newyorker--2020-03-04--Explaining the Joe Biden Wave on Super Tuesday

Joe Biden continued his remarkable political comeback by winning a number of states across the country on Super Tuesday , giving his campaign a lead in pledged delegates and establishing him as the clear front-runner for the Democratic Presidential nomination .
Only four days earlier , the former Vice-President had still not won a single primary .
But after a huge victory in South Carolina on Saturday—and endorsements from the former candidates Pete Buttigieg , Amy Klobuchar , and Beto O ’ Rourke—he saw his poll numbers rise nationwide .
On Tuesday , he beat Bernie Sanders decisively in Southern @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as well as in less diverse places , like Minnesota .
He even triumphed over both Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in Warren ’ s home state of Massachusetts , and in Texas , where Sanders had once been favored .
To discuss the results , I spoke by phone with Harry Enten , a senior political writer and analyst for CNN .
During our conversation , which has been edited for length and clarity , we discussed how Biden was able to pull off his surge , what Michael Bloomberg ’ s campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politics , and what we can learn from Tuesday ’ s turnout numbers .
Can you think of any equivalent in modern American political history to the speed with which Joe Biden turned this race around ?
I think that there might be two—one that worked out and one that didn ’ t .
But I will give you both of them .
I think the first one is 2008 on the Democratic side .
If you look at the polling pre-South Carolina and post-South Carolina , you see that Barack Obama erased @ @ @ @ @ @ @ almost a tie in the national polls—and that is basically what happened in the Super Tuesday result in 2008 .
He basically came out to a delegate tie , and that was good enough , because he expanded upon that when he had more favorable states later that month .
The other one , which probably in all honesty doesn ’ t get as much play , but I was leaning on quite heavily leading into this Election Night , was the Republicans in 2012 .
You may recall that Newt Gingrich in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to win the South Carolina primary .
Biden didn ’ t come out of nowhere , but the momentum of him coming up seemed to make no sense .
Why would Biden get momentum after losing Nevada by a significant margin ?
And in 2012 , on the Republican side , Gingrich used that South Carolina win and jumped to about a five-to-ten-point lead in the national polls and the Florida polls , which was the next primary .
All of this happened in about forty-eight hours , just like the current Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was only about a week until the Florida primary , and Gingrich was not well liked by the establishment , and so they went after him with knives .
And there were two debates between South Carolina and Florida .
And in this particular case there wasn ’ t that .
Biden had forty-eight hours , the results came , the establishment liked Biden and rallied around him , so he was able to take advantage of the big boom in support .
To take a step back , though , did I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so much turn it around as simply survive until he found himself on more demographically favorable terms ?
I think that is certainly not a bad way to phrase it .
African-Americans had been the main reason why Biden had done so well in national polls , and specifically black voters in the South .
And those voters were very favorable toward Clinton in 2016 , in just the way they seem to have been favorable to Biden on this particular evening .
That being said , Clinton did very well with black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden only won black voters in Nevada by ten points .
Those two results don ’ t jibe with each other .
Yes , it is true that African-Americans in the North and West weren ’ t as favorable to Clinton as African-Americans in the South , but not in the same sort of margin that you saw shift from Nevada to South Carolina .
So , I think , certainly , it was that it was more demographically favorable , but I also think it is that black voters had more of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Also , white voters with a college degree , and specifically white women with a college degree , had basically been splitting their voters fairly evenly .
This is a group that Klobuchar did very well with in New Hampshire , for example .
And then you hit South Carolina , and all of a sudden Biden is running away with that group .
So it is demographically more favorable , but it is also the case that Biden basically improved across the board .
What about the campaign has surprised you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nevada , Bernie Sanders wins a majority of the delegates .
And you are thinking : Joe Biden ’ s lead in South Carolina is falling , and there were a bunch of polls published before Nevada , and he was basically up by maybe five points .
And all of a sudden there was one poll , that Public Policy poll , that came out that Monday that had Biden up fifteen .
That seemed odd .
And then a second and third poll .
And then a Monmouth poll had Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the James Clyburn endorsement .
It was before the debate .
So something happened there .
I don ’ t know what .
Either the polling was always underestimating Biden , or maybe that second-place Nevada finish was good enough .
And people were searching for an alternative to Sanders , and they didn ’ t know who that alternative was , and , finally , when they were pushed in that direction , voters just said , “ O.K.
, we are going with that.
” I think , obviously , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not Sanders had a ceiling .
I honestly did not believe he did , especially with his favorable ratings being quite high .
But these results are certainly suggestive of the fact that there was a group of voters who were not necessarily voting for Biden and did not want Sanders , and , when it became clear that Biden was the Sanders alternative , they came rushing back .
In terms of how different demographic groups voted , or in terms of over-all turnout , what were your biggest takeaways from Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of focus , and rightly so , on Biden ’ s strength in the Southeast—he obviously did well in North Carolina , Virginia , Alabama , Tennessee—but you find me someone who thought Joe Biden was going to win in Massachusetts and Minnesota a week ago , and I might as well ask them for the lottery numbers .
And he is going to be dead even in Maine at the end of the evening .
So I think Biden ’ s strength in Northern industrial states , and with working-class white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ big difference from Clinton back in 2016 .
If you are talking turnout , there has been all this talk about how Sanders wants to make the play that he is going to bring new voters into the process and win that way .
Well , obviously , there haven ’ t been that many new voters brought into the process in a number of the early states , at least until Tuesday evening .
But look at a state like Virginia , where the turnout was nearly double what it was four @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new voters ?
Those new voters were in the suburbs .
And who was winning those voters ?
Joe Biden .
That is the same thing that happened in South Carolina .
If you look at how the Democrats won the midterms , it was winning those more moderate voters in the suburbs .
They seem to be turning out in larger numbers , and they are supporting Joe Biden , which kind of flips the turnout argument on its head .

Joe Biden continued his remarkable political comeback by winning a number of states across the country on Super Tuesday, giving his campaign a lead in pledged delegates and establishing him as the clear front-runner for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Only four days earlier, the former Vice-President had still not won a single primary. But after a huge victory in South Carolina on Saturday—and endorsements from the former candidates Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Beto O’Rourke—he saw his poll numbers rise nationwide. On Tuesday, he beat Bernie Sanders decisively in Southern states such as Virginia and Alabama, as well as in less diverse places, like Minnesota. He even triumphed over both Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in Warren’s home state of Massachusetts, and in Texas, where Sanders had once been favored.
To discuss the results, I spoke by phone with Harry Enten, a senior political writer and analyst for CNN. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed how Biden was able to pull off his surge, what Michael Bloomberg’s campaign can tell us about money in Presidential politics, and what we can learn from Tuesday’s turnout numbers.
Can you think of any equivalent in modern American political history to the speed with which Joe Biden turned this race around?
I think that there might be two—one that worked out and one that didn’t. But I will give you both of them. I think the first one is 2008 on the Democratic side. If you look at the polling pre-South Carolina and post-South Carolina, you see that Barack Obama erased about a ten-point deficit to pull into almost a tie in the national polls—and that is basically what happened in the Super Tuesday result in 2008. He basically came out to a delegate tie, and that was good enough, because he expanded upon that when he had more favorable states later that month.
The other one, which probably in all honesty doesn’t get as much play, but I was leaning on quite heavily leading into this Election Night, was the Republicans in 2012. You may recall that Newt Gingrich in that year basically came out of nowhere to win the South Carolina primary. Biden didn’t come out of nowhere, but the momentum of him coming up seemed to make no sense. Why would Biden get momentum after losing Nevada by a significant margin? And in 2012, on the Republican side, Gingrich used that South Carolina win and jumped to about a five-to-ten-point lead in the national polls and the Florida polls, which was the next primary. All of this happened in about forty-eight hours, just like the current Biden boom.
The difference was that it was only about a week until the Florida primary, and Gingrich was not well liked by the establishment, and so they went after him with knives. And there were two debates between South Carolina and Florida. And in this particular case there wasn’t that. Biden had forty-eight hours, the results came, the establishment liked Biden and rallied around him, so he was able to take advantage of the big boom in support.
To take a step back, though, did I phrase that wrong? Did Biden not so much turn it around as simply survive until he found himself on more demographically favorable terms?
I think that is certainly not a bad way to phrase it. African-Americans had been the main reason why Biden had done so well in national polls, and specifically black voters in the South. And those voters were very favorable toward Clinton in 2016, in just the way they seem to have been favorable to Biden on this particular evening. That being said, Clinton did very well with black voters in Nevada in 2016; Joe Biden only won black voters in Nevada by ten points. Those two results don’t jibe with each other. Yes, it is true that African-Americans in the North and West weren’t as favorable to Clinton as African-Americans in the South, but not in the same sort of margin that you saw shift from Nevada to South Carolina. So, I think, certainly, it was that it was more demographically favorable, but I also think it is that black voters had more of Biden’s back than in Nevada.
Also, white voters with a college degree, and specifically white women with a college degree, had basically been splitting their voters fairly evenly. This is a group that Klobuchar did very well with in New Hampshire, for example. And then you hit South Carolina, and all of a sudden Biden is running away with that group. So it is demographically more favorable, but it is also the case that Biden basically improved across the board.
What about the campaign has surprised you over the past few days?
In Nevada, Bernie Sanders wins a majority of the delegates. And you are thinking: Joe Biden’s lead in South Carolina is falling, and there were a bunch of polls published before Nevada, and he was basically up by maybe five points. And all of a sudden there was one poll, that Public Policy poll, that came out that Monday that had Biden up fifteen. That seemed odd. And then a second and third poll. And then a Monmouth poll had Biden up twenty points. This was before the James Clyburn endorsement. It was before the debate. So something happened there. I don’t know what. Either the polling was always underestimating Biden, or maybe that second-place Nevada finish was good enough. And people were searching for an alternative to Sanders, and they didn’t know who that alternative was, and, finally, when they were pushed in that direction, voters just said, “O.K., we are going with that.”
I think, obviously, there was a question as to whether or not Sanders had a ceiling. I honestly did not believe he did, especially with his favorable ratings being quite high. But these results are certainly suggestive of the fact that there was a group of voters who were not necessarily voting for Biden and did not want Sanders, and, when it became clear that Biden was the Sanders alternative, they came rushing back.
In terms of how different demographic groups voted, or in terms of over-all turnout, what were your biggest takeaways from Tuesday?
There is going to be a lot of focus, and rightly so, on Biden’s strength in the Southeast—he obviously did well in North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee—but you find me someone who thought Joe Biden was going to win in Massachusetts and Minnesota a week ago, and I might as well ask them for the lottery numbers. And he is going to be dead even in Maine at the end of the evening. So I think Biden’s strength in Northern industrial states, and with working-class white voters in the North, is a big difference from Clinton back in 2016.
If you are talking turnout, there has been all this talk about how Sanders wants to make the play that he is going to bring new voters into the process and win that way. Well, obviously, there haven’t been that many new voters brought into the process in a number of the early states, at least until Tuesday evening. But look at a state like Virginia, where the turnout was nearly double what it was four years ago. And where were those new voters? Those new voters were in the suburbs. And who was winning those voters? Joe Biden. That is the same thing that happened in South Carolina. If you look at how the Democrats won the midterms, it was winning those more moderate voters in the suburbs. They seem to be turning out in larger numbers, and they are supporting Joe Biden, which kind of flips the turnout argument on its head.
There has been a debate for a long time about how much of Sanders’s support in 2016 was really about anti-Clinton sentiment. What do the results on Tuesday tell you?


