newyorker--2020-06-07--William Barr, President Trump’s “Law and Order” Enabler

Over the past week , Attorney General William Barr has taken a series of actions that will likely forever tie his legacy to that of Donald Trump .
All of them were in defiance of Barr ’ s duty , as the country ’ s chief law-enforcement officer , to foster public faith in the American criminal-justice system by acting as apolitically as possible .
All of them echoed the political messaging of Donald Trump .
On Sunday , May 31st , as protests over the police killing of George Floyd intensified across the country , President Trump tweeted , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.
” Political observers dismissed the tweet as another cynical attempt by Trump to fire up his base by blaming the demonstrations on an amorphous far-left movement he vilifies .
Journalists pointed out that , under U.S. law , Trump , through the State Department , can declare only foreign groups as terrorist organizations , not domestic ones .
Barr issued a statement that afternoon parroting Trump : “ The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approved a plan to “ extend the perimeter ” around the White House by clearing demonstrators from an adjacent park .
At around 6:40 P.M. , police advanced on the mostly peaceful protesters—beating some and firing flash grenades , chemical spray , and smoke—just minutes before the President walked through the park in order to conduct a photo op , clumsily brandishing a borrowed Bible , in front of the historic St. John ’ s Church .
Barr later claimed that he had approved the plan at 2:00 P.M. , and that he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to pose in front of the church .
On Tuesday , Barr oversaw what the Washington Post called “ a stunning show of force on the streets of the nation ’ s capital ” that included helicopter flyovers , military vehicles stationed at intersections , street closures , and checkpoints .
There were heavily armed personnel , dressed in tactical attire without insignia , who refused to identify themselves ; they were reportedly from the Bureau of Prisons and other federal law-enforcement agencies .
Six hundred Homeland Security officials were deployed in Washington @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agents , who usually screen passengers in airports .
Meanwhile , federal hostage-rescue teams , riots squads , and immigration officers were deployed around the country and granted the power of arrest .
An aide to Barr also approved a Drug Enforcement Administration request to “ conduct covert surveillance ” on people participating in protests , according to an internal memorandum obtained by BuzzFeed .
Local law-enforcement officials were urged to work with F.B.I .
Joint Terrorism Task Forces , to curtail violent extremism .
Some federal prosecutors dismissed the step as an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The character and the breadth of Barr ’ s effort are no surprise .
For decades , he has been a law-and-order hard-liner who backed the use of overwhelming police force .
During his first stint as Attorney General , under President George H. W. Bush , Barr dispatched two thousand federal agents on military planes to Los Angeles during the riots that followed the acquittal of four police officers who had brutally assaulted Rodney King , an African-American construction worker .
Barr later claimed that federal civil-rights charges should have been brought—against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We could have cleaned that place up , ” he said .
“ Unfortunately , we just brought the federal case against the cops and never pursued the gangsters.
” In 1995 , after he had left office , Barr , speaking at a Federalist Society symposium on violent crime , dismissed the idea of wrongful convictions and defended sentencing increases he had enacted for drug-related crimes .
“ The notion that there are sympathetic people out there who become hapless victims of the criminal-justice system and are locked away in federal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ simply a myth , ” he said .
He added that “ people who have been given mandatory minimums generally deserve them—richly.
” He also claimed that “ violent crime is caused not by physical factors , such as not enough food stamps in the stamp program , but ultimately by moral factors.
” On Thursday , at a press conference at the Justice Department , Barr released the initial findings of his nationwide crackdown .
He began by calling the video of the police killing of Floyd “ harrowing.
” “ When @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of your own loved ones was being treated like that , and begging for their lives , it is impossible for any normal human being not to be struck in the heart with horror.
” He acknowledged that “ it is undeniable that many African-Americans lack confidence in the American criminal-justice system ” and that “ the large preponderance ” of protesters have been peaceful .
Yet the number of arrests that federal agents have made so far contradicted Barr ’ s claims of Antifa-linked “ domestic terrorism.
” Nationwide , more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during the demonstrations , according to a tally compiled by the Associated Press .
Many were charged with curfew violations and other minor offenses ; those charged with burglary or looting numbered in the hundreds .
Federal agents , Barr said , had arrested only fifty-one people for committing federal crimes .
A federal law-enforcement official told me that small numbers of extremists have tried to infiltrate the protests , ranging from Antifa to the far-right Boogaloo movement , another loosely defined group , whose adherents often carry assault rifles , and which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The official told me , “ What we ’ re seeing is a broad spectrum of motivations , various people who identify as part of various groups.
” At the press conference , however , Barr named only one group : Antifa .
When a reporter asked why he hadn ’ t mentioned the arrests of Boogaloo partisans by federal agents , Barr deflected the question , and said there was “ a witches ’ brew of a lot of different extremist organizations.
” In an interview on Sunday , Barr dismissed reports @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be deployed in U.S. cities , stating , “ that ’ s completely false.
” Over the course of the week , Barr , more than any other member of Trump ’ s Cabinet , fulsomely defended a President whose response to the demonstrations is being harshly criticized by current and former Administration officials .
He enabled and amplified Trump ’ s use of conspiracy theories for political gain .
When asked about Trump ’ s borrowed-Bible photo op , Barr said that the President ’ s actions had nothing to do with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t necessarily view that as a political act , ” Barr said .
“ I think it was entirely appropriate .
”

Over the past week, Attorney General William Barr has taken a series of actions that will likely forever tie his legacy to that of Donald Trump. All of them were in defiance of Barr’s duty, as the country’s chief law-enforcement officer, to foster public faith in the American criminal-justice system by acting as apolitically as possible. All of them echoed the political messaging of Donald Trump.
On Sunday, May 31st, as protests over the police killing of George Floyd intensified across the country, President Trump tweeted, “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.” Political observers dismissed the tweet as another cynical attempt by Trump to fire up his base by blaming the demonstrations on an amorphous far-left movement he vilifies. Journalists pointed out that, under U.S. law, Trump, through the State Department, can declare only foreign groups as terrorist organizations, not domestic ones. Barr issued a statement that afternoon parroting Trump: “The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism.”
On Monday, Barr approved a plan to “extend the perimeter” around the White House by clearing demonstrators from an adjacent park. At around 6:40 P.M., police advanced on the mostly peaceful protesters—beating some and firing flash grenades, chemical spray, and smoke—just minutes before the President walked through the park in order to conduct a photo op, clumsily brandishing a borrowed Bible, in front of the historic St. John’s Church. Barr later claimed that he had approved the plan at 2:00 P.M., and that he did not yet know that Trump intended to pose in front of the church.
On Tuesday, Barr oversaw what the Washington Post called “a stunning show of force on the streets of the nation’s capital” that included helicopter flyovers, military vehicles stationed at intersections, street closures, and checkpoints. There were heavily armed personnel, dressed in tactical attire without insignia, who refused to identify themselves; they were reportedly from the Bureau of Prisons and other federal law-enforcement agencies. Six hundred Homeland Security officials were deployed in Washington, as well, including T.S.A. agents, who usually screen passengers in airports.
Meanwhile, federal hostage-rescue teams, riots squads, and immigration officers were deployed around the country and granted the power of arrest. An aide to Barr also approved a Drug Enforcement Administration request to “conduct covert surveillance” on people participating in protests, according to an internal memorandum obtained by BuzzFeed. Local law-enforcement officials were urged to work with F.B.I. Joint Terrorism Task Forces, to curtail violent extremism. Some federal prosecutors dismissed the step as an effort to associate protesters with terrorists.
The character and the breadth of Barr’s effort are no surprise. For decades, he has been a law-and-order hard-liner who backed the use of overwhelming police force. During his first stint as Attorney General, under President George H. W. Bush, Barr dispatched two thousand federal agents on military planes to Los Angeles during the riots that followed the acquittal of four police officers who had brutally assaulted Rodney King, an African-American construction worker. Barr later claimed that federal civil-rights charges should have been brought—against both the officers and the rioters. “We could have cleaned that place up,” he said. “Unfortunately, we just brought the federal case against the cops and never pursued the gangsters.”
In 1995, after he had left office, Barr, speaking at a Federalist Society symposium on violent crime, dismissed the idea of wrongful convictions and defended sentencing increases he had enacted for drug-related crimes. “The notion that there are sympathetic people out there who become hapless victims of the criminal-justice system and are locked away in federal prison beyond the time they deserve is simply a myth,” he said. He added that “people who have been given mandatory minimums generally deserve them—richly.” He also claimed that “violent crime is caused not by physical factors, such as not enough food stamps in the stamp program, but ultimately by moral factors.”
On Thursday, at a press conference at the Justice Department, Barr released the initial findings of his nationwide crackdown. He began by calling the video of the police killing of Floyd “harrowing.” “When you watch it, and imagine that one of your own loved ones was being treated like that, and begging for their lives, it is impossible for any normal human being not to be struck in the heart with horror.” He acknowledged that “it is undeniable that many African-Americans lack confidence in the American criminal-justice system” and that “the large preponderance” of protesters have been peaceful.
Yet the number of arrests that federal agents have made so far contradicted Barr’s claims of Antifa-linked “domestic terrorism.” Nationwide, more than ten thousand people have been arrested during the demonstrations, according to a tally compiled by the Associated Press. Many were charged with curfew violations and other minor offenses; those charged with burglary or looting numbered in the hundreds. Federal agents, Barr said, had arrested only fifty-one people for committing federal crimes. A federal law-enforcement official told me that small numbers of extremists have tried to infiltrate the protests, ranging from Antifa to the far-right Boogaloo movement, another loosely defined group, whose adherents often carry assault rifles, and which hopes to foment a civil war. The official told me, “What we’re seeing is a broad spectrum of motivations, various people who identify as part of various groups.”
At the press conference, however, Barr named only one group: Antifa. When a reporter asked why he hadn’t mentioned the arrests of Boogaloo partisans by federal agents, Barr deflected the question, and said there was “a witches’ brew of a lot of different extremist organizations.” In an interview on Sunday, Barr dismissed reports that Trump had demanded that active-duty troops be deployed in U.S. cities, stating, “that’s completely false.” In the course of the week, Barr, more than any other member of Trump’s Cabinet, fulsomely defended a President whose response to the demonstrations is being harshly criticized by current and former Administration officials. He enabled and amplified Trump’s use of conspiracy theories for political gain. When asked about Trump’s borrowed-Bible photo op, Barr said that the President’s actions had nothing to do with winning reëlection. “I don’t necessarily view that as a political act,” Barr said. “I think it was entirely appropriate.”


