The Night Nurse

One hot, humid night in southern India many years ago, a night nurse lifted the mosquito netting around my bed and stepped inside, letting the net fall back into place behind her. She whispered, “Are you awake?”

I said yes. Her dark brown face was inches from mine. At first, all I could see were the whites of her eyes and teeth. I felt her breath falling softly against my skin, which was feverish and wet. She felt like a fresh breeze in the heavy tropical night.

As my eyes adjusted to the faint light in the room, I gradually became aware that she was patiently and systematically capturing the mosquitos flying around inside my netting one by one. This was a laborious process; often she would miss the insect on her first try but would persist until she succeeded. Whenever she caught one, she would carefully lift the net and allow it to fly off free into the night.

I thought I might be dreaming or hallucinating — both of which occurred at that time in that place — but this was real. She kept at it until every last insect had been freed from threatening me, a pale six-foot-tall young man whose weight had plummeted down to 97 pounds as I was battling a combination of typhoid fever and salmonella.

During the weeks of our nightly meetings under the mosquito netting, I grew to depend on her visits. I also was slowly recovering my strength until I could be released from the hospital. As I got to know the day nurses who had brought me back from the near-dead, I discovered the reason why the night nurse was assigned to that shift.

She had suffered from a disfiguring case of smallpox as a child, resulting in a bad scarring of her face.

By my last night in the hospital, I was no longer sweating my fluids away, so when she came to check on me her breath felt warm. “You will be going,” she whispered. “Good-bye.”

“Good-bye, and thank you,” I whispered back. “I think you are the most beautiful nurse of all.”

HEADLINES:

• Trump officials say “substantial” federal worker layoffs have begun (Axios)

• Trump announces 100 percent tariff on China in response to rare earth controls (The Hill)

• Joe Rogan Tears into Trump’s Immigration Crackdown: ‘Horrific’ (Newsweek)

• L.A. County Considers Emergency Declaration Over Immigration Raids (Cal Today)

• Tensions mount between Trump administration, judges (WP)

• What the Founders Would Say Now (Atlantic)

• Trump Threatens to Cancel Meeting With China’s Xi and Impose New Tariffs (NYT)

• Trump Launches Wild Self-Soothing Posting Spree After Nobel Snub (Daily Beast)

• Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction (WP)

• Blast at a Tennessee explosives plant leaves multiple people dead and missing, sheriff says (AP)

• Israeli hostage release countdown begins as Palestinians return to Gaza’s north (CBS)

• The universe is too big for us to be alone, right? A NASA scientist weighs in (Boing Boing)

• Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica (CNN)

• The Simple Steps That Can Prevent Dementia (WSJ)

• I’m a neuroscientist. Here’s how to maintain good cognitive health at any age (Independent)

• It sure looks like Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has no idea what a placenta is. [HuffPost]

• This experiment could end all life. Or it won’t. Should we try it? (Vox)

• The A.I. Prompt That Could End the World (NYT)

• ICE Boasts Zero Murders Committed By 5-Year-Olds Since Child Detainments Began (Onion)

Extreme Measures

 These are extreme times and they require some choices I would prefer to avoid.

Take gerrymandering, the practice by which the party in power redraws Congressional districts to squeeze more seats out of the electorate. I hate it.

But yesterday I mailed in my ballot in California’s special election in favor of Proposition 50.

This is the measure proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to counter the move by the GOP in Texas to gerrymander up to five seats in next year’s midterm election.

I don’t mean to be overly dramatic, but that election — assuming it is not cancelled under some sort of pretext by Trump — may be our best chance to check Trump’s naked grab for complete power.

To do so we will need any extra seats Newsom can squeeze out of my state to counter Texas.

Extra times sometimes require hard choices. This is one.

