newyorker--2020-09-27--The Empty Facts of the Breonna Taylor Decision

Not once did they think about Taylor ’ s sister Juniyah , who was away in San Diego that night but otherwise could have been in the next room—because the L.M.P.D .
did not know she had a sister .
And , since they didn ’ t know she had a sister , they couldn ’ t have known that her sister lived with her .
None of these facts—who lived with Taylor , whom she planned to one day marry and have kids with , that she was an essential worker—seemed to matter .
The L.M.P.D .
was indifferent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ considered her home a “ soft target.
” What does that mean ?
The dictionary defines it as “ a person or thing that is relatively unprotected or vulnerable , especially to military or terrorist attack.
” Hard targets are fortified , secure , and prepared to encounter a threat .
If this were a white woman , who lived over in the upper-middle-class neighborhood of Hurstborne , would the police have decided to take out a warrant on her ?
If this was a white woman whose ex-boyfriend had dealt cocaine , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life by seeking to obtain a no-knock arrest warrant ?
When the Louisville Metro government arrived at a settlement of twelve million dollars for Breonna Taylor ’ s family , it was not saying that this is the monetary value for Taylor ’ s priceless , priceless life—nor even for her wrongful death .
It was saying that that is how much it is willing to pay for the same kind of violence not to be visited upon a white Louisvillian .
Indifference to life seems to matter when using a weapon , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much vaster powers of the state as a weapon .
Cameron again : “ Our investigation showed—and the grand jury agreed—that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in the return of deadly fire after having been fired upon by Kenneth Walker .
Let me state that again .
According to Kentucky law , the use of force by Mattingly and Cosgrave was justified to protect themselves .
This justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges in Ms. Breonna Taylor ’ s death.
” Return of deadly fire ?
A few words on that : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Shoot .
Anyone .
When Cameron was asked a question about the percentage of people of color who were on the team of investigators who presented to the grand jury , he responded , “ Well , I ’ m Black , and I speak for the entire department .
And I hope that will satisfy that question.
” No , it does not .
Cameron hopes that the fact of his Blackness will serve as the final answer to whether this Black woman , Breonna Taylor , received justice .
No @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long as there are two separate justice systems in this country , there is no justice .
Cameron said , “ The truth is now before us .
The facts have been examined and a grand jury comprised of our peers and fellow-citizens has made a decision.
” Yet , when he was asked , “ Can you talk about the racial and gender makeup of the grand jury ?
, ” Cameron punted and evaded , saying , “ I won ’ t get into the specifics of the makeup of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a case that is all about how a racist system arrives at the door of an innocent woman and dispenses with her like collateral damage , one would hope Cameron would be eager to get into the specifics about who decides what justice looks for Breonna Taylor .
Perhaps Cameron ’ s largest omission was his refusal to acknowledge the partiality of the judicial system in which he works .
It ’ s a system that can construct a fiction with facts .
It can ghost on some facts , treating them as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , curate others , and flatten yet others .
It can also mash two facts together , so that they seem like their opposite .
Take this report from Kentucky WAVE 3 News , posted on March 13th : “ Three LMPD officers were identified Friday , hours after being fired upon while trying to serve a search warrant .
A man who was inside the home surrendered following the shootout with officers in the 300 block of Springfield Drive at about 12:30 a.m. Friday .
When officers secured the home , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
She has not been identified.
” This makes it seem as though the man—Kenneth Walker—was the target of the search warrant .
“ Fired upon ” makes it seem as though the police themselves were withstanding the hail of gunfire , not the death-dealers of it .
“ Surrendered ” makes it seem as though Walker was guilty ; that he was forced to surrender—not that the L.M.P.D .
had no idea who he was , and took him into custody and then pinned false charges on him .
“ Shootout ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not that one person fired a shot , then got blasted with more than thirty rounds in return .
The “ officers secured the home ” makes it seem like the officers actually knew what the hell they were doing and were in control of the situation .
They “ found a woman dead from gunfire , ” as though they just waltzed from room to room , in their official capacity , and happened upon a dead woman— “ a woman dead from gunfire.
” Yes .
Their gunfire .
Leave out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reader is left believing that the woman ’ s death must be at the hands of the man who “ surrendered.
” And how is it that “ she has not been identified ” ?
Her name was on the warrant .
Of course , she had been identified .
They said as much to Taylor ’ s mother , Tamika Palmer , after they sent her to the hospital for two hours , when the truth was her daughter was not at the hospital : Taylor lay in her home , bleeding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to seek out medical attention for the woman whom they shot .
Why ?
Because they had messed up .
Big time .
Yet had people not worked tirelessly to uncover the truth of what happened—the truth that had been buried underneath a morass of facts—Breonna Taylor might still be remembered as a suspect and some drug kingpin ’ s moll , not a tireless essential worker whose goal in life was to help people .
Hankison would still be lauded as a hero , despite his multiple disciplinary infractions .
Walker would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for attempted murder , because ( fact ) he was initially charged with murder of a police officer—a fact that is not only a lie about his actions but a complete impossibility , as no police had been killed .
Yet , in his role as prosecutor , Cameron can present the grand jury with the facts he wants to present—a blizzard of facts that can blind the truth , if he chooses to do so .
The police said that they announced themselves .
Though it ’ s true that they claim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ themselves is contested , given that most witnesses say that they did not .
This is what the Louisville civil-rights attorney Larry Simon calls “ a disputed fact.
” The police were justified in returning fire .
Kentucky State law says that both Walker and the police have justifiable self-defense claims : Walker ’ s is Kentucky ’ s Stand Your Ground law and “ castle doctrine , ” which submits that Kentuckians may seek to protect themselves or their loved ones in self-defense , and have no duty to retreat or submit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in returning fire when an officer is threatened with bodily harm or injury .
These are two competing claims of self-defense .
Walker is justified in defending himself against an intruder , but an intruder is not justified in breaking into a home .
The only class of people who may break into your home are the police , but even the police bear the burden of proving why they may break into your home .
They must obtain a lawful search warrant : that is what brings them to the door under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intruders—like anyone else entering without your permission .
And , according to Kentucky law , you have a right to protect and defend yourself against intruders .
The determination of whether Walker ’ s claim would nudge out the L.M.P.D.
’ s would therefore depend upon the legality of the search warrant and the timing of when the police identified themselves .
Yet how can we know what this particular instance looked like with no footage of what happened at the scene ?
Ask the cops ?
Use the officers ’ testimony as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that kept up the pretense for weeks that it was Taylor who shot at them ?
The same L.M.P.D .
that said officers “ found a woman dead from gunfire ” ?

