Forward and Back

My best memories of long July 4th weekends are from when I was a teenager and our family spent them camping, and I was running with other teenagers.

Otherwise, I’ve usually been ambivalent about celebrating this national holiday. The country’s founding, of course — I celebrate that — and as this is my 78th Independence Day, I’m now 31.7 percent as old as America (249), making me a virtual grandson of the Revolution.

Can you grapple with that? If life were a relay race, a baby born in 1776 reaching the age of 80 could have “handed off” a baton (the Declaration of Independence) to a baby in 1856, who then at the age of 80 in 1936 handed off the baton to my big sister, who was born in that very year.

That was just two lifetimes removed from the founding of the nation.

She lateraled the baton to me ten years later, making her 35.3 percent as old as America, so round us off together and the generational math of this relay race metaphor makes almost perfect sense.

But life isn’t a race, even though it can sometimes feel that way, and even if it were, who can say to where we are headed?

That indeed is the current dilemma. Where is this society headed? Exactly what type of my country, ‘tis of thee do we sing?

These days it can feel like we’re headed backwards, maybe not all the way to genocidal wars on the native population and slavery, but to violence against immigrants and abandonment of the poor.

This July 4th, the Americans I celebrate, past, present and future, are those who believe in freedom and justice for all of the people all of the time, regardless of race, sex, age, gender, religion, citizenship status or any other factor used by the most dangerous president in history to divide rather than unite us.

So I say Happy Birthday to a more loving America — if we can still aspire to such a thing in these damaged times.

HEADLINES:

• The ‘Dirty and Nasty People’ Who Became Americans (Atlantic)

• People Power Revisiting the origins of American democracy. (New Yorker)

• At Least 24 Are Killed in Texas Flood, and 25 Are Missing (NYT)

• US fiscal folly could create big, beautiful debt spiral (Reuters)

• GOP tax bill bets big on Trump’s immigration agenda despite poll warnings (WP)

• Peter Thiel’s Palantir poses a grave threat to Americans (Guardian)

• Welcome to the Mafia Presidency (Atlantic)

• Hamas says it responds to Gaza ceasefire proposal in 'a positive spirit' (Reuters)

• Trump and Zelensky speak amid U.S. weapons pause and Russian strikes (WP)

• GOP megabill littered with special tax breaks (Politico)

• ‘This is draconian’: Trump’s big bill expected to bring more hunger, sickness, homelessness to Berkeley (Berkeleyside)

• To appease Trump and retain grants, UC bars student governments from boycotting Israel (SFC)

• Public Radio Stations Face Uncertain Future (LNN)

• What Could a Healthy AI Companion Look Like? (Wired)

• Laid-off workers should use AI to manage their emotions, says Xbox exec (Verge)

• OpenAI Hits the Panic Button (Gizmodo)

• Area Man Has Complete Prison-Survival Strategy Mapped Out (The Onion)

Trump's War on Media

The news is all bad when it comes to the media industry these days. Journalists cringe at the humiliation of “60 Minutes,” but that is only one of many attacks by the Trump administration meant to silence critics and suppress dissent.

A critical press is necessary for a healthy democracy and our democracy is currently in poor health — perhaps failing health in that it may not survive. In his first term, Trump labeled journalists the “enemy of the people.” In his second term, he is trying to eliminate those “enemies” one by one.

Read the details below, starting with the “60 Minutes” debacle, as summarized by Axios:

“Press freedom advocates are sounding the alarm following Paramount's $16 million settlement with President Trump, arguing the deal sets a dangerous new precedent, particularly for smaller outlets with fewer legal resources.”

The piece makes these points:

• A steady decline in media trust, coupled with enormous financial challenges, has made the press more vulnerable to political pressure campaigns than ever before.

• The deal has drawn outrage from critics who believe Paramount could have won what they believe is a frivolous lawsuit.

• The Knight Institute said Paramount's legal exposure was "negligible," and argued it should've fought the case in court.

• PEN America, another press freedom group, said Paramount "caved to presidential pressure" and "chose appeasement to bolster its finances."