HEADLINES:

• The Moral Foundation of America (Atlantic)

• The Nobel Peace Prize Didn’t Go to Trump (AP)

• Venezuela’s opposition leader Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize, White House critical (Reuters)

• Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivals (Guardian)

• Israel and Hamas sign Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal (Reuters)

• The Insurrection Problem (Atlantic)

• Pentagon’s revised press rules are unacceptable, journalists’ group says (WP)

• Hegseth’s firing of Navy official compounds ‘culture of fear’ inside Pentagon (Politico)

• Pete Hegseth Wants Women Out of the Military—and He’s Not Hiding It (ACLU)

• Pam Bondi More ‘Reprehensible’ Than Nixon’s Attorney General: Ex-White House Lawyer (HuffPost)

• Oregon bid to block Trump’s National Guard orders hits skeptical appeals court (Axios)

• Kristi Noem calls Oregon leaders liars, says feds will ‘double down’ in Portland (Oregonian)

• Brace for the Single Largest Spike in Health Insurance Premiums—Ever (Mother Jones)

• Scientists Completed a Toxicity Report on This Forever Chemical. The EPA Hasn’t Released It. (ProPublica)

• HHS hits back at former surgeons general who wrote op-ed saying RFK Jr. is endangering nation’s health (ABC)

• Pope Leo urged the world’s Catholics to help immigrants in his first major document, which invoked one of the late Pope Francis’ strongest criticisms of Trump’s anti-immigration policies. (Reuters)

• Stephen Miller Cited ‘Plenary Authority,’ Then Paused. Conspiracy Theories Started Flying. (NYT)

• The Great Whitewashing of American History Orchestrated by Generalisimo Donald Trump (Daily Kos)

• X-rated, AI-generated country songs are taking over the internet (Economist)

• Will AI destroy us? Consider the nature of intelligence. (WP)

• Bored National Guard Goes Door To Door Asking If Chicagoans Have Any Order They Need Restored (Onion)

MUSIC: Zach Bryan - Bad News (Cover Full Song) | “Didn’t wake up dead, or in jail”

Bad News, Country Style

Unless you’re into country music, you may not be familiar with Zach Bryan. He’s a 29-year-old singer-songwriter and Navy veteran from Oklahoma.

As a singer, Bryan has had a string of hits, won numerous awards, and has sold over 30 million albums and singles.

As a writer, he’s had a number of hits as well, including I Remember Everything, featuring Kacey Musgraves, who I’ve profiled previously (Follow Your Arrow).

Bryan released some lines from a new song, “Bad News,” this week, including this: “And ICE is gonna come bust down your door, try to build a house no one builds no more, but I got a telephone, kids are all scared and all alone.”

The line provoked an outraged reaction from members of the Trump administration, who considered it an attack on Trump’s violent immigration policy. But Bryan explained the song is about his love for the country and anyone who uses it “as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are.”

Bryan added: “Left wing or right wing we’re all one bird and American. To be clear I’m on neither of these radical sides,” he said. “To all those disappointed in me on either side of whatever you believe just know I’m trying my best too and we all say things that are misconstrued sometimes. Everyone have a great day and I love each and every one of ya!!!”

We could use more Zach Bryans, people who just tell the truth. 

Video: Zach Bryan - Bad News [Unreleased]

HEADLINES:

• The American Experiment (Atlantic)

• Israel and Hamas Reach Deal on Hostage and Prisoner Exchange (NYT)

• Central witness undermines case against James Comey, prosecutors concluded (ABC)

• Comey Pleads Not Guilty and Will Seek to Dismiss Charges as Vindictive (NYT)

• Some 58% of Americans - including seven in 10 Democrats and half of Republicans - think the president should send armed troops only to face external threats, a sign of unease as Trump increasingly deploys National Guard troops to police American cities. (Reuters)

• A quarter of FBI agents are assigned to immigration enforcement, internal data shows (WP)

• More FAA staffing shortages as government shutdown enters 8th day (CNN)

• Who Can Lead the Democrats? (NewYorker)

• Welcome to Zero Migration America (Economist)

• 1 in 5 people in US is Latino for first time in history (NewsNation)

• Noem threatens ‘four times’ more federal officers to Portland after meeting with mayor (ABC)

• Professor who teaches about antifascism moves to Europe after death threats (WP)

• Speaker Johnson said he’d swear in new House Democrat ‘as soon as she wants.’ Now Republicans are backtracking (CNN)

• Justin Pearson, ‘Tennessee Three’ Democrat, to Run for Congress (NYT)

• Zach Bryan responds to backlash over song ‘Bad News’ amid claims it is anti-ICE (NBC)

• Trump posts on Truth Social that Chicago Mayor Johnson, Gov. Pritzker “should be in jail” (CBS)

