Weekend Readings

(From my youngest daughter when she was 8.)

HEADLINES:

• Guard Troops Fully Withdraw From Chicago, Portland and Los Angeles (NYT)

• US homeland security department on track for shutdown after funding bill fails in Senate (Guardian)

• A bipartisan effort to save health subsidies failed. Will ICE reform be different? (NPR)

• This Is How a Child Dies of Measles (Atlantic)

• Trump calls climate change threat to public health ‘a scam’ but scientific findings show otherwise (PBS)

• Judge rejects Hegseth bid to punish Sen. Kelly for video message to troops (WP)

• Justice Dept. Sues Harvard Over Admissions Inquiry (NYT)

• The emerging divisions in the MAGA movement that pose a risk for Republicans' control of Congress in the midterms. (Reuters)

• Inside the internal outrage over Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s ICE jokes(Business Insider)

• US says it caused dollar shortage to trigger Iran protests: What that means (Al Jazeera)

• Trump’s push for Greenland reveals a political weak spot, new AP-NORC poll finds (AP)

• German Officials Needle Trump at Munich Security Conference (NYT)

• Britain’s High Court says government illegally banned Pro-Palestinian group (NPR)

• The Epstein Files and the Hidden World of an Unaccountable Elite (NYT)

• Savannah Guthrie’s nightmare is unfolding on our screens (WP)

• Famed Texas forensic artist releases sketch of masked suspect in Nancy Guthrie case (Austin Statesman)

• How Not to Understand Slavery (Atlantic)

• Bondi Suggests Culver City Has a Crime Problem. Culver City Has a Problem With That. (NYT)

• A Wave of Unexplained Bot Traffic Is Sweeping the Web (Wired)

• Kid Rock Sells Entire Music Catalog For Extra-Large Bucket Of Cheese Balls (Onion)

 

The Eyes of Children

The other night at dinner, my 12-year-old granddaughter said that she has been reading about the Underground Railroad — the secret network of abolitionists that helped slaves escape from the late 1700s until the Civil War.

She seemed particularly fascinated by how the participants used language. “It wasn’t literally a railroad and it wasn’t underground. The guides were called ‘conductors’ and the safe houses were called ‘stations,’” she explained.

This brought to mind the war of words raging over Trump’s mass deportation of immigrants. To Trump, the people he’s targeting are “illegal,” but to many of us they are simply “undocumented.” He calls them “aliens” while we call them “neighbors.”

Given that we are a nation founded by immigrants fleeing oppression abroad and seeking a better life, what Trump is doing is tearing our society apart.

Our children and grandchildren know that, at least the ones still being properly educated. They know that words matter and so they know the difference between truth and lies, cruelty and compassion, trust and fear.

Historians today look kindly on the participants in the Underground Railroad. Our future historians are watching what we do now.

HEADLINES:

• Minnesota immigration enforcement surge is ending, Trump border tsar says (BBC)

• Trump administration working to expand effort to strip citizenship from foreign-born Americans (NBC)

• Homeland Security Shutdown Draws Nearer as Democrats Block Funding (NYT)

• Lawyers of Chicago woman shot by federal agents say documents show how DHS lies about investigations (AP)

• Trump Administration Erases the Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change (NYT)

• ‘This kidnapping violates all the rules’: Why cracking the Nancy Guthrie case has been so hard (LAT)

• FBI releases description of suspect in Nancy Guthrie kidnapping (BBC)

• Hard-to-Track Digital Currencies Like Bitcoin Are Common in Ransom Demands (NYT)

• Top Goldman Sachs lawyer resigns after Epstein files release (Axios)

• 6 GOP reps defy Trump to block Canadian tariffs. (NPR)

• US House votes to overturn Trump’s tariffs on Canada (BBC)

• House Passes Strict Voter ID Bill, Amplifying Trump’s Claims of Fraud (NYT)

• US debt forecast to hit $64T in a decade as Trump policies widen deficit (Politico)

• What Is the Mellon Foundation Doing to Higher Education? (Atlantic)

• Scientists Have Discovered a Protein That Reverses Brain Aging in The Lab (ScienceAlert)

• Most Americans don’t pay for news and don’t think they need to (Nieman)

• Donald Trump set for $10bn courtroom showdown with BBC (Independent)

• Teen grabs kayak, paddles through icy pond to rescue neighborhood dog (WP)

• OpenAI’s Biggest Challenge Is Turning Its A.I. Into a Cash Machine (NYT)

• The writer behind the “Something Big is Coming” essay speaks out (Business Insider)

• AI researchers are sounding the alarm on their way out the door (CNN)

• To Stay in Her Home, She Let In an A.I. Robot (NYT)

• OpenAI Introduces Premium Video Generator For White House Advisors Manipulating Trump (Onion)

Something to Say

(This little piece dates from 2010 but I could have written it yesterday, or tomorrow.)

