

• Israel Retakes Towns Near Gaza as Its Military Readies Major Offensive (NYT)

• What is Gaza Strip, the besieged Palestinian enclave under Israeli assault? (Al Jazeera)

• Hamas terror tactics test Israel’s war strategy (WP)

• How a secretive Hamas commander masterminded the attack on Israel (Reuters)

• Israel strikes neighborhoods across Gaza as the war with Hamas intensifies (NPR)

• Jewish Voice for Peace Calls for Restraint After Sen. Lindsey Graham Urges Israel to “Level” Gaza (Democracy Now)

• US top diplomat Blinken visits Israel, urges protection of Gaza civilians (Al Jazeera)

• G.O.P. Nominates Steve Scalise for Speaker Amid Bitter Party Divisions (NYT)

• Donald Trump Fumes Over True Size of Trump Tower Being Revealed (Newsweek)

• Tuberville reports former CIA director Hayden to Capitol Police over tweet (The Hill)

• The right’s war on birth control is already starting (MSNBC)

• Rep. George Santos faces 23 additional charges (NBC)

• The Mississippi Is Losing Its Fight With the Ocean (Atlantic)

• If we protect mangroves, we protect our fisheries, our towns and ourselves (Conversation)

• A flying car that anyone can use will soon go on sale (Economist)

• 6.3 magnitude earthquake shakes part of western Afghanistan where an earlier quake killed over 2,000 (AP)

• The New AI Panic (Atlantic)

• Adobe's Newest AI Is Like Magic Eraser on Steroids (Gizmodo)

• The ChatGPT Mystery That My Novel and I Stumbled Upon (Messenger)

• Leading voice in AI, who worries about its consequences, favors regulating it (NPR)

• Chiefs Fans Try To Name A Single Taylor Swift Song (The Onion)

Seasons of War

Just when the news seemed to be as bad as it could get, with the war in Ukraine, the crisis in the Capitol, and the growing trend toward authoritarianism in many countries including our own, it got immeasurably worse.

War erupted in the Middle East. And when it comes to that kind of war it is Biblical in nature and scale. The slaughter of innocents on one side leads to slaughter of the innocents on the other side.

There apparently are around 150 hostages held by Hamas, including some Americans. It’s clear that even the seasoned war correspondents on the scene are finding it difficult to handle the barbarity they are seeing. And it not possible to imagine the conflict ending any time soon without many more casualties.

Ultimately, some sort of peace will have to be re-established but when, how and at how great a cost? At this point, there are lots of questions but precious few answers.

Not even in the Bible.

HEADLINES

• Israel Forms Emergency Government for War Against Hamas (Bloomberg)

• Israel Orders ‘Complete Siege’ of Gaza and Hamas Threatens to Kill Hostages (NYT)

• Hamas received weapons and training from Iran, officials say (WP)

• Israeli military says about 1,500 bodies of Hamas militants found in Israel as the border is secured (AP)

• The Gaza Strip and its history, explained (WP)

• AOC knocks ‘bigotry and callousness’ at Times Square rally for Palestine (Politico)

• Israel said to bomb Rafah crossing to Egypt after telling Gazans to flee through it (Times of Israel)

• ttack Ends Israel’s Hope That Hamas Might Come to Embrace Stability (NYT)

• Speaker race has no clear favorite as GOP tensions rise (The Hill)

• What Pelosi Has to Say About the Next Speaker of the House and Running for Reelection (KQED)

• Biden has been interviewed as part of a special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents, the White House said. The interview was voluntary and conducted at the White House over the course of two days, a spokesperson said. [AP]

• RFK Jr. to run as independent in 2024, ditching Democratic primary bid (Axios)

• GM is shaping up to be the hardest hit by the UAW strike (Insider)

• After more than two decades of efforts by local Indigenous leaders to get rid of four dams on the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border, the dams are now set to be dismantled (LAT)

• US agency refuses to examine toxicity of ‘inactive’ pesticide chemicals to crops — EPA says too many pesticide formulas exist to check all for the safety of ingredients that could harm humans, plants and wildlife (Guardian)

• California becomes first US state to ban 4 potentially harmful chemicals in food (CNN)

• Study reveals unexpected recovery times when forests are left alone to regrow after destruction (TCD)

• Ozone hole over Antarctica grows to one of the largest on record, scientists say (ABC)

• Lawsuit against OSU in sexual abuse scandal could result in deposition for Speaker candidate Jordan (Fox)

• What Was Literary Fiction? (Nation)

• John Lennon's ex May Pang says he 'really wanted' to write songs with Paul McCartney again (USA Today)

• SAG-AFTRA, Studios to Resume Negotiations on Wednesday (HR)

• Why the Internet Isn’t Fun Anymore (New Yorker)

• Saudi Arabia: Migrants workers who toiled in Amazon warehouses were deceived and exploited (Amnesty Intl)

• ‘Overhyped’ generative AI will get a ‘cold shower’ in 2024, analysts predict (CNBC)

• What Do ChatGPT’s New Capabilities Really Mean For Us All? (Forbes)

• LLMs can’t self-correct in reasoning tasks, DeepMind study finds (TechTalks)

• How to avoid falling for misinformation, AI images on social media (WP)

• Visiting Friend Pleasantly Surprised By City’s Open Hostility Toward Homeless People (The Onion)

 

Tuesday News

NOTE: Yesterday I inadvertently left the great state of Maine off the list of those that celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Sorry about that. (Thanks, Linda.) 

