Frustrating Their Knavish Tricks

With the world's leaders actually confronting climate change this Earth Day, it's worth remembering that only a year ago we had a President who couldn't have cared less about such things. That change is a blessing!

The vaccination situation also is dominating the news cycle as it becomes clear that in certain places it's a political act just to get one. That's why it is a good move by government agencies, employers, baseball teams, airlines and others to require proof of vaccination for people to circulate freely.

If the anti-vaxxers want to stay away from the rest of us, that's their right. Due to the public health implications, there's no reason to make it easy on them. The more data we get, it's clear that the vaccines work, so there's no excuse to hold out.

We're still at only the halfway point of the adult population being vaccinated; thus herd immunity remains elusive and Covid will certainly be back this fall.

***

Call it a 4 a.m. thing, which it was, but I've decided to concentrate today on a topic I virtually never mention -- the British royalty. First it's important to note I don't have a dog in this hunt, in fact I don't have a dog at all, though my kids have several.

But according to Ancestry.com's analysis of my DNA, my ancestors all were subjects of the British crown.  I'm supposedly 100 percent Scottish, Irish and English, but all of my forbearers fled the kingdom's shores for this continent long ago, starting around 1830 and completing the deal right around 1920.

It may be notable that for roughly half of that time, roughly half of my DNA-bearers lived in Canada, which I gather is semi-royal, as only Canadians can be.

So despite their somewhat irritating habit of generating news on a semi-regular basis, the British royal family almost never comes to mind for me. But early one recent morning they did.

While I'm aware that some people have strong opinions pro- or anti- the monarchy, I have no such intensity regarding them. They appear to be affable enough folk, albeit rich, white, landed, entitled, and engaged in nothing whatsoever other than symbolic gestures, like knighting Paul McCartney or holding ostentatious funerals. But I remain laconic in my emotional stance toward them.

Honestly, if it were not for the film "The King's Speech," I probably wouldn't even know what kings do. And it's beyond my curiosity level to inquire why the husband of a queen isn't a king, but I suppose that may be in the category of the Holy Ghost -- the type of notion I cast aside around the age of 12. In this case, you apparently don't get to be king just because you sleep with the queen. I get it.

All of this occurred to me as I tossed and turned in the lower bunk of my room, where two tiny princesses sleep overhead. I'm sure they like the idea of royalty, at least when they are dressing up, but the topic really has never come up among us as roommates. Lately we've been more obsessed with Godzilla v. Kong.

As I was composing this essay in my head, which I tend to do in the predawn darkness, it struck me as an opportunity to explore the astonishing specificity of the English language, which I suppose may have some connection to royalty that I'm blissfully unaware of. In other words, I could manipulate the words and sequences of words to convey my utter lack of passion for the subject, which I trust I've hereby accomplished.

Not that I've never been royal myself, mind you. I once was crowned the King of Hearts by the girls in my fifth grade class. For me that was a royal flush.

***

Headlines:

* Half of American adults have received at least one shot of the coronavirus vaccine. Now comes the hard part: persuading the other half to get it. (NYT)

* Biden Asks Employers to Give Paid Time Off for Vaccinations (AP)

* U.S. sees significant drop in vaccinations over the past week (WaPo)

* In COVID-plagued Michigan, warning signs that vaccinations are stalling (Reuters)

* An analysis found that willingness to receive a vaccine and actual vaccination rates to date were both lower, on average, in counties that voted red in the 2020 presidential election. (NYT)

* COVID-19 hospitalizations among older Americans have plunged 80% since the start of the year, dramatic proof the vaccination campaign is working. Now the trick is to get more of the nation’s younger people to roll up their sleeves. The drop-off in severe cases among people 65 and older is so dramatic that the hospitalization rate among this highly vaccinated group is now down to around the level of the next-youngest category, Americans 50 to 64. (AP)

* U.S. Issues More Than 115 'Do Not Travel' Advisories, Citing Risks From COVID-19 -- Just a week ago, only 33 countries were on the U.S. Do Not Travel list. New additions include Canada, Mexico, Germany, the U.K., and dozens of other countries. (NPR)

* Reinfection is possible but rare, data from 63 million medical records shows (WaPo)

* India reported a global record of more than 314,000 new infections Thursday. Hospitals report acute shortages of beds and medicine, and are running on dangerously low levels of oxygen. Lockdowns and strict curbs have brought pain, fear and agony to many lives in New Delhi and other cities. [AP]

* U.S. House passes bill to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state (Reuters)

