Brain Hacking / the New Dark Age

             The off-year election results make it clear what matters to inspired voters is not the same stuff the media obsesses about. Reproductive rights issues have now influenced another election though the topic is generally shoved out of news agendas by the obsession with candidate polls, a kind of idiot trail to irrelevance.

         James Fallows, an emeritus wisdom, American journalist, academic, and speech writer said last week it seems the media is more interested in predicting next year’s election than paying attention to the news. Amen!

         I’ve written here of my distress that editors and producers are being reckless in their obsession with dubious polls and the attendant horse race of presidential politics. I blame a generational irrationality. News content managers have come up in an age of click bait, social media streams and distraction. 

        There was a time when political journalism sought to examine record, policy ideas, penetrate campaign organizations and test suitability for office. It appears they now wait for the latest poll and then explain seven ways to Sunday who will win 12 months from now. There is no shortage of "experts" from the political industrial complex to help with the spin.

         Tuesday’s election results benefited those who understand most US voters are still livid about the Supreme Court’s extremist decisions, restrictive state legislatures and the rightwing loud mouth lunacy on school boards. Mom’s for Liberty got pummeled by moms with common sense and civility. 

        People are smarter than social media streams and media simplemindedness that is attracted to the loudest shouting match.

        Most of the preliminary coverage missed what was coming, because the media was too busy trying to predict winners, as Fallows observed on Washington Week

        He knows a thing or two having been a national correspondent for the Atlantic, written for the New York Times, New Yorker, was an editor of US News and World Report, authored several books including a National Book Award winner, has been an academic and a presidential speechwriter. 

         Good journalism, the kind that Fallows generation produced still exists, but you have to get past gaffes, a lack of proportionality, and the current propensity for gotcha. 

        The news media, like politics is more performative today. Less journalism occurs at a time when Americans are less well read and educated, know very little if any history, and they were not taught and so do not understand civics. 

        Many, many Americans have plenty of emotion, and a more than an ample supply of demagogues and simpletons both in politics and media. It is also an age of news and information deserts which only permits a further dumbing down. People let social media algorithms, disinformation and radicalization efforts create their reality and manipulate their behavior. It is an age of brainwashing and group think.

        Coverage of the Hamas barbarism and Israel's response and self defense is demonstrative of how far we have descended, how little critical reason is applied and how intellectually bankrupt we have become.

        Here is one tier of a deep and complicated conflict that samples public and media response:

            

        Criticizing Hamas is not anti Palestinian. 

        Criticizing Netanyahu and his war policy is not anti semitic and not even anti-Israeli. 

        Praising Hamas is anti semitic and is not automatically pro Palestinian.

        Being pro Palestinian is not automatically pro Hamas.

        Being broken hearted by the scenes of death and destruction is not a political position.

        Maybe that is self evident to you and maybe not. But such relatively simple analysis seems lost in most media coverage and certainly on campuses, in cities and social media.Those simple declarative statements above have become fighting words. We are divided, tribal, rancorous, ready to rage and not at all ready to reason.  And that's only the top of it.

        There is complexity, nuance, and detail in ancient adversarial relationships. The involvement of terrorism makes it even more complicated. 

        Yet American screens are filled with hatred and irrationality and very few seem to be interested in anything but expressing angry views, even if they are illegitimate. When they are thrown into the media mix reason has no chance. No one listens.

        War is an ultimate human failing. Warfare is anti human, anti life and irrational.

        I heard an interview today where a Palestinian woman described the ordeal of evacuating a hospital under orders. At no time did the interviewer ask her about the Hamas military operation that was being conducted out of the hospital, nor were there questions about the tunnels below the hospital. A listener who has not read further, heard other sources, or knew of the Hamas tactic of hiding behind civilians would have a takeaway impression that was born out of incomplete knowledge or ignorance, by another name. The interviewer, the media source was at fault for not applying scrutiny, the challenge of a neutral examination, an attempt at objective understanding. Confirm, verify, question.

        I've been to Gaza, the West Bank, into what was Palestinian "territory" and understand the historic anger and the depressed conditions.

