The Hook

My father loved take me with him when he’d go fishing. So while I was growing up, I got many hours of free instruction about how to catch fish in the cold, clear waters of Michigan’s many lakes and rivers.

I never mastered the art myself, but I did learn enough to recognize when someone is baiting a hook.

And that, very clearly, is what Trump is doing by sending federal troops into L.A., D.C., and soon, Chicago. Trump knows there is no actual emergency in any of these cities. There is crime and homelessness, but that has long been the case and if anything, crime is down compared with past years.

But “crime” is simply the bait. Trump wants to see demonstrations against his moves that will justify a further crackdown in his quest for authoritarian power.

The problem is the protesters who are coming out are peaceful and acting well within their First Amendment rights

Let’s hope it stays that way because this is one time I’m hoping the fisherman will pack up and go home empty-handed.

HEADLINES:

• Trump threatens Chicago with "Department of WAR" ahead of planned crackdown (Axios)

• Washington, DC, residents protest against Trump's troop deployment to the city (Reuters)

• Resistance to Trump’s D.C. crackdown is taking many forms (WP)

• The Return of the ‘War Department’ Is More Than Nostalgia. It’s a Message. (NYT)

• Maryland leaders announce police surge in Baltimore amid Trump’s threats to deploy troops (WP)

• US tells Kilmar Ábrego García he faces deportation to Eswatini (BBC)

• Taken by ICE (Reveal)

• 300 South Koreans detained at Hyundai plant in US to be released, says Seoul (Guardian)

• South Korean President vows support to Koreans arrested in US immigration raid (Reuters)

• Russia launches record mass drone attack on Ukraine (Financial Times)

• Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigns after election defeats (BBC)

• What to Know About a Rapid U.S. Military Buildup in the Caribbean (NYT)

• Trump says Venezuelan jets will be shot down if they endanger US ships (BBC)

• RFK. Jr’s family members say he is a ‘threat’ to Americans’ health and call for his resignation (AP)

• States line up to bypass Trump’s vaccine limits (Reuters)

What About Bob?

Reference: May 14, 2008. Robert Rauschenberg, American Artist, Dies at 82 (NYT)

Photo by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Every art lover has their own Robert Rauschenberg story; after all, in so many ways we are living in the Age of Rauschenberg. For me, it's how I for a short time had custody of several of his paintings.

Rauschenberg had a habit of collecting castoff urban junk and using it in his pieces. Maybe the most dramatic example of this was his passion for old straight-backed wooden chairs. I've heard about times he tried to buy some old Southern restaurant's entire inventory. Sometimes, he would attach one of these beloved chairs to one of his oversized prints.

Last night, as I was absorbing news of his death on Monday, we were experiencing a rare tropical sunset here in the scorched Bay Area. It was so beautiful that I snapped photo after photo, much as I did down on Bob's beloved Captiva Island on the nights just before my own father died, also at age 82, just like Bob.

I also thought back to 1987, when my oldest daughter asked to be able to quit school on the mainland, across from Sanibel, because who would want to go to a school where kids had to be warned to not bring their guns to class?

So, her mother and I agreed she would "home-school." She soon met the one other child on the island homeschooling, a delightful girl around her age named Jessie.

Jessie's parents, Gus and Sue, were building contractors. They ran their business out of their home. Our families became good friends.

A few years later, when one of the many hurricanes that churn their way through the Gulf of Mexico each year inflicted a glancing but destructive blow to Sanibel and Captiva, Gus did what islanders always do in a time of trouble. He took his truck out on the road to help neighbors clear fallen trees, repair damage to their houses, and get back to normal.

One of the people he ran into was Bob. Gus didn’t know anything about Bob, but true to his spirit, he helped this stranger clear his lot and repair his damage. Gus never asked for a fee; that's not what this kind of thing is about, as anyone surviving a natural disaster easily understands.

When it turned out that Bob was a world famous artist, Gus was pleased to accept Bob's request that he build his (now legendary) studio on Captiva. If you read the Times' lovely obit at the top of this post, you'll get some idea of the unprecedented scale of this building project for a guy like Gus.

