newyorker--2020-09-23--The FinCEN Files Shed New Light on a Scandalous Episode at Deutsche Bank

In January , 2019 , I received a tip from someone who worked in a Japanese mountain resort .
He told me that an American named Tim Wiswell had arrived on a skiing vacation with his family .
Japan , he noted , had signed an extradition treaty with the U.S. My correspondent wrote , “ I ’ m just wondering why it seems he ’ s not being pursued ?
” It was a reasonable question .
Wiswell , or “ Wiz , ” as he was known to his colleagues in finance , was the head of Russian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2015 .
He was also , according to the bank , a key figure behind “ mirror trades , ” a scheme designed to expatriate and launder money of dubious provenance .
In a typical mirror trade , a Russian client of Deutsche Bank would make two simultaneous orders—one to buy stock in Moscow in rubles , the other to sell an identical quantity of the same stock in London , and receive payment in Euros , pounds , or dollars .
The client did not make any money on the equities maneuver @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to move money without alerting tax inspectors , sanctions observers , or officers of the law .
Between 2011 and 2015 , ten billion dollars left Russia through Deutsche Bank ’ s mirror trades .
When the scheme unravelled , in 2015 , Deutsche Bank pointed the finger of blame at Wiswell .
The company ’ s leadership accused him of accepting nearly four million dollars in bribes to facilitate the trades—sometimes through an offshore account owned by his wife , who is an artist—on top of his generous banker ’ s salary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mirror trades , a former colleague of Wiswell ’ s told me that Wiswell had manipulated over-the-counter trades of equities to benefit his friends .
A professional money-launderer in Moscow who was intimately acquainted with Deutsche Bank ’ s capital-flight service told me that , as his fee for making mirror trades , Wiswell sometimes accepted cash payments in a gym bag .
The ultimate beneficiaries of mirror trades were more difficult to discern .
Those who wished to move their money commissioned professional launderers , who placed the orders on behalf of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the scheme was used both by organized criminals and by politically connected Russians and Chechens .
Certainly , mirror trades would have been attractive to anyone eager to circumvent sanctions or the scrutiny of their own government .
Bloomberg News named Arkady and Boris Rotenberg , close allies of Vladimir Putin who were sanctioned by the U.S. following Russia ’ s annexation of Crimea , as users of mirror trades—although no definitive proof has emerged of their involvement .
Igor Putin , the President ’ s cousin , was connected to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ detail the extent to which major banks have facilitated money laundering and add some fascinating detail to the mirror-trades affair .
The FinCEN documents are based on Suspicious Activity Reports—essentially whistle-blowing reports made by banks themselves—filed to the U.S. government .
They were leaked to BuzzFeed News , then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists , which shared them with news outlets around the world .
According to the documents , one of the clients involved in mirror trades was a liaison for Vladislav ( Blond ) Leontyev , a Russian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ involvement in mirror trades or other criminal activity . )
Meanwhile , nearly fifty million dollars were also funnelled through mirror trades to the Khanani network , whose clients include associates of Hezbollah and the Taliban .
Deutsche Bank ’ s reputation was abject even before the mirror-trades scandal broke .
Between 2008 and 2016 , it paid around nine billion dollars in fines and settlements for a wide range of wrongdoing that included conspiring to rig the price of gold and silver , breaking sanctions in Iran , defrauding mortgage companies , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or LIBOR .
Recently , the bank was fined a hundred and fifty million dollars by the New York Department of Financial Services for “ significant compliance failures ” in its relationship with Jeffrey Epstein .
The FinCEN files cover around two trillion dollars ’ worth of suspicious transactions reported at major banks between 1999 and 2017 .
Of that two trillion , more than half—around $ 1.3 trillion—passed through Deutsche Bank .
Deutsche Bank says that it has learned from “ historic issues , ” and argues that it has “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” The organization has already faced a reckoning of sorts over mirror trades .
After the scheme was shut down in 2015 , it was investigated by financial regulators in Russia , the U.K. , and the U.S .
The Russian investigation found that Deutsche Bank had fallen prey to an illegal scheme , and penalized the bank with a token fine of five thousand dollars—pocket change for a senior banker in its Moscow office .
Britain ’ s Financial Conduct Authority and the N.Y.D.F.S .
took the bank ’ s breaches more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ combined total of six hundred and thirty million dollars for violating anti-money-laundering laws .
The mirror-trades scheme , according to the F.C.A.
, was “ highly suggestive of financial crime.
” As we now know , mirror trades were not just suggestive of financial crime .
Major criminal organizations , terrorist groups , and drug cartels used them to launder and transfer money , and benefitted more generally from this geyser of dirty money .
A recent internal report at Deutsche Bank noted that the Department of Justice continues to probe the mirror-trades @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a long-running investigation .
In 2016 , I exchanged messages with two agents—from the F.B.I .
and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security—who had spent half a day in a European embassy questioning one of my sources .
But nothing came of their investigation , it seems .
Meanwhile , in his recently-published book about Deutsche Bank , “ Dark Towers , ” David Enrich quotes an F.B.I .
agent who said , in 2019 , that the investigation into mirror trades was still active .
One wonders how active the investigation can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long .
There is also the political environment to consider .
Before Donald Trump took office , Deutsche Bank was often the only bank that would lend to him .
The chances of criminal prosecutions seem slim , at least during this Administration .
Wiswell ’ s recent schedule is not indicative of a man worried about arrest .
After he was dismissed from the bank in 2015 , he fought a wrongful-termination claim against Deutsche Bank in Moscow .
( He lost . )
Wiswell then moved to Bali , where he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where he apparently still lives .
Last year , he went to Japan , to go skiing , and to Florence , Italy , with his wife , for the art Biennale .
She posted a picture of the event on Instagram ; Wiswell is holding a glass of champagne .
A former Deutsche Bank employee texted me recently to say that he had heard Wiswell had been seen partying on a yacht off the southern coast of France last summer “ with some Russians.
” ( Wiswell did not respond to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not the only person who facilitated mirror trades .
His managers turned a blind eye , either through design or incompetence .
All of his immediate superiors still work in finance—although most have moved on from Deutsche Bank .
Meanwhile , as BuzzFeed noted in its FinCEN reporting , Deutsche Bank ’ s own auditing team had investigated the Moscow equities desk in 2014 .
At that time , mirror trades were flourishing .
The investigation gave the desk a clean bill of health , although the team left a blank space for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oversight .
The chief of Deutsche Bank ’ s audit division at the time was Christian Sewing , who joined the bank when he was nineteen years old .
Sewing is now the C.E.O .
of Deutsche Bank .