The season is approaching when I will begin to visit a few classes here and there, and deliver a few lectures (or interactive discussions) about writing, so naturally, thoughts about the topic creep into my head as I procrastinate about doing what I actually should be doing, which is writing of a different type.

For decades, I’ve said the hardest thing about writing is getting started, and the second-hardest is keeping going.

But those involve tactics.

Actually, the hardest thing about writing for virtually any writer is believing you have something to say.

Notice that I said “something” to say, not “anything.” Of course, once you’re experienced, you can string words together in your sleep, with your eyes closed, and your hands tied behind your back -- not that I’ve tried that particular experiment, and in any event, I’d need a willing partner to do so, which I do not have at present.

“Something” is not necessarily easier to locate with age and experience, though young writers often have it without knowing it.

Self-confidence is, of course, the slender carpet all artists stand on. We stretch, place our feet firmly, look up and out and beyond...and hope.

At that moment, it’s time for those tactics to kick in.

Good read: “Can Artists Help Shape American Cities Again?” (NYT)

HEADLINES:

• Trump administration says it is ending its immigration surge in Minnesota (NBC)

• IRS improperly disclosed confidential immigrant tax data to DHS (WP)

• Pam Bondi clashes with House Democrats over Epstein files at DOJ oversight hearing (NPR)

• The Democrats Aren’t Built for This (Atlantic)

• Gabbard’s 2020 Election Claims Put Her Back in Favor With Trump (NYT)

• US reopens airspace over Texas border town after ‘cartel drone incursion’ (BBC)

• Mad Emperor Trump declares war on the air (The Hill)

• She bounced a $25 check in 2014. ICE tried to deport her. (WP)

• Crimes by ICE personnel in recent years show patterns of abuse, corruption (AP)

• A grand jury has reportedly delivered another major rebuke to the Trump administration’s efforts to target the president’s political opponents, declining to indict Democratic lawmakers who had made a video urging active duty troops to "refuse illegal orders." [HuffPost]

• Gallup Will No Longer Track Presidential Approval Ratings (NYT)

• EPA to repeal its own conclusion that greenhouse gases warm the planet and threaten health (NBC)

• Trump’s Plan for an American Gulag Just Got a Major Boost in Court (Slate)

• U.S. Hiring Starts the Year at a Strong Pace (NYT)

• Heineken to cut up to 6,000 jobs. (Reuters)

• ‘Which Side Are You On?’: American protest songs have emboldened social movements for generations, from coal country to Minneapolis (The Conversation)

• Can Artists Help Shape American Cities Again? (NYT)

• Anthropic safety researcher quits, warning ‘world is in peril’ (Semafor)

• AI’s threat to white-collar jobs just got more real (Vox)

• The workplace is feeling the weight of AI (Business Insider)

• The Prediction Singularity Is Upon Us (Atlantic)

• A.I. Is Giving You a Personalized Internet, but You Have No Say in It (NYT)

• DraftKings Introduces In-Dream Betting (Onion)

 

AI & Democracy

Nate Silver, who irritates as often as he illuminates, has in his latest post taken on the techno-elephant in the room — artificial intelligence and the future of our democracy.

That is my characterization, not his. He simply says, “If AI is even half as transformational as Silicon Valley assumes, politics will never be the same again.”

He makes the following points:

• Silicon Valley is bad at politics. If nothing else during Trump 2.0, I think we’ve learned that Silicon Valley doesn’t exactly have its finger on the pulse of the American public. It’s insular, it’s very, very, very, very rich — Elon Musk is now nearly a trillionaire! — and it plausibly stands to benefit from changes that would be undesirable to a large and relatively bipartisan fraction of the public.

• Cluelessness on the left about AI means the political blowback will be greater once it realizes the impact.

• Disruption to the “creative classes” could produce an outsized political impact.

So he never gets around to mentioning democracy, although he does predict revolution (I think) and frankly his entire post could use a good edit.

