Ring of Truth

During my recent trip to Arizona, my sister told me a story about an incident that happened when I was in kindergarten. Apparently, we were sitting on our front porch when I spotted a girl I liked walking toward our house on the sidewalk.

As the girl drew near, I grabbed a newspaper, held it up and pretended to read it.

“That happened today?” I called out loudly. “How interesting!”

***

Most of the time, I’m the oldest one in the room, so when it comes to memories, mine reach back the furthest. So it is a refreshing experience whenever I get to hang out with my older sister, who remembers things that I don’t.

It is also nice to be just a character in the memory of somebody else as opposed to the being the family patrician and sole custodian of the now-distant past.

I was almost 30 when my first child was born, and almost 60 when my first grandchild was born. That’s a lot of rings on the tree for me to try and recall when my descendants ask me specific questions about my past.

Besides, the way I tell a tale is not necessarily more accurate than anyone else, plus the more distant in the past an event occurred, the more our individual versions are likely to diverge, which brings me to the phenomenon of memory consensus.

Within families, communities, countries, cultures — even on a species level — we ultimately tend to reach some sort of consensus about the past, though historians, ideologues, contrarians and poets continue to debate and revise that consensus as new evidence emerges.

And as much as I enjoy telling my descendants stories from the past, I’m acutely aware from my journalism career that for a more well-rounded narrative, other sources ought to be interviewed. My version is only that — mine.

A joint family memoir would no doubt do a better job. As the saying goes, ‘there’s your version, my version and the truth and no one is lying.’

As for the story of the girl and the newspaper at the top of this essay, I had no memory of it until my sister told me about it last week.

That said, it has the ring of truth.

(This is from 2023.)

HEADLINES:

• Social Security Says DOGE Ruling Could Force Agency to Shut Down (Bloomberg)

• As Massive Social Security Changes Begin, Here's What You Need To Know (Forbes)

• Inside Trump and Musks’s Takeover of NASA (New Yorker)

• Trump says Education Department will no longer oversee student loans, 'special needs' (NPR)

• US small business agency to oversee student loans (BBC)

• Elon Musk visits Pentagon after bombshell reports on access to China war plans (Axios)

• Elon Musk threatens Pentagon leakers after NYT report on secret China war briefing (Politico)

• Trump rescinds order targeting law firm after it makes $40m promise (BBC)

• Trump asks the Supreme Court to stop judges from blocking his policies (MSNBC)

• Threats to federal judges increasing, US Marshals Service warns (ABC)

• Recession watch 2025 (Financial Times)

• Democrats open whistleblower portal aimed at DOGE (Axios)

• Weekslong lockups of European tourists at US borders spark fears of traveling to America (AP)

• Low-Cost Drone Add-Ons From China Let Anyone With a Credit Card Turn Toys Into Weapons of War (Wired)

• Democrats are angry, disillusioned over party’s failure to stand up to Trump and Musk (WP)

• People are angry, and they’re showing up at town halls to let their Congresspeople know. DOGE workers are getting doxxed. (BusinessInsider)

• Were the Kennedy Files a Bust? Not So Fast, Historians Say. (NYT)

• Five Takeaways From the New JFK Assassination Files (WSJ)

• Boat tours and ash scatterings help beleaguered California salmon fleet stay afloat (AP)

• Snow White’ remake drags Walt Disney back into the culture wars (Financial Times)

• What the Press Got Wrong About Hitler (Atlantic)

• AI is more likely to give a correct response when given the opportunity to give a wrong one first (Medium)

• Experts Recommend Using Hunger As Egg Substitute (The Onion)

MUSIC VIDEOs: 

Taylor Swift - "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" (Carole King) | 2021 Induction Olivia Rodrigo - "You’re So Vain" (Carly Simon) | 2022 Induction 

Revolt of the Elders

Consider that people my age have been around for almost a third as long as the United States of America. Our lifetimes have spanned its entire post-WW2 period of global hegemony, and our fortunes have generally risen along with the nation’s.

But all of that has come with certain costs, including deep political divisions, obscene wealth disparities and severe environmental damage .

And now we fear that one of those costs will be our democracy itself.

We know that what Donald Trump is doing goes far beyond the normal yin and yang of politics, or the cyclical pendulum swings from right to left. He appears to be systematically dismantling the federal government in a naked grab for complete power.

Our nation was founded in a rebellion against autocratic power and formed to resist it should that threat ever appear at these shores.

Well, that time has come.

As elders, we must now speak out. We can’t check out just because we’re old and tired or that we’re too busy. (We’re not that busy.) We must do our part to help save what matters most while we still can.

Trump can still be stopped, so let’s stop him. Why revolt? Because he is revolting.

