The Scoop

 

In his memoir, “Like a Rolling Stone,” Jann Wenner has a chapter called “The Scoop of the Seventies” devoted to the articles Howard Kohn and I co-authored in 1975 about Patty Hearst and the SLA.

Part One of that series was called “The Inside Story.”

For most of the many months that story was in process, it was a secret known only to a very small group of us. We were uncertain when we would publish it, partly because Patty Hearst and her kidnappers-turned-colleagues were still underground, and we didn’t want to inadvertently be responsible for something awful happening to them.

(Remember that all the rest of the group died in a fiery shootout with the LAPD.)

As fate would have it, the FBI located and arrested Hearst and the others on a Thursday in September and publication of our article was set for the following Monday. All hell would be breaking loose upon publication because Jann had arranged for NBC’s Today show to cover the release exclusively, with the rest of the media invited to the office for what would prove to be a raucous press conference Monday morning.

Security around the release was tight; Jann hired Pinkerton’s to guard all the issues of the magazine except a handful.

The entire staff of the magazine was secluded at a resort near Big Sur for the long weekend while Howard and I stayed in San Francisco to tape our interview with NBC before we headed south to join the rest.

Finally, late Saturday afternoon, in Jann’s words, “Howard and David made it down…brandishing a copy of the new issue that no one had seen yet.”

A photo of that copy of the magazine we brandished that night is at the top of this post, with the words handwritten by Jann up top “Do Not Leave This Lay Around — David.”

So that is the inside story. It turns 50 come September.

HEADLINES:

• Supreme Court allows Trump to revoke legal status for 500,000 migrants (BBC)

• Trump’s Attacks Threaten Much More Than Harvard (Atlantic)

• New, untested and dangerous (Economist)

• PBS sues Trump over executive order targeting federal funding, following NPR (WP)

• Trump says Musk ‘really not leaving’ as he marks end of formal tenure in government (WP)

• Musk Leaves Washington Behind but With Powerful Friends in Place (NYT)

• Elon Musk Didn’t Blow Up Washington, But He Left Plenty of Damage Behind (New Yorker)

• ‘My stomach just dropped’: foreign students in panicked limbo as Trump cancels visa interviews (Guardian)

• Trump Officials Intensify Attacks on Judges as Court Losses Mount (NYT)

• Trump’s use of emergency law to enact tariffs imperils trade war strategy (WP)

• Macron to China: Keep North Korea out of Ukraine war or risk NATO coming to Asia (Politico)

• A US plan for Gaza seen by Reuters proposes a 60-day ceasefireand the release of 28 Israeli hostages alive and dead in the first week, in exchange for the release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians. (Reuters)

• Hamas reviews Gaza ceasefire proposal as U.S. expresses optimism (WP)

• Nearly half of Israelis support army killing all Palestinians in Gaza, poll finds (Middle East Eye)

• Saudi foreign minister to make rare visit to West Bank, Palestinians say, as anger over Gaza grows (CNN)

• King Charles’s visit brings frustration for First Nations amid ‘backslide in reconciliation’ (Guardian)

• Study Finds High Levels of Roundup-Type Weedkiller in Tampons in the UK (Mother Jones)

• It’s Official: Dolphins and Orcas Have Passed the “Point of No Return” in Their Evolution to Live on Land Again (Daily Galaxy)

• Ready or not, AI is starting to replace people (Axios)

• Odyssey’s new AI model streams 3D interactive worlds (TechCrunch)

• For Some Recent Graduates, the A.I. Job Apocalypse May Already Be Here (NYT)

• OpenAI Can Stop Pretending (Atlantic)

• DHS: South Sudan Deportations A Lot More Humane When You Learn What Stephen Miller Wanted To Do (The Onion)

Edge of Life

Writing is more than living…it is being conscious of living.

-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh 

Yesterday, I finally got the tides right. The result was a harvest of green seaglass and pebbles.

Of course, I couldn't resist picking up other colors as well, but green is my current passion. When you're walking along the tideline at a beach, head down, examining the gifts from the sea, there's much to choose from. 

I was lost in the moment. thinking of the elegant simplicity of the writing style of the small band of American literary environmentalists whose work in the '50s introduced me to the principles of ecology. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Rachel Carson, John Storer.

Those writers also knew the unique pleasure of strolling along the beach just at the edge of the waves' reach, seeking treasures. You can't be too greedy about it; the sea will give you what it pleases, when it pleases.