        I sat in Jericho with former combatants, Arabs and Jews.

        I've been to a Kibbutz and spent time with man named Uzi, whose parents were original settlers of Israel. He remembers being a boy and having to lay flat on the floor as his home was shelled by enemies in the evening. 

        I met with diplomats from the Palestinian Authority and their counterparts from the Israeli Foreign Ministry. These men had spent years working on sharing roads, moving produce from one zone to another, easing border crossings, protecting water supplies, trying to manage the daily tasks of commerce and agriculture. They thought that by making business together they would not make war.

        I spent days with a Nobel Peace nominee, a Palestinian Christian who was an Israeli citizen. He build schools and a peace institute where Palestinian, Israeli, Muslim, Jew, Druze and Christian children lived and studied together.

        

        Leaders with agendas can wreck and stifle constructive progress. Zealots are dangerous leaders no matter how they pray.

        All of this is to say, what we seen on our screens is horrible, human failure, violence that is evil. War is hell. It has human allies. 

       What we see on screens from America is so often imprecise, without context, so brutally mis-understood and unquestioned. And too we see the way people far away from the hellish reality of Gaza and Israel shout slogans, carry banners, injure and harm other humans, invoke deep hatred and because of what?

        Ignorance, lack of knowledge, stupidity led actions are on a holiday feast in America. Intolerance, hatred, narrow-mindedness, zealotry are on the rampage. They are fed by politicians, media failures, and by people who do not think or do not reason. 

        There is a reason they are called ancient hatreds, but there was a time when journalists and analysts tried to lance the ignorance, or at least lend understanding. Now media exacerbates at worse, or wastes opportunity to bring light.

        I've used the example of the Gaza incursion response to terrorism. But modern political media shows itself to be frequently incompetent on a far less grievous though important matter, American presidential politics, where in their mind the campaign is never over.

        Rather than obsession with irrelevant political polls, that change weekly, and inside the beltway gossip, more time could be devoted to examination of policy options, deep dives into the complexity of the conflicts, the culture war, the threat of a government that cannot compromise, what to do about two set's of "truth", why has a political industrial complex turned our electoral system into a business? 

        Too often media, and it is particularly so these days and with a younger media cadre, is complicit because they are being "played" by a political industry that has learned how to manipulate and spin. Sometimes the old dogs in a news organization had the best sense of things. They'd been around.

        After nearly a half century of chasing deadlines and news I think a dose of old fashioned ethic, skepticism and standards are much needed. Cheers to the old boys and old girls who straddled the world's news from the end of a world war, through a cold war, got beaten and hosed and had dogs turned on them as they covered the struggle for civil rights, who's coverage of Asian wars shook the moorings and exposed the deceit, who investigated a corrupt presidency, challenged government foibles, tested candidates, exposed scandal, and took seriously the idea of being a watchdog of the public's right to know. 

        Edward R. Murrow, father of modern broadcast journalism said something about television that can be applied to all screens, phones and pads included and to the content we consume.

            

            "This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference."

        See you down the trail.  

        

Israel As Warning...

 

    In the tragedy that is Israel and Gaza are implications the US should be chilled by.

    Israel's intelligence and security failures are rooted in the Netanyahu right wing coalition. His own worst intentions are abetted by extremists in his government. It's a bad mix and they've been on an authoritarian track, trying to weaken the Supreme Court, with too much fixation on West Bank settlers and those issues, as well as staving off what has been a national uprising. Serious distractions and they now recoil from slaughter. They must square it with their personal and national soul that they too are responsible for the brutality and blood bath. They lost focus.

    American Intelligence executives tried to send warnings about activity in Gaza. The Netanyahu coalition's most deadly sin is being so out of alignment with the will of the Israeli majority, caused by the unholy coalition's goal of holding onto power just to have power. Sound familiar?

    Netanyahu's corruption charges were trouble enough, but the extremists he has bedded stained and poisoned a government that more than any has fought to maintain it's existence, legitimacy and it's own worst demons. They were weakened by their own hand and failed at being resolute and alert.

