THEY WILL BE A FORCE

   From California to Washington DC a generational force spoke with a clear, concise and powerful voice. People under 18, who have lived their lives in an age of mass slaughter and school shooter drills say enough! No more BS. They have their own targets, the NRA and Congressman who are on the NRA payroll.

     I have been blown away by the articulate and reasoned voice of this generation, who we have seen and heard since Parkland. 
     Local media said some 7,000 people were expected at the march and rally in San Luis Obispo, a city of 49 thousand. 
     

        The signs say it all.

    The local students were stunning in their candor, power, eloquence and force.

     I've covered protests and rallies since the 1960's and I've rarely been as impressed as I was today.  These kids give us hope.

    See you down the trail.

FACEBOOK- CRIME, MANIPULATION and FREEDOM

     Facebook has big problems. It is an existential crisis and it has spin off tentacles that reach to the very core of the US culture and into the private life of millions around the planet.
    The US Federal Trade Commission and some 6 congressional committees are investigating how 50 Million users had their personal data breached in an act connected to the king of deceit and hustle, president sleaze.
     Since news of the trump minions stealing data Facebook has lost nearly $50 Billion in market cap. That is the largest two day drop ever.  
      The data harvesting was done by Cambridge Analytica and their CEO has been suspended.
       While Facebook stumbles forward, Google is investing $300 Million in what it's calling the Google News Initiative, designed to support media by boosting real journalism and fighting misinformation. This is significant. 
       Facebook is full of fake news, was used by Russian efforts to affect the 2016 Presidential election and was used famously by Brad Parscale. He talked openly about swinging key and decisive Pennsylvania and Michigan voters for trump by feeding them tailor made information on Facebook. Now Parscale heads up the trump 2020 election. Are you picking up any cues here? Are you the least bit worried about the future-your future, and especially if you are a Facebook devotee?

       Google's promise of $300 Million to combat news fraud
comes as real and serious US and foreign journalists  begin to work on something called "Algorithmic Accountability."
        Two quick notes-sadly most people get their information from social media---old time media with gate keepers and fact checkers is loosing ground to the digital generation that is fast and cute. And most people are lazy about their information intake-too often relying on limited sources-going only for headlines and not substance-and often getting it from sources that feed their own bias or mind set. It is true for online media, but Fox News and MSNBC are prime examples of "silo" information and viewers on cable. We note too, fewer people are paying attention to television and most of those who do are older.
       But all generations are caught in this snare of algorithms.
It is computer intelligence and big data making decisions and doing so tenaciously and rapidly, beyond the control of you, or me or any human system. Algorithmic Accountability is a very important topic and story.
       After you research a topic you start getting ads on your computer about that-algorithms at work. Cambridge Analytica steals your personal data for the trump gang and heaven only knows what kind of bilge dredge you will get from the Parscale team or who ever else the trump gang may sell the information to. You also worry about the fact once your data is breached almost anyone can get to it and use it, including those pictures of your children or grand children or your private communication about your diagnosis, or your comments about despised cousin Gertie and etc. Mark Zuckerberg made millions while you shared your life and all your personal data on his little platform and you've been screwed. First by him, but then by the Russians, and the trumps, and the swindlers and the hustlers who can manage slick computers and algorithms.

more than annoyance

      But algorithmic manipulation raises questions about our future freedoms. Reporters have learned that since 2012 the New Orleans police department has used "predictive policing" in a pro bono relationship with Palantir Technologies.  Do you remember the film Minority Report, where Tom Cruse used that swipe technology to arrest people before they did something the computer predicted? That is predictive policing and it certainly raises important legal questions-not the least of which--Is the data any good-or right, and what happens to due process and rules of evidence?  
     Palantir tried to get into the Chicago PD, but they already had an algorithmic program of predictive policing developed by a university. Doesn't the concept of predictive policing sound as though it needs sober human oversight?There is no doubt that data analysis can help police determine high crime areas and likelihood of occurrence. Studying history does in fact help us decipher the future. However, as a free people who value liberties, we need to know what is going on when people begin to point artificial and machine intelligence in certain directions. And when machines function more rapidly and on a broader scale than our human minds, we need to make sure laws are firm and enforced. We've already experienced algorithmic abuse.

      Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea of Facebook back in college and created a world changing company. A personal note. I've never joined Facebook for a number of reasons but among them is this. Everything that Facebook has to make it valuable belongs to you. It is your information, photographs, writing, comments, your life and unbeknownst to you all of the underpinning data of your life. You willingly give that up and get nothing back for it, while Zuckerberg and company have become billionaires by selling your information. I said in the beginning if Facebook wanted to be right about things they would be like REI or another cooperative. You as a user could get value for the activity you generate and share. The more you used it, the more value you got back, either as stock, cash or some kind of cash value like coupons. 
     Friends have told me, "well, we get a medium or a platform, a network and connectivity." There is no such thing as a free lunch.
      We don't know what will happen to Facebook, or Zuckerberg and company. Nor do we know how the theft of of personal data for the trump gang will play into those investigations.  We don't know what Google's efforts will bring in their attempt to make social media more responsible or what the journalistic efforts at algorithmic accountability will yield. But I offer up a time worn journalistic wisdom. It was true way back when and it will be true to tomorrow, "follow the money!"  When you follow the money you always have a good story and more often than not, you find crime.
       And so we have again, Facebook has been an accomplice, at least. The US Presidential election, the national culture and you have been victimized. The story is not over.

        See you down the trail.

Is he the future?

   In a striking way, Dr. Stephen Hawking may have been the first of the new breed of human being. He charted new horizons and boundaries in science and left an intellectual imprint that is among the giants of all bipeds who have inhabited this terrestrial ball. He did it of course despite a body that was betrayed by a disease. 
   It was the brain and the spirit of Hawking that lived while his body barely did. That he defied the odds of his demise for a half a century is in itself extraordinary, then we are left stunned by the output of his life, mind stretching output. Hawking defined the point of a human life. The intellect and what we do with it. All of our bodies will fail eventually, either by age or disease and the sum of our existence will derive from the output of our brain and our spirit. What did we do?
    Wealth, fame, athletic accomplishment last for only so long, no manner how grand they may be. Hawking shows us that human spirit and the mind is unlimited.
     Who knows what awaits human kind as we continue to poison and despoil our planet, as disease, famine, and war, continue to threaten as they have through all of history, or as we surrender our mental health to screens, entertainment, commercialization and when materialism erodes spirituality and intellectuality. Regardless of any or of all of the above, Hawking demonstrates true human potential resides in that unique link between the on board human computer-the brain and our uniquely human essence, the spirit. 
      It may be that our progeny will live more as brains, human computers, cyborg fused connections of mechanical bodies. They may live where birth right, disability, illness, are simply complications that are transcended and barely relevant to the power of mind and the capacity of our spirit.
     We are in debt to Stephen Hawking for being a great intellectual power and scientist, but also for overcoming the frailty and certain failure of physical existence by living powered by his mind and spirit. In the vernacular of our age he was the real Super Hero.

     As if we really need another indication, but the dismissal of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by social media demonstrates the despicable nature of the person in question. It is the act of a coward, unfit and unqualified and completing lacking of character.  
     The man who occupies the oval office is as far from the standard of a good or worthy human being as we can imagine. He is as far from a Stephen Hawking as light is from dark.
     I am no less convinced of the danger he poses now than when I was first reviled by the slimy way he conducted himself in the republican primary. We had warnings from his previous life. And it was back in the election cycle that dozens of former military, state department, intelligence and political leaders took the unprecedented action of warning the public about him.
    Though he is perhaps the most reviled and unpopular president in history, he has defenders, still.  And so on this day when we mourn Stephen Hawking, the president is a kind of litmus test or bell weather of how far down the road of selfishness, greed, depravity, lack of knowledge and stupidity this nation has stumbled. That is why the extraordinary life of Stephen Hawking is such an inspirational antidote. 
     Hawking is human worthy of celebration. The president is a low life hustler worthy of our contempt. Let's close with one of the president's main stream media friends-of course it's tabloid, just like him.