Those seeking justice for Breonna Taylor’s death were denied it on Wednesday, when a Kentucky grand jury refused to charge any of the officers who shot at her with murder or manslaughter. Taylor, a twenty-six-year-old E.M.T., had finished back-to-back shifts and was dozing off with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, when three Louisville Metro Police Department officers, who were dressed in plain clothes, knocked on her door and then broke it down with a battering ram. Her boyfriend shot in the direction of the threat—toward the door. The three policemen proceeded to empty more than thirty rounds into Taylor’s apartment, killing her. The only indictment was for Brett Hankison, who, in firing his weapon without a clear target and into the adjacent apartments, was alleged to have acted in a manner that rose to “wanton endangerment.” His actions were deemed to have fallen short of “wanton manslaughter,” as none of his bullets were, according to Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron, the fatal one that ended Taylor’s life.
There’s a lot that is just god-awful wrong here, but let’s talk about Cameron. During his press conference on Wednesday, he placed a great emphasis on “facts” as, of course, one would expect of an attorney general. But Cameron has his own interpretation of who can grasp the facts. After announcing the grand-jury decision, he stood at the podium and said, “There will be celebrities, influencers, and activists, who, having never lived in Kentucky, will try to tell us how to feel, suggesting they understand the facts of this case and that they know our community and the Commonwealth better than we do. But they don’t.”
I’m from Kentucky. I’m a Louisvillian. Yet my being from Louisville has no bearing whatsoever on whether I can “understand the facts of this case” any more than can Beyoncé, of Houston, Texas. Anyone who has read the history of the South—especially that of Reconstruction and Jim Crow—is familiar with this “us”-insiders-versus-“them”-outsiders language deployed by Cameron: it’s the language of white-supremacist segregationists who demonized “outside agitators” and condemned any federal oversight or laws telling them how to act or who to be. According to segregationist thinking, the racist customs of the South were her own to determine. Cameron continued, “Let’s not give into their attempts to influence our thinking or capture our emotions. At the end of the day, it is up to us. We live here together. We work here and raise our families here together.”
This sounds like the Alabama- and North Georgia-reared Mitch McConnell speaking. Which is not to say that Cameron could not have constructed a segregationist modus operandi to fit his own goals and machinations, but it does make us question whom he means by “our” and “us” and “families.” Does he think that Breonna Taylor’s family doesn’t live in Louisville? What about the activist Christopher 2X or the writer Hannah Drake? Or the president of the Louisville Urban League, Sadiqa Reynolds? Or the attorneys for the Breonna Taylor Family Estate, Lonita Baker and Sam Aguiar? Or the drafters of Breonna’s Law, Keturah Herron and the Kentucky state representative Attica Scott? All of them are Louisvillians who work and raise their families in Kentucky. All of them already know what to think about Breonna Taylor, because they have pursued the facts of the case, the facts that Cameron has obscured with what the late historian Howard Zinn would call sins of omission.
Let’s look at a few of Cameron’s sins of omission. “We decided, while we would examine materials gathered by L.M.P.D’s Public Integrity Unit, we would need to conduct our own independent investigation and start from scratch in the interest of thoroughness, fairness, and finding the truth,” Cameron said, and then added, “There was no video or body-camera footage of the officers’ attempted execution of a search warrant at Ms. Taylor’s residence.” One can’t “find the truth” if one doesn’t have all the facts. One cannot properly know the actions of Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly, and Myles Cosgrove—the three policemen who fired weapons in Taylor’s apartment that night—if we don’t have full access to the evidence that would prove certain facts. And we don’t have all the facts because the body cameras that these officers were issued were either never worn, turned off, or buried. “Right now, the problem is, you’ve got different factions speculating on different things,” Aguiar, one of the attorneys for Taylor’s family, told me. “Whereas, if you could just watch it, you can draw your own conclusions.”
The lack of body-camera footage isn’t Cameron’s fault, of course, but he is at fault for fetishizing “facts” when the means of providing the most objective facts appear to be missing. Cameron went on to say, “Video footage begins at the point that area patrol officers arrive at the location.” This seems rather convenient for the officers. We can’t see or hear when Mattingly was shot, nor by whom he was shot. We can’t see whether the door was rammed first by the police or a shot came through the door before it was rammed. We can’t see where Walker was standing, where Taylor was situated, nor when Hankison left the breezeway to go around the side of the apartment and shoot blindly, emptying rounds into Taylor’s apartment from the patio. We can’t see if the police forgot the knock-and-announce part of their “knock and announce” warrant. We cannot see—nor do I ever want to see—the death of a woman who’d only hours earlier been at a romantic dinner with her beau, discussing plans for getting more serious with the man who stood his ground and defended her.
More omission, from Cameron, again: “Evidence shows that officers both knocked and announced their presence at the apartment. The officers’ statements about their announcement are corroborated by an independent witness who was near in a proximity to Apartment Four.” As Rukmini Callimachi, of the Times, has reported, about twelve neighbors declared that they did not hear the police announce themselves. The single neighbor who claimed that he heard the police declare themselves did so only after being asked multiple times and replying in the negative. Finally, when questioned again, he answered yes. Cameron failed to explain that when the police are serving a warrant, the announcement is supposed to be so loud that everyone inside an apartment can hear. It is meant to be deafening.
Cameron said, “Kentucky law states that a person is guilty of wanton endangerment in the first degree when, under circumstances manifesting in extreme indifference to the value of human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person.” Cameron, here, was referring to the behavior and actions of Hankison, and yet, let’s take “indifference to the value of human life” to its logical end with all the officers involved. Were they indifferent to the value of Breonna Taylor’s life? They arrived at her door after midnight, bearing weapons that they were prepared to use. Did they run through an internal checklist of what could possibly go wrong with those weapons in the dark at a woman’s house, a woman who might live with a lover, a sister, a child, a parent? If they had, they might think, that’s a dangerous idea. And, upon further reflection, that’s a dumb idea. And, upon yet further reflection for anyone with a soul, that’s an inhumane idea.
Not once did they think about Taylor’s sister Juniyah, who was away in San Diego that night but otherwise could have been in the next room—because the L.M.P.D. did not know she had a sister. And, since they didn’t know she had a sister, they couldn’t have known that her sister lived with her. None of these facts—who lived with Taylor, whom she planned to one day marry and have kids with, that she was an essential worker—seemed to matter. The L.M.P.D. was indifferent to her as a person. They considered her home a “soft target.” What does that mean? The dictionary defines it as “a person or thing that is relatively unprotected or vulnerable, especially to military or terrorist attack.” Hard targets are fortified, secure, and prepared to encounter a threat.
Perhaps Cameron’s largest omission was his refusal to acknowledge the partiality of the judicial system in which he works. Photograph by Jon Cherry / Getty
If this were a white woman, who lived over in the upper-middle-class neighborhood of Hurstborne, would the police have decided to take out a warrant on her? If this was a white woman whose ex-boyfriend had dealt cocaine, would the L.M.P.D. have endangered her life by seeking to obtain a no-knock arrest warrant? When the Louisville Metro government arrived at a settlement of twelve million dollars for Breonna Taylor’s family, it was not saying that this is the monetary value for Taylor’s priceless, priceless life—nor even for her wrongful death. It was saying that that is how much it is willing to pay for the same kind of violence not to be visited upon a white Louisvillian. Indifference to life seems to matter when using a weapon, but not so much when using the much vaster powers of the state as a weapon.
Cameron again: “Our investigation showed—and the grand jury agreed—that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in the return of deadly fire after having been fired upon by Kenneth Walker. Let me state that again. According to Kentucky law, the use of force by Mattingly and Cosgrave was justified to protect themselves. This justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges in Ms. Breonna Taylor’s death.” Return of deadly fire? A few words on that: Breonna. Taylor. Did. Not. Shoot. Anyone.


