Point Molate
Monday, May 30, 2022
An Origin Story (Redux)
[NOTE: I first published an earlier version of this essay on my personal blog roughly a year ago in early June 2021.]
In April 1977, Lowell Bergman and I were discussing how to form an investigative journalism organization in the wake of the demise of our muckraking unit inside Rolling Stone magazine.
Over the previous two years, at the magazine's headquarters down at 625 Third Street in Soma, we'd pulled together a half dozen or so reporters to pursue investigative stories, which had resulted in some good stories but also a ton of trouble.
Along with a bunch of awards, we had proven an ability to attract death threats and huge libel suits, among other forms of attention. We had both been unceremoniously dumped by editor-in-chief, publisher and owner Jann Wenner just before Christmas 1976 when he announced he would be taking the magazine to the east coast.
As a result, our new idea was to form a non-profit to continue that type of work in the Bay Area and Lowell brought an ally into the mix -- Dan Noyes, who he'd met in the "Arizona Project." That was a group investigation into the murder of journalist Don Bolles, which in turn led to the creation of another non-profit group, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE).
The three of us -- Bergman, Noyes and myself -- co-founded the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) later in 1977. A large group of friends helped us launch the organization and we settled into an office in downtown Oakland.
But back in April, we were still discussing just what such an organization should be, what it should do, what its essential identity should be.
Today, 45 years later, CIR and IRE have long been staples of the journalism world and we are all retired, working individually on what may become books. In that context, Lowell recently unearthed an old type-written letter he had sent to Dan that April. Dan and I had not yet met and Lowell wanted to introduce him to my thoughts on the subject.
"I talked with Weir --as expected he is enthusiastic. Interestingly, David presented the following perspective: (the group should have) two major groups of activity: publications and community involvement."
This old letter is basically one of the founding documents of CIR and is a prime example of why I spend so much energy beseeching people to preserve their journals, letters, notes and files whenever possible. Until Lowell sent a copy of it to me recently, I had absolutely no memory of having said those things.
But clearly I was envisioning not only a journalism organization but one that would attempt to root that work in the communities where we worked.
The Bay Area was our base. It was a region with deep contradictions -- idealism, activism and hope with violence, cynicism, and deeply entrenched reactionary media organizations, notably the old Hearst daily of that era, the San Francisco Examiner.
We couldn't know it at the time, but that same newspaper would be transformed by a talented group of our peers, including the heir to the Hearst publishing empire, Will Hearst III, into a great newspaper over the next few decades.
It also published some of our investigations.
So at CIR we participated in that transformation. (I also did personally as a member of the Examiner’s editorial board for a few years in the 1990s.) We also found our way into relationships with dozens of other media groups -- CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, 60 Minutes, 20/10, NPR, PBS, Frontline, Mother Jones, New West, New York, NHK, BBC, etc., here and around the world.
There were many ups and downs in the early years, including press conferences announcing libel suits and more death threats against us, but ultimately CIR survived and thrived. How that came to be is the story only the three of us can tell while we’re still here and sentient.
Old documents like the letter Lowell saved may help.
TODAY’s NEWS (5/30/22 — 32 stories from 18 sources):
Kamala Harris calls for 'assault weapons ban' in wake of Uvalde, Buffalo mass shootings (Fox)
As Shooting Continued, Officers Questioned Commander’s Decision to Wait (NYT)
In Uvalde, 90 minutes of terror, a failed police response, shattered trust (WP)
Police failure in Uvalde mass shooting: What we know (Axios)
Bipartisan Gun Negotiations Try to Overcome History of Failed Talks (WSJ)
Inside Mitch McConnell’s decades-long effort to block gun control (WP)
Massacres Test Whether Washington Can Move Beyond Paralysis (NYT)
Governors diverge on gun control, school security efforts (AP)
Activist confronts Ted Cruz after senator’s NRA speech (The Hill)
Gun in Texas Shooting Came From Company Known for Pushing Boundaries (NYT)
Republican congressman says he's 'open' to an AR-15 ban (CNN)
Fatalism over guns is killing America’s children (Edit Bd/Financial Times)
The Atrocity of American Gun Culture (New Yorker)
Russians storm city, shell east Ukraine as Zelenskyy visits (AP)
Russia squeezes Luhansk in ‘indescribably difficult’ battles, Zelensky says (WP)
Russian official: Moscow will not use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine (NHK)
Ukrainian defenders hold out in Donbas city under heavy fire (Reuters)
How a Facebook page for Irish setter lovers helped Ukrainians flee with their dogs (NPR)
Russian forces gain ground but Ukraine still holds Severodonetsk (NHK)
Allegations of industry influence rock mine safety commission (Politico)
China funnels its overseas aid money into political leaders’ home provinces (Guardian)
Israeli nationalists chant racist slogans in Jerusalem march (AP)
Clashes in Al-Aqsa mosque, skirmishes in streets during Israeli flag march (Reuters)
Christian nationalism on the rise in some GOP campaigns (AP)
We Got COVID Shots in One Year. Why Did a Malaria Vaccine Take 35? (Atlantic)
French jetpack inventor injured in lake crash (BBC)
Cincinnati Reds' Tommy Pham suspended three games for slapping San Francisco Giants' Joc Pederson (ESPN)
Critical fire condition warnings issued across US Southwest (AP)
Report: Mothers Not Paying Attention To 80% Of Cool Things Nation’s Boys Do (The Onion)
Sunday, May 29, 2022
Crowd Noise (How the Internet Changed Journalism)
[NOTE: This is meant as a companion post to yesterday’s “Why Journalists Speak Out.”]