newyorker--2020-03-02--The Global Panic Over the Coronavirus

The Global Panic Over the Coronavirus

In a “ Twilight Zone ” –like drama spawned by eerie uncertainty , the world is shutting down a bit more each day , as the coronavirus pandemic accelerates across sixty countries on six continents—all in just nine weeks .
There ’ s no longer an illusion that the contagion can be contained .
And this is only the beginning .
Marc Lipsitch , a Harvard epidemiologist and the director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics , estimated that between forty per cent and seventy per cent of the world ’ s roughly five billion adults will get the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China , in late December .
The United States reached a turning point over the weekend , as cases of the sickness—initially isolated in California , Oregon , and Washington State , on the West Coast—were confirmed in Illinois , in the Midwest , and New York , Rhode Island , and Florida , on the East Coast .
( On Monday , four new coronavirus deaths were announced in Washington State , bringing the total to six . )
For Americans , the problem is no longer stemming the tide of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shifted—from stopping them from infecting us to stopping us from infecting each other , ” Lipsitch said .
“ There is no American exceptionalism in exposure to coronavirus.
” In the United States , transmission is likely already far , far wider than the ninety publicly confirmed cases on Monday because of U.S. officials ’ failure to do sufficient testing .
“ We haven ’ t found hundreds or thousands of cases because we ’ re not looking hard enough , ” Lipsitch said .
“ We don ’ t have the testing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going on .
We ’ ve looked largely at people who had a relation to China or high-risk areas.
” That ’ s too low , he said , by several factors of ten .
He called the initial U.S. response “ utterly inadequate.
” Lipsitch told me that the Chinese government ’ s response in Hubei Province , the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak , was more thorough than the approach taken so far in the U.S. by the Trump Administration .
In Guangdong province , Chinese health officials tested more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clinics , where people who think they have a fever of any origin are seen .
In contrast , the U.S. has been testing a handful of isolated cases .
“ Our government ’ s response was something like one per cent—or less—than what China did , ” Lipsitch said .
Asia and Europe also have reacted faster to the outbreak .
Disruptions have impacted virtually every aspect of public life there .
Japan has closed all schools , effective Monday , until April , turning away thirteen million students and leaving their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do with them .
On Saturday , baseball games were played without audiences , after the Japanese government ’ s order to cancel or postpone sports and entertainment events : Seiya Inoue , of the Chiba Lotte Marines , homered against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in an empty stadium .
Models at the Tokyo Girls Collection strutted down the runway with no one in attendance .
And horses at the Nakayama Racecourse ran without spectators .
In a sign of the risks ahead , a cruise-ship operator in Japan filed for bankruptcy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cancellations of night cruises that once ferried up to a thousand people around the sights of Kobe .
The fate of the Summer Olympics , in Tokyo , is still to be determined .
In South Korea , the government is considering prosecuting the leader of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus for gross negligence or murder , because sixty percent of the country ’ s more than four thousand confirmed cases are sect members .
BTS , one of the country ’ s most popular musical groups , called off tour dates scheduled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American pop-punk band Green Day postponed shows across Asia .
In Europe , Italy has quarantined eleven towns—encompassing more than fifty thousand people—hit by the coronavirus , while the famed La Scala opera house , in Milan , was shuttered .
Despite the precautions , the number of confirmed cases in Italy shot up by fifty per cent over the weekend .
On Sunday , the staff of the Louvre , the world ’ s busiest museum , voted to close its doors , owing to a fear that the Paris institution—and its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a breeding ground for the virus .
France , which has more than a hundred cases , enacted a nationwide ban on all public events bringing together more than five thousand people .
Switzerland banned all events with more than a thousand attendees , which instantly axed the Geneva Motor Show .
In Spain , the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona , was cancelled .
Germany , where nine of the country ’ s sixteen states have reported cases of the coronavirus , cancelled one of the world ’ s most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be held in Berlin .
Greece cancelled all activities relating to the annual Carnival celebration .
In the Middle East , Iran , a coronavirus hot spot , with the highest mortality rate in the world , cancelled Friday prayers and closed schools and universities in twenty-four of its thirty-one provinces .
Saudi Arabia , the guardian of Islam ’ s holy sites , banned foreign pilgrims .
Qatar cancelled the motorcycle Grand Prix , which was scheduled to start Sunday .
Morocco announced that it was postponing all sports and cultural events @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases—yet .
“ This is not a time for fear , ” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , the head of the World Health Organization , said on Thursday .
“ This is a time for taking action to prevent infections and save lives now.
” On Friday , Americans began preparing for possible shutdowns and quarantines .
When the first cases were still three thousand miles away , on the West Coast , several stores where I live , in Washington , D.C. , were out of Purell , Clorox wipes , and cleaning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and nonperishable goods , such as canned vegetables and pasta .
“ We sold out of every can of beans in the store Friday night , ” a manager at a local Trader Joe ’ s told me .
The growing appearance of public panic may be a good thing , however .
Lipsitch called precautionary steps rational .
“ People are understandably confused .
I ’ ve been telling people to get bleach and alcohol-related cleansers and several months ’ supply of medicine and the like , ” he told me .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ you ’ ll have to use them , but there is a good chance that you will .
”