    That almost sounds like a US story.

    A twice impeached, 4 time indicted insurrectionist sociopath liar, who threatens to be a "president of revenge" who will change how America government works could be in a position to be elected. That frightening possibility speaks to the inherent danger in our own nation including the crippled intellect of US citizens with the right to vote and who could find a way to work the electoral college to put a deranged and dangerous man back in office. 

    The MAGA party has poisoned the republican party and has made the US House of Representatives inoperative at a time when our own financial existence and   security demand action. They are breaking the government, with intention. They are weakening us.

     Our national security leaders talk about the instability and ignorance of Trump when he was commander in chief. 

    Scalise and Jordan are men with such repugnant personal flaws that their authoritarian and anti democracy politics have to take second place in why they are too whakadoodle to be House speaker.

    The same anti American forces are trying to undercut aid to Ukraine. I have written previously of an intelligence brief in which I participated shortly after Russia invaded. Intelligence officers from the US, UK, Canada and France said Putin's strategy would be to outlast US and western resolve. He counts on on the US giving up. His agents in the republican party, the insurrectionists and anti democracy caucus are working to stop our assistance of Ukraine. That could be deadly.

    History teaches what happens when an invading force like Russia, or a Hamas, or a Hitler led Germany are not stopped. Posts here 5 and 6 years ago, drawing parallels of the rise of German and Italian fascism to the take over of the Republican party and the rise of the MAGA cult drew criticism from some. I think more people have come around to understanding the warning.

    When we look at Israel, now at war, and at war with itself too, we should see other warning signs. 

    See you down the trail.

SAYING IT-IMPRINTING IT AND A BETTER WAY

NIGGERS, FLAGS AND RACISTS

    The words are still shocking, even more so from an 11 year old.

    "They ought to kill all the niggers or send them back to the slave houses. The stupid old niggers are the problem."

     The petulant girl was the daughter of the kleagle of a particularly active and virulent cell of the ku klux klan. Her words were pivotal in a documentary demonstrating how racism is passed through generations. 

      I covered the klan and extremist groups in the mid 60's and years later wrote and produced KLAN to portray how and why racism and racial hatred is so deeply woven into the American fabric. David Brinkley, one of the national Emmy judges, along with Senator Barry Goldwater, called KLAN "One of the most important hours in television." A national Emmy is an honor but little good that program or many other fine journalistic efforts have done to sear the disease of racism from society.

       A friend and Presbyterian pastor was active in the struggle that got the confederate flag removed from atop the Dome at the Statehouse in Columbia South Carolina. That it still flies anywhere is symptomatic of the disease. 

      Despite comments about heritage, legacy, history or any honey tongued justification, the flag is all about racism, white supremacy and slavery. Ta-Nehisi Coates in this Atlantic piece presents the very words of the confederacy and their political leaders. They are convicted by their own uttering. 

     The racist front continues in the existent celebration and heritage of the confederacy in the south; streets, highways, schools bearing the name of confederate leaders along with statues, monuments and cultural icons. We can not afford to forget facts and must seek to understand the pathology of the culture, but we should not elevate the symbols and names of those who sought to keep humans enslaved, denied of their rights, liberties and dignity and made war to do so. 

    The flag belongs in an historical museum, as a nazi swastika or heraldry is kept. It is an object of study. It is a token of a shamed and hateful ideology. The flag itself will not spur a supremacist to violence but its very flying near a seat of government is a nod and wink that condones a perpetuation of the hatred. 

    Whether on license plates, belt buckles, t-shirts, bumper stickers, in media or even tattoos, anything that celebrates slavery should be seen for what it is, evil and a discredited idea banished to the ash bin of history.

    Words carry emotional history. We debated and anguished over inclusion of the girl's words. I debated with myself in telling the story in this post. Such is testament to the sensitivity and respect that is due, but "to each his own," unless it inflicts pain, as does the confederate flag.

