newrepublic--2020-06-25--The Justice Department’s Fake Fight Against Sex Trafficking

As has been the case all along in the war on human trafficking , and only more so under the current administration , a press release announcing victory with the passage of a new law or the unsealing of a criminal indictment will garner far more attention than how the law is used in court .
What matters , seemingly over even doing right by people who are trafficked , is the optics .
And since the consequences of these laws and crackdowns most harm sex workers , the damage is still largely overlooked by legislators and , certainly , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two years ago this month that sex worker rights advocates and allied human rights organizations took the government to court over the law that the Justice Department has finally seen fit to use .
Their constitutional challenge to Sesta/Fosta drags on still .
Meanwhile , one of the organizations that brought the suit , Sex Workers ’ Outreach Project ( SWOP ) Behind Bars , has been made the subject of an FBI “ Situational Information Report , ” after a woman was arrested on prostitution charges in 2019 and agents searching her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The report from the FBI ’ s Jacksonville division ( and obtained by The New Republic ) , titled “ Listserv Email Containing Screening Tips and Warning about Operation Cross Country for Sex Workers , as of July 2019 , ” goes on to quote the email alerting sex workers to the possible law enforcement operation .
The email also referenced a safety planning sheet , as SWOP Behind Bars described it , “ just in case you find yourself trapped in a sting.
” The FBI report goes on to quote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , like , “ If you have a local bad date list , read it before heading out !
Even if you don ’ t remember everything , something might make you double check before you head out with someone.
” A “ bad date list ” is something sex workers have created themselves , in part because law enforcement does not take violence against sex workers seriously .
Here , it receives their attention , but only insofar as it is perceived as a sign of criminal activity .
( The New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to authenticate the document , but it did not respond by time of publication . )
Sex workers had feared that such lawful harm-reduction work could be criminalized , if not under Sesta/Fosta specifically , then as a result of the environment the law produced—one in which any online communications platform could be painted as “ facilitating prostitution ” if it was a venue for sex workers to talk about how to stay safe at work .
The reason groups like SWOP Behind Bars have to issue these safety alerts is because police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their customers in sting operations , like Operation Cross Country , the one SWOP Behind Bars sounded the alarm on in 2019 .
It ’ s been going on for more than a decade , with dramatic arrest numbers touted in FBI press releases each year .
In truth , under the banner of this purported trafficking operation , the FBI is assisting in the arrests of sex workers .
Alex Andrews , co-founder of SWOP Behind Bars , says the FBI has continued to target sex workers , even as her organization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ helping people who are really being trafficked .
“ They ’ re trying to cast doubt on our work , ” said Andrews in a statement to The New Republic this week .
“ That ’ s their whole game .
They want to silence sex workers , and they refuse our assistance in identifying and assisting people who are being exploited and then try and turn their arrests into some kind of shocking exposé.
” What is genuinely troubling is that , in a moment when the country ’ s attention is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Justice Department would like us to greet this multijurisdictional operation with gratitude , whether that ’ s the occult version expressed by QAnon or a more qualified version—perhaps relieved that there is some “ good cop ” work still to be done .
Human trafficking is already being used to create exceptions to recent reforms , like the law passed after police killed Breonna Taylor in Louisville , Kentucky .
In Louisville ’ s new prohibition on no-knock raids , there ’ s a carve-out for trafficking ; all police need to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sex trafficking to conduct these raids and avoid the law ’ s scrutiny themselves .

As has been the case all along in the war on human trafficking, and only more so under the current administration, a press release announcing victory with the passage of a new law or the unsealing of a criminal indictment will garner far more attention than how the law is used in court. What matters, seemingly over even doing right by people who are trafficked, is the optics. And since the consequences of these laws and crackdowns most harm sex workers, the damage is still largely overlooked by legislators and, certainly, by law enforcement.
It was also two years ago this month that sex worker rights advocates and allied human rights organizations took the government to court over the law that the Justice Department has finally seen fit to use. Their constitutional challenge to Sesta/Fosta drags on still. Meanwhile, one of the organizations that brought the suit, Sex Workers’ Outreach Project (SWOP) Behind Bars, has been made the subject of an FBI “Situational Information Report,” after a woman was arrested on prostitution charges in 2019 and agents searching her phone found an email from the group. The report from the FBI’s Jacksonville division (and obtained by The New Republic), titled “Listserv Email Containing Screening Tips and Warning about Operation Cross Country for Sex Workers, as of July 2019,” goes on to quote the email alerting sex workers to the possible law enforcement operation. The email also referenced a safety planning sheet, as SWOP Behind Bars described it, “just in case you find yourself trapped in a sting.”
The FBI report goes on to quote SWOP Behind Bars’ other safety tips, like, “If you have a local bad date list, read it before heading out! Even if you don’t remember everything, something might make you double check before you head out with someone.” A “bad date list” is something sex workers have created themselves, in part because law enforcement does not take violence against sex workers seriously. Here, it receives their attention, but only insofar as it is perceived as a sign of criminal activity. (The New Republic asked the Jacksonville FBI division office to authenticate the document, but it did not respond by time of publication.)