But persistence has its rewards. I was so engrossed in my search that I barely took note of the others around me -- people and dogs. At one point, approaching a rock outcropping that one can breach only at low tide, I noticed one oddity -- a beach patrol jeep drove past me, up to that spot, then hung a U-turn and started back. I waved to the driver, who then stopped and lowered his window.

"We're looking for a lost Chihuahua mix, about 15 pounds, black, black collar, no tags," he explained. "Since I can't drive any further due to that rock, will you keep an eye out?"

"Sure," I answered.

I rounded the outcrop and continued southward along Ocean Beach. It was windy and the waves were impressive enough that surfers were paddling out to the highest breakers offshore. 

Soon, I was into good seaglass territory -- it often appears in clusters, similarly sized to the pebbles and shell fragments surrounding it. In these banks of natural (and man-made) detritus from the sea is written a history of the relentless combined power of currents, sand, sun, and waves, grinding all things into softened, polished fragments of their former selves.

Sort of like what life does to people. Finally, only our core remains.

p.s. I didn’t find the dog.

Endnote: This essay is from June 2007. “Gift from the Sea” is the title of one of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's books.

HEADLINES: 

• Is Trump Falling Out of Love With Putin? (Atlantic)

• Tariffs are back on for now, as appeals court grants a pause (WP)

• Trump Could Really Hurt Harvard (New Yorker)

• Judge blocks Trump administration effort to ban foreign students at Harvard (WP)

• There’s a Very Simple Pattern to Elon Musk’s Broken Promises (Wired)

• Musk Exits DOGE Leaving Threadbare Agencies and Strained Workers (Bloomberg)

• The Supreme Court Undercuts Another Check on Executive Power (New Yorker)

• Visa crackdown plunges 275,000 Chinese students into uncertainty (WP)

• Gazans rush for humanitarian aid as Israeli strikes continue (ABC)

• Business Insider axes 21% of staff — it will focus on "fully embracing AI."(LinkedIn)

• Supreme Court narrows scope of environmental reviews (WP)

• The US will impose visa bans on foreign nationals it deems to be censoring Americans, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, and he suggested the new policy could target officials regulating US tech companies. (Reuters)

• A new variant of COVID-19 may be driving up cases in some parts of the world, WHO says (AP)

• The Missouri Supreme Court has halted abortion access in the state for now, upending a constitutional amendment that voters put in place last year. [HuffPost]

• A gene could be key to growing rice, and feeding billions, in a hotter world (WP)

• AI video just took a startling leap in realism. Are we doomed? (ArsTechnica)

• DeepSeek R1-0528 arrives in powerful open source challenge to OpenAI o3 and Google Gemini 2.5 Pro (VentureBeat)

• The New York Times and Amazon ink AI licensing deal (TechCrunch)

• Meta to help develop new AI-powered military products (CBS)

• Tesla Employees Scramble To Make Office Look Like They’ve Been Sleeping There (The Onion)

 

AI and the Pulitzers

I’ve published plenty of pieces critical of AI and the dangers it poses. Those dangers are real and we need to develop a regulatory scheme to contain them as quickly as possible.

But there is a lot of good that can come from creatively using AI in all fields, including journalism, as a report from Nieman Labs documents.

Several of this year’s Pulitzer Prize winners used AI in their projects, not for writing but as a powerful research tool.

According to the report, here is a summary of some of those projects:

• A visualization of Elon Musk’s political reinvention. 

• A genealogical investigation that hinged on land grants from the mid-1800s. 

• A visual forensics analysis that disproved the Israeli military’s narrative about killing two journalists. 

• A years-long probe that produced a new database of people killed in the U.S. by police officers who used “less-lethal force.”

“At this early juncture, we see responsible AI use as a significant component in the increasingly versatile toolkit utilized by today’s working journalists,” said Marjorie Miller, the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes.

None of this is to minimize the risks, as I noted above, but it’s worth recognizing the positive potential this awe-inspiring technology offers as well.

Thanks to John Alderman for pointing me to the Nieman article.

To contact your Congressional representatives about regulating AI, click on these links for your contact information in the House or the Senate.

See also “Guardrails for AI.”