HEADLINES

• Israel at war with Hamas after unprecedented attacks (CNN)

• Qatar in talks with Hamas, Israel to swap hostages for prisoners (Reuters)

• Israel seeks missiles, artillery from U.S. following Hamas attack (Politico)

• Hamas deployed specialised units to attack Israel, says source (Reuters)

• Congress paralyzed on Israel without House speaker (CBS)

• Hamas Attack Raises Questions Over an Israeli Intelligence Failure (NYT)

• Esper predicts Israel ‘intelligence failure’ will have ripple effect (The Hill)

• Biden administration scrambles to deter wider Mideast conflict (WP)

• Attack on Israel Could Put McCarthy Back in Contention for Speaker (WSJ)

• McCarthy says he’s willing to return as House speaker (WP)

• A GOP congressman says conservative hardliners who helped oust McCarthy as speaker could 'very easily' cause the party to lose its House majority in 2024 (Insider)

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will run for president as an independent and drop his Democratic primary bid (AP)

• Trump not thinking straight because he's cornered, says Bloomberg editor (MSNBC)

• How third-party and independent candidates could threaten Democrats and Republicans in 2024 (AP)

• As more U.S. households turn to streaming and distributors have less incentive to remain in the business, the future of the cable TV industry rests on shaky ground. The launch of CNN Max, which airs several hours of programming that CNN carries on its linear channel, is the latest test for the business. [HuffPost]

• New York’s Airbnb Ban Is Descending Into Pure Chaos (Wired)

• The inside story of how Newsom picked Butler for Senate (Politico)

• Parts of the world face a future with heat that threatens even young and healthy people, study says (WP)

• ‘Without water, there is no life’: Drought in Brazil’s Amazon is sharpening fears for the future (AP)

• Google announces new generative AI search capabilities for doctors (CNBC)

• How knowledge graphs improve generative AI (InfoWorld)

• "Godfather of AI" Geoffrey Hinton (60 Minutes)

• Another tech wave is coming for San Francisco’s Mission District (SFGate)

• Big Tech Struggles to Turn AI Hype Into Profits (WSJ)

• China targets 50% boost in computing power as AI race with U.S. ramps up (CNBC)

• Scientists Announce That Unexplored Parts Of Ocean Probably Contain More Water (The Onion)

 

Imagine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfgVhE1M6ns 

This Day

Until moving to San Francisco in 1971, I wasn’t particularly aware of Columbus Day. Growing up in Michigan, mainly it meant a day off from school. But in San Francisco, with its large and politically powerful Italian population, it was a Big Deal.

As it had been since 1868, when the first of America’s Columbus Day parades started there.

Alas, Christopher Columbus was in fact a hapless, incompetent hustler. A believer in the notion that the world was flat, he sailed three commissioned ships to locate a new route to the Far East, only to run ashore in the Bahamas.

With this dubious accomplishment, he somehow got presented to us when I was young as the first European to “discover” America.

Not true. But he does have an actual legacy and that was to oppress the native populations of the Americas, as the great journalist Elizabeth Kolbert wrote in the New Yorker years ago, in her classic piece “The Lost Mariner.”

“His gravest misjudgments,” the magazine reminds us, concerned the treatment of native peoples, whose ‘subjugation’ he advocated within days of making landfall. Modern defenders insist that Columbus should be judged by the standards of his day, but Kolbert points out that at least one early settler was alert to the moral outrages under way. Bartolomé de las Casas, a former slaveholder, spent ten years on Hispaniola, she observes, before dramatically reorienting his views. ‘He devoted the next fifty years,’ she writes, ‘to trying, in vain, to defend the New World’s indigenous peoples.’”

Thanks to Kolbert and others, we now have a clearer understanding of the actual history of those times. As a result, today is no longer known as Columbus Day in San Francisco. It is now called Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

According to Pew Research Center,16 states and American Samoa territory still observe the second Monday in October as Columbus Day. Meanwhile, Indigenous Peoples' Day has officially been proclaimed by televen states — Arizona, California, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin, plus Washington, D.C.