In January, 2019, I received a tip from someone who worked in a Japanese mountain resort. He told me that an American named Tim Wiswell had arrived on a skiing vacation with his family. Japan, he noted, had signed an extradition treaty with the U.S. My correspondent wrote, “I’m just wondering why it seems he’s not being pursued?”
It was a reasonable question. Wiswell, or “Wiz,” as he was known to his colleagues in finance, was the head of Russian equities at Deutsche Bank in Moscow until 2015. He was also, according to the bank, a key figure behind “mirror trades,” a scheme designed to expatriate and launder money of dubious provenance. In a typical mirror trade, a Russian client of Deutsche Bank would make two simultaneous orders—one to buy stock in Moscow in rubles, the other to sell an identical quantity of the same stock in London, and receive payment in Euros, pounds, or dollars. The client did not make any money on the equities maneuver. The purpose of the double-order was to move money without alerting tax inspectors, sanctions observers, or officers of the law. Between 2011 and 2015, ten billion dollars left Russia through Deutsche Bank’s mirror trades.
When the scheme unravelled, in 2015, Deutsche Bank pointed the finger of blame at Wiswell. The company’s leadership accused him of accepting nearly four million dollars in bribes to facilitate the trades—sometimes through an offshore account owned by his wife, who is an artist—on top of his generous banker’s salary. In 2016, when I investigated mirror trades, a former colleague of Wiswell’s told me that Wiswell had manipulated over-the-counter trades of equities to benefit his friends. A professional money-launderer in Moscow who was intimately acquainted with Deutsche Bank’s capital-flight service told me that, as his fee for making mirror trades, Wiswell sometimes accepted cash payments in a gym bag.
The ultimate beneficiaries of mirror trades were more difficult to discern. Those who wished to move their money commissioned professional launderers, who placed the orders on behalf of front companies. But I was told that the scheme was used both by organized criminals and by politically connected Russians and Chechens. Certainly, mirror trades would have been attractive to anyone eager to circumvent sanctions or the scrutiny of their own government. Bloomberg News named Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, close allies of Vladimir Putin who were sanctioned by the U.S. following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, as users of mirror trades—although no definitive proof has emerged of their involvement. Igor Putin, the President’s cousin, was connected to the scheme.
The recently published FinCEN files detail the extent to which major banks have facilitated money laundering and add some fascinating detail to the mirror-trades affair. The FinCEN documents are based on Suspicious Activity Reports—essentially whistle-blowing reports made by banks themselves—filed to the U.S. government. They were leaked to BuzzFeed News, then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which shared them with news outlets around the world. According to the documents, one of the clients involved in mirror trades was a liaison for Vladislav (Blond) Leontyev, a Russian drug trafficker. (Leontyev denied any involvement in mirror trades or other criminal activity.) Meanwhile, nearly fifty million dollars were also funnelled through mirror trades to the Khanani network, whose clients include associates of Hezbollah and the Taliban.
Deutsche Bank’s reputation was abject even before the mirror-trades scandal broke. Between 2008 and 2016, it paid around nine billion dollars in fines and settlements for a wide range of wrongdoing that included conspiring to rig the price of gold and silver, breaking sanctions in Iran, defrauding mortgage companies, and manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR. Recently, the bank was fined a hundred and fifty million dollars by the New York Department of Financial Services for “significant compliance failures” in its relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The FinCEN files cover around two trillion dollars’ worth of suspicious transactions reported at major banks between 1999 and 2017. Of that two trillion, more than half—around $1.3 trillion—passed through Deutsche Bank.
Deutsche Bank says that it has learned from “historic issues,” and argues that it has “devoted significant resources to strengthening our controls.” The organization has already faced a reckoning of sorts over mirror trades. After the scheme was shut down in 2015, it was investigated by financial regulators in Russia, the U.K., and the U.S. The Russian investigation found that Deutsche Bank had fallen prey to an illegal scheme, and penalized the bank with a token fine of five thousand dollars—pocket change for a senior banker in its Moscow office. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority and the N.Y.D.F.S. took the bank’s breaches more seriously. They fined Deutsche Bank a combined total of six hundred and thirty million dollars for violating anti-money-laundering laws. The mirror-trades scheme, according to the F.C.A., was “highly suggestive of financial crime.”
As we now know, mirror trades were not just suggestive of financial crime. Major criminal organizations, terrorist groups, and drug cartels used them to launder and transfer money, and benefitted more generally from this geyser of dirty money. A recent internal report at Deutsche Bank noted that the Department of Justice continues to probe the mirror-trades scheme. If so, it is a long-running investigation. In 2016, I exchanged messages with two agents—from the F.B.I. and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security—who had spent half a day in a European embassy questioning one of my sources. But nothing came of their investigation, it seems. Meanwhile, in his recently-published book about Deutsche Bank, “Dark Towers,” David Enrich quotes an F.B.I. agent who said, in 2019, that the investigation into mirror trades was still active. One wonders how active the investigation can be, if it has taken so long. There is also the political environment to consider. Before Donald Trump took office, Deutsche Bank was often the only bank that would lend to him. The chances of criminal prosecutions seem slim, at least during this Administration.
Wiswell’s recent schedule is not indicative of a man worried about arrest. After he was dismissed from the bank in 2015, he fought a wrongful-termination claim against Deutsche Bank in Moscow. (He lost.) Wiswell then moved to Bali, where he ran a Russian-owned surf school, and where he apparently still lives. Last year, he went to Japan, to go skiing, and to Florence, Italy, with his wife, for the art Biennale. She posted a picture of the event on Instagram; Wiswell is holding a glass of champagne. A former Deutsche Bank employee texted me recently to say that he had heard Wiswell had been seen partying on a yacht off the southern coast of France last summer “with some Russians.” (Wiswell did not respond to a request for comment.)
Wiswell was not the only person who facilitated mirror trades. His managers turned a blind eye, either through design or incompetence. All of his immediate superiors still work in finance—although most have moved on from Deutsche Bank. Meanwhile, as BuzzFeed noted in its FinCEN reporting, Deutsche Bank’s own auditing team had investigated the Moscow equities desk in 2014. At that time, mirror trades were flourishing. The investigation gave the desk a clean bill of health, although the team left a blank space for anti-money-laundering controls and so-called know-your-customer procedures—a gross oversight. The chief of Deutsche Bank’s audit division at the time was Christian Sewing, who joined the bank when he was nineteen years old. Sewing is now the C.E.O. of Deutsche Bank.
After the mirror-trades scandal broke, Deutsche Bank’s Moscow investment arm was shuttered, and many people lost their jobs. But only three people, including Wiswell, were dismissed for their roles in mirror trades. (The scandal also precipitated the resignation of the joint C.E.O.s, Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen, in 2015, but the bank was already reeling from many other shameful episodes by then.) Two junior staffers on Wiswell’s desk, whose jobs were to physically input the trades, were also dismissed.
One of those employees was a young Russian sales trader named Georgiy Buznik. Unlike some of his colleagues, Buznik appears to have been burdened with a conscience. He was often asked to execute simultaneous-buy-and-sell orders that made no economic sense to him. In fact, the clients making the mirror trades appeared to lose money, because they had to pay commissions to the bank. To Buznik, the trades raised an obvious red flag for money laundering.
On two occasions, according to his colleagues on the equities desk, Buznik took his concerns to Wiswell. His boss assured him that everything was in order and that he should continue to process the trades. Buznik did so. In 2015, when the mirror trades were exposed, he lost his job, and soon left banking. Those who worked above him at the bank continue to thrive, however, and their incompetent, unethical, or simply illegal behavior has gone unpunished. Meanwhile, dirty money continues to pump around the financial system like a pathogen. The FinCEN files, while revelatory, are also dispiriting. It’s hard to escape the conclusion: crime pays.


newyorker--2020-09-23--Democrats Favor Expanding Supreme Court by Adding Entire Obama Family

WASHINGTON ( The Borowitz Report ) —A proposal to expand the size of the Supreme Court by adding the entire Obama family is gaining traction among Democratic activists .
Harland Dorrinson , a Democratic insider who is leading the movement to add all four Obamas to the nation ’ s highest court , cited a recent poll showing that ninety-eight per cent of Democratic voters favor the proposal , with a possible polling error of two points .
Acknowledging that the Obamas “ already have a lot on their plates , ” the activist asserted that serving on the Court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s busy schedule .
“ The Supreme Court only meets about nine months out of the year , ” Dorrinson said .
“ That would give the Obamas plenty of time to do their Netflix and podcast stuff.
” While the presence of Sasha and Malia Obama on the Supreme Court is bound to stir controversy because of their youth , Dorrinson said , “ There is a consensus among Democrats that you can never have too many Obamas.
” Dorrinson cautioned , however , that adding the entire Obama family to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ step ” in the Democrats ’ ultimate vision of judicial reform .
“ The plan is to expand the Supreme Court to thirty Justices , so four Obamas just get you partway there , ” he said .

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A proposal to expand the size of the Supreme Court by adding the entire Obama family is gaining traction among Democratic activists.
Harland Dorrinson, a Democratic insider who is leading the movement to add all four Obamas to the nation’s highest court, cited a recent poll showing that ninety-eight per cent of Democratic voters favor the proposal, with a possible polling error of two points.
Acknowledging that the Obamas “already have a lot on their plates,” the activist asserted that serving on the Court could be worked into the family’s busy schedule.
“The Supreme Court only meets about nine months out of the year,” Dorrinson said. “That would give the Obamas plenty of time to do their Netflix and podcast stuff.”
While the presence of Sasha and Malia Obama on the Supreme Court is bound to stir controversy because of their youth, Dorrinson said, “There is a consensus among Democrats that you can never have too many Obamas.”
Dorrinson cautioned, however, that adding the entire Obama family to the Supreme Court is only a “first step” in the Democrats’ ultimate vision of judicial reform.
“The plan is to expand the Supreme Court to thirty Justices, so four Obamas just get you partway there,” he said.


Joe Biden’s America

Folks , Joe Biden is the most radical agent of chaos this country has seen since Mitt Romney .
In Joe Biden ’ s America , every night there ’ s a big contest to see who can do the most crimes , and the police can ’ t stop it because they ’ re armed with pool noodles .
Whoever mugs the most old ladies gets to go to Yale , and regular citizens have to pay the tuition with their blood .
Yep , in Biden ’ s America , all the teachers are ISIS , and everyone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like human windmills to generate energy for Priuses .
This is a very real place , where Beto O ’ Rourke confiscates your guns and melts them down into out-of-tune guitars .
Then he smashes the guitars in your driveway while scream-singing , “ This is what we do / to freedom !
” Unbelievably stupid , and yet guaranteed to occur !
Start building a hot-dog-shaped panic room , folks , because Comrade Cory Booker is coming for your meats .
He wants to replace our precious meats with the Portland mayor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cheese on rye ?
Recipe for disaster !
Not to be alarmist , but , if Biden wins , you have to marry your dog .
A.O.C .
officiates , and the dog wears a little tux or gown made where else but in China .
Sure , it ’ s cute , but it ’ s also a total affront to Christian values , especially if you and your dog are the same sex .
Happened to a guy I know !
Already , Satanic Joe has cut the words “ under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
When will the Fake News start asking the tough questions , like , where is the Lord in relation to our nation ?
Behind us ?
Inappropriate .
Below us ?
Outrageous .
To the right or left of us , doing a little side hug ?
Seems awfully casual !
Listen , if you slice up the audio , Biden says he ’ s going to tear down our monuments and put up statues of his favorite pronouns .
Mount Rushmore is just going to be T , H , E @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re a “ he ” or a “ she , ” you go straight to cancel jail , especially if you ’ ve ever bought a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue or one of those sexy-firemen calendars .
Ole Sloppy Joe is a Trojan horse .
You invite him into the White House , his head opens up like it ’ s “ Lovecraft Country ” and out crawls Crazy Bernie Sanders , thumping “ Das Kapital.
” He takes your 401 ( k ) , gives it to a refugee , then whacks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his logs .
Actual situation !
Under the iron fist of Joseph Robinette Biden , Jr. , sports leagues are shut down because they ’ re too woke to function .
Soccer is America ’ s pastime , and all the players flip the flag the double bird and rip huge farts during the national anthem .
That anthem ?
Let ’ s just say it rhymes with “ Wet Ass Hussy.
” Our border patrol ?
Doing the Macarena with MS-13 .
Our currency ?
Covered in pictures of George Soros , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” according to Psycho Joe .
These scenarios ?
All extremely plausible if you ask me , the person trying to terrorize you into voting for Trump .
Oh , also , your taxes will go up if you make more than four hundred thousand dollars .
No one is safe !