The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote:

• "President Trump has taunted the media for years, and some of his jibes are deserved given the groupthink in most newsrooms. What's happening now, though, is different: The President is using government to intimidate news outlets that publish stories he doesn't like. It's a low move in a free country with a free press."

Axios reports some of those intimidating moves:

• Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have endorsed the idea of prosecuting CNN for its critical coverage of U.S. strikes in Iran and its immigration reporting.

• Trump also suggested he could demand journalists reveal their sources in light of the Iran intel leak. In April, the Justice Department repealed protections for journalist-source confidentiality.

• The White House has already banned the AP over its editorial standards. It's also pushing Congress to gut fundingfor public media. The FCC has launched investigations into the DEI policies of Comcast/NBCU and Disney/ABC.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, folks. Those who aspire to authoritarian rule always go after the press.

Trump is no different.

HEADLINES:

• Media's death by a thousand cuts (Axios)

• Paramount betrays ‘60 Minutes’ and the rest of us (WP)

• Google might be next to settle with Trump. (Atlantic)

• How a Nuclear War Might Unfold (WP)

• Strikes kill 94 Palestinians in Gaza, including 45 people waiting for aid, authorities say (AP)

• Gaza aid contractor tells BBC he saw colleagues fire on hungry Palestinians (BBC)

• ICE increasingly targets undocumented migrants with no criminal record (WP)

• First immigration detainees arrive at Florida center in the Everglades (AP)

• E.P.A. Suspends 144 Employees After They Signed a Letter Criticizing Trump (NYT)

• After Trump Warns Elon Musk To 'Close Up Shop,' China Rallies Behind World's Richest Man: 'There's No Need To Keep Putting Up With It' (Yahoo)

• Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Cases Involving Transgender Athletes (NYT)

• US Supreme Court ponders the balance of power – and sides with President Trump (The Conversation)

• Trump’s tax-and-spending bill passes Congress in major win for president (Guardian)

• How Medicaid Cuts Will Cost Some 12 Million People Health Coverage (Bloomberg)

• What Really Happened to Malaysia’s Missing Airplane (Atlantic) (from 2019)

• Behind the Curtain: Zuck's AI moonshot (Axios)

• Study Finds Curative Power Of Prayer Limited To Genital Warts (The Onion)

MUSIC VIDEO:

Listen To Her Heart - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 

Mattering

I’m not sure that I ever fully appreciated it at the time — in fact, I’m quite sure I didn’t — but during the years that one of my obligations was to drop my kids off at school or camp it actually was a privilege.

Like all adults trying to balance responsibilities, I probably complained about it on occasion, and it certainly could be stressful when we were running late.

But it was a privilege because it was one of my opportunities to play an essential role in our social ecosystem. 

Believing that your role matters is not always the easiest thing to achieve in American culture. Years later, when the kids were grown, I missed it. And I started feeling rather inessential. 

Retiring from work made everything worse, as my professional responsibilities, once deemed by many as weighty and significant, melted away just like those parental duties.

And it was that point that I started pondering how much I ever did matter in the larger scheme of things.

Early in 2020, just as the pandemic was arriving and I was recovering from a stroke, I moved into an assisted care facility. At the time it seemed like the only option left for me. 

In fact, the last place on earth I needed to be was with a bunch of other old people walled off from society, waiting to die. Nothing against the staff members in there, most of whom were terrific, or the residents, but every minute I spent in that place my hope was evaporating and my spirit was being crushed.

But in the end I was one of the lucky ones who escaped. My family rescued me and that’s why I can tell this little story today.

As I woke up one recent morning, it was obvious that the heat wave had finally broken. Fresh cool air swept in from the ocean. 

As I drank my first cup of coffee, my 11-year-old granddaughter appeared. Her parents were busy and she asked if I could give her a ride.

Without hesitation, I grabbed the car keys.

