newyorker--2020-05-29--In New York, a Construction Company Creates a Blueprint for Reopening

When many New Yorkers stopped going anywhere , in mid-March , construction workers stopped building many of the places to which people used to go .
They stopped putting up movie theatres , casinos , car washes , and motels ; they stopped building schools .
Construction sites , where people lift , move , and arrange hundreds of pounds of material , were not safe , not because of the lifting but because workers did it in close quarters , huddled together .
Much of New York ’ s private sector had been declared “ non-essential.
” So the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home , too .
In mid-May , though , several regions in New York began to build again .
Those areas , which include the Mohawk Valley , the Finger Lakes , and the Southern Tier , had met the state ’ s criteria to begin a phased reopening of their economies .
Governor Andrew Cuomo , who released the state ’ s plan on May 4th , has described it as slowly “ opening a valve.
” The first phase involves the resumption of construction , manufacturing , and curbside retail pickup @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regions will open riskier businesses , such as office parks , in Phase II ; next come restaurants and then , after another couple weeks , houses of worship and concert halls .
Essentially , over about two months , people will increasingly be allowed to go to the places that construction workers are building in Phase I .
In the meantime , as upstate New York returns somewhat to normal , all of downstate New York , which has about seventy per cent of the state ’ s population , is either @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Last Monday , Putrelo Building Enterprises , a small , family-owned construction contractor in the Mohawk Valley , returned six workers to the site of a future Mazda dealership in Yorkville , about a hundred miles west of Albany .
In March , when Cuomo ordered inessential projects to shut down , the workers had been about to laminate the dealership ’ s walls with Sheetrock .
Soon after , Putrelo laid off all its employees .
One of them , Aaron Findlay , a carpenter , went home , filed for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s daily briefings until they started making him anxious ; then he did some yard work .
Another , Sam Healey , who just turned nineteen and is an apprentice carpenter , and who hadn ’ t been working long enough to draw unemployment , went back to his parents ’ house , where he did not do much at all .
Jae Constabile , who is a father of three and also a carpenter , started building a deck for his house .
Last week , the Putrelos called all three men @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and they agreed .
“ I don ’ t like sitting at home , ” Constabile said , as he installed Sheetrock , wearing a face mask and a neon-green Putrelo shirt .
“ I need to work .
I get bored.
” Putrelo began rehiring its workers in mid-April , when it got a Paycheck Protection Program loan , and when two of its other projects , a school auditorium and a private insurance building , were declared essential .
Out of thirty or so workers , six said that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , because the unemployment checks , both state and federal , were pretty good .
Most of Putrelo ’ s employees belong to unions , such as the carpenters ’ and ironworkers ’ locals , which set wages depending on skill level and location .
Carpenters in the Utica area , where the Putrelos work , make $ 26.80 an hour , which is almost as much as they could earn in unemployment benefits , although they also receive $ 19.48 an hour toward pension , annuity , and health care .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Kris Putrelo , the company ’ s president , said .
Kris , who has blond highlights , was at the Mazda site , and wore a pink vest , a hard hat , and a cloth mask .
It was the first week of Phase I , and the lobby was not yet painted or floored .
“ All the little projects you wanted to do , you could do , ” John Sege , the site superintendent , said .
Nearby , Findlay and Healey were painting a wall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It was very , very nerve-racking , ” Findlay said , of the decision to return .
He had thought about continuing to quarantine with his fiancé .
“ But then I was going a little stir-crazy , and I was kind of excited to get back to work.
” “ If people don ’ t do what they ’ re supposed to , then they shouldn ’ t be allowed to work , ” Healey said .
“ Everybody that I ’ ve worked with will do what they ’ re supposed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Now that construction has reopened , the Putrelos are discovering that what people are supposed to do is almost entirely up to them .
Kris knows that the state ’ s requirements are , at bottom , the government ’ s best guess as to what might work .
“ There is no protocol , ” she said .
“ It ’ s so new.
” So the family has been looking for advice .
They called their lawyers , went to their insurance company ’ s webinars , consulted the local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Association of General Contractors .
They looked at the state Web site , which provides a template plan and advice ( which is based , in part , on recommendations from the C.D.C .
and the Manufacturers Association of Central New York ) , as well as at county Web sites , and they relied heavily , at the federal level , on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration .
Their final safety plan draws from all those sources .
“ OSHA only gives you the minimum requirements , ” Kris said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to you to take that and hopefully add to it .
Safety is part of this industry , anyway.
” In effect , a sector used to working with blueprints is now helping to create one for businesses everywhere .
Putrelo Building is based in New Hartford , New York , in the Mohawk Valley ’ s Oneida County .
It does all its work within an eighty-or-so-mile radius , and it takes on maybe two jobs a year , plus some extra work as a subcontractor for larger outfits .
Recent work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resort and a school cafeteria .
Kris ’ s husband , Tony Putrelo , founded the company with his father , in 1986 .
Kris met Tony two years later , while bartending ; soon after , she started keeping the books .
“ It ’ s commercial construction , so it ’ s not as creative as residential , ” she said .
“ Hospitals .
Office buildings .
It ’ s a little generic , but it ’ s a lot of detail.
” The couple ’ s two sons , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help manage the company .
At the family headquarters , on a residential street , Tony and Kris have offices on the main floor .
The brothers have offices in the basement and live in an apartment on the second floor .
Though the Putrelos ’ school and insurance projects were allowed to reopen , in April , the family didn ’ t do so immediately .
First , they spent weeks drafting new safety protocols for the sites , and then mailing or e-mailing the rules to their staff .
The protocols @ @ @ @ @ @ @ project .
Before entering a site , Putrelo workers must answer a series of questions .
Have they tested positive for the virus or experienced certain symptoms , such as a dry cough or a loss of smell ?
What about the people with whom they live ?
Have they recently travelled outside the country or been to New York City ?
Do they have a compromised immune system or underlying conditions ?
Are they over the age of seventy ?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Putrelos would keep paying these workers using its P.P.P .
loan , which covers eight weeks of payroll .
But , so far , no one has told the company that they are not eligible to work .
Once on the site , everyone has to be in masks .
Lifts have to be sanitized between each use ; tools need to be cleaned every day ; and hand-washing is expected to be frequent .
( The Putrelos rented a hand-washing station , with a foot pedal , from John ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ site ’ s Port-a-Potty . )
Suppliers making deliveries are supposed to let the site superintendent know twenty-four hours in advance .
All of this costs money , and takes extra time , which , in construction , is also money .
The Putrelos have so far lost seventy-eight thousand dollars during the pandemic , a tenth of their annual earnings .
“ It would be very easy to have a job go into a loss situation , ” Bob Teska , a Syracuse-based accountant who specializes in construction services , said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ just go from call to call with contractors who want to know that the plan they have is going to work .
But contractors by nature are problem solvers .
It ’ s hard at the outset , but they ’ re going to solve it .
”

