Kickers

A year ago, I had some advice for Trump, the reality TV star, as he pondered whether to start a war with Iran, by way of a writing lesson:

When writing a screenplay, you use a three-act format. One description of this type of narrative structure is as follows.

Act One: You introduce the characters and set the scene. Let’s say there’s a monkey and a tiger in a meadow near a forest. The tiger chases the monkey through the meadow, almost catching him at the end of act one.

Act Two: Lots of action. The monkey barely escapes the tiger through various maneuvers until he is cornered near a very tall tree. By the end of the act, the monkey has climbed up the tree with no visible means of escape as the tiger circles below.

Act Three: Using his wiles, the monkey tricks the tiger into looking away while he scampers down the tree and into the forest. A wild chase ensues with the monkey barely eluding capture again and again. Finally, at the far edge of the forest, the tiger forces the monkey up an impossibly tall tree, one we can’t imagine the monkey ever getting down from. 

Now you’ve reached to the conclusion. You have to resolve this story somehow.

I sometimes use this example with students to make a simple point — you better know how the story will wrap up before you begin to write it.

Cut to Trump. If he was going to bomb Iran, he damn well better know how he would end that war before he started it.

Otherwise he will end up with one more story with a bad ending.

HEADLINES:

• Trump’s War Is Staggering to an Incoherent Defeat (Atlantic)

• US launches new strikes on Iran, targeting missile sites and boats (BBC)

• Tehran labels US attacks ‘gross violation’, says it is prepared to respond (Al Jazeera)

• Iran Warns of Retaliation After U.S. Strikes (WSJ)

• The energy shock is not over yet (FT)

• South Carolina Senate Does Not Act on New Midterm Map, Defying Trump (NYT)

• Federal court blocks Alabama’s midterm gerrymandering plan, a blow for Republicans (Politico)

• Thomas, Alito Dissent as Supreme Court Blocks Florida From Suing California (Newsweek)

• Paxton Routs Cornyn in Senate G.O.P. Runoff With Trump’s Backing (NYT)

• America’s ugliest primary? Texas Republican infighting could hand Senate seat to Democrat (Guardian)

• Democrats feud over stock trading as they sharpen anti-corruption case against Trump (AP)

• Trump’s advanced age and threats to his life serve as reminders of his own mortality (CNN)

• American journalist charged with serving as unregistered agent for China (Politico)

• Trump administration proposes NDAs for all federal workers (WP)

• Russia tells Marco Rubio U.S. citizens should leave Kyiv ahead of ‘systematic’ strikes on Ukrainian capital (CNBC)

• Ukraine’s latest defense against Russian missiles: Making them miss (Politico)

• Evacuation zone shrinks after ‘worst-case scenario’ of Southern California chemical tank explosion averted, officials say (ABC)

• The Great Depopulation (Atlantic)

• Ebola patients flee health facilities amid attacks. (Reuters)

• New Ebola Vaccine Reportedly Nearing Clinical Trials (Forbes)

• 6 things a neurologist does to keep his brain healthy (WP)

• Why science is becoming less innovative (Economist)

• Elon Musk is losing the culture war — he just doesn’t know it yet (MS Now)

• Iran’s national soccer team will sleep in Mexico and travel to the US on the days of its three World Cup matchesafter Washington declined to host the squad for the tournament, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said. (Reuters)

• AI Agents Plunged the Tech World Into Chaos. Here’s Exactly How That Happened (Wired)

• ‘You can’t control everything’: the rise in plastic surgeons asked to create ‘AI face’ (Guardian)

• These Robots Are Making Meals for a Nonprofit in San Francisco’s Tenderloin (Wired)

• Anthropic aligns with Vatican over White House as Pope Leo stokes AI fears (WP)

• Artificial Intelligence Floods Court Dockets with Home-Brewed Lawsuits (NYT)

• &R Block Location Mistaken For ‘Backrooms’ Fan Event (Onion)

The Pope and (A)I

It’s unusual when I choose what the Pope says to be the  top story on my list of headlines, but Pope Leo’s comments on AI are a worthy exception to that rule.

The Pope showed that he understands the risks as well as the positive potential of AI in his statement. If I am reading him right, he’s recommending the kind of intelligent regulation of the risks that can evolve along with the technology, and consistent with our understanding of that evolution.

You might call it the beginning of a “regulatory dance.”

It won’t do to simply ban AI or to set it free like Section 230 did with the Internet. The preferred approach would be more like that we’ve achieved with nuclear technology, which is not been perfect but largely effective at preventing the worst outcomes.