* Russia Detains Nearly 1,500 People at Navalny Protests (NYT)

* Russia to Withdraw Troops From Ukraine Border (WSJ)

* Precious relics of Afghanistan’s ancient past are returning home as the nation confronts deepening uncertainty about its future.  A collection of 33 artifacts seized from a New York-based art dealer who authorities say was one of the world's most prolific smugglers of antiquities was turned over by the U.S. to the government of Afghanistan this week. (AP)

* Force of Nature -- Rivers on fire, acid rain falling from the sky, species going extinct, oil spills, polluted air, and undrinkable water. For so long, we didn't think of our planet as a place to preserve. And then in the 1960's and 70's that changed. Democrats and Republicans, with overwhelming public support, came together to pass a sweeping legislative agenda around environmental protection. In today's episode, what led to Earth Day, and what Earth Day led to. (NPR)

* Biden promises big on climate change. Delivering will be much harder. (Editorial Board/WaPo)

* Biden pledged Thursday that the United States would slash its output of climate-changing carbon gases at least 50% below 2005 levels by the end of this decade. The new emissions target nearly doubles the reductions the Obama administration pledged as part of the United States’ contributions to the 2015 Paris climate accord. [HuffPost]

* Humanity’s greatest ally against climate change may be Earth itself (WaPo)

* The fuel pellet industry is thriving. Supporters see it as a climate-friendly source of rural jobs. For others, it’s a polluter and destroyer of nature. (NYT)

* Senate passes bill to combat hate crimes against Asian Americans (WaPo)

* Out Of Thin Air: NASA Rover Makes Oxygen From Martian Atmosphere (NPR)

* Los Angeles may become the latest California city to try a universal basic income — of $1,000 a month. (LAT)

* How big tech became so big: Hundreds of acquisitions (WaPo)

* U.S. Capitol Police officer allegedly told units to only monitor for 'anti-Trump' protesters on January 6 (CNN)

* Republicans don’t want a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol unless it also looks at unrelated events from the previous year. They think the commission should also examine violence that erupted in response to police brutality in 2020, protests that had nothing to do with the pro-Trump insurrection. (HuffPost)

* Police Ask Tesla To Drive In Straight Line, Recite Alphabet Backwards After Vehicle Crashes Into Tree (The Onion)

***

God save our gracious Queen, 
Long live our noble Queen, 
God save the Queen! 
Send her victorious, 
Happy and glorious, 
Long to reign over us, 
God save the Queen! 

O Lord our God arise,
Scatter our enemies,
And make them fall!
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all! 

Not in this land alone, 
But be God’s mercies known, 
From shore to shore! 
Lord make the nations see, 
That men should brothers be, 
And form one family, 
The wide world o’er.

From every latent foe,
From the assassins blow,
God save the Queen!
O’er her thine arm extend,
For Britain’s sake defend,
Our mother, prince, and friend,
God save the Queen! 

Thy choicest gifts in store, 
On her be pleased to pour, 
Long may she reign! 
May she defend our laws, 
And ever give us cause, 
To sing with heart and voice, 
God save the Queen!

The composer of the UK and Commonwealth national anthem is unknown. It was adopted as an anthem in September 1745, during the reign of George II (1727 – 1760).

-30-

Facing Identity

The tradeoffs we encounter during this transition to a world dominated by new technologies are daunting. Even as facial recognition helped authorities arrest a suspect in the Capitol riot, E.U. officials warned of the civil rights implications of the same technology.

It's the same dilemma all surveillance technologies pose -- the balance between our freedoms and privacy vs. the government's ability to catch criminals and thwart insurrections.

Traditionally, the political spectrum has been split between those concerned with protecting civil liberties and therefore opposed to surveillance (liberals), and those more inclined to support law enforcement and oppose efforts to destabilize the government (conservatives).

But in the age of Trump, the two have switched sides. 

Meanwhile, everyone has a smart phone; most people may not realize yet just how much they reveal about our movements and actions, though reporters have been trying to warn us about this for a while now.

I wish I could offer some unique wisdom in how to achieve a new balance that protects our innate right to privacy (which is not mentioned in the Constitution) while allowing us to experience the potential benefits offered by robotics, facial recognition, and new techniques to (literally) read our minds.

But as the sages have warned down through the ages, powerful tools in the hands of despots will lead to oppression and the loss of freedoms we cherish. 

How can we gain control over these technologies? This is the question that faces us at this juncture in our history.