newyorker--2020-09-27--Registering New Voters During the Pandemic

As of noon this past Tuesday , volunteers with NextGenAmerica , the youth-vote super PAC founded by the Democratic donor and recent Presidential candidate Tom Steyer , had already made twenty-seven thousand calls to encourage unregistered young people in battleground states to sign up to vote .
It was National Voter Registration Day , and groups like N.G.A.
, which seek to expand the electorate , were working the phones , trying to sidestep the obstacles presented by the coronavirus pandemic : closed college campuses where , typically , they ’ d be running in-person voter-registration drives , and shuttered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which process registration applications .
According to a study released this week by the Brennan Center for Justice , in an election year that has already seen countless efforts by Republicans to suppress the vote , voter registration has “ plummeted ” in seventeen out of twenty-one states—including North Carolina , Florida , and Arizona—where the election is likely to be contentious .
These are aggregate numbers—important , certainly , as a measure of the health of a representative democracy .
But , at a moment when the only hope to avoid the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President who may be unwilling to accept the election results is an overwhelming , unassailable rejection of Donald Trump at the polls , the crucial metric may not be how many new registrants there are but who those new potential voters are .
Tom Bonier , the C.E.O .
of TargetSmart , a data-analytics company that serves Democratic clients , told me , “ Registrations fell precipitously after the lockdown began , on March 13th , and it basically stayed there , with the exception of some states where they had primaries , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and May .
And then the Black Lives Matter demonstrations began in the first week of June and we saw a massive spike in registration that was being driven by younger people and people of color .
It had an inherently Democratic skew to it.
” Rock the Vote , which has been registering new voters for thirty years , fielded a hundred and eighty-three thousand applications in June .
By contrast , during the same period four years ago , around thirty-five thousand people used Rock the Vote to register .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that uses Rock the Vote ’ s platform , saw its online voter registrations increase two hundred and fifty per cent during the B.L.M .
protests ; so far during this election cycle , V.P.C .
has shepherded a million new voters onto the rolls .
V.P.C .
concentrates its efforts on groups that are underrepresented among voters—people of color , unmarried women , and young people—whom it calls “ the rising American electorate.
” To reach them , V.P.C .
has had to get creative these past few months , partnering with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ information on its soda bottles .
( A customer scans a QR code that takes them to a voter-registration site . )
V.P.C .
has also engaged a number of Instagram “ micro-influencers ” to deliver its message .
“ It could be a chef , it could be a young parent who puts out a lot of content on parenting , people with a significant following but they ’ re not a giant celebrity and their general topic isn ’ t elections and government , ” Tom Lopach , V.P.C.
’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they will serve their followers stories about registering to vote or how to vote by mail , which helps us reach out to different populations.
” The macro-influencers , meanwhile , appear to be congregating around When We All Vote , a two-year-old nonprofit co-founded by Michelle Obama , which counts Selena Gomez , Kerry Washington , and Lin-Manuel Miranda among its co-chairs .
During the lockdown , the group has held hip-hop “ couch parties ” over Zoom , with drop-ins by Oprah Winfrey and Amy Schumer , and a virtual Roots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was co-hosted by Questlove .
( Twenty thousand people signed up to vote after the first couch party . )
It also partnered with Rock the Vote and other organizations , including the Vote Latino Foundation and March for Our Lives , in a series of online concerts and other events for what the group called “ Democracy Summer.
” “ Four million young people will turn eighteen and be able to vote in 2020 , ” Crystal Carson , the group ’ s spokesperson , told me .
“ Looking at 2016 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ didn ’ t feel like voting was going to make a difference in their lives or maybe weren ’ t paying attention to the important dates , we know that there is a lot of room to make change .
We know , from our research , people are likely to become lifelong voters if they vote for the first time when they turn eighteen.
” There is no national database of voter registration .
Registrations are recorded by the states , and not every state asks for party affiliation , so it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many new registrants there are .
Another complicating factor is that a lot of voter-registration outreach is done by nonprofits , some of which are partisan , and people are often reluctant to declare a party affiliation , in any case .
According to TargetSmart ’ s calculations , total registrations surpassed two hundred million in 2016 , an increase of fifty million from 2008 , with the Democrats signing up more new voters than the Republicans .
This may account , at least in part , for the Democrats beating the Republicans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Electoral College .
Initial data from Michigan and Wisconsin indicate that , yet again , the Democrats appear to be winning the race to sign up new voters .
It ’ s the same in Georgia , North Carolina , Colorado , Pennsylvania , and Maine .
When I asked Ben Wessel , the director of NextGenAmerica , if he was concerned that the latest data also indicate Republicans outpacing Democrats in Florida , he shrugged it off .
“ Registration is part of the puzzle , but the big turnout among @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when nothing interesting was on the ballot , leads me to believe that the young people who registered are more fired up than ever.
” Wessel was still on a high from Tuesday , when his group , in collaboration with Crooked Media , contacted well over a million young people and registered close to five thousand of them on the spot .
“ Across the fifteen hours of work , that ’ s basically one new voter registered every twelve seconds , ” he said .
A single day devoted to extending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enough to counter the concerted efforts by some legislators to make it harder both to register and to vote .
Neither are Zoom concerts or soda bottles .
But the creative strategies that voter-registration organizations have come up with in the midst of a pandemic that has killed two hundred thousand Americans and threatens , by some estimates , to kill two hundred thousand more by early next year , are bright lights in a dark season .
On Thursday , in a speech imploring Americans to preserve democratic norms , Bernie Sanders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gettysburg Address that most of us know by heart .
If , in the past , we might have focussed on Lincoln ’ s shorthand definition of democracy—government of , by , and for the people—on this day , Lincoln ’ s demand that it “ shall not perish from the earth ” was , suddenly , most resonant .
“ Doing this work during a pandemic is tough , ” Wessel told me .
“ Each of the calls and texts we made had to take the place of an in-person , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ importance of this work that much clearer .
We have to make sure we have a realistic shot at a safe and livable country.
” Read More About the 2020 Election • Can Joe Biden win the Presidency based on a promise of generational change ?
• The fall and rise of Kamala Harris .
• When a sitting President threatens to delay a sacrosanct American ritual like an election , you should listen .
• To understand the path Donald Trump has taken to the 2020 election , look at what he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ What happens if Trump fights the election results ?
• The refusal by Mitch McConnell to rein in Trump is looking riskier than ever .
• Sign up for our election newsletter for insight and analysis from our reporters and columnists .

As of noon this past Tuesday, volunteers with NextGenAmerica, the youth-vote super PAC founded by the Democratic donor and recent Presidential candidate Tom Steyer, had already made twenty-seven thousand calls to encourage unregistered young people in battleground states to sign up to vote. It was National Voter Registration Day, and groups like N.G.A., which seek to expand the electorate, were working the phones, trying to sidestep the obstacles presented by the coronavirus pandemic: closed college campuses where, typically, they’d be running in-person voter-registration drives, and shuttered municipal offices, such as D.M.V.s, which process registration applications. According to a study released this week by the Brennan Center for Justice, in an election year that has already seen countless efforts by Republicans to suppress the vote, voter registration has “plummeted” in seventeen out of twenty-one states—including North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona—where the election is likely to be contentious.
These are aggregate numbers—important, certainly, as a measure of the health of a representative democracy. But, at a moment when the only hope to avoid the country’s being gutted by a President who may be unwilling to accept the election results is an overwhelming, unassailable rejection of Donald Trump at the polls, the crucial metric may not be how many new registrants there are but who those new potential voters are. Tom Bonier, the C.E.O. of TargetSmart, a data-analytics company that serves Democratic clients, told me, “Registrations fell precipitously after the lockdown began, on March 13th, and it basically stayed there, with the exception of some states where they had primaries, through the rest of March, April, and May. And then the Black Lives Matter demonstrations began in the first week of June and we saw a massive spike in registration that was being driven by younger people and people of color. It had an inherently Democratic skew to it.”
Rock the Vote, which has been registering new voters for thirty years, fielded a hundred and eighty-three thousand applications in June. By contrast, during the same period four years ago, around thirty-five thousand people used Rock the Vote to register. The Voter Participation Center, a nonprofit that uses Rock the Vote’s platform, saw its online voter registrations increase two hundred and fifty per cent during the B.L.M. protests; so far during this election cycle, V.P.C. has shepherded a million new voters onto the rolls. V.P.C. concentrates its efforts on groups that are underrepresented among voters—people of color, unmarried women, and young people—whom it calls “the rising American electorate.”
To reach them, V.P.C. has had to get creative these past few months, partnering with the Jones Soda Company to put voter-registration information on its soda bottles. (A customer scans a QR code that takes them to a voter-registration site.) V.P.C. has also engaged a number of Instagram “micro-influencers” to deliver its message. “It could be a chef, it could be a young parent who puts out a lot of content on parenting, people with a significant following but they’re not a giant celebrity and their general topic isn’t elections and government,” Tom Lopach, V.P.C.’s C.E.O., told me. “But they will serve their followers stories about registering to vote or how to vote by mail, which helps us reach out to different populations.”
The macro-influencers, meanwhile, appear to be congregating around When We All Vote, a two-year-old nonprofit co-founded by Michelle Obama, which counts Selena Gomez, Kerry Washington, and Lin-Manuel Miranda among its co-chairs. During the lockdown, the group has held hip-hop “couch parties” over Zoom, with drop-ins by Oprah Winfrey and Amy Schumer, and a virtual Roots Picnic, broadcast on YouTube, which was co-hosted by Questlove. (Twenty thousand people signed up to vote after the first couch party.) It also partnered with Rock the Vote and other organizations, including the Vote Latino Foundation and March for Our Lives, in a series of online concerts and other events for what the group called “Democracy Summer.” “Four million young people will turn eighteen and be able to vote in 2020,” Crystal Carson, the group’s spokesperson, told me. “Looking at 2016 and knowing that a lot of people didn’t feel like voting was going to make a difference in their lives or maybe weren’t paying attention to the important dates, we know that there is a lot of room to make change. We know, from our research, people are likely to become lifelong voters if they vote for the first time when they turn eighteen.”
There is no national database of voter registration. Registrations are recorded by the states, and not every state asks for party affiliation, so it’s hard to know precisely how many new registrants there are. Another complicating factor is that a lot of voter-registration outreach is done by nonprofits, some of which are partisan, and people are often reluctant to declare a party affiliation, in any case. According to TargetSmart’s calculations, total registrations surpassed two hundred million in 2016, an increase of fifty million from 2008, with the Democrats signing up more new voters than the Republicans. This may account, at least in part, for the Democrats beating the Republicans by three million popular votes while losing the Electoral College.
Initial data from Michigan and Wisconsin indicate that, yet again, the Democrats appear to be winning the race to sign up new voters. It’s the same in Georgia, North Carolina, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Maine. When I asked Ben Wessel, the director of NextGenAmerica, if he was concerned that the latest data also indicate Republicans outpacing Democrats in Florida, he shrugged it off. “Registration is part of the puzzle, but the big turnout among young people in the Florida primary, when nothing interesting was on the ballot, leads me to believe that the young people who registered are more fired up than ever.” Wessel was still on a high from Tuesday, when his group, in collaboration with Crooked Media, contacted well over a million young people and registered close to five thousand of them on the spot. “Across the fifteen hours of work, that’s basically one new voter registered every twelve seconds,” he said.
A single day devoted to extending the franchise is, obviously, not enough to counter the concerted efforts by some legislators to make it harder both to register and to vote. Neither are Zoom concerts or soda bottles. But the creative strategies that voter-registration organizations have come up with in the midst of a pandemic that has killed two hundred thousand Americans and threatens, by some estimates, to kill two hundred thousand more by early next year, are bright lights in a dark season. On Thursday, in a speech imploring Americans to preserve democratic norms, Bernie Sanders quoted those words from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address that most of us know by heart. If, in the past, we might have focussed on Lincoln’s shorthand definition of democracy—government of, by, and for the people—on this day, Lincoln’s demand that it “shall not perish from the earth” was, suddenly, most resonant. “Doing this work during a pandemic is tough,” Wessel told me. “Each of the calls and texts we made had to take the place of an in-person, face-to-face conversation. But that makes the importance of this work that much clearer. We have to make sure we have a realistic shot at a safe and livable country.”
Read More About the 2020 Election