• Russia escalates warning as Trump considers sale of Tomahawks to Ukraine (WP)

• 29-year-old former Uber driver arrested in connection with starting deadly Palisades Fire (NBC)

• How Israel’s invasion has shattered lives, livelihoods and learning in Gaza (WP)

• Anthropic’s ‘anti-China’ stance triggers exit of star AI researcher (South China Morning Post)

• Will AI destroy us? Consider the nature of intelligence. (WP)

• MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ Awarded To Inventor Of Eatin’ Shirt (Onion)

A Country I Used to Know

One of the not-so-subtle differences of life under Trump is my Lyft drivers rarely wish to talk any longer. Many of them are immigrants, mostly from countries where there are troubles back home, with authoritarian regimes that oppress minorities.

All of them came here seeking a better life. Some of them have visas that could be revoked, or have family members of questionable legal status. Most have families, so their kids go to school with our kids.

It used to be, back before Trump, that I would have long, delightful conversations with these drivers, but now they avert their eyes and avoid saying anything that might get them into trouble. They just drive me from point A to point B in complete silence.

Welcome to Trump’s America, where nobody knows who they can trust, so it’s best to trust nobody.

There’s a woman from Mexico who has lived and worked here for 20 years. She is 48 and well-educated but does the jobs most native-born citizens wish to avoid so her kids can grow up here. She is out of work right now and unsure what to do next.

It’s dangerous for an undocumented person to look for their usual jobs in the usual places with ICE agents all around, wearing masks and carrying weapons in unmarked cars. She lives with the stress of knowing she is at risk of being deported at any moment.

If that happens, what will become of her children? In Trump’s America, just because you were born here no longer guarantees your birthright citizenship.

The Trump regime’s rhetoric claims that this country is under invasion by dangerous aliens. In my view, it is our fellow, law-abiding residents — valuable members of our community — whose homes, workplaces, and even places or worship are being invaded by a lawless gestapo.

Sent by a heartless, corrupt autocrat.

I truly despise what this monster doing to my country — a country I used to love.

HEADLINES:

• National Guard Troops Assemble in Chicago Area as Trump Officials Make Visits (NYT)

• The Civil-Military Crisis Is Here (Atlantic)

• What Happens When Socialists Are in Charge? Portland Offers a Glimpse. (NYT)

• Supreme Court seems skeptical about state bans on ‘conversion therapy’ for LBGTQ+ kids (AP)

• Furloughed workers not guaranteed back pay after shutdown, OMB claims (WP)

• Bondi dodges questions as she clashes with Democrats over claims she’s weaponized Justice Department (AP)

• Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr. (WP)

• Flight Delays Begin as Air Traffic Staffing Shortages Worsen (NYT)

• Iran’s Bad Options (Atlantic)

• French election calls heap pressure on Macron. (Reuters)

• U.S. Military Carries Out Strike On Scuffy The Tugboat (Onion)

 

Genius Loves Company

According to legend, Albert Einstein was a lone genius, coming up with ideas and concepts nobody else thought of.

But as with most myths, the truth is more complex. As detailed on The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, a 16-volume series of books co-edited by numerous scholars, Einstein worked with many collaborators and was deeply embedded in the world of science.

Einstein’s native language was German so his writings have had to be translated for the rest of us to read them. All of the volumes are now available in English and free in electronic formats.

In a CalTech article written by Prof. Diana Kormos-Buchwald, it is detailed that Einstein developed his special theory of relativity in 1905 with help from his college friend Michele Besso and his wife, Mileva Marić.

He later perfected his general theory of relativity in 1915 with help from both Besso and another college friend, mathematician Marcel Grossmann.

Perhaps most illustrative of all was his involvement in experiments with younger physicists to test the structure of radiation and matter, and ultimately the development of the ground-breaking field of quantum mechanics. When approached by one of his young colleagues about being listed as a co-author on an important paper on that topic, Einstein demurred.

“I just don’t know whether I should count as a co-author since after all you did all the work...”

Einstein was a tinkerer and inventor of gadgets, including a patented refrigerating system. And he was an original thinker, who indeed came up with brilliant ideas. But perhaps his true genius was as a synthesizer, a collaborator, and a mentor of younger people.

