newrepublic--2020-07-01--The True Story of the Freed Slave Kneeling at Lincoln’s Feet

There was much more to Alexander ’ s life besides his relationship with Eliot .
He was married to a woman enslaved west of St. Louis , with whom he had 10 children .
Though we don ’ t know much about his personal life , the experiences of other African Americans allow us to piece together the myriad loyalties and affiliations available to Alexander .
It is likely he had ties to local Black communities that were emerging in the 1840s , to networks of African American ministers like John Berry Meachum , who opened a school for African @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
When the school grew to over 300 pupils , local authorities moved swiftly to close it down and accused Meachum of stirring up trouble .
Instead , five more schools opened in Black churches around the city .
Missouri then passed a stringent literacy law in 1847 that forbade any school teaching of Black students and also banned the holding of Black church services without the presence of a white constable or police officer .
In response , Meachum created a new school on a barge in the Mississippi River , beyond @ @ @ @ @ @ @ daily commuted by skiff out to the Freedom School .
African Americans , like other migrants to the American West , built worlds for themselves when and where they could .
The silence of the fugitive slave , the stillness and nakedness of the figure of Archer Alexander on the Emancipation Memorial , may well reflect the fragments of African American life that whites were able to see , but they should not be mistaken for empty space or lack of a voice .
Eliot represented Alexander ’ s opportunity for protection from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a way to preserve his growing commitments to racial justice and religious liberalism .
They promised one another expansive visions of society that could only be glimpsed—and maybe still are only seen—as partial and unfinished .
When Eliot visited the sculptor Thomas Ball , in his Italian studio in 1869 , he spied a statue created after Lincoln ’ s death featuring the president and an “ ideal figure of a slave wearing a liberty cap.
” He inquired whether Ball might be interested in creating something similar for the Freedmen ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ changes .
First , rather than “ receiving the gift of freedom passively , ” Eliot requested that the slave be “ helping to break the chain that had bound him.
” Second , he forwarded a photograph of Archer Alexander : Rather than an ideal slave , he wanted the visage of his longtime employee .
Eliot nursed Alexander in his last days , paying for his expenses and ensuring proper medical care .
After Alexander ’ s death , Eliot presided at his funeral at the African Methodist Church and paid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Eliot was a white elite man of his times .
His memoir of Alexander is deeply racist , the language he uses painfully patronizing .
Both he and Alexander navigated the murky waters toward a future they could not see or even fully imagine .
But is our situation any less cloudy ?
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and a neighborhood association of young African Americans want the Emancipation Memorial removed ; some of Archer Alexander ’ s descendants think it is important to leave it in place , while others ( including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who was a distant descendent of Alexander ) find it offensive .
Prominent politicians have also weighed in , in far more predictable ways .
But it is the deep ambivalence among African Americans and the pain revealed therein that exposes the unfinished business of our racial politics .
Here were no impartial judges , no unprejudiced witnesses , to observe or record the facts .
Right-minded men could hardly tell where the lines of right and wrong crossed each other .
Living in St. Louis the whole time and long before , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the strife on either side , I thought I saw both sides as they really were , but , in truth , I saw neither .
The complications of action and motive , both right and wrong , were past finding out .
One thing , however , is sure : that the right prevailed at last .
Alexander ’ s response remains troubling .
When Eliot showed him a photograph of the monument after its installation and told him that he would be forever remembered alongside Abraham Lincoln , the elderly man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s recounting continues : “ He presently sobered down and exclaimed , ‘ Now I ’ se a white man !
Now I ’ se free !
I thank the good Lord that he has ’ livered me from all my troubles , and I ’ se lived to see this.
’ ” The minister took this response as sincere joy and gratitude .
But was it mockery ?
Bitterness ?
Or some other emotion that Alexander could not express within the vexed bounds of his relationship to his white benefactor ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in place , our history in all its complexity needs to remain in plain sight .
We can not lock it behind walls or barricade it with cement .
We need to move through that place of pain until the statues themselves become irrelevant .

There was much more to Alexander’s life besides his relationship with Eliot. He was married to a woman enslaved west of St. Louis, with whom he had 10 children. Though we don’t know much about his personal life, the experiences of other African Americans allow us to piece together the myriad loyalties and affiliations available to Alexander. It is likely he had ties to local Black communities that were emerging in the 1840s, to networks of African American ministers like John Berry Meachum, who opened a school for African American children at the First Baptist Church. When the school grew to over 300 pupils, local authorities moved swiftly to close it down and accused Meachum of stirring up trouble. Instead, five more schools opened in Black churches around the city. Missouri then passed a stringent literacy law in 1847 that forbade any school teaching of Black students and also banned the holding of Black church services without the presence of a white constable or police officer. In response, Meachum created a new school on a barge in the Mississippi River, beyond the reach of state jurisdiction. Students daily commuted by skiff out to the Freedom School.
African Americans, like other migrants to the American West, built worlds for themselves when and where they could. The silence of the fugitive slave, the stillness and nakedness of the figure of Archer Alexander on the Emancipation Memorial, may well reflect the fragments of African American life that whites were able to see, but they should not be mistaken for empty space or lack of a voice. Eliot represented Alexander’s opportunity for protection from enslavement, but Alexander also offered Eliot a way to preserve his growing commitments to racial justice and religious liberalism. They promised one another expansive visions of society that could only be glimpsed—and maybe still are only seen—as partial and unfinished.
When Eliot visited the sculptor Thomas Ball, in his Italian studio in 1869, he spied a statue created after Lincoln’s death featuring the president and an “ideal figure of a slave wearing a liberty cap.” He inquired whether Ball might be interested in creating something similar for the Freedmen’s Memorial Society, but he requested two changes. First, rather than “receiving the gift of freedom passively,” Eliot requested that the slave be “helping to break the chain that had bound him.” Second, he forwarded a photograph of Archer Alexander: Rather than an ideal slave, he wanted the visage of his longtime employee.


newrepublic--2020-07-01--Defund the Sheriffs, Too

Defund the Sheriffs, Too

Many other sheriff ’ s departments merit similar scrutiny but are rarely subject to it .
Jessica Pishko , a senior counsel at the Justice Collaborative , cautions that any large county , such as Los Angeles , will have a very different sheriff ’ s department than a suburb or rural town .
But one structural issue that extends across most sheriff ’ s departments is that deputies have the power to conduct law enforcement on the street and run the jails , a level of authority that invites abuse .
Perhaps as a result , in many rural @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the past decade .
“ You shouldn ’ t have the person in charge of street patrols , SWAT teams , and search warrants be the same person who controls who is brought to jails and under what conditions they ’ re treated when they get there , ” Pishko told me .
In 41 California counties , the sheriff can also perform the duties of the coroner .
The differences between sheriff ’ s departments help to insulate them from reform .
“ Sheriff ’ s department funding structures , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ county to county , ” says University of Oklahoma assistant professor Lindsey Meeks , who recently released a first-of-its-kind academic study on local media coverage of sheriff ’ s departments .
“ The fact that they ’ re not uniform across the board definitely makes them harder to organize around than police departments—and it makes it harder for citizens to intervene in sheriff ’ s department processes.
” There is also relatively little existing scholarship on sheriff ’ s departments for researchers to draw from .
“ There is a very small group @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Meeks says .
“ In our culture , there ’ s a strong emphasis on police and policing .
When we talk about law enforcement , we tend to group sheriffs under the ‘ police umbrella ’ without recognizing they ’ re distinct entities.
” County sheriffs are typically elected to office , unlike appointed city police chiefs .
( Sheriffs are appointed in Rhode Island , Hawaii , and a few scattershot counties , like Denver and Miami-Dade . )
But Meeks found that local news coverage of sheriff candidates and departments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ occurring in presidential election years receive even less comprehensive coverage than in off-years .
Heading into November , many Americans don ’ t know much about their local sheriff ’ s responsibilities and how their department is organized—and they ’ re unlikely to happen upon that information in their local news coverage .
Unless , that is , the sheriff ’ s abuses of power are so flagrant that they ’ re impossible to ignore .
Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio outfitted the hundreds of prisoners he oversaw in all pink as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” jail in sweltering weather .
( “ Even if it was a concentration camp , what difference does it make ?
I still survived .
I still kept getting re-elected , ” Arpaio told The Guardian . )
While Arpaio may be America ’ s most infamous sheriff , he ’ s far from the only one who takes such a callous approach .
In Denver , a deputy was filmed punching a man in a wheelchair , for which he had already been cleared of wrongdoing : A city employee was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Safety ’ s handling of the investigation that she recently risked her job to raise the case to the media—and was subsequently put on leave .
In Washington ’ s Snohomish County , Sheriff Adam Fortney celebrated his election this year by quickly reinstating three deputies who had been removed for excessive use of force .
In Alabama ’ s Etowah County , one sheriff took advantage of an old law that enabled him to make extra money by feeding prisoners less—and bought a beach house with it .
“ [ Alabama ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ account and that ’ s the way I ’ ve always done it and that ’ s the way the law reads and that ’ s the way I do business , ” he told The Birmingham News in 2018 .
While county governments tend to approve their sheriff ’ s departments ’ annual budgets , which can easily surpass $ 1 billion in big cities , they have no concrete management authority over the sheriff or deputies .
That means there are more than 350,000 sworn and civilian officers across the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state law , barely supervised .
“ You want my badge number ?
” one LASD deputy allegedly told an onlooker on June 2 , as deputies arrested more than 120 peaceful demonstrators .
“ It ’ s one two three four five.
” Had the taunter been a police officer , the onlooker could have reported him to the police commission , which has regulatory power over the Los Angeles Police Department .
( Whether the police commission exercises that power is another question , but the power is granted . )
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that demonstrator ’ s best options may have been to report the officer to the Board of Supervisors or the sheriff civilian oversight commission .
L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has frequently defied the former , and refused to testify in front of the latter ( even when presented with a subpoena ) .