But what I am saying here is that with the current administration in power, acquiring expertise in AI is a scary proposition. The White House is already fooling around with AI, and this is not a regime known for exercising ethical restraints nor observing norms.

We have important midterm elections this fall, which will be the first big test in the age of AI for our oh-so-wobbly democracy.

HEADLINES:

• Trump Threatens to Block Opening of New Bridge to Canada (NYT)

• ICE boss faces questions from lawmakers on Trump’s immigration crackdown (BBC)

• Kidney transplant recipient in ICE custody is finally getting meds, wife and attorney say (MPR)

• How Stephen Miller Became the Power Behind the Throne (The Nation)

• Federal judge blocks California’s law enforcement mask ban (CNN)

• Democrats say White House offer on ICE is ‘insufficient’ as Homeland Security funding set to expire (AP)

• Georgia Ballot Inquiry Originated With Election Denier in Trump White House (NYT)

• EPA set to repeal landmark finding that climate change endangers the public (The Hill)

• Republicans are pushing to drastically change the way you cast ballots (WP)

• DOJ again defends Lindsey Halligan’s appointment in appeal of James Comey and Letitia James case dismissals (NBC)

• Zach Bryan calls Turning Point USA’s halftime show ‘embarrassing as hell’ (SFC)

• New Epstein Details Rattle Washington, Hollywood and Beyond (NYT)

• Americans’ sense of optimism is at nearly two-decade low, according to new poll (WP)

• BBC World Service faces funding cliff edge in seven weeks, says Tim Davie (Guardian)

• Indonesia prepares to deploy thousands of troops to Gaza (Financial Times)

• Global warming could turn Iceland into a glacier (WP)

• 10 Dead and 25 Injured in Shooting at School and Home in Canada (NYT)

• Woman caught poaching endangered abalone, hiding it in her pants: Officials (ABC)

• 2026 MLB Power Rankings: Where Do All 30 Teams Stand Before Spring Training? (Fox)

• FBI releases first surveillance images of masked person on Nancy Guthrie’s porch (AP)

• How the use of AI and ‘deepfakes’ play a role in the search for Nancy Guthrie (NPR)

• The singularity won’t be gentle (Silver Bulletin)

• Elon Musk makes eerie prediction of the end of AI and he thinks it’s happening in ‘just months’ (UnladTech)

• Why All the CEOs Stopped Talking About AI (Atlantic)

• What Is Claude? Anthropic Doesn’t Know, Either (New Yorker)

• Trump Attempts To Distract From Epstein Files By Gaining 200 Pounds (Onion)

Waiting

Out here on the coast, you can sense it when the rain is coming. There’s a slight change in the air, the light, the breeze.

They all converge and at some point will start squeezing moisture out of the heavy ocean atmosphere rolling in from the coast.

Until then we wait on what is to come.

Sort of like the midterm elections. We all know they will arrive as well, but what will they bring?

Is it to be a new season with fresh blooms, hope and renewal?

Or the continuation of the dark stormy seas of the past year, with all the hate, fear, destruction, and elimination of much of what is decent?

The midterms are as yet nine months off. The rains only a few hours away. We have time to prepare for both.

Call it a dress rehearsal. 

HEADLINES:

• ‘Take the vaccine, please,’ a top US health official says in an appeal as measles cases rise (ABC)

• How America Got So Sick (Atlantic)

• 3 Policy Moves Likely to Change Health Care for Older People (NYT)

• Legality of Trump’s $400M private funding for White House ballroom at issue (WP)

• FBI launches missing-person billboards for Nancy Guthrie in Houston (Chron)

• Maxwell refuses to answer questions about Epstein in congressional hearing (BBC)

• Pressure grows on UK PM Starmer as Scottish Labour leader urges him to quit (Al Jazeera)

• China critic and former media tycoon Jimmy Lai is sentenced to 20 years in a Hong Kong security case (AP)

• ICE Has Been Detaining Irish Man With Valid Work Visa for Months (TNR)

• Masks emerge as symbol of Trump’s ICE crackdown and a flashpoint in Congress (AP)

• Trump plans to keep Democratic governors out of traditionally bipartisan meeting (WP)

• The Mark Kelly Case Is Bigger Than It Seems (Atlantic)

• GOP leaders fret as Trump sits out the party’s nastiest primary battles — with Senate control on the line (CNN)

• Congress braces for DHS shutdown as funding bill negotiations stall – US politics live (Guardian)

• A new kind of violent extremism is on the rise, rooted in 19th-century philosophy (WP