newyorker--2020-06-07--Putin Rejects Trump’s Request for Ten Thousand Russian Troops to Guard White House

MOSCOW ( The Borowitz Report ) —Vladimir Putin has rejected Donald J. Trump ’ s request for ten thousand active-duty @ @ @ @ @ the perimeter around the White House , Administration and Kremlin sources have confirmed .
After @ @ @ @ @ U.S. troops was rebuffed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley , Trump @ @ @ @ @ ’ ll call Vlad , ” and stormed out of the meeting with the two @ @ @ @ @ ’ s disappointment , however , his request for Russian troops met with a chilly @ @ @ @ @ would be terrible , ” Putin reportedly told him .
“ Worse than that crazy @ @ @ @ @ Bible .
Really , you need to get a grip.
” According to White House @ @ @ @ @ phoned the North Korean leader , Kim Jong Un , but his calls have gone @ @ @ @ @

MOSCOW (The Borowitz Report)—Vladimir Putin has rejected Donald J. Trump’s request for ten thousand active-duty Russian Army troops to guard the perimeter around the White House, Administration and Kremlin sources have confirmed.
After Trump’s call for U.S. troops was rebuffed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley, Trump reportedly snapped, “I’ll call Vlad,” and stormed out of the meeting with the two men.
Much to Trump’s disappointment, however, his request for Russian troops met with a chilly response.
“The optics would be terrible,” Putin reportedly told him. “Worse than that crazy thing you did with the Bible. Really, you need to get a grip.”
According to White House sources, Trump has subsequently phoned the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, but his calls have gone straight to voice mail.


newyorker--2020-06-08--In Washington, D.C., a Weekend of Growing and Evolving Protests

By Saturday morning , the White House had been surrounded by approximately 1.7 miles of an eight-foot-tall , chain-link fence that had not been there a week earlier .
As more than one person walking by it this weekend remarked , Donald Trump had finally gotten his wall , though this one was meant to keep Americans who were protesting racism and police violence out of Lafayette Park , a public space where people have long assembled to say their piece .
By Sunday evening of a warm June weekend , during which thousands of people had marched , rallied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the fence had become something else again .
Protesters had covered it with mostly homemade messages , including a sign that read “ 8:46 , ” the length of time that the Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd ’ s neck ; a poster that read “ Killed for Sleeping While Black , ” next to a photograph of Breonna Taylor , the twenty-six-year-old E.M.T .
shot in her bed by Louisville , Kentucky , police officers , in March ; a Martin Luther King , Jr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mountain of Despair , a Stone of Hope ” ; a poster reminding people of Lafayette Square ’ s connection to the slave trade ; a white T-shirt with the words “ My Body Is Not a Target ” written on it in marker ; a large “ Ban Stop and Frisk ” spelled out in multicolored ribbons tied to the mesh .
The fence still stood , but it had morphed into a protest-art installation .
In a way , the evolution of the fence was an apt metaphor for the rapidly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , there had been some looting in D.C. , as elsewhere , and a lot of worry about it .
Buildings on Sixteenth Street , near the White House , had plywood covering sheet-glass windows—though several , such as the headquarters of the Motion Picture Association and of the Laborers ’ International Union of North America , also displayed Black Lives Matter placards .
The Monday before , law enforcement had used chemical agents , low-flying helicopters , and mounted police to clear the area of demonstrators so that the President could walk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that infamous photo op with the Bible .
This weekend , the protests in the capital , which comprised thousands of people , were calm .
There were few official speakers , and not much sense of leadership , but activists with megaphones reminded people to be peaceful , and they were .
Families with little kids were out in force among crowds that were notably racially mixed .
I asked Rashawn Ray , a sociology professor at the University of Maryland , College Park , who studies social movements , about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told me that he considers this to be “ one of those rare moments in American history , a moment of white awakening ” to the reality of black lives .
He compared the reaction to the video of George Floyd ’ s death to the shift in consciousness galvanized by photographs of Emmett Till ’ s open casket , or footage of sheriffs fire-hosing civil-rights protesters in the nineteen-sixties , “ when what was happening was captured on film , and could no longer be justified.
” On Saturday , on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ D.C. , Muriel Bowser , had renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza ( street signs had been put up , and giant yellow painted letters spelled out the words on the street ) , d.j.s played Kendrick Lamar and Marvin Gaye remixes .
All weekend , around the city , theatres and music venues opened their lobbies so that protesters could use the bathroom or take a rest .
Volunteers lined march routes handing out snacks and water .
Nearly everyone wore masks .
The message had cohered quite a bit during the week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ signs and chants centered on an idea new to a lot of Americans—reallocating funding from police departments to social programs , under the shorthand “ Defund the Police.
” On Sunday , on “ Meet the Press , ” Alicia Garza , one of the founders of Black Lives Matter Global Network , explained the slogan this way : “ When we talk about defunding the police , what we ’ re saying is , invest in the resources that our communities need .
So much of policing right now is generated and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do need is increased funding for housing , we need increased funding for education , we need increased funding for the quality of life of communities who are over-policed and over-surveilled.
” Given the root-and-branch approach of that message , and given that we ’ re still in the midst of a pandemic , the size of the crowds and their geographic spread—there have been Black Lives Matter demonstrations in small towns across the country—has been striking .
In an online piece for the Washington Post , three researchers who study protest movements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Jeremy Pressman , wrote that , according to their preliminary data , “ far more places have held protests already than held Women ’ s Marches in January 2017.
” As they also note , that “ march occurred in 650 locations ” and , until now , had more “ participants than any other single-day demonstration in U.S. history.
” When I spoke with Putnam , who is a history professor at the University of Pittsburgh , she said that the mobilization of the marches had been unusual , too .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ very consistently been high-school students and recent high-school grads , often among the few people of color in their community , stepping forward alongside white allies to organize.
” Everywhere , the marchers skewed young ( that ’ s partly because the Covid pandemic has kept older people home ) and “ a lot of the organizing is happening on TikTok and Instagram.
” Many of the people who ’ d been activated are “ completely disconnected to the networks of post-2016 grassroots , suburban , college-educated ‘ resistance ’ that have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new civic engagement since Trump.
” On Sunday afternoon , at Dupont Circle , a young crowd had gathered for a Black Lives Matter march—one of about nine events that you could choose from that day in D.C. , including a “ NextSteps ” rally at the African American Civil War Memorial , to discuss what kind of organizing should come out of the protests .
Jonny Teklit , who is black , was in Dupont Circle with two white friends ; all three had just graduated from Franklin & Marshall College , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been staying close to home because of Covid-19 .
Teklit told me that it was the first march he ’ d come out to this week .
“ I ’ ve been doing the twenty-year-old thing of ‘ Here ’ s where you should donate and here ’ s information.
’ I ’ ve been doing that in my room .
Like a little coördinator.
” His friend Margot Rathke jumped in : “ He ’ s been going on Instagram Live.
” Teklit said , “ There are jokes going around that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about answering the phone or , like , asking for extra ketchup at the restaurant , but they will always in a heartbeat go out on the streets and defend human rights.
” When I Googled Teklit ’ s name later , I discovered that , in 2019 , he ’ d been named the most promising young poet by the Academy of American Poets , for a beautiful sonnet he wrote that reimagined Icarus as a slave trying to escape .
The last lines of the poem are : In Dupont Circle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ No justice , no peace , ” I asked him what he thought this activism could mean .
“ In the past few weeks , everyone has been talking about how it would be not really feasible to imagine the world going back to a pre-coronavirus time , how our lives are going to change , and we ’ re all going to adjust accordingly , ” Teklit said .
“ I would imagine it would be the same for these types of protests .
The ideal situation would be that people can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way things were before .
”