I remember touring the half-finished studio with Gus and our kids one night. It was mind-boggling.

Suffice it to say Gus did a great job, and Bob paid him with a combination of cash and paintings. As to what to do with the latter, Gus turned to me. Thus, for a short time, I became an art dealer. Eventually, I was able to place three of the paintings for aound $400,000.

Gus himself wrapped and accompanied the first two paintings out here to the Bay Area in order to deliver them to our buyer, who was a friend of mine. (The other sale I made was in Paris.)

My friend later told me that the value of the paintings was nowhere near the price she paid, and I felt sad for her. She told me this as I toured her house and admired others in her collection, including early Jackson Pollocks.

She dumped them for about a third of what she paid, and who knows where those pieces are tonight. But now Bob is dead, I suspect whoever owns them will be able to claim a nice return on the investment. Hell, if I had the cash, I'd buy them myself, just for the memory.

Rest in peace, Bob Rauschenberg.

HEADLINES;

• US economy adds fewer jobs than expected in August, confirming slowdown (BBC)

• What Trump’s Fed pressure campaign is really about (CNN)

• How Stephen Miller is running Trump’s effort to take over D.C. (WP)

• Florida is now the 2nd most financially distressed state in the US — topped only by Texas, Google helps reveal (Moneywise)

• Inside Gavin Newsom’s Redistricting Cash Blitz (NYT)

• Hundreds Arrested in Immigration Raid at Hyundai Site in Georgia (WSJ)

• Trump Claims the Power to Summarily Kill Suspected Drug Smugglers (NYT)

• Chaotic showdown over Guatemalan children exposes fault lines in Trump’s deportation push (AP)

• Western Troops in Ukraine Before a Peace Deal Would Be ‘Targets’, Putin Says (NYT)

• PBS slashes 15% of its staff after federal funding cuts (Axios)

• Florida Decided There Were Too Many Children (Atlantic)

• RFK Jr’s anti-science agenda will be catastrophic for the United States (Guardian)

• The Arrogance of a Kennedy (The Bulwark)

• A staffer in the Justice Department said in a secretly recorded video that the DOJ would redact any Republican names from its investigative files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and only keep liberals' names visible. Here's how the department reacted to the clip. [HuffPost]

• How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart (NYT)

• Asteroid Fragment Reveals a Strange Mineral Never Seen on Earth (ScienceAlert)

• Israel strikes high-rise building and threatens to hit more in Gaza City offensive (AP)

• 'I feared I'd find her dead in bed' - teens harmed by spice-laced vapes (BBC)

• After Afghan Quake, Many Male Rescuers Helped Men but Not Women — A prohibition on contact between unrelated women and men meant many women’s wounds went untended and some were left trapped under rubble after a deadly earthquake, witnesses said. (NYT)

• AI and the Fight Between Democracy and Autocracy (Atlantic)

• Nation Trying To Remember What Team That One Guy Played For (The Onion)

 

Light in Darkness

Twelve years ago, an old friend and colleague, Raul Ramirez, established an endowment for journalism students at SF State, where he had taught for many years while also working as an executive at KQED News.

Raul called it a diversity internship, meaning that it was meant to promote diversity in journalism, a notion that almost sounds quaint in today’s fiercely anti-DEI environment created by the Trump administration.

But seeing the world through each other’s eyes is how we develop empathy for each other and how we learn about the many things we have in common with those who on the surface may appear to be quite different from us.

Over the years, a number of people have benefitted from Raul’s generosity. The latest is Cami Dominguez, whose project involved giving disposable cameras to kids in the Tenderloin so that they might capture daily life in one of the poorest and densely populated neighborhoods in San Francisco.

Given this opportunity, the kids didn’t focus on the drug dealing, prostitution, street crime or homelessness their part of town is best known for.

Their photos were all about the joy, beauty and excitement of being kids.

KQED has published Cami’s piece, Photos Capture SF’s Tenderloin Through the Eyes of Kids Who Live There. The audio version is here.

(Thanks to the folks at KQED, 826 Valencia Tenderloin Center and SFSU who helped bring this project to life.)