***

So like everyone else, I'm dealing with the details of life as we emerge from the pandemic and wondering what's next. The last two members of my immediate family who were still unvaccinated-- my two youngest daughters -- have had their first vaccine shot now and will  get the second on May 12th. The rest of us are set.

My first stimulus check arrived this week! I didn't qualify last year because my most recent tax return on file (2019) was from when I was employed, and my income was too high to get one of those checks that time around. But 2020 was a different story. For the first time since I was 11, I did not earn a single penny of income.

Although I didn't earn anything I sure spent a lot, mostly on hospitals, doctors, medicines and insurance. This government check will help take at least a small bite out of my accumulated medical bills, which as anyone who's been seriously ill knows, tend to mutate faster than the coronavirus. 

I've also been trying to correct a major personal weakness, which is at times is an almost pathological lack of exercise. When it comes to our physical health, it's strictly 'use it or lose it' at this stage. Younger readers -- take heed! Therefore on Wednesday I walked with my daughter and granddaughter across town to school, a pretty good hike.

Overall, I feel like many of us are emerging back into the outside world blinking at the light, rather like that Bob Dylan song about his dream of World War III. We are looking around at each other with a small sense of wonder. What's next?

***

The headlines:

* A Global Tipping Point for Reining In Tech Has Arrived -- Never before have so many countries, including China, moved with such vigor at the same time to limit the power of a single industry. (NYT)

* Risky uses of artificial intelligence that threaten people’s safety or rights such as live facial scanning should be banned or tightly controlled, European Union officials said as they outlined an ambitious package of proposed regulations to rein in the rapidly expanding technology. (AP)

* Federal authorities arrested a suspect in the U.S. Capitol riot in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, on Tuesday after they used facial recognition programs to find an image of him on his girlfriend’s Instagram page. Stephen Chase Randolph is accused of assaulting Capitol Police officers. [HuffPost]

* Each year, police shoot and kill roughly 1,000 people. But from early 2005 to June 2019, only 104 non-federal law enforcement officers were arrested on murder or manslaughter charges related to an on-duty shooting, and only 35 were convicted of a crime. Chauvin's conviction was an anomaly. [HuffPost]

* The Death of George Floyd Reignited a Movement. What Happens Now?  -- Calls for racial justice touched nearly every aspect of American life on a scale that historians say has not happened since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. (NYT)

* The Justice Department will investigate whether the Minneapolis police department has engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional policing, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, a day after a jury convicted former officer Derek Chauvin of murder in the death of George Floyd. (WSJ)

* Europe clinches deal on wide-ranging climate law to speed emissions cuts (Reuters)

* Governors Urge Biden To Order 100% Zero-Emission Car Sales By 2035 -- In a letter to the president, 12 governors asked that the White House order a ban on greenhouse gas-emitting cars and light trucks within 14 years. (NPR)

* Unaccompanied migrant children spend weeks in custody, even when their U.S.-based parents are eager to claim them (WaPo)

* Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is introducing legislation to make public colleges and universities tuition-free and debt-free for families making less than $125,000 a year, paid for with a tax on financial transactions. “The College for All Act,”  is modeled after Biden’s own campaign promises. [HuffPost]

* Biden’s mammoth education agenda would expand the federal role from cradle to college (WaPo)

* Biden Is Pushing a Climate Agenda. Gina McCarthy Has to Make It Stick. -- Gina McCarthy, Barack Obama’s E.P.A. chief, could only watch as the Trump administration dismantled her climate work. Now, she’s back with another chance to build a lasting legacy. (NYT)

* A federal judge ordered Los Angeles to offer shelter to everyone on skid row by the fall. (LAT)

* Study: Vitamins May Reduce Covid-19 in Women -- Among the 372,000 UK participants, researchers found that women taking probiotics, omega-3 fatty acids, multivitamins or vitamin D had a lower risk of being infected with the virus that causes Covid-19 – with the effects ranging from 9% to 14% lower risk among those who took supplements. (Huff Post)

* India’s raging virus surge tops 200,000 new cases for seventh straight day (WaPo)

* Twitter Brings Hope to Patients in India Waiting for Covid Treatment (Reuters)

* Additional evidence in case against activists in India accused of terrorism was planted, forensic analysis finds (WaPo)

* Iran Nuclear Deal Talks Advance as U.S. Offers Sanctions Relief (WSJ)

* U.S.-backed Afghan peace meeting postponed as Taliban balk (AP)

* Ramadan is a huge boon to the date farmers of California's Coachella Valley. They see a sharp spike in sales as Muslims traditionally end a day of fasting with the sweet fruit. (Religion News Service)