newyorker--2020-09-28--Biden Will Restore America’s Moral Leadership

After nearly four years of the Trump Administration , the American-led liberal international order is barely functioning .
William J. Burns , who served as Deputy Secretary of State in the Obama years , defines the foreign-policy options for a Biden Administration in three words : retrenchment , restoration , and reinvention .
Biden ’ s campaign has , at times , promised all those approaches , but Biden himself , by instinct , experience , and political temperament , is a restorationist .
He is running to make America America again .
Undoing Donald Trump is his passion project @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2019 , the former Vice-President spoke at the Munich Security Conference to offer what now might be considered a mission statement for a Biden Presidency .
“ We will be back , ” he said .
“ Don ’ t have any doubt.
” The applause from European officials , who have been stunned by Trump ’ s characterizations of the European Union as a “ foe ” and of NATO as “ obsolete , ” was loud and enthusiastic .
Trump has consistently demonstrated hostility toward America ’ s friends and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has decided to withdraw from a number of international commitments , among them the Paris climate accord , the Iran nuclear deal , the United Nations Human Rights Council , the World Health Organization , and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces and Open-Skies Treaties , two agreements that have endured since late in the Cold War .
Biden has said that , among his first acts on January 20th , he would rejoin the Paris accord , and he would almost certainly reaffirm many of the other commitments that Trump has broken .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus pandemic , Biden should immediately recommit to the W.H.O .
and support the international vaccine consortium that Trump has rejected .
There is no restoration of U.S. foreign-policy leadership without offering leadership on the world ’ s most pressing crisis .
Historically , an American President ’ s first trip has been to Mexico or Canada , to show how this country values the friendship of its closest neighbors .
Trump ’ s first trip was to the intolerant , monarchical petro-state of Saudi Arabia , where he danced a sword dance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ not here to lecture ” them .
Biden should renounce Trump ’ s build-the-wall demagoguery toward Mexico , and reinstate the tradition by visiting both that nation and Canada .
Biden has also pledged to hold a summit of global democracies in his first year , signalling that a commitment to universal freedoms and human rights will once more be a foundation of U.S. foreign policy .
It ’ s hard to see what he might achieve from the gathering , though it surely will help with America ’ s abysmal approval @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world .
According to a recent Pew Global Attitudes Survey , Trump is thought less likely to do the right thing with regard to international relations than even Russia ’ s Vladimir Putin and China ’ s Xi Jinping .
Putin has confounded three American Presidents , in the course of two decades , with his vision of a resurgent Russia prevailing over the “ obsolete ” liberalism of the West .
Successive rounds of sanctions have not deterred his ambition , and neither has Trump ’ s cringeworthy praise tempered it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he ’ ll be a friend , ” Trump said , before meeting Putin in Helsinki . )
Biden will be eager to take on Putin , but something more than additional sanctions is required if he is to impose real consequences for Russian interference in U.S. elections , the poisoning of Alexei Navalny , Putin ’ s leading domestic political rival , and the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory .
Within weeks of the Inauguration , Biden would face a key test , as the New Start arms-control pact with Russia , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is set to expire in February .
This may be a situation where restoration is not enough ; a renewal of the pact or at least an extension of it ought to come with a meaningful new commitment to hold Putin accountable .
China already looms as the great foreign-policy debate of future Administrations .
The previous U.S. strategy of encouraging China ’ s peaceful rise , embraced by Presidents from Nixon to Obama , is now widely thought by Democrats and Republicans alike to have run its course .
“ The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to an unceremonious close , ” Biden ’ s campaign advisers Jake Sullivan and Kurt Campbell wrote last fall , in Foreign Affairs .
But Biden finds himself leading a party that disagrees about what this means : will he reject the tariffs that Trump has made the centerpiece of his China policy ?
Notably , Biden has yet to promise a return to the Trans-Pacific Partnership , the free-trade agreement negotiated by Obama , which Trump torpedoed .
This may be the first of many examples where there is no going back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal , a landmark of Obama ’ s legacy , now that Iran has taken steps toward re-starting aspects of its nuclear program ?
Would he attempt to reverse other Trump acts , and move the U.S. Embassy in Israel out of Jerusalem , or cease to recognize Israel ’ s annexation of the Golan Heights ?
Like Obama and Trump , Biden would enter office promising an end to the “ endless wars ” of the post-9/11 era .
But even if the United States finally manages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rest of the Middle East , Biden may not slash the enormous U.S. defense budget , as many Americans would expect him to do .
The new reality of adversarial competition with China is such that Biden may well have to prepare for a Cold War-style conflict with that nation .
Already , he has made clear that he intends to press Beijing on human rights more than Trump ever has , at a time when it is quashing freedoms in Hong Kong and interning more than a million ethnic Uyghurs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Xi have done with their own countries , has repositioned the United States as a power engaged in cynical Realpolitik .
Imagine a President determined to actually do something to combat the destruction of democracy around the world .
Biden would not be able to reëstablish the moral leadership of the West merely by talking about a values-based foreign policy .
But he has to start somewhere .
Being the un-Trump is a good place to do it .
♦