HEADLINES:

• Trump’s Fury at Canada Boils Over on Fox—and Polls Now Show a Backlash. Trump is now looking at Canada the way Putin looks at Ukraine—through “the eyes of a predator.” (TNR)

• ‘This Is Worse’: Trump’s Judicial Defiance Veers Beyond the Autocrat Playbook (NYT)

• Emails Reveal Top IRS Lawyer Warned Trump Firings Were a “Fraud” on the Courts (ProPublica)

• More than a dozen judges have said Trump and Co. probably broke the law (WP)

• Judges Fear for Their Safety Amid a Wave of Threats (NYT)

• Musk, DOGE violated Constitution, judge says. (NPR)

• Trump’s Call to Impeach Judges Is a Dangerous Threat to Constitutional Order (Slate)

• If Trump Defies the Courts, Here’s What a Judge Can Do (Politico Mag)

• Trump team makes plans for military to hold migrants at border (WP)

• Judge warns of consequences if Trump administration violated deportation order (Reuters)

• Opening the door to green card deportations endangers us all (WP)

• Trump targets Education Department (NBC)

• Elon Musk, once a tacit backer of DEI, now focuses on anti-White bias (WP)

• Possible NOAA layoffs alarm broader weather forecasting community (Axios)

• 'Great uncertainty': UC system orders hiring freeze amid steep Trump cuts (SFGate)

• Congressional Republicans threaten revolt over Trump-led defence shake-up (Guardian)

• How the Justice Department is remaking itself in Trump’s image (WP)

• Is This Game Over for the Houthis? (Foreign Policy)

• Hamas fires rockets at Israel for first time since truce collapses as toll mounts in Gaza (CNN)

• Taliban frees an American man who was abducted while traveling in Afghanistan more than 2 years ago (AP)

• Greenpeace was ordered to pay an oil company $667 million. Environmental groups say the suit was intended to chill protests against new oil and gas drilling. The financial blow could destroy Greenpeace USA. (WP)

• The US dropped to its lowest-ever ranking in the global list of happiest countries to live (Business Insider)

• Researchers find a hint at how to delay Alzheimer’s symptoms (AP)

• Apple Shuffles AI Executive Ranks in Bid to Turn Around Siri (Bloomberg)

• Dad demands OpenAI delete ChatGPT’s false claim that he murdered his kids (ArsTechnica)

• Siri has become an unmitigated disaster, and AI won’t save it (9to5Mac)

• Think Tank Called ‘The Himmler Institute’ Assures Nation This All Legal (The Onion)

 

Musk's War on the Elderly

Some of the changes Elon Musk’s young DOGE staffers are making to Social Security exhibit at best an ignorance about the circumstances of elderly people and at worst cruelty.

Quoting Axios:

Effective March 31, Americans won't be able to call and sign up for Social Security benefits, or make major changes to their accounts that require ID verification. They either must use the internet or visit a field office, not an easy option for many of the people who most rely on Social Security.

While it may sound reasonable to require those receiving payments to report in person to verify their identity rather than online or over the phone, it’s not that simple.

Many elderly recipients of Social Security have limited or no mobility. For these people, an exemption from the in-person requirement is necessary, because they cannot get to an office to present their ID.

The DOGE staffers also plan to close many Social Security office around the country, which will exacerbate the problem. It’s physically challenging for many elderly and disabled people to wait in the lines that already exist. Closing local offices will only worsen the situation.

Musk has pushed debunked theories about Social Security and described the federal benefit programs as a “ Ponzi scheme” rife with fraud. But the $100 million in fraud he alleges represents only about 0.00625% of the $1.6 trillion the government sends out each year in Social Security benefits.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he is concerned that “some of our oldest Kentuckians, who are living on a fixed income, who don’t have the resources to travel, have to travel hours to get basic questions answered.”

He adds, “My concern is that what Elon Musk is trying to do is break government, not fix it.”

I understand the drive to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, but in this case, they are threatening to throw the baby — ie. Grandma — out with the bathwater. 

Sadly, this is only one example of systematic ageism running through the Trump administration’s dismantling of federal government agencies. 

***

Regarding aging and health, my admittedly imperfect understanding of how the human body works is that it is essentially an interlocking series of systems that gradually break down as part of the aging process.

And sometimes not so gradually but all of a sudden. Recently the challenges to health I’ve been confronting have given me a new appreciation for the healthy interludes we still do have, because increasingly they can seem like the exception, not the rule.

So it goes, in my late 70s. I wish you the best of health!