Roughly halfway through my career, a revolutionary technological development disrupted the entire journalism world in unprecedented ways. Until the early 1990s, print journalism had relied on essentially the same technology ever since the American Revolution.
Newspapers, broadsheets, magazines, and books had all existed when the Constitution was written and their co-dependence was critical to how democracy in North America evolved.
The Constitution with its First Amendment guaranteeing our rights as the press wasn’t broadcast and it wasn’t posted to the Web. It didn’t get tweeted or followed on Instagram. No one made a YouTube video about it. You couldn’t tell your friends on Facebook or TikTok about it. You also could not scroll through it on your cellphone, send a text about it, or “own” a copy as an NFT.
It’s true that an earlier technology, radio, had also disrupted the publishing industry, followed by a few decades its close cousin television, but the federal government regulated both types of broadcast media much more tightly than print to minimize the potential for authoritarian propaganda they clearly represented.
This regulatory structure for the airwaves was established in the 1920s and led by Herbert Hoover, who was the leading voice for how to preserve free speech while managing the airwaves. The Communications Act of 1934 codified these principles and extended them to telecommunications.
But by the time web browsers came along in the last decade of the century, the traditional regulatory structure could not be reasonably extended to the Internet without stifling the growth of a lucrative new industry.
Congress debated what to do and the result was Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. That regulation essentially guaranteed the freedom of the existing web-based companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple and (soon) Google, Facebook, and Twitter to host user-generated content without being liable for its accuracy or fairness.
This instantly put both print and broadcast media outlets at a major disadvantage, one from which they have never recovered. What it actually meant in practice is that anyone could now call himself or herself a journalist and attract an audience for their thoughts, however bizarre and undocumented they might be.
Millions of people quickly took advantage of that opportunity and new websites popped up everywhere. Among them were a handful, like Wired, Salon and Slate in the early years, that attempted to preserve the quality standards of traditional journalism during the transition to this new interactive digital world, with varying degrees of success.
But they were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of new information sources as the existing world of media began to crumble into ruins.
A lot has happened between those days and now, much of it bad. But I will leave that part of the story for another day…
TODAY’s HEADLINES (37 stories from 24 sources):
Trump, other Republicans reject gun reforms at NRA convention that showcases nation's split (CNN)
At N.R.A. Convention, the Blame Is on ‘Evil,’ Not Guns (NYT)
AP FACT CHECK: NRA speakers distort gun and crime statistics (AP)
Texas school shooter Salvador Ramos was ‘violent towards women,’ classmates say (NY Post)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s school shooting response under scrutiny (WP)
Texas governor "livid" law enforcement gave him bad information on school gunman (CBS)
A Supreme Court justice’s suggestion on guns: Repeal Second Amendment (WP)
Children called for help from inside classrooms in Uvalde. The police waited. (NYT)
The U.S is uniquely terrible at protecting children from gun violence (NPR)
What school shootings do to the kids who survive them, from Sandy Hook to Uvalde (WP)
Fear & Loathing in San Francisco: How Chesa Boudin Got Blamed (The Nation)
$6M poured into Boudin recall (Mission Local)
Why efforts to enact comprehensive laws to reduce gun violence are failing. (Reveal)
Herbert Hoover, Issues of Free Speech, and Radio Regulation in the 1920s (Taylor & Francis Online)
What is section 230? — As critics of big tech multiply, a once obscure law governing the internet is getting a lot of attention (Economist)
Communications Act of 1934 (The First Amendment Encyclopedia)
Russia takes small cities, aims to widen east Ukraine battle (AP)
Russian gains in Ukraine's east indicate a shift in momentum in the war (Reuters)
Ferocious Russian Attacks Spur Accusations of Genocide in Ukraine (NYT)
Putin urged to hold 'serious negotiations' with Zelensky (BBC)
Putin Says Russia Is Open to More Talks With Ukraine — Ukraine’s troops could soon have to abandon key eastern stronghold to avoid encirclement, regional governor says (WSJ)
‘We can’t live with people who support Putin’s war’: the TV chief who fled Russia (Guardian)
Zelensky defiant despite Donbas setbacks, possible retreat from Severodonetsk (WP)
Zelensky Vows Donbas Will Be Ukrainian Again: 'We Will Rebuild Every Town' (Newsweek)
European leaders urge Putin to unblock Ukraine’s grain supplies (Financial Times)
Wall Street rallies, snaps longest weekly losing streak in decades (Reuters)
Gas prices are rising. So where are the electric cars? (Politico)