HEADLINES:

• Elon Musk leaves White House but says Doge will continue (BBC)

• Harvard Files for Preliminary Injunction In Lawsuit Against DHS (Harvard Crimson)

• The TACO trade is the new Trump trade. Here's what to know about the meme ruling the stock market. (Business Insider)

• Easily Exasperated (Atlantic)

• Israel PM says Hamas's Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar has been killed (BBC)

• GOP rejects ‘millionaire tax’ pitch, advancing breaks for the rich (WP)

• Elon Musk criticizes Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill,’ a fracture in a key relationship (AP)

• Trump responds to Musk saying he's 'disappointed' in big tax bill (USAToday)

• RFK Jr. says he may bar scientists from publishing in top medical journals (WP)

• The Gutting of the Department of Education Is Worse Than You Think (The Nation)

• US stops scheduling visa interviews for foreign students while it expands social media vetting (AP)

• As Trump targets elite schools, Harvard's president says they should 'stand firm' (NPR)

• Trade Crime Is Soaring, U.S. Firms Say, as Trump’s Tariffs Incentivize Fraud (NYT)

• A judge struck down an executive order by Trump, arguing that allowing it to stand "would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers." [AP]

• Trump again criticizes Putin as Ukraine war heats up (Reuters)

• Trump’s frustration with Putin boils over with no Ukraine peace deal in sight (WP)

• Why a Maximalist Approach to Iran Talks Won’t Work (Foreign Policy)

• Astronomers discover strange new celestial object in our Milky Way galaxy (AP)

• Scientists develop gene delivery ‘trucks’ that could treat brain diseases (WP)

• Tools made of whale bones reveal inventiveness of prehistoric people (Reuters)

• How this year’s Pulitzer awardees used AI in their reporting (NiemanLabs)

• Tom Robbins, Versatile Muckraker for The Village Voice, Dies at 76 (NYT)

• DeepSeek: Everything you need to know about the AI chatbot app (TechCrunch)

• Trump Shares Own Experiences As Victim Of White Genocide (The Onion)

The Home Coffee Retirement Plan

Lately, I’ve been having conversations with my kids and their friends about money. Most everyone they know in their age range (20s-30s) is worried about paying off college loans, finding better paying jobs, and managing housing costs here in the Bay Area.

I know that others are having similar conversations with their kids in many other parts of the country. Most of these young people believe they will never be able to buy their own home, at least not in the cities where they grew up.

There isn’t a lot of advice I can offer about that problem, but I do point out a few things about their daily habits that have financial implications over time.

For example, buying a specialty cup of coffee every morning on the way to work costs about $7, which adds up to $1820 a year. Making the same cup of coffee at home costs maybe 50 cents, once you have the equipment (a nice birthday gift from you parents), or about $130 a year.

That’s a net of $1690 a year, which if you invest it in a tax-free retirement account at 7% interest will build itself into $183,600 over 30 years. I always add that if their employer offers a match, take it — it’s free money. A 50% match, for example, would increase that IRA to $275,400.

Call this the “home coffee retirement plan.”

But I also recommend classifying the expense differently when we’re talking about going out for coffee with a friend or colleague. Now that $7 (assuming you go dutch) can be seen as an investment helping to build and strengthen your network, which is where your next job will most likely come from.

Investing in yourself is the opposite of indulging yourself, if you’ll forgive the judgement; either way, the coffee tastes just as good!

P.S. Of course you can knock holes in my story, it’s just a way to encourage long-term thinking in young people who are more likely to be focused, naturally, on the day-to-day.

HEADLINES:

• The New Dark Age (Atlantic)

• Trump to End Federal Contracts With Harvard University (Bloomberg)

• Within Pete Hegseth’s divided inner circle, a ‘cold war’ endures (WP)

• Trump Threatens NPR and PBS (New Yorker)

• Corporate America's retreat from DEI has eliminated thousands of jobs (NPR)

• VA employees are ‘fearful, paranoid, demoralized’ as officials share few specifics to axe 83,000 employees (Independent)

• Texas close to requiring Ten Commandments in public school classrooms (WP)

• There's a big reason why the bond market hates the tax cuts laid out in Trump's "big, beautiful bill," experts say. [HuffPost]

• As Trump reignites a trade war and faces a bond market revolt, the economy is about to go through the wringer this week (CNN)

• Trade Crime Is Soaring, U.S. Firms Say, as Trump’s Tariffs Incentivize Fraud (NYT)

• Putin is playing with fire, Trump says (Reuters)

• Trump Condemns Putin’s Killings in Ukraine, but Doesn’t Make Him Pay a Price (NYT)

• India and Pakistan's drone battles mark a new arms race. (Reuters)

• King Charles III says Canada facing unprecedented challenges as Trump threatens annexation (AP)

• Trump administration orders US embassies to stop student visa interviews (Guardian)

• Controversial US-backed group says it has begun aid distribution in Gaza (BBC)