     Sorry, but we can't accept this regime as normal. It remains a danger to the republic. 

      See you down the trail.

Sanctuary

     Sanctuary is a voluble topic in California, taken seriously and now it's a fighting word.

      The trump administration is suing California, Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Xavier Becerra because of three California laws. The Sanctuary laws restrict how state and local law enforcement  may interact with federal immigration agents. 
      The Feds say the California Values Act and the Immigrant Worker Protection act are a deliberate attempt to hamper enforcement of federal immigration law. Brown says the  state laws protect the progressive attitudes that California embodies.
      The US vs. California on immigration, and other issues too, is a demarcation line. Relative to your view of course, California stands on the side of progress and modernity while the trump minions like Jeff Sessions represent regressive views and attitudes.
      Jerry Brown calls the trump lawsuit "a political stunt." He adds, "It's not about the truth. It's not about protecting our state. It's about diving America."
       Divisive pandering is what won trump the republican nomination. 
       California lives with one foot in the future and for that reason has been a cultural force and attitude determinate since mid 20th Century. 
       Then there is Jerry Brown's straight speaking. In defending the laws passed by the California legislature he said,  "These Laws do not protect criminals.  We have millions of of people here who are here without papers and some of them have been working for 10, 15, 20 years. They've been servicing the economy. A lot of them have been doing the dirty work, whether it's washing dishes, or picking the fruit and now the attorney general is basically initiating a reign of terror."
        ACLU executives spoke about the Bill of Rights at a Dinner Fellowship meeting this week and the conversation turned to sanctuary and the attendant issues.
       Could a group, a church or organization of some structure, provide sanctuary as an extension of the right to free speech and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances? The logic here is to list unfair ICE enforcement or the enabling laws as the grievance and the establishment of a sanctuary as the act of the petition or the exercise of the free speech?
        It gave the ACLU exec pause who said that kind of civil disobedience carried with it the risk of jail. 
        Jail for doing civil disobedience is a staple of American history and our path toward a fuller realization of liberty, freedom and the democracy component of our democratic republic. The suffragettes, the protests of veterans and most notably the lunch counter sit in and protest era of the civil rights movement.
         Out here in the California Republic millions believe ICE, under trump and Sessions, is behaving like a gestapo. Sanctuary spaces are a way of fighting back.
       I spoke with an activist pastor who said when a church decides to create a sanctuary they also assume responsibility for the person or persons; housing, food, and all forms of support because if someone seeking refuge were to leave they would be subject to arrest. Churches are doing it.
      America 2018 and we are possessed of vastly different ideas of how to live together. When I read cases of good people, beloved by their community, tax payers, fully employed, parents, Sunday school teachers, and the like who have been here for 15 to 25 years being shackled and deported, I cannot help but to reflect on how my ancestors were part of the underground railroad that helped slaves escape. I am a descendent of one of the earliest abolitionists.
They violated bad laws that needed changing. They were changed, after effort. 
      If it were all left to regressives like Sessions and trump and their sycophants we might still have slavery markets. 

     a flashback future

    This is from Kyle Communications blog/newsletter.  The Kyle is Kyle Niederpruem who founded a public relations, communications management and content company. I first met Kyle when she was a dogged, diligent and soon to be an award winning newspaper reporter. She was the best of old school journalism. Watching her career and the embrace of communications culture has been a kind of bellwether of how culture has changed. Kyle is still on point and leading the way. Here's link to her site.

on the march

       Dave Congalton is a California central coast radio icon and host of an issues centered interview program. He's also a screen writer and former college professor. I substitute hosted for him one day recently and featured Dawn Addis, a founder of the Women's March out here. The next horizon event for the Women's March movement is The March for Our Lives, an outgrowth of the most recent school slaughter.