Ancient volcanoes may have created a rare resource for lunar explorers (CNN)
FBI records on search for fabled gold raise more questions (AP)
San Francisco has one of the largest population dips in the US, new census data shows (SFGate)
What does a black hole sound like? NASA has an answer (NPR)
Artificial intelligence helps in the identification of astronomical objects (Phys.org)
Forest Service says it started all of New Mexico's largest wildfire (Reuters)
Researchers say they found new type of Parkinson's disease (NHK)
Couple Never Dreamed They Would Be Able To Talk So Openly, Honestly About Cabinets (The Onion)
Saturday, May 28, 2022
Why Journalists Speak Out
Over many decades of teaching classes, appearing on panels, speaking at ethics seminars, not to mention doing or supervising hundreds of reporting projects, one of the most frequent questions I faced was how journalists were supposed to possibly stay objective when doing this work.
The short answer to that is that we can’t. And we don’t.
In the course of producing stories, we learn so much about the various people and institutions we cover, it is simply not possible to avoid drawing conclusions and forming opinions about them.
So of course we do. And the more informed we become, the stronger our opinions tend to become. It’s only human.
The question is what do we then do with our opinions? Can we keep covering the same stories, pretending to be objective?
Traditionally, in newspapers, there was a strict line between the reporting we did in news coverage and the opinions expressed on the editorial page. Beat reporters rarely ventured over to the opinion side, which was considered unseemly. But there was more than a bit of irony in that as we were often the best-informed people employed by the paper on the subjects on the editorial page.
One attempt to bridge this gap was to have the beat writers produce analysis pieces, which bridged the gap between reporting and opinion and were traditional journalism’s answer to the objectivity problem.
The distinction between analysis” and “opinion” was largely fictional but it was a useful fiction that newspapers employed successfully for many years.
Another aspect of the objectivity problem was that the ownership of the newspaper often held different opinions and loyalties on the major topics of coverage from the reporters and editors who provided that coverage on a day-in, day-out basis.
This led to a great deal of tension on occasion between the news staff and those in charge of the editorial pages. Trust me, anyone who ever visited the nearest bar to a big-city newspaper office knows exactly what I am talking about.
When baby boomers — the largest generation ever to hit American workplaces including media — came along, we brought a new level of tension to this traditional dichotomy between news and opinion — and the myth of objectivity.
For one thing, we were better educated than the older generation and way too many of us had been shaped by the civil rights and anti-war movements to remain neutral on the great issues of the day. We weren’t neutral at all on questions like racism or colonial wars — we knew right from wrong.
Furthermore, we didn’t like what we found of the culture inside most newsrooms, which was all too often misogynistic, racist, homophobic and more like an arm of the local police union than a force for truth.
At the same time, we met heroes — established reporters and editors who resisted all those entrenched prejudices and practices that simply acted to reinforce powerful interests. These guys challenged those very interests on more than one occasion.
We also discovered that there were plenty of enlightened owners and executives in media who would support the type of crusading journalism we aspired to, so we worked for them whenever possible and joined the great muckraking traditions that long have served as a counterweight to mainstream, by-the-books news mongering in America.
When it came to remaining objective, we agreed that it was absolutely necessary to stay open-minded when we were gathering the facts about any situation. We needed to be open to adjusting our analysis as those facts came to light, and it was vital that we remained our own worst devil’s advocate to counter the biases and prejudices we inevitably brought to the story.
But you can’t discover the truth as you wish it to be, you have to accept the truth as you discover it to be. Equally importantly, you can’t bend the facts to fulfill the wishes or desires of your bosses or your audience — the chips must fall where they may.
But once all of that was said, once you’d been as fair as you could possibly be during the process of gathering facts, it became completely appropriate and indeed obligatory for any journalist of conscience to speak out when asked about the meaning of what we had found.
That’s how many of us became what some considered advocates or activists as well as journalists during our careers. We were often called “alternative journalists” or “new journalists” or “gonzo journalists.” Take your pick. And of course the traditionalists denounced us, for good reason. But once our reporting was complete, we made a point of speaking out.