By Saturday morning, the White House had been surrounded by approximately 1.7 miles of an eight-foot-tall, chain-link fence that had not been there a week earlier. As more than one person walking by it this weekend remarked, Donald Trump had finally gotten his wall, though this one was meant to keep Americans who were protesting racism and police violence out of Lafayette Park, a public space where people have long assembled to say their piece. By Sunday evening of a warm June weekend, during which thousands of people had marched, rallied, and sometimes danced in the streets, the fence had become something else again. Protesters had covered it with mostly homemade messages, including a sign that read “8:46,” the length of time that the Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck; a poster that read “Killed for Sleeping While Black,” next to a photograph of Breonna Taylor, the twenty-six-year-old E.M.T. shot in her bed by Louisville, Kentucky, police officers, in March; a Martin Luther King, Jr., quote: “Out of a Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope”; a poster reminding people of Lafayette Square’s connection to the slave trade; a white T-shirt with the words “My Body Is Not a Target” written on it in marker; a large “Ban Stop and Frisk” spelled out in multicolored ribbons tied to the mesh. The fence still stood, but it had morphed into a protest-art installation.
In a way, the evolution of the fence was an apt metaphor for the rapidly unfolding protests themselves. The weekend before, there had been some looting in D.C., as elsewhere, and a lot of worry about it. Buildings on Sixteenth Street, near the White House, had plywood covering sheet-glass windows—though several, such as the headquarters of the Motion Picture Association and of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, also displayed Black Lives Matter placards. The Monday before, law enforcement had used chemical agents, low-flying helicopters, and mounted police to clear the area of demonstrators so that the President could walk to St. John’s Church for that infamous photo op with the Bible.
This weekend, the protests in the capital, which comprised thousands of people, were calm. There were few official speakers, and not much sense of leadership, but activists with megaphones reminded people to be peaceful, and they were. Families with little kids were out in force among crowds that were notably racially mixed. I asked Rashawn Ray, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, who studies social movements, about the diversity of the demonstrators, and he told me that he considers this to be “one of those rare moments in American history, a moment of white awakening” to the reality of black lives. He compared the reaction to the video of George Floyd’s death to the shift in consciousness galvanized by photographs of Emmett Till’s open casket, or footage of sheriffs fire-hosing civil-rights protesters in the nineteen-sixties, “when what was happening was captured on film, and could no longer be justified.” On Saturday, on the street that the mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, had renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza (street signs had been put up, and giant yellow painted letters spelled out the words on the street), d.j.s played Kendrick Lamar and Marvin Gaye remixes. All weekend, around the city, theatres and music venues opened their lobbies so that protesters could use the bathroom or take a rest. Volunteers lined march routes handing out snacks and water. Nearly everyone wore masks.
The message had cohered quite a bit during the week, too. A lot of the signs and chants centered on an idea new to a lot of Americans—reallocating funding from police departments to social programs, under the shorthand “Defund the Police.” On Sunday, on “Meet the Press,” Alicia Garza, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter Global Network, explained the slogan this way: “When we talk about defunding the police, what we’re saying is, invest in the resources that our communities need. So much of policing right now is generated and directed towards quality-of-life issues. What we do need is increased funding for housing, we need increased funding for education, we need increased funding for the quality of life of communities who are over-policed and over-surveilled.”
Given the root-and-branch approach of that message, and given that we’re still in the midst of a pandemic, the size of the crowds and their geographic spread—there have been Black Lives Matter demonstrations in small towns across the country—has been striking. In an online piece for the Washington Post, three researchers who study protest movements, Lara Putnam, Erica Chenoweth, and Jeremy Pressman, wrote that, according to their preliminary data, “far more places have held protests already than held Women’s Marches in January 2017.” As they also note, that “march occurred in 650 locations” and, until now, had more “participants than any other single-day demonstration in U.S. history.”
When I spoke with Putnam, who is a history professor at the University of Pittsburgh, she said that the mobilization of the marches had been unusual, too. In the small towns, it has “very consistently been high-school students and recent high-school grads, often among the few people of color in their community, stepping forward alongside white allies to organize.” Everywhere, the marchers skewed young (that’s partly because the Covid pandemic has kept older people home) and “a lot of the organizing is happening on TikTok and Instagram.” Many of the people who’d been activated are “completely disconnected to the networks of post-2016 grassroots, suburban, college-educated ‘resistance’ that have until now been the biggest sites of new civic engagement since Trump.”
On Sunday afternoon, at Dupont Circle, a young crowd had gathered for a Black Lives Matter march—one of about nine events that you could choose from that day in D.C., including a “NextSteps” rally at the African American Civil War Memorial, to discuss what kind of organizing should come out of the protests. Jonny Teklit, who is black, was in Dupont Circle with two white friends; all three had just graduated from Franklin & Marshall College, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and had been staying close to home because of Covid-19. Teklit told me that it was the first march he’d come out to this week. “I’ve been doing the twenty-year-old thing of ‘Here’s where you should donate and here’s information.’ I’ve been doing that in my room. Like a little coördinator.” His friend Margot Rathke jumped in: “He’s been going on Instagram Live.” Teklit said, “There are jokes going around that Gen Z or teen-agers now get stressed about answering the phone or, like, asking for extra ketchup at the restaurant, but they will always in a heartbeat go out on the streets and defend human rights.”
When I Googled Teklit’s name later, I discovered that, in 2019, he’d been named the most promising young poet by the Academy of American Poets, for a beautiful sonnet he wrote that reimagined Icarus as a slave trying to escape. The last lines of the poem are:
Icarus plummets into the river and drowns.
The river carries him and spits him out
someplace colder, some unfamiliar South,
where he’ll tread forever in an ocean
always bloated blue with bodies of kin.
In Dupont Circle, as the crowd chanted, “No justice, no peace,” I asked him what he thought this activism could mean. “In the past few weeks, everyone has been talking about how it would be not really feasible to imagine the world going back to a pre-coronavirus time, how our lives are going to change, and we’re all going to adjust accordingly,” Teklit said. “I would imagine it would be the same for these types of protests. The ideal situation would be that people can’t really go back to the way things were before.”
Race, Policing, and Black Lives Matter Protests


newyorker--2020-06-08--Furious Trump Declares Romney Not Welcome in Bunker

WASHINGTON ( The Borowitz Report ) —Furious at Mitt Romney for participating in a Black Lives Matter march , Donald J. Trump declared on Monday that the Utah senator is “ not welcome in my bunker.
” “ Mitt Romney thinks he ’ s cute , first voting to impeach me and now marching , ” Trump told reporters .
“ Well , I ’ ve got news for Mitt : his invitation to my bunker is hereby revoked.
” Trump said that , because of his disloyalty , Romney “ will never experience all that the best bunker in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There are luxury recliners , televisions as far as the eye can see , and a bottomless pit of snacks , ” Trump boasted .
“ If Mitt could see what he ’ s missing , I ’ ll bet he ’ d rethink some of the cute things he ’ s done.
” Trump said that he was reviewing the behavior of other officials , such as Defense Secretary Mark Esper , to determine whether they will retain their bunker privileges .
“ I ’ m not sure Esper is bunker material @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remarks , Trump said that there will be a photo of Romney at the entrance to the bunker in order to enable the Secret Service to bar the Utah senator , should he try to gain admission .
“ Sorry , Mitt , ” Trump sneered .
“ People like you don ’ t belong in a bunker .
I do .
”

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Furious at Mitt Romney for participating in a Black Lives Matter march, Donald J. Trump declared on Monday that the Utah senator is “not welcome in my bunker.”
“Mitt Romney thinks he’s cute, first voting to impeach me and now marching,” Trump told reporters. “Well, I’ve got news for Mitt: his invitation to my bunker is hereby revoked.”
Trump said that, because of his disloyalty, Romney “will never experience all that the best bunker in the world has to offer.”
“There are luxury recliners, televisions as far as the eye can see, and a bottomless pit of snacks,” Trump boasted. “If Mitt could see what he’s missing, I’ll bet he’d rethink some of the cute things he’s done.”
Trump said that he was reviewing the behavior of other officials, such as Defense Secretary Mark Esper, to determine whether they will retain their bunker privileges.
“I’m not sure Esper is bunker material,” he mused.
Concluding his remarks, Trump said that there will be a photo of Romney at the entrance to the bunker in order to enable the Secret Service to bar the Utah senator, should he try to gain admission.
“Sorry, Mitt,” Trump sneered. “People like you don’t belong in a bunker. I do.”