***

One of the primary functions of journalists is to report on under-covered communities and give a voice to the voiceless. In my view, a healthy society welcomes this work, which strengthens our democracy and reminds us that we’re all in this together, no matter how hard some try to divide us.

NOTES: Raul Ramirez died of cancer in 2013, soon after establishing his endowment. I co-authored this memorial of his life and career with his close friend, KQED editor Pat Yollin, who passed away in 2020. I miss both of them. The very first Ramirez intern was the multi-talented Ericka Cruz Guevarra; she is now the host of KQED’s podcast, “The Bay.”

HEADLINES:

• Trump Is Renaming the Defense Department the Department of War (NYT)

• Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner (WSJ)

• Senators from both parties grilled RFK Jr. on vaccines and more (NPR)

• States Go Their Own (and Contradictory) Ways on Vaccine Policy (NYT)

• Welcome to the Vaccine Free-for-All (Atlantic)

• What is Trump's goal as US bombs 'Venezuela drugs boat' and deploys warships? (BBC)

• Ray Dalio says ‘most people are silent’ because they’re afraid to talk about what’s really happening with the U.S. economy (Fortune)

• Pentagon approves use of Navy base for Chicago ICE operations (WP)

• With no end in sight, National Guard troops deployed to DC grow weary (CNN)

• Can Trump Just Do Whatever He Wants by Declaring Emergencies? (NYT)

• Northwestern president resigns amid funding cuts, White House negotiations (WP)

• Severe drought tests Syria as it rebuilds from a 14-year civil war (AP)

• How We All Came to Live in Taylor Swift’s Version of the World (Atlantic)

• Argentina officials recover a painting stolen by the Nazis after it was spotted in a real estate photo. (Reuters)

• Photos Capture SF’s Tenderloin Through the Eyes of Kids Who Live There (KQED)

• OpenAI announces AI-powered hiring platform to take on LinkedIn (TechCrunch)

• The president blamed AI and embraced doing so. Is it becoming the new ‘fake news’? (AP)

• 8th Grader’s Voice Drops 6 Octaves Over Summer (The Onion)

Old Guys Are Resilient

In the two seasons of the series called “Shrinking,” which is streaming on Apple, Harrison Ford plays a character I can identify with. He’s a grouchy old man in his 70s battling Parkinson’s.

The maddening thing with this disease is it can take different forms with a disquieting number of potential symptoms, both on the motor skill and cognitive levels.

Ford’s character experiences tremors, depth perception impairment, memory lapses, plus moments when he “freezes” and is unable (temporarily) to move.

There also can be balance issues, tiredness, vivid dreaming and a range of other symptoms as the disease progresses.

There are plenty of other characters in”Shrinking,” some better than others. It’s part drama, part comedy and partly a commentary on therapy.

But for those of us battling P.D., the show quite accurately captures what we’re dealing with, day in, day out. And the good part is it profiles resilience.

Resilience — we’re going to need a lot of that to get through the Trump era. In his own twisted way, he has inflicted the equivalent of a political Parkinson’s Disease on the entire nation.

HEADLINES:

• What new weapons on show at huge parade say about China's military strength (BBC)

• Xi, Putin and Kim stand united at Beijing military parade in historic show of authoritarian strength (CNN)

• Trump published an ominous social media post that was directed at the strongman leaders of Russia, China and North Korea ― whom he has all previously lavished praise upon — as the authoritarian trio buddied up in Beijingto mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. [HuffPost]

• China's Xi steals the limelight in a defiant push against US-led world order (BBC)

• Trump says he’s set to order federal intervention in Chicago and Baltimore, despite local opposition (AP)

• L.A. Ruling Complicates Trump’s Threats to Send Troops to More Cities (NYT)

• Pentagon plans for 600 military lawyers to backfill immigration judges (WP)

• One of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the country on Tuesday ruled that Trump cannot use an 18th-century wartime law to speed the deportations of people his administration accuses of membership in a Venezuelan gang. [AP]

• Hegseth Says Boat Strike Is Start of Campaign Against Venezuelan Cartels (NYT)

• More than 1,000 HHS workers demand RFK Jr. resigns (USA Today)