That practice remains controversial to this day. But as my esteemed former Stanford colleague, Prof. Ted Glasser, once observed (and I paraphrase), “In the end, being a good citizen has to trump being a good journalist.”
Amen.
Today’s Stories (37 from 21 sources):
Days after Uvalde massacre, Trump rejects gun reforms at NRA event (Yahoo)
Key Republicans pull out of NRA forum as political pressure mounts (CNN)
The NRA has weakened. But gun rights drive the GOP more than ever. (WP)
Will Anything Change After Uvalde? (New Yorker)
Police response to Texas school shooting criticised (Guardian)
Mass shooters exploited gun laws, loopholes before carnage (AP)
Thousands of students across the country walked out of school in protest of lawmakers’ inaction on gun control, two days after the latest school shooting in Texas. [HuffPost]
The gunman in the Texas school massacre barged unchallenged through an unlocked door, then killed 19 children and two teachers while holed up in their classroom for an hour before a tactical team stormed in and killed him, police said. (Reuters)
Police Response to Uvalde Shooting Infuriated Parents Clinging to Hope (NYT)
As new timeline emerges, police criticized for response (WP)
A Uvalde, Texas, mother said she was handcuffed and threatened with arrest while imploring law enforcement to enter Robb Elementary School during Tuesday’s massacre. She persuaded Uvalde cops she knew to free her before jumping the school fence, running inside to grab her two children and sprinting out with them. [HuffPost]
Police Made ‘Wrong Decision’ in Waiting to Storm Shooter (WSJ)
'Joe died of a broken heart': Husband of beloved teacher killed in Texas shooting dies two days later (CNN)
Senate GOP signals an openness to talking about gun legislation (The Hill)
Senators Grasp for a Bipartisan Gun Deal, Facing Long Odds (NYT)
Gun deaths dropped in California as they rose in Texas: Gun control seems to work (LAT)
The Boudin recall is entirely based on local media mythology. They should own it. (48 Hills)
Russia's separatist proxies in eastern Ukraine claimed full control of the important battlefield town of Lyman, and Ukraine appeared to concede it, as Moscow presses its biggest advance for weeks. (Reuters)
Russia Gains Ground in Bid to Encircle Troops Defending Ukraine’s East (WSJ)
U.S. leans toward sending powerful multiple launch rockets as Ukraine seeks "heavy weapons" to stop Russia's Donbas offensive (CBS)
As Russia Diverges From the Global Economy, Soviet-Style Scarcity Looms (NYT)
Israel deliberately killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Aqla, Palestinian report says (BBC)
Shireen Abu Aqleh: killing of reporter referred to international criminal court (Guardian)
The White House is planning to cancel some student loan debt. The plan, which isn’t final, would wipe out $10,000per borrower for Americans who earned less than $150,000 annually. (AP)
As DNA Donors’ Secrets Emerge, What Should the Children Know? (WSJ)
The energy industry is still shaping California policy (Politico)
Physicists predict Earth will become a chaotic world, with dire consequences (LiveScience)
An Entirely New Kind of Highly Reactive Chemical Has Been Found in The Atmosphere (ScienceAlert)
Hydrogen may be a climate solution. There's debate over how clean it will truly be (NPR)
US to retain focus on China as greatest threat to international order (Financial Times)
Coronavirus cases on decline across much of Japan (NHK)
Uber and Lyft’s New Road: Fewer Drivers, Thrifty Riders and Jittery Investors (WSJ)
What a Book Can Do for a Girl (Atlantic)
Documents Shed Light on Secret U.S. Plans for Apocalyptic Scenarios — Dating back to 1950s preparations for nuclear war and revised after the Sept. 11 attacks, the presidential directives are not shown to Congress. (NYT)
Never-Before-Heard Buzzword Flying Around Office Can’t Be Good (The Onion)
Friday, May 27, 2022
Sacrificial Rights
When archeologists dig up ancient human remains, anthropologists speak of the vanished cultures as “primitive” if they appear to have practiced child sacrifice to appease their gods.
With this in mind, future archeologists and anthropologists should have a field day when they discover the graves of the 17 fourth-grade school children who are being buried in Uvalde this week.
As the richest and most powerful nation on earth, the U.S. naturally doesn’t wish to consider itself a primitive society. And I’m fairly sure that isn’t what Ted Cruz meant either when he stomped away from European reporters asking him about why this kind of mass shooting almost only happens in America muttering, “I’m sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful.”
Remind me again about that “American exceptionalism.” Perhaps some sort of primitive religion?