newyorker--2020-06-08--How Apples Go Bad

How Apples Go Bad

An apple tree in bloom is a thing of majesty : armlike branches , held aloft in an eternal pose of praise ( or perhaps exasperation ) , wreathed in a stippled cloud of blossoms .
Bees rest on the flowers ’ quivering stamens to sip their golden nectar , then move in drunken joy to another tree , their legs and backs powdered with pollen .
When the pollen from one tree ’ s flower meets the pistil of the flower of another , a small miracle of creation occurs .
Apples take months to grow : the fruit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not reach maturity until October or November .
Only then will it begin to ripen .
All apples are borne from members of the same species , Malus domestica , but , in a manner more familiar to us in Animalia than Plantae , their offspring don ’ t grow true from seed : the child of a round , speckled Winesap and a muscular Gravenstein might resemble one or both its parents , or it might go off on a path entirely of its own .
The calculated sweetness of a Honeycrisp @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pink Pearl , the early ripening of a Carolina Red June , the bumps and warts of a Knobbed Russet—there are thousands and thousands of named cultivars and innumerable varieties unnamed .
Perhaps owing to these gonzo genetics , apples are remarkably susceptible to disease and rot .
Their tender skin and light flesh are a haven for small creatures .
Their trees embrace myriad molds , viruses , and fungi : apple scab , black pox , southern blight , union necrosis .
For farmers and hobby gardeners , the business of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fruits in their growth as scrambling to ward off their demise .
Blight spreads quickly , and it ’ s not always apparent on the fruit ’ s surface .
Even without the influence of invader or infection , an apple abets its own spoilage : its skin , minutely porous , exhales ethylene , a gaseous compound that induces ripening , and the fruit has no interest in stopping at the point where it serves our needs .
The closer an apple is to rot , the more rot it spreads—one spoiling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a fruit bowl , or a storage barrel or a cross-country shipping container , or even still hanging on the bough , speeds the rot of every apple it touches , and even of ones it doesn ’ t touch .
The whole bunch quickly begins to exemplify what the artist Claes Oldenburg called “ the brown sad art of rotting apples ” : a swamp of ferment , infecting the air with the hideous sweetness of decay .
Chaucer was likely the first to write a version of the now commonplace proverb @ @ @ @ @ @ @ better thrown away / Before it spoils the barrel.
” But I ’ m partial to Benjamin Franklin ’ s version : “ The rotten apple spoils his companions.
” The saying is often used to refer to the corruption of select individuals within a group .
But the point is the fruit ’ s susceptibility to collective rot .
“ We are in the war zone against this disease , ” George Sundin , a fruit-tree pathologist at Michigan State University , said in 2019 , about fire blight , the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ process of eradicating it “ is not necessarily trial and error , ” he added .
“ It is things we know are effective , but they need to be more effective .
If the disease takes off , it can spread so quickly.
” The only way to avoid rot is to be proactive : check every apple , every tree .
At the first sight of something amiss—a bruise or broken skin , a sunken place—toss that apple out , but don ’ t stop there .
Scrub all the others @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it ’ s likely already too late .
Better to trim and burn the infected branch , or even the whole tree .

There’s a few bad apples that are giving law enforcement a terrible name.—Robert O’Brien, the national-security adviser
An apple tree in bloom is a thing of majesty: armlike branches, held aloft in an eternal pose of praise (or perhaps exasperation), wreathed in a stippled cloud of blossoms. Bees rest on the flowers’ quivering stamens to sip their golden nectar, then move in drunken joy to another tree, their legs and backs powdered with pollen. When the pollen from one tree’s flower meets the pistil of the flower of another, a small miracle of creation occurs. Apples take months to grow: the fruit from a flower fertilized in April may not reach maturity until October or November. Only then will it begin to ripen.
All apples are born from members of the same species, Malus domestica, but, in a manner more familiar to us in Animalia than Plantae, their offspring don’t grow true from seed: the child of a round, speckled Winesap and a muscular Gravenstein might resemble one or both of its parents, or it might go off on a path entirely of its own. The calculated sweetness of a Honeycrisp, the astonishing ruby flesh of a Pink Pearl, the early ripening of a Carolina Red June, the bumps and warts of a Knobbed Russet—there are thousands and thousands of named cultivars and innumerable varieties unnamed.
Perhaps owing to these gonzo genetics, apples are remarkably susceptible to disease and rot. Their tender skin and light flesh are a haven for small creatures. Their trees embrace myriad molds, viruses, and fungi: apple scab, black pox, southern blight, union necrosis. For farmers and hobby gardeners, the business of apple-growing is not so much aiding the fruits in their growth as scrambling to ward off their demise. Blight spreads quickly, and it’s not always apparent on the fruit’s surface. Even without the influence of invader or infection, an apple abets its own spoilage: its skin, minutely porous, exhales ethylene, a gaseous compound that induces ripening, and the fruit has no interest in stopping at the point where it serves our needs.
The closer an apple is to rot, the more rot it spreads—one spoiling apple, in a crisper drawer or a fruit bowl, or a storage barrel or a cross-country shipping container, or even still hanging on the bough, speeds the rot of every apple it touches, and even of ones it doesn’t touch. The whole bunch quickly begins to exemplify what the artist Claes Oldenburg called “the brown sad art of rotting apples”: a swamp of ferment, infecting the air with the hideous sweetness of decay. Chaucer was likely the first to write a version of the now commonplace proverb: “A rotten apple’s better thrown away / Before it spoils the barrel.” But I’m partial to Benjamin Franklin’s version: “The rotten apple spoils his companions.” The saying is often used to refer to the corruption of select individuals within a group. But the point is the fruit’s susceptibility to collective rot.
“We are in the war zone against this disease,” George Sundin, a fruit-tree pathologist at Michigan State University, said in 2019, about fire blight, the most recent major threat to apples. The process of eradicating it “is not necessarily trial and error,” he added. “It is things we know are effective, but they need to be more effective. If the disease takes off, it can spread so quickly.” The only way to avoid rot is to be proactive: check every apple, every tree. At the first sight of something amiss—a bruise or broken skin, a sunken place—toss that apple out, but don’t stop there. Scrub all the others and monitor them closely, but know that it’s likely already too late. Better to trim and burn the infected branch, or even the whole tree.


newyorker--2020-06-08--A Former D.O.J. Official on How to Fix Policing

Ron Davis was a cop for almost thirty years , first as an officer with the Oakland P.D.
, then @ @ @ @ @ of East Palo Alto , California .
In 2013 , he joined President Barack Obama @ @ @ @ @ to direct initiatives on policing reform .
He investigated the police response to the unrest @ @ @ @ @ after the killing of Michael Brown .
Davis tells Jelani Cobb that police violence in @ @ @ @ @ the structure of policing .
“ I think the system is working perfectly .
It @ @ @ @ @ intended to work , ” Davis says .
“ We ’ re still using the @ @ @ @ @ on purpose to oppress communities of color .
”

Photograph by Ryan Christopher Jones / NYT / Redux
Ron Davis was a cop for almost thirty years, first as an officer with the Oakland P.D., then as the chief of police of East Palo Alto, California. In 2013, he joined President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice to direct initiatives on policing reform. He investigated the police response to the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, after the killing of Michael Brown. Davis tells Jelani Cobb that police violence in black communities is built into the structure of policing. “I think the system is working perfectly. It is working as it was intended to work,” Davis says. “We’re still using the same systems that were designed on purpose to oppress communities of color.”


newyorker--2020-06-08--The Dizzying Meta-Narratives of “Quiz”

The Dizzying Meta-Narratives of “Quiz”