HEADLINES:

• Social Security in-person identity checks opposed by advocates and retirees alike (AP)

  Proposed Trump policy could force thousands of citizens applying for Social Security benefits to verify their identities in person (Fortune)

• DOGE Social Security plan targets small fraud at possible high cost (Axios)

• Hill Republicans already hated the ‘idiotic’ call to impeach judges. Then Trump jumped in. (Politico)

• Retired Justice Stephen Breyer defends federal judges under attack from White House (CNN)

• Zelensky agrees to 30-day partial ceasefire after conversation with Trump (WP)

• Putin woos Trump with a partial ceasefire and big geopolitical deal (Economist)

• Trump-Putin call seen as victory in Russia (BBC)

• Trump’s Call With Putin Signals Long Road Ahead to Russia-Ukraine Deal (WSJ)

• Several US national security agencies have halted work on a coordinated effort to counter Russian sabotage, disinformation and cyberattacks, easing pressure on Moscow as the Trump administration pushes Russia to end its war in Ukraine. (Reuters)

• Administration: ‘Many’ Venezuelans sent to El Salvador prison had no U.S. criminal record (Miami Herald)

• Judge says dismantling of USAID was unconstitutional, orders Musk to restore access for employees (ABC)

• ‘Have you seen our congressman?’ Angry voters press GOP for answers. (WP)

• Columbia University student says his detention is indicative of anti-Palestinian racism in US (AP)

• Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil has shared a letter from the immigration detention center where federal agents are currently holding him for protesting in favor of Palestinian rights ― calling himself "a political prisoner" of the United States government. [HuffPost]

• 64,000 Pages of Kennedy Files Could Take Weeks to Study (NYT)

• The world’s most valuable tech company has a problem it can’t easily solve (CNN)

• Donald Trump Says 'Nasty' Canada 'Meant To Be 51st State' (Newsweek)

• The DEI Catch-22 (Atlantic)

• Judge Blocks Policy That Would Expel Transgender Troops (NYT)

• Amazon is blundering into an AI copyright nightmare (Verge)

• Nvidia Is Hosting the Super Bowl of A.I. (NYT)

• New Federal Law Mandates Women Talk With Baby Voice (The Onion)

 

Signs of Hope

When Trump tried to steal the 2020 election, it was a group of Republicans who stood in his way. Ultimately, they included Vice-President Mike Pence during Trump’s insurrection attempt on January 6th.

Now that he has bought his way back into office, courtesy of Elon Musk’s millions, Trump has been waging an all-out war on our democratic norms and traditions in a naked grab for complete power and an authoritarian state. Once again, it appears that the nation will be dependent on conservatives to stand up and oppose him.

The first indication this may happen was Tuesday’s mild rebuke by Chief Justice John Roberts of Trump’s call for the impeachment of a federal judge who issued a ruling he didn’t like. 

"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose," Roberts said in his statement.

It may seem like a minor step but it is the first actual sign of opposition from the right wing to Trump’s megalomaniacal overreach. And it does not by any stretch make Roberts a hero — recall that it was he who authored the ruling last year that found Trump had broad criminal immunity for his actions contesting the 2020 election results.

Still, Roberts’ statement yesterday was a small sign of hope for those of us who badly need one. 

HEADLINES:

• Chief justice rebukes calls by Trump and allies to impeach judges (WP)

• Roberts rejects Trump’s call for impeaching judge who ruled against his deportation plans (AP)

• Trump tests executive power. (NPR)

• Trump and Putin agree to an immediate ceasefire for energy and infrastructure in Ukraine war (AP)

• Trump, Putin agree to partial ceasefire in Ukraine, but plan needs Kyiv’s approval (WP)

• Putin Won’t End the War. He Can’t Afford To. (NYT)

• Putin Wants All Arms to Ukraine Halted for Trump Truce (Bloomberg)

• 'Oopsie, too late' - US courts tested by Trump's latest deportations (BBC)

• Trump calls for impeachment of judge who tried to halt deportations (Politico)

• 'Many' alleged gang members deported by Trump did not have criminal records in the US: ICE (ABC)

• Justice Department lawyers declined to answer several of the judge’s questions and otherwise defended the administration's conduct after immigration authorities appear to have violated his court order over recent deportation flights (based on the timeline of events surrounding the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act). Meanwhile, Trump's border czar has declared he doesn't "care what the judges think." [HuffPost]

• Stalin, Mao and Khomeini couldn’t quell freedom’s voice. But Trump did. (WP)

• Is Trump driving the US into a recession? (Guardian)

• Trump Says a Recession Might Be Worth the Cost. Economists Disagree. (NYT)

• Judge orders DOGE to stop efforts to dismantle USAID (WP)

• Why did Netanyahu end the Gaza ceasefire? (AP)

• Germany's Bundestag votes in favor of reforming 'debt brake' (DW)

• The Trump-Tariff Advice: Eat Less (Atlantic)

• Middle East tensions, tariff jitters fuel gold's record rally (Reuters)

• Leaked memo: DOGE plots to cut Social Security phone support (Axios)

• This is why Canada has plenty of eggs — and the U.S. doesn't (NPR)

• NOAA's Storm Prediction Center facility among planned DOGE cuts (ABC)

• Apple Could Stay in Penalty Box on AI Delays (WSJ)

• DeepSeek is a reminder to approach the AI unknown with caution (AINews)

• Pale Trump Boys Ask When They Can Stop Giving Uncle Elon Blood (The Onion)

ARCHIVAL VIDEO:

Roy Orbison - London 1966 - Full Performance 

Bitter Salad News

 

• Thanks to Mary Sturges and Leslie McNeill for help with today’s links.