Folks, Joe Biden is the most radical agent of chaos this country has seen since Mitt Romney.
In Joe Biden’s America, every night there’s a big contest to see who can do the most crimes, and the police can’t stop it because they’re armed with pool noodles. Whoever mugs the most old ladies gets to go to Yale, and regular citizens have to pay the tuition with their blood.
Yep, in Biden’s America, all the teachers are ISIS, and everyone has the same job—whipping their arms around like human windmills to generate energy for Priuses.
This is a very real place, where Beto O’Rourke confiscates your guns and melts them down into out-of-tune guitars. Then he smashes the guitars in your driveway while scream-singing, “This is what we do / to freedom!” Unbelievably stupid, and yet guaranteed to occur!
Start building a hot-dog-shaped panic room, folks, because Comrade Cory Booker is coming for your meats. He wants to replace our precious meats with the Portland mayor, Ted Wheeler. A Wheeler and cheese on rye? Recipe for disaster!
Not to be alarmist, but, if Biden wins, you have to marry your dog. A.O.C. officiates, and the dog wears a little tux or gown made where else but in China. Sure, it’s cute, but it’s also a total affront to Christian values, especially if you and your dog are the same sex. Happened to a guy I know!
Already, Satanic Joe has cut the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. When will the Fake News start asking the tough questions, like, where is the Lord in relation to our nation? Behind us? Inappropriate. Below us? Outrageous. To the right or left of us, doing a little side hug? Seems awfully casual!
Listen, if you slice up the audio, Biden says he’s going to tear down our monuments and put up statues of his favorite pronouns. Mount Rushmore is just going to be T, H, E, and Y. If you’re a “he” or a “she,” you go straight to cancel jail, especially if you’ve ever bought a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue or one of those sexy-firemen calendars.
Ole Sloppy Joe is a Trojan horse. You invite him into the White House, his head opens up like it’s “Lovecraft Country” and out crawls Crazy Bernie Sanders, thumping “Das Kapital.” He takes your 401(k), gives it to a refugee, then whacks you in the tummy with one of his logs. Actual situation!
Under the iron fist of Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., sports leagues are shut down because they’re too woke to function. Soccer is America’s pastime, and all the players flip the flag the double bird and rip huge farts during the national anthem.
That anthem? Let’s just say it rhymes with “Wet Ass Hussy.”
Our border patrol? Doing the Macarena with MS-13.
Our currency? Covered in pictures of George Soros, “Our One True Founding Father,” according to Psycho Joe.
Our movies? Director’s cuts.
These scenarios? All extremely plausible if you ask me, the person trying to terrorize you into voting for Trump.
Oh, also, your taxes will go up if you make more than four hundred thousand dollars. No one is safe!


newyorker--2020-09-24--Here Are Twenty Other Disturbing, Awful Things That Trump Has Said This Month, and It’s Not Over Yet

We already knew that this fall ’ s campaign , with Donald Trump fighting for his political survival , would be crazy , overwhelming , and exhausting .
But , no matter how much we ’ ve come to expect the worst , it ’ s still a shock when it happens .
At least it should be .
On Wednesday , Trump was asked what should have been a simple question : “ Do you commit to a peaceful transfer of power ?
” There is only one answer to this question in America .
The answer is yes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Well , we ’ re gon na have to see what happens , ” he responded .
“ You know that I ’ ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots .
And the ballots are a disaster.
” Further pressed , he added , “ We ’ ll want to have—get rid of the ballots and you ’ ll have a very—we ’ ll have a very peaceful .
.
.
There won ’ t be a transfer , frankly .
There ’ ll be a continuation.
” No wonder , then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ full uproar for weeks over the constitutional crisis that may ensue after the vote , if the results are too close to call or if there is a winner and Trump doesn ’ t like who it is .
In the wake of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’ s death , a week ago , Trump said he wants to make sure that a ninth , presumably loyal , Justice is in place before the election , in case the Court is where the outcome of the election ends up .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ votes in the Senate to make it happen .
So , yes , the prospect of the upcoming election should—and does—inspire dread .
But so does the prospect of what tomorrow might bring from the President—and the next day , and the day after that .
The election is still forty days from now .
How will we get through the rest of this week ?
This month ?
Consider that the following are things that Trump has done in the course of this long , enervating , and not-yet-over September , every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of career-ending political damage for an American elected official : He said “ it ’ s an amazing thing ” that the coronavirus “ affects virtually nobody , ” a few hours before the United States officially surpassed two hundred thousand deaths from the pandemic .
He said that Dr. Robert Redfield , the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the world ’ s premier infectious-disease agency , did not know what he was talking about regarding the timetable for a coronavirus vaccine .
And that Redfield did not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ urging the public to wear masks , to prevent infection .
He said that “ some people ” don ’ t think mask-wearing is necessary during the pandemic .
When pressed about who thinks this , at an ABC News town call , he said , “ Waiters.
” A couple days later , he was asked the same question .
He again said , “ Waiters.
” He said that there would be a vaccine in October .
Or November .
Or very soon .
And that it would be available for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at odds with what the government ’ s top public-health officials have testified to under oath .
When told this week that the Food and Drug Administration would make standards as stringent as possible for approving the vaccine , in order to increase public confidence in it , he accused his own scientific agency of being “ political.
” He then said that the F.D.A.
’ s standards could not be implemented unless the White House approved them , and that the White House has not done so .
He said that U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ low ” if you just didn ’ t count those who had died in “ blue states.
” That is both inaccurate and very , very alarming coming from someone whose title is President of the United States .
He also said that he would give himself an “ A-plus ” for his handling of the pandemic , and that he has saved “ millions ” of lives .
He said that the “ Nov 3rd election result may NEVER BE ACCURATELY DETERMINED , ” and that Democratic governors may somehow steal ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He said that climate change was nonexistent and also that it would just “ start getting cooler , just you watch.
” When told that the science does not agree with him , he said that the science is wrong .
“ I don ’ t think science knows , actually , ” he added .
He touted a “ super-duper ” secret “ hydrosonic ” missile that the Pentagon is going to deploy—which may or may not be a new “ hypersonic ” missile .
He retweeted a gif calling his Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He retweeted a video that made it look as though Biden had played a song called “ Fuck tha Police ” at a campaign event , which , needless to say , he had not .
He told the Fox News host Jeanine Pirro that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs of some kind— “ I think there ’ s probably , possibly , drugs involved , ” he said—and then he elaborated on his theory during a campaign rally full of unmasked supporters .
“ Don ’ t underestimate him , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he ’ s been doing this for forty-seven years , and I got a debate coming up with this guy .
No , it ’ s true .
You never know , you never know .
They gave him a big fat shot in the ass , and he comes out and for two hours he ’ s better than ever before.
” He compared himself to Winston Churchill .
He compared himself to Abraham Lincoln .
He said that Democrats are planning to “ destroy suburbia ” and put Senator Cory Booker @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said that Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’ s last wish , as relayed by her granddaughter—that her Supreme Court seat not be filled by Trump—was a fabrication cooked up by his Democratic opponents .
This September seems to be the ultimate test of whether we really , truly , finally have run out of outrage .
Reading back through this list , it ’ s hard to conclude anything else .
When Ginsburg died , it took less than a day for Trump to announce that he would try to replace her before the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the least bit .
When Trump—after complaining for months about a “ rigged ” election , just because he is behind in the polls—said on Wednesday that he would not agree in advance to a nonviolent transfer of power , his words were abhorrent but not at all revelatory .
At a press conference on Tuesday , the day the U.S. officially passed two hundred thousand deaths from the pandemic , Trump was asked why he had not said anything about the grim milestone .
He listened to the reporter ’ s question @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , anybody else ?
” he asked .
Because of all the horrors and lies that preceded it , and all that are sure to follow , the President ’ s callous disregard was not a major story but just another viral video in a news cycle full of them .
Trump has succeeded in conditioning us to believe that the week ’ s news , while awful , is less so because the awfulness is so consistent .
Awful is the new Trumpian normal , which is pretty amazing when you consider @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pretty bad .
He has rendered us collectively incapable of outrage , just when we need it most .
If we can ’ t be appalled at the President ’ s indifference toward two hundred thousand dead Americans , then there is nothing left that can horrify us .
After all , the COVID-19 death toll so far is the biggest mass-casualty event in American history aside from the Civil War , the Second World War , and the 1918 flu pandemic .