In the opening scene of the television show “ Quiz , ” on AMC , Charles and Diana Ingram , a middle-class couple from Wiltshire , England , fight through a crowd of photographers as they make their way into a London courtroom .
The Ingrams are accused of “ procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception ” —the security in this case being the million-pound prize money offered to winners of the TV game show “ Who Wants to be a Millionaire ?
” Charles , an Army major played with convincing naïvete by Matthew Macfadyen , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , of “ Fleabag ” fame , inside .
They find a seat next to Tecwen Whittock , played by Michael Jibson , a soft-spoken Welshman , who has been accused of helping them cheat the game .
“ Oh , hello , I believe we ’ re charged with co-conspiracy , ” he says , offering a hand .
“ It ’ s nice to meet you both , at last.
” “ Quiz ” tells the story of the real-life “ coughing scandal , ” in which the Ingrams were convicted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way to a million pounds on “ Millionaire , ” using that most British of weapons : the pointed cough .
Charles appeared on the show over two days in September , 2001 .
He answered every question correctly and was declared a winner : confetti fell from the ceiling and a large check was offered .
But , before he could cash it , the show ’ s production company raised certain suspicions .
Charles ’ s performance , they said , was inconsistent .
His first day on the show , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of his three “ lifelines.
” The next day , however , he was more confident .
He would begin answering each question by reviewing the options out loud in a long , meandering speech , which ultimately ended on the correct selection .
Sometimes he would declare an answer right , only to waffle , and change his mind .
Upon reviewing the audio , the producers claimed to hear , at several points , a small cough coming from the audience when Charles mentioned the correct answer .
They alleged that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ once won thirty-two thousand pounds on the show herself , sat in the audience and , with Whittock , let out a small cough to alert Charles when he landed on a correct answer .
Ahem .
In the opening moments of the show , a wigged prosecutor addresses the jury at the Ingrams ’ trial .
“ Yes , the accused look , and to all intents and purposes are , respectable middle-class , middle-aged , middle-England men and women , ” he says .
But “ Millionaire , ” the popular @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ in a select few , this unhealthy obsession that spilled over into an audacious heist.
” He raises his eyebrows theatrically at the jury .
“ You are facing a fifty-fifty : guilty or not guilty , ” he tells them .
“ The crown believes the answer to be self-evident .
They are guilty as charged.
” The problem , of course , and the crux of “ Quiz , ” is that the answer is not self-evident , but instead obscured by layers of conflicting evidence and confirmation bias .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ who were sentenced to hefty fines and eighteen months in prison , have always maintained their innocence .
( The sentence was suspended , and they have never served time . )
The show , which is told in three fascinating parts , does not take a position on their guilt—or , rather , it shows how both positions are feasible .
In the first part , we see Charles in the hot seat , opposite a tanned and plastic-looking Michael Sheen , who plays the “ Millionaire ” host Chris Tarrant .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Later in the series , though , we see Charles boning up on trivia at home with Diana , an obsessive who is writing a book about the show .
At the trial , we learn from the Ingrams ’ defense attorney that there were only nineteen suspicious coughs out of more than one hundred and forty that came from the audience on the night of Charles ’ s performance .
We come to understand that the evidence has been provided to the police and the jury by the show ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Who is right ?
Who can we trust ?
“ Quiz ” is based on a play by the playwright James Graham , during which audience members were asked to vote on the Ingrams ’ guilt twice , once before intermission and once at the end .
Interestingly , they almost always voted “ guilty ” the first time and “ not guilty ” the second .
Graham is no stranger to scandals .
His first hit play , “ This House , ” was about a backstabbing hung Parliament in the nineteen-seventies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Broadway last spring , followed the rise of Rupert Murdoch ’ s tabloid newspaper the Sun , which cut its teeth on scandals .
Last year , Graham ’ s television drama “ Brexit : The Uncivil War ” starred Benedict Cumberbatch as Dominic Cummings , the mastermind behind the Vote Leave campaign .
Cummings , who is now a senior adviser to the Prime Minister , Boris Johnson , has lately been embroiled in his own tabloid scandal : he has infuriated the British public by breaking strict lockdown rules—rules that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apologize .
In “ Quiz , ” Graham has turned his attention to the less well known , but equally enigmatic , Ingrams .
When I spoke to him recently , he said that he was drawn to the idea of “ ordinary people going through something completely extraordinary.
” Graham , who is thirty-seven , was speaking by phone from his home in South London , where he has been riding out the lockdown alone .
“ We structured it like a classic and very strange heist movie , ” he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and evolved.
” He wanted his telling of the Ingrams ’ story , he told me , to “ present the commonly accepted narrative around their guilt , and then slowly start to disrupt that with a counter-narrative , almost as an exercise to understand how vulnerable truth , and how vulnerable objective reality , is.
” His own understanding of the case followed a similar trajectory .
In 2003 , he had watched the trial unfold ( “ I was enthralled ” ) without questioning the Ingrams ’ guilt .
Years later @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reëxamination of the evidence— “ Bad Show , ” by Bob Woffinden and James Plaskett—and began to have doubts .
“ I thought , Why not take a question that people think is answered and ask it again ?
” he said .
The show has taken off during the U.K. ’ s lockdown , as online quizzes , hosted by shuttered pubs or quiz-hungry friends , have proliferated .
“ The tyranny of the Zoom quiz is everywhere , ” Graham said .
The pub quiz , and its slick show-biz twin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a poignant vehicle for an exploration of objective truth .
“ People love a good pub quiz , ” Paul Smith ( Mark Bonnar ) , the television producer who develops “ Millionaire , ” remarks in the first episode .
“ A uniquely British invention combining our two greatest loves : drinking and being right.
” Graham told me , “ There is a brutal rationality to quizzes , and to something being provably correct or provably incorrect.
” Plus , there are the social benefits—quizzes are a safe space .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intimacy , because you ’ re not talking about your feelings—you ’ re talking about how many months Queen Victoria was on the throne for.
” But quizzes are safe only as long as everyone follows the rules .
As the show progresses , the backlash against Charles and Diana—declared cheaters by the tabloids even before their trial begins—reaches a fever pitch .
People spit on them and egg their car .
Their dog is killed by a pellet gun .
Charles loses his Army job and breaks down in his boss ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everywhere they go , they are followed by the mocking sounds of people coughing .
In one very funny courtroom scene , the jury dissolves into a coughing fit , and the judge is forced to order a break .
“ Coughing Major Trial Suspended by Coughing Outbreak , ” the Evening Standard screams the next day .
“ We are famously proud of being the nation of fair play , ” Graham told me .
“ We are the nation of queuers—we never skip the line , and we wait our turn.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ popularity—at one point , it was pulling in nineteen million viewers—fans grew attached , he said .
“ There was a sense of , This is my show and who the hell are these people to come on and try and ruin it ?
And not wait their turn and not play fairly ?
” Graham said .
“ This was a really easy thing to be righteously wronged by.
” The scandal was consumed like television , too , and the show has some fun on this point .
During the trial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ producers takes a seat in the upper benches of the court house .
“ God , I love a good ITV courtroom drama , ” she says .

In the opening scene of the television show “Quiz,” on AMC, Charles and Diana Ingram, a middle-class couple from Wiltshire, England, fight through a crowd of photographers as they make their way into a London courtroom. The Ingrams are accused of “procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception”—the security in this case being the million-pound prize money offered to winners of the TV game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” Charles, an Army major played with convincing naïvete by Matthew Macfadyen, ushers Diana, played by Sian Clifford, of “Fleabag” fame, inside. They find a seat next to Tecwen Whittock, played by Michael Jibson, a soft-spoken Welshman, who has been accused of helping them cheat the game. “Oh, hello, I believe we’re charged with co-conspiracy,” he says, offering a hand. “It’s nice to meet you both, at last.”
“Quiz” tells the story of the real-life “coughing scandal,” in which the Ingrams were convicted, in 2003, of cheating their way to a million pounds on “Millionaire,” using that most British of weapons: the pointed cough. Charles appeared on the show over two days in September, 2001. He answered every question correctly and was declared a winner: confetti fell from the ceiling and a large check was offered. But, before he could cash it, the show’s production company raised certain suspicions. Charles’s performance, they said, was inconsistent. His first day on the show, he seemed uncertain, burning through two of his three “lifelines.” The next day, however, he was more confident. He would begin answering each question by reviewing the options out loud in a long, meandering speech, which ultimately ended on the correct selection. Sometimes he would declare an answer right, only to waffle, and change his mind. Upon reviewing the audio, the producers claimed to hear, at several points, a small cough coming from the audience when Charles mentioned the correct answer. They alleged that Diana, a known quiz-head who had once won thirty-two thousand pounds on the show herself, sat in the audience and, with Whittock, let out a small cough to alert Charles when he landed on a correct answer. Ahem.
In the opening moments of the show, a wigged prosecutor addresses the jury at the Ingrams’ trial. “Yes, the accused look, and to all intents and purposes are, respectable middle-class, middle-aged, middle-England men and women,” he says. But “Millionaire,” the popular show, created, he announces, “in a select few, this unhealthy obsession that spilled over into an audacious heist.” He raises his eyebrows theatrically at the jury. “You are facing a fifty-fifty: guilty or not guilty,” he tells them. “The crown believes the answer to be self-evident. They are guilty as charged.”
The problem, of course, and the crux of “Quiz,” is that the answer is not self-evident, but instead obscured by layers of conflicting evidence and confirmation bias. In real life, the Ingrams, who were sentenced to hefty fines and eighteen months in prison, have always maintained their innocence. (The sentence was suspended, and they have never served time.) The show, which is told in three fascinating parts, does not take a position on their guilt—or, rather, it shows how both positions are feasible. In the first part, we see Charles in the hot seat, opposite a tanned and plastic-looking Michael Sheen, who plays the “Millionaire” host Chris Tarrant. Diana and Whittock cough at opportune moments. Later in the series, though, we see Charles boning up on trivia at home with Diana, an obsessive who is writing a book about the show. At the trial, we learn from the Ingrams’ defense attorney that there were only nineteen suspicious coughs out of more than one hundred and forty that came from the audience on the night of Charles’s performance. We come to understand that the evidence has been provided to the police and the jury by the show’s production company with a selective edit. Who is right? Who can we trust? “Quiz” is based on a play by the playwright James Graham, during which audience members were asked to vote on the Ingrams’ guilt twice, once before intermission and once at the end. Interestingly, they almost always voted “guilty” the first time and “not guilty” the second.
Graham is no stranger to scandals. His first hit play, “This House,” was about a backstabbing hung Parliament in the nineteen-seventies; “Ink,” which transferred to Broadway last spring, followed the rise of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspaper the Sun, which cut its teeth on scandals. Last year, Graham’s television drama “Brexit: The Uncivil War” starred Benedict Cumberbatch as Dominic Cummings, the mastermind behind the Vote Leave campaign. Cummings, who is now a senior adviser to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has lately been embroiled in his own tabloid scandal: he has infuriated the British public by breaking strict lockdown rules—rules that his government helped create—and then refusing to apologize.
In “Quiz,” Graham has turned his attention to the less well known, but equally enigmatic, Ingrams. When I spoke to him recently, he said that he was drawn to the idea of “ordinary people going through something completely extraordinary.” Graham, who is thirty-seven, was speaking by phone from his home in South London, where he has been riding out the lockdown alone. “We structured it like a classic and very strange heist movie,” he said, “like a puzzle that unravelled and evolved.” He wanted his telling of the Ingrams’ story, he told me, to “present the commonly accepted narrative around their guilt, and then slowly start to disrupt that with a counter-narrative, almost as an exercise to understand how vulnerable truth, and how vulnerable objective reality, is.” His own understanding of the case followed a similar trajectory. In 2003, he had watched the trial unfold (“I was enthralled”) without questioning the Ingrams’ guilt. Years later, in 2016, he read a reëxamination of the evidence—“Bad Show,” by Bob Woffinden and James Plaskett—and began to have doubts. “I thought, Why not take a question that people think is answered and ask it again?” he said.
The show has taken off during the U.K.’s lockdown, as online quizzes, hosted by shuttered pubs or quiz-hungry friends, have proliferated. “The tyranny of the Zoom quiz is everywhere,” Graham said. The pub quiz, and its slick show-biz twin, the television quiz show, is a poignant vehicle for an exploration of objective truth. “People love a good pub quiz,” Paul Smith (Mark Bonnar), the television producer who develops “Millionaire,” remarks in the first episode. “A uniquely British invention combining our two greatest loves: drinking and being right.” Graham told me, “There is a brutal rationality to quizzes, and to something being provably correct or provably incorrect.” Plus, there are the social benefits—quizzes are a safe space. “It prevents you from straying into accidental intimacy, because you’re not talking about your feelings—you’re talking about how many months Queen Victoria was on the throne for.”
But quizzes are safe only as long as everyone follows the rules. As the show progresses, the backlash against Charles and Diana—declared cheaters by the tabloids even before their trial begins—reaches a fever pitch. People spit on them and egg their car. Their dog is killed by a pellet gun. Charles loses his Army job and breaks down in his boss’s office. Perhaps most humiliatingly, everywhere they go, they are followed by the mocking sounds of people coughing. In one very funny courtroom scene, the jury dissolves into a coughing fit, and the judge is forced to order a break. “Coughing Major Trial Suspended by Coughing Outbreak,” the Evening Standard screams the next day.
“We are famously proud of being the nation of fair play,” Graham told me. “We are the nation of queuers—we never skip the line, and we wait our turn.” As “Millionaire” grew in popularity—at one point, it was pulling in nineteen million viewers—fans grew attached, he said. “There was a sense of, This is my show and who the hell are these people to come on and try and ruin it? And not wait their turn and not play fairly?” Graham said. “This was a really easy thing to be righteously wronged by.” The scandal was consumed like television, too, and the show has some fun on this point. During the trial, one of the “Millionaire” producers takes a seat in the upper benches of the court house. “God, I love a good ITV courtroom drama,” she says.