• Florida moves to end all school vaccine mandates, first in nation to do so (WP)

• Harvard Secures a Court Victory in Its Fight With Trump (NYT)

• Epstein abuse survivors speak on Capitol Hill as GOP leadership under pressure (CNN)

• Beyond technology? How Bentley is reacting to the 21st century. (ArsTechnica)

• Wildfire Destroys Buildings in Gold Rush Town of Chinese Camp (NYT)

• The MAGA Influencers Rehabilitating Hitler (Atlantic)

• A judge did not need to curb Google’s power. AI is already doing that. (WP)

• OpenAI Plans to Add Safeguards to ChatGPT for Teens and Others in Distress (NYT)

• I’m a High Schooler. AI Is Demolishing My Education. (Atlantic)

• Tom Friedman’s A.I. Nightmare and What the U.S. Can Do to Avoid It (NYT)

• Kim Jong-Un Arrives At Summit On Slow-Moving, Heavily Fortified Mule (The Onion)
  

 

Identity

Just as I dropped off my 11-year-old granddaughter’s sleepover bag at the home of one of her new friends recently, the friend’s mother came out to greet me.

I explained the obvious — that I was the grandfather— and she explained the equally obvious — that she was the mother. “I guess we’re all somebody’s something, right?” she said in her lovely Spanish accent as we shook hands.

I laughed and nodded agreement.

“Somebody’s something” — that phrase stuck with me. The way we introduce ourselves to new people depends so much on the context of the moment, doesn’t it?

In some social settings, I present myself as a journalist, in others, I stress that I’m a retired person. Of course, much of the time, I’m introduced as somebody’s Grandpa, or someone’s Dad. 

But sometimes, when I’m meeting somebody new, I just go with the obvious, “I’m an old guy.”

There are so many other identifiers to choose from — man or woman (or trans), black or white or brown, etc., Democrat, Republican or Independent, straight or not, rich or not, landowner or renter, neighbors, friends, mentors, fans, employers, citizen or a person at risk of being suddenly grabbed off the street by masked men and whisked away in an unmarked van to a holding area before being deported to some horrible concentration camp somewhere overseas.

So wait a minute! Is this still America, the land that used to welcome the afflicted, offering them comfort and safety? Or is this just evil Trumpville now, where cruelty, racism, and misery prevail.

Remember that these are our neighbors, our nannies, our gardeners, our housecleaners, our drivers, our farmworkers, our fellow parents and grandparents, our friends and our fellow human beings in this great land of ours.

We’re all somebody’s something. The question is whether in America that actually matters any longer.

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HEADLINES:

• Trump canceling elections? Democrats increasingly sound alarm bells. (CNN)

• Over 1.2 million immigrants disappeared from the labor force from January through the end of July, according to preliminary Census Bureau data, pointing to the impact of Trump's draconian immigration policies. [AP] 

• Trump illegally deployed national guard during LA Ice protests, judge rules (Guardian)

• Trump Is Inventing Fake Emergencies to Gain Real-World Power (Atlantic)

• Trump will move Space Command from Colorado to Alabama (Politico)

• Investors underestimate Trump’s threat to the Federal Reserve, economists warn (Financial Times)

• Trump’s Fed interference raises alarm among leading economists (The Banker)

• Alarm as US far-right extremists eye drones for use in domestic attacks (Guardian)

• Texas Democrats’ Weapons of the Weak (New Yorker)

• The Anti-Trump Resistance That’s Actually Working (Atlantic)

• The defunded Corporation for Public Broadcasting will get one of TV’s biggest prizes (AP)

• Scientists are discovering a powerful new way to prevent cancer (Economist)

• Putin Finds a Growing Embrace on the Global Stage (NYT)

• The Neighbor From Hell (Atlantic)

• Leaked ‘Gaza Riviera’ plan dismissed as ‘insane’ attempt to cover ethnic cleansing (Guardian)

• Newsom Outflanks Trump Again In Battle Over Kamala Harris’ Security (Deadline)

• A downturn in international travel to the US may last beyond summer, experts warn (AP)

• Judge Orders Google to Share Search Results to Help Resolve Monopoly (NYT)