* Harriet Tubman’s Family Home Unearthed In Maryland Wildlife Refuge (HuffPost)

* How Schools Can Help Kids Heal After A Year Of 'Crisis And Uncertainty' -- The pandemic has been stressful for millions of children. If that stress isn't buffered by caring adults, it can have lifelong consequences. There's a lot schools can do to keep that from happening. (NPR)

* There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing -- The neglected middle child of mental health can dull your motivation and focus — and it may be the dominant emotion of 2021. (NYT)

* Strides Against HIV/AIDS In The U.S. Falter As Resources Diverted To Fight COVID-19 (Kaiser Health News/NPR)

* The Secret Mission To Unearth Part Of A 142-Year-Old Experiment --  Scientists in Michigan went out in the dead of night to dig up part of an unusual long-term experiment. It's a research study that started in 1879 and is handed from one generation to the next. (NPR)

* This Is the Hottest That Stephen Curry Has Ever Been -- Five years after he revolutionized basketball, the NBA’s best shooter is still getting better (WSJ)

* Elon Musk Unveils Urban Slingshot System Able To Move 6 Pedestrians Across Street Per Hour (The Onion)

***

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you

Oh, can't you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you

-- Gordon Sumner

-30-

Final Cut Rewrite

Since the pandemic started, my youngest son told me he hears coyotes howling at night from the top of the hill at Bernal. That is one of many changes in our world over the past year or so.

That the George Floyd case and its aftermath happened during the Covid-19 pandemic was hardly coincidental, either. As the nation locked down and became more dependent on virtual communications, the senseless murder of a black man by a police officer for trying to cash a counterfeit $20 bill became a reality TV show too compelling for a captive audience to resist.

It wasn't a unique story; it wasn't a new kind of problem. This sort of thing had been going on since long before any of us were born. But this time it was different in that it was captured on video shot by a bystander, 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, and everyone was stuck at home to see it.

So finally what had long since become a tired narrative couldn't be ignored any longer.

Of course, Tuesday's conviction in the case is only one step toward ending the systemic racism that results in police misconduct. But at least justice has been done in this one case.

That is one silver lining of the pandemic.

***

There are additional silver linings we can reasonably seek involving climate change. Every day among the headlines I curate are stories detailing both the latest signs of planetary damage and new efforts by officials to address them.

One of the primary reasons to be hopeful about the Biden administration is this president's clear, determined priority on climate change. He has the right officials in place to advance policy priorities that could make a difference.

I've been rereading a book I've mentioned here previously, "The World Without Us," which describes how the planet would adapt and recover once human beings disappear and it presents what is truly a bittersweet story.

The good news is that most other life forms would survive. Of course, if Hollywood were to make the book into a movie, there would have to be a different ending.

And that is we would make it back into the scene during the final cut so that we could hear the coyotes as they howl from the top of the hill in our dreams.

***

Headlines:

* President plans to cut emissions at least in half by 2030 (WaPo)

* U.S. to join global effort to decarbonize shipping industry (Reuters)

* Lagging Vaccination Rates Among Rural Seniors Hint At Brewing Rural-Urban Divide (NPR)

* U.S. takes steps to protect electric system from cyberattacks (AP)

* Coal miners join climate activists to back Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure plan (CNN)

* The girl in the Kent State photo and the lifelong burden of being a national symbol (WaPo)

* Run out of milk? Robots on call for Singapore home deliveries (Reuters)

* TikTok Adds Automated Captions, Making Platform More Open to Deaf People (WSJ)

* Far-Right-Friendly Platform Parler Expected To Return To App Store Next Week (NPR)

* Knicks Praised For Embodying New York Spirit Of Overhyped Media Creations (The Onion)

***

Who can tell just how it starts 
Angry words and broken hearts 
Till silently we sit apart 
You and I 
But in awhile the anger's gone 
And we forget who's right or wrong 
Then one of us will end it all 
With just a smile 

We believe in happy endings 
Never breaking 
Only bending 
Taking time enough for mending 
The hurt inside 

We believe in new beginnings 
Giving in 
And forgiving 
We believe happy endings 
You and I 

Just a word is all it takes 
And so it pass 
The silence breaks 
And looking back it makes us ache 
For what we've done 

And so we cling together now 
And wonder why we're oh so proud 
When all that matters anyhow 
Is our love 

We believe in happy endings 
Never breaking 
Only bending 
Taking time enough for mending 
The hurt inside 

We believe in new beginnings 
Giving in 
And forgiving 
We believe in happy endings 
You and I

Songwriter: Bob Mcdill

-30-

The Verdict

In one of the most significant trials in generations, and after ten hours of deliberations, the jury in the Derek Chauvin trial has delivered its unanimous verdict in the killing of George Floyd: Guilty on all three counts.