newrepublic--2020-06-26--The Trump Cult Is Loyal to an Ideology, Not the Man

Trump ’ s incessant clashes with his aides and the Republican establishment have long been a feature of his life in politics .
The media nonetheless tends to obscure how their conflicts are often more about style , temperament or decorum than about substantive policy disagreements .
Applebaum ’ s essay , titled History Will Judge the Complicit , focuses on individual choice and moral character .
She briefly acknowledges the role of ideology in steadfast Republican support for Trump , such as opposition to abortion , yet invites us to consider the personal ethical dilemmas of politicians who remain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Applebaum reminds us how human agency helps shape the course of history .
However , her suggestion that Republican leaders enabling Trump “ accept an alien ideology or a set of values that are in sharp conflict with their own ” falls short of reality .
Leaving exceptions aside , such as the Muslim ban , many Trump administration policies have long been at the heart of the party ’ s agenda , including barring abortion , repealing the Affordable Care Act , undoing environmental , financial , and lobbying regulations .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s polarization in the midst of Barack Obama ’ s presidency , as I sought to understand the Tea Party movement ’ s fierce opposition to his centrist policies .
At a time when all other Western democracies had long had universal health care , the backlash against Obama ’ s relatively modest health care reform was striking .
It was only the tip of the iceberg .
I found that Americans are generally more divided than other Westerners over a host of issues , including wealth inequality , climate change , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contraception , sexual education , gay rights , gun control , criminal justice , foreign policy , and human rights .
Exceptions like divides over immigration in Western Europe or abortion in Ireland and Poland should not overshadow how America ’ s degree of polarization is exceptional .
Certain political scientists , such as Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson , have called into question whether it ’ s fair to blame America ’ s bitter divisions on the existence of equally matched extremists on both sides of the ideological spectrum .
As it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ polarization ” indicates that Republicans have become far more hardline than Democrats in recent decades .
A key disagreement between experts is about whether the polarization among politicians , elites , and activists truly reflects the American public ’ s views .
My research suggests that an interrelationship exists between the worldviews of hardline leaders and citizens , which have been shaped by the aforementioned nexus of polarization .
Its threads are embedded in interrelated , peculiar mindsets .
Buried in the American psyche , they span back decades before Trump arrived on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this nexus of polarization , as it is intertwined with a recurrent issue .
Why does Trump ’ s skepticism of education , fact-free rhetoric , and contempt for experts widely appeal to his supporters ?
One would assume these traits to be political liabilities .
Indeed , they are to a majority of Americans , although a substantial minority seem to admire them .
Ironically , anti-intellectualism largely stems from an admirable dimension of American history .
As the historian Richard Hofstadter explained , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States fostered an egalitarian spirit perceiving education as a badge of elitism .
Common sense was supposedly enough to understand the world and make money .
“ As popular democracy gained strength and confidence , ” Hofstadter described , “ it reinforced the widespread belief in the superiority of inborn , intuitive , folkish wisdom over the cultivated , over-sophisticated , and self-interested knowledge of the literati and well-to-do.
” Anti-intellectualism may be defined as a skepticism of education that can range from mere indifference toward knowledge to a downright animosity toward experts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ age-old mindset almost every day , such as John Bolton ’ s disclosure that Trump assumed Finland was inside Russia and did not know that the United Kingdom has nuclear weapons .
Such ignorance reflects the lifelong incuriosity of a man who had access to the best education money could buy .
Similarly , countless other elected officials have touted an anti-intellectual style .
“ I don ’ t spend a lot of time thinking about myself , about why I do things , ” George W. Bush tellingly admitted following his invasion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was “ not very analytical.
” Like Trump , W. trusted his gut instincts and he announced in the same interview that he found Vladimir Putin trustworthy .
“ History will prove me right , ” he added .
But as Susan Jacoby noted in The Age of American Unreason in a Culture of Lies , a re-edition of a Bush-era book , “ we place too much emphasis on the personality of the president ” at the expense of wider social circumstances .

Trump’s incessant clashes with his aides and the Republican establishment have long been a feature of his life in politics. The media nonetheless tends to obscure how their conflicts are often more about style, temperament, or decorum than about substantive policy disagreements. Applebaum’s essay, titled History Will Judge the Complicit, focuses on individual choice and moral character. She briefly acknowledges the role of ideology in steadfast Republican support for Trump, such as opposition to abortion, yet invites us to consider the personal ethical dilemmas of politicians who remain by his side. In doing so, Applebaum reminds us how human agency helps shape the course of history. However, her suggestion that Republican leaders enabling Trump “accept an alien ideology or a set of values that are in sharp conflict with their own” falls short of reality. Leaving exceptions aside, such as the Muslim ban, many Trump administration policies have long been at the heart of the party’s agenda, including barring abortion; repealing the Affordable Care Act; and undoing environmental, financial, and lobbying regulations.
I began researching the roots of America’s polarization in the midst of Barack Obama’s presidency, as I sought to understand the Tea Party movement’s fierce opposition to his centrist policies. At a time when all other Western democracies had long had universal health care, the backlash against Obama’s relatively modest health care reform was striking. It was only the tip of the iceberg. I found that Americans are generally more divided than other Westerners over a host of issues, including wealth inequality, climate change, the theory of evolution, abortion, contraception, sexual education, gay rights, gun control, criminal justice, foreign policy, and human rights. Divides over immigration in Western Europe or abortion in Ireland and Poland should not overshadow how America’s degree of polarization is exceptional.
Certain political scientists, such as Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, have called into question whether it’s fair to blame America’s bitter divisions on the existence of equally matched extremists on both sides of the ideological spectrum. As it happens, a phenomenon called “asymmetric polarization” indicates that Republicans have become far more hard-line than Democrats in recent decades.


newrepublic--2020-06-26--How the Confederates Conquered America’s “Home of the Infantry”