After nearly four years of the Trump Administration, the American-led liberal international order is barely functioning. William J. Burns, who served as Deputy Secretary of State in the Obama years, defines the foreign-policy options for a Biden Administration in three words: retrenchment, restoration, and reinvention. Biden’s campaign has, at times, promised all those approaches, but Biden himself, by instinct, experience, and political temperament, is a restorationist. He is running to make America America again. Undoing Donald Trump is his passion project, at home and abroad.
Early in 2019, the former Vice-President spoke at the Munich Security Conference to offer what now might be considered a mission statement for a Biden Presidency. “We will be back,” he said. “Don’t have any doubt.” The applause from European officials, who have been stunned by Trump’s characterizations of the European Union as a “foe” and of NATO as “obsolete,” was loud and enthusiastic. Trump has consistently demonstrated hostility toward America’s friends and admiration for its authoritarian adversaries. He has decided to withdraw from a number of international commitments, among them the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the World Health Organization, and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces and Open-Skies Treaties, two agreements that have endured since late in the Cold War. Biden has said that, among his first acts on January 20th, he would rejoin the Paris accord, and he would almost certainly reaffirm many of the other commitments that Trump has broken. As part of his pledge to confront the coronavirus pandemic, Biden should immediately recommit to the W.H.O. and support the international vaccine consortium that Trump has rejected. There is no restoration of U.S. foreign-policy leadership without offering leadership on the world’s most pressing crisis.
Historically, an American President’s first trip has been to Mexico or Canada, to show how this country values the friendship of its closest neighbors. Trump’s first trip was to the intolerant, monarchical petro-state of Saudi Arabia, where he danced a sword dance and assured his hosts that he was “not here to lecture” them. Biden should renounce Trump’s build-the-wall demagoguery toward Mexico, and reinstate the tradition by visiting both that nation and Canada. Biden has also pledged to hold a summit of global democracies in his first year, signalling that a commitment to universal freedoms and human rights will once more be a foundation of U.S. foreign policy. It’s hard to see what he might achieve from the gathering, though it surely will help with America’s abysmal approval rating in much of the rest of the world. According to a recent Pew Global Attitudes Survey, Trump is thought less likely to do the right thing with regard to international relations than even Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.
Putin has confounded three American Presidents, in the course of two decades, with his vision of a resurgent Russia prevailing over the “obsolete” liberalism of the West. Successive rounds of sanctions have not deterred his ambition, and neither has Trump’s cringeworthy praise tempered it. (“Hopefully someday, maybe he’ll be a friend,” Trump said, before meeting Putin in Helsinki.) Biden will be eager to take on Putin, but something more than additional sanctions is required if he is to impose real consequences for Russian interference in U.S. elections, the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, Putin’s leading domestic political rival, and the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. Within weeks of the Inauguration, Biden would face a key test, as the New Start arms-control pact with Russia, which was negotiated with the Obama Administration, is set to expire in February. This may be a situation where restoration is not enough; a renewal of the pact or at least an extension of it ought to come with a meaningful new commitment to hold Putin accountable.
China already looms as the great foreign-policy debate of future Administrations. The previous U.S. strategy of encouraging China’s peaceful rise, embraced by Presidents from Nixon to Obama, is now widely thought by Democrats and Republicans alike to have run its course. “The era of engagement with China has come to an unceremonious close,” Biden’s campaign advisers Jake Sullivan and Kurt Campbell wrote last fall, in Foreign Affairs. But Biden finds himself leading a party that disagrees about what this means: will he reject the tariffs that Trump has made the centerpiece of his China policy? Notably, Biden has yet to promise a return to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the free-trade agreement negotiated by Obama, which Trump torpedoed. This may be the first of many examples where there is no going back to Obama-era policies. Would Biden try to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, a landmark of Obama’s legacy, now that Iran has taken steps toward re-starting aspects of its nuclear program? Would he attempt to reverse other Trump acts, and move the U.S. Embassy in Israel out of Jerusalem, or cease to recognize Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights?
Like Obama and Trump, Biden would enter office promising an end to the “endless wars” of the post-9/11 era. But even if the United States finally manages to leave Afghanistan, Iraq, and the rest of the Middle East, Biden may not slash the enormous U.S. defense budget, as many Americans would expect him to do. The new reality of adversarial competition with China is such that Biden may well have to prepare for a Cold War-style conflict with that nation. Already, he has made clear that he intends to press Beijing on human rights more than Trump ever has, at a time when it is quashing freedoms in Hong Kong and interning more than a million ethnic Uyghurs.
Trump, no less than Putin and Xi have done with their own countries, has repositioned the United States as a power engaged in cynical Realpolitik. Imagine a President determined to actually do something to combat the destruction of democracy around the world. Biden would not be able to reëstablish the moral leadership of the West merely by talking about a values-based foreign policy. But he has to start somewhere. Being the un-Trump is a good place to do it. ♦


newyorker--2020-09-28--A Karen Defends Her Kind

A Karen Defends Her Kind

My name is Karen Applebart , and , as you can imagine , I ’ m disturbed by the use of my first name to stereotype supposedly entitled and enraged suburban white women , a subgroup that , in reality , has only helped the world by shaving the heads of all those moms who bring store-bought cupcakes to bake sales .
I ’ ve become so upset by this “ Karen ” nonsense that yesterday I dressed Koren , my eight-month-old son , as a congressperson , sent him a hundred and twelve obscenity-filled e-mails concerning bike lanes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ overnight .
I ’ m not a “ Karen.
” Last week , at Target , an elderly woman called me Karen just because I wasn ’ t wearing a mask ( owing to my diagnosed fear of resembling a 1963 Buick Imperial ) , so I kicked over her walker and took the cash and credit cards from her wallet .
I was so incensed , I didn ’ t realize that she was my mother .
How did this “ Karen ” libel begin ?
I ’ ve heard differing origin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t start with me , and certainly not at my daughter Karenelle ’ s eighth-birthday party , where I threw all the gifts that cost under a hundred dollars in the pool , and warned the little girls , whom I ’ d paid to attend , that if they insisted on playing tag they could lose an eye .
And when , later , I handed those eyes over to their parents , in baggies with chips of dry ice , those parents thanked me .
I ’ m an easygoing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ orders from multiple parties who tried to argue that street parking spaces are “ open to everyone.
” After the “ Karen ” stuff started , I wondered if I should change my name .
I even consulted a lawyer and discussed the issue , until he looked at his watch and I called 911 to report him for spying on me with his bow-tie camera and attempting to sex-traffic my poodle , Karenelle 2 .
I try to empathize with my fellow-man , unless of course I ’ m standing behind him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ But I was in front of you in my dream !
” At one point , I decided to own my Karenhood , with a vanity license plate reading “ KARENSKAN , ” a “ Save the Karens , You Stupid Kayleighs ” bumper sticker , and a small assault weapon I only use against salespeople who refuse to let me return underwear just because I ’ m wearing it .
I also held a Karen Konvention , which didn ’ t go well , since a majority of the Karens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ condition that caused them to grab five gift bags at once .
A stab at creating a group Karen agenda devolved into the following list of declarations : “ Well , no one tips me for being a supermom ” ; “ I don ’ t need to go up a size , I need to speak to the Secretary of State ” ; “ I ’ ve been waiting almost twelve seconds ” ; and “ I ’ m entitled to a discount because of my mother ’ s inability to praise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brawl broke out after one Karen called another Karen “ such a total Karen , I ’ m not even kidding , ” and three Karens feuded over which one was the first to have been banned from Starbucks for life .
I abandoned ship after all the Karens started screeching in unison , “ I left the receipt in my other purse , the one that a foreign-born teen-ager must have stolen from my Jeep Cherokee while I was browsing for tie-dyed jeggings and gingham Keds !
” All this Karen discrimination @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Last night , as I was making love with my husband , I shouted , “ I need to start seeing your more attractive brother !
” At my job , as a customer-service representative for Verizon , I kept yelling at callers , “ And this is my problem why ?
” And at an outdoor yoga class , when the woman beside me smiled and started stretching , I took her hostage with a machete until a SWAT team found me a bottle of my second-favorite lilac-vanilla bodywash , which was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m not just Karen .
I ’ m a Karen .
I want what I want when I want it .
I ’ m under a great deal of stress , just from pulling my hair into a ponytail and putting on a visor stained with self-tanner .
I need to be seen and heard and told that I ’ m not required to follow any store policies on account of my prescription Ace bandage , my three souvenir tote bags from different cruise lines , and the tattoo of Wonder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tattoo of my first husband ’ s name , which turned out to be an alias .
But if you call me a Karen while I ’ m trying to compare diet almond milks , that will trigger me , and I will mangle every Paisley , Addison , and Crishell in my path .
♦