We already knew that this fall’s campaign, with Donald Trump fighting for his political survival, would be crazy, overwhelming, and exhausting. But, no matter how much we’ve come to expect the worst, it’s still a shock when it happens. At least it should be. On Wednesday, Trump was asked what should have been a simple question: “Do you commit to a peaceful transfer of power?” There is only one answer to this question in America. The answer is yes. But not for Trump. “Well, we’re gonna have to see what happens,” he responded. “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster.” Further pressed, he added, “We’ll want to have—get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very—we’ll have a very peaceful . . . There won’t be a transfer, frankly. There’ll be a continuation.”
No wonder, then, that Washington has been in a full uproar for weeks over the constitutional crisis that may ensue after the vote, if the results are too close to call or if there is a winner and Trump doesn’t like who it is. In the wake of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, a week ago, Trump said he wants to make sure that a ninth, presumably loyal, Justice is in place before the election, in case the Court is where the outcome of the election ends up. And he appears to have the Republican votes in the Senate to make it happen.
So, yes, the prospect of the upcoming election should—and does—inspire dread. But so does the prospect of what tomorrow might bring from the President—and the next day, and the day after that. The election is still forty days from now. How will we get through the rest of this week? This month? Consider that the following are things that Trump has done in the course of this long, enervating, and not-yet-over September, every single one worthy of front-page scandal, of career-ending political damage for an American elected official:
He said “it’s an amazing thing” that the coronavirus “affects virtually nobody,” a few hours before the United States officially surpassed two hundred thousand deaths from the pandemic.
He said that Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the world’s premier infectious-disease agency, did not know what he was talking about regarding the timetable for a coronavirus vaccine. And that Redfield did not know what he was talking about in urging the public to wear masks, to prevent infection.
He said that “some people” don’t think mask-wearing is necessary during the pandemic. When pressed about who thinks this, at an ABC News town call, he said, “Waiters.” A couple days later, he was asked the same question. He again said, “Waiters.”
He said that there would be a vaccine in October. Or November. Or very soon. And that it would be available for everyone immediately. All of which is at odds with what the government’s top public-health officials have testified to under oath.
When told this week that the Food and Drug Administration would make standards as stringent as possible for approving the vaccine, in order to increase public confidence in it, he accused his own scientific agency of being “political.” He then said that the F.D.A.’s standards could not be implemented unless the White House approved them, and that the White House has not done so.
He said that U.S. deaths from COVID-19 would be “very low” if you just didn’t count those who had died in “blue states.” That is both inaccurate and very, very alarming coming from someone whose title is President of the United States. He also said that he would give himself an “A-plus” for his handling of the pandemic, and that he has saved “millions” of lives.
He said that the “Nov 3rd election result may NEVER BE ACCURATELY DETERMINED,” and that Democratic governors may somehow steal ballots rather than let them be counted.
He said that climate change was nonexistent and also that it would just “start getting cooler, just you watch.” When told that the science does not agree with him, he said that the science is wrong. “I don’t think science knows, actually,” he added.
He touted a “super-duper” secret “hydrosonic” missile that the Pentagon is going to deploy—which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile.
He retweeted a gif calling his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, a pedophile. He retweeted a video that made it look as though Biden had played a song called “Fuck tha Police” at a campaign event, which, needless to say, he had not.
He told the Fox News host Jeanine Pirro that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs of some kind—“I think there’s probably, possibly, drugs involved,” he said—and then he elaborated on his theory during a campaign rally full of unmasked supporters. “Don’t underestimate him,” Trump told them. “Look, he’s been doing this for forty-seven years, and I got a debate coming up with this guy. No, it’s true. You never know, you never know. They gave him a big fat shot in the ass, and he comes out and for two hours he’s better than ever before.”
He compared himself to Winston Churchill. He compared himself to Abraham Lincoln. He said that Democrats are planning to “destroy suburbia” and put Senator Cory Booker in charge of it. He even said that Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s last wish, as relayed by her granddaughter—that her Supreme Court seat not be filled by Trump—was a fabrication cooked up by his Democratic opponents.
This September seems to be the ultimate test of whether we really, truly, finally have run out of outrage. Reading back through this list, it’s hard to conclude anything else. When Ginsburg died, it took less than a day for Trump to announce that he would try to replace her before the election. I was not surprised in the least bit. When Trump—after complaining for months about a “rigged” election, just because he is behind in the polls—said on Wednesday that he would not agree in advance to a nonviolent transfer of power, his words were abhorrent but not at all revelatory.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the day the U.S. officially passed two hundred thousand deaths from the pandemic, Trump was asked why he had not said anything about the grim milestone. He listened to the reporter’s question, then turned away. “Uh, anybody else?” he asked. Because of all the horrors and lies that preceded it, and all that are sure to follow, the President’s callous disregard was not a major story but just another viral video in a news cycle full of them. Trump has succeeded in conditioning us to believe that the week’s news, while awful, is less so because the awfulness is so consistent. Awful is the new Trumpian normal, which is pretty amazing when you consider that the old Trump-era normal was already pretty bad. He has rendered us collectively incapable of outrage, just when we need it most. If we can’t be appalled at the President’s indifference toward two hundred thousand dead Americans, then there is nothing left that can horrify us. After all, the COVID-19 death toll so far is the biggest mass-casualty event in American history aside from the Civil War, the Second World War, and the 1918 flu pandemic.
Throughout the past four years, I felt that it was important to maintain the ability to be shocked or surprised or at least deeply concerned when Trump violated this or that previously uncrossable line, when he shredded a law or a norm observed by previous Presidents of both parties—even if it was utterly predictable and consistent with what we already knew of him. That was the exercise: to try to understand how and in what ways Trump represents a sharp break with the American past—or whether he is simply the latest example of a partisan leader who is willing to use whatever means, no matter how unscrupulous, to win. I started out, in other words, hoping and striving for clarity.
This is 2020, however, and the election is little more than five weeks away, and the list has grown too long: Trump has diverged so far from any of our past Presidents in his conduct, in what he says and does, in exposing the public to consequences that are reckless and even deadly. We are fully exhausted and fully on notice. I have depleted my reserves of shock and awe. I fear there is no more outrage left to summon. But I have not changed my view in one vital respect: We have to keep writing it down. Every last word of it.
Read More About the 2020 Election


