5.31 More appearances in the Times Union and other publications about my (non) involvement in An American Crisis.
5.31 Rachel Leibacher dies at 61.
5.30 Ron Brownstein in The Atlantic: “In 2024, Millennials and Gen Z may, for the first time, cast as many ballots as the Baby Boomers and older generations; by 2028, they will almost certainly surpass the older groups. In the fight over the federal budget and debt ceiling—just as in the struggles over cultural issues unfolding in the states—Republicans appear to be racing to lock into law policies that favor their older, white base before the rising generations acquire the electoral clout to force a different direction.”
5.30 The Center for AI Safety: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from A.I. should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war.” “For Tyler Cowen in Bloomberg, the brevity of the statement, backed by an impressive list of signatories including many leaders in the AI field, poses a problem: “Perhaps this is a bold move, and it will help stimulate debate and generate ideas. But an alternative view is that the group could not agree on anything more.” He doesn’t think the current trajectory of AI development poses an existential risk to humanity.
5.24 Tina Turner dies at 83
5.23 Letizia Tagliafierro dies at 50.
5.19 Martin Amis dies at 73.
5.18 Jim Brown dies at 87. Bill Belichick: “The greatest football player, ever. No doubt.” Tim Leyden in SI: “Brown was drafted sixth in 1957 and tore through a career remembered equally for its dominance and brevity. In Brown’s second season, he rushed for an NFL record 1,527 yards and an average of 5.9 yards per carry. He was powerful in the extreme, shedding tacklers like a combine down a wheat field. Giants All-Pro linebacker Sam Huff said, famously, “All you can do is grab hold, hang on and wait for help.” But he was also stunningly nimble for a large man. “He was a combination of a fullback and a halfback,” 
Belichick said. “He had great power and leverage, but he was also very elusive in the open field like a halfback. His quickness, straight-out speed and elusiveness were all exceptional. And he was all of 230 pounds. He was bigger than some of the guys blocking for him. I mean, they might have weighed more, pumped up, but Jim’s hands, his forearms, his girth, he was bigger.” Brown won eight rushing titles in nine years as a pro, winning the rushing title in those years by 242, 736, 293, 156, 101, 845, 277 and 667 yards, respectively. When he retired, he had seasons No. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9 on the single-season rushing leaderboard in NFL history. He walked away as the game’s all-time leading rusher, with 12,312 yards. At the time, after the 1965 season, Joe Perry was second with 9,732 yards, Jim Taylor was third at 7,502 and John Henry Johnson was fourth at 6,577. He’s the only player in NFL history to average more than 100 rushing yards per game over an entire career.”
5.18 Ron Brownstein in The Atlantic: “Resistance to demands for greater gender equality remains a defining attribute of the Trump-era GOP electorate. A national poll conducted last summer by Undem’s firm found that about two-thirds of Republican voters agreed that “women are too easily 
offended,” nearly three-fifths said that “most women interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist,” slightly more than seven in 10 agreed that “these days society seems to punish men just for acting like men,” and almost seven in 10 agreed that “white men are the most attacked group in the country right now.” Most Republicans in that poll also agreed that “there is full equality for women in work, life and politics,” and most agreed that they were “more comfortable with women having traditional roles in society such as caring for children and family.” Further, a preponderant majority of Republicans in the poll expressed unfavorable views of the #MeToo movement, as they did of Black Lives Matter. The common thread linking these GOP views on gender, many scholars say, is the belief that women demanding more equality are really seeking favored treatment and “trying to take away opportunities from men,” Erin Cassese, a University of Delaware political scientist who studies gender and politics, told me. That conviction generates pushback among the men and women alike who feel more comfortable in traditional gender roles: Strikingly, not only did large majorities of Republican men endorse the statements about gender in Undem’s survey, but so too—in almost all instances—did a majority of Republican women. Women who vote for Trump, Schaffner said, feel almost as unfavorable as his male supporters toward “women who are pushing against those traditional gender roles.” As Schaffner noted, one reason Trump’s hold over his supporters is so strong is that he thrills them by publicly denigrating calls for more racial and gender equity in ways that many conservatives have felt “society tells you that you are not really meant to express, or even to think.” That call-and-response was evident during the CNN town hall, as the Republican audience’s enthusiasm encouraged Trump when he mocked Carroll. “It was really the audience reaction that was the most disturbing,” said Jane Junn, a political-science and gender-studies professor at USC, told me. But, she added, after GOP voters (including women) have stuck with Trump amid all his boundary-breaking language and behavior, “it should not surprise us. What have we been witnessing for the past eight years?”
5.12 Shawn graduates from UAlbany.
5.12 Chimamanda Adichie in The Atlantic: “I became Black in America. It was not a choice—my chocolate-colored skin saw to that—but a revelation. I had never before thought of myself as “Black”; I did not need to, because while British colonialism in Nigeria left many cursed legacies in its wake, racial identity was not one of them. . . .To be Black in America was to feel bulldozed by the weight of history and stereotypes, to know that race was always a possible reason, or cause, or explanation for the big and small interactions that make up our fragile lives. To be Black was to realize that it was impossible for people to approach one another with the simple wonder of being human, without the specter of race lying somewhere in the shadows. To be Black was to feel, in different circumstances, frustration, anger, irritation, and wry amusement.”
5.9 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on Deadline White House: “This is not the Clarence Thomas ethics scandal, This is the Clarence Thomas ethics scandal appendage to a much larger inquiry. . . into a very robust, billionaire-funded, very secretive effort to capture and control the Supreme Court.”
5.9 A Manhattan jury finds Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll, and awards her $5.9 million.
5.6 Charles III and Camilla crowned.
5.6 Gerard Gallant fired.
5.5-7 Lake Placid, Mirror Lake, Saranac Lake; John Brown’s farm; the Olympic jumping center; the Olympics Museum, the Herb Brooks Arena; dinner at the Great Adirondack Brewing Company.
5.4 At the Carroll rape trial, Trump’s deposition is played. Asked about the Access Hollywood tape where Trump said “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. . . Grab ’em by the pussy.” Trump said, “Historically, that’s true with stars. If you look over the last million years. . . that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.”
5.3 Speechwriters dinner at Pera on Madison Avenue.
5.3 Treasures exhibit at the New York Public Library. Left, an original copy of The Declaration of Independence
5.1 Gordon Lightfoot dies at 84.
5.1 With an ignominious showing, the Rangers are eliminated by the Devils, 4 games to 3.
5.1 AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, one of the most respected voices in the field, has quit his job at Google. A part of him, he said, now regrets his life’s work. “It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things.”