The historical record is unambiguous : Fort Benning was named for a white supremacist , by white supremacists , as part of a national campaign to enshrine a white supremacist narrative of the Civil War .
And the Army has allowed the name to stand for more than a century .
Founded in Nashville , Tennessee , in 1894 , the UDC held an outsized influence in perpetuating white supremacy in the United States since Reconstruction ended .
The UDC “ aspired to transform military defeat into a political and cultural victory , where state ’ s rights and white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of North Carolina-Charlotte history professor Karen L. Cox puts it in her scholarship on the group .
Scions of the wealthy white elite of the South , the UDC ’ s women were able to ruthlessly exploit their personal and political connections at every turn .
The UDC vehicle for vindicating and celebrating the Confederacy was the Lost Cause , a misleading narrative of the war and Reconstruction that cast the Southern Civil War cause as a noble one , more about principles and virtues rather than slavery .
In this distorted version @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rebellion instead of militarily defeating it ; Confederate leaders—especially Robert E. Lee and Thomas “ Stonewall ” Jackson—were saints ; and “ Johnny Rebs ” were the bravest and fiercest soldiers ever seen .
The Lost Cause also held that Black people were incapable of exercising freedom and had been better off in the Old South—as evidence , adherents pointed to embattled , Black-led Republican governments in the Reconstruction South , framing them as chaotic and evil .
The entire Lost Cause campaign , from its account of the war ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ absolutely is about white supremacy , ” said Caroline Janney , director of the John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History at the University of Virginia .
The UDC channeled that energy into two main focus areas : education and commemoration .
“ That included monument building , textbook writing , policing of curriculum , and what books were in the library , as well as policing what plays were put on , and producing books as well that celebrated both the Confederacy and the Klan together , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the College of Charleston and author of The False Cause : Fraud , Fabrication , and White Supremacy in Confederate Memory .
“ The UDC marked anything and everything that didn ’ t move , ” UNC-Charlotte ’ s Cox explained to me in an email : It was a way of ensuring that politicians around the country regularly paid homage to the Lost Cause .
And during World War I , there were lots of new things that needed naming .
Throughout the summer of 1918 , the white elite of Columbus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A hand-written Chamber of Commerce journal in the Columbus State University Archives reveals how city residents had begun lobbying the federal government to locate a military training camp there as early as March 1917—before the United States had even entered the war .
On August 18 , 1918 , the front page of the Columbus Ledger declared victory : The Army was to build a new infantry school outside the Southwest Georgia city .
The following morning ’ s Ledger front page headline was “ Ladies Endorse Camp Benning.
” The ladies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the United Daughters of the Confederacy , and they had “ unanimously voted to request the [ War Department ] to name the army camp which is to be located here in honor of the memory of the lamented General Henry L. Benning , ” according to the Chamber of Commerce summary .
The same day , the chapter ’ s secretary and its vice president sent a telegram to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker to “ earnestly and respectfully request that the Army camp to be located in [ Columbus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much beloved Gen. Henry L. Benning.
” Benning was not widely celebrated for his military prowess ; unlike eight of the nine other Confederates with Army bases named after them , Benning never even served in the United States military—rebellion in the Civil War constituted the entirety of his military career .
What Benning was , however , was a key figure in the secessionist movement , described by one historian as an “ important fireeater.
” As early as 1849 , he had argued that Southern secession from the United States would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He had no shortage of personal motives to protect slavery , having been born into a plantation family and enslaved 89 Black people .
Benning later led a walkout of pro-slavery Southern delegates from the 1860 Democratic convention after the Northern delegations refused to explicitly support slavery in the party platform , a walkout virtually guaranteeing Abraham Lincoln ’ s election victory .
Then in a pro-secession speech that November , Benning painted the newly elected Lincoln as a boogeyman to stoke fears of open race war , claiming Black people were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the white race.
” Another contributing factor to Benning ’ s unanimous selection was that his daughter , Anna Caroline Benning , was the president of the local UDC chapter and perhaps the most powerful woman in Columbus .
Her 1935 obituary mourned her as “ one of the most picturesque and beloved women of the state ” and “ a true daughter of the old southern aristocracy.
” Known as “ Tiny ” Benning , she also served as president of the local Ladies Memorial Association , a predecessor to the UDC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the American Revolution chapter , later ascending to national office in that organization .

Benning was not widely celebrated for his military prowess: Unlike eight of the nine other Confederates with Army bases named after them, Benning never even served in the U.S. military—rebellion in the Civil War constituted the entirety of his military career. What Benning was, however, was a key figure in the secessionist movement, described by one historian as an “important fireeater.” As early as 1849, he had argued that Southern secession from the U.S. would be the only way to protect slavery. He had no shortage of personal motives to protect slavery, having been born into a plantation family and enslaved 89 Black people. Benning later led a walkout of pro-slavery Southern delegates from the 1860 Democratic convention after the Northern delegations refused to explicitly support slavery in the party platform, a walkout virtually guaranteeing Abraham Lincoln’s election victory. Then, in a pro-secession speech that November, Benning painted the newly elected Lincoln as a boogeyman to stoke fears of open race war, claiming Black people were “savages” who would “exterminate the white race.”
Another contributing factor to Benning’s unanimous selection was that his daughter, Anna Caroline Benning, was the president of the local UDC chapter and perhaps the most powerful woman in Columbus. Her 1935 obituary mourned her as “one of the most picturesque and beloved women of the state” and “a true daughter of the old southern aristocracy.” Known as “Tiny” Benning, she also served as president of the local Ladies Memorial Association, a predecessor to the UDC, and founded the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter, later ascending to national office in that organization.
Unsurprisingly, other white organizations in the community rallied behind the UDC’s Benning proposal. The local United Confederate Veterans endorsed it almost immediately. Then in September 1918, the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce both sent letters to the War Department in Benning’s support. The editors of the Columbus Ledger followed suit with a September 30 editorial titled “Name It Benning.” When the first soldiers arrived at the new post on October 6, it had already been informally christened Benning by the locals. The post’s commandant, Col. Henry E. Eames, quickly caught onto the local name and started referring to it as Camp Benning. Two weeks later, the War Department made the name official, sending a telegram to the secretary of the local Chamber of Commerce confirming that Henry Benning would get his base.