newyorker--2020-09-24--Donald Trump’s Campaign Rallies Are Pointless

This summer , Donald Trump went almost two months without holding a standard campaign rally .
Even as he downplayed the coronavirus pandemic , obstructed the government ’ s response to it , and pressed departments of the executive branch into the service of his reëlection , he was tacitly acknowledging the coronavirus ’ s power .
But now , out of electoral necessity , or vanity , or obstinance , or some combination of the three , Trump is back on the road .
Since late August , he has held more than a dozen rallies in swing states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ events on airport tarmacs , the better to fly in and out of quickly , minimizing his interactions with the ( often maskless ) attendees and maximizing the taxpayer-funded branding boost that comes from treating Air Force One like your personal campaign bus .
The mood remains exuberant , despite the new state of public-health emergency , economic crisis , popular protest , political violence , and constitutional turmoil that exists outside of the rallies ’ security perimeters .
The President visibly enjoys himself , exaggerating , denouncing , provoking , and exclaiming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump merchandise stand and cheer and laugh , packed shoulder to shoulder .
“ I ’ m not going to live my life scared , ” an Ohio man named Brian Carroll , wearing a “ Trump 2020 ” hat and blue-tinted sunglasses , told a reporter asking about the absence of masks at a rally near Toledo , on Monday .
“ It does not bother me one bit.
” If anyone remembers that Herman Cain , the onetime Republican Presidential candidate , died of COVID-19 a few weeks after attending Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ June , they appear to be keeping it to themselves .
Local officials have been less sanguine about Trump ’ s indifference to crowd-size limits put in place to blunt transmission of the virus .
“ You think he ’ s gon na listen to me ?
” Rich Fitzgerald , the county executive in Allegheny County , Pennsylvania , where Trump appeared on Tuesday , told a local TV station .
“ He gets subpoenas he ignores .
He doesn ’ t listen to the court , he doesn ’ t listen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he doesn ’ t play by the rules.
” In 2016 , these rallies were the defining events of Trump ’ s campaign .
“ He is not trying to persuade , detail , or prove : he is trying to thrill , agitate , be liked , be loved , here and now , ” George Saunders wrote of them that summer .
“ He is trying to make energy .
.
.
.
And make energy he does.
” A recent Times article about the CNN executive Jeff Zucker reminded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ empty stage before Trump ’ s speeches was once considered good television .
( “ DONALD TRUMP EXPECTED TO SPEAK ANY MINUTE , ” one memorable chyron read . )
Trump and his allies would point at the atmosphere and the size of these rallies ( which they often embellished ) as proof that—despite his deficit in the polls , his fund-raising disadvantage , and the improvised , ragtag operation he was running—he was still in the race .
After his surprise victory , these pronouncements took on the aura of myth .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ polls and facing a fund-raising deficit , Trump appears to hope that he can again generate and harness some energy at these rallies , to pull off another surprise victory .
But these are different times .
The networks have wised up to or moved on from the novelty of these events .
Recently , Bill Stepien , Trump ’ s campaign manager , circulated a memo , obtained by Axios , in which he argued that the rallies were nevertheless generating millions of dollars ’ worth of “ calculated earned media values.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of value suggests a campaign scrambling for positive signs , and there ’ s even evidence that some inside Trump ’ s circle view these rallies as potential liabilities .
On Friday , Trump was onstage at a rally in Minnesota when news broke that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died .
His aides , according to the Times , decided not to relay the news to Trump , fearing that if the President told his audience “ the crowd would cheer.
” In recent days , two new slogans have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The first , visible on pre-printed flyers distributed by the campaign and shouted with gusto by the crowds , is “ FILL THAT SEAT !
” On Saturday , Trump plans to announce his nominee to replace Ginsburg on the Supreme Court , and his fans , as the campaign anticipated , have quickly thrilled to this unexpected political gift .
Trump has been teasing them about his potential pick .
“ Give me a free poll , ” he said in Ohio , on Monday .
“ Who would like to see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
” A loud cheer went up .
“ Who would like to see a male Justice of the Supreme Court ?
” He paused , and a smaller cheer came from what sounded like mostly women in the crowd .
“ The only one I hear there is women , some women , ” Trump said .
“ What ’ s that all about ?
” The other new slogan , which Trump has had less success in encouraging his fans to take up , is “ WE LOVE YOU !
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at a rally a few days ago , but even his fans don ’ t seem to be buying that .
“ This chant is going on , like it ’ s crazy , and it ’ s ‘ We love you , we love you , we love you , ’ ” he said at a second Ohio rally on Monday .
“ And , you know what .
.
.
I don ’ t want to say it .
I ’ m just saying , they have not been able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this nation—even , we loved Ronald Reagan .
But they have not been able to find where people broke out and said ‘ We love you ’ about—I guess I have to call myself a politician .
.
.
.
No , but think of it .
How nice is that ?
I never heard it.
” The difference between these two slogans , and the audiences ’ reaction to them , underscores Trump ’ s situation .
He currently holds in his hands the power to shape the next decade or more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( FILL THAT SEAT ! )
But he may not have much power to shape public opinion over the next six weeks .
( WE LOVE YOU ! )
There have been recent moments at rallies when even Trump ’ s hold on the crowds has faltered .
In Ohio , they booed the state ’ s lieutenant governer , Jon Husted , when he tried to encourage them to wear Trump-branded face masks .
Some more boos came down when Trump himself was onstage , when he offered praise for the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who has been credited with steering the state out of the COVID-19 spike that it endured earlier this year .
“ What ’ s that all about ?
” Trump said , with a smirk .
Trump is asking his fans to risk their health to make his campaign look better .
And yet , if he wins another surprise victory in November , it won ’ t likely be because of these rallies .
The fight over Trump ’ s Supreme Court pick in the Senate , the three upcoming debates between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continuing threats to fight election results that go against him—these are the topics that will dominate public attention in the weeks ahead .
A brief news conference at the White House , on Wednesday , in which Trump threatened not to allow a peaceful transfer of power if he were to lose the election generated more headlines—and rightly so—than a week ’ s worth of rallies .
But that ’ s unlikely to keep Trump off the road .
He ’ s having too much fun .
Read More About the 2020 Election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ based on a promise of generational change ?
• The fall and rise of Kamala Harris .
• When a sitting President threatens to delay a sacrosanct American ritual like an election , you should listen .
• To understand the path Donald Trump has taken to the 2020 election , look at what he has provided the executive class .
• What happens if Trump fights the election results ?
• The refusal by Mitch McConnell to rein in Trump is looking riskier than ever .
• Sign up for our election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporters and columnists .

This summer, Donald Trump went almost two months without holding a standard campaign rally. Even as he downplayed the coronavirus pandemic, obstructed the government’s response to it, and pressed departments of the executive branch into the service of his reëlection, he was tacitly acknowledging the coronavirus’s power. But now, out of electoral necessity, or vanity, or obstinance, or some combination of the three, Trump is back on the road. Since late August, he has held more than a dozen rallies in swing states. He’s been holding these events on airport tarmacs, the better to fly in and out of quickly, minimizing his interactions with the (often maskless) attendees and maximizing the taxpayer-funded branding boost that comes from treating Air Force One like your personal campaign bus.
The mood remains exuberant, despite the new state of public-health emergency, economic crisis, popular protest, political violence, and constitutional turmoil that exists outside of the rallies’ security perimeters. The President visibly enjoys himself, exaggerating, denouncing, provoking, and exclaiming, while audience members decked out in Trump merchandise stand and cheer and laugh, packed shoulder to shoulder. “I’m not going to live my life scared,” an Ohio man named Brian Carroll, wearing a “Trump 2020” hat and blue-tinted sunglasses, told a reporter asking about the absence of masks at a rally near Toledo, on Monday. “It does not bother me one bit.” If anyone remembers that Herman Cain, the onetime Republican Presidential candidate, died of COVID-19 a few weeks after attending Trump’s rally in Tulsa, in June, they appear to be keeping it to themselves. Local officials have been less sanguine about Trump’s indifference to crowd-size limits put in place to blunt transmission of the virus. “You think he’s gonna listen to me?” Rich Fitzgerald, the county executive in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, where Trump appeared on Tuesday, told a local TV station. “He gets subpoenas he ignores. He doesn’t listen to the court, he doesn’t listen to Congress. One thing after another, he doesn’t play by the rules.”
In 2016, these rallies were the defining events of Trump’s campaign. “He is not trying to persuade, detail, or prove: he is trying to thrill, agitate, be liked, be loved, here and now,” George Saunders wrote of them that summer. “He is trying to make energy. . . . And make energy he does.” A recent Times article about the CNN executive Jeff Zucker reminded readers that even a shot of the empty stage before Trump’s speeches was once considered good television. (“DONALD TRUMP EXPECTED TO SPEAK ANY MINUTE,” one memorable chyron read.) Trump and his allies would point at the atmosphere and the size of these rallies (which they often embellished) as proof that—despite his deficit in the polls, his fund-raising disadvantage, and the improvised, ragtag operation he was running—he was still in the race. After his surprise victory, these pronouncements took on the aura of myth.
Now, once more trailing in the polls and facing a fund-raising deficit, Trump appears to hope that he can again generate and harness some energy at these rallies, to pull off another surprise victory. But these are different times. The networks have wised up to or moved on from the novelty of these events. Recently, Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager, circulated a memo, obtained by Axios, in which he argued that the rallies were nevertheless generating millions of dollars’ worth of “calculated earned media values.” But the search for alternate measures of value suggests a campaign scrambling for positive signs, and there’s even evidence that some inside Trump’s circle view these rallies as potential liabilities. On Friday, Trump was onstage at a rally in Minnesota when news broke that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died. His aides, according to the Times, decided not to relay the news to Trump, fearing that if the President told his audience “the crowd would cheer.”
In recent days, two new slogans have débuted at Trump’s rallies. The first, visible on pre-printed flyers distributed by the campaign and shouted with gusto by the crowds, is “FILL THAT SEAT!” On Saturday, Trump plans to announce his nominee to replace Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, and his fans, as the campaign anticipated, have quickly thrilled to this unexpected political gift. Trump has been teasing them about his potential pick. “Give me a free poll,” he said in Ohio, on Monday. “Who would like to see a woman Justice of the Supreme Court?” A loud cheer went up. “Who would like to see a male Justice of the Supreme Court?” He paused, and a smaller cheer came from what sounded like mostly women in the crowd. “The only one I hear there is women, some women,” Trump said. “What’s that all about?”
The other new slogan, which Trump has had less success in encouraging his fans to take up, is “WE LOVE YOU!” Trump claims that this chant began spontaneously at a rally a few days ago, but even his fans don’t seem to be buying that. “This chant is going on, like it’s crazy, and it’s ‘We love you, we love you, we love you,’ ” he said at a second Ohio rally on Monday. “And, you know what . . . I don’t want to say it. I’m just saying, they have not been able to find in the history of politics in this nation—even, we loved Ronald Reagan. But they have not been able to find where people broke out and said ‘We love you’ about—I guess I have to call myself a politician. . . . No, but think of it. How nice is that? I never heard it.”
The difference between these two slogans, and the audiences’ reaction to them, underscores Trump’s situation. He currently holds in his hands the power to shape the next decade or more of jurisprudence at the Supreme Court. (FILL THAT SEAT!) But he may not have much power to shape public opinion over the next six weeks. (WE LOVE YOU!) There have been recent moments at rallies when even Trump’s hold on the crowds has faltered. In Ohio, they booed the state’s lieutenant governer, Jon Husted, when he tried to encourage them to wear Trump-branded face masks. Some more boos came down when Trump himself was onstage, when he offered praise for the state’s governor, Mike DeWine, who has been credited with steering the state out of the COVID-19 spike that it endured earlier this year. “What’s that all about?” Trump said, with a smirk.
Trump is asking his fans to risk their health to make his campaign look better. And yet, if he wins another surprise victory in November, it won’t likely be because of these rallies. The fight over Trump’s Supreme Court pick in the Senate, the three upcoming debates between him and Joe Biden, and his continuing threats to fight election results that go against him—these are the topics that will dominate public attention in the weeks ahead. A brief news conference at the White House, on Wednesday, in which Trump threatened not to allow a peaceful transfer of power if he were to lose the election generated more headlines—and rightly so—than a week’s worth of rallies. But that’s unlikely to keep Trump off the road. He’s having too much fun.
Read More About the 2020 Election


newyorker--2020-09-24--How a Revered Studio for Artists with Disabilities Is Surviving at a Distance