• 5 ways job seekers can improve their AI literacy (WP)

• Corporation Reaches Goal, Shuts Down (The Onion)

 

Tuesday News

HEADLINES:

• Judge says Trump administration’s use of US military in Los Angeles violated federal law (CNN)

• Afghanistan earthquake death toll passes 1,400 as Taliban appeal for aid (Guardian)

• The Supreme Court has expanded Trump’s power. He’s seeking much more. (WP)

• What Are Trump’s Options If His Tariffs Are Ruled Unlawful? (Bloomberg)

• Blocking tariffs would be "end of the United States," top Trump adviser says (Axios)

• Populist Right-Wing Parties Lead Polls in Europe’s Biggest Economies (WSJ)

• Medicaid cuts threaten rural hospitals — and access to maternity care (WP)

• We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health (NYT)

• How Trump is decimating federal employee unions one step at a time (NPR)

• Donald Trump comes for America’s public universities (Economist)

• Xi and Putin stand shoulder to shoulder as China casts itself an alternative global leader (CNN)

• China tries to use Trump turmoil to unite leaders against U.S.-led order (WP)

• To raise fertility rates, it’s not women who need to step up — it’s men (Salon)

• ‘The walls collapsed around me’: Afghans describe quake devastation (Guardian)

• More than two million people have been affected in Pakistan's Punjab and more than 2,000 villages inundated, by what officials are calling the worst flood in decades. (Reuters)

• Israel kills Hamas spokesperson as security cabinet meets to discuss expanding offensive in Gaza (AP)

• Giuliani hospitalized with multiple injuries after car crash (WP)

• How This A.I. Company Collapsed Amid Silicon Valley’s Biggest Boom (NYT)

• No Amount of Money Can Make People Want to Work for Zuck (Gizmodo)

• Our AI Fears Run Long and Deep (Atlantic)

• Texas Blocks Law That Would Ban Gun Stores From Operating Inside Psych Wards (The Onion)

 

Monday Mix

HEADLINES:

• More than 800 killed after strong quake hits Afghanistan (BBC)

• Chicago launches resistance campaign as Trump threatens to send troops (WP)

• India and China are partners, not rivals, Modi and Xi say (Reuters)

• Xi and Modi talk friendship in a ‘chaotic’ world as Trump’s tariffs bite (CNN)

• Tariffs ruling is a major setback for the White House (WP)

• Pope Leo demands end to ‘pandemic of arms’ after Minnesota school shooting (Guardian)

• Trump Says He Will Sign Executive Order Mandating Voter I.D. (NYT)

• RFK Jr. tightens his chokehold on the nation’s public health (Salon)

• Fresh discoveries are rewriting U.S. history amid backlash (Axios)

• Can young Americans still have a better life than their parents? (NPR)

• Trump Is Starting to Turn on the People He Handpicked (WSJ)

• How the Fed losing its independence could affect Americans’ everyday lives (AP)

• Here’s what it really means for Trump to get control of the Federal Reserve board (WSJ)

• Judge Temporarily Blocks U.S. Efforts to Deport Guatemalan Children (NYT)

• Thirsty data centres boom in drought-hit Mexico (BBC)

• An ‘Economic Storm’ of Crises Is Battering Afghanistan (NYT)

• Gaza postwar plan envisions ‘voluntary’ relocation of entire population (WP)

• Targeting Iran’s Leaders, Israel Found a Weak Link: Their Bodyguards (NYT)

• How Sakana AI’s new evolutionary algorithm builds powerful AI models without expensive retraining (VentureBeat)

• JD Vance Asks National Guard Member If He Can Touch Gun (The Onion)

 

Left by the Wind

(I first published a version of this 19 years ago.)

One of my favorite discoveries lately was Found Magazine, which publishes random items discovered by its readers — “love letters, birthday cards, kids’ homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, receipts, doodles - anything that gives a glimpse into someone else’s life.”

Sometimes things like that land right in front of my house in the Mission District of San Francisco.

That’s because my side of the street -- the west side -- is the recipient of many lost items, courtesy of a wind tunnel that swirls through here much as those that used to cause those pop-ups of legendary movement back at old Candlestick Park. 