County sheriffs are typically elected to office, unlike appointed city police chiefs. (Sheriffs are appointed in Rhode Island, Hawaii, and a few scattershot counties, like Denver and Miami-Dade.) But Meeks found that local news coverage of sheriff candidates and departments is generally paltry, and sheriff elections occurring in presidential election years receive even less comprehensive coverage than in off-years. Heading into November, many Americans don’t know much about their local sheriff’s responsibilities and how their department is organized—and they’re unlikely to happen upon that information in their local news coverage.
Unless, that is, the sheriff’s abuses of power are so flagrant that they’re impossible to ignore. Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio outfitted the hundreds of prisoners he oversaw in all pink as they toiled at his “Tent City” jail in sweltering weather. (“Even if it was a concentration camp, what difference does it make? I still survived. I still kept getting re-elected,” Arpaio told The Guardian.)
While Arpaio may be America’s most infamous sheriff, he’s far from the only one who takes such a callous approach. In Denver, a deputy was filmed punching a man in a wheelchair, for which he had already been cleared of wrongdoing: A city employee was so frustrated by the Department of Public Safety’s handling of the investigation that she recently risked her job to raise the case to the media—and was subsequently put on leave. In Washington’s Snohomish County, Sheriff Adam Fortney celebrated his election this year by quickly reinstating three deputies who had been removed for excessive use of force. In Alabama’s Etowah County, one sheriff took advantage of an old law that enabled him to make extra money by feeding prisoners less—and bought a beach house with it. “[Alabama] law says it’s a personal account and that’s the way I’ve always done it and that’s the way the law reads and that’s the way I do business,” he told The Birmingham News in 2018.


newrepublic--2020-07-01--The Democrats’ New Climate Plan Is Weirdly Isolationist

The committee ’ s plan takes a blinkered view of what a holistic U.S. response to the crisis could look like .
“ In poor and fragile nations , these climate-driven shocks can also drive political instability and refugee movements .
U.S. foreign policy and aid can help to address the global humanitarian threats of climate change before they become national security threats , ” the committee states forebodingly .
Without listing any specific figures , it further recommends that Congress “ contribute the funds necessary to meet our financial commitment to the Green Climate Fund , ” the grant-making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change to furnish resources for mitigation and adaptation , and integrate climate into the work of the U.S. Agency for International Development .
In reality , there ’ s much more the U.S. can do to help finance the path to a low-carbon future , as well as many places where its obstructionism is actively hampering the world ’ s efforts to get there .
As global south countries face massive capital flight , mounting death tolls from Covid-19 , and deep depressions , U.S. Treasury @ @ @ @ @ @ @ International Monetary Fund extension of Special Drawing Rights , a currency pegged to five different global currencies that—if issued—could lend much-needed relief to struggling low- and middle-income countries .
Agreeing to make those funds available wouldn ’ t be purely altruistic , either : Resource-rich , monetarily poor countries under duress will be more likely to dig up and burn fossil fuels as a means of quick cash—bad news for everyone on this planet .
These countries lack the funds to prepare adequately for climate damages , much less leapfrog over the fossil-fueled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wealth and transition to renewables .
The United Nations Commission on Trade and Development has done detailed work fleshing out what democratic multilateralism , rising to the challenges of a hotter and wetter twenty-first century , could look like .
Democrats interested in a thoroughly global energy transition—indeed , the only kind capable of staving off catastrophe—might do well to consider it .
Among the best things the U.S. can do for the climate is to decarbonize itself as quickly as possible .
The committee ’ s plan falls short on that front @ @ @ @ @ @ @ given for the U.S. to stop expanding its fossil fuel system .
Instead , it offers periodic paeans to experimental carbon-capturing technologies that have yet to prove they can suck meaningful amounts of carbon out of fossil fuel production and could artificially extend the life of coal , oil , and gas .
Despite plenty of evidence indicating the U.S. could decarbonize faster with already existing technology , the plan sets a leisurely goal of making all cars zero-emission by 2035 , the power sector net-zero-emission by 2040 , and most everything else @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far cry from the benevolent global climate leadership the committee claims to be championing .
The enormous wealth the U.S. has built enables it to transition rapidly off fossil fuels if so desired .
As global south countries have long pointed out , far-off goals like the committee ’ s net-zero-by-2050 target leave poorer countries to shoulder a decarbonization burden that wealthier countries are much better positioned to carry .
The plan also lets polluters off easy .
Instead of placing any limits on fossil fuel exports , it instructs the Federal Energy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of greenlighting new infrastructure .
Rather than collaborating with countries like China—which has spent years developing specialized industrial processes for clean technologies—the plan refashions Trump ’ s idea of energy dominance for a greener but still harshly unequal world : The U.S. , hoarding intellectual property according to this vision , will dominate clean energy export markets for everything from renewables to so-called clean coal .
Notably , this vision also fails to reckon in any way with current economic realities .
The kinds of midcentury-style industrial production imagined in the plan are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world ’ s most cutting-edge clean tech factories , for instance , employ relatively few people on their shop floors , which are dominated by automated processes .
Decarbonizing without throwing millions into unstable living conditions will require transitioning workers now in emissions-heavy sectors to greener work , not holding out false hope for a manufacturing economy that ’ s long gone .
There are plenty of well-paid and unionized jobs to be had in an energy transition—in insulation , maintenance , and building a smart grid , for instance—but also lots of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ low-carbon , much of it today done by mostly underpaid women in professions like teaching and nursing .
These green jobs—in effect , expanding sectors that already exist—may not satisfy outdated wartime fantasies of what a full-scale economic mobilization will look like .
But maximizing decarbonization , minimizing disruption , and building a more broadly sustainable society will require such adjustments .
It will also mean collaborating with international partners rather than jockeying to outcompete them .
For example , even the modest industrial policy the committee ’ s plan advocates ( i.e.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ policies ) would benefit from multilateral cooperation to reimagine what international institutions are for .
Without that , such a plan could easily run afoul of an international trade regime designed to keep capital as mobile as possible , whatever the costs to the planet .
As with the IMF or World Bank , the U.S. could feasibly leverage its enormous power in bodies like the World Trade Organization to rewrite these old rules so as to align with the planet ’ s needs .
But the committee offers scant discussion of how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now rigged against decarbonization .
As green groups have noted in the last few days , the House committee ’ s hefty climate plan is a step in the right direction .
For now , though , Democrats are still holding fast to George H.W .
Bush ’ s bipartisan wisdom , dispensed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 : “ The American way of life is not up for negotiation .
”

The committee’s plan takes a blinkered view of what a holistic U.S. response to the crisis could look like. “In poor and fragile nations, these climate-driven shocks can also drive political instability and refugee movements. U.S. foreign policy and aid can help to address the global humanitarian threats of climate change before they become national security threats,” the committee states forebodingly. Without listing any specific figures, it further recommends that Congress “contribute the funds necessary to meet our financial commitment to the Green Climate Fund,” the grant-making body set up as a part of the United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change to furnish resources for mitigation and adaptation, and integrate climate into the work of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In reality, there’s much more the U.S. can do to help finance the path to a low-carbon future, as well as many places where its obstructionism is actively hampering the world’s efforts to get there. As global south countries face massive capital flight, mounting death tolls from Covid-19, and deep depressions, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has continually blocked the International Monetary Fund extension of Special Drawing Rights, a currency pegged to five different global currencies that—if issued—could lend much-needed relief to struggling low- and middle-income countries. Agreeing to make those funds available wouldn’t be purely altruistic, either: Resource-rich, monetarily poor countries under duress will be more likely to dig up and burn fossil fuels as a means of quick cash—bad news for everyone on this planet. These countries lack the funds to prepare adequately for climate damages, much less leapfrog over the fossil-fueled development that helped build Northern countries’ wealth and transition to renewables. The United Nations Commission on Trade and Development has done detailed work fleshing out what democratic multilateralism, rising to the challenges of a hotter and wetter twenty-first century, could look like. Democrats interested in a thoroughly global energy transition—indeed, the only kind capable of staving off catastrophe—might do well to consider it.
Among the best things the U.S. can do for the climate is to decarbonize itself as quickly as possible. The committee’s plan falls short on that front, too. No firm date is given for the U.S. to stop expanding its fossil fuel system. Instead, it offers periodic paeans to experimental carbon-capturing technologies that have yet to prove they can suck meaningful amounts of carbon out of fossil fuel production and could artificially extend the life of coal, oil, and gas. Despite plenty of evidence indicating the U.S. could decarbonize faster with already existing technology, the plan sets a leisurely goal of making all cars zero-emission by 2035, the power sector net-zero-emission by 2040, and most everything else slower than that.