In a “Twilight Zone”–like drama spawned by eerie uncertainty, the world is shutting down a bit more each day, as the coronavirus pandemic accelerates across sixty countries on six continents—all in just nine weeks. There’s no longer an illusion that the contagion can be contained. And this is only the beginning. Marc Lipsitch, a Harvard epidemiologist and the director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, estimated that between forty per cent and seventy per cent of the world’s roughly five billion adults will get the virus, which was first reported in China, in late December.
The United States reached a turning point over the weekend, as cases of the sickness—initially isolated in California, Oregon, and Washington State, on the West Coast—were confirmed in Illinois, in the Midwest, and New York, Rhode Island, and Florida, on the East Coast. (On Monday, four new coronavirus deaths were announced in Washington State, bringing the total to six.) For Americans, the problem is no longer stemming the tide of a foreign pathogen. “The emphasis has shifted—from stopping them from infecting us to stopping us from infecting each other,” Lipsitch said. “There is no American exceptionalism in exposure to coronavirus.”
In the United States, transmission is likely already far, far wider than the ninety publicly confirmed cases on Monday because of U.S. officials’ failure to do sufficient testing. “We haven’t found hundreds or thousands of cases because we’re not looking hard enough,” Lipsitch said. “We don’t have the testing capacity to find out what’s going on. We’ve looked largely at people who had a relation to China or high-risk areas.” That’s too low, he said, by several factors of ten. He called the initial U.S. response “utterly inadequate.” Lipsitch told me that the Chinese government’s response in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, was more thorough than the approach taken so far in the U.S. by the Trump Administration. In Guangdong province, Chinese health officials tested more than three hundred thousand patients in so-called fever clinics, where people who think they have a fever of any origin are seen. In contrast, the U.S. has been testing a handful of isolated cases. “Our government’s response was something like one per cent—or less—than what China did,” Lipsitch said.
Asia and Europe also have reacted faster to the outbreak. Disruptions have impacted virtually every aspect of public life there. Japan has closed all schools, effective Monday, until April, turning away thirteen million students and leaving their parents scrambling to figure out what to do with them. On Saturday, baseball games were played without audiences, after the Japanese government’s order to cancel or postpone sports and entertainment events: Seiya Inoue, of the Chiba Lotte Marines, homered against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in an empty stadium. Models at the Tokyo Girls Collection strutted down the runway with no one in attendance. And horses at the Nakayama Racecourse ran without spectators. In a sign of the risks ahead, a cruise-ship operator in Japan filed for bankruptcy on Monday, due to the many cancellations of night cruises that once ferried up to a thousand people around the sights of Kobe. The fate of the Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, is still to be determined. In South Korea, the government is considering prosecuting the leader of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus for gross negligence or murder, because sixty percent of the country’s more than four thousand confirmed cases are sect members. BTS, one of the country’s most popular musical groups, called off tour dates scheduled for April in Seoul, while the American pop-punk band Green Day postponed shows across Asia.
In Europe, Italy has quarantined eleven towns—encompassing more than fifty thousand people—hit by the coronavirus, while the famed La Scala opera house, in Milan, was shuttered. Despite the precautions, the number of confirmed cases in Italy shot up by fifty per cent over the weekend. On Sunday, the staff of the Louvre, the world’s busiest museum, voted to close its doors, owing to a fear that the Paris institution—and its tens of thousands of monthly visitors—could become a breeding ground for the virus. France, which has more than a hundred cases, enacted a nationwide ban on all public events bringing together more than five thousand people. Switzerland banned all events with more than a thousand attendees, which instantly axed the Geneva Motor Show. In Spain, the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, was cancelled. Germany, where nine of the country’s sixteen states have reported cases of the coronavirus, cancelled one of the world’s most important travel-and-tourism trade fairs, due to be held in Berlin. Greece cancelled all activities relating to the annual Carnival celebration.
A bistro in Milan lacked customers on February 27th. Photograph by Andrea Mantovani / NYT / Redux
In the Middle East, Iran, a coronavirus hot spot, with the highest mortality rate in the world, cancelled Friday prayers and closed schools and universities in twenty-four of its thirty-one provinces. Saudi Arabia, the guardian of Islam’s holy sites, banned foreign pilgrims. Qatar cancelled the motorcycle Grand Prix, which was scheduled to start Sunday. Morocco announced that it was postponing all sports and cultural events, even though it has no confirmed cases—yet. “This is not a time for fear,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, said on Thursday. “This is a time for taking action to prevent infections and save lives now.”
On Friday, Americans began preparing for possible shutdowns and quarantines. When the first cases were still three thousand miles away, on the West Coast, several stores where I live, in Washington, D.C., were out of Purell, Clorox wipes, and cleaning gloves, and low on toilet paper and nonperishable goods, such as canned vegetables and pasta. “We sold out of every can of beans in the store Friday night,” a manager at a local Trader Joe’s told me.
The growing appearance of public panic may be a good thing, however. Lipsitch called precautionary steps rational. “People are understandably confused. I’ve been telling people to get bleach and alcohol-related cleansers and several months’ supply of medicine and the like,” he told me. “That doesn’t mean that you’ll have to use them, but there is a good chance that you will.”
Behavioral scientists, psychologists, and epidemiologists are loath to use the word “panic.” “We prefer to think in terms of behavior, in conditions of uncertainty,” Kathleen Tierney, a sociologist at the Institute of Behavioral Science, at the University of Colorado, Boulder, told me. Baruch Fischhoff, a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University and a former president of the Society for Risk Analysis, said that panic comes in three forms, only one of which applies to the range of reactions to the coronavirus crisis. The most basic form is feeling panicky, which most people feel at some time, Fischhoff said. It’s bad for quality of life, but it’s not associated with specific behavior; most people feel it at some point but don’t act on it. The second type of panic is allowing stress to overcome normal, reasoned responses. But it, too, is fairly rare, research shows. Most people don’t lose control of themselves. “The idea of mass panic—people running in the streets and abandoning normal behavior—is the myth of panic,” Fischhoff said. “That’s the kind of panic you see more in movies than in everyday life. In fact, most people band together.” An enduring image from the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center is of people running from the scene. But the evacuation from the towers themselves—each with more than a hundred floors—was “extremely orderly,” Fischhoff said. “Egress was less viscous. In a horrible situation, people were brave and very orderly.”
The third kind of panic is the type witnessed—among people in widely diverse societies—since the outbreak of the coronavirus. It includes panic buying and hoarding. “It reflects the attitude ‘better safe than sorry,’ ” Tierney, the sociologist, said. The good news is that people are lining up—albeit in long lines—in an orderly fashion to buy groceries. No one is breaking into Trader Joe’s to get access to food, she said.


newyorker--2020-03-05--Winners Wake Up Early: Every Article I’ve Written About My Morning Routine

“ The 6 A.M. Life Style : How to Have a Little More ‘ Me Time ’ Each Morning ” “ 5 A.M. Is the New 6 A.M. : Nine Ways That Waking Up Extremely Early Isn ’ t Just Smart but Mandatory for Entrepreneurs Like You and Me ” “ Winners Wake Up at 4:30 A.M. : The Science of How We Can All Become Rich by Being Less Pathetic ” “ I Wake Up Before You Do : Nine Reasons Why I Have a Brand-New Tesla , a Full-Time Startup Job , an Online Side Hustle , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Dalai Lama , Like a Loser ” “ Actually , You Should Wake Up at 4:12 A.M.—Don ’ t Ask Me Why , It Just Sounds Right—and Nine Reasons We Should Cyberbully People Who Wake Up Later Than That ” “ Nine Successful Renaissance-Era Popes Who Woke Up at 4 A.M. and the Completely Bonkers Inferences We Can Draw from Their Lives ( Plus , My New Morning-Success Webinar ! )
” “ The 3:30 A.M. Wake-Up Manifesto : Nine Ways My Wife Argued I ’ m Being a ‘ Bit Extreme @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Nine Decisive Replies I Used to Defend My Unstoppable # HustleLife ” “ What Time Do You Wake Up ?
Write It in the Comments and I Will Tell You Why You Are Bad and Lazy Compared with Me , a 3:15 A.M. Waker-er Upper Who Owns Not One but Two Vitamix Blenders ” “ Nine Increasingly Shrill Alarm Clocks I Daisy-Chain in Nine-Minute Intervals to Wake Up at 2 A.M. , Even Though My Body Screams , ‘ No !
Why ?
!
’ ” “ Nine Near-Fatal Car Crashes I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Which Led My Wife to Ban Me from Driving My Kid to Soccer , and How I Turned These Little ‘ Incidents ’ Into Nine Money-Making E-Books About Success ” “ My Wife and I Had a Heart-to-Heart and I ’ m Here to Tell You It ’ s O.K .
to Have Hobbies , Relax a Little , and Wake Up by 8 A.M. YOU DISGUSTING PIECE OF CRAP !
HA HA HA , I Think the Heart-to-Heart Was a Hallucination from Prolonged Sleep Deprivation—Wake Up , You Jerk !
” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Up ’ —and Nine Other Famous Inspirational Quotes I Fabricated in the Cold Darkness Because I Am Utterly Alone ( Plus , My New Podcast ! )
” “ I Was Wrong , Waking Up Thirty Minutes After the Sun Sets Is Far Too Early , and I Paid the Price , Which Included Selling My Tesla , Downsizing My Side Hustle , and Capitulating to Nine Other Emotionally Painful but Ultimately Fair Demands My Wife Made , to Save Our Beautiful Marriage : A Memoir ” “ Waking Up Around Noon Is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m Feeling a Lot Better , Getting Into Ceramics , and Calling My Family Daily from This Northern California Rehab Center for People Who Overdose on Context-Free Life-Hacking Articles ” “ How to Crush the Pottery Game by Sleeping Fifteen Minutes a Night : Nine Ways I Turned a Relaxing Hobby Into an Obsessive Quest to Reclaim My # HustleLife and Dominate Reality ( Plus , My New Ceramics-Empire-Building YouTube Channel ! )
” “ Nine Surprising Ways I Fell Off the Wagon and Started Waking Up Earlier Than Ever—One Full Week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Make Sense , Yet , Somehow , Here I Am , Awake at Dawn , Screaming My Best Morning-Routine Advice at Tired People in a Run-Down Greyhound Bus Station ” “ ‘ Please Come Home and Rest , You ’ re Scaring Us ’ : Nine Shocking Reasons My Loved Ones Text Me This Very Message Daily , but I Can not Read Their Words , for My Phone Is Lost , and Time and Clocks Are Children ’ s Things and Hold No Sway Over Me in the Realm of the Shadow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Arcane Secrets of # SuperHustleLifers , Who Possess Boundless Energy—and , Oh , How My Eyes Are Heavy and Lo , How the Sun Is a Monster but No , I Do Not Sleep , I Hold Fast , Because I Am a Winner Winner Steak Dinner ”