    A post script: Hoagland Jr. High School in Ft. Wayne was a mix of Black, Hispanic and Caucasians-almost an equal split with fewer Caucasians. Our basketball team was predominately Black with a few Latinos and a couple of us white guys.  In the final moment of a city tourney game our center, Roosevelt (Rosie) Dodds made an incredible hook shot giving us a win. As we triumphantly moved to the locker room several of my team mates deliriously gave Rosie high fives, cheering "way to go Nigguh."  I lined up behind a black mate and when I got to Rosie's locker I gave him a high five and said "way to go Nigguh."  Rosie smiled, picked up his tennis shoe and whacked me on the face. Still smiling, extending his hand to pick me up he said "but you ain't no Nigguh!" Rosie taught me a lesson, vivid today as it was years ago.

     BTW we aired a 10th Anniversary reprise of KLAN.

The sassy and hateful little girl had grown up. She was still at home but had been banished to a trailer on the families property. She apologized to our viewers saying she had changed her mind and learned real history. She was working with "African Americans" and considered one a good friend. 

A FATHER OF PEACE

      The man on the left is Elias Chacour, thrice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I recalled the week I spent with Father Chacour as I read of recent Druze violence in the middle east.

       Chacour has done what no one else has. He's brought Druze, Muslim, Orthodox, Arab, Palestinian, Jew and Christian together.

  I shot this assemblage of every middle eastern faction imaginable-Israeli government, Palestinian, Druze, Muslim, Arab, Christian, Melkite Catholic, Orthodox. Chacour had convened them to dedicate a new building at his remarkable Peace school in Ibillin in the hills of Galilee.    

  Struggling against unimaginable odds, it seems no one wanted him to succeed, Chacour created a school where Jew, Muslim, Druze, Palestinian and Christian children studied together. I was there as a journalist and was overwhelmed his achievement. I was indelibly impressed by 

by the courage and extraordinary quality of the man. We had hours of conversation driving across Israel, in his garden, at dinners and in his home. We watched him work his efforts at reconciliation. Chacour was born in Galilee and considers himself a Palestinian-Arab-Christian citizen of Israel. He is truly a peace maker, perhaps the hardest job on the planet.

      Role models are important, as are images and symbols.
To what do we owe our attention?

SOMETHING NICE IN PARTING

  With appreciation to my daughter Katherine!

   See you down the trail.

     

AT THE EDGE AND WHY NOT?

CREATING STABILITY

    Old ideas have failed for centuries so we propose a novel approach to fixing the middle east.  That follows below.

LANDS END

    Surf Lullaby

    Into 22 mph North Westerly wind-motor, not a day for the sail.

   Shore texture

 Dedicated to the US Congress. Your ideas on why?

  Soar patrol 1

  Soar patrol 2

A NOVEL PLAY 

in a tired old drama

     Dexter Filkins has proven himself to be one of the sharpest observers and thus experts on the middle east. The former New York Times writer, Pulitzer winner and current New Yorker writer stands tall in my eyes because aside from his skill, he and I share a theory.  We believe what is unfolding in the middle east is the latest incarnation of a war for power and control in Islam-Shia vs Sunni.  Nation state is of less importance than who's version of Islam, fundamentalist at that, dominates.  Our blundering into and out of Iraq only enabled the larger battlefield.  So, with that as pretext here is my magic bullet solution for the region.

    We create a coalition to internationalize the region, starting with the Saudi oil fields, and then internationalize Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and maybe Oman. The border states would be Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and Iran.

    The enforcing coalition would be the US, Russia, China as the big 3 with more power but would also include the Euro block, ASEAN, the Southern Hemisphere (African and South America) and finally the unit of Canada and Northern Europe.

    In essence the big 3 runs the new cartel, assigning oil distribution allotments, pricing, flow and etc to the world. The full coalition provides security and infrastructure control for the new middle east. Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Jordan and Israel become operating partners for commerce, social services, education, and economic development in the internationalized region. 

    The Saudi Royal family would be given the option to move to Mecca, that remain would under their control, but the bulk of their military, wealth and the remainder of the kingdom become internationalized. Some of the opulence and wealth we are familiar with would be utilized to build up the quality of life of citizens of the internationalized region. The Royals would be given a discreet amount of time in which to affect their move, after that they are out of luck. 