newrepublic--2020-06-30--Big Pharma’s Got a Brand New Coronavirus Grift

Even if you are of the opinion that drug companies are unduly burdened with the cost of research , there is a very simple solution : Nationalize them .
Critics of Gilead ’ s pricing plan were quick to point out that the clinical trial that brought remdesivir to market was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases .
In May , Texas congressman and drug pricing advocate Lloyd Doggett sent a letter to Secretary Alex Azar asking how much the government spent on the trial ; last week , the Department of Health and Human Services @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 remdesivir trial has cost $ 23 million as of April 30 and that NIH grants have provided tens of millions in funding to previous studies relating to remdesivir .
This happens with many , if not most , drugs .
Even though private companies do sponsor their own expensive trials , much of the research that leads to the development of new drugs is government-funded .
One study found that funding from the NIH contributed to the development of all 210 drugs released between 2006 and 2010 .
If it costs up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drug , who is better placed to spend that sort of money than the government ?
Almost no one will pay the full list price for remdesivir , as with other drugs .
If you have health insurance , you may not even notice the full price that you would pay without insurance when you pick your medication up at the pharmacy .
But someone , at some point , is paying that difference ; the list price is still a price .
Your insurance company might not pay that full cost , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ managers , who negotiate discounts or rebates with drug companies in secret and who keep some largely unknown portion of that rebate .
Drug companies claim these rebates are raising list prices , because every actor in the health care system is constantly pointing at other players and saying , it ’ s their fault for these high costs .
Either way , the high prices your insurance company has to pay for your drugs can simply be passed on to you through premiums , which have risen to extraordinary heights—unless you ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at all , in which case the cruel joke of the high list price lands on your head .
The average premium for a family employer-sponsored plan is now more than $ 20,000 a year .
Part of the outrage at Gilead was directed at its decision to charge two prices for the drug .
As The Wall Street Journal reported , the cost for privately insured patients for a 10-day treatment course will be $ 980 higher than for patients with government insurance .
Patients who owe co-insurance or a deductible and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may be expected to pay a big chunk of this .
This is outrageous , but it ’ s also routine .
Hospitals always charge privately insured or uninsured patients far more than they charge Medicare , which sets the prices it will pay .
A RAND study found hospitals charge private patients 241 percent of what they charge the government ; some hospitals in the study charged as much as 400 percent of Medicare prices .
Just as with drug companies ’ bleating that they simply must charge more to make up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , hospitals protest that they must charge privately insured patients more to make up for their losses on caring for government-insured patients .
For patients without government insurance , prices are not just massively inflated .
They are also mostly inscrutable , and vary from patient to patient , even within the same hospital .
Covid-19 treatments are no exception .
A New York Times story from this week documented the different prices paid by Texans who received tests for Covid-19 at the Austin Emergency Center .
Two friends who got the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wildly different bills : The one who paid cash was billed $ 199 , and the one who paid with insurance was billed $ 6,408 .
The insurance company negotiated the hospital down to $ 1,128 , of which the patient owed $ 928 .
( After media coverage of her bill , it was dropped entirely . )
Remember , insurance companies are supposed to be able to negotiate better prices with hospitals ; instead , they ’ re so good at negotiating that they end up paying five times what a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pay .
Apparently their lead negotiator is Lucille Bluth .
Once again , the answer is simple .
If hospitals have to perform such complicated bullshit-billing to balance their books—or to make huge profits and pay their executives handsomely , and really , what ’ s the difference—then we can make it much easier for them by doing away with the entire payment model and funding hospitals based on how much care they perform instead .
And if insurance companies are so bad at regulating and reducing hospital prices , we ought to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ single-payer .
Insurance companies have not proven themselves to be good partners in fighting the pandemic , not that this was ever a remote possibility .
Reporter Andrew Perez recently noted that the Trump administration has allowed insurers to refuse to cover the cost of Covid-19 testing for employment purposes—that is , tests that employees may need to take to return to work—and must only cover “ medically necessary ” testing .
( It is hard to imagine who would stick a swab that far up their nose for nonmedical , non-necessary reasons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the Washington state insurance commission was obtained by Perez , said her insurance plan had declined to cover the cost of the test she was required to get in order to return to her job .
That patient was herself a medical provider , an optometrist .
We are making doctors pay for their own coronavirus tests before they can return to work .
A press release from America ’ s Health Insurance Plans , the insurance industry ’ s lobby group in Washington , detailed a study it commissioned on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , presumably to make us all feel so grateful for its sacrifice in paying for these tests .
The release noted , with an apparently straight face , “ Every American should be able to get the COVID-19 tests they need , ” and claimed , “ Health insurance providers stand ready to work with employers , public health leaders and policymakers to develop and execute robust strategies to protect Americans and reduce the risks of spreading of the virus.
” Strategies that , apparently , include declining to cover the cost of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Potter have revealed , this sort of behavior is not just unsurprising , it is seen internally as necessary : They must do whatever it takes to impress their Wall Street shareholders .
We can not and should not expect insurance companies to be generous in their coverage of coronavirus testing or treatment .

Even if you are of the opinion that drug companies are unduly burdened with the cost of research, there is a very simple solution: Nationalize them.
Even if you are of the opinion that drug companies are unduly burdened with the cost of research, there is a very simple solution: Nationalize them. Critics of Gilead’s pricing plan were quick to point out that the clinical trial that brought remdesivir to market was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In May, Texas congressman and drug pricing advocate Lloyd Doggett sent a letter to Secretary Alex Azar asking how much the government spent on the trial; last week, the Department of Health and Human Services responded, providing figures showing that the 2020 remdesivir trial has cost $23 million as of April 30 and that NIH grants have provided tens of millions in funding to previous studies relating to remdesivir.
This happens with many, if not most, drugs. Even though private companies do sponsor their own expensive trials, much of the research that leads to the development of new drugs is government-funded. One study found that funding from the NIH contributed to the development of all 210 drugs released between 2006 and 2010. If it costs up to $2.6 billion to develop a drug, who is better placed to spend that sort of money than the government?
Almost no one will pay the full list price for remdesivir, as with other drugs. If you have health insurance, you may not even notice the full price that you would pay without insurance when you pick your medication up at the pharmacy. But someone, at some point, is paying that difference; the list price is still a price. Your insurance company might not pay that full cost, either: It contracts with pharmacy benefit managers, who negotiate discounts or rebates with drug companies in secret and who keep some largely unknown portion of that rebate. Drug companies claim these rebates are raising list prices, because every actor in the health care system is constantly pointing at other players and saying, it’s their fault for these high costs. Either way, the high prices your insurance company has to pay for your drugs can simply be passed on to you through premiums, which have risen to extraordinary heights—unless you’re unlucky enough not to have insurance at all, in which case the cruel joke of the high list price lands on your head. The average premium for a family employer-sponsored plan is now more than $20,000 a year.


Uighur Lives Matter

There is a “ climate of terror around having children ” among China ’ s oppressed Uighur Muslim minority , according to a horrifying Associated Press report published on Monday .
Over the last four years , the Chinese government has spent hundreds of millions to suppress the birth rate of Uighurs and other Muslims .
Men have been imprisoned for having too many children ; women have been forced to use birth control and have abortions .
In some cases , women have been sterilized .
The birth rate in Uighur regions fell 60 percent from 2015 to 2018 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ full stop .
It ’ s not immediate , shocking , mass-killing on the spot type genocide , but it ’ s slow , painful , creeping genocide , ” Newcastle University ’ s Joanne Smith Finley told the AP .
“ These are direct means of genetically reducing the Uighur population.
” The awful specifics of China ’ s oppression of Uighurs were new , but the world has long known about the mistreatment of the group .
Since 2017 , China has essentially banned their religious practices and held at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where they have been brutally tortured , according to Human Rights Watch .
As information about the camps has trickled out , international condemnation has followed .
Last fall , 23 countries , including the United Kingdom , Canada , France , Germany , and Japan , released a statement calling on China to close the camps .
( The Chinese government at first denied their existence but now claims that they are “ vocational training centers ” aimed at combating extremism . )
Earlier this month , Congress passed the Uighur Human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can be used to sanction Chinese officials .
But China has thus far brushed off all criticism and has continued to expand the camps , which may hold as many as three million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities .
There may be other ways to pressure China , however .
The last month has shown the ability of mass protest movements to push corporations into making long-overdue changes .
Companies have donated billions to Black Lives Matter groups and pledged to make their workplaces more diverse .
Dozens of companies , including Verizon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Facebook , in what the media advocacy organization Sleeping Giants described as “ a broader reckoning around the platform ’ s lack of moderation of hate and disinformation.
” The same tactics being used to push companies on domestic issues could easily be used to pressure them on the international stage .
The most disturbing ongoing human rights violation of our time would be the perfect place to start .
Writing in Slate in 2018 , Isaac Stone Fish noted that “ most U.S. companies have unsurprisingly given Xinjiang , ” where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ a wide berth.
” The NBA was , at that point , an exception : It had built one of its three Chinese training facilities in Xinjiang .
( The league ’ s relationship with China would blow up a year later over pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong . )
The calculus was fairly obvious .
“ Doing business in an authoritarian country like China inevitably presents ethical and political dilemmas , as several tech giants and airlines have recently learned , ” Stone Fish wrote .
“ But doing business @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that some human rights groups have described as genocide is another thing entirely.
” And yet foreign corporations , including several major American ones , appear to have had deeper culpability in China ’ s horrific treatment of Uighurs than was known two years ago .
Earlier this year , the Australian Strategic Policy Institute reported that tens of thousands of Uighurs were toiling in factories supplying dozens of multinational corporations .
“ Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labor , Uighurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the technology , clothing and automotive sectors , including Apple , BMW , Gap , Huawei , Nike , Samsung , Sony and Volkswagen , ” the think tank found .
Uighurs who were forcibly relocated and banned from practicing their religion were , according to the ASPI , making shoes for Nike and cameras for Apple .
In October , U.S. Customs and Border Protection banned the import of products from one Chinese firm that utilized forced labor and blacklisted 28 others involved in the internment and repression of Uighurs .