When many New Yorkers stopped going anywhere, in mid-March, construction workers stopped building many of the places to which people used to go. They stopped putting up movie theatres, casinos, car washes, and motels; they stopped building schools. Construction sites, where people lift, move, and arrange hundreds of pounds of material, were not safe, not because of the lifting but because workers did it in close quarters, huddled together. Much of New York’s private sector had been declared “non-essential.” So the workers who built those businesses stayed at home, too.
In mid-May, though, several regions in New York began to build again. Those areas, which include the Mohawk Valley, the Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier, had met the state’s criteria to begin a phased reopening of their economies. Governor Andrew Cuomo, who released the state’s plan on May 4th, has described it as slowly “opening a valve.” The first phase involves the resumption of construction, manufacturing, and curbside retail pickup. If all goes well, the regions will open riskier businesses, such as office parks, in Phase II; next come restaurants and then, after another couple weeks, houses of worship and concert halls. Essentially, over about two months, people will increasingly be allowed to go to the places that construction workers are building in Phase I. In the meantime, as upstate New York returns somewhat to normal, all of downstate New York, which has about seventy per cent of the state’s population, is either just beginning to reopen or remains closed.
Last Monday, Putrelo Building Enterprises, a small, family-owned construction contractor in the Mohawk Valley, returned six workers to the site of a future Mazda dealership in Yorkville, about a hundred miles west of Albany. In March, when Cuomo ordered inessential projects to shut down, the workers had been about to laminate the dealership’s walls with Sheetrock. Soon after, Putrelo laid off all its employees. One of them, Aaron Findlay, a carpenter, went home, filed for unemployment, and watched the governor’s daily briefings until they started making him anxious; then he did some yard work. Another, Sam Healey, who just turned nineteen and is an apprentice carpenter, and who hadn’t been working long enough to draw unemployment, went back to his parents’ house, where he did not do much at all. Jae Constabile, who is a father of three and also a carpenter, started building a deck for his house. Last week, the Putrelos called all three men and asked if they could come back, and they agreed. “I don’t like sitting at home,” Constabile said, as he installed Sheetrock, wearing a face mask and a neon-green Putrelo shirt. “I need to work. I get bored.”
Putrelo began rehiring its workers in mid-April, when it got a Paycheck Protection Program loan, and when two of its other projects, a school auditorium and a private insurance building, were declared essential. Out of thirty or so workers, six said that they didn’t want to come back, because the unemployment checks, both state and federal, were pretty good. Most of Putrelo’s employees belong to unions, such as the carpenters’ and ironworkers’ locals, which set wages depending on skill level and location. Carpenters in the Utica area, where the Putrelos work, make $26.80 an hour, which is almost as much as they could earn in unemployment benefits, although they also receive $19.48 an hour toward pension, annuity, and health care.
“Some guys were happy to stay home,” Kris Putrelo, the company’s president, said. Kris, who has blond highlights, was at the Mazda site, and wore a pink vest, a hard hat, and a cloth mask. It was the first week of Phase I, and the lobby was not yet painted or floored.
“All the little projects you wanted to do, you could do,” John Sege, the site superintendent, said.
Nearby, Findlay and Healey were painting a wall. Both men wore masks. “It was very, very nerve-racking,” Findlay said, of the decision to return. He had thought about continuing to quarantine with his fiancé. “But then I was going a little stir-crazy, and I was kind of excited to get back to work.”
“If people don’t do what they’re supposed to, then they shouldn’t be allowed to work,” Healey said. “Everybody that I’ve worked with will do what they’re supposed to. We’ll be fine.”
Now that construction has reopened, the Putrelos are discovering that what people are supposed to do is almost entirely up to them. Kris knows that the state’s requirements are, at bottom, the government’s best guess as to what might work. “There is no protocol,” she said. “It’s so new.” So the family has been looking for advice. They called their lawyers, went to their insurance company’s webinars, consulted the local builders’ exchanges, and spoke with the Association of General Contractors. They looked at the state Web site, which provides a template plan and advice (which is based, in part, on recommendations from the C.D.C. and the Manufacturers Association of Central New York), as well as at county Web sites, and they relied heavily, at the federal level, on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Their final safety plan draws from all those sources. “OSHA only gives you the minimum requirements,” Kris said. “So it’s up to you to take that and hopefully add to it. Safety is part of this industry, anyway.” In effect, a sector used to working with blueprints is now helping to create one for businesses everywhere.
Putrelo Building is based in New Hartford, New York, in the Mohawk Valley’s Oneida County. It does all its work within an eighty-or-so-mile radius, and it takes on maybe two jobs a year, plus some extra work as a subcontractor for larger outfits. Recent work has included a spa at a casino resort and a school cafeteria. Kris’s husband, Tony Putrelo, founded the company with his father, in 1986. Kris met Tony two years later, while bartending; soon after, she started keeping the books. “It’s commercial construction, so it’s not as creative as residential,” she said. “Hospitals. Office buildings. It’s a little generic, but it’s a lot of detail.” The couple’s two sons, Mike and Nick, are carpenters who help manage the company. At the family headquarters, on a residential street, Tony and Kris have offices on the main floor. The brothers have offices in the basement and live in an apartment on the second floor.
Though the Putrelos’ school and insurance projects were allowed to reopen, in April, the family didn’t do so immediately. First, they spent weeks drafting new safety protocols for the sites, and then mailing or e-mailing the rules to their staff. The protocols have now been transferred to the Mazda project. Before entering a site, Putrelo workers must answer a series of questions. Have they tested positive for the virus or experienced certain symptoms, such as a dry cough or a loss of smell? What about the people with whom they live? Have they recently travelled outside the country or been to New York City? Do they have a compromised immune system or underlying conditions? Are they over the age of seventy? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, they can’t work. Until mid-June, the Putrelos would keep paying these workers using its P.P.P. loan, which covers eight weeks of payroll. But, so far, no one has told the company that they are not eligible to work.
Once on the site, everyone has to be in masks. Lifts have to be sanitized between each use; tools need to be cleaned every day; and hand-washing is expected to be frequent. (The Putrelos rented a hand-washing station, with a foot pedal, from John’s Johns, which also provided the site’s Port-a-Potty.) Suppliers making deliveries are supposed to let the site superintendent know twenty-four hours in advance. All of this costs money, and takes extra time, which, in construction, is also money. The Putrelos have so far lost seventy-eight thousand dollars during the pandemic, a tenth of their annual earnings. “It would be very easy to have a job go into a loss situation,” Bob Teska, a Syracuse-based accountant who specializes in construction services, said. “There are some days when I just go from call to call with contractors who want to know that the plan they have is going to work. But contractors by nature are problem solvers. It’s hard at the outset, but they’re going to solve it.”
The Mohawk Valley, like much of upstate and western New York, has been spared the worst of the virus. Two months into the pandemic, some of the area’s six counties, home to corrugated landscapes of dairy farms and strawberry fields, had fewer than a hundred cases, compared to more than fifty thousand in Brooklyn alone. But the region’s economy was flattened just the same. Oneida County lost seven million dollars solely from the closure of the Turning Stone, the Oneida Nation’s casino. In March, a half month of closures resulted in a twenty-five-per-cent decrease in sales-tax revenue. “We haven’t seen April,” Anthony Picente, the county’s executive, said. “And I don’t want to see April.”
Some officials, including Picente, had hoped that local leaders would get to decide when and how to reopen their economies. On April 28th, Mohawk Valley and central New York sent Cuomo their proposed reopening plan, which would have opened real-estate offices, campgrounds, and R.V. parks in the first phase, and everything else, at half capacity, in the next two phases. Several other counties sent Albany regional reopening plans. Meanwhile, county leaders were on daily three-hour conference calls, discussing how zoning laws, for example, could be modified to let restaurants turn their parking lots into dining space.
In the end, though, the counties “had no role at all” in drafting the plan, according to Stephen Acquario, the executive director of the New York State Association of Counties. Less than a week after the counties submitted their proposals, Cuomo issued a statewide plan, New York Forward, by which every county would have to abide. (County leaders, as well as mayors and labor leaders, sit on state-appointed regional “control rooms,” which are monitoring the reopening process.) “I can’t criticize him,” Acquario said. “He wanted to make sure that this was done safely. So do the counties.”
The Mohawk Valley, where Donald Trump won in all six counties, in 2016, shares a border with the Capital District, but it is in other ways very far from Albany. Kris Putrelo identifies as an Independent: “I believe in Democratic ideals, but, tax-wise, it kills us,” she said. Picente, a Republican, has been on more conference calls with the President (two) than he has with the governor (none), and mostly finds out about new executive orders, including the regional reopening plan, by watching Cuomo on television. (Officials from the governor’s office do talk with local officials in regular conference calls, as well as in control-room meetings.) “I do find it hard to understand why he wouldn’t find the time,” Picente said. “But we’re past asking for advice and direction.”
Like the Putrelos, county officials have found that, though the state has given them a blueprint, it’s their job to refine the reopening process on the ground—and to fill in the plan’s blanks, when needed. “If one of our residents has a question, they’re not going to call Albany,” Picente said. “They’re going to call us. And I can’t say, ‘Call Albany.’ This is what we do.” Early on, the blanks were mostly what could and couldn’t reopen—in which phase did libraries, horse stables, zoos, and sovereign Native American nations fall? (Most of those questions have been answered, which is good news for the regions that reopen later.) A continuing blank is how to enforce requirements in a way that balances the costs of noncompliance with the fact that small businesses are already cash-poor, and suddenly bearing unusually complicated responsibilities. The Putrelos, like all reopening businesses, self-certified their compliance on the state’s Web site; now, like most other businesses, they are effectively self-policing. “We are not policing every single one of them,” Robert Palmieri, a Democrat and the mayor of Utica, said. “It’s going to have to be self-regulated. And ninety-nine per cent of people have done an excellent job.”


newyorker--2020-05-29--Nation Astonished by Spectacle of Twitter Management Demonstrating Responsibility

SAN FRANCISCO ( The Borowitz Report ) —Reacting to a bizarre development that no one saw coming , Americans this week have been dumbfounded by the unfathomable spectacle of Twitter ’ s senior management demonstrating responsibility .
In interviews across the country , people from all walks of life expressed shock and disbelief that Twitter executives appeared to recognize that their social-media platform was a potentially destructive entity that required a modicum of oversight from those supposedly running it .
“ At first , when I saw that they were fact-checking tweets , I thought it was some kind of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Twitter user from Topeka , said .
“ But then when they started hiding tweets for glorifying violence , I was , like , O.K.
, this is getting weird.
” “ It almost seems like Twitter has been taken over by someone like Bill Gates or George Soros , ” Harland Dorrinson , a user from Phoenix , said .
“ I would tweet something about that , but I ’ m afraid they might fact-check it.
” Tracy Klugian , a securities analyst who has been on Twitter since its inception @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even modest signs of adult responsibility , the company is “ heading down a slippery slope.
” “ Today it ’ s falsehoods and incitements to violence , but what will it be tomorrow ?
” he said .
“ Will Twitter start policing racists , misogynists , and Nazis ?
Their entire business model is at risk .
”

SAN FRANCISCO (The Borowitz Report)—Reacting to a bizarre development that no one saw coming, Americans this week have been dumbfounded by the unfathomable spectacle of Twitter’s senior management demonstrating responsibility.
In interviews across the country, people from all walks of life expressed shock and disbelief that Twitter executives appeared to recognize that their social-media platform was a potentially destructive entity that required a modicum of oversight from those supposedly running it.
“At first, when I saw that they were fact-checking tweets, I thought it was some kind of fluke,” Carol Foyler, a Twitter user from Topeka, said. “But then when they started hiding tweets for glorifying violence, I was, like, O.K., this is getting weird.”
“It almost seems like Twitter has been taken over by someone like Bill Gates or George Soros,” Harland Dorrinson, a user from Phoenix, said. “I would tweet something about that, but I’m afraid they might fact-check it.”
Tracy Klugian, a securities analyst who has been on Twitter since its inception, expressed concern that, by exhibiting even modest signs of adult responsibility, the company is “heading down a slippery slope.”
“Today it’s falsehoods and incitements to violence, but what will it be tomorrow?” he said. “Will Twitter start policing racists, misogynists, and Nazis? Their entire business model is at risk.”