When the Zoom grid had grown to about thirty artists , Presley shared her screen and , using Google Arts & Culture , embarked on a virtual tour of America ’ s national parks .
The class watched a volcano erupt in Hawaii and got a primer on hoodoos , the craggy spires of rock , at Bryce Canyon National Park , in Utah .
“ Desert sky super cool , ” the closed captioning read .
The tour concluded in Seoul , at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art , where Presley enthused over the work of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abstracted Korea ’ s undulant horizons into vivid shapes and planes .
“ What I really like about his landscapes is how simple they are , ” Presley said , “ and how he doesn ’ t necessarily use the colors that you see in reality.
” When the tour was finished , Rojas , using a time-lapse video , demonstrated a few rudimentary painting techniques : spraying the paper with water before adding paint , using salt crystals to soak up excess moisture , adding a horizon line .
It was time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ class the best because watercolor , it ’ s great for emotion , ” Jason Jackson , a painter , said .
“ It ’ s great for releasing emotion.
” Monica Valentine , a blind artist , was making a large , elaborately textured purple cube—beaded sculpture is her signature medium .
“ Mel ?
” she said , raising her hand and addressing Mel Lister , one of four staff members on the call .
“ I have a question .
Are you gon na bring me reflectors sometime ?
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Growth , ” Lister said , “ of course , we ’ ll all bring each other presents .
But we don ’ t know— ” “ When is it gon na be open again , Mel ?
” Cristina Moraes , who was interpreting the class in A.S.L.
, said , “ We don ’ t know for sure yet , O.K .
?
” Soon the talk fell away , replaced by the ambient noise of people at work .
Zoom calls sometimes make a pretense of insulation , each participant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” that contradiction in terms .
Here , as everyone painted , domesticity permeated the scene .
Lauren Dare , a painter and woodworker clad in purple overalls , drummed her hands on her lap .
Someone burped .
A glass clinked .
Someone apologized for burping .
( “ S ’ cuse me.
” ) Valentine whistled while she worked on her cube .
A brief exchange in Spanish flowed and ebbed .
A landline rang .
The thirty rooms onscreen had coalesced into a single place .
After about forty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their paintings up one at a time so that the instructors could take screenshots .
Dare had made an abstract rainbow , a maelstrom of prismatic color saturating the paper .
Another artist had painted the hoodoos below a steep cliff , with a skewed perspective that reminded Presley of a Road Runner cartoon .
Others evoked fish , mountains , windsurfers , sailboats , mountains , orchards , and volcanoes spewing gobs of lava , many of these in the distilled style of Youngkuk .
Tanisha Warren , who makes textiles and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Charlie Brown ; Warren showed a range of pink and blue mountains against an umber sky , where a fluorescent sun shone on a doghouse labeled “ Dog House.
” “ I love those shapes .
They have movement , ” Presley said .
“ The colors are amazing .
I would do a whole series of these .
Once this class ends , work , work , work , work , do more.
” “ I have to do house chores , too , you know , ” Warren said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ resilience particular to those who move through the world with a disability .
“ Our people are so strong—they ’ ve been dismissed so often that they ’ ve found a way to survive , ” di Maria told me , adding , “ What many people right now are struggling with— ‘ What do you mean I can ’ t go to a restaurant ?
I can ’ t go to a birthday party ?
’ —many of our people have grown up with that being the rule of their lives.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the margins , reporting to the studio each day was a hard-won marker of autonomy .
Many of them , di Maria explained , had grown up effectively sheltering in place .
“ They weren ’ t supposed to be in the world .
They were supposed to be institutionalized , they were supposed to be in homes , ” he said .
“ And the Creative Growth community offered them this other way out.
” Chandreve Clay is the executive director of Clear Creek Services , a nonprofit that runs several group @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bay Area .
Three of her residents , including her aunt , Maureen , are Creative Growth artists .
Before the pandemic , the trio would spend at least two hours on the bus every day commuting to the studio and back .
All of them , Clay said , have registered its acute absence in their lives , asking her “ every hour ” when they ’ ll be able to go back .
“ Maureen announced to me on Saturday that she was going to program tomorrow , ” Clay said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ‘ Sweetie , program ’ s closed , and tomorrow ’ s Sunday.
’ ” Another resident , Daniel Hamilton , has practiced with the group since 1975 , longer than anyone else—longer , even , than the current studio has been in existence .
Without access to the studio ’ s kiln , he can ’ t work with ceramics , which helped him release stress .
“ I had tried buying him modelling clay , and he just will not agree that that ’ s an acceptable substitute , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ visit his elderly mother most weekends ; over the phone , Clay had tried to teach her to use Zoom or FaceTime—to no avail , leaving Hamilton without a way to see her .
“ It ’ s been very hard on him , ” Clay said .
“ He wants nothing more than for me to take him to Jack in the Box , and he can ’ t even do that .
He ’ s had the same coupon for the last three months .
”