Of course, it’s conveniently simple to blame the weapons profiteers and their enablers in elected office for these gun massacres that occur. Certainly the likes of the NRA and acolytes Cruz, Abbott and practically the entire Republican Party shoulder a major share of the blame for these outrageous acts.
But where does that leave the rest of us?
Lowering a flag to half-mast for a few days, observing a moment of silence before going back to our daily routines, holding onto some thoughts about the grief of others — all of that is respectful but does little to prevent the future slaughter of more innocents that is now certain to come.
In fact, much could be done. As long as guns remain so easily available, aggressively preventative measures need to be taken in our schools.
Meanwhile, organizing to pass much stricter strict gun laws and throwing the gutless culprits out of office who oppose them, will be the slow, frustrating, unsexy work. That is almost always led by the parents of previous massacre victims. Inevitably, an ineffable sense of grief steels their resolve.
Which raises the question of what the rest of us are to do with our ineffable grief.
Will we bury it for the ages? Along with the children?
Or will we act?
Protecting Children From Gun Violence (Sandy Hook Promise)
Today’s News (50 stories from 25 sources):
A Culture That Kills Its Children Has No Future — An America vacillating between violent struggle and idle nihilism is shuddering toward its end. (Atlantic)
What the Rest of the World Can Tell Us About Guns (New Yorker)
Parents Face a Haunting Question: Is Any Schoolchild Safe? (NYT)
Ted Cruz angrily quits interview after being confronted about gun control (Guardian)
Cruz storms off after being asked why mass shootings happen ‘only in America’ (WP)
Beto O'Rourke interrupts Greg Abbott's Uvalde press conference: "You are doing nothing" (CBS)
Gov. Abbott facing mounting criticism for weakened gun laws (WP)
Justices to rule in gun case with US raw from mass shootings (AP)
NRA to host Texas convention days after Uvalde school shooting (Yahoo)
Texas shooting: Where does US gun control go from here? (BBC)
After Mass Gun Killings, Other Nations Changed Course — to Notable Effect (NYT)
Robb Elementary had security. It didn’t stop a massacre. (Politico)
The second-deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school wasn’t enough to shock GOP lawmakers into dropping their objections to gun control. “We’ve had guns forever and we’re gonna continue to have guns,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told reporters. Meanwhile, gun-friendly Republicans, including Donald Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz, are sticking with plans to speak at an NRA convention in Houston Friday. [HuffPost]
‘Horrifying’ conspiracy theories swirl around Texas shooting (AP)
California has more gun laws and tougher restrictions than almost any other state, but Democratic leaders are looking to clamp down further on access to firearms following the horrific massacre at a Texas elementary school this week. (Cal Today)
The Miami Heat urges fans to call their senators about gun law reform (NPR)
Blinken says US is ready to strengthen diplomacy with China in 'charged moment for the world' (CNN)
Blinken calls China ‘most serious long-term’ threat to world order (Politico)
Advancing Russian forces came closer to surrounding Ukrainian troops in the east, briefly seizing positions on the last highway out of a crucial pair of Ukrainian-held cities before being beaten back, a Ukrainian official said. (Reuters)
Ukraine video shows massive Russian explosions: 'What the most horrific war of the 21st century looks like' (Fox)
Military briefing: Ukraine’s battlefield agility pays off (Financial Times)
Russia claims to control 95% of Luhansk (NHK)
Russia slams sanctions, seeks to blame West for food crisis (AP)
Trump must answer questions under oath in New York AG probe into business practices, appeals court says (CNBC)
‘Trump is in the past’: Mounting losses show limits of power (AP)
Trump indicated support for hanging Pence during Jan. 6 insurrection, panel was told (WP)
The next U.S. abortion battle is over pills, and it's already begun (Reuters)
Oklahoma is now the state with the most restrictive abortion legislation in the country, after Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed a total abortion ban, effectively outlawing the procedure at fertilization. [HuffPost]
PayPal lays off 83 San Francisco Bay Area employees (SFGate)
Inflation could remain uncomfortably high until 2024, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said. (WP)
Elon Musk pledged an additional $6.25 billion in equity financing to fund the $44-billion offer for Twitter, reducing the billionaire's margin loan against his Tesla shares to zero. (Reuters)
How to Fix Twitter—And All of Social Media (Atlantic)
The U.S. budget deficit is projected to fall to $1 trillion in 2022. (NYT)
Giant Magnetic Waves Have Been Discovered Oscillating Around Earth's Core (Science Alert)
Northwestern engineers invent the world's smallest remote-controlled walking robots (CNN)
Rats Learned to Hide and Seek. Scientists Learned Way More. (Atlantic)
College Enrollment Drops, Even as the Pandemic’s Effects Ebb (NYT)
BTS To Appear With Joe Biden At White House To Discuss Anti-Asian Hate Crimes (Deadline)
On 2nd anniversary of George Floyd’s death, fading momentum for police reform (WP)
Tennessee is about to become the 1st state to make camping on public land a felony (NPR)
Blaming Chesa Boudin for Crime Is Empirically Wrong (Mother Jones)
D.A. Chesa Boudin launches new Asian American Pacific Islander victims services unit (SFC)
Palestinians: Israel deliberately killed Al Jazeera reporter (AP)
The U.S. plans to protect one of the world’s biggest salmon spawning grounds. (WP)
An ocean first: Underwater drone tracks CO2 in Alaska gulf (AP)
'How to Murder Your Husband' writer found guilty of murdering her husband (NPR)
Scientists Discover 90% Of Earth’s Atmosphere Made From Thoughts, Prayers (The Onion)
Today’s Lyrics:
“Teach Your Children”
Written by Graham Nash
… You, who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so, become yourself
Because the past is just a goodbye
… Teach your children well
Their father's hell did slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick's the one you'll know by
… Don't you ever ask them, "Why?"