newyorker--2020-05-30--Live Stream: A Pianist’s Marathon of “Vexations”

In 1893 , Erik Satie composed an enigmatic little piano piece titled “ Vexations.
” At the head of the score , he wrote , “ To play this motif eight hundred forty times in a row , it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand , in the deepest silence , through serious immobilities.
” Seventy years later , John Cage decided to take that cryptic instruction literally ; he organized a performance at which the piece was , in fact , played eight hundred and forty times , by a rotating team of pianists .
Since then , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regularly , around the world .
A few brave souls have played the piece solo ; the late British-Australian musicologist Richard Toop was the first to accomplish the feat , in 1967 .
The brilliant young German pianist Igor Levit , whom I recently profiled in the magazine , responded to the coronavirus shutdown with a marathon feat of his own : beginning on March 12th , he presented fifty-two house concerts—nearly one every night—in his apartment , streaming the results on Twitter .
He then took a pause , although he already @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own solo rendition of “ Vexations , ” one that would be tailored to the current moment .
It will go on for some twenty hours , beginning at 8 A.M. Eastern time , on May 30th .
The Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival , in Kalamazoo , Michigan , and Der Spiegel , in Germany , will both carry the feed—and you can watch the performance here at The New Yorker , on the live stream above .
When I called Levit to ask what had possessed him , he took @ @ @ @ @ @ @ often does .
“ Do you remember the end of the last ‘ Godfather ’ movie ?
, ” he asked me .
“ When Sofia Coppola has been shot , and Al Pacino is on the steps outside the opera ?
He is screaming , but you can ’ t hear him .
It is a ‘ stumme Schrei ’ —a silent scream .
This is the feeling that has often taken hold of me in recent weeks , when I see so many people struggling and so many people suffering .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that musically , and thought of Satie.
” Levit went on : “ I honestly don ’ t really know what is going to happen .
But I believe I will feel , while doing it , kind of similar to what I go through now .
There will be ups , there will be downs , there will be devastation , there will joy , there will be literal pain .
Just this monotonic repetition of just the same thing , of a piece which in a way has no apparent musical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waiting , waiting .
At some point , you lose the perspective of time—like now .
You lose the perspective of an end—like now .
I think at some point I will lose the hope that this will ever end—like now .
Maybe I won ’ t make it .
It ’ s just about surviving .
Like now .
”

The live stream has ended. Watch a selection from Igor Levit’s all-day performance of Erik Satie’s “Vexations.”
In 1893, Erik Satie composed an enigmatic little piano piece titled “Vexations.” At the head of the score, he wrote, “To play this motif eight hundred forty times in a row, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, in the deepest silence, through serious immobilities.” Seventy years later, John Cage decided to take that cryptic instruction literally; he organized a performance at which the piece was, in fact, played eight hundred and forty times, by a rotating team of pianists. Since then, “Vexations” marathons have taken place regularly, around the world. A few brave souls have played the piece solo; the late British-Australian musicologist Richard Toop was the first to accomplish the feat, in 1967.
The brilliant young German pianist Igor Levit, whom I recently profiled in the magazine, responded to the coronavirus shutdown with a marathon feat of his own: beginning on March 12th, he presented fifty-two house concerts—nearly one every night—in his apartment, streaming the results on Twitter. He then took a pause, although he already had another scheme in mind: his own solo rendition of “Vexations,” one that would be tailored to the current moment. It went on all day, beginning at 8 A.M. Eastern time, on May 30th. The Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Der Spiegel, in Germany, both carried the feed—and you can watch a selection from the performance here at The New Yorker, in the video above.
When I called Levit to ask what had possessed him, he took an unexpected mental leap, as he often does. “Do you remember the end of the last ‘Godfather’ movie?,” he asked me. “When Sofia Coppola has been shot, and Al Pacino is on the steps outside the opera? He is screaming, but you can’t hear him. It is a ‘stumme Schrei’—a silent scream. This is the feeling that has often taken hold of me in recent weeks, when I see so many people struggling and so many people suffering. I looked for a way to express that musically, and thought of Satie.”
Levit went on: “I honestly don’t really know what is going to happen. But I believe I will feel, while doing it, kind of similar to what I go through now. There will be ups, there will be downs, there will be devastation, there will joy, there will be literal pain. Just this monotonic repetition of just the same thing, of a piece which in a way has no apparent musical content—just this staring at a wall, waiting, waiting. At some point, you lose the perspective of time—like now. You lose the perspective of an end—like now. I think at some point I will lose the hope that this will ever end—like now. Maybe I won’t make it. It’s just about surviving. Like now.”


newyorker--2020-05-30--Things I’ve Googled Recently

Things I’ve Googled Recently

“ Can eating too much banana bread cause potassium hangover ” “ How to train pug to talk so I can finally become TikTok famous ” “ What to sprinkle onto partner ’ s banana bread so that he ’ s more inclined to watch ‘ Sex and the City ’ marathon with me ” “ How to fake being on Zoom call ” “ Zoom backgrounds that are not the same as everyone else ’ s lame Zoom backgrounds ” “ How to cut partner ’ s hair without making it look like Mark Zuckerberg haircut ” “ So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” “ Can hairs on shoe brush be taped onto human head to simulate bangs ” “ Why did medieval English boy-kings like bangs so much ” “ Is Timothée Chalamet really that good-looking or is he just the Freddie Prinze , Jr. , of our time ” “ Pug keeps asking when they ’ ll reopen the economy so I can go back to work and leave him alone , is this normal ” “ How to lock Zoom call with boss to prevent Zoom bomb from improv troupe ” “ Best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Zoom bomb ” “ Who would win in a fight : adult hippopotamus or Chevy Silverado ” “ But are hippos immune to the coronavirus though ” “ How can hippos run twenty m.p.h .
despite weighing four thousand pounds ” “ How much banana bread can adult human eat before looking like hippo ” “ Can ‘ Sex and the City ’ DVD box set be used as free weights ” “ Best podcasts to quiet voices in head that keep saying to bake more banana bread ” “ Pug keeps telling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speed-walking to kitchen does not count as exercise help ” “ Is it worth it to get abs during a global pandemic ” “ Screw this , time to find new sourdough recipes ” “ Creative ways to apologize to partner about giving him Mark Zuckerberg haircut ” “ Pug has started reading the news and now wants to go live with Andrew Cuomo ”

“How to cut partner’s hair without destroying marriage”
“Can eating too much banana bread cause potassium hangover”
“What is day”
“How to train pug to talk so I can finally become TikTok famous”
“What to sprinkle onto partner’s banana bread so that he’s more inclined to watch ‘Sex and the City’ marathon with me”
“How to fake being on Zoom call”
“Zoom backgrounds that are not the same as everyone else’s lame Zoom backgrounds”
“How to cut partner’s hair without making it look like Mark Zuckerberg haircut”
“How to fix terrible haircut”
“Wigs for sale”
“So my pug can talk, now what”
“Can hairs on shoe brush be taped onto human head to simulate bangs”
“Historical origin of bangs”
“Why did medieval English boy-kings like bangs so much”
“Best medieval English boy-king movies on Netflix”
“Timothée Chalamet”
“Timothée Chalamet”
“Timothée Chalamet”
“Is Timothée Chalamet really that good-looking or is he just the Freddie Prinze, Jr., of our time”
“Pug keeps asking when they’ll reopen the economy so I can go back to work and leave him alone, is this normal”
“How to lock Zoom call with boss to prevent Zoom bomb from improv troupe”
“Best e-cards for apologizing to boss about traumatic Zoom bomb”
“Who would win in a fight: adult hippopotamus or Chevy Silverado”
“But are hippos immune to the coronavirus though”
“How can hippos run twenty m.p.h. despite weighing four thousand pounds”
“How much banana bread can adult human eat before looking like hippo”
“Can ‘Sex and the City’ DVD box set be used as free weights”
“Excuses to cancel on partner’s cousin’s surprise birthday Zoom call”
“Best podcasts to quiet voices in head that keep saying to bake more banana bread”
“Pug keeps telling me I need more friends and that speed-walking to kitchen does not count as exercise help”
“Is it worth it to get abs during a global pandemic”
“Daniel Craig abs”
“Chris Hemsworth abs”
“Timothée Chalamet but buff”
“Screw this, time to find new sourdough recipes”
“How pale is too pale”
“Creative ways to apologize to partner about giving him Mark Zuckerberg haircut”
“Nearby flower delivery”
“Nearby divorce lawyer”
“Pug has started reading the news and now wants to go live with Andrew Cuomo”
“nytimes.com”