Nike, it’s worth underlining, released a one-minute video earlier this month imploring its customers to stop pretending “there isn’t a problem in America.” Apple, meanwhile, updated Siri to respond to the phrase “All lives matter” with information about structural racism. Asked about reports that forced labor was being used to make their products, Nike and Apple both pleaded ignorance and insisted they were committed to human rights. But, released in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, reports about American companies using forced labor in China quickly faded from view.
America’s abdication of its role as a defender of human rights under Donald Trump—who, according to John Bolton’s The Room Where It Happened, encouraged Chinese concentration camps in a call with President Xi Jinping—only underscores the need for the public to do whatever it can in support of Uighurs. China has attempted to use the Black Lives Matter movement, mass incarceration, and structural racism to undermine the tepid criticism it has received from American politicians. But Black Lives Matter protesters could easily turn the tables, using the credibility bestowed on their critique of American society by Beijing to criticize its treatment of ethnic minorities.
American foreign policy, even when the country could credibly claim to be a defender of human rights, has rarely cared much for the plight of people of color, the poor, or religious minorities, descriptions that could all be applied to the Uighurs. Shifting that foreign policy under Trump is a nonstarter, even if the president is attempting to turn the 2020 election into a referendum on China. But there is room to push corporations that are aiding and legitimizing China and its ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign. Protesters have already forced many to belatedly recognize that they have done little to combat structural racism in America. A next step is to push them to stop doing business in a country actively committing genocide.


newrepublic--2020-06-30--The Confederates Loved America, and They’re Still Defining What Patriotism Means

Shortly after Appomattox , former Confederates were once again offering odes to the glorious Union they had so recently attempted to destroy .
This wasn ’ t hypocrisy ; it made sense .
While they were proud of the attempt they had made to stand up for their supposed rights , the defeated rebels now recognized that their patriotic forefathers had been right after all : The Union itself offered the best protection for the system of racial subordination and unfree labor they depended on , and which they now sought to re-establish in fact if not in name .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the collapse of Southern independence , a former Confederate senator from Georgia named Benjamin Hill called the Union “ the wisest , noblest , and grandest contribution ever made by the human intellect to the science of government.
” To Hill ’ s mind , both the United States and the Confederacy represented the same thing : a nation founded on white supremacy .
The rebellion that created one had succeeded ; the other had failed .
But so long as the first recommitted itself to the doctrines of racial hierarchy that had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ex-rebels ’ loyalty to it would once again be absolute .
( Seven years after giving that speech , Hill was elected to the U.S .
Congress . )
Wealthy white Southerners like Hill trusted that the four years of death and suffering would convince Americans in the North never again to challenge the fundamental compromises that had been made in order to enact the Constitution in the first place .
And they were right .
After 1877 , when Republicans agreed to withdraw military troops from the South in exchange for allowing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to take office after a disputed election , the effort to reconstruct the Union on more equitable , democratic , enlightened terms was aborted .
The end of Reconstruction signalled a return to the great American political tradition of compromise for the sake of national unity , whatever the cost—especially if that cost was to be paid by people of color .
“ Some of the war ’ s greatest results , the civil and political liberties of African Americans , were slowly becoming sacrificial offerings on the altar of reunion , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As they had before the war , many Northerners once again sympathized with the traditional Southern equation of patriotism with respect for the right of the white citizens of each state to take charge of their own affairs .
The 1877 pact confirmed the Confederates ’ original contention that union was possible on no other terms than those amenable to white supremacy .
Georgia ’ s Robert Toombs , a former Confederate general and cabinet official , pledged his willingness “ to face thirty years of war to get rid of negro suffrage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were willing to face the same to keep it in place .
For almost a century after the rebellion , Northerners eagerly participated in the heavily symbolic dramas of reunification intended to place the sectional conflict firmly in the past .
Confederate monuments were erected , statues of eminent rebels placed in the national capitol , their names affixed to the military bases of the army they fought against .
All this was part of an attempt to reunite the nation and submerge past differences .
Northerners didn ’ t even have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the fold of national identity .
It was easy .
The Confederate ideology blended smoothly with the predominant strain of American patriotism , especially its unquestioning faith in racial despotism and fetishization of national unity .
Confederate nationalism was integrated into the story that generations of American schoolchildren imbibed .
The Civil War was deemed a disturbing and regrettable interruption to an otherwise enviable and heartwarming saga in which the well-being of the nation was and would forever remain predicated on the perpetuation of white supremacy—and , as importantly , vice versa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lives Matter protest in Providence , Rhode Island , quoted the scholar Chenjerai Kumanyika : “ We ’ re trying to become something this country has never been.
” An apt and inspiring message .
But it also suggests the scale of the challenge ahead .
Tearing down the statues and renaming the bases is only the beginning .
There is much more , and more difficult , work to do .
America has never been the kind of nation capable of condemning the Confederacy to lasting infamy .
To call the Confederate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , then , is not entirely wrong .
Mocking those who cherish the banners of both sides in the Civil War only makes sense if the two symbols are in conflict , as they have only rarely ever been .
And if the United States flag is to mean something other than what slaveholders before and ex-Confederates after the Civil War thought it meant , it will be up to us to make it so .

Shortly after Appomattox, former Confederates were once again offering odes to the glorious Union they had so recently attempted to destroy. This wasn’t hypocrisy; it made sense. While they were proud of the attempt they had made to stand up for their supposed rights, the defeated rebels now recognized that their patriotic forefathers had been right after all: The Union itself offered the best protection for the system of racial subordination and unfree labor they depended on, and which they now sought to re-establish in fact if not in name. In 1867, just two years after the collapse of Southern independence, a former Confederate senator from Georgia named Benjamin Hill called the Union “the wisest, noblest, and grandest contribution ever made by the human intellect to the science of government.” To Hill’s mind, both the United States and the Confederacy represented the same thing: a nation founded on white supremacy. The rebellion that created one had succeeded; the other had failed. But so long as the first recommitted itself to the doctrines of racial hierarchy that had defined it until the war, the ex-rebels’ loyalty to it would once again be absolute. (Seven years after giving that speech, Hill was elected to the U.S. Congress.)
Wealthy white Southerners like Hill trusted that the four years of death and suffering would convince Americans in the North never again to challenge the fundamental compromises that had been made in order to enact the Constitution in the first place. And they were right. After 1877, when Republicans agreed to withdraw military troops from the South in exchange for allowing their presidential candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, to take office after a disputed election, the effort to reconstruct the Union on more equitable, democratic, enlightened terms was aborted. The end of Reconstruction signalled a return to the great American political tradition of compromise for the sake of national unity, whatever the cost—especially if that cost was to be paid by people of color. “Some of the war’s greatest results, the civil and political liberties of African Americans, were slowly becoming sacrificial offerings on the altar of reunion,” historian David Blight has observed.
As they had before the war, many Northerners once again sympathized with the traditional Southern equation of patriotism with respect for the right of the white citizens of each state to take charge of their own affairs. The 1877 pact confirmed the Confederates’ original contention that union was possible on no other terms than those amenable to white supremacy. Georgia’s Robert Toombs, a former Confederate general and cabinet official, pledged his willingness “to face thirty years of war to get rid of negro suffrage in the South.” Hardly any Northerners were willing to face the same to keep it in place.


newrepublic--2020-06-30--Democrats Can’t Quit Their Addiction to Big-Money Donors