***

The headlines:

* Covid-19 deaths are accelerating, WHO warns, as world records most cases ever in a single week (CNN)

* A review of 19 deaths of Black Americans involving police officers shows that, despite public outrage, guilty verdicts are rare. (NYT)

* The Biden administration is privately weighing how to handle the upcoming verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, including considering whether President Joe Biden should address the nation and dispatching specially trained community facilitators from the Justice Department. (AP)

* U.S. Ambassador To Russia Returns To Washington As Relations Sour Further (NPR)

* White House closes in on ‘families plan’ spending proposal centered on child care, pre-K, paid leave (WaPo)

* Wealth advisers to the 1% say there's sheer panic over President Joe Biden's plan to bring the individual exemption down to 2009 levels. Now there's a mad dash among wealthy families to pass on their millions before they can no longer do so tax-free. [HuffPost]

* Covid-19: U.S. to advise against travel to 80% of countries (BBC)

* The country is increasingly split into camps that don’t just disagree on policy and politics — they see the other as alien, immoral, a threat. Such political sectarianism is now on the march. (NYT)

* 65% of Those 65 and Older Fully Vaccinated. (CNN)

* There’s been a “dramatic deterioration” of press freedom since the pandemic started to tear across the world, Reporters Without Borders said in its annual report published Tuesday. The group’s new World Press Freedom Index, which evaluated the press situations in 180 countries, painted a stark picture and concluded that 73% of the world’s nations have serious issues with media freedoms. (AP)

* Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a controversial bill into law that critics say constitutes a direct attack on the First Amendment in the guise of combating “public disorder.” DeSantis praised the bill's protections for "all" of the state's monuments -- likely a reference to those honoring the Confederacy. Florida Democrats staunchly opposed the bill. [HuffPost]

* Iran Rattled as Israel Repeatedly Strikes Key Targets (DNYUZ)

* This is the most dangerous moment to be unvaccinated (WaPo)

* Employees of the two main U.S. immigration enforcement agencies were directed to stop referring to migrants as “aliens.” Memos issued by Customs and Border Protection, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, tells employees to use the words “non-citizen” or “migrant,” in guidelines set by the Biden administration. [HuffPost]

* Scientists turn to robot pollinators amid declining bee populations (NHK)

* The Village Voice Returns, and It’s ‘Very Village Voice-y’ -- It's a quarterly for now (NYT)

* Lettuce Sentenced To Slow, Painful Death In Vegetable Crisper Drawer (The Onion)

Return to Which Normal?

Monday morning we were up early with excitement in the air; it was cloudy and the temperature was in the low 50s. It was the first day of school for some of the kids around here in over a year. Backpacks that hadn't been used since March 2020 sprang back onto action, weighed down by books and water bottles so that students appeared to leaving on mountain backpacking trips.

School clothes replaced pajamas. Nervous smiles prevailed. Parents glanced nervously at the clock and hustled their kids into cars. It was the first day of school we've traditionally celebrated in the fall but this time it felt like it was on steroids. 

It's April, not September, and our world has been on hold not for a summer but for a whole year.

Academics will study this generation for years to come to try and measure the impacts of the pandemic and it's way too soon to draw any conclusions. But there can be little doubt that the disparities between richer and poorer children have been exacerbated by the lockdown. 

***

Just as school gets going again, the issues of educational disparities as well as of wealth inequality, structural racism and police violence are playing out in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd. 

A nervous nation awaits the jury's verdict. Regardless of the that verdict most people seem to have already made up their minds about Chauvin's guilt or innocence. And in that sense the verdict is unlikely to provide closure on any of the relevant issues.

There are people, mainly on the right, who argue that those like Floyd who struggle when arrested are responsible for whatever happens to them. And that the police are almost always justified in their use of force.

Others, mainly on the left, argue that without wealth disparity and racism, victims like George Floyd would never have become criminals in the first place. Thus no such arrests would take place. And that too many cops are racist.

What is indisputable is that too many tragic deaths -- 64 more at the hands of police just since the trial began -- continue to occur in this country. 

To make matters worse, Dem. Rep Maxine Waters inserted herself into this cauldron with incendiary comments over the weekend that seemed likely to incite violent protests should Chauvin be acquitted. This struck me as extremely irresponsible behavior by a public official. 