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you
… And you (Can you hear?) of tender years (And do you care?)
Can't know the fears (And can you see?)
That your elders grew by (We must be free)
And so, please help (To teach your children)
Them with your youth (What you believe in)
They seek the truth (Make a world)
Before they can die (That we can live in)
… And teach your parents well
Their children's hell will slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick's the one you'll know by
… Don't you ever ask them, "Why?
If they told you, you will cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Leadership
"We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even put it to a vote, despite what we the American people want." — Steve Kerr, coach, Golden State Warriors
***
Sometimes it takes an unexpected voice to change the debate. Then again, to label Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr’s voice as “unexpected” is inappropriate since he has been speaking out on social issues for years.
The place and time was unexpected but propitious. With the international press corps assembled for his pre-game remarks, Kerr refused to discuss basketball at all in Dallas on Tuesday to focus instead on the unspeakable tragedy unfolding in the little town of Uvalde a few hundred miles to the south.
Nineteen fourth-graders had just been shot dead, along with two adults.
Kerr chose the moment to put his team’s highly-anticipated NBA playoff game in perspective — after all it was only a game.
But the bloodshed at Robb Elementary School was not a game. Nineteen innocents will never play basketball or any kind of game ever again; their lives have been snuffed out thanks to this country’s unacceptably weak gun ownership laws.
Kerr placed the blame directly where it belongs — on the 50 gutless U.S. senators blocking meaningful gun reform legislation. And by seizing the moment to do that he demonstrated what true leadership all about — in sports, in business, in politics, in life.
Just one of those senators needs to have a change of heart and develop a conscience. Kerr knows that — and also that that reality is far more important than whether he wins or loses any basketball game.
That’s leadership. Maybe if we are lucky when he ends his coaching career, Kerr will run for public office.
And, just as an aside, now you know what makes Kerr one of the most successful head coaches in the history of professional sports.
***
On the subject of progressive leadership, in San Francisco, there is new evidence that the police department tried to sabotage District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s attempt to break up an organized crime car-theft ring during the controversial run-up to his recall election June 7th.
Two stories detail the scandal:
SF DA Boudin says police refused to help in boba shop bust, so he was forced to rent U-Haul (Yahoo)
SFPD refused to help stop San Francisco Quickly car burglary ring, report alleges (SFGate)
***
Today’s Top News Stories:
Donald Trump endorsed 27 candidates across Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and the Texas runoffs. His win-loss record took a hit Tuesday. (Politico)
Kemp, Raffensperger win in blow to Trump and his false election claims (WP)
Brian Kemp trounces Trump-backed David Perdue in a Republican primary battle for Georgia governor. (NYT)
Takeaways: Trump’s big defeat; election denial backfiring (AP)
America’s gun violence crisis. Gun violence surged to a decadeslong high during the pandemic. Gun homicides jumped 35 percent between 2019 and 2020 and were involved in 80 percent of the nation’s homicides, the highest rate since 1994 (Politico)
At least 19 children, 2 adults killed after shooter opens fire at Texas elementary school (CBS)
Official: Texas gunman bought two assault rifles on 18th birthday (CNN)
'I'm tired of the moments of silence,' says Warriors coach Steve Kerr as he makes powerful plea against gun violence (CNN)
America’s Hands Are Full of Blood (Atlantic)
Will Congress act on guns after Sandy Hook, Buffalo, Uvalde? (AP)
President Joe Biden said he is “sick and tired” of lawmakers’ inaction on gun control after the mass shooting in Texas. "Why are we willing to live with this carnage?" Biden asked. Former President Barack Obama argued that “our country is paralyzed — not by fear, but by a gun lobby and a political party that have shown no willingness to act in any way that might prevent these tragedies.” [HuffPost]
More than 311,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine (WP)
Why Gun Control in America Is So Hard (Atlantic)
Russia’s ships are blockading Ukraine. Its navy now effectively controls traffic in the northern part of the Black Sea, making it unsafe for commercial shipping, the U.S. said. (WP)
Bodies of dead Russian soldiers abandoned near Kyiv (BBC)
UN: Nearly 4,000 civilians killed in Ukraine, over 6.6 million have fled (NHK)
Russia wants ‘to destroy everything’ in Donbas region, Zelensky warns (WP)