If there briefly seemed to be some interest among Democrats in unshackling campaigns from corporate contributions and other forms of big money , that sentiment has all but vanished in the lead-up to November ’ s general election .
The Biden campaign has amassed a number of super PAC contributions and donations from the wealthy , including $ 2 million from a recent fundraising Zoom call for big donors where “ the minimum price to get on ” was $ 50,000 , according to The New York Times , or a little less than the median household income in Michigan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ give up to $ 620,600 to the “ Biden Victory Fund , ” a joint venture of the Biden campaign , the Democratic National Party , and state Democratic parties launched last month that is designed so donors can skirt normal donation limits . )
Last week , CNBC reported that while some on Wall Street were “ bracing ” for a Biden win and a possible rollback of Trump tax cuts , other financial elites were more than happy to back the former vice president , provided they could buy some influence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ties to former President Barack Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has recently noticed a surge in calls being returned by uncommitted finance executives to now give to Biden , ” CNBC noted .
“ This person has also pitched donors that if they donate , they may have a better chance at seeing their philanthropic initiatives supported by a Biden administration.
” Even politicians who have built reputations on steadfast opposition to corruption and the influence of the wealthy have seemingly dispensed with those convictions in order to ensure a Biden victory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Warren , who famously blasted Pete Buttigieg ’ s elite “ wine cave ” fundraiser on the campaign trail , hosted a virtual private fundraiser for the former vice president that pulled in $ 6 million from a group of elite donors—his largest single-day haul to date .
A portion of the ruling class is determined to jettison the current president , and most Democrats seem eager to welcome them to the cause .
But that proposition is riskier than it might seem .
In 2014 , the political scientists Martin Gilens and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the outsize degree of influence of the rich on the political system and the ruinous consequences of economic inequality on democracy in the United States .
Their analysis of a series of policy outcomes over 20 years found that the preferences of the rich were far more likely to shape politics than the preferences of the middle-class or poor .
“ Economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy , ” the authors wrote , “ while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little @ @ @ @ @ @ @ further noted in their follow-up book , that imbalance has translated to decades of policies that have slashed taxes for the wealthy , pared back the social safety net , and deregulated Wall Street , even as broad segments of the American public support initiatives like Medicare for All , higher taxes on the rich , and government intervention in climate change .
In any political partnership with the rich , even one undertaken out of expediency , it ’ s the rich who are likely to get their way in the end @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it may be to a second Trump term , isn ’ t likely to change that dynamic so long as the campaign and the candidate remain beholden to business interests and wealthy donors .
Though Biden ’ s official platform currently includes some campaign finance reforms , there ’ s reason for those on the left to distrust his reformist instincts .
As a senator he voted to repeal New Deal banking regulations and later gutted bankruptcy protections for borrowers ( not exactly a shocker given that he represented Delaware , noted home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ His proposals to combat inequality have been lackluster when compared to his more progressive primary opponents ’ : He has pledged to increase the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent , but that ’ s still significantly less than the corporate tax rate of 35 percent that existed prior to Trump ’ s 2017 tax cuts .
The ongoing pandemic has only more painfully evinced the profound lopsidedness of the distribution of money and resources in the U.S. , as well as a stunning absence of any significant government will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political influence of the rich is likely to set the stage for an unequal recovery from the coronavirus and the related recession , no matter who ’ s elected to the White House in November .
Biden may be poised to win ( or so the polls tell us ) , but the Democrats ’ ongoing entanglement with big money ensures the continuation of the types of policies that laid the ground for our current Gilded Age , even if it ’ s a slightly less cruel version than the Republicans ’ .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ wealthy donors last year about his potential presidency , “ No one ’ s standard of living will change , nothing would fundamentally change .
”

A portion of the ruling class is determined to jettison the current president, and most Democrats seem eager to welcome them to the cause. But that proposition is riskier than it might seem. In 2014, the political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page published an explosive report detailing the outsize degree of influence of the rich on the political system and the ruinous consequences of economic inequality on democracy in the United States. Their analysis of a series of policy outcomes over 20 years found that the preferences of the rich were far more likely to shape politics than the preferences of the middle-class or poor.
“Economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy,” the authors wrote, “while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.” As they further noted in their follow-up book, that imbalance has translated to decades of policies that have slashed taxes for the wealthy, pared back the social safety net, and deregulated Wall Street, even as broad segments of the American public support initiatives like Medicare for All, higher taxes on the rich, and government intervention in climate change.
In any political partnership with the rich, even one undertaken out of expediency, it’s the rich who are likely to get their way in the end. A Biden administration, preferable as it may be to a second Trump term, isn’t likely to change that dynamic so long as the campaign and the candidate remain beholden to business interests and wealthy donors. Though Biden’s official platform currently includes some campaign finance reforms, there’s reason for those on the left to distrust his reformist instincts. As a senator he voted to repeal New Deal banking regulations and later gutted bankruptcy protections for borrowers (not exactly a shocker given that he represented Delaware, noted home of the credit card industry). His proposals to combat inequality have been lackluster when compared to his more progressive primary opponents’: He has pledged to increase the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, but that’s still significantly less than the corporate tax rate of 35 percent that existed prior to Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.


newrepublic--2020-06-30--The Fed Is Bailing Out Polluters While Cities Struggle

Ever since bailout talk began this spring , climate campaigners have worried funds would be funneled to Big Oil and other polluting giants .
Now it seems that fear was more than justified .
While economic recovery money is being disbursed through multiple channels , including the Main Street Lending Program and various tax breaks , on Sunday the Federal Reserve released the list of bonds it has purchased so far through its BlackRock-managed Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility , in its attempt to prop up the investment-grade corporate bond market .
The Fed ’ s disclosures show the institution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ corporations to get relief than it is for struggling state and local governments , some of which are facing unemployment rates north of 40 percent .
As fossil fuel companies and utilities that have funded climate denial and continue polluting the planet look to take home billions in various federal bailouts , some 97 percent of the 255 cities , states , and counties nominally eligible for financing from the Fed are likely to be excluded from its relief programs .
As of June 15 , the figures released Sunday showed , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million worth of energy and utility company debt , including millions each from ExxonMobil , Chevron , and Energy Transfer Operating , the energy infrastructure company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline .
Energy companies and investor-owned utilities make up nearly 18 percent of purchases so far .
The Fed ’ s other recently released information—the components of its Broad Market Index , which indicate the corporate bonds the Fed intends to purchase and on what scale—offers a preview of what ’ s to come : big relief to the world ’ s largest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ BP and other fossil fuel interests , including Southern Company , Halliburton , and the controversial energy infrastructure firms Kinder Morgan and Enbridge .
One of the companies whose debt the Fed has already purchased , Diamondback Energy , has long been rated a non-investment-grade or junk bond by Moody ’ s .
But because the other two main bond-rating agencies have each deemed Diamondback investment grade , it qualifies for a bailout .
If the Fed continues on this path , the U.K.-based think tank InfluenceMap has calculated that the Fed could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of high-risk fossil fuel bonds , $ 4 billion of which could prop up companies that would otherwise go out of business .
There may be even more relief to such companies coming soon .
The Fed ’ s primary market facility—in which it will purchase bonds directly from companies , rather than purchasing bonds companies have already put onto the market—began operating on Monday .
Contrast the Fed ’ s generosity to the world ’ s biggest polluters to that furnished by its Municipal Lending Facility , the vehicle designed as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 500 billion worth of aid to local and state governments facing urgent budget shortfalls amid the current recession .
After public pressure for an expansion of the MLF , which initially would have included just 10 cities and 15 counties , the facility is now nominally open to 83 cities and 122 counties nationwide that meet its threshold population criteria of 250,000 and 500,000 residents , respectively .
Many states contain no eligible cities or counties at all .
Notably , these current criteria also exclude all but one of the five @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s highest unemployment rates .

One of the companies whose debt the Fed has already purchased, Diamondback Energy, has long been rated a non-investment-grade or junk bond by Moody’s. But because the other two main bond-rating agencies have each deemed Diamondback investment grade, it qualifies for a bailout. If the Fed continues on this path, the U.K.-based think tank InfluenceMap has calculated that the Fed could be saddled with $19 billion worth of high-risk fossil fuel bonds, $4 billion of which could prop up companies that would otherwise go out of business. There may be even more relief to such companies coming soon. The Fed’s primary market facility—in which it will purchase bonds directly from companies, rather than purchasing bonds companies have already put onto the market—began operating on Monday.
Contrast the Fed’s generosity to the world’s biggest polluters to that furnished by its Municipal Lending Facility, the vehicle designed as a result of the Cares Act to distribute $500 billion worth of aid to local and state governments facing urgent budget shortfalls amid the current recession. After public pressure for an expansion of the MLF, which initially would have included just 10 cities and 15 counties, the facility is now nominally open to 83 cities and 122 counties nationwide that meet its threshold population criteria of 250,000 and 500,000 residents, respectively. Many states contain no eligible cities or counties at all. Notably, these current criteria also exclude all but one of the five cities now saddled with the country’s highest unemployment rates.


newrepublic--2020-06-29--John Roberts Chooses Precedent Over Ideology in Latest Abortion Fight