newyorker--2020-05-30--Trump’s Attack on Voting by Mail

Trump’s Attack on Voting by Mail

This week , Donald Trump tweeted that voting by mail is “ substantially fraudulent ” and would lead to a “ rigged ” election in November .
He has denounced mail-in voting before , and , during a week when the President also repeatedly smeared the MSNBC host Joe Scarborough over a false murder accusation , his latest misstatements seemed , by his debased norms , prosaic .
Yet , after years of allowing Trump ’ s falsehoods to pass unremarked , Twitter called B.S .
on the President : it planted a small exclamation mark beneath two of Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his followers to “ get the facts about mail-in ballots , ” via links to news stories .
The articles pointed out that , though fraudulent mail-in voting does occur , it has taken place on a tiny scale in comparison to the number of votes that have been mailed .
Twitter later explained that the President ’ s tweets “ could confuse voters.
” That is true , and on Friday the company also found it necessary to warn that Trump ’ s tweet about the crisis in Minneapolis violated its rules @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of that explains why it had waited so long to flag the President ’ s false tweets .
In any event , Twitter ’ s fact-checking was necessary : Trump ’ s attacks on mail-in ballots are plainly designed to suppress a well-established , convenient method of voting , whose expansion during the coronavirus pandemic has allowed millions of citizens to exercise their constitutional rights without risking their health .
It can be difficult to divine why Trump promotes a particular line of lies .
About voting by mail , the President has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ you ’ d never have another Republican elected in this country.
” That ’ s another statement that should be flagged , since studies by social scientists have shown repeatedly that mail-in voting until now has not substantially benefit Democrats over Republicans .
It isn ’ t clear how much Trump and his allies are persuaded that more mail-in voting would hurt their party , because it would enfranchise new Democratic voters , and how much they are exaggerating the threat to fire up supporters and discredit the election .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strong tide : even before the pandemic , voting by mail had been increasing around the country .
Five states now conduct elections almost entirely by mail , and twenty-nine others and the District of Columbia allow unrestricted absentee balloting .
Since March , in reaction to the pandemic , Rhode Island is among the states that have dramatically enlarged mail-in voting , while in states where the practice is already prevalent , such as Arizona , there have been increases in participation .
The surge in voting by mail this year has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it has also exacerbated problems in the nation ’ s patchwork , underfunded election system—and that , in fact , may portend trouble in November .
Local government bodies administer our elections ; on the whole , they act with nonpartisan integrity , but many are poorly equipped to handle the tsunami of mailed ballots that may hit them this fall , even if the coronavirus fades .
In March , Congress authorized four hundred million dollars to support elections this year , including voting by mail , but election specialists say that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We might want to brace ourselves : Election Night , on November 3rd , may stretch into days or even weeks without a clear Presidential winner , as beleaguered election boards in battleground states tabulate mounds of mailed ballots .
Last October , Pennsylvania adopted unrestricted absentee voting for the first time , and some of its election authorities are expecting difficulty .
“ No county wants to be the reason we don ’ t know the leader of the free world on election night , ” Lee Soltysiak , the election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Philadelphia , told the Philadelphia Inquirer recently , but “ that ’ s the position .
.
.
we ’ re all likely to be in ” if the vote is close .
Another official told the Inquirer that at least four days might be required to count mailed ballots .
Jocelyn Benson , Michigan ’ s secretary of state , told the Associated Press last week that her state would likely need “ several days ” in November .
All this sounds like a prescription for a national nervous breakdown—or worse .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , while partisan lawyers wave court injunctions and the President unleashes tweetstorms .
If Trump fears that he is in danger of losing the election in the weeks before November 3rd , will he mobilize allies to stoke disarray on voting day , or use allegations of voter fraud to declare some sort of emergency ?
He has options .
This year , the President has effectively seized political control of the United States Postal Service .
The service has forecast that it could run out of money by September , because of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A stimulus bill enacted in March authorized the Treasury Department to lend the service up to ten billion dollars , but no deal has been struck , and , according to the Washington Post , the Treasury Secretary , Steven Mnuchin , has used loan negotiations to demand changes in postal operations .
A former finance chair of the Republican National Committee now chairs the Postal Service ’ s governing board .
That board recently appointed Louis DeJoy , another major Trump donor , as Postmaster General .
Trump has long advocated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recently called it “ a joke.
” The coup that he and his allies have carried out seems designed to advance privatization and related goals .
Having succeeded in taking control , Trump could conceivably seek to influence or disrupt postal operations to advantage his reëlection .
Already , the service sometimes struggles to deliver large volumes of mailed ballots on time .
This spring , mail delays roiled elections in Arizona and Wisconsin .
It is usually a mistake to attribute forethought to Trump ; he is a blustering counter-puncher who imagines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ improvisation .
After Twitter called him out this week , the President raged characteristically ; he accused the company of “ stifling FREE SPEECH ” and hastily signed an executive order designed to punish Twitter and other social-media companies if their efforts to police lies on their platforms—about mail voting or anything else—offend Trump or his allies .
Yet , for all his impulsiveness , Trump charts a consistent direction , toward chaos , which he then seeks to exploit to his advantage .
Joe Biden ’ s candidacy promises a restoration of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a pandemic and the loss of a hundred thousand lives and forty million jobs in a matter of months .
To regain power , Biden and the Democratic Party will have to win an election that is already one of the more abnormal in American history , against an unscrupulous incumbent holding the most powerful office in the free world .
The integrity of the Presidency and the health of the Constitution are at stake in November , but this is not shaping up as an election for idealists or the faint at @ @

This week, Donald Trump tweeted that voting by mail is “substantially fraudulent” and would lead to a “rigged” election in November. He has denounced mail-in voting before, and, during a week when the President also repeatedly smeared the MSNBC host Joe Scarborough over a false murder accusation, his latest misstatements seemed, by his debased norms, prosaic. Yet, after years of allowing Trump’s falsehoods to pass unremarked, Twitter called B.S. on the President: it planted a small exclamation mark beneath two of Trump’s tweets about voting and urged his followers to “get the facts about mail-in ballots,” via links to news stories. The articles pointed out that, though fraudulent mail-in voting does occur, it has taken place on a tiny scale in comparison to the number of votes that have been mailed. Twitter later explained that the President’s tweets “could confuse voters.” That is true, and on Friday the company also found it necessary to warn that Trump’s tweet about the crisis in Minneapolis violated its rules about “glorifying violence”—though none of that explains why it had waited so long to flag the President’s false tweets. In any event, Twitter’s fact-checking was necessary: Trump’s attacks on mail-in ballots are plainly designed to suppress a well-established, convenient method of voting, whose expansion during the coronavirus pandemic has allowed millions of citizens to exercise their constitutional rights without risking their health.
It can be difficult to divine why Trump promotes a particular line of lies. About voting by mail, the President has opined that, if it became entrenched, “you’d never have another Republican elected in this country.” That’s another statement that should be flagged, since studies by social scientists have shown repeatedly that mail-in voting until now has not substantially benefit Democrats over Republicans. It isn’t clear how much Trump and his allies are persuaded that more mail-in voting would hurt their party, because it would enfranchise new Democratic voters, and how much they are exaggerating the threat to fire up supporters and discredit the election. In any event, they are battling a strong tide: even before the pandemic, voting by mail had been increasing around the country. Five states now conduct elections almost entirely by mail, and twenty-nine others and the District of Columbia allow unrestricted absentee balloting. Since March, in reaction to the pandemic, Rhode Island is among the states that have dramatically enlarged mail-in voting, while in states where the practice is already prevalent, such as Arizona, there have been increases in participation.
The surge in voting by mail this year has protected voters from the coronavirus, but it has also exacerbated problems in the nation’s patchwork, underfunded election system—and that, in fact, may portend trouble in November. Local government bodies administer our elections; on the whole, they act with nonpartisan integrity, but many are poorly equipped to handle the tsunami of mailed ballots that may hit them this fall, even if the coronavirus fades. In March, Congress authorized four hundred million dollars to support elections this year, including voting by mail, but election specialists say that is far short of what is needed. We might want to brace ourselves: Election Night, on November 3rd, may stretch into days or even weeks without a clear Presidential winner, as beleaguered election boards in battleground states tabulate mounds of mailed ballots. Last October, Pennsylvania adopted unrestricted absentee voting for the first time, and some of its election authorities are expecting difficulty. “No county wants to be the reason we don’t know the leader of the free world on election night,” Lee Soltysiak, the election clerk of Montgomery County, outside of Philadelphia, told the Philadelphia Inquirer recently, but “that’s the position . . . we’re all likely to be in” if the vote is close. Another official told the Inquirer that at least four days might be required to count mailed ballots. Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state, told the Associated Press last week that her state would likely need “several days” in November.
All this sounds like a prescription for a national nervous breakdown—or worse. Picture armed activists protesting outside vote-counting sites, while partisan lawyers wave court injunctions and the President unleashes tweetstorms. If Trump fears that he is in danger of losing the election in the weeks before November 3rd, will he mobilize allies to stoke disarray on voting day, or use allegations of voter fraud to declare some sort of emergency? He has options. This year, the President has effectively seized political control of the United States Postal Service. The service has forecast that it could run out of money by September, because of the economic collapse caused by the coronavirus. A stimulus bill enacted in March authorized the Treasury Department to lend the service up to ten billion dollars, but no deal has been struck, and, according to the Washington Post, the Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, has used loan negotiations to demand changes in postal operations. A former finance chair of the Republican National Committee now chairs the Postal Service’s governing board. That board recently appointed Louis DeJoy, another major Trump donor, as Postmaster General. Trump has long advocated for selling off the Postal Service and recently called it “a joke.” The coup that he and his allies have carried out seems designed to advance privatization and related goals. Having succeeded in taking control, Trump could conceivably seek to influence or disrupt postal operations to advantage his reëlection. Already, the service sometimes struggles to deliver large volumes of mailed ballots on time. This spring, mail delays roiled elections in Arizona and Wisconsin.
It is usually a mistake to attribute forethought to Trump; he is a blustering counter-puncher who imagines himself to be a genius at political improvisation. After Twitter called him out this week, the President raged characteristically; he accused the company of “stifling FREE SPEECH” and hastily signed an executive order designed to punish Twitter and other social-media companies if their efforts to police lies on their platforms—about mail voting or anything else—offend Trump or his allies. Yet, for all his impulsiveness, Trump charts a consistent direction, toward chaos, which he then seeks to exploit to his advantage. Joe Biden’s candidacy promises a restoration of normalcy, whatever that may mean amid a pandemic and the loss of a hundred thousand lives and forty million jobs in a matter of months. To regain power, Biden and the Democratic Party will have to win an election that is already one of the more abnormal in American history, against an unscrupulous incumbent holding the most powerful office in the free world. The integrity of the Presidency and the health of the Constitution are at stake in November, but this is not shaping up as an election for idealists or the faint at heart.