What we need right now is not more people fomenting trouble but rational voices of patience and calm. We need the wisdom of Dr. Martin Luther King.

But we do not have a leader like him, instead we have bickering factions. Meanwhile, the jury is deliberating and an unsettled population awaits their decision.

***

Headlines:

* UN warns of climate ‘abyss’ as 2020 confirmed as one of 3 hottest years on record (Reuters)

* U.S. must halve emissions to galvanize global climate action - UN chief (Reuters)

* States have passed over 140 police oversight bills since the killing of George Floyd, increasing accountability and overhauling rules on the use of force. But the calls for change continue. (NYT)

* The judge overseeing former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin's trial in the death of George Floyd said Monday that Rep. Maxine Waters' incendiary comments could be grounds for appealing a verdict in the trial. (CNN)

* ‘God Knows What’s Going to Happen’: Minneapolis Braces for Verdict in Floyd’s Death (NYT)

* Since testimony in the trial of Derek Chauvin began on March 29, at least 64 people have died at the hands of law enforcement nationwide, with Black and Latino people representing more than half of the dead. (California Today)

* Authorities in Louisiana say they were called to the scene of a 12-year-old’s birthday party where six people were shot following an argument. And in Shreveport, Louisiana, five people were critically injured following a drive-by shooting at a liquor store. The rise in gun violence in the U.S. comes after 2020 saw the start of the pandemic and the smallest number of mass shootings in a decade. [HuffPost]

* Suspect in deadly Austin shooting, a former sheriff’s detective, arrested after a 20-hour manhunt (WaPo)

* Family says former Vice President Walter Mondale has died at 93. (AP)

* Half of American adults have received at least one vaccine dose, says CDC (WaPo)

* The man-made lakes that store water supplying people in the U.S. West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows, which could trigger the federal government's first official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada. Climate change means less snowpack flows into the Colorado River. [AP]

* Whatever happens once the United States withdraws from Afghanistan will not bode well for Afghan women. Even the gains made for them over the last 20 years have often been fleeting. (NYT)

* Rift between GOP, corporate America creates opening for Biden’s tax plan -- The corporate world’s relatively muted reaction so far to significant tax hikes was until recently unthinkable and reflects major changes in U.S. politics. (WaPo)

* Minnesota police aggressively arrested a CNN producer and assaulted multiple other members of the press covering protests over the police shooting of Daunte Wright last week, according to an attorney representing dozens of news outlets. Some journalists also reported being harassed and intimidated by police. [HuffPost]

* Congress faces renewed pressure on gun control after Indiana’s red-flag law fails to thwart FedEx shooter (WaPo)

* U.S. Needs to Better Monitor Pipelines in Gulf, Report Says (WSJ)

* A recent segment aired on the right-wing network OAN said there were “serious doubts about who’s actually president,” and another blamed “anti-Trump extremists” for the Capitol attack. (NYT)

* A new, racialized assault on abortion rights is headed to the Supreme Court (WaPo)

* In dense tropical forests in Sierra Leone, scientists have rediscovered a coffee species not seen in the wild in decades - a plant they say may help secure the future of this valuable commodity that has been imperiled by climate change. The researchers said on Monday that the species, called Coffea stenophylla, possesses greater tolerance for higher temperatures than the Arabica coffee that makes up 56% of global production and the robusta coffee that makes up 43%. The stenophylla coffee, they added, was demonstrated to have a superior flavor, similar to Arabica. (Reuters)

* Activist Greta Thunberg hopes US summit will treat climate change as real crisis (Reuters)

* Surveillance cameras captured a bear wandering into a Pasadena home and browsing the kitchen, before two tiny terriers chased it out. (Pasadena Star-News)

* Tyrannosaurs probably hunted in packs, a finding that could help make case to expand protected area (WaPo)

* Time Between Thing Being Amusing, Extremely Irritating Down To 4 Minutes (The Onion)

***

[Photo: Sophia heads off to school, finally...]

School days, school days
Dear old golden rule days
Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hickory stick
You were my queen in calico
I was your bashful barefoot beau
And you wrote on my slate, "I love you, Joe"
When we were a couple of kids

-- Traditional

-30-

The World Within Us

Early in 2020, just as the pandemic was starting to seep into our consciousness, my doctor prescribed a large daily dose of Vitamin D, saying it might boost my immune response to the coronavirus. As I was recovering from a series of illnesses at the time she reasoned my immune system might be compromised.