The case itself involved a challenge to Act 620 , a Louisiana law passed in 2014 that took aim at the state ’ s abortion clinics .
It required doctors who perform abortions to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within a 30-mile radius of the clinic .
Laws like Act 620 are known as TRAP laws , meaning “ targeted regulation of abortion providers , ” because they use the state ’ s powers to pass health-and-safety laws to impose onerous requirements on abortion clinics .
Since outright bans on abortion would be struck down by the courts , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reduce legal access to the procedure through other means .
Under Planned Parenthood v. Casey , courts can strike down state laws that affect abortion providers and clinics if they impose an “ undue burden ” on a person ’ s right to access the procedure .
Louisiana ’ s abortion providers sued the state to block Act 620 from going into effect , arguing that it would effectively make the procedure impossible to lawfully obtain in Louisiana .
In 2017 , a federal district court judge found that Act 620 met that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ noted , it would leave just one doctor in New Orleans who could lawfully perform abortions .
Roughly 10,000 abortions are currently performed in Louisiana each year , the court found .
The Fifth Circuit reversed that ruling and upheld the law on appeal , prompting the clinic to ask the Supreme Court to intervene .
If the legal battle over admitting privileges and TRAP laws sounds familiar , that ’ s because it is .
The Supreme Court struck down a similar Texas law in Whole Woman ’ s Health v. Hellerstedt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Texas had imposed the same admitting-privileges requirement and mandated that clinics meet the standards of an ambulatory surgical center , imperiling a wide swath of abortion providers across the state .
The justices ultimately rejected both restrictions .
“ Each places a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion , each constitutes an undue burden on abortion access , and each violates the federal Constitution , ” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the court .
What ’ s changed since Whole Woman ’ s Health ?
Anthony Kennedy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to strike down the Texas law , retired in 2018 .
Kennedy played a unique role in America ’ s abortion cases over the last 15 years .
He was part of the three-justice troika in Casey that foiled a major push to overturn Roe and created the undue-burden framework .
After Sandra Day O ’ Connor ’ s retirement in 2005 , his vote was thought to be all that stood between the court ’ s conservative bloc and a ruling that would overturn or sharply limit Roe and Casey .
His @ @ @ @ @ @ @ avoided questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee about his views on abortion .
Anti-abortion groups and abortion-rights groups assumed , however , that he would be more favorable toward restrictions than Kennedy .
One question in June Medical Services was whether the clinics themselves can challenge Act 620 at all .
With some exceptions , third parties generally can ’ t sue in American courts to vindicate someone else ’ s rights .
In the 1976 case Singleton v. Wulff , however , the justices allowed an exception because of the social stigma @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doctors and patients .
Louisiana and the federal government urged the justices to reconsider or limit Singleton .
The clinics , for their part , urged the court to not consider the state ’ s eleventh-hour standing challenge and noted that they would also be injured by Act 620 if it went into force .
On this much , Roberts and the court ’ s liberals agreed .
They concluded that Louisiana had already forfeited its challenge to Singleton by agreeing that the clinics had legal standing earlier in the litigation .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Samuel Alito , Neil Gorsuch , and Brett Kavanaugh signaled that they thought either Singleton should be revisited or that the lower court should be given a chance to consider the question .
“ Because this right belongs to the woman making that choice , not to those who provide abortions , plaintiffs can not establish a personal legal injury by asserting that this right has been violated , ” Thomas wrote .
When it came to the merits , most of the case revolved around the scope of Whole Woman ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state of Louisiana and anti-abortion advocates argued that the 2016 ruling should be read narrowly because it drew heavily upon factual circumstances in Texas .
The clinics and abortion-rights groups , by comparison , argued for a broader reading of its holding , noting that the court ’ s conclusions about the Texas law ’ s impact on abortion patients apply just as well to Act 620 ’ s impact in Louisiana .
While not legally binding in and of itself , Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’ s concurring opinion in Whole Woman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in general “ can not survive judicial inspection.
” According to Breyer and the court ’ s liberals , Whole Woman ’ s Health requires the lower courts to “ consider the burdens a law imposes on abortion access together with the benefits those laws confer ” when deciding whether the law imposes an “ undue burden ” under Casey .
After reviewing the district court ’ s findings that Act 620 imposed significant barriers to access without providing any benefits for women ’ s health , Breyer found “ ample evidentiary support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the law .

What’s changed since Whole Woman’s Health? Anthony Kennedy, the justice who provided the fifth vote to strike down the Texas law, retired in 2018. Kennedy played a unique role in America’s abortion cases over the last 15 years. He was part of the three-justice troika in Casey that foiled a major push to overturn Roe and created the undue-burden framework. After Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement in 2005, his vote was thought to be all that stood between the court’s conservative bloc and a ruling that would overturn or sharply limit Roe and Casey. His replacement, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, carefully avoided questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee about his views on abortion. Anti-abortion groups and abortion-rights groups assumed, however, that he would be more favorable toward restrictions than Kennedy.
One question in June Medical Services was whether the clinics themselves can challenge Act 620 at all. With some exceptions, third parties generally can’t sue in American courts to vindicate someone else’s rights. In the 1976 case Singleton v. Wulff, however, the justices allowed an exception because of the social stigma surrounding abortion and the close relationship between doctors and patients. Louisiana and the federal government urged the justices to reconsider or limit Singleton. The clinics, for their part, urged the court to not consider the state’s eleventh-hour standing challenge and noted that they would also be injured by Act 620 if it went into force.
On this much, Roberts and the court’s liberals agreed. They concluded that Louisiana had already forfeited its challenge to Singleton by agreeing that the clinics had legal standing earlier in the litigation. In their own dissents, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh signaled that they thought either Singleton should be revisited or that the lower court should be given a chance to consider the question. “Because this right belongs to the woman making that choice, not to those who provide abortions, plaintiffs cannot establish a personal legal injury by asserting that this right has been violated,” Thomas wrote.


newrepublic--2020-06-29--Standing Their Ground in Well-Manicured Yards

The first time I glanced at the images , I thought , My God , the Naval Academy is under attack .
It was the only way my brain could process what I ’ d seen : a middle-aged white man wielding a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle , just outside the gated portico of a vast , shimmering beaux-arts structure whose lofty pillars , red-bricked decking , ornate windows , and greenery-filled terrace boxes seemed reminiscent of buildings I ’ d once marched to on Annapolis ’ s turn-of-the-nineteenth-century military campus .
It didn ’ t seem so far-fetched : Sunday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anniversary of the murder of five Annapolis Capital Gazette staffers by a crazed gunman .
But then I noticed that this gunman—who wore a form-fitting pink polo shirt tucked into spacious flat-front khaki slacks—was barefoot outside the grand portico .
He was also holding his AR-15 left-handed , even though it was a standard carbine with its ejection port on the right side , meaning that if the polo-sporting gentleman had fired his gun , with every discharge , it would have spit a spent , white-hot bullet casing directly into his nipples @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carry this gun very often , a fact made all the more obvious by the frequency with which he pointed its business end toward his wife , who was also barefoot , beside him , wielding a small semiautomatic pistol loosely in her hands , like a once-cherished dream that now might burst and dry up at any moment .
This was how most of us met Mark T. and Patricia N. McCloskey—armed multimillionaire attorneys , longtime GOP and Trump donors , and new poster children for the American white citizenry ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
On Sunday evening , they stood in front of their mansion—a gaudy early-1900s “ Renaissance palazzo ” built by connected friends of the Busch beer family—and confronted the peaceful anti-police-brutality protesters who ’ d had the temerity to pass the McCloskeys ’ tony manicured yard while marching to the St. Louis mayor ’ s house .
* The St. Louis Post-Dispatch laid that method out thusly : The couple , Mark T. and Patricia N. McCloskey , stood outside with weapons .
They are personal-injury lawyers who work together in The McCloskey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home .
“ Private property !
” Mark McCloskey shouted repeatedly at the crowd , as he held a rifle .
“ Get out !
Private property , get out !
” Patricia McCloskey pointed a small handgun .
The McCloskeys nervously waved their weapons at the nonthreatening crowd , which included a Black man wearing a shirt that read “ Hands Up , Don ’ t Shoot ” —a throwback to the nearby 2014 police killing of teen Michael Brown and the subsequent orgy of racist militarized police violence in Missouri that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dangerously inadequate muzzle discipline and their execrable attempts at intimidating and threatening marchers who posed no earthly threat to their stately domain , they have men—top men—on their side .
Later Sunday , after Donald Trump had taken time out of his busy golfing schedule to supportively tweet video of an aged Florida campaign supporter on a gold cart screaming “ WHITE POWER , ” he retweeted video of the McCloskeys stupidly standing their ground .
This—as I have reported for most of my career now , since the unpunished slaying of Trayvon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dangerous , obsessively racist armed vigilante—is what “ Stand Your Ground ” –style gun culture has always been about : free license for white people to indulge in and act violently upon their most irrational fears and suspicions .
Last night , the Twittersphere was aflutter with McCloskey defenders , arguing that the couple were simply exercising their supreme American rights : In this view , the Second Amendment , Stand Your Ground , and the Castle Doctrine—as in , “ a man ’ s home is his castle ” —permit armed Americans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own property , all the way out to the sidewalk .
That ’ s not quite correct , as some lawyers have pointed out , and it ’ s also a non sequitur , since no one invaded the McCloskey compound , although a few brave souls did attempt to talk them down and encouraged the crowd of marchers not to engage the armed idiots .