newyorker--2020-05-30--Scenes from a New York City Protest of the Police Killing of George Floyd

Facey , who has documented protests in the past , told me that he often tries to anticipate scenes before @ @ @ @ @ a habit he formed not only through his work as a documentary photographer but also @ @ @ @ @ man in the presence of police officers .
When reaching for the camera , hanging @ @ @ @ @ often takes care to move slowly .
He worries that his gear might be mistaken @ @ @ @ @ worries for his own safety , and for that of his daughters in the future @ @ @ @ @ my camera on me , I don ’ t forget that I ’ m a @ @ @ @ @ Facey said .
“ I remember why I ’ m at these protests .
”

Facey, who has documented protests in the past, told me that he often tries to anticipate scenes before they happen. This is a habit he formed not only through his work as a documentary photographer but also through his experience as black man in the presence of police officers. When reaching for the camera, hanging by his side, he often takes care to move slowly. He worries that his gear might be mistaken for a weapon. He worries for his own safety, and for that of his daughters in the future. “When I have my camera on me, I don’t forget that I’m a black human being,” Facey said. “I remember why I’m at these protests.”


newyorker--2020-05-30--Angela Merkel Practices Social Distancing by Staying Four Thousand Miles Away from Trump

BERLIN ( The Borowitz Report ) —In an effort to practice social distancing , the German Chancellor , Angela Merkel , is staying four thousand miles away from Donald Trump , Merkel has confirmed .
Merkel ’ s decision to decline Trump ’ s invitation to a possible meeting of the G-7 in Washington was based “ entirely on science , ” Merkel told reporters .
“ Epidemiologists have recommended that , in order to be safe , one should social-distance by six feet , ” she said .
“ It only stands to reason that I will be even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feet.
” Merkel said that she was taking the extremely cautious social-distancing measures regarding Trump because of “ the danger posed by being in proximity to someone who speaks so loudly and incessantly.
” “ His mouth is like a firehose of droplets , ” she said , shuddering .
Asked whether she would reconsider a White House visit if Trump agreed to wear a mask , she said , “ Donald Trump with a mask is clearly a big improvement over Donald Trump without a mask , but no.
” The German @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a trip to the Oval Office if “ events on the ground change , ” most likely in January of 2021 .

BERLIN (The Borowitz Report)—In an effort to practice social distancing, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is staying four thousand miles away from Donald Trump, Merkel has confirmed.
Merkel’s decision to decline Trump’s invitation to a possible meeting of the G-7 in Washington was based “entirely on science,” Merkel told reporters.
“Epidemiologists have recommended that, in order to be safe, one should social-distance by six feet,” she said. “It only stands to reason that I will be even safer if I social-distance by twenty-one million feet.”
Merkel said that she was taking the extremely cautious social-distancing measures regarding Trump because of “the danger posed by being in proximity to someone who speaks so loudly and incessantly.”
“His mouth is like a firehose of droplets,” she said, shuddering.
Asked whether she would reconsider a White House visit if Trump agreed to wear a mask, she said, “Donald Trump with a mask is clearly a big improvement over Donald Trump without a mask, but no.”
The German leader added that she could envision making a trip to the Oval Office if “events on the ground change,” most likely in January of 2021.


newyorker--2020-05-30--A Night of Violent Protests Sets a Nation Ablaze

Is the United States coming apart ?
That is the question many people are asking after another night of demonstrations and violence following the horrific death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police .
In Minneapolis , Atlanta , New York , Dallas , Oakland , and other cities , there were violent clashes between police and protesters , which left at least two people dead , businesses looted , and local politicians combining appeals for calm with expressions of fury .
In Washington , D.C. , Secret Service agents scuffled with demonstrators outside of the White @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials were locked down inside .
On Saturday morning , Minnesota ’ s Governor Tim Walz , a Democrat , announced that he was mobilizing the Minnesota National Guard and accepting offers of support from National Guard units in neighboring states .
He also said that he had spoken with officials at the Pentagon about dispatching elements of the military to Minneapolis , and the Department of Defense subsequently confirmed that it had ordered U.S. Army units to stand by .
Walz claimed that the “ wanton destruction and chaos ” seen in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by highly organized outsiders , including ideological extremists and experts in urban warfare .
“ Our great cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are under assault by people who do not share our values .
.
.
and certainly are not here to honor George Floyd , ” Walz said during a press conference .
Appearing alongside Walz , Minneapolis ’ s mayor , Jacob Frey , who is also a Democrat , echoed the claim that outside agitators were primarily responsible for the violence , saying , “ they are coming in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from outside of the region , to prey on everything that we have built over the last several decades.
” In Atlanta , demonstrators set fires and destroyed property at the CNN Center , Centennial Olympic Park , and a mall in the Buckhead neighborhood .
In an impassioned press conference on Friday night , Atlanta ’ s mayor , Keisha Lance Bottoms , tore into the protesters , saying , “ When you burn down this city , you are burning down our community .
.
.
.
You are disgracing our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of George Floyd.
” Earlier on Friday , before the protests turned violent , Atlanta ’ s police chief , Erika Shields , had expressed sympathy for the demonstrators .
“ People are understandably upset , ” she told reporters .
“ Black men are routinely killed .
And whether it ’ s by police or other individuals , the reality of it is we ’ ve diminished the value on their life .
Think about that.
” That is the tragedy of the situation : the main force driving the demonstrations is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ murder of Floyd and the long history of racism in U.S. policing .
Given the seemingly endless procession of cases in which unarmed black men have been killed by the police , it is a sign of societal strength rather than dysfunction that so many people , of all races , are protesting .
“ There is something fundamentally wrong with American police training , police culture , police organization , ” Orlando Patterson , the eminent Harvard sociologist , noted in a conversation with MSNBC ’ s Lawrence O ’ Donnell on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Patterson explained , the American culture of policing “ sees the community as the enemy.
” In some places on Friday , the police tactics appeared to inflame situations rather than deëscalate them .
During a largely peaceful protest outside of the Barclays Center , in Brooklyn , members of the New York Police Department were captured on video hurling a woman to the ground and rushing into the crowd with their batons raised to make arrests .
They also pepper-sprayed and handcuffed a local politician who was taking part in the protest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opened fire on reporters with pepper balls for no apparent reason .
However , there were clearly elements among the protesters who were intent on causing trouble , in New York and in other demonstrations across the country , and many of them appeared to be white .
Outside of Fort Greene Park , in Brooklyn , protesters attacked a police van and set it alight .
“ I saw non-black allies in particular escalating the situation , ” Jumaane Williams , New York City ’ s public advocate , said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make.
” As the unrest continues , some commentators are comparing the situation to 1968 , when there were riots in Baltimore , Chicago , Washington , and other cities following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr. , on April 4th , and unrest that continued throughout the summer .
There are undoubtedly some parallels : 1968 was an election year ; political activism was on the rise ; in some cities , aggressive police tactics exacerbated the violence ; and there was a Republican Presidential candidate , Richard Nixon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to frightened white voters .
At this stage , though , making a full historical comparison seems premature .
Despite the dramatic footage of demonstrators confronting police and burning police vehicles in Atlanta and other cities , the unrest has been localized and scattered ; the number of injuries and deaths has been relatively small ; and the property damage has been fairly limited—certainly compared to what happened during the large-scale rioting in 1968 .
Also , after an inexplicable delay , authorities in Minneapolis have finally arrested Derek Chauvin , the police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the cuffed Floyd for more than eight minutes , and charged him with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter .
It is possible that things will calm down .
But with more protests planned in many cities , including Atlanta and New York , such an outcome is far from guaranteed , especially given the potential for Trump to further provoke things .
After appearing to suggest in a pair of tweets on Thursday night that the police should shoot some of the demonstrators in Minneapolis , the President backed off a bit on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called Floyd ’ s family , whom he described as “ terrific people , ” to express sorrow about Floyd ’ s death ; and he tried to walk back his incendiary tweets , claiming that they had been misinterpreted .
In tweets on Saturday morning , Trump praised the Secret Service agents for how they had handled the protests outside of the White House on Friday night .
“ They were not only totally professional , but very cool .
I was inside , watched every move , and couldn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have left it there , but , of course , he didn ’ t .
In another tweet , he said that the demonstrators , had they breached the security fence on Pennsylvania Avenue , would have “ been greeted with the most vicious dogs , and most ominous weapons , I have ever seen .
.
.
.
Many Secret Service agents are just waiting for action.
” In New York , Governor Andrew Cuomo struck a very different note .
Appearing at his daily COVID-19 press conference , Cuomo announced that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Letitia James , would carry out an inquiry into Friday night ’ s unrest , examining both the police ’ s tactics and the crowd ’ s behavior .
“ People do deserve answers , and people do deserve accountability , ” Cuomo said .
“ If someone did something wrong , they should be held accountable.
” Cuomo also sought to deëscalate the situation , appealing to New Yorkers to take inspiration from the health-care workers and other people on the front lines who have helped get the state through the worst @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , be outraged , be frustrated , ” Cuomo said .
“ Demand better , demand justice , but not violence .
.
.
.
There is nothing we can ’ t overcome .
We showed that here .
We beat this damn virus .
But the way we beat this virus , we can beat the virus of racism , we can beat the virus of discrimination , we can beat the virus of inequality .
If we can beat this virus , we can beat anything.
” These are fine-sounding words @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they will have any effect .