This note I am posting tonight came drifting into my front yard the other day. 
It has has two sides, and reads: 


I am trying to sell my car. I need bus money only to get home to Detroit. Michelle this is your moms car. Do you want it? My food stamps didn't come. I don't want to cause anyone any trouble. I just want to get home!! I'll see you later.

***

Most of us who live here, in this city perched unsteadily above the San Andreas Fault on the tip of a peninsula that measures almost precisely 7 by 7 miles square, have spent many years hearing references to a certain number -- "49." How many of us realize how mathematically perfect this number is for our town? We all know, of course about the Gold Rush that built San Francisco back in 1849, but that isn’t the origin of the nickname.

It’s the geography.

San Francisco is also a windy town. There must be a million scraps of a million stories like the one I found blowing in the wind.

HEADLINES:

• California Highway Patrol to protect Kamala Harris after Trump pulls Secret Service detail, sources say (LAT)

• Chicago mayor signs order aimed at resisting Trump’s planned immigration crackdown (CNN)

• Preparing for federal troops, Chicago mayor says city will stand up to Trump's 'tyranny' (USA Today)

• Border Patrol arrested firefighters as they were battling a wildfire (WP)

• Federal judge blocks Trump's effort to expand speedy deportations of migrants (NPR)

• Trump uses firings to test presidential limits (Reuters)

• The new head of the CDC has no training in medicine and once helped Peter Thiel develop man-made islands floating outside U.S. territory (Fortune)

• Will the C.D.C. Survive? (NYT)

• Trump administration cuts grants for child care on college campuses (WP)

• Trump’s Fed meddling pushes investors closer to their red line (Financial Times)

• Indonesia's president cancels China trip as protests continue (Reuters)

• 20 Years After Katrina, New Orleans Is ‘at a Tipping Point’ (NYT)

• D.C. tourism was already struggling. Then the National Guard arrived. (WP)

• Red Cross records surge in number of missing people (Reuters)

• Zuckerberg’s AI hires disrupt Meta with swift exits and threats to leave (ArsTechnica)

• Area Dad Informs Busboy He’s Ready To Order (The Onion)

Saturday Headlines

HEADLINES:

• Houthi rebels say Israeli airstrike killed their prime minister in Yemen's capital (NPR)

• Trump seeks to cut $5bn in congressionally approved foreign aid (Al Jazeera)

• Appeals Court Finds Many Tariffs Were Issued Illegally (NYT)

• Trump administration plans big immigration enforcement operation in Chicago as soon as next week (CNN)

• Newsom: Crime is a larger problem in GOP-led areas than Democratic-led ones (WP)

• UC system says Trump's proposed budget cuts could 'devastate' scientific research (SFGate)

• Ukraine’s Fight Is Far From Over (Atlantic)

• Israel declares Gaza City a combat zone, says bodies of 2 hostages recovered as it expands the war (CBS)

• First Google, Now Microsoft: Tech Staff Are in Revolt Over Gaza (WSJ)

• Why the Texas Democrats’ Walkout Worked (NYT)

• The bigger story behind the mass exodus of CDC leadership (Vox)

• Massive CDC walkout erupts amid internal chaos (Axios)

• My workers voted for Trump. Now they’re absorbing the impact. (WP)

• Detainees report alleged uprising at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’: ‘A lot of people have bled’ (Guardian)

• US withdraws from key UN human rights report, draws criticism from rights advocates (Reuters)

• China welcomes Modi as Trump’s trade war draws rivals into détente (WP)

• Thailand's Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office for an ethics violation after only a year in power, in another crushing blow to the Shinawatra political dynasty that could usher in a new period of turmoil. (Reuters)

• Simpler models can outperform deep learning at climate prediction (MIT)

• AI is teaching students in Virginia. I’m concerned. (WP)

• ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Is Getting an A.I. Glow-Up. Cue the Pitchforks. (NYT)

• Scalpers Jack Up Price Of Colorado Rockies Ticket To $11 (The Onion)

Follow Your Arrow

The culture wars dividing Americans have long been represented partly as a case of country vs. city. Small town values vs. big city life. That is an over-simplification, of course, but most stories are simplifications.