But the entire appeal of the Trump presidency, like Stand Your Ground, has been to flatter the id-impulses of excitable whites when they construct nonwhite people—their existence, their persistent presence, and their agency—as inherent threats to public safety. This is the raison d’être of the modern Trumpist Republican Party and the gun lobby, whose favorite past spokeswoman made her bones by fantasizing on talk radio about urinating on the corpses of dead Afghans. Regarding the McCloskeys’ attempt at frontier justice in their upscale neighborhood, that ex-NRA spokeswoman, Dana Loesch, said it was “weak sauce to act like marching through residential neighborhoods isn’t an escalation of tactics we’ve seen the past month where daytime protests diminish into nighttime riots.” This is how Loesch demonstrates that she’s uninterested in truth, safe firearms operation, and the proper usage of the English word diminish.
It is also an ethos among Trump’s “Second Amendment people” that will grow long after Trump is dead. For evidence of this, one need look no further than Arkansas senator and folksy war addict Tom Cotton’s recent public thirst for an outside military occupation to pacify the unruly stateless natives of the District of Columbia, a cynical attempt to “own” liberals and capture Trump’s base by being as racist and dishonest as possible.
These conservatives are so bigoted that they don’t want the equal protections of a classically liberal civil society: They want the guarantees that come with a de facto monopoly on social violence. Who among us can reasonably doubt that, if he were forced to read Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, Tom Cotton would shop an op-ed declaring that the French simply hadn’t killed enough Black Algerians to establish “stability”? Similarly, this era of militant fundamentalist whiteness should force Americans to ask: Who needs dog whistles, or even legal institutions, when you have AR-15s, gas-powered golf carts, and “Keep America Great” flags?


newrepublic--2020-06-29--New Orleans’ Underpaid, Overexposed Sanitation Workers

It ’ s common to hear the words of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in times of political unrest—particularly when this country ’ s destructive legacy of racism and white supremacy once again come to the fore .
Echoes of King ’ s sonorous voice find their way into the demands of today ’ s Black activists , who understand the full radical power of his ideas .
King ’ s less confrontational counsel also crops up in the Facebook posts of white moderates who eagerly embrace his message of peace but would recoil in horror if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ capitalism ( or dug into his complicated relationship with Black militant leader Malcolm X ) .
The enduring popularity of his theory of nonviolence contrasts with the brutal reality he confronted as the face of a Black liberation movement .
For example , we don ’ t often hear about his commitment to direct action and self-defense ( or the personal arsenal he once maintained ) , to say nothing of the FBI ’ s vicious efforts to blackmail him into suicide .
We also don ’ t hear all that much about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ labor movement , despite the racist history dogging the country ’ s largest unions and the pivotal role that Black union activists have played in the struggle for workers ’ rights .
Lest we forget , King ’ s own efforts to uplift the Black working class and to forge alliances with organized labor are what brought him back to Memphis , Tennessee , on April 3 , 1968 .
Five years earlier , he had spoken alongside United Autoworkers president Walter Reuther at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters , the nation ’ s first predominantly Black labor union .
In 1968 , he had landed in Memphis in the midst of a knockdown , drag-out fight between the city and its striking sanitation workers .
He ’ d previously addressed crowds of Memphis strikers and their supporters and marched alongside them earlier that year , but his April speech was a real showstopper .
In that famed “ I ’ ve Been to the Mountaintop ” sermon , he challenged the crowd to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do not stop to help the sanitation workers , what will happen to them ?
” The next day , he was dead , slain at his hotel by a coward ’ s bullet .
And on April 16 , after weeks of mourning and meetings , the strike was finished , too .
The dignity that the workers had demanded and that King had called out to the heavens for was won , for a time .
The images of the striking Black men with placards around their necks proclaiming boldly “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time when the Jim Crow South still sneeringly referred to Black men as “ boys ” —became powerful symbols of that struggle for dignity , for a fair wage , for bread and roses , too .
It ’ s no surprise that those words and those photos have resurfaced again and again , as Black people have been continually forced to reassert their humanity in the face of a system that devalues their very existence .
“ I Am a Man ” predates “ Black Lives Matter , ” but the sentiment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We matter .
We are bloodied , but unbowed .
King ’ s “ mountaintop ” orations come to mind once again as a new crop of overworked , underpaid , and underappreciated sanitation workers have hit the bricks in the name of justice in the “ right to work ” Deep South .
The highly skilled “ hoppers ” who collect 250,000 pounds of New Orleans ’ s garbage every day have been out on strike since May 5 .
Their demands are simple : a $ 15 per hour wage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hazard pay of $ 150 , and the chance to represent themselves in collective bargaining negotiations in order to strike a fair deal with management .
Alongside protest signs and Black Lives Matter banners , the strikers have also drawn an explicit line between their current action and past struggles by holding up “ I Am a Man ” signs and challenging their employers to properly value their labor and their lives .
Their employer , PeopleReady , is a staffing company contracted by Metro Service Group .
This arrangement handily circumvents the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The workers—all of whom are Black—say they are making $ 10.25 an hour , with no benefits or sick days , to haul away a major city ’ s stinking trash amid a heatwave , a global pandemic that has disproportionately affected Black communities , and a nationwide uprising against police violence and racism .
They allege they ’ re paid $ 1 for every 500 pounds of garbage they lift into their trucks , which they say are also poorly maintained and leak toxic hydraulic fluid .
Last year , the city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than $ 10 million for its services .

It’s common to hear the words of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in times of political unrest—particularly when this country’s destructive legacy of racism and white supremacy once again come to the fore. Echoes of King’s sonorous voice find their way into the demands of today’s Black activists, who understand the full radical power of his ideas. King’s less confrontational counsel also crops up in the Facebook posts of white moderates who eagerly embrace his message of peace but would recoil in horror if they read any of his thoughts on capitalism (or dug into his complicated relationship with Black militant leader Malcolm X). The enduring popularity of his theory of nonviolence contrasts with the brutal reality he confronted as the face of a Black liberation movement. For example, we don’t often hear about his commitment to direct action and self-defense (or the personal arsenal he once maintained), to say nothing of the FBI’s vicious efforts to blackmail him into suicide.
We also don’t hear all that much about King’s close ties to the labor movement, despite the racist history dogging the country’s largest unions and the pivotal role that Black union activists have played in the struggle for workers’ rights. Lest we forget, King’s own efforts to uplift the Black working class and to forge alliances with organized labor are what brought him back to Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3, 1968. Five years earlier, he had spoken alongside United Autoworkers president Walter Reuther at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which was co-organized by A. Philip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the nation’s first predominantly Black labor union. In 1968, he had landed in Memphis in the midst of a knockdown, drag-out fight between the city and its striking sanitation workers. He’d previously addressed crowds of Memphis strikers and their supporters and marched alongside them earlier that year, but his April speech was a real showstopper. In that famed “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” sermon, he challenged the crowd to answer the question, “If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?”


newrepublic--2020-07-01--The Viral Impotency of the Lincoln Project

Some Lincoln Project ads have focused on the perilous state of the economy and Trump ’ s failure to control the coronavirus , key pillars of Biden ’ s presidential campaign .
But many others have taken a pettier approach .
Recent ads have mocked the turnout for the president ’ s recent campaign rally in Tulsa , Oklahoma , and suggested he was not physically well , airing footage of him struggling to walk down a ramp and drink water .
In an ad released on Wednesday , a veteran of Afghanistan rips into the president for not “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right now , diplomatically or economically , or , if necessary , with the same sort of asymmetric warfare they ’ re using to send our kids home in body bags.
” It ’ s unlikely that this tough talk , much of which betrays the neoconservative roots of many of the Lincoln Project ’ s founders , will persuade many of Trump ’ s 2016 voters to jump ship .
“ Such arguments , ” wrote The Atlantic ’ s Andrew Ferguson in an examination of the PAC , “ thrill those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” There are , moreover , few of the voters the Lincoln Project aims to win over to begin with .
A New York Times analysis found that 86 percent of the president ’ s 2016 voters are committed to voting for him again .
( Six percent say there is “ not really any chance ” of them casting another ballot for the president , while 8 percent have said that they no longer support the president but are not sure if they will vote for him again . )
The Lincoln @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the PAC ’ s strategists know that they have little chance of persuading anyone .
Their audience is liberals who are delighted to see Republicans roast the president .
Instead , they have focused on attracting the ire of the president—which , in turn , brings in attention and money—airing advertisements at night on Fox News in Washington , D.C. , in the hopes of getting the president ’ s attention .
They succeeded , attracting a series of unhinged tweets .
Speaking to Politico , Galen suggested that this was part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ It ’ s not just pissing off Donald Trump .
Anybody could do that , ” Galen said .
“ It ’ s , to what effect ?
Like , why are you doing it ?
And the point is to take him off his game and take his campaign off their game , strategically and tactically , so that the Biden campaign and Joe Biden can have the freedom of movement and the green air to do the things that they need to do.
” This is an absurdly self-aggrandizing argument @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needs the aid of a group of former Republicans to “ take [ Trump ’ s ] campaign off their game ” doesn ’ t track with anything that has happened over the last three-and-a-half years .
The president is constantly distracted and disheveled .
The Lincoln Project may be the flavor of the month , but the president would still be rage-tweeting about minor slights if the PAC had never come into being .
There is an argument , moreover , that advertisements mocking the president ’ s physical fitness and calling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Biden campaign ’ s core message : the economy , the coronavirus , and Trump ’ s temperament .
What , then , is the Lincoln Project up to ?
Going viral is , more than ever , its own reward , something surely not lost on a group of political consultants who have been sidelined as Trump and his allies have taken over a GOP that used to listen to them .
The success of their ads on social media is a claim of relevancy and could easily lead to more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Galen ’ s comments to Politico are also telling .
The Lincoln Project wants a stake in Biden ’ s 2020 victory .
Its various manifestos make large , unverifiable claims : It will win over Republicans , its ads are giving Biden “ freedom of movement ” to do something or other .
If Biden wins , it would not be surprising for the group to claim a modicum of credit—and also to claim that it speaks for the Republicans ( and perhaps even moderate Democrats ) who backed the former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appear to be statistically insignificant , one could easily imagine a future in which the Lincoln Project is using its claim to speak for moderates to lobby the Biden administration against health care expansion or a rise in the corporate tax rate—which will surely put it on the same side as all the Republican politicians who have enabled Trump ’ s rise .
Of course , there might be a simpler explanation .
The Club for Growth , a political stopped clock if there ever was one , might just be on to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Responsive Politics found that “ The Lincoln Project reported spending nearly $ 1.4 million through March .
Almost all of that money went to the group ’ s board members and firms run by them.
” Through November , their ads will rack up views on Twitter and might even change the mind of a voter or two .
And the money , of course , will keep rolling in .
It ’ s the type of hustle that would make Trump proud .