newrepublic--2020-06-26--I May Destroy You Is About So Much More Than Rape

Coel knows this world of art and commerce well .
Chewing Gum , her series about young life on a council estate in London , was a rapturously received comedy and a portrait of an artist in the making .
But where Coel now has HBO and the BBC at her feet , her characters struggle to navigate power structures they don ’ t understand .
Bella is a creature of habit who always goes back to the guy who makes her come reliably , and dips into her phone a million times a day .
So when Coel has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Google search , she is foregrounding the corporate ownership of her heroine ’ s interiority : Bella is lost , and she turns to a Big Tech bank of knowledge in an attempt to understand her own brain ’ s creative mechanism .
Bella and her friends are being exploited long before anybody harms them sexually .
Take Terry , Bella ’ s best friend , played by Weruche Opia , who will soon be famous the world over for her extraordinary performance of a person trying to be in a restaurant while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actor , and in one excruciatingly bang-on scene , she performs a faux-deep monologue about women ’ s beauty in a screen test for a brand similar to Dove .
The producers ask if they can see her natural hair and generally mimic Bella ’ s evil white agents in harvesting black creativity and credibility for the merchandise value of their products .
It ’ s crass but absolutely true-to-life behavior that leaves a bittersweet taste behind it—the Michaela Coel flavor , you could call it .
The entire show is as sharp @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many different types of power structure faced by its heroes , not just sexual exploitation .
I haven ’ t meant to tiptoe around the rape—it ’ s the literal subject of the show , a choice that is in itself a totemic achievement .
Coel also pulls off the feat of turning rape into a mystery story .
The second season of Broadchurch managed pretty well at that , too , but it ’ s very rarely done right .
Making fiction about rape is a high-wire act , fraught by controversy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s true even or perhaps especially if it has happened to you .
Coel has said she was drugged and assaulted a few years ago , and that the two-and-a-half-year writing process on I May Destroy You was “ cathartic , ” but the stakes are high : If the show had been a flop , or some other kind of failure , it could have been a personal catastrophe .
On a human level , Coel ’ s achievement with I May Destroy You is an expletive-worthy triumph .
But if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Google search , the rape itself fades away to reveal a television show that is not only an embodiment of , but a creative work about , Coel ’ s genius .
Bella ’ s entire journey so far ( I haven ’ t seen past episode six , of a total 12 ) has been about the long slog to the center of herself .
That journey is literal in some ways , since she is investigating a crime with herself at its center , but it is also an odyssey into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a particularly fruitful theme for Coel .
In an evidence-collecting interview , for example , Bella asks a police staffer , “ How could you know , when I ’ m the one it happened to , and I don ’ t know ?
” On a technical level , beyond the diamond script , I May Destroy You stands out for its music—a blend of vintage U.K. garage hits and contemporary releases—and cinematography .
The camera has a gaze with a force of its own and never flinches when horrible things happen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Destroy You a role as witness .
Then again , so much is left out .
Six episodes in , for example , we have no idea what Bella ’ s all-important new book is even about .
In the show ’ s cinematography , Coel has crafted a selective gaze that mimics the tics of her own protagonist ’ s mind , deleting and adding knowledge as the chemistry of cognition dictates , its logic an alchemical mystery .

It’s crass but absolutely true-to-life behavior that leaves a bittersweet taste behind it—the Michaela Coel flavor, you could call it. The entire show is as sharp as the Dove audition and alert to many different types of power structure faced by its heroes, not just sexual exploitation.
I haven’t meant to tiptoe around the rape—it’s the literal subject of the show, a choice that is in itself a totemic achievement. Coel also pulls off the feat of turning rape into a mystery story. The second season of Broadchurch managed pretty well at that, too, but it’s very rarely done right. Making fiction about rape is a high-wire act, fraught by controversy and opportunities for hurt feelings. That’s true even or perhaps especially if it has happened to you. Coel has said she was drugged and assaulted a few years ago, and that the two-and-a-half-year writing process on I May Destroy You was “cathartic,” but the stakes are high: If the show had been a flop, or some other kind of failure, it could have been a personal catastrophe. On a human level, Coel’s achievement with I May Destroy You is an expletive-worthy triumph.
But if we focus on moments like the existentialist Google search, the rape itself fades away to reveal a television show that is not only an embodiment of, but a creative work about, Coel’s genius. Bella’s entire journey so far (I haven’t seen past episode six, of a total 12) has been about the long slog to the center of herself. That journey is literal in some ways, since she is investigating a crime with herself at its center, but it is also an odyssey into Bella’s subconscious. Memory is a particularly fruitful theme for Coel. In an evidence-collecting interview, for example, Bella asks a police staffer, “How could you know, when I’m the one it happened to, and I don’t know?”