Is the United States coming apart? That is the question many people are asking after another night of demonstrations and violence following the horrific death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police. In Minneapolis, Atlanta, New York, Dallas, Oakland, and other cities, there were violent clashes between police and protesters, which left at least two people dead, businesses looted, and local politicians combining appeals for calm with expressions of fury. In Washington, D.C., Secret Service agents scuffled with demonstrators outside of the White House, as Donald Trump and other officials were locked down inside.
On Saturday morning, Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, announced that he was mobilizing the Minnesota National Guard and accepting offers of support from National Guard units in neighboring states. He also said that he had spoken with officials at the Pentagon about dispatching elements of the military to Minneapolis, and the Department of Defense subsequently confirmed that it had ordered U.S. Army units to stand by. Walz claimed that the “wanton destruction and chaos” seen in Minneapolis on Friday night had been perpetrated by highly organized outsiders, including ideological extremists and experts in urban warfare. “Our great cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are under assault by people who do not share our values . . . and certainly are not here to honor George Floyd,” Walz said during a press conference. Appearing alongside Walz, Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, who is also a Democrat, echoed the claim that outside agitators were primarily responsible for the violence, saying, “they are coming in largely from outside of the city, from outside of the region, to prey on everything that we have built over the last several decades.”
In Atlanta, demonstrators set fires and destroyed property at the CNN Center, Centennial Olympic Park, and a mall in the Buckhead neighborhood. In an impassioned press conference on Friday night, Atlanta’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, tore into the protesters, saying, “When you burn down this city, you are burning down our community. . . . You are disgracing our city. You are disgracing the life of George Floyd.” Earlier on Friday, before the protests turned violent, Atlanta’s police chief, Erika Shields, had expressed sympathy for the demonstrators. “People are understandably upset,” she told reporters. “Black men are routinely killed. And whether it’s by police or other individuals, the reality of it is we’ve diminished the value on their life. Think about that.”
That is the tragedy of the situation: the main force driving the demonstrations is outrage and righteous anger about the callous murder of Floyd and the long history of racism in U.S. policing. Given the seemingly endless procession of cases in which unarmed black men have been killed by the police, it is a sign of societal strength rather than dysfunction that so many people, of all races, are protesting. “There is something fundamentally wrong with American police training, police culture, police organization,” Orlando Patterson, the eminent Harvard sociologist, noted in a conversation with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Friday night. All too often, Patterson explained, the American culture of policing “sees the community as the enemy.”
In some places on Friday, the police tactics appeared to inflame situations rather than deëscalate them. During a largely peaceful protest outside of the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, members of the New York Police Department were captured on video hurling a woman to the ground and rushing into the crowd with their batons raised to make arrests. They also pepper-sprayed and handcuffed a local politician who was taking part in the protest. In Louisville, Kentucky, police opened fire on reporters with pepper balls for no apparent reason. However, there were clearly elements among the protesters who were intent on causing trouble, in New York and in other demonstrations across the country, and many of them appeared to be white. Outside of Fort Greene Park, in Brooklyn, protesters attacked a police van and set it alight. “I saw non-black allies in particular escalating the situation,” Jumaane Williams, New York City’s public advocate, said. “That decision should not be yours to make.”
As the unrest continues, some commentators are comparing the situation to 1968, when there were riots in Baltimore, Chicago, Washington, and other cities following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4th, and unrest that continued throughout the summer. There are undoubtedly some parallels: 1968 was an election year; political activism was on the rise; in some cities, aggressive police tactics exacerbated the violence; and there was a Republican Presidential candidate, Richard Nixon, who exploited the turmoil to appeal to frightened white voters. At this stage, though, making a full historical comparison seems premature.
Despite the dramatic footage of demonstrators confronting police and burning police vehicles in Atlanta and other cities, the unrest has been localized and scattered; the number of injuries and deaths has been relatively small; and the property damage has been fairly limited—certainly compared to what happened during the large-scale rioting in 1968. Also, after an inexplicable delay, authorities in Minneapolis have finally arrested Derek Chauvin, the police officer who knelt on the windpipe of the cuffed Floyd for more than eight minutes, and charged him with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. It is possible that things will calm down. But with more protests planned in many cities, including Atlanta and New York, such an outcome is far from guaranteed, especially given the potential for Trump to further provoke things.
After appearing to suggest in a pair of tweets on Thursday night that the police should shoot some of the demonstrators in Minneapolis, the President backed off a bit on Friday. He said that he had called Floyd’s family, whom he described as “terrific people,” to express sorrow about Floyd’s death; and he tried to walk back his incendiary tweets, claiming that they had been misinterpreted. In tweets on Saturday morning, Trump praised the Secret Service agents for how they had handled the protests outside of the White House on Friday night. “They were not only totally professional, but very cool. I was inside, watched every move, and couldn’t have felt more safe.” He could have left it there, but, of course, he didn’t. In another tweet, he said that the demonstrators, had they breached the security fence on Pennsylvania Avenue, would have “been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. . . . Many Secret Service agents are just waiting for action.”
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo struck a very different note. Appearing at his daily COVID-19 press conference, Cuomo announced that the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, would carry out an inquiry into Friday night’s unrest, examining both the police’s tactics and the crowd’s behavior. “People do deserve answers, and people do deserve accountability,” Cuomo said. “If someone did something wrong, they should be held accountable.” Cuomo also sought to deëscalate the situation, appealing to New Yorkers to take inspiration from the health-care workers and other people on the front lines who have helped get the state through the worst stages of the pandemic. “Yes, be outraged, be frustrated,” Cuomo said. “Demand better, demand justice, but not violence. . . . There is nothing we can’t overcome. We showed that here. We beat this damn virus. But the way we beat this virus, we can beat the virus of racism, we can beat the virus of discrimination, we can beat the virus of inequality. If we can beat this virus, we can beat anything.”
These are fine-sounding words. It remains to be seen if they will have any effect.
Race, Policing, and Black Lives Matter Protests


newyorker--2020-05-30--A Long Night With the Jail-Support Crew Outside One Police Plaza After Protests in New York