Some Lincoln Project ads have focused on the perilous state of the economy and Trump’s failure to control the coronavirus, key pillars of Biden’s presidential campaign. But many others have taken a pettier approach. Recent ads have mocked the turnout for the president’s recent campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and suggested he was not physically well, airing footage of him struggling to walk down a ramp and drink water. In an ad released on Wednesday, a veteran of Afghanistan rips into the president for not “stomping the shit out of some Russians right now, diplomatically or economically, or, if necessary, with the same sort of asymmetric warfare they’re using to send our kids home in body bags.”
It’s unlikely that this tough talk, much of which betrays the neoconservative roots of many of the Lincoln Project’s founders, will persuade many of Trump’s 2016 voters to jump ship. “Such arguments,” wrote The Atlantic’s Andrew Ferguson in an examination of the PAC, “thrill those already on board, and only those.” There are, moreover, few of the voters the Lincoln Project aims to win over to begin with. A New York Times analysis found that 86 percent of the president’s 2016 voters are committed to voting for him again. (Six percent say there is “not really any chance” of them casting another ballot for the president, while 8 percent have said that they no longer support the president but are not sure if they will vote for him again.)
The Lincoln Project’s own tactics suggest that the PAC’s strategists know that they have little chance of persuading anyone. Their audience is liberals who are delighted to see Republicans roast the president. Instead, they have focused on attracting the ire of the president—which, in turn, brings in attention and money—airing advertisements at night on Fox News in Washington, D.C., in the hopes of getting the president’s attention. They succeeded, attracting a series of unhinged tweets. Speaking to Politico, Galen suggested that this was part of the group’s new strategy.


newrepublic--2020-07-02--Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Ingenious Families

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Ingenious Families

The Truth ’ s lower narrative stakes may make it feel slighter than Kore-eda ’ s most acclaimed works .
Shoplifters focused on city dwellers forming a makeshift family , barely getting by in an inhospitable environment that pits them against their neighbors .
In the first few minutes of the movie , a man and boy run through their regular routine of theft in a supermarket , then pick up a distressed little girl they find on their way home .
When the man and his lover attempt to bring the child back to her family the next day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only add to her already copious bruises and burns .
They take her in themselves , but now there ’ s an extra mouth to feed , and they can add kidnapping to their potential rap sheet .
At the start of Nobody Knows , a baby-voiced single mother moves into a tiny apartment , sneaking the younger two of her four children upstairs inside suitcases to get them past the landlord .
She comes home from work late and sloshed and , soon after , runs off altogether , leaving her 12-year-old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Yet plenty of Kore-eda ’ s films examine quieter , less chaotic situations .
In all of them , you get to know people by observing how they handle objects , the small skills they pass on to one another , the practical fixes they work out when they find themselves in any kind of a jam .
Nobody Knows is brilliant not because of the inherent pathos of the abandoned children but for the nitty-gritty logistics of how they survive .
Likewise , the shoplifting scenes in Shoplifters do a lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s annoyance when he must tolerate his new little “ sister ” coming along on their grocery expeditions ; later , when he and the girl go alone , her youthful incompetence at stealing draws the attention of the clerk , who lets the boy off , saying : “ Don ’ t make her do that.
” In that moment , the boy starts to have doubts .
What had been his special ritual with a father figure is sullied .
Perhaps he ’ s been exploited all along .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s favorite themes of responsibility , legacy , and the fluidity of roles between parents and children .
The plot turns on the affectionately portrayed egotism of Deneuve ’ s character .
At dinner , she goads her weakling son-in-law into breaking his sobriety , and shrugs off her long history of unkindnesses and betrayals as an artist ’ s prerogative .
She asks Lumir to script an apology to win back the assistant she has alienated , explaining that since she ’ s never apologized to a man before , she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ You cheated on them all , ” Lumir exclaims , with a look of grudging admiration , “ but you never apologized a single time ?
” When Fabienne , uncharacteristically vulnerable , is letting Lumir glimpse her regrets about the past and their relationship , she pulls up short and castigates herself .
She should have thought to pour all these emotions into filming earlier in the day : What a waste of good material !
Kore-eda is sensitive to the scenes people perform for one another , and thoughtful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for anyone to change .
The film-within-a-film provides a distorted reflection , both comic and poignant , of the struggles going on outside it : the attempt to mature past one ’ s parents , or to acknowledge that maturing isn ’ t as easy as it looks .
At one point , when Fabienne ’ s husband suggests she could be more gracious to those around her , she snaps at him for his self-righteousness .
“ Your biggest flaw as a man is to dump this stuff onto the main person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Insensitive good intentions are the most hurtful .
My vicious tongue is harmless in comparison.
” It ’ s partly an excuse , but it also shows another facet of Deneuve ’ s character .
How many mothers , after all , are willing to play the wicked witch , to take whatever blame their adult children need to pile on them , and not insist on being forgiven or understood ?
Working with a limited palette , Kore-eda finds the room for such subtleties .
As in his other films , characters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lives are taking a certain course , or why they behave as they do .
Their affections are a confusing and painful blend of proximity and dependence , generosity and exploitation , performance and spontaneous feeling .
Parental relationships , whether biological or not , always intrigue Kore-eda , for the way they present some chance for transformation—a chance easily missed or misused .
The Truth doesn ’ t achieve the mixture of intimacy and detachment that characterizes Kore-eda ’ s best work .
Yet it confirms him as a restless , catholic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forms for feeling , rather than to transmit a predetermined idea .
Kore-eda has written before that he has no desire to make films with an ideological message , which in his view “ would be nothing more than propaganda.
” His work is political more in the sense that Jane Austen ’ s is : Shoplifters didn ’ t set out to lecture anyone for averting their eyes from others ’ hardships ; it put a frame around some characters and allowed us to look .
Kore-eda ’ s slow , patient @ @ @ @ @ @ @ early years of making documentaries , always begins from the ground up , the smallest social unit , the granular detail .
What ’ s important is whispered or unsaid , the big showdown you expect doesn ’ t always arrive , and even the most dramatic setups are only the excuse , the opportunity , to watch what happens between people forced to share a habitat .

The Truth’s lower narrative stakes may make it feel slighter than Kore-eda’s most acclaimed works. Shoplifters focused on city dwellers forming a makeshift family, barely getting by in an inhospitable environment that pits them against their neighbors. In the first few minutes of the movie, a man and boy run through their regular routine of theft in a supermarket, then pick up a distressed little girl they find on their way home. When the man and his lover attempt to bring the child back to her family the next day, they see that her parents will only add to her already copious bruises and burns. They take her in themselves, but now there’s an extra mouth to feed, and they can add kidnapping to their potential rap sheet. At the start of Nobody Knows, a baby-voiced single mother moves into a tiny apartment, sneaking the younger two of her four children upstairs inside suitcases to get them past the landlord. She comes home from work late and sloshed and, soon after, runs off altogether, leaving her 12-year-old to fend for himself and his siblings.
Yet plenty of Kore-eda’s films examine quieter, less chaotic situations. In all of them, you get to know people by observing how they handle objects, the small skills they pass on to one another, the practical fixes they work out when they find themselves in any kind of a jam. Nobody Knows is brilliant not because of the inherent pathos of the abandoned children but for the nitty-gritty logistics of how they survive. Likewise, the shoplifting scenes in Shoplifters do a lot of work: You see the boy’s annoyance when he must tolerate his new little “sister” coming along on their grocery expeditions; later, when he and the girl go alone, her youthful incompetence at stealing draws the attention of the clerk, who lets the boy off, saying: “Don’t make her do that.” In that moment, the boy starts to have doubts. What had been his special ritual with a father figure is sullied. Perhaps he’s been exploited all along.
The new film returns to some of Kore-eda’s favorite themes of responsibility, legacy, and the fluidity of roles between parents and children. The plot turns on the affectionately portrayed egotism of Deneuve’s character. At dinner, she goads her weakling son-in-law into breaking his sobriety, and shrugs off her long history of unkindnesses and betrayals as an artist’s prerogative. She asks Lumir to script an apology to win back the assistant she has alienated, explaining that since she’s never apologized to a man before, she wouldn’t know how to begin. “You cheated on them all,” Lumir exclaims, with a look of grudging admiration, “but you never apologized a single time?” When Fabienne, uncharacteristically vulnerable, is letting Lumir glimpse her regrets about the past and their relationship, she pulls up short and castigates herself. She should have thought to pour all these emotions into filming earlier in the day: What a waste of good material!