newrepublic--2020-06-26--D.C. Statehood Is a Test of Biden’s Political Courage

On Friday , House Democrats are all but certain to pass a bill making the District of Columbia the nation ’ s fifty-first state , marking the first time in history a house of Congress has formally approved statehood for the District .
Naturally , the bill is doomed in the Senate , for reasons President Donald Trump candidly explained in May .
“ D.C .
will never be a state , ” he told The New York Post in an interview .
“ You mean District of Columbia , a state ?
Why ?
So we can have two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
No thank you .
That ’ ll never happen.
” Purely to drive the point home , the White House announced Wednesday that Trump would veto the bill even if it were passed by the Senate .
In rejecting statehood , the Republican Party is denying those seats not only to Democrats , as a partisan matter , but to the 700,000 District residents who have no real voting representation in the Congress that governs them .
As is commonly pointed out , the city is more populous than two states , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each have two senators and full members of the House .
The situation is even less defensible than most Americans vaguely informed about the District ’ s status likely realize : The problem is not only that residents lack a meaningful say in national affairs but that the city ’ s municipal policies have been attacked and undermined by conservative members of Congress from elsewhere in the country , who take full advantage of Congress ’ s constitutional authority over the District ’ s laws and budget .
Washington ’ s position was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Trump ’ s deployment of military and federal law enforcement personnel against the District ’ s peaceful demonstrators earlier this month .
The District ’ s status is a product of both the Constitution ’ s provision establishing the city as a federal district ( which drew complaints from residents even then ) and simple racism .
As the city ’ s Black population boomed , in the 1950s and 1960s , the debates over its autonomy and representation came to reflect the nation ’ s racial divide .
In a representative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rarick , a conservative Democrat , argued before the House ’ s committee on the District that the city lacked a “ proper racial balance ” and would be taken over by black Muslims if granted the authority to govern itself .
When another congressman interrupted Rarick to remark that he was “ a leading racist in the Congress , ” Rarick ’ s reply was simple : “ That ’ s why I ’ m opposed to home rule.
” Yet the rationale for rectifying the city ’ s situation was clear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 1970s that Congress passed , on a bipartisan basis , a constitutional amendment granting the District two senators and a voting congressman in the House—a measure vociferously supported even by ex-segregationist Strom Thurmond .
But the amendment was never ratified by the requisite number of states , and waning congressional interest in the District ’ s status after its failure helped shift activists toward full statehood for D.C. as an alternative strategy .
In sum , the push for statehood is not only justifiable on its own merits but also animated by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the amendment of the Constitution to address them decades ago .
But Trump is not wrong to say that statehood would increase Democratic power in the Senate .
This is , in fact , among the primary reasons why the Biden administration should make statehood a priority if he wins in November .
It has been estimated that by 2040 , 30 percent of the American population—concentrated in whiter , older , more rural , and thus more conservative states—will control 68 percent of the seats in the Senate given the upper house @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trends .
It doesn ’ t take much math or demographic projection to understand that Republicans already have enough disproportionate power in the Senate to defeat legislation on climate change , health care , gun control , and other issues that a majority of Americans would support .
The fate of the Biden legislative agenda , the general future of federal Democratic policymaking , and the legitimacy of Congress as a democratic institution all rest upon whether Senate Democrats will decide to even the balance of power in the chamber—not just for their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ penalized in one of the chambers necessary for passing major legislation simply for living within the most populous parts of the country .
Statehood for the District and the addition of two reliably liberal senators from a large city would help , as would the elimination of the legislative filibuster , which effectively imposes a supermajority requirement for the passage of most bills .
In fact , statehood will not pass the Senate unless a Democratic Senate majority kills the filibuster .
However well Democrats do on Election Day , they will not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with 60 Senate seats .

On Friday, House Democrats are all but certain to pass a bill making the District of Columbia the nation’s fifty-first state, marking the first time in history a house of Congress has formally approved statehood for the District. Naturally, the bill is doomed in the Senate, for reasons President Donald Trump candidly explained in May. “D.C. will never be a state,” he told The New York Post in an interview. “You mean District of Columbia, a state? Why? So we can have two more Democratic—Democrat senators and five more congressmen? No thank you. That’ll never happen.” Purely to drive the point home, the White House announced Wednesday that Trump would veto the bill even if it were passed by the Senate.
In rejecting statehood, the Republican Party is denying those seats not only to Democrats, as a partisan matter, but to the 700,000 District residents who have no real voting representation in the Congress that governs them. As is commonly pointed out, the city is more populous than two states, which, like every other state, each have two senators and full members of the House. The situation is even less defensible than most Americans vaguely informed about the District’s status likely realize: The problem is not only that residents lack a meaningful say in national affairs but that the city’s municipal policies have been attacked and undermined by conservative members of Congress from elsewhere in the country, who take full advantage of Congress’s constitutional authority over the District’s laws and budget. Washington’s position was recently brought into particularly stark relief with President Trump’s deployment of military and federal law enforcement personnel against the District’s peaceful demonstrators earlier this month.


newrepublic--2020-06-26--Is BlackRock the New Vampire Squid?

Is BlackRock the New Vampire Squid?