Over a year later, whether that strategy was effective remains unverified in the medical literature; the studies to date are inconclusive. But I, for one, am pretty glad that she put me on that regimen.

There does seem to be a correlation with Vitamin D deficiency and many serious illnesses, possibly including Covid-19. It is estimated that 40 percent of the U.S. population doesn't get enough Vitamin D, which in natural form comes from sunlight.

But correlation is not causation, so more studies will be necessary before we'll know anything for sure. I'm only a sample of one, and last time I checked, I'm still here.

***

In an interview with The Guardian, the longtime editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick says "there is no vaccine for climate change." It's a catchy phrase, something I might have said myself on occasion, given the hundreds of thousands of words I churn out annually, but I'm happy to defer to him on this one.

He's right about that, of course, but in a more hopeful mood, there have been indications from time to time that the planet may have the innate ability to heal itself from some of the inputs our species has inflicted upon it.

In his wonderful book, "The World Without Us" (2007), Alan Weisman imagined what would happen should a sudden event, perhaps a virus, wipe out all of us humans but leave the rest of the planet's life forms intact.

As I recall, many of our domesticated pets wouldn't fare too well, but ferel house cats would be one exception. They'd do just fine. Vegetation would relatively quickly claim all of our cities and monuments. Traces of us would remain, of course, not the least of which would be the layer of topsoil we inevitably end up as in the best of times.

But it is more than a useful intellectual exercise to imagine the Earth with no people on it if only to remind us that for now, we are here and we still have a chance to save both our species and the planet. In that context, there is hopeful news today -- that despite rising military and diplomatic tensions the U.S. and China seem to be cooperating on climate change.

Now that's a fortune cookie I'm happy to share... 

***

The headlines:

* Former President George W. Bush on Sunday called on Congress to tone down the "harsh rhetoric" on immigration, adding that he hopes that doing so will "set a tone that is more respectful" of immigrants and lead to more reform. (CNN)

* A Year In, Here's What We Know About Vitamin D For Preventing COVID (NPR)

* Half of U.S. adults have received at least one COVID-19 shot (AP)

* The pandemic changed the workday, but will transit riders return? (WaPo)

* Clubhouse closes new round of funding that would value app at $4 billion -source (Reuters)

* A woman driving by a vigil for a shooting victim was fatally shot in the head Saturday evening, and five others were wounded, according to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in Ohio. (CNN)

* Throughout Trial Over George Floyd’s Death, Killings by Police Mount (NYT)

* Authorities are searching for a former sheriff's detective after an Austin, Texas shooting left 3 dead (CNN)

* Suspect apprehended in fatal shooting at Wisconsin tavern (AP)

* FedEx Gunman Bought 2 Rifles After Police Seized His Shotgun, Chief Says (NYT)

* Despite diplomatic clashes, U.S. and China vow to work together on climate change (WaPo)

* Putin Critic Alexei Navalny 'Could Die At Any Moment,' Doctor Says (NPR)

* Protests planned across Russia to 'save Navalny's life' as West warns Putin (Reuters)

* Debating Exit From Afghanistan, Biden Rejected Generals’ Views (NYT)

* Union’s defeat at Amazon is shaking up the labor movement and exposing a rift between organizers (WaPo)

* Some Jan. 6 defendants try to use journalism as riot defense (AP)

* 100 Days Without Trump on Twitter: A Nation Scrolls More Calmly -- Democrats are breathing easier. Republicans are crying censorship. For all of the country’s news consumers, a strange quiet has descended after a four-year bombardment of presidential verbiage. (NYT)

* The 10 Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Trump after his supporters stormed the Capitol raised significantly more money during the first quarter of 2021 than they did two years earlier. (WSJ)

* Humans solve problems by adding complexity, even when it’s against our best interests (WaPo)

* David Remnick: There is no Vaccine for Climate Change (The Guardian)

* The Incredible Shrinking And Growing Brains Of Indian Jumping Ants (NPR)

* Hester Ford, the oldest living American, has died. She was either 115 or 116. (CNN)

* New Sympathetic Alarm Clock Just Lets You Sleep (The Onion)

***

There comes a time
When we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
Oh, and it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on
Pretending day-by-day
That someone, somewhere soon make a change
We're all a part of God's great big family
And the truth, you know, love is all we need

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

Songwriters: Michael Jackson / Lionel Richie

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Speaking Together

Among the more difficult but rewarding jobs in my life was Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Afghanistan in the Peace Corps 50 years ago. As a followup experience, I sometimes had contact with the (TESL) program at City College in San Francisco, which is the domestic equivalent, if you substitute the word Second for Foreign.

