Small Wins

After not starting initially, my car decided to cooperate this morning and I drove over to Bernal, where Aidan completed his FAFSA forms. He is in CIIS and seems to be enjoying it. He also has a new girlfriend.

Dylan is settling into UC, Santa Cruz and enjoying that. He completed his FAFSA several weeks ago.

Julia and Connie plan to visit me at work one day this week so we can complete her FAFSA.

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'Shithole' Countries

President Trump dragged the immigration debate to a new low this week by calling a number of countries, including all of Africa, 'shitholes'. We broke our long tradition of not using profane language on KQED Newsroom as a result.

One of the benefits of being a veteran journalist is knowing when such rules should be broken. This was the President speaking -- he broke the barrier, not us. At first, NPR and PBS tried to uphold the traditional standards, so KQED Radio did not air the term.

I disagreed so my online team immediately published a story with the term in the headline. Our job is to serve our audience by reporting the news, not condescending to them.

By Friday morning the execs at public media had come to their senses and started broadcasting the word. KQED did too, on Forum, again online and ultimately on Newsroom.

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Hoyt Axton

I'd have to consult my journals to recover the date, but I went to a concert in the early 70s to see Hoyt Axton perform this and other numbers.

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Happy Holidays!

Time spent with my three youngest kids On Christmas. That was great. Have spent the rest of the week ill, unfortunately, but that was the highlight of this holiday week for me.

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Holiday Parties

Last Friday night I went out with colleagues for an after-work party. Yesterday I went out to lunch on the the waterfront in SF at a great Chinese restaurant. Great times!

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Pre-holiday Cheer

Peter and Claire came by last night to exchange presents. They are headed to Seattle for Christmas this year.

Aidan and Julia came by KQED today and we had lunch in a nearby cafe. Wonderful to see my youngest after four months -- our longest time apart ever.

Meanwhile, last Friday on Newsroom we aired an interview with Rep. Jackie Speier, in which she said there was a "rumor on the Hill" that Trump intends to fire Special Counsel Mueller. That story has since gone viral, most recently airing two nights in a row on CNN.

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Sunday Fun

Wonderful family get together yesterday. Laila, Loic and kids came over as did Peter and Claire. In the middle of it all, my car wuldn't start. Laila and Peter helped me jump start it and I got it reparked on the other side of the street.

Thanks, guys!

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