So far , Aladdin ’ s focus on climate risks has been scant .
In May , Blackrock announced that it had formed a partnership with the policy consultant Rhodium Group to integrate analysis on the physical risks from climate impacts ( i.e.
, hurricanes ) into Aladdin .
Notably , this partnership does not appear to focus on the risks posed by the potentially trillions of dollars of fossil fuel assets that could be left “ stranded ” —rendered worthless—by some mix of market forces and government policy to transition to renewables .
An analysis from the Institute for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found that BlackRock lost $ 90 billion on its fossil fuel investments over the last decade , 75 percent of which was from holdings in just four companies : ExxonMobil , Chevron , Royal Dutch Shell , and BP .
Despite all its holdings and data offerings , BlackRock has avoided being designated a “ Systemically Important Financial Institution ” ( or SIFI , a.k.a .
“ too big to fail ” ) by the Treasury ’ s Financial Stability and Oversight Council , set up by Dodd-Frank financial regulations , which would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Federal Reserve .
Perhaps this is because the company spent the better part of the last decade bombarding lawmakers , Treasury officials , and FSOC members with campaign donations and reports making the case as to why they should be excluded from Dodd-Frank rules .
Under the leadership of BlackRock co-founder and Vice Chairman Barbara Novick , who announced earlier this year that she ’ s stepping down , the firm argued that regulators should focus on the various activities of nonbank financial institutions , rather than the SIFI designation , which would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more stringent regulations .
To observers , the company ’ s calculus here seemed pretty transparent : The FSOC doesn ’ t have any meaningful authority to regulate the activities BlackRock urged it to focus on .
“ All they can do in that space is look at the risks those activities and products potentially pose , write reports , and issue nonbinding recommendations , ” said Gregg Gelzinis , a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress and former Treasury staffer .
Now , Gelzinis said , “ Trump administration officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to financial oversight.
” The rules governing BlackRock have gotten even more lax just since the pandemic began .
Until recently , PNC Bank held a 22 percent share in BlackRock , making the latter subject to some of the same oversight as banks ; since PNC sold those shares off at the end of May , however , those rules will no longer apply .
BlackRock will now face even less sunlight than it has before .
Representatives Katie Porter and Jesús “ Chuy ” García recently introduced a bill attempting to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ banks , though it has yet to pick up much steam amid Covid-19 and an ongoing uprising for racial justice .
As BlackRock has ballooned , the gargantuan asset manager has curated an image as the kinder , gentler face of Wall Street , simply stewarding the money of retirees the world over .
Fink , the CEO , emphasizes “ stakeholders ” over shareholders while being more outspoken than his peers on a host of matters—climate change chief among them .
In advance of the World Economic Forum at Davos , Switzerland @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was singled out for criticism by climate activists ) , Fink ’ s hotly anticipated annual letter to CEOs and other clients—signed by its full board of directors—urged a new path toward a more “ accountable and transparent capitalism ” that takes the threat of rising temperatures seriously .
The rhetoric came with a host of pledges : By the end of this year , Fink promised , BlackRock will stop its actively managed funds from investing in companies that get 25 percent or more of their revenue from coal operations , enhance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meetings , create investment products that screen for fossil fuels , ask companies how they plan to navigate the climate crisis , expand its offerings of products screened for Environmental Social and Governance , and make all of its actively managed funds “ ESG integrated.
” Having voted against every shareholder resolution brought by the investor coalition Climate Action 100+ through 2019 , Blackrock will now join it .
While these promises were praised by business journalists and even some climate groups , climate campaigners who had been tracking the firm were more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of sustainability measures BlackRock claims to be adopting , it will still be free to continue being a major investor in both fossil fuels and deforestation .
A corrective , says AmazonWatch ’ s Moira Birss , is pretty simple : “ Make fossil-free and deforestation-free the default .
Right now , if you are a BlackRock client , the thing they ’ re offering you is full of climate-destroying companies .
That ’ s a decision by BlackRock to make climate-destroying companies part of its default offering .
It could make the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is part of a coalition of green groups and corporate campaigners called BlackRock ’ s Big Problem , which since 2018 has drawn attention to the firm ’ s investments in companies fueling climate destruction through fossil fuels and deforestation .
Working in partnership with Indigenous tribes in South America , AmazonWatch found in a 2019 report that BlackRock was one of the top investors in the agribusiness firms responsible for deforestation in the Amazon , with over $ 2.5 billion worth of shares of those companies .
Under pressure , BlackRock has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around deforestation and Indigenous rights , but tribes say they ’ ve seen few results .
Luiz Eloy , a member of the Terena people and a lawyer with the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil , said in an email that BlackRock has “ changed absolutely nothing to alter its investment strategy , which pours money into the very companies that brutalize us and take down forests on an industrial scale .
Talk means nothing to us , not after so many of us have died and lost our homes .
”

Now, Gelzinis said, “Trump administration officials have basically proposed BlackRock’s approach to financial oversight.” The rules governing BlackRock have gotten even more lax just since the pandemic began. Until recently, PNC Bank held a 22 percent share in BlackRock, making the latter subject to some of the same oversight as banks; since PNC sold those shares off at the end of May, however, those rules will no longer apply. BlackRock will now face even less sunlight than it has before. Representatives Katie Porter and Jesús “Chuy” García recently introduced a bill attempting to rein in BlackRock and other so-called shadow banks, though it has yet to pick up much steam amid Covid-19 and an ongoing uprising for racial justice.
As BlackRock has ballooned, the gargantuan asset manager has curated an image as the kinder, gentler face of Wall Street, simply stewarding the money of retirees the world over. Fink, the CEO, emphasizes “stakeholders” over shareholders while being more outspoken than his peers on a host of matters—climate change chief among them. In advance of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, in January (and after BlackRock was singled out for criticism by climate activists), Fink’s hotly anticipated annual letter to CEOs and other clients—signed by its full board of directors—urged a new path toward a more “accountable and transparent capitalism” that takes the threat of rising temperatures seriously. The rhetoric came with a host of pledges: By the end of this year, Fink promised, BlackRock will stop its actively managed funds from investing in companies that get 25 percent or more of their revenue from coal operations, enhance transparency over how it votes in shareholder meetings, create investment products that screen for fossil fuels, ask companies how they plan to navigate the climate crisis, expand its offerings of products screened for Environmental Social and Governance, and make all of its actively managed funds “ESG integrated.” Having voted against every shareholder resolution brought by the investor coalition Climate Action 100+ through 2019, Blackrock will now join it.
While these promises were praised by business journalists and even some climate groups, climate campaigners who had been tracking the firm were more skeptical. Even under the long list of sustainability measures BlackRock claims to be adopting, it will still be free to continue being a major investor in both fossil fuels and deforestation. A corrective, says AmazonWatch’s Moira Birss, is pretty simple: “Make fossil-free and deforestation-free the default. Right now, if you are a BlackRock client, the thing they’re offering you is full of climate-destroying companies. That’s a decision by BlackRock to make climate-destroying companies part of its default offering. It could make the decision to do the opposite.”