HEADLINES:

• Republican doubts delay Trump's tax-cut bill in the House (Reuters)

• They Didn’t Have to Do This (Atlantic)

• Poorest Americans Dealt Biggest Blow Under Senate Republican Tax Package (NYT)

• What the GOP’s tax bill means for your health care (WP)

• 4 killed, 14 hurt in Chicago mass shooting: 'Absolute chaos' (ABC)

• Judge Rejects Trump’s Attempt to Stop Asylum Claims at Border (NYT)

• How to Turn the U.S. Into an Immigration Police State in One Big Bill (Bulwark)

• What ICE can (and can’t) legally do during an immigration arrest (WP)

• Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down 1849 Abortion Ban (NYT)

• Beijing Braces for US Trade Deals That Aim to Shut Out China (Bloomberg)

• Dalai Lama lays out succession plan, denying Chinese efforts at control (WP)

• Trump said Israel has agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and warned Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen as he prepares to host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week. [AP]

• Trump Withholds Nearly $7 Billion for Schools, With Little Explanation —

  The money, which was allocated by Congress, helps pay for after-school programs, support for students learning English and other services. (NYT)

• Critical Links Between Scientists and Whistleblowers Face Growing Challenges (Science Mag)

• Astronomers spot potential 'interstellar visitor' shooting through the solar system toward Earth (LiveScience)

• Scientists Found a Third State of Life. It Begins After Death. (Popular Mechanics)

• RFK Jr. Is Playing With Babies’ Lives (Bloomberg)

• Judge Keeps Combs in Jail Until Sentencing (NYT)

• Why Meta Should Give Up on Superintelligence (The Information)

• No one likes meetings. They’re sending their AI note takers instead. (WP)

• Defeat of a 10-Year Ban on State A.I. Laws Is a Blow to Tech Industry (NYT)

• Researchers Train Mice To Choose Between Life-Saving Medications And Other Essentials (The Onion)

 

Personal Origins: Peace Corps

One of the most consequential moments in John F. Kennedy's candidacy for the Presidency was a spur-of-the-moment speech he gave in the early morning hours of October 14, 1960 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

He was worn out from campaigning and had intended to go to bed upon arriving, but then he was told that 10,000 students had been waiting patiently for him for hours, so he decided instead to go to the campus of the University of Michigan and deliver what became a life-changing speech for many in my generation.

He proposed creating a new national service for students, and the youthful crowd roared its approval. After he was elected, he made good on that proposal by forming the Peace Corps.

I was a naive young man of 22 when I went to Afghanistan as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1969, having never been out of the country before, let alone halfway around the world.

But by then, thousands of young people just like me were answering Kennedy's call to serve our country not by going to war but by spreading messages of peace.

We were idealistic and naive, yes, but those of us who were male were also trying to avoid the draft, which would have sent us to Vietnam to fight a war we vehemently opposed.

Like others in my generation, I was radicalized in college to the point I considered U.S. foreign policy the imperial arm of an expanding empire.

Living in Afghanistan proved to be a rude awakening about some of my assumptions. I saw up close how mean and brutal people could be to each other in a poor society, including tribal wars, murders, bribery and cruelty like in the "Lord of the Flies."

I also saw beauty, generosity and tenderness -- the whole range of human behavior was on display every day amid widespread illiteracy and ignorance.

The poorest people on the planet would welcome me into their homes to share the one good meal they would have that entire week. Strangers went out of their way to help me when I got lost.

When I taught high school in Taloqan, many of my students spouted political beliefs shaped by the five booming radio signals that reached our remote town -- Radio Moscow, Radio Peking, and to a much lesser degree, Radio Kabul, the BBC and the Voice of America, (which has in 2025 been dismantled by Trump).

The brightest kids seemed attracted by socialist and communist ideas similar to the Marxist-Leninist thinking I was familiar with on campuses back home. At first I went along with their ideas about how U.S. imperialism was oppressing people in poor countries, but eventually, like any committed teacher, I began to challenge their assumptions, if only to get them to think more critically.

It was easy to see how Soviet and Chinese propaganda was distorting these young minds, and also how their views of America were affected by the worst of Hollywood. The stories they repeated about U.S. barbarism were overblown and simplistic.