My name is Karen Applebart, and, as you can imagine, I’m disturbed by the use of my first name to stereotype supposedly entitled and enraged suburban white women, a subgroup that, in reality, has only helped the world by shaving the heads of all those moms who bring store-bought cupcakes to bake sales. I’ve become so upset by this “Karen” nonsense that yesterday I dressed Koren, my eight-month-old son, as a congressperson, sent him a hundred and twelve obscenity-filled e-mails concerning bike lanes, and left him out on the lawn overnight.
I’m not a “Karen.” Last week, at Target, an elderly woman called me Karen just because I wasn’t wearing a mask (owing to my diagnosed fear of resembling a 1963 Buick Imperial), so I kicked over her walker and took the cash and credit cards from her wallet. I was so incensed, I didn’t realize that she was my mother.
How did this “Karen” libel begin? I’ve heard differing origin stories, but I know it didn’t start with me, and certainly not at my daughter Karenelle’s eighth-birthday party, where I threw all the gifts that cost under a hundred dollars in the pool, and warned the little girls, whom I’d paid to attend, that if they insisted on playing tag they could lose an eye. And when, later, I handed those eyes over to their parents, in baggies with chips of dry ice, those parents thanked me.
I’m an easygoing, accepting person, despite the restraining orders from multiple parties who tried to argue that street parking spaces are “open to everyone.” After the “Karen” stuff started, I wondered if I should change my name. I even consulted a lawyer and discussed the issue, until he looked at his watch and I called 911 to report him for spying on me with his bow-tie camera and attempting to sex-traffic my poodle, Karenelle 2. I try to empathize with my fellow-man, unless of course I’m standing behind him in line, causing me to scream, “But I was in front of you in my dream!”
At one point, I decided to own my Karenhood, with a vanity license plate reading “KARENSKAN,” a “Save the Karens, You Stupid Kayleighs” bumper sticker, and a small assault weapon I only use against salespeople who refuse to let me return underwear just because I’m wearing it. I also held a Karen Konvention, which didn’t go well, since a majority of the Karens in attendance claimed to have a medical condition that caused them to grab five gift bags at once.
A stab at creating a group Karen agenda devolved into the following list of declarations: “Well, no one tips me for being a supermom”; “I don’t need to go up a size, I need to speak to the Secretary of State”; “I’ve been waiting almost twelve seconds”; and “I’m entitled to a discount because of my mother’s inability to praise my gifts as a poet.” A brawl broke out after one Karen called another Karen “such a total Karen, I’m not even kidding,” and three Karens feuded over which one was the first to have been banned from Starbucks for life. I abandoned ship after all the Karens started screeching in unison, “I left the receipt in my other purse, the one that a foreign-born teen-ager must have stolen from my Jeep Cherokee while I was browsing for tie-dyed jeggings and gingham Keds!”
All this Karen discrimination has taken a severe emotional toll. Last night, as I was making love with my husband, I shouted, “I need to start seeing your more attractive brother!” At my job, as a customer-service representative for Verizon, I kept yelling at callers, “And this is my problem why?” And at an outdoor yoga class, when the woman beside me smiled and started stretching, I took her hostage with a machete until a SWAT team found me a bottle of my second-favorite lilac-vanilla bodywash, which was discontinued four years ago.
Fine. I’m not just Karen. I’m a Karen. I want what I want when I want it. I’m under a great deal of stress, just from pulling my hair into a ponytail and putting on a visor stained with self-tanner. I need to be seen and heard and told that I’m not required to follow any store policies on account of my prescription Ace bandage, my three souvenir tote bags from different cruise lines, and the tattoo of Wonder Woman on my ankle that covers the tattoo of my first husband’s name, which turned out to be an alias. But if you call me a Karen while I’m trying to compare diet almond milks, that will trigger me, and I will mangle every Paisley, Addison, and Crishell in my path. ♦


newyorker--2020-09-28--Briefly Noted Book Reviews

Briefly Noted Book Reviews

Ellis Island , by Małgorzata Szejnert , translated from the Polish by Sean Gasper Bye ( Scribe ) .
This “ people ’ s history ” comprises intimate views of Ellis Island both from immigrants and from staff , including doctors , social workers , commissioners , and interpreters ( among them the future mayor Fiorello LaGuardia ) .
Policies were shaped by anti-Semitism , fear of Communism , and xenophobia , and monthly immigration quotas in the twenties led to “ a peculiar type of boat race ” in New York Harbor , as ships rushed to deliver their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the compassion of those employed there—such as the social worker who gave new arrivals stylish American clothing—many of whom were immigrants themselves .
Think Least of Death , by Steven Nadler ( Princeton ) .
Aiming to extract life lessons from the philosophy of Spinoza , this vibrant study focusses on the concept of “ homo liber , ” or the free person , a supremely rational figure continually striving for power and virtue .
Often considered an impossible ideal , homo liber , in Nadler ’ s reading , becomes a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Addressing Spinoza ’ s view of the mind as an “ agonistic arena , ” in which ideas based on truth compete with ones based on incomplete or false knowledge , Nadler argues that we can enable virtue simply by seeking truth .
While the reverse also holds—false knowledge deprives us of the necessary basis for rational , virtuous action—Spinoza ’ s work serves as a hopeful , timely statement of what the truth-seeking individual can accomplish .
The Appointment , by Katharina Volckmer ( Avid Reader ) .
In this transgressive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ woman living in London launches into an incendiary monologue during a gynecological examination .
Beginning with a dream of Hitler , she touches on subjects such as the efficacy of sex robots , German complacency , the sham of heterosexual love , and the deficiencies of the therapist she was required to see after threatening to attack someone with a stapler at a previous job .
As her rant gathers steam , she recounts her failed relationship with a painter named K. and her struggles with her sense of identity .
The novel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that “ the only true comfort we can find in life is to be free from our own lies.
” His Only Wife , by Peace Adzo Medie ( Algonquin ) .
“ Elikem married me in absentia , ” Afi , a young Ghanaian woman of humble origins , explains at the start of this engaging début novel .
The wedding has been arranged by the groom ’ s exceedingly wealthy family , who hope to end his relationship with another woman , of whom they disapprove .
“ You have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Afi ’ s new mother-in-law instructs .
Things begin to seem like a fairy tale when Eli turns out to be handsome and kind , and even encourages Afi ’ s career in fashion design .
Still , he will not give up the other woman .
Afi is no class warrior— “ Only rich people could afford the types of clothes I wanted to make , ” she says—but she gradually develops into a woman able to demand what she wants .

Ellis Island, by Małgorzata Szejnert, translated from the Polish by Sean Gasper Bye (Scribe). This “people’s history” comprises intimate views of Ellis Island both from immigrants and from staff, including doctors, social workers, commissioners, and interpreters (among them the future mayor Fiorello LaGuardia). Policies were shaped by anti-Semitism, fear of Communism, and xenophobia, and monthly immigration quotas in the twenties led to “a peculiar type of boat race” in New York Harbor, as ships rushed to deliver their passengers. Szejnert also records the idealism and the compassion of those employed there—such as the social worker who gave new arrivals stylish American clothing—many of whom were immigrants themselves.
Think Least of Death, by Steven Nadler (Princeton). Aiming to extract life lessons from the philosophy of Spinoza, this vibrant study focusses on the concept of “homo liber,” or the free person, a supremely rational figure continually striving for power and virtue. Often considered an impossible ideal, homo liber, in Nadler’s reading, becomes a universal, accessible model of ethical living. Addressing Spinoza’s view of the mind as an “agonistic arena,” in which ideas based on truth compete with ones based on incomplete or false knowledge, Nadler argues that we can enable virtue simply by seeking truth. While the reverse also holds—false knowledge deprives us of the necessary basis for rational, virtuous action—Spinoza’s work serves as a hopeful, timely statement of what the truth-seeking individual can accomplish.
The Appointment, by Katharina Volckmer (Avid Reader). In this transgressive, darkly funny novel, a German woman living in London launches into an incendiary monologue during a gynecological examination. Beginning with a dream of Hitler, she touches on subjects such as the efficacy of sex robots, German complacency, the sham of heterosexual love, and the deficiencies of the therapist she was required to see after threatening to attack someone with a stapler at a previous job. As her rant gathers steam, she recounts her failed relationship with a painter named K. and her struggles with her sense of identity. The novel gleefully rushes into excruciating territory, asserting that “the only true comfort we can find in life is to be free from our own lies.”
His Only Wife, by Peace Adzo Medie (Algonquin). “Elikem married me in absentia,” Afi, a young Ghanaian woman of humble origins, explains at the start of this engaging début novel. The wedding has been arranged by the groom’s exceedingly wealthy family, who hope to end his relationship with another woman, of whom they disapprove. “You have to learn to fight for your husband,” Afi’s new mother-in-law instructs. Things begin to seem like a fairy tale when Eli turns out to be handsome and kind, and even encourages Afi’s career in fashion design. Still, he will not give up the other woman. Afi is no class warrior—“Only rich people could afford the types of clothes I wanted to make,” she says—but she gradually develops into a woman able to demand what she wants.