    In the process much of the British and French partitioning of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WW I, the bastardly and stupid progenitor to much of the regions troubles since, could be partially erased.  The continuing Arab-Israeli friction gets absorbed into the larger construct of maintaining a regional peace and economic vitality.

    The current bad ass, the Islamic State, is snuffed quickly with Russia, China and the US standing on the same sight of the barrel, pointed at them!

    Yea, I know it's a pipe dream but nothing else is working and I think our hope for the future is innovation, new ideas, creative options and bold imagining.  

See you down the trail. 

    

THE SHIRT-A MARIJUANA MIRACLE-LIKE A CARTOON

OK-HERE'S THE SHIRT

     This blog is nothing if not sensitive to you, dear reader. Several of you responded that I should have shown the neon yellow tennis shirt which earned me such derision last week.  Some of my tennis mates even suggested I should show the shirt.  OK, I hear you.

   I admit it is way out of my usual white or blue color zone, but I've been reminded that a couple of others have been seen sporting the color on the pro circuit.

The great champion Rafa Nadal...

Courtesy of thesidelinesagenda.com

...and the battling Argentinian Juan Martin Del Potro

Courtesy straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com

     Wow is it empowering to be linked in the same post to Nadal and Del Potro!  Pretentious and absurd too!

A MARIJUANA MEDICAL MIRACLE?

     Dr. Sanjay Gupta, one of the best of the broadcast journalists, presented an astounding and heart rending story  in his CNN Special Report WEED.  The piece linked here, details how a compound in marijuana has essentially saved and then improved the life of a young girl with a medical condition that results in seizures.  As a result of the success many other children are being treated as well.

     I was surprised to learn that Israeli medical researchers are leading the world in finding medical application for marijuana in treating dementia and cancer-the disease states and not just the symptoms. 

     CNN is attempting to reassert itself as a valued news organization and Gupta's work is a big piece of that.  He's found a way to report medicine and science in an accessible and enlightening manner.

LIKE A CARTOON

    I saw this the other day and thought the termite control tenting made it look like a cartoon house-something out of a Tim Burton movie.

   See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER-MAKING IT WORK

BRIDGES NOT WALLS

      On an assignment in Israel I spent time with a team of diplomats from both Israel and a Palestinian coalition.  They had been working together for a couple of years on purely business issues; access to air lanes, trucking, water and resources, shipment of material and finished goods and the like.  Their logic was that if the two sides were busy doing business, they would be less likely to be at war.  It was a back channel kind of diplomacy, but it was working. And the representatives from both sides had become friends, even entertaining each other in their homes.

       My friend Beverly sent this video which goes a long way to make that point.  Ending a week when the President visited Israel, our Weekender Video is an inspiration for what is possible.

DELICIOUS 

     Since our move to the California Central Coast we have

discovered that Paella is a favorite of many.  Here's a sampler.  Enjoy

    Have a good weekend.  See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) GIFTS FOR ALL

THE CONCEPT IS TO ENJOY

     On most Fridays the words of Tamar, a driver I hired in Israel come into mind, "no self respecting Israeli man would come home on Friday without flowers."

      Friday's and weekends are special, especially here at THE WEEKENDER:) where the point is fun.

     ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS WATCH

But these may make you want to move

     A couple of special WEEKENDER :) videos this weekend and they've been highly suggested by friends and readers.

       The irony of the first video is part of the amusement-

(as always I suggest you watch on youtube in a larger format-just remember to come back to Light/Breezes)

     You don't need to be a basketball fan to enjoy this one.

You are in on the secret-the "old man, Uncle Drew" is really 

Kyrie Irving, the 2012 NBA Rookie of the year.  Make sure to 

watch the faces of the people who are looking on once 

"Uncle Drew get's going."

(as always I suggest you watch on youtube in a larger format-just remember to come back to Light/Breezes)

Have a great weekend.

See you down the trail.