• Oil, tariffs and farming: What we still don’t know about US-India trade deal (BBC)

• As US Olympians call for tolerance and LGBTQ rights, some face Trump attacks and online hate (NPR)

• Russia’s Federal Security Service said that the men suspected of shooting one of the country’s most senior military intelligence officers had confessed that they were carrying out orders from the Security Service of Ukraine.(Reuters)

• In the Arctic, the major climate threat of black carbon is overshadowed by geopolitical tensions (AP)

• San Francisco Teachers Walk Out for the First Time Since 1979 (NYT)

• Grant Guidelines for Libraries and Museums Take “Chilling” Political Turn Under Trump (ProPublica)

• China’s ‘micro drama’ industry emerges as jobs lifeline in tough graduate labour market (SCMP)

• Fed on Reams of Cell Data, AI Maps New Neighborhoods in the Brain (Quanta)

• Trump wants AI everywhere in government. See the 1,300 new ways it’s used. (WP)

• Study Finds 98% Recidivism Rate Among Americans Who Burn Mouths On Hot Food (Onion)

Missing Things

That Super Bowl was the most boring game in memory. I stopped watching it once it became clear that it couldn’t help itself.

Instead, having noticed that Netflix is featuring some old Rob Reiner movies in the wake of his tragic death, I revisited “The American President” (1995), starring Michael Douglas.

You know one of the things I miss? A political leader I could look up to, instead of down at. A person with flaws (like all of us) but able to rise above them in the name of the common good.

Not a pilfering, perfidious predator. whose comprehension of the common good begins and ends with the image in his mirror.

There are many other things I miss, of course, that are more personal. That movie includes a romance, which reminded me of what I miss most of all.

Love.

HEADLINES:

• Democratic Sen. Schiff says Trump intends to ‘subvert’ 2026 midterm elections (ABC)

• Republicans rarely criticize Trump in his second term. A racist post briefly changed that (AP)

• Prosecutors Began Investigating Renee Good’s Killing. Washington Told Them to Stop. (NYT)

• Japan’s Sanae Takaichi wins a supermajority after gambling on a snap election (NBC)

• Washington Post chief executive steps down after mass lay-offs (BBC)

• Canadians aren’t visiting the US as much as they used to (Business Insider)

• Epstein files: UK PM Starmer’s top aide McSweeney quits over Mandelson scandal (CNBC)

• U.S. is readying huge economic deals with Russia, Zelensky says (WP)

• The quiet force influencing Trump’s and Vance’s confrontational Europe policy (Politico)

• The end of nuclear arms control (FT)

• She filmed Iran’s violent crackdown on protesters. Now she is afraid to go outside (AP)

• GLP-1 Envy Was Just the Beginning (Atlantic)

• An Underwater Robot Just Found Something Unbelievable on the Seabed That Was Lost for Decades! (Daily Galaxy)

• The New Fabio Is Claude (NYT)

• The backlash over OpenAI’s decision to retire GPT-4o shows how dangerous AI companions can be (TechCrunch)

Sunday Mix

HEADLINES:

• Congressional Black Caucus chair says Trump’s post on the Obamas shows a ‘bigoted and racist regime’ (AP)

• Nancy Guthrie disappearance: Ransom demand for Savannah Guthrie’s mom is reportedly $6M (Fox)

• A Lawyer for ICE Broke Down in Court. It’s the Sound of the System Collapsing. (Slate)

• Judge orders 3 families returned to US after finding agents used ‘lies’ to deport them (ABC)

• U.S. moves to deport 5-year-old boy (Reuters)

• How the Supreme Court Secretly Made Itself Even More Secretive (NYT)

• EPA reapproves controversial herbicide (The Hill)

• Cheers for Team USA turn to jeers for Vance at Milan Cortina opening ceremony (Politico)

• How an unsolved 1971 murder led to a surprise DNA connection (WP)

• Epstein scandal reverberates around the world (Reuters)

• Trump envoys met directly with Iran foreign minister in Oman (Axios)

• Greenland shatters temperature record (Reuters)

• US gave Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach agreement to end war, Zelenskyy says (AP)

• US aims for accelerated peace deal in Ukraine (Reuters)

• “Robots Need Your Body”: New Site Lets AI Rent Human Labour (NDTV)

• The AI boom is so huge it’s causing shortages everywhere else (WP)

• AI gives and AI takes away (Reuters)

• Trump Defends Racist Video As Racist (Onion)