Photograph by Mark Douet / Getty
“The 6 A.M. Life Style: How to Have a Little More ‘Me Time’ Each Morning”
“5 A.M. Is the New 6 A.M.: Nine Ways That Waking Up Extremely Early Isn’t Just Smart but Mandatory for Entrepreneurs Like You and Me”
“Winners Wake Up at 4:30 A.M.: The Science of How We Can All Become Rich by Being Less Pathetic”
“I Wake Up Before You Do: Nine Reasons Why I Have a Brand-New Tesla, a Full-Time Startup Job, an Online Side Hustle, and a Great Family, While You Retweet the Dalai Lama, Like a Loser”
“Actually, You Should Wake Up at 4:12 A.M.—Don’t Ask Me Why, It Just Sounds Right—and Nine Reasons We Should Cyberbully People Who Wake Up Later Than That”
“Nine Successful Renaissance-Era Popes Who Woke Up at 4 A.M. and the Completely Bonkers Inferences We Can Draw from Their Lives (Plus, My New Morning-Success Webinar!)”
“The 3:30 A.M. Wake-Up Manifesto: Nine Ways My Wife Argued I’m Being a ‘Bit Extreme’ and ‘Freaking Her Out’ and Nine Decisive Replies I Used to Defend My Unstoppable #HustleLife”
“What Time Do You Wake Up? Write It in the Comments and I Will Tell You Why You Are Bad and Lazy Compared with Me, a 3:15 A.M. Waker-er Upper Who Owns Not One but Two Vitamix Blenders”
“Nine Increasingly Shrill Alarm Clocks I Daisy-Chain in Nine-Minute Intervals to Wake Up at 2 A.M., Even Though My Body Screams, ‘No! Why?!’ ”
“Nine Near-Fatal Car Crashes I Caused by Waking Up Absurdly Early, Which Led My Wife to Ban Me from Driving My Kid to Soccer, and How I Turned These Little ‘Incidents’ Into Nine Money-Making E-Books About Success”
“My Wife and I Had a Heart-to-Heart and I’m Here to Tell You It’s O.K. to Have Hobbies, Relax a Little, and Wake Up by 8 A.M. YOU DISGUSTING PIECE OF CRAP! HA HA HA, I Think the Heart-to-Heart Was a Hallucination from Prolonged Sleep Deprivation—Wake Up, You Jerk!”
“ ‘Man Is Not Meant to Wake Up’—and Nine Other Famous Inspirational Quotes I Fabricated in the Cold Darkness Because I Am Utterly Alone (Plus, My New Podcast!)”
“I Was Wrong, Waking Up Thirty Minutes After the Sun Sets Is Far Too Early, and I Paid the Price, Which Included Selling My Tesla, Downsizing My Side Hustle, and Capitulating to Nine Other Emotionally Painful but Ultimately Fair Demands My Wife Made, to Save Our Beautiful Marriage: A Memoir”
“Waking Up Around Noon Is Actually Pretty Awesome: Nine Reasons I’m Feeling a Lot Better, Getting Into Ceramics, and Calling My Family Daily from This Northern California Rehab Center for People Who Overdose on Context-Free Life-Hacking Articles”
“How to Crush the Pottery Game by Sleeping Fifteen Minutes a Night: Nine Ways I Turned a Relaxing Hobby Into an Obsessive Quest to Reclaim My #HustleLife and Dominate Reality (Plus, My New Ceramics-Empire-Building YouTube Channel!)”
“Nine Surprising Ways I Fell Off the Wagon and Started Waking Up Earlier Than Ever—One Full Week Before You Do—Which Doesn’t Even Make Sense, Yet, Somehow, Here I Am, Awake at Dawn, Screaming My Best Morning-Routine Advice at Tired People in a Run-Down Greyhound Bus Station”
“ ‘Please Come Home and Rest, You’re Scaring Us’: Nine Shocking Reasons My Loved Ones Text Me This Very Message Daily, but I Cannot Read Their Words, for My Phone Is Lost, and Time and Clocks Are Children’s Things and Hold No Sway Over Me in the Realm of the Shadow Fortress—Technically a Sewage Tunnel Where I Study the Arcane Secrets of #SuperHustleLifers, Who Possess Boundless Energy—and, Oh, How My Eyes Are Heavy and Lo, How the Sun Is a Monster but No, I Do Not Sleep, I Hold Fast, Because I Am a Winner Winner Steak Dinner”


newyorker--2020-03-05--Super Tuesday Was Mainly About Donald Trump, Not Joe Biden

Like the Ireland that William Butler Yeats wrote about in his poem “ Easter , 1916 , ” the Democratic primary is “ changed , changed utterly.
” This time last week , Joe Biden looked like a dead man walking .
A day after Super Tuesday , he now leads Bernie Sanders , the erstwhile front-runner , in the delegate count , and the online prediction sites are giving him a roughly seventy-five-per-cent chance of getting the nomination .
How did this sudden transformation come about ?
One theory we can dismiss right away is that Biden himself was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emotive speech in South Carolina , on Saturday , after his big victory there .
But when he appeared in Los Angeles , on Tuesday night , he was the same unsteady performer we have seen many times before .
He shouted rather than spoke ; he momentarily mixed up his wife and sister .
His speech didn ’ t really go anywhere .
Another explanation , which has more substance to it , is that the traditional Democratic power structure , aghast at the prospect of a Sanders candidacy , conspired to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appeared to be heading for on Tuesday .
This theory is popular among Sanders supporters , of course , and it also has an adherent in the White House .
“ The Democrat establishment came together and crushed Bernie Sanders , AGAIN , ” Donald Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning .
Many established Democratic politicians did line up behind Biden .
James Clyburn , the Majority Whip in the House of Representatives , started the process with the endorsement he issued in Charleston , South Carolina , last Wednesday .
( Clyburn “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ James Carville , the veteran Democratic consultant , commented on Tuesday night . )
In the days before Super Tuesday , when Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar both dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden , their gesture seemed to be timed to give him additional momentum as voters headed to the polls , and to blunt the momentum of Sanders .
It looks as if the exits and endorsements had a big impact .
Take Biden ’ s victory in Klobuchar ’ s home state of Minnesota .
Until last weekend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ single digits there .
The problem with the party-establishment theory isn ’ t that it lacks factual basis .
It ’ s that it robs Democratic voters of agency and understates the overarching factor in this year ’ s primary—fear of Trump getting a second term .
In my experience , most ordinary Democrats are so eager ( desperate might be a better word ) to get Trump out of the White House that they would vote for practically anybody whom they adjudge to have the best chance of beating him .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the primary had turned into a circular firing squad .
When the choice before them was finally reduced to manageable proportions , a plurality of Super Tuesday voters plumped for Biden over Sanders , Michael Bloomberg , Elizabeth Warren , and Tulsi Gabbard .
That decision was theirs : it wasn ’ t made for them by Nancy Pelosi or Tom Perez or CNN .
The influence that Trump exerted was evident in the answers that Democratic voters gave in exit polls and in the day ’ s turnout , which was high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where Biden got forty-three per cent of the vote and finished nineteen points ahead of Sanders , voters said by almost two to one that they would rather nominate a candidate who could defeat Trump than a candidate who agreed with them on the major issues .
In liberal Massachusetts , where Biden came from nowhere to win by almost seven points , the exit-poll findings were virtually identical .
In South Carolina , more people voted than in the epic 2008 primary that featured Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton .
On Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , where 1.3 million people voted .
In both of these states , the exit polls showed Biden getting more than sixty per cent of the African-American votes , a pattern replicated in Alabama and Tennessee .
He also did very well in suburban areas .
In the fast-growing counties of northern Virginia , he received about half the vote , defeating Sanders by more than twenty-five points .
Did white-collar Democrats in Fairfax County , Loudoun County , and Prince William County wake up on Tuesday and decide en masse that there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they had better vote for him because Harry Reid , the former Senate Majority Leader , had just endorsed him ?
It seems far more likely they concluded that Biden , for all his shortcomings , had a better chance than Sanders of defeating Trump .
This pragmatic assessment could turn out to be wrong ; if Biden is the nominee , it will be tested in the general election .
The encouraging news for the Biden camp is that putting together a coalition of minority voters , highly educated voters , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bill Clinton did in their electoral victories .
It was also key to the Democratic Party ’ s success in the 2018 midterms .
Less encouraging : Biden once again struggled to attract younger voters , his policy positions are somewhat uninspiring , and Tuesday ’ s results leave the Democrats divided .
On Wednesday , the anger among Sanders voters was palpable .
Another cautionary note is provided by the recent history of the Democratic Party selecting candidates who were supposed to be the safe choice : Al Gore ( 2000 ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Hillary Clinton ( 2016 ) all fell into this category .
Before we get to the general election , though , there is still a long way to go in the primary .
Thirty-two states have yet to vote , and almost two-thirds of the pledged delegates are yet to be awarded .
With Bloomberg out , Warren considering her options , and Tulsi Gabbard a marginal figure , it will be Biden versus Sanders , with Trump hovering .
The President ’ s name won ’ t be on the ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presence in the White House will continue to shape the race .

Like the Ireland that William Butler Yeats wrote about in his poem “Easter, 1916,” the Democratic primary is “changed, changed utterly.” This time last week, Joe Biden looked like a dead man walking. A day after Super Tuesday, he now leads Bernie Sanders, the erstwhile front-runner, in the delegate count, and the online prediction sites are giving him a roughly seventy-five-per-cent chance of getting the nomination.
How did this sudden transformation come about? One theory we can dismiss right away is that Biden himself was responsible. He gave a powerful and emotive speech in South Carolina, on Saturday, after his big victory there. But when he appeared in Los Angeles, on Tuesday night, he was the same unsteady performer we have seen many times before. He shouted rather than spoke; he momentarily mixed up his wife and sister. His speech didn’t really go anywhere.
Another explanation, which has more substance to it, is that the traditional Democratic power structure, aghast at the prospect of a Sanders candidacy, conspired to deny him the knockout victory that he appeared to be heading for on Tuesday. This theory is popular among Sanders supporters, of course, and it also has an adherent in the White House. “The Democrat establishment came together and crushed Bernie Sanders, AGAIN,” Donald Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning.
Many established Democratic politicians did line up behind Biden. James Clyburn, the Majority Whip in the House of Representatives, started the process with the endorsement he issued in Charleston, South Carolina, last Wednesday. (Clyburn “literally saved the Democratic Party,” James Carville, the veteran Democratic consultant, commented on Tuesday night.) In the days before Super Tuesday, when Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar both dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden, their gesture seemed to be timed to give him additional momentum as voters headed to the polls, and to blunt the momentum of Sanders. It looks as if the exits and endorsements had a big impact. Take Biden’s victory in Klobuchar’s home state of Minnesota. Until last weekend, he had been polling in the single digits there.
The problem with the party-establishment theory isn’t that it lacks factual basis. It’s that it robs Democratic voters of agency and understates the overarching factor in this year’s primary—fear of Trump getting a second term. In my experience, most ordinary Democrats are so eager (desperate might be a better word) to get Trump out of the White House that they would vote for practically anybody whom they adjudge to have the best chance of beating him. For months, Democrats had been anguishing that the primary had turned into a circular firing squad. When the choice before them was finally reduced to manageable proportions, a plurality of Super Tuesday voters plumped for Biden over Sanders, Michael Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren, and Tulsi Gabbard. That decision was theirs: it wasn’t made for them by Nancy Pelosi or Tom Perez or CNN.
The influence that Trump exerted was evident in the answers that Democratic voters gave in exit polls and in the day’s turnout, which was high practically everywhere. In North Carolina, where Biden got forty-three per cent of the vote and finished nineteen points ahead of Sanders, voters said by almost two to one that they would rather nominate a candidate who could defeat Trump than a candidate who agreed with them on the major issues. In liberal Massachusetts, where Biden came from nowhere to win by almost seven points, the exit-poll findings were virtually identical.
In South Carolina, more people voted than in the epic 2008 primary that featured Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. On Tuesday, the same thing happened in Virginia, where 1.3 million people voted. In both of these states, the exit polls showed Biden getting more than sixty per cent of the African-American votes, a pattern replicated in Alabama and Tennessee. He also did very well in suburban areas. In the fast-growing counties of northern Virginia, he received about half the vote, defeating Sanders by more than twenty-five points. Did white-collar Democrats in Fairfax County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County wake up on Tuesday and decide en masse that there was a new Biden, or that they had better vote for him because Harry Reid, the former Senate Majority Leader, had just endorsed him? It seems far more likely they concluded that Biden, for all his shortcomings, had a better chance than Sanders of defeating Trump.
This pragmatic assessment could turn out to be wrong; if Biden is the nominee, it will be tested in the general election. The encouraging news for the Biden camp is that putting together a coalition of minority voters, highly educated voters, and suburban voters was something that Obama and Bill Clinton did in their electoral victories. It was also key to the Democratic Party’s success in the 2018 midterms. Less encouraging: Biden once again struggled to attract younger voters, his policy positions are somewhat uninspiring, and Tuesday’s results leave the Democrats divided. On Wednesday, the anger among Sanders voters was palpable. Another cautionary note is provided by the recent history of the Democratic Party selecting candidates who were supposed to be the safe choice: Al Gore (2000), John Kerry (2004), and Hillary Clinton (2016) all fell into this category.
Before we get to the general election, though, there is still a long way to go in the primary. Thirty-two states have yet to vote, and almost two-thirds of the pledged delegates are yet to be awarded. With Bloomberg out, Warren considering her options, and Tulsi Gabbard a marginal figure, it will be Biden versus Sanders, with Trump hovering. The President’s name won’t be on the ballots, of course. But his malign presence in the White House will continue to shape the race.