U.S. troops had slaughtered innocents at My Lai, it was true, which was awful, but all armies do horrible things. Certainly no country had a monopoly on human rights abuses. Meanwhile, there were also many, many Americans like Peace Corps Volunteers who were opposed to the military and dispensing aid, food, clothes, medicine and education instead of guns and napalm.

But to be truthful, I more or less agreed with my students’ political analysis and wanted no part of the dark sides of U.S. policy, What I did wish to share were the better parts of our culture -- our beliefs in freedom, gender equality, and universal literacy.

Fewer than ten percent of the Afghans population could read or write. The infant mortality rate was the highest in the world. Women had little access to education, jobs or independent lives.

I knew my students needed a counterweight to what they were hearing on Radio Moscow, but the irony was not lost on me that here I was, an anti-war American, seemingly defending my country’s military as part of my role as a mentor.

Anyway, for Afghans in 1970, the problem wasn’t the threat of impending American intervention. The problem was that the Russians had troops massed right next door. And within a few years of my leaving Afghanistan, the Russians indeed invaded, bombing and strafing the country into submission, or so they thought at the time.

But that ended badly for the Soviets a decade later as they limped back to Moscow in retreat. Once they lost the Afghan war, the entire Soviet empire crumbled as well.

(I first published this one four years ago.)

HEADLINES:

• The Most Overlooked Value of Political Protest (Atlantic)

• Senate GOP passes Trump's sweeping policy bill, setting up decisive vote in the House (NPR)

• At least 17 million Americans would lose insurance under Trump plan (WP)

• Trump and Musk’s feud blows up again with threats of Doge and deportation (Guardian)

• A Saber-Rattling Musk Promises a New Political Party if the G.O.P. Bill Passes (NYT)

• Buoyed by the Supreme Court, Trump to press forward on firings and social agenda (Reuters)

• HHS layoffs were likely unlawful and must be halted, US judge says (AP)

• Major reports about how climate change affects the US are removed from websites (AP)

• Common farm fungicide may be contributing to 'insect apocalypse' (Phys.org)

• Paramount to Pay Trump $16 Million to Settle ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit (NYT)

• 74 killed in Gaza as Israeli forces strike a cafe and fire on people seeking food (AP)

• Thousands flee wildfires as Europe is hit by an early heatwave (Reuters)

• USAID cuts may cause 14 million more deaths in next five years, study says (WP)

• Student Solves a Long-Standing Problem About the Limits of Addition (Wired)

• How Trump’s near miss coincided with Biden’s last stand (WP)

• Is Technology Really Ruining Teens’ Lives? (New Yorker)

• This Michigan city tops list as ‘Most Educated’ in America (MLive)

• ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ Starts Filming With Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci (Hollywood Reporter)

• Inside a plan to use AI to amplify doubts about the dangers of pollutants (Guardian)

• What Happens After A.I. Destroys College Writing? (New Yorker)

• Mark Zuckerberg Already Knows Your Life. Now He Wants His AI to Run It (Gizmodo)

• The High Stakes for Meta’s New Super AI Team (The Information)

• Accelerating scientific discovery with AI (MIT)

• In dramatic reversal, Senate kills AI-law moratorium (WP)

• Tesla Robotaxi Keeps Changing Subject To White Genocide (The Onion)

Coralling AI

It’s been a while since I’ve taken on the subject of artificial intelligence, partly because it’s such a difficult topic to gain sufficient perspective on to have something concrete and useful to say.

That’s where an interview with a top AI researcher comes in: “Max Tegmark: Can We Prevent AI Superintelligence From Controlling Us?” I’ll summarize some of MIT professor Tegmark’s main observations, but I urge anyone who is interested to watch the entire conversation, which lasts one hour.

Tegmark establishes that AI researchers have gotten much closer to creating artificial general intelligence (AGI) than almost anyone expected by this point. AGI is considered an existential risk because it is not only going to be as smart as us, it will also be capable of making itself much more intelligent (and therefore more powerful) without any further involvement from us — if we let it. Left on its own, it would rapidly evolve.