We tell stories to ourselves all the time about the city-country conflict, but the ones I prefer are about mutual respect and tolerance, even in some cases new levels of understanding.

So naturally I like the story of country singer Kacey Musgraves, who grew up in a small town in Texas before migrating to Nashville in pursuit of her dreams.

Once in Music City, she met members of the LGBTQ community, which in her own telling broadened her awareness of the human experience.

In response, she wrote a song called “Follow Your Arrow” (lyrics below), which was initially banned from country stations and made her an outcast of sorts within the music industry.

But the song caught on, became a hit, and now is a personal anthem at her sold-out shows all over the country.

So this is the kind of story I like. Of course, for every story of tolerance and acceptance there is one of intolerance and discrimination.

But if we as a society are going to move forward we have to celebrate the former and reject the latter.

HEADLINES:

• Trump ends Secret Service protection for Harris (BBC)

• C.D.C. Standoff: Kennedy’s Push to Fire Director Devolves Into Chaos (NYT)

• CDC in crisis: who are the top officials resigning or being forced out? (Guardian)

• CDC Bosses Quit With Doomsday Warning About ‘Deadly’ RFK Jr. (Daily Beast)

• Closure of Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigration detention center can proceed, judge says (AP)

• UK and EU summon top Russian diplomats after strikes hit British Council and EU offices in deadly attack on Kyiv - as it happened (Guardian)

• Russian Drones Are Flying Over U.S. Weapons Routes in Germany, Officials Say (NYT)

• Trump, Gabbard fired top CIA Russia expert days after Alaska summit (WP)

• An ICE raid breaks a family — and prompts a wrenching decision (LAT)

• A Blueprint for Military Takeovers (Atlantic)

• White House seeks to use Chicago-area military base for ‘sanctuary cities’ crackdown (Guardian)

• Mystery surrounds $1.2 billion Army contract to build huge detention tent camp in Texas desert (AP)

• Judge blocks Kari Lake, tasked to dismantle VOA, from firing its director (WP)

• UN says Gaza famine expanding, 10 more die from hunger amid Israeli siege (Al Jazeera)

• The Perverse Consequences of the Easy A (Atlantic)

• Shooter who opened fire on Minneapolis Catholic school posted rambling videos (WP)

• 911 centers are so understaffed, they’re turning to AI to answer calls (TechCrunch)

• Nvidia Sales Jump 56%, a Sign the A.I. Boom Isn’t Slowing Down (NYT)

• A.I. Is Coming for Culture (New Yorker)

• The AI cheating panic is missing the point (WP)

• Man Entering Fog Of Insanity Asked If This His First Time At Dave & Buster’s (The Onion)

LYRICS: “Follow Your Arrow” by Kacey Musgraves

If you save yourself for marriage, you're a bore
You don't save yourself for marriage, you're a horrible person
If you won't have a drink, then you're a prude
But they'll call you a drunk as soon as you down the first one

If you can't lose the weight, then you're just fat
But if you lose too much, then you're on crack
You're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't
So you might as well just do whatever you want

So, make lots of noise (hey)
Kiss lots of boys (yup)
Or kiss lots of girls, if that's something you're into
When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, or don't
Just follow your arrow wherever it points, yeah
Follow your arrow wherever it points

If you don't go to church, you'll go to Hell
If you're the first one on the front row, you're self-righteous son of a-
Can't win for losin', you'll just disappoint 'em
Just 'cause you can't beat 'em, don't mean you should join 'em

So, make lots of noise (hey)
Kiss lots of boys (yup)
Or kiss lots of girls, if that's something you're into
When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, or don't
Just follow your arrow wherever it points, yeah
Follow your arrow wherever it points

Say what you think (say what you think)
Love who you love (love who you love)
'Cause you just get so many trips 'round the sun
Yeah, you only, only live once

So make lots of noise (hey)
Kiss lots of boys (yup)
Or kiss lots of girls, if that's what you're into
When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, I would
And follow your arrow wherever it points, yeah

Follow your arrow wherever it points