newyorker--2020-03-05--Possible Responses to the Major Abortion Case Before the Supreme Court

In June , when the Supreme Court issues a decision in the Louisiana abortion case it heard this week , it is quite likely to be bad news for abortion rights in this country .
June Medical Services , L.L.C.
, v. Russo involves a challenge to a Louisiana law that , by requiring all doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals , would drastically reduce the number of service providers in the state .
If the issue sounds familiar , that ’ s because it is : in 2016 , the Court considered—and overturned—a strikingly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it imposed an “ undue burden ” on women seeking abortions , without conferring a medical benefit .
But that was a different Court : it had a swing justice , Anthony Kennedy , who sided with the liberal bloc in the Texas case , Whole Woman ’ s Health v. Hellerstedt .
The ruling broke 5–3 ; Justice Scalia ’ s seat had not yet been filled , and Chief Justice Roberts voted with Justices Thomas and Alito to uphold the law .
This time around , the stakes are higher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tuesday , Roberts issued an unusual statement accusing Senator Chuck Schumer of making “ threatening statements ” after Schumer , speaking before a pro-choice rally outside the Court , said that Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh had “ released the whirlwind ” and they “ won ’ t know what hit you , if you go forward with these awful decisions.
” The best that abortion-rights proponents can hope for this time around is that Justice Roberts ’ s institutionalism will kick in .
The Court is weighing a ruling by the Fifth Circuit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law and , in so doing , flouted the Supreme Court ’ s precedent in the Whole Woman ’ s Health case , which had been set less than three years before .
Roberts doesn ’ t love rewarding that kind of norm-defying chutzpah—and that alone could incline him toward respecting stare decisis , and invalidating the Louisiana law .
The second-best case would be a narrow ruling upholding the law , but crafted to apply only to Louisiana .
On Tuesday , during the oral arguments in June Medical Services , Justices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trying that solution out , when they each asked the lawyer for the abortion clinic , Julie Rikelman , whether , in her view , admitting-privilege laws were always unconstitutional , or whether it made sense to “ look at the facts , ” in Kavanaugh ’ s words , “ state by state.
” ( Rikelman pointed out that the facts in this particular case are rough on a woman seeking an abortion in Louisiana—if she lived in the Baton Rouge area , she ’ d have to go “ three hundred @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to New Orleans to see a physician who could help her , because of the state ’ s two-trip law .
Moreover , Rikelman said , laws like these generally serve no valid state interest . )
The worst scenario would be if the Court simply threw out the “ undue burden ” standard that it established in Casey v. Planned Parenthood in 1992 and reinforced with Whole Woman ’ s Health , and which has provided a bulwark against the erosion of abortion rights .
Such a ruling would have the bracing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they stood with the Court .
But it would also mark the beginning of a new era , in which all the Court ’ s abortion jurisprudence , even Roe v. Wade , would be at risk .
In one important way , though , such a ruling would not be quite the unmitigated catastrophe for reproductive rights that it might have been even a year or two ago .
After decades during which anti-choice groups concocted almost all the state laws governing abortion rights—coming up with ever more inventive ways to restrict @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own laws passed .
In 2019 , nine states enacted thirty-six measures to protect and expand access to abortion—more such legislation than had been enacted in the previous decade , according to an analysis by the Guttmacher Institute .
The new laws affirm a fundamental right to abortion , but also , and perhaps more important , help in practical ways to insure that it is made available .
Illinois and New York passed sweeping Reproductive Health Acts that , among other provisions , require all public and private health-insurance plans to cover @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assistants and advanced-practice nurses to perform the procedure .
Maine also enacted a law allowing such health practitioners to provide abortions , a measure that , Governor Janet Mills said , when she signed the bill , would help guarantee that “ Maine women , especially those in rural areas , are able to access critical reproductive-health-care services when and where they need them from qualified providers they know and trust.
” California enacted a law that will require the state ’ s public-university system to offer medical abortion services on all its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bill pending in Massachusetts would do the same thing for its state-university system . )
Nevada ’ s legislature lifted a tendentious requirement that those seeking abortions be told about the “ physical and emotional implications ” of the procedure .
Carole Joffe , a sociologist at U.C .
San Francisco who studies and advocates for reproductive rights , told me that she thinks all these laws are symbolically , as well as instrumentally , important .
“ The pro-choice movement has been on the defensive for so long , battered by restrictions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be easy to fall into despair , and it is a very serious situation .
But the fact that the pro-choice side has finally gotten the message that you have to be practical , proactive , and get legislatures to do the right thing , is really significant , especially if that trend continues.
” One upshot of the trend is a particularly American jurisdictional weirdness , an extreme skew between states ( mostly in the West and the Northeast ) that are building up abortion rights , and states ( mostly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that are placing more and more limitations in them—in some states , outright bans on abortions after six weeks , or , in Alabama , in almost all cases .
( These laws are being challenged in the courts . )
We may be looking at a future in which increasing numbers of those seeking abortions in states with more draconian laws will have to travel to obtain them .
Mary Ziegler , a law professor at Florida State University , whose book “ Abortion and the Law in America : Roe v. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , told me , “ The most significant new state laws will not only have a major effect on those states but on regions of the country .
Cross the Missouri river in St. Louis—and you ’ re in East St. Louis , in Illinois .
A lot of women in Missouri will be going to Illinois.
” States that are less punitive than the states that they border—even red states , such as Florida , or Kansas , whose Supreme Court last year upheld the right to abortion under its state constitution—will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sustaining the freedom to choose .
( The Kansas ruling ’ s language had a clarion ring : citing the state ’ s guarantee of inalienable rights to its citizens , the court asked , “ Is this declaration of rights more than an idealized aspiration ?
And if so , do the substantive rights include a woman ’ s right to make decisions about her body , including the decision whether to continue her pregnancy ?
We answer these questions , “ Yes.
’ ” ) Yet many of those who must @ @ @ @ @ @ @ David Cohen , a law professor at Drexel University , described to me as “ abortion-haven ” states , will face insurmountable economic and logistical difficulties .
He and Joffe point out in a new book , “ Obstacle Course : The Everyday Struggle to get an Abortion in America , ” that many are already unduly burdened when they try to get this particular medical procedure , not least because half of those seeking abortions live below the federal poverty line , and “ a quarter of abortion patients have no health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two cities—New York and Austin—created funds to help those who can not afford it pay for transportation , child-care costs , and a place to stay , if they travel to those cities to get an abortion .
Last year , more states tightened their abortion laws than liberalized them—seventeen , compared to nine .
Still , those states that are shoring up abortion rights are effectively assuring one thing : if the Supreme Court does steadily chip away at reproductive rights—and even , perhaps , overturns Roe—there will still be places in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legal abortion .