I can identify with this on a personal level as it is similar to how my medical team is trying to help me manage my own chronic illness. As the illness progresses, our strategy evolves, seeking to keep it in check, one dance move at a time.

A benefit of this strategy is that I can keep on dancing, i.e., sorting the news and writing essays like this one.☺️

HEADLINES:

• Pope Leo Warns of Risks From A.I. in 42,300-Word Encyclical (NYT)

• California chemical tank no longer under threat of catastrophic explosion (ABC)

• As Talks to End War Resume in Qatar, U.S. Conducts Strikes on Iran’s Gulf Coast (NYT)

• Trump says U.S. and Iran nearing a peace deal. (NPR)

• U.S.-Iran Peace Deal Nearer, But Could Take Days to Nail Down, U.S. Official Says (NYT)

• Why Trump’s possible Iran deal may be almost as divisive as his decision to wage war (CNN)

• With Big Decisions Ahead, the Supreme Court Collides With a Testy Trump (NYT)

• Redistricting ruling roils Supreme Court with corruption, bias claims (The Hill)

• Trump’s Self-Indulgence Deepens G.O.P. Fears in Midterms (NYT)

• Where Trump’s $1.8 billion payout fund gets its money and how it could work (WP)

• There’s a Way to Stop Trump’s I.R.S. Slush Fund (NYT)

• Russia hits Ukraine with an Oreshnik missile in one of the war's biggest attacks on Kyiv (Reuters)

• Captured Ukrainian Baba Yagas Are Becoming Russia’s Drone Of Choice (Forbes)

• ‘America First’ Shadows Visit by Rubio to Repair Rift With India (WSJ)

• Grocery prices are still rising. Here’s what’s gone up the most (SFC)

• The Longevity Secrets Helping Athletes Blow Past the Limits of Age (NYT)

• Scientists discover simple way to relieve arthritis pain without pills or surgery (ScienceDaily)

• Google tops OpenAI’s math breakthrough — 9 to 1 (RundownAI)

• Huawei reveals a chip design breakthrough. (Reuters)

• Pope elevates AI ethics to a religious imperative with first encyclical (WP)

• Inside the British Lab Hunting for Dangers Lurking in A.I. (NYT)

• Park Gazebo Celebrates 20th Year Without A Sober Person Inside It (Onion)

First Off the Press

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 wrote 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 getting them caught or killed.

(Remember that all the rest of the group had 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 one.

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’s the story. It turns 51 come September.

HEADLINES:

• Trump tells US negotiators ‘not to rush’ into deal with Iran (BBC)

• White House says Iran deal could take days (Axios)

• Details emerge of a potential Iran deal as US cites progress (AP)

• The ‘warrior ethos’ promises victory — history says it leads to defeat (The Conversation)

• Orange County toxic tank on path to spill or explode; experts searching for solutions (ABC)

• Oral arguments are taking forever. Supreme Court justices have had enough (CNN)

• Tech billionaires used performance drugs in secret. Now they’re selling a revolution. (WP)

• The Democrats’ Civil War (Journal of the Plague Years)

• Trump Is Setting His Sights on Restricting Legal Immigration (NYT)

• Russia hits Kyiv with hypersonic ballistic missile in ‘deranged’ attack (Guardian)

• How Ukraine Found the Cards To Win, Without Help From the U.S. (Time)

• Ukraine is turning private companies loose on Russian attack drones (BI)

• U.S. support for Taiwan complicated by Middle East war, Trump’s reconciliation with China (WP)

• American who gave US$5,000 to China farmer for tree planting decades ago invited to view forest (SCMP)

• Marco Rubio combats Cuban-American backlash as he seeks Havana deal (FT)

• Suspected gunman dead after exchanging fire with Secret Service near White House (WP)

• Three generations, one roof, and a new American dream (BI)

• Becerra versus Steyer — or someone else? Answers to these FAQs may help voters make a choice (SFC)

• Bruce Springsteen is a model for how celebrities should resist Trump (Guardian)

• What to know about the AI models that are jolting Washington (Politico)

• Venture Capitalist John Doerr Says AI Is the Biggest Tech ‘Tsunami’ Ever (WSJ)

• With AI now reading student names at graduation, not everyone is applauding (WP)

• OpenAI Announces Construction Of New Data Center On Top Of Sick Child (Onion)

 

Last Goodbyes

There’s a line from an old country song that sticks with me: “The last goodbye’s the hardest one to say.” 