A LONG WAY TO GO FOR FOIE GRAS

ENDANGERED DINING 

     The San Luis Obispo Tribune headline called it a Foie Gras Feeding Frenzy. 

      As of July 1, there is a ban on selling Foie Gras in California.  Once again the Golden State leads the nation, but this prohibition has a lot of foodies yelling.  They're yelling only while not taking part in a crazed binge of Foie Gras consumption.

      A few leading chefs have launched an appeal, but the legislation establishing the ban was passed in 2004 and allowed a long lead in.  Not long enough for those who enjoy the fattened liver of geese or ducks.  

     The law bans the use of forced feeding, a pipe stuffed down the esophagus.  It is a cruel technique and the 71/2

year grace period was designed to allow chefs and culinary experts to find a less barbaric way to fatten the livers. 

      Foie Gras is a centuries old delicacy and while it's bad for goose & gander, and can wreck your cholesterol levels and waist line, it is a rare and delicious taste. Many Californians are now stuffing themselves and discussing ways around the ban.

      I've enjoyed Foie Gras, never once thinking about how it was derived.  Maybe I should have been more sensitive.  Still, in the hands of a master chef, it is out of this world.

      The most unusual place I had Foie Gras was a half a world away.

     I was on assignment in the middle east and ended up in the "autonomous zone," what the PLO called Palestine.

    Jericho, where the wall came tumbling down, was

home to some of the best Foie Gras in the world,

      served in this restaurant off Allenby road. 
    With the exception of the staff and our group, the place was empty. Inside and out men carried weapons. 

    I sat with Uzi, the son of original Israeli settlers and freedom fighters, in an Arab restaurant in Jericho eating the largest goose livers I'd seen, served off swords direct from an open grill. They were larger than steaks. 

    The host, excessively proud of the humongous livers, joined us in what struck me as a possible new avenue of diplomacy.

   For a couple of hours we drank Arabic tea, ate salad

and pounds of the giant livers.  Pounds of Foie Gras, that kept coming in waves, hot off the sword as Uzi and his counterpart talked, argued and debated the future of Israel, Palestine, peace and war amidst the curling smoke of cigarettes and sizzling Foie Gras.

    I maybe wrong, but I can't imagine the fancy Foie Gras farewell feast they held in Pebble Beach could have held a candle to that afternoon in Jericho.

    See you down the trail.

WAR CLOUDS OVER IRAN & SPRING IS SPRUNG

THE MOVE IS IRAN'S

     The best analysis comes down to this-Iran will be hit by

an Israeli strike unless it shows the world a sign that it has or 

will shut down its nuclear weapons program.

     As a counter to the almost universal attitude of an inevitable Israeli strike is the threat by the supreme leader,

Ayatolla Khamenei that a strike on Iran would be more damaging to the United States.  
     Iran calls the US freezing of Iran's assets "psychological warfare" as they have begun a series of war games.
     Clearly the situation is a tinderbox. Israelis have stepped up security and Jewish organizations in the US and elsewhere have been told to do likewise.  US Military and Intelligence warn that an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program would prompt an Iranian missile retaliation.
     The statement today by Khamenei is deemed a serious escalation.  Until now western sources have tried to portray the Iranian regime as being rogue and even without support of Iranians.  Now that the holy man has spoken, it will make it tougher on those elements in Iran who have been identified
as reasonable or pro western. The power remains someplace between the megalomania of Ahmadinejad and the zealotry of the Ayatolla. 
     Tricky and critical at this time.

DAY BOOK

NATURAL RHYTHM

     Coastal California is getting some needed rain today.

Amounts vary, but any precipitation is welcomed. It may be 

drier than it should be, but spring has arrived.  After 5 years

on the Central Coast, this former mid-westerner is still amazed to see blooms in early February.  We used to wait till

late March or April.  

 This is also the time of year when controlled burns are permitted.

      A personal note.  Congrats to Indianapolis for the superb job of hosting the Super Bowl.  Many friends and former colleagues were involved in a myriad of functions.

I have enjoyed hearing their reports and was proud

of how it all looked and came together.

     See you down the trail.