newrepublic--2020-06-27--America Has a Secret Police Problem

America Has a Secret Police Problem

Americans in other cities faced similar experiences over the past few weeks .
In New York City , protesters and journalists noted that many NYPD officers had placed black bands of mourning around their badges , which conveniently obscured their badge numbers .
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea had announced in April that officers would be wearing the black bands in memory of the NYPD officers who had died of Covid-19 .
But as The Intercept reported earlier this month , the department ’ s policies forbid officers from using them or other means to hide their numbers , thereby making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responsible for misconduct and abuse .
A certain amount of secrecy in law enforcement is expected when conducting investigations .
It can even help protect Americans ’ rights instead of violate them .
Thanks to police unions and friendly legislators , however , it ’ s all too often a means to provide impunity .
ProPublica ’ s Eric Umansky recently wrote about how he witnessed an unmarked NYPD car roll up into his Brooklyn neighborhood , where it hit a black teenager ; the officers involved in the collision then jumped out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of black kids for no apparent reason .
Umansky , in an attempt to report out the incident , kept in touch with the families of the kids involved in the incident as they entered a labyrinth of silence .
The NYPD released their children without paperwork or the names of the officers involved and ignored Umansky ’ s requests for clarification about what happened .
While the city has a civilian oversight board , the department controls its access to body-cam footage and certain records .
New York took one recent step @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known as 50-a , which shielded police misconduct records from the public .
Similar measures exist in jurisdictions across the United States .
Chicago ’ s police union contracts , for example , include language that require the department to destroy police disciplinary records after five years .
The Chicago Police Department duly complied until federal judges began halting the practice in 1991 because of litigation .
A Justice Department report in 2017 found that the CPD ’ s policy “ not only may impair the investigation of older misconduct , but also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ documentation that will assist in monitoring historical patterns of misconduct.
” Earlier this month , the Illinois Supreme Court rejected a bid by the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police to enforce the provision .
Police unions in other cities often negotiate similar provisions , which can make it impossible to establish individual misconduct rates or citywide trends .
( Chicago ’ s police , by the way , famously operated an off-the-books interrogation black site that was finally exposed by The Guardian ’ s Spencer Ackerman in 2015 . )
Sometimes police secrecy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ At the federal level , the FBI compiles the nation ’ s crime rates from data provided by roughly 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the country .
The Bureau of Justice Statistics tracks a variety of other metrics about the criminal justice system : the demographics of America ’ s incarcerated population , rates of prison rape , deaths of law enforcement officers , and so on .
But other important numbers simply aren ’ t tracked .
There are no official statistics for fatal police shootings , for example , although The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2015 .
Centralized federal databases on use-of-force data , officer disciplinary reports , and other valuable information simply don ’ t exist .
What happens without that information ?
Earlier this week , The New York Times reported on how one New Jersey police officer , 31-year-old Ryan Dubiel , had worked for nine different police departments in the state , racking up complaints and concerns from superior officers , before he was arrested this month for pepper-spraying a group of black bystanders in the township of Woodlynne without justification .
In other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more tragic .
Timothy Loehmann , the former Cleveland officer who killed Tamir Rice in 2014 , had previously quit another department after superiors there raised concerns about him .
After Cleveland fired him in 2017 , a small Ohio town hired him as a part-time officer in 2018 , only to reverse course after public outrage .
Transparency isn ’ t a cure-all—and in some cases it isn ’ t even a cure at all .
Derek Chauvin , the Minneapolis officer charged with murdering George Floyd , received at least 17 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ career and suffered no apparent consequences for them .
City leaders are now moving toward disbanding the police department altogether .
While polls show that a majority of Americans aren ’ t willing to go quite that far , there ’ s a clear appetite for broader systemic reforms to American policing .
Shedding more sunlight on police departments and their practices is a very good place to start .
If not , police secrecy could risk turning our law enforcement agencies into the secret police that Americans rightly fear and despise in @ @ @

Americans in other cities faced similar experiences over the past few weeks. In New York City, protesters and journalists noted that many NYPD officers had placed black bands of mourning around their badges, which conveniently obscured their badge numbers. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea had announced in April that officers would be wearing the black bands in memory of the NYPD officers who had died of Covid-19. But as The Intercept reported earlier this month, the department’s policies forbid officers from using them or other means to hide their numbers, thereby making it far harder to discern who is responsible for misconduct and abuse.
A certain amount of secrecy in law enforcement is expected when conducting investigations. It can even help protect Americans’ rights instead of violate them. Thanks to police unions and friendly legislators, however, it’s all too often a means to provide impunity. ProPublica’s Eric Umansky recently wrote about how he witnessed an unmarked NYPD car roll up into his Brooklyn neighborhood, where it hit a black teenager; the officers involved in the collision then jumped out to question and arrest a nearby group of black kids for no apparent reason. Umansky, in an attempt to report out the incident, kept in touch with the families of the kids involved in the incident as they entered a labyrinth of silence. The NYPD released their children without paperwork or the names of the officers involved and ignored Umansky’s requests for clarification about what happened. While the city has a civilian oversight board, the department controls its access to body-cam footage and certain records.
New York took one recent step toward reform by repealing a state law known as 50-a, which shielded police misconduct records from the public. Similar measures exist in jurisdictions across the United States. Chicago’s police union contracts, for example, include language that require the department to destroy police disciplinary records after five years. The Chicago Police Department duly complied until federal judges began halting the practice in 1991 because of litigation. A Justice Department report in 2017 found that the CPD’s policy “not only may impair the investigation of older misconduct, but also deprives CPD of important discipline and personnel documentation that will assist in monitoring historical patterns of misconduct.” Earlier this month, the Illinois Supreme Court rejected a bid by the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police to enforce the provision. Police unions in other cities often negotiate similar provisions, which can make it impossible to establish individual misconduct rates or citywide trends. (Chicago’s police, by the way, famously operated an off-the-books interrogation black site that was finally exposed by The Guardian’s Spencer Ackerman in 2015.)