Before the coronavirus pandemic, some of Creative Growth’s artists—there are at present more than a hundred and fifty—had been going to the studio every day for nearly its entire history. When, on March 16th, six counties in California’s Bay Area ordered nonessential businesses to close and residents to shelter at home, the ecology that the space has nurtured over decades was disturbed overnight. Elizabeth Brodersen, the group’s executive director of little more than a year, told me that, in the days before the official shelter-at-home order, she and her colleagues—a staff of thirty-one—had recommended that older artists and others at high risk for the virus work at home, but many of them continued to show up anyway. “Some of our folks don’t really understand why it’s happening, or why they feel shunned,” Tom di Maria, who served as Creative Growth’s executive director for twenty years and is now its director of external relations, said. “People who live in the neighborhood will walk by and look in, and they don’t understand. That’s been a difficult dynamic to watch.”
Hall now spends her days at her sunny home in Oakland, where she lives with her twenty-seven-year-old daughter, Myeisha, who’s also her caregiver. Every day in April, Myeisha said, she told her mother to write on her calendar, “It is not safe to go outside yet.” Hall, who was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, speaks with a relaxed Southern accent and a humble, forthright style. “I need to get back there so I can finish doing what I gotta do,” she said. “I can’t sit up in no house.”
As their artists endure month after month of quarantine, Creative Growth faces an extreme version of the dilemmas that other arts organizations and educational institutions have struggled with during the pandemic: if your purpose is to foster the ideal conditions for learning and making things together, how do you proceed when those conditions are suddenly impossible? The studio has answered in ways inventive, nimble, and enlivening. As soon as Creative Growth shuttered, Brodersen said, “We just started calling everybody. That was the first thing: call the artists, find out what they’re doing, find out what they need, make sure they’re O.K. where they are, and let them know that we’re thinking about them.” Some artists didn’t have Internet access; others lacked computers. Creative Growth arranged for drop-offs of personalized supplies, including everything from paper and paints to embroidery hoops and rug-making tools. Hall has received a light box, clothing, textiles, and abundant sewing and drawing materials. “Staff members just stepped up and said, I’ll go to this house, I’ll go to that house,” Brodersen said.
The heart of Creative Growth’s response to the pandemic is a series of daily Zoom classes, where artists can release the flood of affection and frustration that would otherwise remain dammed up indoors. “Almost overnight,” Brodersen said, the staff developed a slate of programming that includes workshops devoted to poetry, watercolors, dance, textiles, yoga, sculpture, comics, and meditation, and tea time (“no art materials required. Join with your favorite tea, beverage, or nothing at all!”). If most Zoom meetings are characterized by distraction and unbridgeable distance, the Creative Growth workshops, which run from sixty to ninety minutes, are studies in focus, enthusiasm, and collaboration. Instructors prepare virtual field trips, readings, discussion questions, and time-lapse videos to demonstrate technique. Separate staff members provide real-time A.S.L. interpretation and closed captioning; staff can slip into breakout rooms with anyone having a hard time.
At the start of a recent session on landscape painting, each new face onscreen set off a chorus of greetings. The instructors, Meadow Presley and Veronica Rojas, had gone to great lengths to make the classes playful and inviting. Rojas, wearing pendulous earrings, appeared against a background image of the Kenai Fjords; Presley against a sun-bleached desert stippled with cacti. “I think we’re all getting better at this, huh?” Rojas said.
When the Zoom grid had grown to about thirty artists, Presley shared her screen and, using Google Arts & Culture, embarked on a virtual tour of America’s national parks. The class watched a volcano erupt in Hawaii and got a primer on hoodoos, the craggy spires of rock, at Bryce Canyon National Park, in Utah. “Desert sky super cool,” the closed captioning read. The tour concluded in Seoul, at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, where Presley enthused over the work of Yoo Youngkuk, a twentieth-century painter who abstracted Korea’s undulant horizons into vivid shapes and planes. “What I really like about his landscapes is how simple they are,” Presley said, “and how he doesn’t necessarily use the colors that you see in reality.”
When the tour was finished, Rojas, using a time-lapse video, demonstrated a few rudimentary painting techniques: spraying the paper with water before adding paint, using salt crystals to soak up excess moisture, adding a horizon line. It was time to work.
“I like this class the best because watercolor, it’s great for emotion,” Jason Jackson, a painter, said. “It’s great for releasing emotion.”
Monica Valentine, a blind artist, was making a large, elaborately textured purple cube—beaded sculpture is her signature medium. “Mel?” she said, raising her hand and addressing Mel Lister, one of four staff members on the call. “I have a question. Are you gonna bring me reflectors sometime?”
“Once we go back to Creative Growth,” Lister said, “of course, we’ll all bring each other presents. But we don’t know—”
“When is it gonna be open again, Mel?”
Cristina Moraes, who was interpreting the class in A.S.L., said, “We don’t know for sure yet, O.K.?”
“Yes. I miss the program, Cris,” Valentine said.
Soon the talk fell away, replaced by the ambient noise of people at work. Zoom calls sometimes make a pretense of insulation, each participant sealed in a makeshift “home office,” that contradiction in terms. Here, as everyone painted, domesticity permeated the scene. Lauren Dare, a painter and woodworker clad in purple overalls, drummed her hands on her lap. Someone burped. A glass clinked. Someone apologized for burping. (“S’cuse me.”) Valentine whistled while she worked on her cube. A brief exchange in Spanish flowed and ebbed. A landline rang. The thirty rooms onscreen had coalesced into a single place.
After about forty minutes of quiet, the artists held their paintings up one at a time so that the instructors could take screenshots. Dare had made an abstract rainbow, a maelstrom of prismatic color saturating the paper. Another artist had painted the hoodoos below a steep cliff, with a skewed perspective that reminded Presley of a Road Runner cartoon. Others evoked fish, mountains, windsurfers, sailboats, orchards, and volcanoes spewing gobs of lava, many of these in the distilled style of Youngkuk. Tanisha Warren, who makes textiles and drawings, was joined by her hamster, Charlie Brown; Warren showed a range of pink and blue mountains against an umber sky, where a fluorescent sun shone on a doghouse labelled “Dog House.”
“I love those shapes. They have movement,” Presley said. “The colors are amazing. I would do a whole series of these. Once this class ends, work, work, work, work, do more.”
“I have to do house chores, too, you know,” Warren said.
“Well, stop the house chores and start painting!”
Creative Growth’s artists have a resilience particular to those who move through the world with a disability. “Our people are so strong—they’ve been dismissed so often that they’ve found a way to survive,” di Maria told me, adding, “What many people right now are struggling with—‘What do you mean I can’t go to a restaurant? I can’t go to a birthday party?’—many of our people have grown up with that being the rule of their lives.” For older generations accustomed to life on the margins, reporting to the studio each day was a hard-won marker of autonomy. Many of them, di Maria explained, had grown up effectively sheltering in place. “They weren’t supposed to be in the world. They were supposed to be institutionalized, they were supposed to be in homes,” he said. “And the Creative Growth community offered them this other way out.”
Chandreve Clay is the executive director of Clear Creek Services, a nonprofit that runs several group homes for people with disabilities in the Bay Area. Three of her residents, including her aunt, Maureen, are Creative Growth artists. Before the pandemic, the trio would spend at least two hours on the bus every day commuting to the studio and back. All of them, Clay said, have registered its acute absence in their lives, asking her “every hour” when they’ll be able to go back. “Maureen announced to me on Saturday that she was going to program tomorrow,” Clay said. “And I’m like, ‘Sweetie, program’s closed, and tomorrow’s Sunday.’ ”
Another resident, Daniel Hamilton, has practiced with the group since 1975, longer than anyone else—longer, even, than the current studio has been in existence. Without access to the studio’s kiln, he can’t work with ceramics, which helped him release stress. “I had tried buying him modelling clay, and he just will not agree that that’s an acceptable substitute,” Clay said. He used to go visit his elderly mother most weekends; over the phone, Clay had tried to teach her to use Zoom or FaceTime—to no avail, leaving Hamilton without a way to see her. “It’s been very hard on him,” Clay said. “He wants nothing more than for me to take him to Jack in the Box, and he can’t even do that. He’s had the same coupon for the last three months.”


newyorker--2020-09-24--Daily Cartoon: Thursday, September 24th

Daily Cartoon: Thursday, September 24th

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newyorker--2020-09-24--The Radical History of Corporate Sensitivity Training

During these turbulent months , American corporations have responded to demands for racial justice by straining to showcase their sensitive sides .
They ’ ve pledged , like Quaker Oats , to change offensive product names ; they ’ ve scrambled , like Prada , NASCAR , and Delta , to implement emergency sensitivity workshops ; and they ’ ve opted , like most of the major publishing houses , to hire sensitivity readers to vet new manuscripts for racist representations .
Not so at the Donald Trump White House .
In a combative rebuff of this cultural tide , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ training entirely from the federal government , calling it “ divisive , anti-American propaganda ” that is wasting “ millions of taxpayer dollars.
” Trump even encouraged his Twitter followers to “ please report any sightings ” of sensitivity-training initiatives , “ so we can quickly extinguish !
” Social-justice activists have their own qualms about how the language of cultural sensitivity has been institutionalized .
The rise of what the historian Amira Rose Davis calls “ commodified corporate activism ” is as often driven by a company ’ s fear of being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Ibram X. Kendi is likewise wary of therapeutic substitutes for concrete change .
He argues in his book “ How to Be an Antiracist ” that we need to replace our “ feelings advocacy ” with initiatives that “ put equitable outcomes before our guilt and anguish.
” With utterly opposing motives , both conservatives and liberals take issue with the personalization of social conflict .
But the original ideal of sensitivity training is more revolutionary than either side allows .
Corporate sensitivity did not begin in the Twittersphere or in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intellectual ferment of the smoky coffeehouses of early-twentieth-century Vienna .
The first sensitivity workshops resembled a radical therapeutic theatre that courted conflict ( instead of mitigating it ) and urged participants to voice their raw fears , biases , and emotions .
The rise of corporate sensitivity is a story of how this shattering of social conventions ( called “ unfreezing ” by early practitioners ) ended up as PowerPoint presentations and team-building exercises for contemporary office workers .
It was in the same artists ’ circles frequented by Sigmund Freud , Leon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ young Peter Lorre that Jacob Levy Moreno , an editor of an expressionist magazine , planted the foundations of sensitivity training .
Born to a Sephardic Jewish family , Moreno grew up in Vienna and became interested in group reconciliation as a student at the University of Vienna , where he attempted to mediate disputes between nationalist and Zionist student factions .
Moreno ’ s subsequent witnessing of the rise of Hitler ’ s National Socialism only intensified his commitment to exchange and reconciliation .
The existentialist writings of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche served @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the encounter ” : a philosophy premised upon a spiritual faith in the transcendent possibilities of authentic , face-to-face human contact .
He distinguished his approach from the Freudianism that was popular at the time by advocating “ acting ” in the place of psychoanalytic talking , and emphasizing the “ here and now ” rather than past traumas and repressions .
Moreno ’ s idiosyncratic , mystical philosophy can best be conveyed through a poem of his , from 1914 , which became the “ prayer ” of his psychodramatic method : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best advertisement for Moreno ’ s literary credentials , but its avant-garde energies may be better appreciated when compared to the young Stephen Dedalus ’ s chant in James Joyce ’ s “ A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , ” first serialized the same year as Moreno ’ s incantation : “ Apologise , / pull out his eyes , / pull out his eyes , / apologise.
” Though Moreno ’ s language was quirky , the group-therapy techniques that he pioneered were legitimate : role-playing , for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interactions ( or what today we ’ d call improv ) .
Above all , his argument that people “ can be made to be the crucial experts and investigators of any social setting of which they are a part ” would become pivotal to the sensitivity-training methods that he exported to the United States .
Probably no one did more to adapt Moreno ’ s principles to the American office environment than the social psychologist Kurt Lewin , an early member of the Frankfurt school who fled Germany , in 1933 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ research ” and the founder of the Research Center for Group Dynamics , at M.I.T .
Lewin ’ s application of his background in gestalt therapy to humanizing the capitalist workplace set the scene for the rise of human-management theory , and his personal experiences with anti-Semitism gave him insight into America ’ s fractured race relations .
In time , his sensitivity-training techniques were adopted by virtually every major mid-century U.S. corporation : Kodak , Ford , Western Electric , Boeing , Procter & Gamble , and more .
The invention of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a specific evening : Lewin was running a workshop for teachers and social workers in Connecticut , where he had been hired by the state to help address racial and religious prejudice .
After the participants had left , a few stragglers returned and asked to be permitted to sit in on the debriefings , and Lewin agreed .
Though it was initially awkward to have the participants present , Lewin realized that the setup led to frank and open conversations .
He saw the transformative possibilities of uninhibited feedback in the real @ @ @ @ @ @ @ established the idea of the corporate T-group—shorthand for sensitivity “ training group ” —at the National Training Laboratory , in Bethel , Maine .
His inroads into social engineering could also be put to less conciliatory purposes ; Lewin was a consultant for the Office of Strategic Services and developed programs to help recruit potential spies .
The T-group , which was sometimes called “ therapy for normals ” —rather insensitively by today ’ s standards but with the intent of destigmatizing the practice—was a therapeutic workshop for strangers which would take place @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emotional exchange .
A typical T-group session would begin with the facilitator declining to assume any active leadership over the session , a move that would surprise and disconcert the participants , who would collectively have to work out the problem of how to deal with a lack of hierarchy or directives .
It sounds simple enough , but the experience could be deeply unsettling , even life-changing , for some .
As one contemporary witness of the Bethel N.T.L .
workshops remarked , “ I had never observed such a buildup of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I feared it was more than some leaders and members could bear.
” The T-group promised an antidote to the oppressions of Dale Carnegie-style insincerity that dominated the business world , and , crucially , the sessions seemed to provide a glimpse of a reality in which it was finally possible to know how one was really perceived .