• 17 EU countries sound alarm over Hungarian LGBTQ+ laws (Reuters)

• RFK Jr. says COVID shots no longer recommended for kids, pregnant women (NPR)

• Scientists identify a 'very odd' new sea monster, unlike any previously known (Earth.com)

• Planet’s darkening oceans pose threat to marine life, scientists say (Guardian)

• Meta Overhauls Generative AI Group (The Information)

• ‘Advertising Doesn’t Work On Me,’ Says Chosen One Who Will Lead Humanity Out Of Dark Age Of Commercialism (The Onion)

MUSIC: Handle With Care - Traveling Wilburys

NPR Strikes Back

From CNBC:

National Public Radio on Tuesday sued President Donald Trump over his executive order to cease all federal funding for the nonprofit broadcaster.

Trump’s May 1 order violates the First Amendment’s protections of speech and the press and steps on Congress’ authority, NPR and three other public radio stations wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.

The order “also threatens the existence of a public radio system that millions of Americans across the country rely on for vital news and information,” according to the legal complaint against Trump and a handful of top officials and federal agencies.

NPR and three of its member stations — Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and KSUT Public Radio — want Trump’s order permanently blocked and declared unconstitutional.

It “expressly aims to punish and control Plaintiffs’ news coverage and other speech the Administration deems ‘biased,’” attorneys for the news outlets wrote. “It cannot stand.”

NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service, or PBS, had previously vowed to challenge Trump’s order, which asserts that government funding of the news is “not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”

Founded in 1970, NPR says it employs hundreds of journalists whose work is broadcast by more than 1,000 local stations. While most of its initial funding was allocated by Congress and delivered through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, the arrangement was changed in the 1980s as the Reagan Administration sought to shrink public media funding.

Now, the CPB sends federal money to local member stations, who then buy NPR programming. Those member station fees comprise 30% of NPR’s funding, while just 1% of NPR’s revenue comes directly from the federal government, according to the organization. The largest share of its funding, 36%, comes from corporate sponsorship, NPR says.

The lawsuit argues that Congress has long recognized that the speech it supports with public funding “remains private—and thus fully protected from censorship, retaliation or other forms of governmental interference.”

“Yet the President—criticizing what he perceives as ‘bias’ in the award-winning journalism and cultural programming produced by NPR—has issued an Executive Order that thwarts Congress’s intent and the First Amendment rights of Plaintiffs to be free from the government’s attempts to control their private speech, and their rights to be free from retaliation aimed at punishing and chilling protected speech, journalistic activities, and expressive association,” the attorneys wrote.

“The Order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment,” they wrote.

HEADLINES:

• Russia responds to Trump’s criticism of Putin: There is ’emotional overload’ right now (The Hill)

• Donald Trump grows angrier as Vladimir Putin exposes his impotence (Independent)

• Trump Suggests Giving Trade Schools Money Taken From Harvard (NYT)

• E. coli outbreak sickened more than 80 people, but details didn’t surface (WP)

• MAGA: protecting the homeland from Canadian bookworms (Economist)

• King Charles visits Canada to deliver throne speech amid Trump's annexation threats (CBS)

• White House envoy says Hamas' response to ceasefire proposal "unacceptable" (Axios)

• China improves ability to launch sudden attack on Taiwan, officials say (FT)

• I Was Obama’s Budget Director. It’s Time to Worry About the National Debt. (NYT)

• Rahm Emanuel, Teasing a White House Bid, Says Democratic Brand Is Weak (WSJ)

• A Woman’s AncestryDNA Test Revealed a Medical Secret (Atlantic)

• New Research Reveals That Chimpanzees Are Capable of Complex Communication – And We’re Finally Listening (SciTechDaily)

• The Scholars Deciphering a Lost Writing System (Atlantic)

• All living things emit a subtle glow that ceases at the time of death (Earth.com)

• Google is Burying the Web Alive (New York)

• Google’s ‘world-model’ bet: building the AI operating layer before Microsoft captures the UI (VentureBeat)

• The people who think AI might become conscious (BBC)

• A Shattered Nation Longs To Care About Stupid Bullshit Again (The Onion)

MUSIC:

Kacey Musgraves - Neon Moon - 2018-10-15 - Copenhagen Vega, DK 

Roots of "War"

Fareed Zakaria’s one-hour special, “The War on Government,” provides much of the historical context needed to understand the Trump/DOGE assault on federal agencies and other aspects of their Project 2025 agenda.