(This one is from 2021.)

HEADLINES:

• Illinois sues the Trump administration to block National Guard deployment, joining Oregon (NPR)

• Trump claims ‘Portland is burning’ while federal agents escalate ICE protest response (Oregonian)

• What a Chicago immigration raid says about Trumpism (Economist)

• ‘Enormous fear’: Trump’s threats against George Soros chill US non-profits (Financial Times)

• Government shutdown threatens food aid program relied on by millions of families (AP)

• Democrats Still Have No Idea What Went Wrong (Atlantic)

• Psychiatrists call for RFK Jr. to be replaced as health secretary (NPR)

• RFK Jr. once targeted pesticides. Why the MAHA report gave them a pass. (WP)

• The Supreme Court will wrestle with a question this week that, depending on the answer, could open up broad avenues for President Donald Trump to manipulate elections and the courts, HuffPost’s Brandi Buchman reports. [HuffPost]

• Supreme Court to consider whether states can ban gay conversion therapy (WP)

• France’s new Prime Minister Lecornu resigns hours after naming cabinet (Al Jazeera)

• Rubio Says U.S. Wants Quick Deal to Bring Gaza Hostages Home (NYT)

• Returning Gaza flotilla activists claim mistreatment in Israeli detention, fear for remaining prisoners (CNN)

• Bari Weiss: the anti-woke superstar shaking up American journalism (Telegraph)

• A 19-year-old nabs backing from Google execs for his AI memory startup, Supermemory (TechCrunch)

• Deloitte will refund Australian government for AI hallucination-filled report (ArsTechnica)

• The reinforcement gap — or why some AI skills improve faster than others (TechCrunch)

• Nobel Prize In Medicine Awarded To Tums (Onion)

Hunting Stories

For decades I worked with my fellow reporters producing stories. We would study the patterns in the events we were following, trying to connect the dots so we could beat other reporters to the story.

In the process, there may have been times that we were tempted to cut corners.

During the process of landing a big investigative story, we usually had identified a bad guy or a group of bad guys who were responsible for the situation we were trying to expose.

As part of that work, we would become interested in the bad guy’s psychology, and on occasion we would consult with psychologists to better understand that.

This was particularly important when we were tracking ongoing behavior, such as a series of crimes by a perpetrator not yet apprehended by the authorities.

So in those cases we were much like cops or intelligence agents, some of whom were often tracking the same targets as we were.

This is how journalists acquire some of their most valuable sources -- fellow investigators with similar objectives, which in all cases is catching the bad guy.

But this is also where problems can develop. One issue is when journalists get confused about whose agenda they are pursuing. As long as there is alignment, there is nothing wrong with a reporter and, say, a D.A. working to break the same case.

But their objectives are different -- the prosecutor is seeking to build a legal case, whereas the reporter is seeking to tell an accurate story.

While its may seem that those objectives are consistent with one another, the devil is in the details. There is a world of difference between what is legally provable in a court of law and what is publishable.

While all of this is happening in real time, any reasonably self-aware investigator starts turning inward to ask a few questions: “Why am I doing this work? Who am I to judge others? Which ends justify which means?”

There are many different possible answers to these questions. All I know for sure is that to continue with this kind of work over many decades, you need to have found the ones that work for you.

Otherwise you will stop.

(This is an edited version from an essay I wrote in 2021.)

HEADLINES:

• Newsom says he’ll sue to keep Trump from sending California National Guard to Portland (ABC)

• The new SCOTUS term will reshape America’s constitution (Economist)

• Supreme Court and Trump are headed for a reckoning in new term (WP)

• ‘The president is unhinged’: Trump’s online behavior grows increasingly odd (Guardian)

• Trump plan would limit Social Security disability benefits for older Americans (WP)

• The Anti-Social Century (Atlantic)

• Bill Nye leads charge to save NASA science from deep Trump cuts (Axios)

• Kash Patel fires FBI trainee who displayed pride flag (ABC)

• Former Army vice chief of staff ‘concerned’ about Hegseth’s ‘attack on women’ (The Hill)

• The Hague on Trial (New Yorker)

• Trump plans aid package for US soybean farmers while seeking trade deal with China (AP)

• Afghans awaited U.S. resettlement. Pakistan sent them back to the Taliban. (WP)

• Gaza flotilla activists allege mistreatment while being detained in Israel (AP)

• Forget Cowbells. Cows Wear High-Tech Collars Now. (NYT)

• Pete Hegseth Rails Against Fat Generals (Onion)

MUSIC VIDEO: Pistol Annies - Hell On Heels 2011 

The Michigan Mafia

This essay dates from 2007.