A cordoned-off part of the sidewalk at the back of New York City police headquarters , at One Police Plaza , smelled like a long-ago college party : cigarette smoke and cheap cologne .
After a while , I realized that the second odor was hand sanitizer .
There were several large bottles of it , along with snacks and drinks and cigarette packs , laid out in a pile in the middle of the sidewalk for the people who were getting released from jail and for those who were waiting for them : jail support .
At three in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , there were about thirty supporters , most of them in their late teens or early twenties .
Half were wearing vintage nineties-style high-rise jeans , and half were swaddled in timeless , shapeless black .
This could have been thirty years ago—indeed , thirty years ago , I spent some hours in a cell inside .
Now my eighteen-year-old daughter , Yolka , and more than fifty other young people who were arrested at a protest on Thursday were inside .
The protest was quickly coördinated on an anarchist thread on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the murder of George Floyd and protests in Minneapolis .
People gathered in Union Square and marched down to Foley Square , one of the activists , Elsa Eli Waithe , told me .
They were thinking of crossing the Brooklyn Bridge , but it was blocked off by the police , so the protest disbursed and many people came here , to One Police Plaza .
Arrests had begun right away , Waithe told me .
“ They weren ’ t waiting for anything , ” she said , referring to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the very beginning.
” Waithe has been protesting in New York since moving here from Virginia , eight years ago , she said .
She was arrested in 2014 in an action protesting the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner ; in 2016 , for protesting the murder of Philando Castile , and again the day after Donald Trump was elected President ; and twice this year , during marches against the increased police presence on the subway to fight fare-beating .
In all of these arrests , she said , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aggressively as they did on Thursday night .
As the night wore on , the crowd kept a formal and informal tally of injuries : a teen-ager who had been clubbed on one arm , which was now limp and swollen ( I did not see this person , but he was described to me by several people separately ) ; several young people with lacerations on their heads ; a young man , who emerged wearing a tank top and shorts , with bruises and bleeding all over his body ; people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
By the time people came out of One Police Plaza , though , one or two at a time , carrying manila envelopes with their summonses—most of them for disorderly conduct—shuffling in their laceless Converse high-tops and attempting to put on a belt as they walked , they talked more about the crowded conditions inside and the excruciating slowness of the process than about the way they were treated when they were arrested .
A few minutes after three in the morning , birds started singing .
“ It ’ s the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Seven wispy young people with curly hair in various shades sat in a circle on the sidewalk , playing a game of exquisite corpse .
There were still at least two dozen people inside .
Arrests had begun around five in the afternoon and ended before eight .
At four , Waithe screamed while looking at her phone and choked as she tried to get the words out .
One of the other people finally read out a tweet by Donald Trump that said , “ when the looting starts , the shooting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ war , ” Waithe said .
At half past four , a young man of color was driven out of the precinct in a police vehicle , probably for arraignment .
This was the second time that night .
“ Say your name !
” the jail-support crowd shouted .
The young man tried to scream from the car , but it was impossible to make out his name .
At four-forty-five , a woman wearing black scrubs came out .
Several of the people who were released earlier had mentioned that one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and that she was questioning the police about their failure to maintain social distancing or wear masks .
The woman , Tennille Newbold , was actually a nursing assistant studying to be a nurse .
She told me that , while the women were housed two to a cell , all the men who were detained at the protest—between thirty and forty people—were held in one large room , which became crowded .
“ Every time you said something to a cop about not wearing a mask , they laughed , ” she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was not wearing gloves , and I had to ask for hand sanitizer for myself .
The officer didn ’ t care.
” She excused herself : she had to be at work in two hours .
I asked Waithe how the protesters had handled social distancing .
“ We didn ’ t , ” she said .
“ I have it in my head that this is the risk you take .
We definitely believe in science .
Everyone here has a mask on them or nearby.
” This was an accurate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was wearing a mask , but many of these masks were lowered—for smoking , drinking , talking , and comfort .
“ But these things require being close , ” Waithe said , of the march .
“ And we realize there is that risk.
” Waithe , who is thirty-two , works as a standup comedian and an instructor of everything from chess and coding for kids to comedy for teen-agers .
She lost all her gigs when the pandemic hit , and now works delivering meal boxes to the elderly .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ d been in my house this whole time , ” she said .
Still , the choice she and some of the other protesters made was to be in close proximity to others while wearing masks outside—not to be in a crowded indoor space with dozens of police officers who were flouting the city ’ s social-distancing orders and laughing about it .
At five , when the subway opened , Waithe left .
Most of the others followed .
It was light .
There were still at least a dozen people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a young woman emerged , wheeling a blue bike .
“ Are you guys jail support ?
” she shouted as she approached what remained of the group .
“ This was the first time I got arrested .
It sucked balls .
It sucked major balls.
” I was getting worried .
For the last hour or so , every woman who emerged from the building said that only a couple of people remained on the female side .
Yolka still hadn ’ t come out .
Still , I wasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ d been earlier in the evening , during the five hours between the time she last read a text message from me and the time she called to tell me where she was .
Around one in the morning , I had called 311 , and the operator told me that she was not in the system as having been arrested .
He told me to try calling two of the precincts near Union Square .
I couldn ’ t get through .
Finally , an activist friend told me that the detainees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my daughter called .

A cordoned-off part of the sidewalk at the back of New York City police headquarters, at One Police Plaza, smelled like a long-ago college party: cigarette smoke and cheap cologne. After a while, I realized that the second odor was hand sanitizer. There were several large bottles of it, along with snacks and drinks and cigarette packs, laid out in a pile in the middle of the sidewalk for the people who were getting released from jail and for those who were waiting for them: jail support. At three in the morning, when I got there, there were about thirty supporters, most of them in their late teens or early twenties. Half were wearing vintage nineties-style high-rise jeans, and half were swaddled in timeless, shapeless black. This could have been thirty years ago—indeed, thirty years ago, I spent some hours in a cell inside. Now my eighteen-year-old daughter, Yolka, and more than fifty other young people who were arrested at a protest on Thursday were inside.
The protest was quickly coördinated on an anarchist thread on the secure messaging app Signal, in response to the murder of George Floyd and protests in Minneapolis. People gathered in Union Square and marched down to Foley Square, one of the activists, Elsa Eli Waithe, told me. They were thinking of crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, but it was blocked off by the police, so the protest disbursed and many people came here, to One Police Plaza.
Arrests had begun right away, Waithe told me. “They weren’t waiting for anything,” she said, referring to the police. “They were aggressive from the very beginning.” Waithe has been protesting in New York since moving here from Virginia, eight years ago, she said. She was arrested in 2014 in an action protesting the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner; in 2016, for protesting the murder of Philando Castile, and again the day after Donald Trump was elected President; and twice this year, during marches against the increased police presence on the subway to fight fare-beating. In all of these arrests, she said, she had not seen police act as aggressively as they did on Thursday night.
As the night wore on, the crowd kept a formal and informal tally of injuries: a teen-ager who had been clubbed on one arm, which was now limp and swollen (I did not see this person, but he was described to me by several people separately); several young people with lacerations on their heads; a young man, who emerged wearing a tank top and shorts, with bruises and bleeding all over his body; people whose clothes were ripped during the arrest. By the time people came out of One Police Plaza, though, one or two at a time, carrying manila envelopes with their summonses—most of them for disorderly conduct—shuffling in their laceless Converse high-tops and attempting to put on a belt as they walked, they talked more about the crowded conditions inside and the excruciating slowness of the process than about the way they were treated when they were arrested.
A few minutes after three in the morning, birds started singing. “It’s the witching hour,” someone said. Seven wispy young people with curly hair in various shades sat in a circle on the sidewalk, playing a game of exquisite corpse. There were still at least two dozen people inside. Arrests had begun around five in the afternoon and ended before eight.
At four, Waithe screamed while looking at her phone and choked as she tried to get the words out. One of the other people finally read out a tweet by Donald Trump that said, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
“He has just declared war,” Waithe said.
At half past four, a young man of color was driven out of the precinct in a police vehicle, probably for arraignment. This was the second time that night. “Say your name!” the jail-support crowd shouted. The young man tried to scream from the car, but it was impossible to make out his name.
At four-forty-five, a woman wearing black scrubs came out. Several of the people who were released earlier had mentioned that one of the detained women was a nurse and that she was questioning the police about their failure to maintain social distancing or wear masks. The woman, Tennille Newbold, was actually a nursing assistant studying to be a nurse. She told me that, while the women were housed two to a cell, all the men who were detained at the protest—between thirty and forty people—were held in one large room, which became crowded. “Every time you said something to a cop about not wearing a mask, they laughed,” she said. “The officer doing fingerprinting was not wearing gloves, and I had to ask for hand sanitizer for myself. The officer didn’t care.” She excused herself: she had to be at work in two hours.
I asked Waithe how the protesters had handled social distancing. “We didn’t,” she said. “I have it in my head that this is the risk you take. We definitely believe in science. Everyone here has a mask on them or nearby.” This was an accurate description: everyone in the jail-support crowd was wearing a mask, but many of these masks were lowered—for smoking, drinking, talking, and comfort. “But these things require being close,” Waithe said, of the march. “And we realize there is that risk.” Waithe, who is thirty-two, works as a standup comedian and an instructor of everything from chess and coding for kids to comedy for teen-agers. She lost all her gigs when the pandemic hit, and now works delivering meal boxes to the elderly. “I might feel differently if I’d been in my house this whole time,” she said. Still, the choice she and some of the other protesters made was to be in close proximity to others while wearing masks outside—not to be in a crowded indoor space with dozens of police officers who were flouting the city’s social-distancing orders and laughing about it.
At five, when the subway opened, Waithe left. Most of the others followed. It was light. There were still at least a dozen people inside.
A few minutes before six, a young woman emerged, wheeling a blue bike. “Are you guys jail support?” she shouted as she approached what remained of the group. “This was the first time I got arrested. It sucked balls. It sucked major balls.”
I was getting worried. For the last hour or so, every woman who emerged from the building said that only a couple of people remained on the female side. Yolka still hadn’t come out. Still, I wasn’t as worried as I’d been earlier in the evening, during the five hours between the time she last read a text message from me and the time she called to tell me where she was. Around one in the morning, I had called 311, and the operator told me that she was not in the system as having been arrested. He told me to try calling two of the precincts near Union Square. I couldn’t get through. Finally, an activist friend told me that the detainees were probably at One Police Plaza—and then my daughter called.
Yolka finally emerged at six-fourteen, the last person to be released. We walked up to the East Village, where she had locked her bike. Shuffling in her laceless Converse—she had forgotten to claim her laces when she was released—she told me about how she had been arrested with her best friend, and, unlike with the others, the police hadn’t been too rough, perhaps “because they saw how tiny we are.” How the arresting officer disappeared, and how they were told not to worry, they’d be released soon, in response to every question except for why they weren’t wearing masks, which the officers responded to with laughter. How her friend, who is black, repeatedly said, in the course of five hours, “I need a phone call, I am a minor,” and being ignored. How Yolka, who is white, finally screamed at the officers that she and her friend were two teen-age girls whose parents had no idea where they were and who would be in danger walking outside if they were, in fact, “released soon,” and how this finally got them their phone calls. How, after the phone calls, the officers finally realized that Yolka’s friend was a minor, and then the arresting officer took the friend to another precinct (where she was released into her parents’ custody), while Yolka remained in her cell alone and discovered that she could fall asleep sitting up. How she was freezing cold, in a T-shirt and shorts, and kept asking for her jacket from her backpack, and was ignored. How an officer kept promising to bring hand wipes and never did. How it took about five hours to get food, a sandwich of stale bread and American cheese. How it seemed to her that everyone in the cells had cycled through giddiness and desperation and never knew what time it was.