newyorker--2020-06-08--Daily Cartoon: Monday, June 8th

Daily Cartoon: Monday, June 8th

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newyorker--2020-06-08--How Do We Change America?

How Do We Change America?

The national uprising in response to the brutal murder of George Floyd , a forty-six-year-old black man , by four Minneapolis police officers , has been met with shock , elation , concern , fear , and gestures of solidarity .
Its sheer scale has been surprising .
Across the United States , in cities large and small , streets have filled with young , multiracial crowds who have had enough .
In the largest uprisings since the Los Angeles rebellion of 1992 , anger and bitterness at racist and unrestrained police violence , abuse , and even murder have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States .
More than seventeen thousand National Guard troops have been deployed—more soldiers than are currently occupying Iraq and Afghanistan—to put down the rebellion .
More than ten thousand people have been arrested ; more than twelve people , mostly African-American men , have been killed .
Curfews were imposed in at least thirty cities , including New York , Chicago , Philadelphia , Omaha , and Sioux City .
Solidarity demonstrations have been organized from Accra to Dublin—in Berlin , Paris , London , and beyond .
And , most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s death , the protests have not ended .
Last Saturday saw the largest protests so far , as tens of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall and marched down the streets of Brooklyn and Philadelphia .
The relentless fury and pace of rebellion has forced states to shrug off their stumbling efforts to subdue the novel coronavirus that continues to sicken thousands in the United States .
State leaders have been much more adept in calling up the National Guard and coördinating police actions to confront marchers than they were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus .
In a show of both cowardice and authoritarianism , Donald Trump threatened to call up the U.S. military to occupy American cities .
“ Crisis ” does not begin to describe the political maelstrom that has been unleashed .
There have been planned demonstrations , and there have also been violent and explosive outbursts that can only be described as a revolt or an uprising .
Riots are not only the voice of the unheard , as Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr. , famously said ; they are the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political realm .
They become a stage of political theatre where joy , revulsion , sadness , anger , and excitement clash wildly in a cathartic dance .
They are a festival of the oppressed .
For once in their lives , many of the participants can be seen , heard , and felt in public .
People are pulled from the margins into a powerful force that can no longer be ignored , beaten , or easily discarded .
Offering the first tastes of real freedom , when the police are for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ riot can be destructive , unruly , violent , and unpredictable .
But within that contradictory tangle emerge demands and aspirations for a society different from the one we in which we live .
Not only do the rebels express their own dismay but they also showcase our entire social dilemma .
As King said , of the uprisings in the late nineteen-sixties , “ I am not sad that Black Americans are rebelling ; this was not only inevitable but eminently desirable .
Without this magnificent ferment among Negroes , the old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Black men have slammed the door shut on a past of deadening passivity .
Except for the Reconstruction years , they have never in their long history on American soil struggled with such creativity and courage for their freedom .
These are our bright years of emergence ; though they are painful ones , they can not be avoided.
” King continued , “ The black revolution is much more than a struggle for the rights of Negroes .
It is forcing America to face all its interrelated flaws—racism , poverty , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exposing the evils that are rooted deeply in the whole structure of our society .
It reveals systemic rather than superficial flaws and suggests that radical reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced.
” By now , it should be clear what the demands of young black people are : an end to racism , police abuse , and violence ; and the right to be free of the economic coercion of poverty and inequality .
The question is : How do we change this country ?
It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ African-Americans , it ’ s a question as old as the nation itself .
A large part of the reason that rebels swell the streets with clenched fists and expressive eyes is the refusal or inability of this society to engage that question in a satisfying way .
Instead , those asking the question are patronized with sweet-sounding speeches , made with alliterative apologia , often interspersed with recitations about the meaning of America , and ultimately in defense of the status quo .
There is a palpable poverty of intellect , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of ideas pervading mainstream politics today .
Old and failed propositions are recycled , but proclaimed as new , reviving cynicism and dismay .
Take the recent comments of the former President Barack Obama .
On Twitter , Obama counselled that “ Real change requires protest to highlight a problem , and politics to implement practical solutions and laws.
” He continued to say that “ there are specific evidence-based reforms that would build trust , save lives , and lead to a decrease in crime , too , ” including the policy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Century Policing , convened in 2015 .
Such a simple , plain-stated plan fails to answer the most basic question : Why do police reforms continue to fail ?
African-Americans have been demonstrating against police abuse and violence since the Chicago riots of 1919 .
The first riot directly in response to police abuse occurred in 1935 , in Harlem .
In 1951 , a contingent of African-American activists , armed with a petition titled “ We Charge Genocide , ” tried to convince the United Nations to decry the U.S. government ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ petition read : It has been the lack of response , and a lack of “ practical solutions ” to beatings , harassment , and murder , that has led people into the streets , to challenge the typical dominance of police in black communities .
Many have compared the national revolt today to the urban rebellions of the nineteen-sixties , but it is more immediately shaped by the Los Angeles rebellion of 1992 and the protests it unleashed across the country .
The 1992 uprising grew out of the frustrated mix of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drug war , and widening unemployment .
By 1992 , official black unemployment had reached a high of fourteen per cent , more than double that of white Americans .
In South Central Los Angeles , where the uprising took hold , more than half of people over the age of sixteen were unemployed or out of the labor force .
A combination of police brutality and state-sanctioned accommodation of violence against a black child ultimately lit the fuse .