You have to go back to 1978 to understand the story of the Michigan Mafia. A group of us Midwestern migrants started to feel comfortable enough in our adopted Bay Area home to bring a bit of our culture into the local scene. Some journalist colleagues and I issued a challenge to the other media institutions in San Francisco to play us in softball.

Early responders included the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner, Mother Jones magazine, Media Alliance, and a number of other local media outlets. In the very first game of what eventually became known as the Bay Area Media Softball League (BAMSL) our team, the Michigan Mafia, beat Media Alliance, 3-2.

Over the next 29 years, many teams came and went, partially due to the ever-changing media landscape here. Wired had a team. Some of the TV stations did also. KQED had a team. 

The great Joe Dimaggio threw out the first pitch in a championship game.

Given my own peripatetic career, I often found myself having to play against my employer’s team, because I never betrayed the Michigan Mafia. We were always a competitive team, but never a champion. The closest we came was in 1994, when we advanced to the league championship game, only to lose by a wide margin. My only consolation was that I went 3 for 3 in the game.

Also, over the decades, our cumulative won-loss record was just south of .500.

But, much more than our winning percentage, what held the Mafia together was a shared sense of community. Relatively few of the long-term members were media people, ultimately, given the changes in our industry. We ended up as a collection of lawyers, legal investigators, and random others, with just a few aging journalists sprinkled into the mix. Most of us were indeed from Michigan, at least loosely.

Tonight, our venerable coach, Joel Kirshenbaum, announced his retirement, which signals the end of the Michigan Mafia.

“Only the mediocre are always at their best.” That was our motto. Some years, however, we came tantalizingly close to being better than mediocre. We played some great games, and had some great parties as well.

Although I feel sad tonight, very sad, at the passing of one of my main social institutions over the years here in San Francisco, I feel like toasting my many colleagues, hundreds of them, who helped make the Mafia if not the best team, certainly the most intriguing team of our era.

As for me, I played in every year during our 29-year run. But last year, in limited at bats, I did not get a single hit. You have to know when it is time to step down, and even if the Mafia had gone forward, I was figuring I should retire. I never did make it to my goal of a career batting average of .600, but I came quite close.

On the other hand, my fielding was suspect, as was my base running, and my (ugh) relief pitching. No, I never was a pretty player, but like my teammates, I always gave it my all.

Good-bye, Michigan Mafia. R.I.P.

HEADLINES:

• Trump tells Israel to stop bombing Gaza after Hamas responds to peace plan (Axios)

• How Fury Over Israel’s Qatar Attack Pushed Netanyahu on Gaza (NYT)

• Trump to federalize Illinois National Guard, Pritzker says (Politico)

• 37 people arrested and American kids separated from parents after ICE raid at Chicago apartments (CNN)

• 24 hours outside Portland’s ICE facility: Is this what ‘lawless mayhem’ looks like? (Oregon Live)

• Judge Blocks Trump’s Deployment of National Guard in Portland, Ore. (NYT)

• Trump starves Democratic strongholds of funding (Reuters)

• Pete Hegseth fires US navy chief of staff (Guardian)

• Kennedy Fires N.I.H. Scientist Who Filed Whistle-Blower Complaint (NYT)

• What Happens to School Lunches in the MAHA Era? (New Yorker)

• The Federal Election Commission is down to 2 members. So its work is at a standstill (NPR)

• Sanae Takaichi is set to become Japan’s first female prime minister (WP)

• Breaking up (Google) is hard to do (Verge)

• Chatbots Play With Your Emotions to Avoid Saying Goodbye (Wired)

• Here’s how the fashion industry is using AI to predict the next big trend (NPR)

• Generative AI can outperform nature at designing proteins to edit the genome (Phys.org)

• Lucky Fan Wins Open-Heart Surgery From Stars Of ‘The Pitt’ (Onion)