newyorker--2020-09-28--Slide Show: New Yorker Cartoons October 5, 2020

“ In theory , I love fall , but in practice it ’ s three months of dreading the approaching @ @ @

“In theory, I love fall, but in practice it’s three months of dreading the approaching winter.”
Cartoon by Sofia Warren


My Three Fathers

Marriage has always proved irresistible to my family .
We try and fail and try again , somehow maintaining our belief in an institution that has made fools of us all .
I ’ ve married twice ; so has my sister .
Our mother had three husbands .
None of us intended this to happen .
We meant to stick our landing on the first try , but we stumbled .
My parents divorced when I was five .
My mother and my stepfather Mike had their final parting when I was twenty-four .
She married Darrell when I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until he died , in 2018 , when I was fifty-four .
My problems were never ones of scarcity .
I suffered from abundance , too much and too many .
There are worse problems to have .
The second time that my sister , Heather , married , in 2005 , she wanted a real wedding .
She and her new husband , Bill , threw a terrific party in a barn that had been fancied up and turned into an event space .
My husband , Karl , and I had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those beautiful words of love and commitment were still fresh .
We drank the champagne , danced in a line , blew soap bubbles into the night sky above the bride and groom .
Only my former stepfather , Mike , was sullen .
His third marriage was nearing its end , and he was in love with my mother again .
But my mother was happy with Darrell , so Mike danced with me for most of the night .
My father , who had always hated Mike , hated him less @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lost my mother .
Now my father contented himself with simply hating my mother , even though thirty-six years had passed since she had left him for Mike , in 1969 .
Beneath the glow of the little white lights that were draped over the ceiling ’ s crossbeams , my stepfather ’ s love for my mother and my father ’ s hatred of her looked remarkably similar .
Darrell noticed none of this .
Eight weeks earlier , he had fallen down the brick stairs that led to the back door @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my mother and fractured several vertebrae .
He was wearing a brace beneath his suit , beneath his clerical gown .
He was a retired Presbyterian minister , and he officiated at my sister ’ s wedding , despite the pain it caused him to walk and stand and breathe .
He hung on through the dinner and then got a ride home .
But the story I want to tell happens just after the wedding and before the reception began , while the photographs were being taken .
Or it happened months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that all three of my mother ’ s husbands were going to be at Heather ’ s wedding—the family equivalent of a total solar eclipse .
I wanted a picture of that .
I called my father first , since I pegged him as the one most likely to say no , but he surprised me .
Sure , he said , fine .
He didn ’ t care .
Then I asked Mike , who would have found a way to get me the North Star had I wanted it .
Although @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well .
He didn ’ t like the idea , but as far as I was concerned he didn ’ t have to like it .
It would take two minutes .
Darrell had never met my father , and had met my stepfather only once , in passing .
Unlike my father and Mike , Darrell owed me nothing , but he said he ’ d do it .
The wedding took place in September , on a day that was clear and bright and still a little warm .
After Heather @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible configuration of family and friends , I lined my mother ’ s husbands up together .
In one picture , it ’ s just the three of them in their dark suits , and in another I am with them in my garnet bridesmaid ’ s dress .
Darrell holds up one of my hands , Mike holds the other , and my father , in the middle , has his hand on my waist .
My father is the handsome one , the one whose face registers genuine happiness for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his posture very straight in his back brace .
And Mike looks as if he ’ d leap out of the frame the second I let go of his hand .
“ We were all standing there waiting on the photographer , ” my father told me later on the phone .
“ And Mike said , ‘ You know what she ’ s doing , don ’ t you ?
She ’ s going to wait until the three of us are dead and then she ’ s going to write about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will run with the piece.
’ ” My father said that the idea hadn ’ t occurred to him , and it wouldn ’ t have occurred to Darrell , but , as soon as Mike said it , they knew he was right .
He was right .
That was exactly what I meant to do .
That is exactly what I ’ m doing now .
The three fathers died in the order in which my mother had married them , and in the inverse order of their health .
My @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had made a religion of the elliptical trainer , the treadmill , the NordicTrack .
He spent four slow years dying of a neurological disease called progressive supranuclear palsy , which , in the end , confined him to a wheelchair .
His wife took care of him at home , a herculean task that allowed him to die in the comfort of their bed .
Mike spent his last two years living with his older daughter , Tina , who gave him all the love and attention he had denied her as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ easy .
Six weeks after he received a diagnosis of kidney failure , he went gently in his sleep .
Darrell made death hard .
He hadn ’ t been well for decades .
After his broken back , there was a series of splintering falls , a terrible car accident , a shunt for hydrocephalus , and two kinds of cancer .
But he kept on living .
Sitting by Darrell ’ s bed in the assisted-living center where he spent his final , excruciating years , I remembered the photograph .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ one who had played the smallest role in my life .
I held his skeletal hand and thought about what I would write after he died .
But when his death came I found I didn ’ t want to think about Darrell anymore .
I didn ’ t want to think about any of them .
I had—along with my sister and my stepsisters , my mother and my stepmother—spent so many years seeing them through and then seeing them out .
I went back to empty out Darrell ’ s room @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the unopened cases of Depends and Ensure to the community room for anyone who wanted them , and then I carted his paperbacks and impossibly large shoes to Goodwill .
When I was done , I was done with all of it .
In 1974 , my father signed up to buy the “ 100 Greatest Books of All Time ” from the Franklin Library .
He went for the full leather option—silk-moiré endpapers , sewn-in satin-ribbon bookmarks , every edge of every page gilded in 22k .
gold .
When the people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this monthly subscription service , my father was the sort of customer they had in mind .
He didn ’ t intend to just buy the books ; he intended to read them .
He intended to be the kind of person who sat in his home library full of leather-bound books with embossed spines , reading “ The Return of the Native.
” Month after month , year after year , he spent a lot of money in order to be that person .