newyorker--2020-05-30--All the Ways to Not Waste Your Citrus Peels

Our world abounds with shells and leaves and peels and bones that demand faith from those who wish to treat them as edible .
Citrus peels are different .
We all , at least unconsciously , recognize that the peels of oranges and limes and lemons and grapefruits are key to the pleasure of eating citrus itself—at least as an olfactory herald , a creator of the anticipatory gust that wafts upward when you first dig a nail into a mandarin , or cut a lemon in half .
We know that there ’ s something worth keeping in those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ orange , at least from watching bartenders twist them into cocktails to release their volatile oils .
As hard as it can be to see the promise in a picked-clean chicken carcass or tough fennel tops , it ’ s easy enough to tell that citrus peels are good .
It ’ s another thing , though , to actually make use of them .
One hurdle is technical : once you ’ ve got a fruit out of its peel , or the juice out of a fruit , the rind that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Have you tried to zest a squeezed lemon ?
Have you zested your knuckle instead ?
Have you registered that knuckle zest is less versatile than the lemon kind ?
Ideally , each of us would commit to removing the zest from our citrus before cutting it in half to juice , or peeling it to eat .
Like a lot of people , however , I ’ m not ideal .
I have a steady enough disposition to do the right thing about thirty per cent of the time .
The rest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lime juice for guacamole , or lemon wedges for chicken cutlets , I fail to take the extra twenty seconds it would require to pull out a zester—a whole extra tool !
—and execute the plan .
Here is how I compensate for this seemingly permanent flaw in my character : I go ahead and zest my lemons and limes and , hell , even oranges right when I bring them home , or a day later when I open the refrigerator and see the fruit and am reminded to do it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ span somewhat—the peel is what protects the fruit inside it .
But I ’ m forgiving of slightly dried or sunken fruit ; I figure it ’ s better to have two ingredients—zest and fruit—in passable shape than just one in superb shape .
If you don ’ t have a zester , you can use a Microplane or a cheese grater , or you can take a sharp knife and carve the outermost , oily , brightly hued layer of skin off in strips , which can be chopped by hand into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ water , or seltzer , or the cavity of a roasting chicken , or , or , or .
Zest is a miracle ingredient , because it offers the flavor of the fruit it came from in ultra-distilled form .
This means that a very little bit goes a very long way .
I have tested how far by devising a recipe that I can only think to transcribe like this : Store leftover boiled potatoes in a recently emptied zest container until they become citrusy and delicious .
There ’ s no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also changing it enough to ward off boredom , than by putting it in a little pot and adding a drizzle of stock or water , some butter , and a hefty pinch of lemon zest .
Sure , it ’ s just lemony rice .
But lemony rice is great !
Here ’ s a really weird one : take leftover boiled egg yolks , smash them up , add a little pounded-up garlic , a tiny smidge of Dijon mustard , lemon or orange zest , and olive oil .
Stir @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it , then dollop it over asparagus , or toast , or newly boiled eggs .
Or , if you have parsley , you can chop that up , mix it with any zest ( including grapefruit , or clementine , or pomelo ) , garlic , and salt , and you have a version of gremolata , the perkiest sprinkle for anything from oatmeal to beef stew .
Have you made citrus-zest vinaigrette ?
Why not ?
Sometimes , the above advice notwithstanding , you will still find yourself looking regretfully at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lime or lemon or orange that you recklessly squeezed without zesting first .
There are good things to do with these peels , too , whether their pith is the very little bit you get from a mandarin or the insulation-level stuff on a navel orange .
One strategy is to make citrus kosho , the Japanese fermented condiment .
( I do this following the method of Jori Jayne Emde , a virtuosic fermenter : she grinds the peels in a spice grinder with chilies and salt , sprinkles the mixture with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it cure . )
A more straightforward strategy is to let the peels dry out .
This can be accomplished by putting them on a baking sheet by the window , or outside on a fire escape , or in an oven turned on very low .
The goal is for the peels to become dry enough that they can be ground into a powder using a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle .
Then mix the powder into sugar to make citrus sugar ; it will taste surprising and fancy ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or yogurt .
Or , instead , mix it with a combination of salt and dried chili flakes .
Then wet the rim of a glass , roll it in the citrus-chili salt , and fill the glass with ice and mezcal .
Or cut up fruit and dip it into the citrus-chili salt .
Imagine that you ’ re milling around outside , surrounded without fear by other humans , and a vender has handed you the fruit in a plastic bag and asked you whether you want it doused in hot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will store for a few years .
What will life be like in a few years ?
Wherever you are and whatever is going on , your cooking will taste better owing to that odd period when you gathered your leftover shells and leaves and peels and bones , and resolved to let nothing go to waste .

It’s easy to see that there’s something worth keeping in those petals of shiny yellow and green and orange. It’s another thing, though, to actually make use of them. Photograph by Iain Bagwell / Getty
Our world abounds with shells and leaves and peels and bones that demand faith from those who wish to treat them as edible. Citrus peels are different. We all, at least unconsciously, recognize that the peels of oranges and limes and lemons and grapefruits are key to the pleasure of eating citrus itself—at least as an olfactory herald, a creator of the anticipatory gust that wafts upward when you first dig a nail into a mandarin, or cut a lemon in half. We know that there’s something worth keeping in those petals of shiny yellow and green and orange, at least from watching bartenders twist them into cocktails to release their volatile oils. As hard as it can be to see the promise in a picked-clean chicken carcass or tough fennel tops, it’s easy enough to tell that citrus peels are good.
It’s another thing, though, to actually make use of them. One hurdle is technical: once you’ve got a fruit out of its peel, or the juice out of a fruit, the rind that remains behind is floppy and structureless. Have you tried to zest a squeezed lemon? Have you zested your knuckle instead? Have you registered that knuckle zest is less versatile than the lemon kind? Ideally, each of us would commit to removing the zest from our citrus before cutting it in half to juice, or peeling it to eat. Like a lot of people, however, I’m not ideal. I have a steady enough disposition to do the right thing about thirty per cent of the time. The rest of the time, when I need lime juice for guacamole, or lemon wedges for chicken cutlets, I fail to take the extra twenty seconds it would require to pull out a zester—a whole extra tool!—and execute the plan.
Here is how I compensate for this seemingly permanent flaw in my character: I go ahead and zest my lemons and limes and, hell, even oranges right when I bring them home, or a day later when I open the refrigerator and see the fruit and am reminded to do it. This decreases the citrus’s life span somewhat—the peel is what protects the fruit inside it. But I’m forgiving of slightly dried or sunken fruit; I figure it’s better to have two ingredients—zest and fruit—in passable shape than just one in superb shape. If you don’t have a zester, you can use a Microplane or a cheese grater, or you can take a sharp knife and carve the outermost, oily, brightly hued layer of skin off in strips, which can be chopped by hand into zest, or dropped whole into ice water, or seltzer, or the cavity of a roasting chicken, or, or, or.
Zest is a miracle ingredient, because it offers the flavor of the fruit it came from in ultra-distilled form. This means that a very little bit goes a very long way. I have tested how far by devising a recipe that I can only think to transcribe like this: Store leftover boiled potatoes in a recently emptied zest container until they become citrusy and delicious. There’s no lazier way to reheat rice, while also changing it enough to ward off boredom, than by putting it in a little pot and adding a drizzle of stock or water, some butter, and a hefty pinch of lemon zest. Sure, it’s just lemony rice. But lemony rice is great! Here’s a really weird one: take leftover boiled egg yolks, smash them up, add a little pounded-up garlic, a tiny smidge of Dijon mustard, lemon or orange zest, and olive oil. Stir the mixture like your life depended on it, then dollop it over asparagus, or toast, or newly boiled eggs. Or, if you have parsley, you can chop that up, mix it with any zest (including grapefruit, or clementine, or pomelo), garlic, and salt, and you have a version of gremolata, the perkiest sprinkle for anything from oatmeal to beef stew. Have you made citrus-zest vinaigrette? Why not?
Sometimes, the above advice notwithstanding, you will still find yourself looking regretfully at the pithy, juiceless half of a lime or lemon or orange that you recklessly squeezed without zesting first. There are good things to do with these peels, too, whether their pith is the very little bit you get from a mandarin or the insulation-level stuff on a navel orange. One strategy is to make citrus kosho, the Japanese fermented condiment. (I do this following the method of Jori Jayne Emde, a virtuosic fermenter: she grinds the peels in a spice grinder with chilies and salt, sprinkles the mixture with a little orange juice, then lets it cure.) A more straightforward strategy is to let the peels dry out. This can be accomplished by putting them on a baking sheet by the window, or outside on a fire escape, or in an oven turned on very low. The goal is for the peels to become dry enough that they can be ground into a powder using a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle.
Then mix the powder into sugar to make citrus sugar; it will taste surprising and fancy; sprinkle it on cookies or banana bread or yogurt. Or, instead, mix it with a combination of salt and dried chili flakes. Then wet the rim of a glass, roll it in the citrus-chili salt, and fill the glass with ice and mezcal. Or cut up fruit and dip it into the citrus-chili salt. Imagine that you’re milling around outside, surrounded without fear by other humans, and a vender has handed you the fruit in a plastic bag and asked you whether you want it doused in hot sauce.
Citrus sugar or citrus salt will store for a few years. What will life be like in a few years? Wherever you are and whatever is going on, your cooking will taste better owing to that odd period when you gathered your leftover shells and leaves and peels and bones, and resolved to let nothing go to waste.