So it was with sadness and concern that I read in Mission Local this weekend that the program may face budget cuts as soon as next month.

Mission Local is a news site originally established as a joint effort between the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and local journalists in the neighborhood where I lived for 17 years until last spring. The site publishes articles in both English and Spanish.

When I was at KQED, Mission Local founder Lydia Chavez and I negotiated an arrangement  to share our content in both languages -- an unusual, perhaps unique deal for the two organizations at the time. Helping public broadcasting become bilingual (and ultimately multi-lingual was always one of my goals.

How people learn and use language has long been a major preoccupation for me, not only as a writer and a teacher but simply as a fellow traveler through this universe. I meet many people with amazing language skills, particularly when they are multi-lingual in their daily lives.

I relish, for example watching my 12-year-old grandson reading books in French to his 7-year-old sister. ( J'adore, par exemple, regarder mon petit-fils de 12 ans lire des livres en français à sa sœur de 7 ans. ) They are fluent in Franch and he is studying Spanish and wants to learn Japanese. It's all part of his home-schooling and her remote learning routines but it also is just pure fun for both of them.

Languages are flexible and playful and capable of adapting to the ever-changing environments where they are employed. (زبان ها انعطاف پذیر و بازیگوش هستند و توانایی انطباق با محیط های همیشه در حال تغییر را دارند.)

I know that budgets are tight, but I hope those in charge of the educational budgets at our community colleges continue to consider how important it is for our newest residents and citizens to acquire the best English language skills they can to succeed in this country.

***

It's amazing to read in the Post how Nigerian girls kept secret diaries after being kidnapped that helped bring their plight to the world's attention. The power of stories to change the world should never be under-estimated. And the key element is for people to be able to identify and empathize with each other's stories, no matter how different our lives may be in their particulars.

One planet. One species. Common problems. Over 3 million of us have perished from Covid so far.

We need to mourn together. We need to share our stories and we desperately need this story to have a happy ending, or barring that, at least an ending.

***

* Three people were killed and two others injured with gunshot wounds in a shooting early Sunday morning at The Somers House Tavern in Wisconsin. (CNN)

* A person has died after being shot Saturday at Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, police said. (CNN)

 * As City College San Francisco threatens to lay off nearly 200 full-time faculty by mid-May, students and teachers from the school’s English as a Second Language program pleaded the college to save it during a virtual protest. (Mission Local)

* Worldwide COVID-19 death toll tops a staggering 3 million (AP)

* Jailed Kremlin critic Navalny at growing risk of kidney failure - medics union (Reuters)

* In Russia, a Military Buildup That Can’t be Missed -- Russia’s massing of tanks and infantry along its southwestern border with Ukraine was meant to send a message, analysts say. (NYT)

* Russia beefs up warship presence in Black Sea as Ukraine tensions simmer (Reuters)

* Four Sikhs among victims of Indianapolis mass shooting (AP)

* Police shooting of 13-year-old in Chicago leads to calls in the city for radical police reform (WaPo)

* Riot declared in Portland protests after police kill man (AP)

* Iran names suspect in Natanz attack, says he fled country (AP, Reuters)

* Raul Castro said he will step down and pass on control of the party to Cuba’s younger generation. His departure will leave Cuba without a Castro at its helm for the first time in over 60 years. (NYT)

* Get police out of the business of traffic stops (WaPo)

* Cuomo retreats from open news briefings that made him a star (AP)

* Oath Keeper Pleads Guilty and Will Cooperate in Jan. 6 Riot Inquiry (NYT)

* How abducted Nigerian girls seized control of their story with secret diaries (WaPo)

* How to Decode Office Body Language While Working From Home -- Learn the tricks to reading the nonverbal cues of your bosses and co-workers, from expressions in tiny Zoom windows to email punctuation (WSJ)

* ‘Forever chemicals,’ other pollutants found around the summit of Everest (WaPo)

* Family Impressed By Extra Effort Father Putting In To Hide Drinking (The Onion)

***

[Photo: Granddaughters Sophia and Daisy with birthday sign they made for me with sidewalk chalk.]

When I hear, hear you
I'm not over you
I don't wanna need you
But I need you, I need you
When I hear, hear you
I'm not over you
I don't wanna need you
But I need you, I need you

Songwriters: Benedict East / Maribelle Joyce Anes / Madeleine Jayne Rowe

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