Yes, it’s hard to say goodbye to the people you love, so that line came to mind again Saturday when the time came to say my last goodbye to my sister, Kathy, who died recently at the age of 76.

A memorial service was held for her at her church in the small town in Michigan where she lived. I watched by courtesy of a YouTube video.

My youngest sister Carole delivered this remembrance:

“There were four of us siblings growing up and since Kathy was closest to me in age, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t look up to her. She was beautiful, with dark brown hair and eyes that could change from blue to green to gray, depending on what she wore and her mood.

“We were a close family, and many of Kathy’s favorite activities can be traced to our upbringing.

“Our mother loved words and language. She encouraged us to read and relentlessly corrected our grammar. Kathy and I shared a bedroom, and she often read to me before we went to sleep. Kathy loved fiction in many forms, and poetry, too.

“Our dad loved singing, and music was a major joy in Kathy’s life. She sang in our church choir with dad and me, and in the high school choir, and in the choir in this church for many years. Kathy loved old Broadway musicals, folksingers, and rock and roll. She also loved the traditional and new church music that celebrates Christmas and Easter.

“Kathy was an expert at many crafts, most notably knitting and sewing. She was a patient sewing instructor who helped others master computer-driven sewing techniques. She loved jewel tones, and both in her crafting and her clothing she was drawn to deep, rich blues, greens and purples.

“Kathy was an RN and worked as a neonatal intensive care nurse at Sparrow Hospital. Those little ones required constant observation and care, and her sensitivity and focus allowed so many to grow and thrive.

“Kathy’s three children, their spouses and her grandson were so dear to her. She cherished the time spent caring for Desmond when he was a baby.

“Over the years, Kathy had many health challenges. After the doctors concluded she had lupus, she developed a sensitivity to light that limited her time outside. She managed to still enjoy the outdoors through the big picture windows at her home. Watching the deer, birds, and squirrels (and her dog Milo chasing those squirrels) was a favorite pastime. This time of year, she would have been buying seeds to plant her lettuce and tomatoes, and filling the hummingbird feeder with nectar.

“Kathy had an eye for detail. This made her an excellent proofreader when she worked for Rolling Stone, and it was one reason she was so good at nursing and at crafting. When she had cataract surgery, she chose to optimize her near sighted vision, so that she could see to knit and sew, since she didn’t mind wearing glasses for distance. She’s the only person (aside from their older sister) who could always tell my identical twin grandsons apart.

“She had a good sense of humor, too. On her birthday one year, our mom and dad made dinner for her family, and dad made a big deal about how he had cooked this meal for her, which was touching since he rarely cooked. Turns out she had trouble cutting it, because he served her a fake rubber steak!

“A few months later, for Dad’s birthday in November, Kathy got her revenge. She brought out a cake, and went on about it being a new recipe that she hoped would taste good. Dad started trying to cut it, only to discover that she had covered a kitchen sponge with icing!

“So they were even.

“Telling these stories makes me miss her even more. Daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, Kathy lives on in our hearts and our memories.”

HEADLINES:

• Is Trump trying to turn Texas blue? (Silver Bulletin)

• Trump administration to force foreigners in the U.S. to apply for a green card abroad (NPR)

• Trump’s $1.8 billion payout fund isn’t required to reveal how it actually works (WP)

• Ebola outbreak now third largest recorded and “spreading rapidly” (ArsTechnica)

• Why Trump might be losing the Iran war (Reuters)

• US and Iran move closer to extending ceasefire by 60 days, say mediators (FT)

• Trump says he’s “50/50” on Iran deal, decision by Sunday (Axios)

• U.S. seeks Iran ceasefire extension as war threats loom (WP)

• Trump says peace talks ‘getting a lot closer’ (Al Jazeera)

• Deadliest coal mine explosion in China in years kills at least 82 people, local officials say (AP)

• Rubio meets Modi during India visit with energy high on agenda (BBC)

• Gaza flotilla activists describe Israeli abuse, including rape (Reuters)

• One Killed in Exchange of Gunfire With Secret Service Near White House (NYT)

• 911, Please Hold (Reveal)

• Inside Amazon: 12 employees describe life under layoffs, AI pressure, and 5-day RTO (BI)

• Even If You Hate AI, You Will Use Google AI Search (Wired)

• AI doesn’t need a regulator. It needs a referee. (WP)

• MLB Attempts To Reduce Human Error With New Electronic Bat Boys (Onion)