In June, when the Supreme Court issues a decision in the Louisiana abortion case it heard this week, it is quite likely to be bad news for abortion rights in this country. June Medical Services, L.L.C., v. Russo involves a challenge to a Louisiana law that, by requiring all doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, would drastically reduce the number of service providers in the state. If the issue sounds familiar, that’s because it is: in 2016, the Court considered—and overturned—a strikingly similar law, from Texas, concluding that it imposed an “undue burden” on women seeking abortions, without conferring a medical benefit. But that was a different Court: it had a swing justice, Anthony Kennedy, who sided with the liberal bloc in the Texas case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. The ruling broke 5–3; Justice Scalia’s seat had not yet been filled, and Chief Justice Roberts voted with Justices Thomas and Alito to uphold the law. This time around, the stakes are higher and the politics more jagged: on Tuesday, Roberts issued an unusual statement accusing Senator Chuck Schumer of making “threatening statements” after Schumer, speaking before a pro-choice rally outside the Court, said that Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh had “released the whirlwind” and they “won’t know what hit you, if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
The best that abortion-rights proponents can hope for this time around is that Justice Roberts’s institutionalism will kick in. The Court is weighing a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld the Louisiana law and, in so doing, flouted the Supreme Court’s precedent in the Whole Woman’s Health case, which had been set less than three years before. Roberts doesn’t love rewarding that kind of norm-defying chutzpah—and that alone could incline him toward respecting stare decisis, and invalidating the Louisiana law.
The second-best case would be a narrow ruling upholding the law, but crafted to apply only to Louisiana. On Wednesday, during the oral arguments in June Medical Services, Justices Roberts and Kavanaugh both seemed to be trying that solution out, when they each asked the lawyer for the abortion clinic, Julie Rikelman, whether, in her view, admitting-privilege laws were always unconstitutional, or whether it made sense to “look at the facts,” in Kavanaugh’s words, “state by state.” (Rikelman pointed out that the facts in this particular case are rough on a woman seeking an abortion in Louisiana—if she lived in the Baton Rouge area, she’d have to go “three hundred and twenty miles back and forth” to New Orleans to see a physician who could help her, because of the state’s two-trip law. Moreover, Rikelman said, laws like these generally serve no valid state interest.)
The worst scenario would be if the Court simply threw out the “undue burden” standard that it established in Casey v. Planned Parenthood in 1992 and reinforced with Whole Woman’s Health, and which has provided a bulwark against the erosion of abortion rights. Such a ruling would have the bracing advantage of clarity—reproductive-rights proponents would know where they stood with the Court. But it would also mark the beginning of a new era, in which all the Court’s abortion jurisprudence, even Roe v. Wade, would be at risk.
In one important way, though, such a ruling would not be quite the unmitigated catastrophe for reproductive rights that it might have been even a year or two ago. After decades during which anti-choice groups concocted almost all the state laws governing abortion rights—coming up with ever more inventive ways to restrict them—the pro-choice side has been getting its own laws passed. In 2019, nine states enacted thirty-six measures to protect and expand access to abortion—more such legislation than had been enacted in the previous decade, according to an analysis by the Guttmacher Institute.
The new laws affirm a fundamental right to abortion, but also, and perhaps more important, help in practical ways to insure that it is made available. Illinois and New York passed sweeping Reproductive Health Acts that, among other provisions, require all public and private health-insurance plans to cover abortions, and to permit physicians’ assistants and advanced-practice nurses to perform the procedure. Maine also enacted a law allowing such health practitioners to provide abortions, a measure that, Governor Janet Mills said, when she signed the bill, would help guarantee that “Maine women, especially those in rural areas, are able to access critical reproductive-health-care services when and where they need them from qualified providers they know and trust.” California enacted a law that will require the state’s public-university system to offer medical abortion services on all its campuses starting in 2023. (A bill pending in Massachusetts would do the same thing for its state-university system.) Nevada’s legislature lifted a tendentious requirement that those seeking abortions be told about the “physical and emotional implications” of the procedure.
Carole Joffe, a sociologist at U.C. San Francisco who studies and advocates for reproductive rights, told me that she thinks all these laws are symbolically, as well as instrumentally, important. “The pro-choice movement has been on the defensive for so long, battered by restrictions,” Joffe said. “It would be easy to fall into despair, and it is a very serious situation. But the fact that the pro-choice side has finally gotten the message that you have to be practical, proactive, and get legislatures to do the right thing, is really significant, especially if that trend continues.”
One upshot of the trend is a particularly American jurisdictional weirdness, an extreme skew between states (mostly in the West and the Northeast) that are building up abortion rights, and states (mostly in the South and the Midwest) that are placing more and more limitations in them—in some states, outright bans on abortions after six weeks, or, in Alabama, in almost all cases. (These laws are being challenged in the courts.) We may be looking at a future in which increasing numbers of those seeking abortions in states with more draconian laws will have to travel to obtain them. Mary Ziegler, a law professor at Florida State University, whose book “Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present” is forthcoming, told me, “The most significant new state laws will not only have a major effect on those states but on regions of the country. Cross the Missouri river in St. Louis—and you’re in East St. Louis, in Illinois. A lot of women in Missouri will be going to Illinois.”
States that are less punitive than the states that they border—even red states, such as Florida, or Kansas, whose Supreme Court last year upheld the right to abortion under its state constitution—will likely play an increasingly important role in sustaining the freedom to choose. (The Kansas ruling’s language had a clarion ring: citing the state’s guarantee of inalienable rights to its citizens, the court asked, “Is this declaration of rights more than an idealized aspiration? And if so, do the substantive rights include a woman’s right to make decisions about her body, including the decision whether to continue her pregnancy? We answer these questions, “Yes.’ ”)
Yet many of those who must travel a long distance to reach what David Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University, described to me as “abortion-haven” states, will face insurmountable economic and logistical difficulties. He and Joffe point out in a new book, “Obstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to get an Abortion in America,” that many are already unduly burdened when they try to get this particular medical procedure, not least because half of those seeking abortions live below the federal poverty line, and “a quarter of abortion patients have no health insurance at all.” Last year, two cities—New York and Austin—created funds to help those who cannot afford it pay for transportation, child-care costs, and a place to stay, if they travel to those cities to get an abortion.
Last year, more states tightened their abortion laws than liberalized them—seventeen, compared to nine. Still, those states that are shoring up abortion rights are effectively assuring one thing: if the Supreme Court does steadily chip away at reproductive rights—and even, perhaps, overturns Roe—there will still be places in this country to get a safe, legal abortion.


newyorker--2020-03-05--Is Joe Biden the Future of the Democratic Party?

Joe Biden ’ s pitch to voters has been remarkably consistent : he says he can unite older voters , @ @ @ @ @ moderates into a coalition that can defeat Donald Trump .
A series of gaffes , @ @ @ @ @ , and disappointing results in the early primaries seemed to doom Biden ’ s candidacy @ @ @ @ @ South Carolina and on Super Tuesday have given new credence to his claim that he @ @ @ @ @ to take on Trump in November .
Evan Osnos joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss how @ @ @ @ @ and how he ’ ll go about winning over skeptical young , progressive voters .

Photograph by Michael Wyke / AP / Shutterstock
Joe Biden’s pitch to voters has been remarkably consistent: he says he can unite older voters, people of color, and moderates into a coalition that can defeat Donald Trump. A series of gaffes, concerns about his voting record, and disappointing results in the early primaries seemed to doom Biden’s candidacy. But big victories in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday have given new credence to his claim that he’s the best person to take on Trump in November. Evan Osnos joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss how Biden became the Democratic front-runner and how he’ll go about winning over skeptical young, progressive voters.


newyorker--2020-03-05--What to Do in N.Y.C. This Weekend: March 6th-8th

These are our top picks for the weekend of March 6th-8th .
For more event listings and reviews , check out Goings On About Town .
The Whitney ’ s thumpingly great show “ Vida Americana : Mexican Muralists Remake American Art , 1924-1945 ” picks an overdue art-historical fight .
The usual story of those two decades revolves around young aesthetes striving to absorb European modernism .
What to do with the mighty legacy of the era ’ s big three Mexican painters , Diego Rivera , José Clemente Orozco , and David Alfaro Siqueiros ?
As little as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the seminal influence of Orozco and Siqueiros on the young Jackson Pollock .
With some two hundred works by sixty artists and abundant documentary material , the curator Barbara Haskell reweaves the sense and sensations of the era to bring it alive.—Peter Schjeldahl For more art reviews , click here .
For our Spring Art Preview , click here .
The glamorously intelligent post-punk that was incubated in English art colleges forty years ago is reconstituted with panache in Dry Cleaning : it ’ s almost shocking to hear lyrics referencing not Margaret @ @ @ @ @ @ @ London quartet is effortlessly magnetic and impossibly British , with an ace card in Florence Shaw—a vocalist who rarely deigns to sing but , rather , presents her lyrics as if engaged in an apathetic phone conversation .
After making its American début at Saint Vitus , on Friday , the band plays Union Pool the following night.—Jay Ruttenberg For more night-life listings , click here .
For our Spring Night-Life Preview , click here .
There has never been a better time to eat a meatless hamburger .
The current surge of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arms race of sorts .
Since 2008 , the chef Amanda Cohen has been the force behind Dirt Candy , the first vegetarian restaurant to hold its own in New York ’ s fine-dining landscape .
Cohen had never served a veggie burger before Andrea Kerzner , a South African philanthropist looking for ways to fight climate change , cold-called her to propose that they collaborate on a restaurant built around one , but she was game to try .
Last November , they opened Lekka Burger , in Tribeca.—Hannah Goldfield For more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1997 , a woman named Dana Higginbotham was abducted by an ex-convict and member of the Aryan Brotherhood .
He dragged her from motel to motel around the South for five months , abusing her physically and mentally .
Higginbotham happens to be the mother of the playwright Lucas Hnath , who turned the story into a play .
And not just any play— “ Dana H. ” ( at the Vineyard ) is a channelling , an exorcism , and a tribute .
The brilliant concept is that the actress Deirdre O @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virtuosic precision—to edited segments of interviews with the actual Dana H. Directed by Les Waters with chilling precision and his usual skill for creating an eerie atmosphere , this production is as stunning as it is harrowing.—Elisabeth Vincentelli For more theatre reviews , click here .
For our Spring Theatre Preview , click here .
Alfred Hitchcock depended greatly on the art and the acumen of female collaborators , including his wife , Alma Reville , a screenwriter and editor , and Joan Harrison , a writer and producer .
Their work is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s series “ The Women Behind Hitchcock , ” which also includes movies by other directors , including Robert Siodmak , a film-noir specialist whose harsh and cynical vision of wartime New York , “ Phantom Lady , ” from 1944 , was produced by Harrison .
It screens on Saturday and four more times before the series ends , on March 19th.—Richard Brody For more movie reviews , click here .
For our Spring Movies Preview , click here .
The Talea Ensemble performs the U.S. première of Toshio Hosokawa ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chamber opera based on a Noh play about a spirit that enters a woman ’ s body .
It uses Western- and Noh-style singing to differentiate between the two characters , and it appears on a double bill with another chamber opera about possession : George Benjamin ’ s “ Into the Little Hill , ” a striking , minimalist setting of the Pied Piper legend in which two singers assume all the roles .
On Saturday evening , James Baker conducts the cast and ensemble in a semi-staged concert at the 92nd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , click here .
For our Spring Classical-Music Preview , click here .
Nederlands Dans Theatre , based in The Hague , is one of the most prestigious contemporary-dance ensembles in Europe , if not the world .
Its reputation is rooted , in part , in the long artistic residency of the choreographer Jiří Kylián .
The current program doesn ’ t include any Kylián , but the four choreographers on it are in many ways his heirs .
Gabriela Carrizo , from Argentina , has created a fragmented Bergmanesque narrative , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around a death and set in a bleak , hotel-like space .
“ Walk the Demon ” is one of Marco Goecke ’ s twitchy , insect-like essays in movement .
And , from the two in-house choreographers , Sol León and Paul Lightfoot , we get “ Shut Eye , ” a fantasy made of light and shadow.—Marina Harss For more dance listings , click here .
For our Spring Dance Preview , click here .