And it’s probably only a matter of a few years until this critical threshold moment for AGI is upon us.

Tegmark explains that humanity’s problem when confronted with this super-intelligence is the equivalent to that of a snail in relation to human beings. There was never any doubt which species — snails or humans — would control life on earth, as humans are more intelligent and therefore more powerful than snails. 

But when it comes to AGI, there are limits to our human brainpower that machines don’t share so we could well end up occupying the position of the snails in relation to AGI.

Do not despair just yet. Tegmark is pushing hope, not fear.

First, by comparing AGI to nuclear bombs, he points out that humanity has for 80 years avoided extinction through a combination of regulation, deterrence and our shared survival instinct.

A similar global approach, Tegmark believes, can save us from extinction by way of super-intelligent machines. They key first step is government regulation — setting basic safety standards that prevents the release of AGI in forms that are too general and therefore too risky for humans to control.

The key, he believes, is to confine AI products to narrower applications, such as tools. Curing cancer, self-driving cars, creating wealth are all good goals for AGI, whereas making war on our species is not.

As for the global competition with China, Tegmark believes something like the US-USSR standoff will be possible and necessary in the face of AGI, since it represents an alien species that in many ways will be more powerful than either country.

Come to think of it, maybe the scenario in the film “Independence Day” is a better reference point for all this. When it comes to the ultimate battle between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’, humans can put aside their differences long enough to overcome an alien invader. 

It looks like we’re gonna have to do the for real.

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

See also “Guardrails for AI.”

(Thanks to my friend and AI researcher John Jameson, for alerting me to Tegmark’s interview.)

HEADLINES:

• Poll: Most feel democracy is threatened and political violence is a major problem (NPR)

• Creating a Culture of Helplessness (Atlantic)

• Tesla shares tumble after Trump says DOGE should look at Elon Musk’s subsidies (CNBC)

• Trump says DOGE is a monster that may ‘go back and eat Elon’ (CNN)

• A town tried to heal racial divides. It energized Confederate supporters instead. (WP)

• National pride is declining in America. And it's splitting by party lines, new Gallup polling shows (AP)

• Florida's grim warning for America's real estate (Business Insider)

• Trump administration sues Los Angeles, claiming the city refuses to cooperate on immigration (AP)

• Young Republicans are fueling the GOP’s generational divide on Israel (WP)

• The mounting anxiety over tech jobs is turning ugly (Business Insider)

• Supreme Court takes up a Republican appeal to end limits on party spending in federal elections (AP)

• The massive price tag to cope with sea level rise in Stinson Beach (SFC)

• Why can’t Americans sleep? (Atlantic)

• New data confirms it: AI is taking human jobs (Business Insider)

• Zuckerberg Debuts Meta ‘Superintelligence’ Group, More Hires (Bloomberg)

• National Friends Alliance Vigorously Defends Right To Have Great Time Palling Around With Buddies (The Onion)

MUSIC VIDEO:

The Rolling Stones & Bob Dylan Like a Rolling Stone live Rio de Janeiro 

Monday Mix

HEADLINES:

• Republicans Fight It Out on Trump’s Tax Megabill (WSJ)

• Trump Tax Bill Hits Senate as GOP Torn by Competing Demands (Bloomberg)

• Senate Debates Bill That Would Add at Least $3.3 Trillion to Debt (NYT)

• Sen. Thom Tillis won't run for reelection in 2026 (Axios)

• Immigration raids leave crops unharvested, putting California farms at risk. (Reuters)

• ‘Completely Disrupted’: Fear Upends Life for Latinos in L.A. (NYT)

• After decades in the US, Iranians arrested in Trump’s deportation drive (AP)

• Star witness against Kilmar Abrego García was due to be deported. Now he’s being freed. (WP)

• Sudden loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back ‘decades’ (Guardian)

• World Bank warns that 39 fragile states are falling further behind as conflicts grow, get deadlier (AP)