Russian forces launched offensives on towns in eastern Ukraine with constant mortar bombardment destroying several houses and killing civilians, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia focuses its attack on the industrial Donbas region. Russia is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions, the Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying. (Reuters)
U.S. Speeds Up Reshaping of Taiwan’s Defenses to Deter China (NYT)
Xinjiang Police Files: Inside a Chinese internment camp (BBC)
New poll: 54% of Americans disapprove of Supreme Court following Roe draft opinion leak (CNN)
Biden's public approval rating fell this week to 36%, the lowest level of his presidency, as Americans suffered from rising inflation, according to a poll. (Reuters)
SF DA Boudin says police refused to help in boba shop bust, so he was forced to rent U-Haul (Yahoo)
SFPD refused to help stop San Francisco Quickly car burglary ring, report alleges (SFGate)
Trailer Released For Documentary On Progressive San Francisco D.A. Chesa Boudin As He Fights Recall Vote (Deadline)
Taliban ordered female newscasters to cover up. Men joined in protest. (WP)
1.1 million Afghan children could face severe malnutrition (AP)
Remote learning apps are collecting data on millions of kids. Nearly 90% of 164 common educational tools shared that information — including keystroke data, location, contacts and more — with ad companies, a new study found. (WP)
Kelp Is Weirdly Great at Sucking Carbon Out of the Sky (Atlantic)
Concerned NRA Official Rushes Out To Purchase Congressman Following Mass Shooting (The Onion)
TODAY’s LYRICS:
“Hurt”
Nine Inch Nails, Johnny Cash
Written by Michael Trent Reznor
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I'm still right here
What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
When the Singing Stops
“The best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilisation is to defeat Putin as soon as possible. That’s the bottom line.” — George Soros
***
Today’s main story is a warning from the philanthropist George Soros that the Ukrainian war may become the start of World War III, without concerted action. Soros, who is a consistent voice against authoritarianism and therefore a target for right-wing extremists, says the solution is for the world to unite and get rid of Putin.
Otherwise, the consequences could be dire for life on earth.
***
Although these may be especially gloomy times, it’s worth remembering there’s almost always something we can do for someone else during our life here while we still have it.
In that context, the 2017 Netflix documentary about music producer Clive Davis’s astonishing career (“The Soundtrack of Our Lives”) is a useful reminder that most of us, “successful” or not, go through lots of ups and downs on a regular basis.
Davis’s own life has been like an extended three-act play. (He’s now 90.) He can look back on being fired very publicly two times, two marriages that ended in divorce, coming out as bisexual, a bunch of lifetime achievement awards, four kids he loves deeply and more hit records than anyone could possibly keep track of.
Notice there is no “but” in that description, just “and.”
What interests me in particular about Davis is that his career is and was exclusively about recognizing the musical talent inside other people. He had no great talent of his own other than that one peculiar ability. But what an eye for talent he had!
Of all the brilliant artists he helped turn into stars, and there were dozens, maybe hundreds, it was his relationship with Whitney Houston that is the most touching in a universal kind of way. The documentary reflects that. The singer’s battles with addiction — ultimately leading to her premature death at age 48 — represented an awful tragedy, and one that mirrors that of so many others, mostly unknown with stories never told.
The stigma surrounding addiction remain alive and well in American culture while it appears the disease itself is no better understood today than it ever was. Hundreds of thousands if not millions still die annually. The obituaries simply say they died from an overdose, or complications of alcoholism or drug use, or suicide — as if any of that is a satisfactory explanation.
For me it isn’t; all it leads to is the question “Why?”
Effective treatments for addicts do exist. They are expensive and difficult and they may not work at first for most people, who then give up and simply suffer with little relief until the end.
So back to Clive Davis and Whitney Houston. Near the end he tried to help her but she lied to him about the extent of her addiction. That is another common element of everyone’s story — the secrecy, the denials, the lies.
You know, there is a certain kind of art that may seem to stem from addiction or maybe the addiction stems from the art, who knows for sure. What’s certain is that some addicts tell themselves that their habit helps them create their art. And that may even be true for a while — until it isn’t.