These are our top picks for the weekend of March 6th-8th. For more event listings and reviews, check out Goings On About Town.
Art work by José Clemente Orozco / Courtesy ARS / SOMAAP / MOMA
The Whitney’s thumpingly great show “Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1924-1945” picks an overdue art-historical fight. The usual story of those two decades revolves around young aesthetes striving to absorb European modernism. What to do with the mighty legacy of the era’s big three Mexican painters, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros? As little as possible has seemed the rule, despite the seminal influence of Orozco and Siqueiros on the young Jackson Pollock. With some two hundred works by sixty artists and abundant documentary material, the curator Barbara Haskell reweaves the sense and sensations of the era to bring it alive.—Peter Schjeldahl
For more art reviews, click here.
For our Spring Art Preview, click here.
Photograph by Hanna-Katrina Jedrosz
The glamorously intelligent post-punk that was incubated in English art colleges forty years ago is reconstituted with panache in Dry Cleaning: it’s almost shocking to hear lyrics referencing not Margaret Thatcher but Meghan Markle. This young London quartet is effortlessly magnetic and impossibly British, with an ace card in Florence Shaw—a vocalist who rarely deigns to sing but, rather, presents her lyrics as if engaged in an apathetic phone conversation. After making its American début at Saint Vitus, on Friday, the band plays Union Pool the following night.—Jay Ruttenberg
For more night-life listings, click here.
For our Spring Night-Life Preview, click here.
Photograph by Heami Lee for The New Yorker
There has never been a better time to eat a meatless hamburger. The current surge of interest in plant-based diets has sparked an arms race of sorts. Since 2008, the chef Amanda Cohen has been the force behind Dirt Candy, the first vegetarian restaurant to hold its own in New York’s fine-dining landscape. Cohen had never served a veggie burger before Andrea Kerzner, a South African philanthropist looking for ways to fight climate change, cold-called her to propose that they collaborate on a restaurant built around one, but she was game to try. Last November, they opened Lekka Burger, in Tribeca.—Hannah Goldfield
For more restaurant reviews, click here.
Photograph by Sara Krulwich / NYT / Redux
In 1997, a woman named Dana Higginbotham was abducted by an ex-convict and member of the Aryan Brotherhood. He dragged her from motel to motel around the South for five months, abusing her physically and mentally. Higginbotham happens to be the mother of the playwright Lucas Hnath, who turned the story into a play. And not just any play—“Dana H.” (at the Vineyard) is a channelling, an exorcism, and a tribute. The brilliant concept is that the actress Deirdre O’Connell, alone onstage, lip-synchs—with virtuosic precision—to edited segments of interviews with the actual Dana H. Directed by Les Waters with chilling precision and his usual skill for creating an eerie atmosphere, this production is as stunning as it is harrowing.—Elisabeth Vincentelli
For more theatre reviews, click here.
For our Spring Theatre Preview, click here.
Photograph from Universal Pictures / Album / Alamy
Alfred Hitchcock depended greatly on the art and the acumen of female collaborators, including his wife, Alma Reville, a screenwriter and editor, and Joan Harrison, a writer and producer. Their work is brought into the fore in Film Forum’s series “The Women Behind Hitchcock,” which also includes movies by other directors, including Robert Siodmak, a film-noir specialist whose harsh and cynical vision of wartime New York, “Phantom Lady,” from 1944, was produced by Harrison. It screens on Saturday and four more times before the series ends, on March 19th.—Richard Brody
For more movie reviews, click here.
For our Spring Movies Preview, click here.
Photograph by Alexander Polzin
The Talea Ensemble performs the U.S. première of Toshio Hosokawa’s “Futari Shizuka,” a chamber opera based on a Noh play about a spirit that enters a woman’s body. It uses Western- and Noh-style singing to differentiate between the two characters, and it appears on a double bill with another chamber opera about possession: George Benjamin’s “Into the Little Hill,” a striking, minimalist setting of the Pied Piper legend in which two singers assume all the roles. On Saturday evening, James Baker conducts the cast and ensemble in a semi-staged concert at the 92nd Street Y.—Oussama Zahr
For more classical-music listings, click here.
For our Spring Classical-Music Preview, click here.
Photograph by Rahi Rezvani
Nederlands Dans Theatre, based in The Hague, is one of the most prestigious contemporary-dance ensembles in Europe, if not the world. Its reputation is rooted, in part, in the long artistic residency of the choreographer Jiří Kylián. The current program doesn’t include any Kylián, but the four choreographers on it are in many ways his heirs. Gabriela Carrizo, from Argentina, has created a fragmented Bergmanesque narrative, “The Missing Door,” revolving around a death and set in a bleak, hotel-like space. “Walk the Demon” is one of Marco Goecke’s twitchy, insect-like essays in movement. And, from the two in-house choreographers, Sol León and Paul Lightfoot, we get “Shut Eye,” a fantasy made of light and shadow.—Marina Harss
For more dance listings, click here.
For our Spring Dance Preview, click here.


newyorker--2020-03-05--We Are All Irrational Panic Shoppers

We Are All Irrational Panic Shoppers

Costco diehards know that weekends are for amateurs .
The true connoisseur of bulk condiments and discount televisions and multi-pack leggings avoids the choke of the Saturday-and-Sunday crowd , commandeering her oversized shopping cart only on weekdays , and especially on weekday mornings : the store opens its doors at nine , and it generally takes an hour of customer inflow for the winding aisles reach a critical mass of mayhem .
Being one of the first people inside Costco can be an oddly peaceful experience : the quiet hum of the refrigerator cases , the sweeping linoleum canyons with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , perhaps unsurprisingly , throws this rhythm into disarray .
Fear of COVID-19 , the flu-like illness that has made its way from China to other cities around the world , including a growing number in the U.S. , has sent many New Yorkers into crisis mode .
( The city , as of Thursday , has two reported cases . )
Health authorities , including the C.D.C.
, have advised to prepare for a period of social distancing ; based on transmission-prevention efforts in China , South Korea , Italy , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in some cities will eventually face full-on quarantine .
This involves certain elements of what emergency managers call “ shelter in place , ” and doomsday preppers refer to as “ bugging in ” : enough supplies for a household to remain isolated for at minimum a few days , and ideally a few weeks .
Where better to get your fix of canned beans than a store where the cans are gallon-size ?
At eight-forty-five on a recent Monday morning , fifteen minutes before Costco ’ s official opening time , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Brooklyn was already about a hundred strong .
Bodies and carts were jammed together inside the store ’ s open vestibule , pressing up against the still-locked doors ; outside , spilling into the parking lot and blocking the flow of traffic , nearly twice as many shoppers fanned out around the vestibule entrances , aiming their carts with the tense energy of bobsledders waiting for the starting gun .
An employee pushing a pallet cart shouted for people to get off the asphalt and instead wrap around the building , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out to a co-worker standing closer to the front of the throng : “ Tell them they ’ ve got to open the doors early !
” The second employee snaked his way through the crowd to the doors .
As he turned sideways to fit between two logjammed carts , he muttered , “ This is a madhouse.
” Inside the store , chaos descended almost instantly .
Just past the entrance , and then again by the escalators to the second floor , hundreds of shrink-wrapped five-packs of Clorox Disinfecting Wipes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ & Bacteria !
” ) were stacked like battlements , the walls slowly eroding as shoppers threw them into their carts .
There was a traffic jam near the medical-grade nitrile gloves—hundreds of boxes remained of the small and medium size , but the store ’ s stock of large gloves ( which are sized to fit most men ’ s hands ) were down to the last dozen .
The antibacterial soap and hand sanitizer were long gone before any of us had set foot in the store that morning , cleaned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the past week , shoppers across the country have been sharing pictures of Costco ’ s denuded shelves on social media , with captions simultaneously horrified and entertained : the store is premised on a fantasy of endless abundance , and there ’ s something intensely satisfying in finding the bottom of the allegedly bottomless pit .
There ’ s an element of fantasy in the panic , as well .
Apocalyptic bug-in plans require emergency stores of water , but staying home for a few weeks isn ’ t quite nuclear holocaust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ filling entire carts with cases upon cases of Poland Spring ?
( Curiously , those bottles seemed to be moving more swiftly than Costco ’ s less expensive , in-house Kirkland brand of water—a Giffen-good irrationality also present in the toilet-paper department , where a fortress of name-brand Scott rolls was dismantled by shoppers in the space of forty minutes while a far more imposing fortress of Kirkland Signature Bath Tissue barely had a dent . )
In San Francisco , the puckish technology artist Danielle Baskin poked some fun at the panic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sold-out items at her local Costco with pixel-perfect parodies that skewer our inclination toward magical thinking : “ DOWSING ROD , 13 '' INCH COPPER , SELL PRICE 12.99 ” ; “ SUMMONING ORB 2PK , SELL PRICE 24.99 ” ; “ DUE TO INCREASED DEMAND HEALTH POTIONS LIMITED TO 5 VIALS PER MEMBER.
” There ’ s an undeniable logic to bulk shopping in times of bulk need ( or , at the very least , times of bulk panic-induced compulsion ) , but not everyone has a Costco membership .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appointment brought me to the Upper West Side , where I stopped by the Fairway on Seventy-fourth and Broadway .
The store was day-before-Thanksgiving crowded : the first thing I saw when I stepped through the door was the tail end of a checkout line , one of three wending through the narrow aisles .
The verdant jungle of the produce section was at stark odds with the dry goods and grocery shelves , which had been ravaged .
All the beans , dried and canned , were completely gone ; the dried @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what remained was in violent disarray .
There was a closed-off squareness to people ’ s posture , a bulldozeriness to their gait—a clear transmission that no , sorry , we ’ re not actually all in this together , so you ’ d better back away slowly from the granola bars .
( The mood probably wasn ’ t helped by the marquee for the Beacon Theatre , directly across the street from Fairway , promoting that night ’ s unfortunately timed rock show by flashing the words “ Widespread Panic ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more and more COVID-19 cases are being confirmed in the United States ( and as it becomes clear that the federal government ’ s ability to properly inform and protect the population is , at best , deeply flawed ) , health experts and epidemiologists are emphasizing that individual risk is quite low , as long as basic precautions are taken , and that those of us who are in general good health should refrain from hoarding masks and other resources that are more vital to those urgently in need of care .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ unfortunately , man is not a terribly rational creature .
Fear is contagious : when we see people go out of their way to protect themselves from disaster , no matter how unlikely , we don ’ t want to be the only ones left undefended .
The ultra-rich are ditching first class in order to fly private , where at least the germs are more rarefied ; the D.I.Y.-minded are mixing rubbing alcohol with aloe gel to approximate the effects of hand sanitizer .
In recent days , I ’ ve heard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making their own frantic grocery trips , walking in the door of Wegman ’ s or C-Town knowing intellectually that this kind of bunker mentality is unwarranted , it ’ s silly , it ’ s probably counterproductive—but coming home nevertheless with stacks of SpaghettiOs and canned green beans , or filling their freezers with Lean Cuisines .
“ I jokingly call it calamity capitalism , ” David Sanders , the owner of Doomsday Prep , a company that sells survival supplies and gear , told Slate , about this deeply human drive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and buying .
There is , of course , a German word for it : Hamsterkäufe , meaning to shop like a nervous , bulging-cheeked hamster .
The shopping baskets overflowing with random groceries may be even less logical in a city like New York .
Quarantine regulations in other global cities , even at their most stringent , have allowed the continuation of basic delivery services , particularly for groceries and drugstores .
Here , in a city with a robust delivery infrastructure , the ability to order in staples is unlikely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ face of a quarantine .
Still , while browsing FreshDirect recently , I was amazed by how quickly , after adding things to my cart , I would receive politely apologetic notifications that they were now sold out .
Canned peaches ?
No luck .
Tear-open packs of spiced dal ?
Should ’ ve clicked faster .
Do I need three giant jars of kimchi , fifteen boxes of fancy pasta , a huge sack of paella rice , and enough dried chickpeas and favas to open a falafel joint ?
No , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ myself that , in more human-scale quantities , they ’ re the groceries I ’ d buy anyway , and I lie to myself that it helps .