Attempts to scale back the national government’s size and scope date back to the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s. Goldwater, Nixon and Reagan are part of the story, but it really was Newt Gingrich who in the 1990s best articulated the ideological framework for attacking federal institutions.

During the Obama years, the rise of the Tea Party continued to build this anti-government movement, leading more or less directly to the Freedom Caucus in today’s Congressional battles.

Every serious Republican presidential contender for the past 75 years, including all who have won, has at least given lip service to downsizing the federal bureaucracy, but Trump is the one who finally has taken concrete action.

Zakaria’s report captures the pent-up anger in the Republican base and how it has built over the decades of rhetoric but no action. Although he doesn’t include the Capitol Riot in this special, it’s easy to see that as a natural consequence of the anti-government movement.

One sobering conclusion you may draw from this documentary is that even if/when we are able to rid ourselves of Trump, the fury, resentment and extremism of MAGA will remain.

I don’t normally recommend political documentaries these days, but this one makes a big part of the Trump agenda so clear it’s worth tracking down and watching.

HEADLINES:

• Trump Rebukes Putin, Calling Escalation of Attacks ‘Absolutely Crazy’ (NYT)

• Trump lashes out at political opponents and judges in Memorial Day post (CNN)

• Russia says it downs 96 Ukrainian drones, some Moscow airports halt flights (Reuters)

• Israeli strike kills dozens sheltering in Gaza school, officials say (BBC)

• The end of writing and reading will be the end of freedom (WP)

• Top Republicans threaten to block Trump’s spending bill if national debt is not reduced (Guardian)

• Trump Extends Deadline for 50% Tariffs on EU Goods to July 9 (Bloomberg)

• King's invitation to Canada sends a message to Trump - and the world (BBC)

• The world witnessed George Floyd's murder. 5 years later, what has changed? (NPR)

• The spending bill is a big risk for House Republicans. Many of them hope otherwise. (WP)

• So what happens to America’s 114 billion pennies once the US stops making them? (CNN)

• Veterans recoil at Trump plan to end Afghans’ deportation protection (WP)

• Russia is raining hellfire on Ukraine (Economist)

• Trump softens on Putin as Russia’s military edge weakens, officials say (WP)

• Judges Weigh Taking Control of Their Own Security Amid Threats (WSJ)

• Whatever happened to Elon Musk? Tech boss drifts to margins of Trump world (Guardian)

• Federal Reserve’s Jay Powell urges US university students to protect democracy (FT)

• Am I hot or not? People are asking ChatGPT for the harsh truth. (WP)

• “Their radical anti-American ideology is centered on the empowerment of girls and women,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio (The Onion)

 

The Invasion (3)

Thought control — that is what Trump is trying to impose on the population, but with this he has his hands full.

Every administration issues press releases and official statements, but Trump’s are a bad joke. Check out what he claims about our scientific community.

Trump’s war on DEI is identical to his war on immigrants, trans people, and anyone who dares defy him inside the Republican Party.

He identifies his victims, disparages them, isolates them and attempts to destroy them.

As for everyone else, he employs a constant stream of disinformation and intimidation to suppress diverse opinions and attempt to mold public opinion in service of his goals, which all boil down in the end to loyalty to him, the great leader.

He will succeed only to the extent we allow him to. Resistance and and should take many forms. Mine is to expose him for what he is — a fraud.

While I take a brief break from posting news headlines, Leslie has graciously stepped in with her selection.

LESLIE’s LINKS: 

• A Revealing Joke in the Oval Office About Getting in Trump’s Good Graces

• Is Trump Trying to Destroy Harvard?

• Universities See Trump’s Harvard Move as a Threat to Them, Too

• Documents Show E.P.A. Wants to Erase Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants

• Why Making an iPhone in the U.S. Would Be So Difficult

• Retirees, Get Ready to Need Long-Term Care. Here’s What to Know.

• Only one-quarter of sunscreens on store shelves are safe and effective, new report says

• We're international students at Harvard. We're afraid to write this. But we have to speak up.

• GOP Congressman Says Trump's Tax Bill Doesn't Cut Any Medicaid, Food Benefits (LOL can't believe that one!)

• Prove citizenship to vote? For some married women, it might not be so easy.

• Donald Trump purges dozens of National Security Council officials

• Pentagon promotes Kingsley Wilson to press secretary despite history of antisemitic comment

• Pivoting From Tax Cuts to Tariffs, Trump Ignores Economic Warning Signs

• Alabama worker says ICE dragged him from job despite being US citizen: ‘Color of our skin has become a crime’

MUSIC: 

Neil Young Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Live at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY - October 1992)