Then addiction simply does what it does best — it kills them. And that is the end of yet another sad song.
NOTE: Addiction help: call 1-800-662-4357.
***
Today’s Top Stories (37 headlines from 20 news outlets):
Ukraine invasion may be start of ‘third world war’, says George Soros. Veteran philanthropist tells World Economic Forum civilisation ‘may not survive’ what is coming (Guardian)
Georgia Gov. Kemp defeats Trump-backed challenger, former Senator Perdue in GOP primary (Yahoo)
Brad Raffensperger defeats Trump bid to oust him as Georgia’s top election official (Guardian)
Republican former Sen. David Perdue, who is running for governor in Georgia, made several racist attacks on presumptive Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams, who is black, saying she was “demeaning her own race” and should “go back to where she came from.” [HuffPost]
Trump is losing his stranglehold on Republicans (Financial Times)
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) won the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, warning former President Donald Trump remains one of the greatest threats to American democracy. "We face a threat we have never faced before: a former president attempting to unravel our constitutional republic,” Cheney said. [HuffPost]
Texas shooting: Fifteen killed in attack at US primary school (BBC)
Active shootings increased significantly last year in the U.S. (WP)
San Francisco’s Economic Elite Is Gunning for Chesa Boudin (Jacobin)
Male Afghan TV anchors cover faces in solidarity with women after a Taliban order (NPR)
'They were shooting directly at the journalists': New evidence suggests Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in targeted attack by Israeli forces (CNN)
New Justice Dept. policy says agents must intervene if they see abuse (WP)
President Joe Biden said there was no change to a U.S. policy of "strategic ambiguity" on Taiwan, a day after he angered China by saying he would be willing to use force to defend the democratic island. (Reuters)
Police reform efforts stall as second anniversary of George Floyd’s murder approaches (WP)
Would the World Be Better Without Philanthropists? (New Yorker)
Uyghur abuse files go public as U.N. rights chief visits China's Xinijang region (WP)
The Coming Legal Battles Over Abortion Pills (Politico)
The crypto winter is into its ninth week and bitcoin can't shake the chills. From technicals to turnover, market indicators are flashing red or amber for the biggest cryptocurrency, which has lost a third of its value in just two months. (Reuters)
After 3 months, Russia still bogged down in Ukraine war (AP)
Along Ukraine’s northern border with Russia, fears of a new invasion (WP)
Ukraine: 200 bodies found in basement in Mariupol’s ruins (AP)
They basically got everything wrong’: A Russian diplomat speaks out on the war. (NYT)
US to end Russia’s ability to pay international investors (AP)
Russian forces were launching an all-out assault to encircle Ukrainian troops in twin cities straddling a river in eastern Ukraine, a battle which could determine the success or failure of Moscow's main campaign in the east. (Reuters)
Difficult weeks ahead in Donbas, Zelensky warns; E.U. nears oil embargo deal (WP)
Zelenskyy tells NHK Ukraine will not cede any land (NHK)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that President Vladimir Putin was the only Russian official he was willing to meet with to discuss how to end the war. (Reuters)
Putin made ‘big strategic mistake’ in Ukraine, NATO chief says in Davos (WP)
Stormy repeat: NOAA predicts busy Atlantic hurricane season (AP)
The Unique Challenge of Raising Teenagers Right Now (Atlantic)
This 830-million-year-old crystal might contain life. And we're about to open it (NPR)
Flying reptile: Remains of scary prehistoric creature discovered (BBC)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to impose mandatory water restrictions if residents don’t use less on their own as a drought drags on and the hotter summer months approach. [AP]
Monarch butterflies bounce back in Mexico wintering grounds (Guardian)
South Asia’s intense heat wave a ‘sign of things to come’ (AP)
Affection For Restaurant Dialed Back Upon Realization It A Chain (The Onion)
***
TODAY’s LYRICS:
“Just One More”
Written and Sung by (the great) George Jones
Put the bottle on the table
Let it stay there till I'm not able
To see your face in ev'ry place that I go
I've been sitting here so long
Just remembering that you are gone
Well, one more drink of wine
Then if you're still on my mind
One drink, just one more, and then another
I'll keep drinking, it won't matter
I'll just remember that I once had her
I don't know why I sit and cry every day
I've been trying to forget, but I haven't stopped as yet
Well, one more drink of wine
Then if you're still on my mind
One drink, just one more, and then another
Put the bottle on the table
Let it stay there till I'm not able
To see your face in ev'ry place that I go
I've been sitting here so long
Just remembering that you are gone
Well, one more drink of wine
Then if you're still on my mind
One drink, just one more, and then another
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