Costco diehards know that weekends are for amateurs. The true connoisseur of bulk condiments and discount televisions and multi-pack leggings avoids the choke of the Saturday-and-Sunday crowd, commandeering her oversized shopping cart only on weekdays, and especially on weekday mornings: the store opens its doors at nine, and it generally takes an hour of customer inflow for the winding aisles to reach a critical mass of mayhem. Being one of the first people inside Costco can be an oddly peaceful experience: the quiet hum of the refrigerator cases, the sweeping linoleum canyons with walls of neatly stacked inventory.
Panic, perhaps unsurprisingly, throws this rhythm into disarray. Fear of COVID-19, the flu-like illness that has made its way from China to other cities around the world, including a growing number in the U.S., has sent many New Yorkers into crisis mode. (The city, as of Thursday, has two reported cases.) Health authorities, including the C.D.C., have advised to prepare for a period of social distancing; based on transmission-prevention efforts in China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran, it seems possible that Americans in some cities will eventually face full-on quarantine. This involves certain elements of what emergency managers call “shelter in place,” and doomsday preppers refer to as “bugging in”: enough supplies for a household to remain isolated for at minimum a few days, and ideally a few weeks. Where better to get your fix of canned beans than a store where the cans are gallon-size?
At eight-forty-five on a recent Monday morning, fifteen minutes before Costco’s official opening time, the crowd waiting to get inside the warehouse in Brooklyn was already about a hundred strong. Bodies and carts were jammed together inside the store’s open vestibule, pressing up against the still-locked doors; outside, spilling into the parking lot and blocking the flow of traffic, nearly twice as many shoppers fanned out around the vestibule entrances, aiming their carts with the tense energy of bobsledders waiting for the starting gun. An employee pushing a pallet cart shouted for people to get off the asphalt and instead wrap around the building, which everyone ignored, so instead he called out to a co-worker standing closer to the front of the throng: “Tell them they’ve got to open the doors early!” The second employee snaked his way through the crowd to the doors. As he turned sideways to fit between two logjammed carts, he muttered, “This is a madhouse.”
Inside the store, chaos descended almost instantly. Just past the entrance, and then again by the escalators to the second floor, hundreds of shrink-wrapped five-packs of Clorox Disinfecting Wipes (“Kills 99.9% of Viruses & Bacteria!”) were stacked like battlements, the walls slowly eroding as shoppers threw them into their carts. There was a traffic jam near the medical-grade nitrile gloves—hundreds of boxes remained of the small and medium size, but the store’s stock of large gloves (which are sized to fit most men’s hands) were down to the last dozen. The antibacterial soap and hand sanitizer were long gone before any of us had set foot in the store that morning, cleaned out by the weekend hordes.
In the past week, shoppers across the country have been sharing pictures of Costco’s denuded shelves on social media, with captions simultaneously horrified and entertained: the store is premised on a fantasy of endless abundance, and there’s something intensely satisfying in finding the bottom of the allegedly bottomless pit. There’s an element of fantasy in the panic, as well. Apocalyptic bug-in plans require emergency stores of water, but staying home for a few weeks isn’t quite nuclear holocaust: why, then, were shoppers filling entire carts with cases upon cases of Poland Spring? (Curiously, those bottles seemed to be moving more swiftly than Costco’s less expensive, in-house Kirkland brand of water—a Giffen-good irrationality also present in the toilet-paper department, where a fortress of name-brand Scott rolls was dismantled by shoppers in the space of forty minutes while a far more imposing fortress of Kirkland Signature Bath Tissue barely had a dent.) In San Francisco, the puckish technology artist Danielle Baskin poked some fun at the panic shoppers, swapping the price signs for sold-out items at her local Costco with pixel-perfect parodies that skewer our inclination toward magical thinking: “DOWSING ROD, 13" INCH COPPER, SELL PRICE 12.99”; “SUMMONING ORB 2PK, SELL PRICE 24.99”; “DUE TO INCREASED DEMAND HEALTH POTIONS LIMITED TO 5 VIALS PER MEMBER.”
There’s an undeniable logic to bulk shopping in times of bulk need (or, at the very least, times of bulk panic-induced compulsion), but not everyone has a Costco membership. The same day I visited Costco, an appointment brought me to the Upper West Side, where I stopped by the Fairway on Seventy-fourth and Broadway. The store was day-before-Thanksgiving crowded: the first thing I saw when I stepped through the door was the tail end of a checkout line, one of three wending through the narrow aisles. The verdant jungle of the produce section was at stark odds with the dry goods and grocery shelves, which had been ravaged. All the beans, dried and canned, were completely gone; the dried pastas were well picked over, and what remained was in violent disarray. There was a closed-off squareness to people’s posture, a bulldozeriness to their gait—a clear transmission that no, sorry, we’re not actually all in this together, so you’d better back away slowly from the granola bars. (The mood probably wasn’t helped by the marquee for the Beacon Theatre, directly across the street from Fairway, promoting that night’s unfortunately timed rock show by flashing the words “Widespread Panic” in huge red letters.)
As more and more COVID-19 cases are being confirmed in the United States (and as it becomes clear that the federal government’s ability to properly inform and protect the population is, at best, deeply flawed), health experts and epidemiologists are emphasizing that individual risk is quite low, as long as basic precautions are taken, and that those of us who are in general good health should refrain from hoarding masks and other resources that are more vital to those urgently in need of care. This is rational, well-considered advice; unfortunately, man is not a terribly rational creature. Fear is contagious: when we see people go out of their way to protect themselves from disaster, no matter how unlikely, we don’t want to be the only ones left undefended. The ultra-rich are ditching first class in order to fly private, where at least the germs are more rarefied; the D.I.Y.-minded are mixing rubbing alcohol with aloe gel to approximate the effects of hand sanitizer. In recent days, I’ve heard stories of friends and friends of friends making their own frantic grocery trips, walking in the door of Wegman’s or C-Town knowing intellectually that this kind of bunker mentality is unwarranted, it’s silly, it’s probably counterproductive—but coming home nevertheless with stacks of SpaghettiOs and canned green beans, or filling their freezers with Lean Cuisines. “I jokingly call it calamity capitalism,” David Sanders, the owner of Doomsday Prep, a company that sells survival supplies and gear, told Slate, about this deeply human drive to soothe uncertainty by buying and buying and buying. There is, of course, a German word for it: Hamsterkäufe, meaning to shop like a nervous, bulging-cheeked hamster.