  TOP STORY: 

  Hundreds of Thousands Will Die (New Yorker) — Interview with Dr. Atul Gawande.

LESLIE’s LINKS:

• We’re Relearning What Pandemics Do to a Society (NYT)(https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/opinion/pandemic-cycle-chaos.html)

• DOGE’s Cuts at the USDA Could Cause US Grocery Prices to Rise and Invasive Species to Spread (Wired) (https://www.wired.com/story/usda-food-supply-chains/)

• The Upside-Down Line That Tells the Story of the Stock Market Now (NYT)

  (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/business/sp-500-stock-market-trump.html)

• ‘Dictator S**t’: Trump's Middle-Of-The-Night Meltdown Nulling Biden Pardons Is Slammed (HuffPost) (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-biden-pardons_n_67d7ba6be4b041fe9a9c90c5)

• Schumer Postpones Book Tour Amid Backlash to Voting With Republicans (NYT)

  (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/politics/chuck-schumer-book-tour-postponed.html)

• DOGE Cuts Reach Key Nuclear Scientists, Bomb Engineers and Safety Experts (NYT) (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/politics/federal-job-cuts-nuclear-bomb-engineers-scientists.html)

• Scientists Say NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub mRNA References on Grants (KFF) (https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/nih-grants-mrna-vaccines-trump-administration-hhs-rfk/)

• Social Security Employees Warn of Damage From DOGE (NYT)(https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/business/social-security-doge-ssa.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4k4.eClI.r8nJVMof_cw_&smid=url-share)

DAVID’s HEADLINES:

• Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 400 Palestinians and shatter ceasefire with Hamas (AP)

• Trump officials test limits of courts’ power to constrain their actions (WP)

• US judge questions Trump's deportation of Venezuelans (Reuters)

• White House official says 137 immigrants deported under Alien Enemies Act (WP)

• Trump administration says South African ambassador has to leave the US by Friday (AP)

• How a Columbia Student Activist Landed in Federal Detention (NYT)

• White House threatens ‘dire consequences’ for Iran if Houthis strike (Al Jazeera)

• Trump says Ukraine-Russia peace talks looking at ‘dividing up certain assets’ (CNN)

• DOGE Is Making It Harder to Track Extreme Weather. What Could Go Wrong? (NYT)

• Tesla Stock Is Plunging Again. It Could Drop for a Ninth Straight Week. (Barron’s)

• Americans increasingly worried about tariffs despite Trump’s assurances, new poll shows (Guardian)

• How Republicans Learned to Love High Prices (Atlantic)

• The end of the EPA’s fight to protect overpolluted communities (Grist)

• Elon Musk's Boldest Move Yet: A Tesla Robot Is Heading to Mars--And It's Just the Beginning (GuruFocus)

• Unearthed notebooks shed light on Victorian genius who inspired Einstein (Guardian)

• Delays cast a cloud over Apple Intelligence (Axios)

• ChatGPT can help write an essay. Scientists want it to start folding laundry (NPR)

• A neuroscientist makes the case that AI can think (WP)

• JD Vance’s French Horn Solo Booed At Kennedy Center (The Onion)

Time Warp Recovery

Emerging from a rough patch health-wise, I can’t help but wonder if worrying about the state of the world helped to make me sick. In any event, the Covid-19 virus finally got to me, five years after the start of the pandemic that killed around 3 million people globally.

Of course, the virus has mutated so many times that it should probably be called Covid-119 by now and it no longer strikes fear the way it did back in 2020, but if my experience is indicative, it still packs a pretty nasty punch.

In my case, it also apparently triggered some of my most troublesome Parkinson’s symptoms, including tremors that made it almost impossible to write. Thus the silent weekend from my newsletter, for which I apologize, and is unprecedented.

I’m still recovering, so I’ll keep this brief. In my view, the Trump regime is overreaching in so many areas that it’s bound to collapse eventually, but for now, we are stuck with what is the most corrupt in our nation’s history.

Sen. Chris Murphy has outlined the web of corruption in a recent presentation before Congress (Thanks Leslie.). Watching it makes the Watergate scandal look like schoolboy stuff by comparison.

We definitely are living under the reign of authoritarian oligarchs to a degree never seen before. The problem is by thinking about it too hard, you might risk making yourself sick.

Like I did.

(I’ll resume aggregating headlines when I’m able.)