      I first covered US protests back in the era of the civil rights movement and then the anti war movement. How could we not be impressed by the millions of Americans who marched after the election and then on the first anniversary.

     This is a wave in American politics that is a high surf. And now I am stunned by the articulate and emphatic intelligence of the school kids who are in our face, as they should be. Dawn, and women like her across the nation, are mentoring and this generation is impressive.  They are not really millennials who were born from the mid 90's to 2000. I interviewed Rutik, an 18 year old, who has grown up in the age of mass slaughter. That chilling reality gives them a unique perspective and we owe it to them to listen. More importantly we need to do a better job of protecting them. Rutik was quick to say they are different and will behave differently, and will not take the same old tired rhetoric from politicians. A high surf indeed.

    See you down the trail.

why we do it...

 
   After being away from this spot for a while, I return by asking you for a moment of personal reflection-privilege as they call it in Congress and parliamentary bodies.
    According to Blogger analytics this is my 1,115 post since I joined this part of the cyberworld in 2010. In 42 years of journalism and broadcasting work, jobs I loved, I was always a bit envious of the columnists, despite the fact friends who did that work said the demand was crushing. They were very good and eventually they phased from a daily deadline.  
    Retirement was an adjustment for this adrenaline junkie hooked on deadlines, travel, the rhythms of news rooms, production suites, the board room, the corner office, corporate conferences, network and other negotiations and far flung producing and directing. At first, I must have driven a few friends crazy with my manic photo downloads as we explored our new and beloved California. One of them, Maura, a precocious, bright, world traveler and world class writer and story teller asked "why don't you write a blog?"
     Maura's idea coincided with my need to build a social media profile as I was finishing my third novel and laying the ground work for another. It was certainly better than napping.

    And so as I decompressed and adjusted from a life of motion, tension and decision making, I looked on blogging as my chance to be that columnist. 

    In a parody of an old bromide, just like the holes in California sandstone, there are a million stories in retirement and leisure.

      Long time readers will remember this began as a daily effort. Soon I was disabused of that fanciful notion. But a new rhythm set in and with it became my sense of obligation and even purpose. 

      This blog has won no pulitzers nor stopped a war, but it's had a seriousness of intent-at least from this side of the keypad. 

      With time it has morphed to include social relevance, politics and opinion examination. And I know it has irritated some, including friends who think I'm a fuzzy headed polemicist.

      So with Lana's recent surgery, my own medical adventures, the arrival of a second grand child, the changes in the life of our eldest and her child's presence and obligations in the community, I've been variously occupied and have been pensive. We've spent time taking long views and pondering.

       A few years ago Bruce, the Catalyst of Oddball Observations and a long time friend and former newsie colleague asked why I cared or spent so much time on some of these topics. "Relax. Enjoy. You're retired. You can't do anything about it anyway. Our time has passed."
       He's right. We no longer have our hands on the controls, but I still care deeply about many things. But in this recent "ponder" I have come to understand it is not for my life span that I am concerned, agitated, motivated, inspired or active. No, it is for a longer deadline, certainly my daughters but even more so for the grand children. 

 Addie

Henry

     Lana and I are somewhat late to grandparent hood, so some of you have crossed the threshold already. 

    Issues matter. Politics, policy, attitude, citizenship, leadership, war, peace, the environment, safety and health all impinge on their future.

     So until I'm beamed aboard a mother ship, or recruited into a tripping, smiley face, "everything is beautiful" cult, or join a revolutionary cadre of the Avengers, or get lost with a band of lotus eaters camping in the Elysian Fields, or hit by a comet, I may irritate or disagree with a few of you. 

     It is my sincere hope that whatever intellectual product is left here, what ever photo images I capture of this life and planet I love so dearly, will be a record for my daughters and my grand children, a trace of what mattered to dad, pops and poppi, and perhaps an element of wisdom, warning, guidance or evaluation. I've come to think of this as a set of post cards from the past.  

    See you down the trail.