Marriage has always proved irresistible to my family. We try and fail and try again, somehow maintaining our belief in an institution that has made fools of us all. I’ve married twice; so has my sister. Our mother had three husbands. None of us intended this to happen. We meant to stick our landing on the first try, but we stumbled. My parents divorced when I was five. My mother and my stepfather Mike had their final parting when I was twenty-four. She married Darrell when I was twenty-seven, and they stayed together until he died, in 2018, when I was fifty-four. My problems were never ones of scarcity. I suffered from abundance, too much and too many. There are worse problems to have.
The second time that my sister, Heather, married, in 2005, she wanted a real wedding. She and her new husband, Bill, threw a terrific party in a barn that had been fancied up and turned into an event space. My husband, Karl, and I had eloped a few months before, and those beautiful words of love and commitment were still fresh. We drank the champagne, danced in a line, blew soap bubbles into the night sky above the bride and groom. Only my former stepfather, Mike, was sullen. His third marriage was nearing its end, and he was in love with my mother again. But my mother was happy with Darrell, so Mike danced with me for most of the night.
My father, who had always hated Mike, hated him less now that he, too, had lost my mother. Now my father contented himself with simply hating my mother, even though thirty-six years had passed since she had left him for Mike, in 1969. Beneath the glow of the little white lights that were draped over the ceiling’s crossbeams, my stepfather’s love for my mother and my father’s hatred of her looked remarkably similar.
Darrell noticed none of this. Eight weeks earlier, he had fallen down the brick stairs that led to the back door of the house where he lived with my mother and fractured several vertebrae. He was wearing a brace beneath his suit, beneath his clerical gown. He was a retired Presbyterian minister, and he officiated at my sister’s wedding, despite the pain it caused him to walk and stand and breathe. He hung on through the dinner and then got a ride home.
But the story I want to tell happens just after the wedding and before the reception began, while the photographs were being taken. Or it happened months before that, when I first realized that all three of my mother’s husbands were going to be at Heather’s wedding—the family equivalent of a total solar eclipse. I wanted a picture of that.
I called my father first, since I pegged him as the one most likely to say no, but he surprised me. Sure, he said, fine. He didn’t care.
Then I asked Mike, who would have found a way to get me the North Star had I wanted it. Although he hesitated, he said yes as well. He didn’t like the idea, but as far as I was concerned he didn’t have to like it. It would take two minutes.
Cartoon by Edward Koren Copy link to cartoon Copy link to cartoon Shop Shop
Darrell had never met my father, and had met my stepfather only once, in passing. Unlike my father and Mike, Darrell owed me nothing, but he said he’d do it.
The wedding took place in September, on a day that was clear and bright and still a little warm. After Heather and Bill had been photographed with every possible configuration of family and friends, I lined my mother’s husbands up together. In one picture, it’s just the three of them in their dark suits, and in another I am with them in my garnet bridesmaid’s dress. Darrell holds up one of my hands, Mike holds the other, and my father, in the middle, has his hand on my waist. My father is the handsome one, the one whose face registers genuine happiness for the day. Darrell is smiling bravely, his posture very straight in his back brace. And Mike looks as if he’d leap out of the frame the second I let go of his hand.
“We were all standing there waiting on the photographer,” my father told me later on the phone. “And Mike said, ‘You know what she’s doing, don’t you? She’s going to wait until the three of us are dead and then she’s going to write about us. This is the picture that will run with the piece.’ ” My father said that the idea hadn’t occurred to him, and it wouldn’t have occurred to Darrell, but, as soon as Mike said it, they knew he was right.
He was right. That was exactly what I meant to do. That is exactly what I’m doing now.
The three fathers died in the order in which my mother had married them, and in the inverse order of their health. My father went first, even though he had made a religion of the elliptical trainer, the treadmill, the NordicTrack. He spent four slow years dying of a neurological disease called progressive supranuclear palsy, which, in the end, confined him to a wheelchair. His wife took care of him at home, a herculean task that allowed him to die in the comfort of their bed.
Mike spent his last two years living with his older daughter, Tina, who gave him all the love and attention he had denied her as a child. Mike made death look easy. Six weeks after he received a diagnosis of kidney failure, he went gently in his sleep.
Darrell made death hard. He hadn’t been well for decades. After his broken back, there was a series of splintering falls, a terrible car accident, a shunt for hydrocephalus, and two kinds of cancer. But he kept on living. Sitting by Darrell’s bed in the assisted-living center where he spent his final, excruciating years, I remembered the photograph. He was the last, and the one who had played the smallest role in my life. I held his skeletal hand and thought about what I would write after he died.
But when his death came I found I didn’t want to think about Darrell anymore. I didn’t want to think about any of them. I had—along with my sister and my stepsisters, my mother and my stepmother—spent so many years seeing them through and then seeing them out. I went back to empty out Darrell’s room the night he died. I hauled the unopened cases of Depends and Ensure to the community room for anyone who wanted them, and then I carted his paperbacks and impossibly large shoes to Goodwill. When I was done, I was done with all of it.
In 1974, my father signed up to buy the “100 Greatest Books of All Time” from the Franklin Library. He went for the full leather option—silk-moiré endpapers, sewn-in satin-ribbon bookmarks, every edge of every page gilded in 22k. gold. When the people at the Franklin Library came up with this monthly subscription service, my father was the sort of customer they had in mind. He didn’t intend to just buy the books; he intended to read them. He intended to be the kind of person who sat in his home library full of leather-bound books with embossed spines, reading “The Return of the Native.” Month after month, year after year, he spent a lot of money in order to be that person.
My father had grown up the third of seven children. He was born in 1931, and was the first of the Patchetts to have been born in this country. His parents had left England to find work in California, and after a long haul of nothing—it was the Depression—his father landed a job as a machinist at Columbia Pictures. But when the set builders went on strike he went with them in solidarity and was blackballed from working in the studio system again. My grandfather became a janitor at the Los Angeles Times, a filthy job because of the ink that got on everyone’s hands. Later, he was able to get my grandmother a job in the cafeteria there. The family of nine shared a three-bedroom house on Council Street, near Echo Park. My father slept in a narrow bed on the back porch.
When my father got out of the Navy, he moved back to Council Street and worked in a liquor store for a couple of years, while repeatedly applying to the Los Angeles Police Department. He kept being rejected because a doctor said that there was something wrong with his heart, until finally another doctor said that there was nothing wrong with his heart. He became a police officer. He married my mother, a beautiful nurse. They had two daughters and bought a house on Rossmoyne Avenue, in Glendale. Then my mother fell in love with Mike, who was a doctor at the hospital where she worked, and when he moved to Tennessee she packed us up and followed him there.
Without us, my father rented out the house on Rossmoyne and returned to his father’s house on Council Street and his bed on the porch. My sister and I flew from Nashville to visit for a week every summer. After the yearly purchase of two plane tickets for us, he used what was left of his savings to take us to Disneyland or Knott’s Berry Farm, but the place we all liked best was Forest Lawn. Forest Lawn was free. We would bring a lunch and walk the paths through the exemplary grass to see where the movie stars were buried, then we would go and stand in the crisp, cold air of the flower shop, which looked like a summer retreat for hobbits. The place smelled overwhelmingly of carnations, a scent I still associate with those happy afternoons in the cemetery.
Our father reclaimed the Rossmoyne house when he married our stepmother, and she made the place a loving home where we were always welcome. The Franklin Library extended its offerings beyond a hundred, and my father bought those latecomers as well. For every book, there was a slim pamphlet that included an overview of the text and some study questions to consider. It soon became clear that my father was not going to get through the “Oresteia” one month and “The Decameron” the next, but he faithfully read the pamphlets and stored them in the small box that had been sent for this purpose. He believed he would catch up eventually, if not while on vacation then once he retired. He wanted to read the books, and he wanted the books to be read.
He was all too happy when, during our summer visits, I sat down with “The Red Badge of Courage” or “Pride and Prejudice.” He let me take his copy of “Anna Karenina” to the condo that he and my stepmother had bought in Port Hueneme, up the coast from Los Angeles. I sat in the living room reading day after day and wouldn’t go to the beach.
This father, you might think, is the perfect father for a writer. To which I would say, yes and no.
“In theory, I love fall, but in practice it’s three months of dreading the approaching winter.” Cartoon by Sofia Warren Copy link to cartoon Copy link to cartoon Shop Shop
For all his love of books, my father believed that no child would develop properly without the ability to play volleyball. Even on the beaches of Southern California, I doubted whether this was true, but, at the Catholic girls’ school my sister and I attended in Nashville, I was sure he was wrong. From the other side of the country, our father tried to shape us. He had better luck with Heather, who was three and a half years older than me and thus had had three and a half more years to spend with him. When he gave her instructions on what classes to take and what clubs to sign up for and how many sit-ups to do every night, she listened. When I was nine, he sent Heather a volleyball net and a ball and ten dollars, which was her payment for forcing me to play. She was to be his emissary and my coach, but we fought like wolves in those days. She strung the net up from the carport to the fence and then took it down, because you can lead your sister to the volleyball net but you cannot make her spike.
My father wanted me to be athletic. He wanted me to be on teams, join clubs, start clubs. He wanted me to run for office in any organization that held elections. He wanted me to audition, volunteer, be a part of something, submit. When I claimed to have no interest in a high-school sorority he was pushing, he told me to become a member of that organization, rise through the ranks, and then change the system from within. He wanted me to infiltrate.