The 1994 crime bill was a pillar in the phenomenon of mass incarceration and public tolerance for aggressive policing and punishment directed at African-American neighborhoods. It helped to build the world that young black people are rebelling against today. But the unyielding assaults on welfare and food stamps have also marked this latest revolt. These cuts are a large part of the reason that the coronavirus pandemic has landed so hard in the U.S., particularly in black America. These are the reasons that we do not have a viable safety net in this country, including food stamps and cash payments during hard times. The weakness of the U.S. social-welfare state has deep roots, but it was irreversibly torn when Democrats were at the helm.
The current climate can hardly be reduced to the political lessons of the past, but the legacy of the nineties dominates the political thinking of elected officials today. When Republicans insist on tying work requirements to food stamps in the midst of a pandemic, with unemployment at more than thirteen per cent, they are conjuring the punitive spirit of the policies shaped by Clinton, Biden, and other leading Democrats throughout the nineteen-nineties. So, though Biden desperately wants us to believe that he is a harbinger of change, his long record of public service says otherwise. He has claimed that Barack Obama’s selection of him as his running mate was a kind of absolution for Biden’s dealings in the Democrats’ race-baiting politics of the nineteen-nineties. But, from the excesses of the criminal-justice system and the absence of a welfare state to the inequality rooted in an unbridled, rapacious market economy, Biden has shaped much of the world that this generation has inherited and is revolting against.
More important, the ideas honed in the nineteen-eighties and nineties continue to beat at the center of Biden’s political agenda. His campaign advisers include Larry Summers, who, as Clinton’s Treasury Secretary, was an enthusiastic supporter of deregulation, and, as Obama’s chief economic adviser during the recession, endorsed the Wall Street bailout while allowing millions of Americans to default on their mortgages. They also include Rahm Emanuel, whose tenure as the mayor of Chicago ended in disgrace, when it was revealed that his administration covered up the police murder of the seventeen-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot sixteen times by a white police officer. But Emanuel’s damage to Chicago ran much deeper than his defense of a particularly racist and abusive police force. He also carried out the largest single closure of public schools in U.S. history—nearly fifty in one fell swoop, in 2013. After two terms, he left the city in the same broken condition he found it, with forty-five per cent of young black men in Chicago both out of school and unemployed.
This points to the importance of expanding our national discussion about what ails the country, beyond the racism and brutality of the police. We must also discuss the conditions of economic inequality that, when they intersect with racial and gender discrimination, disadvantage African-Americans while also making them vulnerable to police violence. Otherwise, we risk reducing racism to the outrageous and intentional acts of depraved individuals, while downplaying the cumulative impact of public policies and private-sector discrimination that, regardless of personal intent, have crippled the vitality of African-American life.
When the focus narrows to the barbarism of the act that stole George Floyd’s life, it allows for the likes of the former President George W. Bush to enter the conversation and claim to deplore racism. Bush wrote, in an open letter on the Floyd killing, that “it remains a shocking failure that many African Americans, especially young African American men, are harassed and threatened in their own country.” This would be laughable if George W. Bush were not the grim reaper who hid beneath a shroud he described as “compassionate conservatism.” As the governor of Texas, he oversaw a rampant and racist death-penalty system, personally signing off on the execution of a hundred and fifty-two incarcerated people, a disproportionate number of them African-American. As President, Bush oversaw the stunningly incompetent government response to Hurricane Katrina, which contributed to the deaths of nearly two thousand people and displaced tens of thousands of African-American residents of New Orleans. That Bush is able to sanctimoniously enter into a discussion about American racism while ignoring his own role in its perpetuation and sustenance speaks to the superficiality of the conversation. Although many are becoming comfortable spurting out phrases like “systemic racism,” the solutions proposed remain mired in the system that is being critiqued. The result is that the roots of oppression and inequality that constitute what many activists refer to as “racial capitalism” are left in place.
Joe Biden, in a recent, rare public appearance, came to Philadelphia to describe the leadership necessary to emerge from this current moment. His speech sounded as if it could have been made at any time in the last twenty years. He promulgated a proposal to end choke holds—even though many police departments have done that already, at least on paper. The New York Police Department is one of them, though this did not prevent Daniel Pantaleo from choking Eric Garner to death, nor did it cause Pantaleo to be sent to jail for it. Biden called for accountability, oversight, and community policing. These proposals for curbing racist policing are as old as the first declarations for reform that came out of the Kerner Commission, in 1967. Then, too, as the nation’s cities combusted into a frenzy of uprisings, federal reformers enumerated changes to police policy such as these, and, more than fifty years later, the police remain impervious to reform and often in arrogant refusal to heel. It is simply astounding that Joe Biden has not a single meaningful or new idea to offer about controlling the police.
Barack Obama, in an essay that he posted on Medium, describes voting as the road to making “real change,” although he also writes that “if we want to bring about real change, then the choice isn’t between protest and politics. We have to do both. We have to mobilize to raise awareness, and we have to organize and cast our ballots to make sure that we elect candidates who will act on reform.” Obama has developed a tendency to intervene in political debates as if he were a curious and detached observer, rather than a former officeholder of the most powerful position in the world. The Black Lives Matter movement bloomed during the final years of Obama’s Presidency. At each stage of its development, Obama seemed unable to curb the police abuses that were fuelling its development. It is easy to get bogged down in the intricacies of federalism and the constraints on executive power, given that police abuse is such a local issue. But Obama did, after all, convene a national task force aimed at providing guidance and leadership on police accountability, and we can consider its effectiveness from the standpoint of today.
Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing delivered sixty-three recommendations, including ending “racial profiling” and extending “community policing” efforts. It called for “better training” and revamping the entire criminal-justice system. But they were no more than suggestions; there was no mechanism to make the country’s eighteen thousand different law-enforcement agencies comply. The Task Force’s interim report was released on March 2, 2015. That month, police across the country killed another hundred and thirteen people, thirty more than in the previous month. On April 4th, Walter Scott, an unarmed black man running away from a white cop, Michael Slager, in North Charleston, South Carolina, was shot five times from behind. Eight days later, Freddie Gray was picked up by Baltimore police, placed in a van with no restraints, and driven recklessly around the city. When he emerged from the van, his spine was eighty-per-cent severed at his neck. He died seven days later. Baltimore exploded in rage. And Baltimore was not like Ferguson, Missouri, which was run by a white political establishment and patrolled by a white police force. From Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to a multiracial police force, Baltimore was a black-led city.
Even as the wanton violence of law enforcement has come into sharper focus in the last five years, there has been almost no consequence in terms of municipal budget allocations. Police continue to absorb absurd portions of local operating budgets—even in departments that are sources of embarrassment and abuse lawsuits. In Los Angeles, with its homelessness crisis and out-of-control rents, the police absorb an astounding fifty-three per cent of the city’s general fund. Chicago, a city with a notoriously corrupt and abusive police force, spent thirty-nine per cent of its budget on police. Philadelphia’s operating budget needed to be recalibrated because of the collapse of tax collections due to the coronavirus pandemic; the only agency that will not suffer any budget cuts is the police department. While public schools, affordable housing, violence-prevention programming, and the police-oversight board prepare for three hundred and seventy million dollars in budget cuts, the Philadelphia Police Department, which already garners sixteen per cent of the city’s funds, is slated to receive a twenty-three-million-dollar increase.