HEADLINES

• Israel declares war and approves 'significant' steps to retaliate for surprise attack by Hamas (AP)

• Death toll in Israel, Gaza tops 1,100; U.S. to provide arms (WP)

• Israeli survivors recount terror at music festival, where Hamas militants killed at least 260 (AP)

• Israel orders total siege of Gaza; nine Americans confirmed dead in Hamas attack: Live updates (CNBC)

• Could the Attack on Israel Spell the End of Hamas? (New Yorker)

• Entire Villages Razed as Death Toll Soars From Quakes in Afghanistan (NYT)

• Taliban says 2,400 killed after earthquake ravages western Afghanistan (WP)

• It’s clearer than ever that we’re pushing the Amazon rainforest to its dreaded demise (Vox)

• California, Land of the Car, Could Soon Have Speed Cameras (NYT)

• ‘What Is Broken in American Politics Is the Republican Party’ (Politico Mag)

• Donald Trump Is Any Defense Attorney’s Nightmare (Atlantic)

• Biden faces growing pressure from Democrats over border crossings (WP)

• Top Republican urges party to end ‘civil war’ and elect House speaker this week (Guardian)

• Would a Speaker Jim Jordan doom the House GOP majority? (Independent)

• Simone Biles caps dominant world championships with two more golds (WP)

• A Curious Censorship Issue at the Guantánamo Court (NYT)

• The rebirth of local news depends on all of us (WP)

• Altana using AI to map and analyze global supply chain with launch of next-gen Atlas (Fox)

• Regulation of AI’s heartbeat: a race against time for humanity (The Hill)

• Why AI Is Medicine’s Biggest Moment Since Antibiotics (WSJ)

• Grandma Scammed By Every Piece Of Technology In House (The Onion)

 

Elderly Advice

It’s rare when sorting through the daily range of articles that I select one of the self-help variety to include on my list. Serious journalists, of which I purport to be one, usually consider that kind of thing beneath us, not worthy of our time.

Then again, there are exceptions to any rule, and what right to such a haughty attitude do I, or anyone, have anyway?

So today I’m making an exception. The story titled “The No. 1 key to a happier, longer life—‘that younger people don’t’ know, according to the oldest and ‘wisest’ Americans” (CNBC), is the one that caught my eye.

You’ll have to read it to learn the answer to the question posed; I’m not going to steal the author’s thunder. But suffice it to say, when I finally realized I had reached the age that “wisdom” was expected from me by younger people, these are the very sorts of things I found myself trying to tell them.

***

NOTE: In addition to this newsletter, I work as an advisor to a few organizations whose work reflects the basic values I deeply believe in.

One of them is the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG), a small group of statisticians who for 30 years have been documenting human rights abuses around the world.

This group rarely receives publicity but this week a report on CNN listed them as one of those on the shortlist for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. 

If you are looking for some good news, in the form of non-profit organizations doing good work, I’d recommend you check out HRDAG.

HEADLINES

• Israel battles Hamas militants as country’s death toll from mass incursion reaches 600 (AP)

• Israel confirms soldiers and civilians taken hostage by militants (BBC)

• Palestinians reportedly capture Israeli tanks (The Hill)

• Israel-Palestine Conflict: Tower hit behind Al Jazeera team (Al Jazeera)

• Here is what to know about the surprise attack on Israel. (NYT)

• Pence slams Trump, GOP ‘voices of appeasement’ as Israel comes under attack (Politico)

• If Rep. Jim Jordan wins the race for House speaker, it could be the death knell for US aid to Ukraine (Insider)

• Trump Reportedly Divulges Nuclear Secrets (Atlantic)

• Judge pauses litigation in classified docs case while mulling Trump's request for extension (ABC)

• At least 15 dead, dozens more injured after a duo of 6.3 magnitude earthquakes in Afghanistan (CBS)

• Strong U.S. Job Growth Shows Economy Is Defying Challenges (NYT)

• UAW says it scored a major concession from GM and will not expand its Big Three strike Friday (CNN)

• What Really Took Down Airbnb (Atlantic)

• How teaching kids to read went so wrong (Reveal)

• Simone Biles’s most enduring move was standing up for herself (WP)

• The No. 1 key to a happier, longer life—‘that younger people don’t’ know, according to the oldest and ‘wisest’ Americans (CNBC)

• Behind the scenes of a UFO whistleblower’s odd visit to Capitol Hill (WP)

• How Will A.I. Learn Next? (New Yorker)

• The New Jobs for Humans in the AI Era (WSJ)

• Screenwriters won a historic victory against AI. The rest of us should follow (Guardian)

• Microsoft hopes AI will put it back on top of the tech pile (Economist)

• DeepMind’s ‘remarkable’ new AI controls robots of all kinds  (VB)

• Why AI may be like a horror movie for workers, according to an education professor (Fast Company)

• Scientists Develop New Extra-Sloppy Peach (The Onion)