Journalists and the Challenge We Face Today

The President of the United States has proclaimed a "war" on the press. That means the leader of our country considers people like me an enemy. How do I spend my time? Trying to dig out facts that help keep the most powerful among us accountable.

Recently I and my team sued the city of Hayward because it had not complied with our state's Public Records Act by releasing documents pertaining to a possible case of corruption involving its police chief.

We won the suit, got the documents and the chief went into early "retirement." The city of Hayward was forced to pay our legal fees.

Next up: the city of Oakland. We have been waiting for two months to obtain fire investigation records in the wake of the awful Ghostship tragedy that led to the deaths of 36 people. That city is now badly in violation of the Public Records Act.

I met with our lawyers yesterday and we are preparing to take Oakland to court.

I feel like a character in Ibsen's great play, Enemy of the People. Sadly, this era in American history features an autocratic leader who would be happy to suppress the efforts of people like me to do what we feel we have to do on behalf of those around us who don't have much of a voice at all.

To him I say: Good luck. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is more powerful than you are, sir. And we will continue to exercise our right under that act regardless of what you do or say against us.

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Showtime

Trump has spent his first week in office signing all sorts of declarations about the things he promised to do in his campaign, but it is far from clear any of them will actually do anything. What we have as a president is a reality TV star.

Everything he does is for perception.

Those who fear we are headed into an authoritarian era are probably wrong. But immigrants are being banned as of today and that is a serious new crisis in the making.

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Sunday Family Get-together

Very Cold Indeed

My furnace stopped working last week during what (for us) is a cold snap. Thus I've been wearig a winter coat huddled in my apartment witing for a worker to repair it.

Yesterday my clothes dryer broke. Yikes.

Last night gunfire woke me up. Four shots near here. I don't think anyone was hurt; at least the police never came as far as I can tell.

Today is a work holiday, so I'm watching CNN, devouring all the political news.

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Lunch Today

Aidan and Dylan came by today and we got lunch at Rhea's. Both boys head back to college pretty soon so it was great to catch up again and talk about things. Aidan gave me a Christmas present: the new Bruce Springsteen biography.

Last night when I got home I discovered my furnace had stopped working. It is fiendishly cold for this area and my apartment is quite uncomfortable in the day and intolerable at night. The soonest a worker can come is Saturday afternoon, so I am bundled up like an Eskimo.

I led a journalism ethics seminar with our incoming intern class today. They are all feeling a lot of pressure in this new era of attacks on the press and the First Amendment. I wish I could reassure them things will be okay.

I cannot.

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Huge Storm Coming?

They call it a once every quarter of a century storm that has Northern California in its crosshairs. The rains started last night but the real force isn't supposed to arrive until late tonight.

Two short work weeks in a row ... last week a friend and former Stanford student stopped by for coffee; it was great catching up with her.

This week, my two younger sons came by for lunch (Wiz Burger) and it was great to catch up with them.

I'm on standby editing duties all weekend so will stay online and not go anywhere. have to mss the joint birthday party for James (10) and Daisy (3) down in San Jose today. Hope the storm hods off!

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Authoritarian Lies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels

The Big Lie was a main feature of fascism in Germany. Donald Trump lies over and over. Now he claims he knows things no one else knows about claims regarding Russian hacking.

He doesn't know anything of the sort. He is lying. He is a chronic liar.

Authoritarians act this way. This is a major warning signal of what is to come.

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