newyorker--2020-06-09--Bernie Sanders Is Not Done Fighting

Bernie Sanders Is Not Done Fighting

In 1997 , during his fourth term as a U.S. representative , Bernie Sanders published a political memoir called “ Outsider in the House.
” On the book ’ s cover , superimposed over an image of the Capitol , was a photo of Sanders , with his signature Coke-bottle glasses and mussed gray hair , raising his arm in a closed-fist salute .
At the time , he was the only member of Congress who was neither a Republican nor a Democrat .
This was the essence of his public image : in the establishment , but not of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Clinton had won reëlection , in part , by running to the right of the Republicans on several issues .
Sanders , who described himself interchangeably as “ a progressive ” and “ a democratic socialist , ” ran far to Clinton ’ s left .
“ This is a book about hopes and dreams that will not be realized in our lifetimes , ” Sanders and his co-author , a poetry scholar at the University of Vermont named Huck Gutman , wrote in the introduction .
“ It examines the two major @ @ @ @ @ @ @ representing the needs of working people—and the frustrations and successes of helping to create an independent progressive political movement.
” Sanders seemed to define “ success ” as a long career in Congress , during which he could continue his quixotic advocacy for “ programs which sustain the weakest and most vulnerable among us , ” such as “ health care for all people as a right of citizenship.
” In 2015 , the book was reissued under a new title : “ Outsider in the White House.
” On the new cover @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looked more or less the same—he has looked more or less the same since 1987—but the raised fist was gone , replaced by a professional-looking haircut and an innocuous grin .
The question posed by the book ’ s final chapter , “ Where Do We Go From Here ?
, ” now had a simpler answer : vote for me for President .
“ The majority of Americans today are outsiders , ” the new preface read .
“ Together , we can remake our politics and our governance so that none @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2016 , and then in 2020 , Sanders fell short of taking over the Democratic Party and capturing the Presidency .
But he did remake our politics .
Throughout the interminable primary campaign of the past year , in televised debate after televised debate , Sanders stood near the center of the stage , delivering the same populist talking points he ’ d been repeating for four decades .
His more Clintonian opponents ran to his right ; a variety of other candidates looked for signature issues—Julián Castro on immigration , Beto O @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them to outflank Sanders from the left .
In the end , Democratic voters coalesced around Joe Biden , but exit polls indicated that a majority of them supported Sanders ’ s platform , including Medicare for All .
In the most recent Morning Consult poll , Sanders was the most popular senator in the nation .
Recently , with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging and protests against police brutality lighting up cities and towns around the country , I spoke to Sanders by phone .
Our conversation has been edited and condensed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you about everything that ’ s happening in our country right now .
Many people are comparing this moment to 1968 .
You lived through the sixties .
You were arrested at civil-rights protests in the sixties .
What do you make of that comparison ?
The sixties were largely provoked by opposition to the war in Vietnam , by racism , by economic injustice .
And what we ’ re seeing now , and why we have perhaps hundreds of thousands of people in the streets , is focussed on systemic racism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ murder .
But I believe also that a lot of that anger that so many people are feeling goes beyond police murder , and it goes to the fact that we have a President who is a narcissist and a pathological liar .
It goes , I think , into an economy in which many of the young people who are demonstrating today don ’ t have jobs , and the likelihood is , unless we make fundamental changes , they ’ re not going to have jobs .
And it goes to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and it goes to neglect about the crisis of climate change .
So I think it speaks to the over-all powerlessness that people are now feeling amidst all of the crises that we are experiencing with , clearly , a President who is a fraud and a danger to the country .
You add all that stuff up , you got millions of people who are angry and are trying to fight back .
Since you mentioned the danger of the President : in the past , you have called Donald Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , there was a video on your Senate Web site called “ Flirting with Fascism , ” which was obviously about Trump .
Now that he ’ s openly considering calling for the military to quell a mostly peaceful protest movement , do you think it ’ s time to call Donald Trump a fascist ?
Doesn ’ t matter what you call him .
I ’ m not worried about what you call him .
I was very impressed by the statement of Jim Mattis , the former Trump Secretary of Defense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that , in a democratic society , a society that has a Constitution , you don ’ t call out the military against civilian demonstrations .
So the issue is , I think , you have , clearly , a President who , time and time again , has shown his authoritarian tendencies , who has shown his affection , deep affection for authoritarian leaders all over the world—in Eastern Europe , in China , in North Korea , in Russia—who introduced us to a military parade in Washington , D.C. , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see our U.S. military attack civilian demonstrators .
So I don ’ t care what you call it , but , clearly , we understand that we have a President who has very little understanding of the Constitution , a complete disregard for civil liberties in this country , and who will do anything that he can for his own political purposes and his own financial purposes .
This is a narcissist who could care less about anything other than his own political power and financial well-being .
When you announced the suspension @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , you said , “ Our movement has won the ideological struggle.
” You listed a few of the ideas that you ’ ve pushed for for years now—a fifteen-dollar minimum wage , universal health care—which were once fringe and are now mainstream .
What are the most urgent things that you intend to do , especially in the five months between now and the election , to translate those ideological victories into tangible policy victories ?
As a United States senator , I ’ m going to do everything that I can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of emergency legislation is passed as quickly as possible to deal with the extraordinary suffering that the working families of this country are experiencing right now .
It ’ s very easy to ignore the reality that you ’ ve got millions of families in Vermont , and across this country , who literally have no food in their cupboards right now ; who are scared to death ; and , in fact , are being evicted from their homes , from their apartments , or are losing their homes .
So where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do everything I can as a senator to make sure that we move forward as quickly and aggressively as we can for a major piece of legislation which addresses the crises facing working families today .
That means , in my view , the need for what we call a Paycheck Security Act , which does what European countries do , and that makes sure that every unemployed worker continues to receive his or her paycheck and the benefits that go with that .
For those who don ’ t [ have health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cover all health-care needs during the crisis .
I believe every family , every individual , should get two thousand dollars a month during the crisis .
We ’ ve got to save the Postal Service , which is a huge issue , and make sure that everybody has enough food to survive on .
So that ’ s the immediate crisis .

In 1997, during his fourth term as a U.S. representative, Bernie Sanders published a political memoir called “Outsider in the House.” On the book’s cover, superimposed over an image of the Capitol, was a photo of Sanders, with his signature Coke-bottle glasses and mussed gray hair, raising his arm in a closed-fist salute. At the time, he was the only member of Congress who was neither a Republican nor a Democrat. This was the essence of his public image: in the establishment, but not of it.
The previous year, Bill Clinton had won reëlection, in part, by running to the right of the Republicans on several issues. Sanders, who described himself interchangeably as “a progressive” and “a democratic socialist,” ran far to Clinton’s left. “This is a book about hopes and dreams that will not be realized in our lifetimes,” Sanders and his co-author, a poetry scholar at the University of Vermont named Huck Gutman, wrote in the introduction. “It examines the two major political parties—neither of which comes close to representing the needs of working people—and the frustrations and successes of helping to create an independent progressive political movement.” Sanders seemed to define “success” as a long career in Congress, during which he could continue his quixotic advocacy for “programs which sustain the weakest and most vulnerable among us,” such as “health care for all people as a right of citizenship.”
In 2015, the book was reissued under a new title: “Outsider in the White House.” On the new cover, Sanders, now a senator, looked more or less the same—he has looked more or less the same since 1987—but the raised fist was gone, replaced by a professional-looking haircut and an innocuous grin. The question posed by the book’s final chapter, “Where Do We Go From Here?,” now had a simpler answer: vote for me for President. “The majority of Americans today are outsiders,” the new preface read. “Together, we can remake our politics and our governance so that none of us are outsiders anymore.”
In 2016, and then in 2020, Sanders fell short of taking over the Democratic Party and capturing the Presidency. But he did remake our politics. Throughout the interminable primary campaign of the past year, in televised debate after televised debate, Sanders stood near the center of the stage, delivering the same populist talking points he’d been repeating for four decades. His more Clintonian opponents ran to his right; a variety of other candidates looked for signature issues—Julián Castro on immigration, Beto O’Rourke on gun control—that might allow them to outflank Sanders from the left. In the end, Democratic voters coalesced around Joe Biden, but exit polls indicated that a majority of them supported Sanders’s platform, including Medicare for All. In the most recent Morning Consult poll, Sanders was the most popular senator in the nation.
Recently, with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging and protests against police brutality lighting up cities and towns around the country, I spoke to Sanders by phone. Our conversation has been edited and condensed.
I have to start by asking you about everything that’s happening in our country right now. Many people are comparing this moment to 1968. You lived through the sixties. You were arrested at civil-rights protests in the sixties. What do you make of that comparison?
The sixties were largely provoked by opposition to the war in Vietnam, by racism, by economic injustice. And what we’re seeing now, and why we have perhaps hundreds of thousands of people in the streets, is focussed on systemic racism, on police brutality, and police murder. But I believe also that a lot of that anger that so many people are feeling goes beyond police murder, and it goes to the fact that we have a President who is a narcissist and a pathological liar. It goes, I think, into an economy in which many of the young people who are demonstrating today don’t have jobs, and the likelihood is, unless we make fundamental changes, they’re not going to have jobs. And it goes to a health-care system which is clearly dysfunctional, and it goes to neglect about the crisis of climate change. So I think it speaks to the over-all powerlessness that people are now feeling amidst all of the crises that we are experiencing with, clearly, a President who is a fraud and a danger to the country. You add all that stuff up, you got millions of people who are angry and are trying to fight back.
Since you mentioned the danger of the President: in the past, you have called Donald Trump an “authoritarian leader.” In 2018, there was a video on your Senate Web site called “Flirting with Fascism,” which was obviously about Trump. Now that he’s openly considering calling for the military to quell a mostly peaceful protest movement, do you think it’s time to call Donald Trump a fascist?
Doesn’t matter what you call him. I’m not worried about what you call him. I was very impressed by the statement of Jim Mattis, the former Trump Secretary of Defense, who made the very simple point that, in a democratic society, a society that has a Constitution, you don’t call out the military against civilian demonstrations. So the issue is, I think, you have, clearly, a President who, time and time again, has shown his authoritarian tendencies, who has shown his affection, deep affection for authoritarian leaders all over the world—in Eastern Europe, in China, in North Korea, in Russia—who introduced us to a military parade in Washington, D.C., and who is indicating now his desire to see our U.S. military attack civilian demonstrators. So I don’t care what you call it, but, clearly, we understand that we have a President who has very little understanding of the Constitution, a complete disregard for civil liberties in this country, and who will do anything that he can for his own political purposes and his own financial purposes. This is a narcissist who could care less about anything other than his own political power and financial well-being.
When you announced the suspension of your Presidential campaign, in April, you said, “Our movement has won the ideological struggle.” You listed a few of the ideas that you’ve pushed for for years now—a fifteen-dollar minimum wage, universal health care—which were once fringe and are now mainstream. What are the most urgent things that you intend to do, especially in the five months between now and the election, to translate those ideological victories into tangible policy victories?
As a United States senator, I’m going to do everything that I can to make sure that another major piece of emergency legislation is passed as quickly as possible to deal with the extraordinary suffering that the working families of this country are experiencing right now. It’s very easy to ignore the reality that you’ve got millions of families in Vermont, and across this country, who literally have no food in their cupboards right now; who are scared to death; and, in fact, are being evicted from their homes, from their apartments, or are losing their homes. So where my attention is right now is to do everything I can as a senator to make sure that we move forward as quickly and aggressively as we can for a major piece of legislation which addresses the crises facing working families today. That means, in my view, the need for what we call a Paycheck Security Act, which does what European countries do, and that makes sure that every unemployed worker continues to receive his or her paycheck and the benefits that go with that. For those who don’t [have health care], I want Medicare to cover all health-care needs during the crisis. I believe every family, every individual, should get two thousand dollars a month during the crisis. We’ve got to save the Postal Service, which is a huge issue, and make sure that everybody has enough food to survive on. So that’s the immediate crisis.