• ‘Nothing is written down’: Culture of secrecy overtakes Trump’s government (WP)

• Parkinson's Disease Might Not Start in The Brain, Study Finds (ScienceAlert)

• The Birth-Rate Crisis Isn’t as Bad as You’ve Heard—It’s Worse (Atlantic)

• 2 dead in Idaho after firefighters ambushed by gunfire while responding to blaze (ABC)

• It’s Known as ‘The List’—and It’s a Secret File of AI Geniuses (WSJ)

• Hollywood’s pivot to AI video has a prompting problem (Verge)

• Max Tegmark: Can We Prevent AI Superintelligence From Controlling Us? (MIT)

• My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them (Wired)

• A.I. Videos Have Never Been Better. Can You Tell What’s Real? (NYT)

• Congress Passes Blank Bill For Trump To Write Whatever Law He Wants (The Onion)

CONCERT VIDEO:

Molly Tuttle & her new band - 6/24/25 - Mercury Lounge NYC - Complete show (4K)

Setting Aside Bias

What is expected of journalists is very much like what we ask of jurors.

When the members of a jury are selected, they are asked whether they can be fair in coming to a judgement — whether they can put aside any biases or pre-existing opinions about the people and issues involved in that trial in order to come to a dispassionate, balanced decision based not on beliefs or prejudices but on the facts as established in sworn testimony.

They are also reminded of this pledge by the judge when they receive instructions just before they begin their deliberations.

The analogy is not perfect but what we demand of jurors is similar to what we insist of journalists when we send them out to gather the facts for stories.

Editors and news directors recognize that reporters are just like anyone else in that they have their own beliefs, opinions, biases, blind spots and flaws. That’s only human.

But what a good journalist, like a good juror, has to set that all aside in favor of an all-consuming commitment to get it right.

That this is hard to do is obvious, especially when the truths we discover contradict our core beliefs, prejudices or assumptions. But, as I’ve said many times to student journalists, you can’t discover the truth as you wish it to be, you have to report the truth as you discover it to be.

The integrity of our legal system depends on jurors who can follow strict jury instructions in a search for the truth. The integrity of our media institutions depend on journalists who can maintain a similar discipline in their search for truth.

And our democracy depends on both them.

HEADLINES:

• Ukraine F-16 pilot killed in large-scale Russian attack, Zelenskiy calls for US help (Reuters)

• UN nuclear watchdog chief says Iran could again begin enriching uranium in ‘matter of months’ (CNN)

• Senate Republicans advance Trump’s tax and spending cuts bill after dramatic late-night vote (AP)

• Musk Fumes as Trump Tax Bill Cuts Electric Vehicle Credits (Bloomberg)

• The End of Publishing as We Know It — Inside Silicon Valley’s assault on the media (Atlantic)

• Trump says he will move aggressively to undo nationwide blocks on his agenda (WP)

• Around 100,000 march in Budapest Pride event in defiance of Hungary's ban (NPR)

• The Other Reason MAGA Is Melting Down Over Iran (Mother Jones)

• The United States Is About to Embark on a Terrifying Experiment in Mass Statelessness (Slate)

• America’s New Anti-Vaccine Foreign Policy (Atlantic)

• Unusual pushback, ‘dangerous precedent’: What the first meeting of Kennedy’s CDC advisers reveals about the future of vaccines in America (CNN)

• This Is Why High-End Electric Cars Are Failing (Wired)

• Lights! Camera! But not enough action in a fading and worried Hollywood. (WP)

• World's oldest boomerang doesn't actually come back (BBC)

• Tourists are trickling into Afghanistan and the Taliban government is eager to welcome them (AP)

• Gen Z, It Turns Out, Is Great at Saving for Retirement — They are contributing to their 401(k)s much earlier than millennials did, reports show, and young women in particular are being aggressive about saving. (NYT)

• Facebook is starting to feed its AI with private, unpublished photos (Verge)

• Entitled Child Expects To Eat Lunch Every Day (The Onion)