During these turbulent months, American corporations have responded to demands for racial justice by straining to showcase their sensitive sides. They’ve pledged, like Quaker Oats, to change offensive product names; they’ve scrambled, like Prada, NASCAR, and Delta, to implement emergency sensitivity workshops; and they’ve opted, like most of the major publishing houses, to hire sensitivity readers to vet new manuscripts for racist representations. Not so at the Donald Trump White House. In a combative rebuff of this cultural tide, the Administration has elected to ban sensitivity training entirely from the federal government, calling it “divisive, anti-American propaganda” that is wasting “millions of taxpayer dollars.” Trump even encouraged his Twitter followers to “please report any sightings” of sensitivity-training initiatives, “so we can quickly extinguish!”
Social-justice activists have their own qualms about how the language of cultural sensitivity has been institutionalized. The rise of what the historian Amira Rose Davis calls “commodified corporate activism” is as often driven by a company’s fear of being sued as it is by ethical commitments. Ibram X. Kendi is likewise wary of therapeutic substitutes for concrete change. He argues in his book “How to Be an Antiracist” that we need to replace our “feelings advocacy” with initiatives that “put equitable outcomes before our guilt and anguish.” With utterly opposing motives, both conservatives and liberals take issue with the personalization of social conflict. But the original ideal of sensitivity training is more revolutionary than either side allows.
Corporate sensitivity did not begin in the Twittersphere or in the boardroom. It was born amid the intellectual ferment of the smoky coffeehouses of early-twentieth-century Vienna. The first sensitivity workshops resembled a radical therapeutic theatre that courted conflict (instead of mitigating it) and urged participants to voice their raw fears, biases, and emotions. The rise of corporate sensitivity is a story of how this shattering of social conventions (called “unfreezing” by early practitioners) ended up as PowerPoint presentations and team-building exercises for contemporary office workers.
It was in the same artists’ circles frequented by Sigmund Freud, Leon Trotsky, Gustav Klimt, and a young Peter Lorre that Jacob Levy Moreno, an editor of an expressionist magazine, planted the foundations of sensitivity training. Born to a Sephardic Jewish family, Moreno grew up in Vienna and became interested in group reconciliation as a student at the University of Vienna, where he attempted to mediate disputes between nationalist and Zionist student factions. Moreno’s subsequent witnessing of the rise of Hitler’s National Socialism only intensified his commitment to exchange and reconciliation. The existentialist writings of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche served as inspiration for his “religion of the encounter”: a philosophy premised upon a spiritual faith in the transcendent possibilities of authentic, face-to-face human contact. He distinguished his approach from the Freudianism that was popular at the time by advocating “acting” in the place of psychoanalytic talking, and emphasizing the “here and now” rather than past traumas and repressions.
Moreno’s idiosyncratic, mystical philosophy can best be conveyed through a poem of his, from 1914, which became the “prayer” of his psychodramatic method:
A meeting of two: eye to eye, face to face.
And when you are near I will tear your eyes out
and place them instead of mine,
and you will tear my eyes out
and will place them instead of yours,
then I will look at you with your eyes
and you will look at me with mine.
This startlingly graphic poem is not the best advertisement for Moreno’s literary credentials, but its avant-garde energies may be better appreciated when compared to the young Stephen Dedalus’s chant in James Joyce’s “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” first serialized the same year as Moreno’s incantation: “Apologise, / pull out his eyes, / pull out his eyes, / apologise.”
Though Moreno’s language was quirky, the group-therapy techniques that he pioneered were legitimate: role-playing, for instance, and the use of spontaneous interactions (or what today we’d call improv). Above all, his argument that people “can be made to be the crucial experts and investigators of any social setting of which they are a part” would become pivotal to the sensitivity-training methods that he exported to the United States.
Probably no one did more to adapt Moreno’s principles to the American office environment than the social psychologist Kurt Lewin, an early member of the Frankfurt school who fled Germany, in 1933, to become a pioneer of “action research” and the founder of the Research Center for Group Dynamics, at M.I.T. Lewin’s application of his background in gestalt therapy to humanizing the capitalist workplace set the scene for the rise of human-management theory, and his personal experiences with anti-Semitism gave him insight into America’s fractured race relations. In time, his sensitivity-training techniques were adopted by virtually every major mid-century U.S. corporation: Kodak, Ford, Western Electric, Boeing, Procter & Gamble, and more.
The invention of the sensitivity-training group is often traced to a specific evening: Lewin was running a workshop for teachers and social workers in Connecticut, where he had been hired by the state to help address racial and religious prejudice. After the participants had left, a few stragglers returned and asked to be permitted to sit in on the debriefings, and Lewin agreed. Though it was initially awkward to have the participants present, Lewin realized that the setup led to frank and open conversations. He saw the transformative possibilities of uninhibited feedback in the real time of the group session, and established the idea of the corporate T-group—shorthand for sensitivity “training group”—at the National Training Laboratory, in Bethel, Maine. His inroads into social engineering could also be put to less conciliatory purposes; Lewin was a consultant for the Office of Strategic Services and developed programs to help recruit potential spies.
The T-group, which was sometimes called “therapy for normals”—rather insensitively by today’s standards but with the intent of destigmatizing the practice—was a therapeutic workshop for strangers which would take place in a neutral locale and promote candid emotional exchange. A typical T-group session would begin with the facilitator declining to assume any active leadership over the session, a move that would surprise and disconcert the participants, who would collectively have to work out the problem of how to deal with a lack of hierarchy or directives.
It sounds simple enough, but the experience could be deeply unsettling, even life-changing, for some. As one contemporary witness of the Bethel N.T.L. workshops remarked, “I had never observed such a buildup of emotional tension in such a short time. I feared it was more than some leaders and members could bear.” The T-group promised an antidote to the oppressions of Dale Carnegie-style insincerity that dominated the business world, and, crucially, the sessions seemed to provide a glimpse of a reality in which it was finally possible to know how one was really perceived.
The critics of mid-century managerial society looked upon this new collective ethic with suspicion, countering that people were already too concerned with how they were perceived. In “The Organization Man,” a popular study of corporate conformity, from 1956, William Whyte pronounced the T-group morality an example of “false-collectivization.” His concerns were echoed by David Riesman, whose best-selling jeremiad, “The Lonely Crowd,” lamented the decline of rugged (masculine) individualism in the face of the “soft” other-directedness of professional-managerial culture. Even before these social analysts, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote about how the oppressive impressions of others were a defining aspect of disenfranchisement; this was the premise behind his famous account of the “double consciousness” of Black experience.


newyorker--2020-09-24--Amazon Prime Offers to Aid Peaceful Transfer of Power by Shipping Trump Out in Twenty-four Hours

SEATTLE ( The Borowitz Report ) —In order to ease the peaceful transfer of power this coming January , Amazon @ @ @ @ @ service to ship Donald J. Trump out of the White House within twenty-four hours .
@ @ @ @ @ , the Amazon founder , Jeff Bezos , said that he understood why Trump had @ @ @ @ @ House .
“ Moving is always hard , ” Bezos said .
“ At Amazon @ @ @ @ @ Donald Trump ’ s move as speedy as possible.
” Bezos said that , on @ @ @ @ @ Prime delivery truck will arrive at the White House to prepare Trump for shipping , @ @ @ @ @ After he has been packed , bar-coded , and scanned into the system , Bezos @ @ @ @ @ expedited to the destination of his choice .
“ Amazon Prime guarantees that he will @ @ @ @ @ hours , ” Bezos said , adding that it would take slightly longer if the @ @ @ @ @ .

SEATTLE (The Borowitz Report)—In order to ease the peaceful transfer of power this coming January, Amazon has offered its Prime delivery service to ship Donald J. Trump out of the White House within twenty-four hours.
Speaking from his corporate headquarters, the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, said that he understood why Trump had misgivings about leaving the White House. “Moving is always hard,” Bezos said. “At Amazon, we want to make Donald Trump’s move as speedy as possible.”
Bezos said that, on Inauguration Day, an Amazon Prime delivery truck will arrive at the White House to prepare Trump for shipping, “free of charge.”
After he has been packed, bar-coded, and scanned into the system, Bezos said, Trump will be expedited to the destination of his choice.
“Amazon Prime guarantees that he will be at Mar-a-Lago within twenty-four hours,” Bezos said, adding that it would take slightly longer if the shipping address is in Moscow.