newrepublic--2020-06-29--The “Women’s Vote” Never Existed

The “Women’s Vote” Never Existed

Yet the broad migration of women to the Democrats is underlain by other demographic trends .
Specifically , this political turn has largely been driven by women of color—Black , Latina , Native American , and Asian American women , all of whom vote for Democrats at higher rates than their white counterparts and who , together , constitute one of the fastest-growing segments of the electorate .
In the 2018 Georgia governor ’ s race , for instance , Black women voters overwhelmingly backed Democrat Stacey Abrams , nearly propelling her to victory in a historically red state .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of white women voted for Republican Brian Kemp . )
A year earlier , in Alabama ’ s special election for the Senate , 98 percent of Black women voters in the state cast votes for Democrat Doug Jones , who won the seat .
At the same time , while Black women are the most consistent Democratic voting bloc , they unsurprisingly vote at lower rates when politicians don ’ t meaningfully engage them .
“ They take us for granted , ” California Representative Barbara Lee told NPR .
“ And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been up and down , up and down .
But for the most part , I don ’ t believe that—until now , at least—there ’ s been a recognition of the value of African American women , not only to the Democratic Party but to the country.
” You can observe a similar pattern among Latina and Asian women voters .
As the Center for American Progress has noted , 76 percent of Latinas and two-thirds of Asian women voted for Barack Obama in 2012 , compared to only 42 percent of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out to vote at lower rates than white women—the result of scant outreach from politicians and , in some cases , language barriers .
“ If Democrats don ’ t act , we predict nearly 60 percent of eligible Latino voters in battleground states will stay home , ” Stephanie Valencia , the co-founder of a group that studies Latino political participation , wrote in May of the upcoming election .
Women of color voters consistently cast ballots for Democrats , then , but whether they ’ ll be compelled to turn out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to adequately address their concerns is another matter entirely .
Around half of white women voters , on the other hand , regularly vote Republican .
That fact surfaced to some shock in the aftermath of the 2016 election , where exit polls found that around 53 percent of white women voters had supported Trump .
That was just a few points lower than the percentage of white women voters who had voted for Mitt Romney in the presidential election before .
As anti-abortion organizations like the SBA List and Phyllis Schlafly ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ women—and white women , in particular—have also played central roles in organizing for and around the right-wing causes that make up the so-called war on women .
( “ I would say , more often in American politics , women have been a conservative force rather than a liberal one , ” historian Jill Lepore told The New York Times in 2018 . )
In the minds of plenty of Democrats , the explanation for conservative women ’ s political ideologies is a kind of false consciousness : As former first lady Michelle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 2016 election , “ Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice.
” But it could also be the case that those women simply heard their voices elsewhere .
According to Melissa Deckman , a political scientist and author of the book Tea Party Women , women on the right frequently employ a type of gendered rhetoric to describe their political activity ; they describe themselves as acting as women and in the interests of women .
“ They talked about being mothers who didn ’ t want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and grandchildren , ” Deckman told me .
“ They felt the policies proposed by Obama and the federal government were usurping the role of family.
” It wasn ’ t a new sentiment for the right , but it was funneled through a brand of right-wing women ’ s empowerment .
But if that language sounds somewhat different from that used by feminists on the other side of the political spectrum , there are also overlaps that illuminate how politically expansive the idea of women ’ s representation can be .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the Tea Party during or after the 2008 election were inspired by Sarah Palin , who was then the governor of Alaska and John McCain ’ s running mate .
“ Sarah Palin was symbolic to a lot of white middle-class women because for the first time they saw someone who looked like them on the national stage , ” Deckman said .
“ She was pro-life , she was pro-gun , she was conservative , and she was very feminine.
” The women who gravitated toward Palin also felt that she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ media , and , in at least one case , they connected that to the media ’ s depiction of a different famous politician .
“ The way they treated Hillary is unforgivable , and then they did it to Sarah Palin , ” one Tea Party activist told Slate in 2010 .
Conservative women activists are predominantly white , and white grievance plays a clear role in their political organizing .
( Onetime Tea Party star Michele Bachmann , for instance , once groused that Obama ’ s immigration policies would lead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , foreign nationals coming into the United States who can ’ t speak the English language.
” ) While white women ’ s commitment to white supremacy at the expense of sisterhood emerged as the prevailing explanation for Trump ’ s victory with that demographic during the last election , even the concept of a “ white women ’ s vote ” unravels somewhat under closer inspection : 53 percent of white women is a majority , but it ’ s also just over half , which means that a not-insignificant number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump .
In fact , political scientist Theda Skocpol has found that middle-aged suburban white women— “ not a glamorous category , ” as she put it—ended up providing a substantial portion of the grassroots muscle behind the “ blue wave ” of the 2018 midterms .
According to Skocpol , around 2,000 decentralized groups of mostly suburban women ( and some men ) formed across the country in the wake of the 2016 election .
Galvanized by the election of Trump , these women were less interested in staking out specific policy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters for the midterms .
“ The major activity that these groups engaged in , in 2018 , was going out and canvassing , ” Skocpol told The New Republic .

What, exactly, counts as a women’s issue? In 1972, the activist Johnnie Tillmon famously argued in Ms. magazine that welfare was a women’s issue because the overwhelming majority of recipients were women with families, who were forced onto the program by poverty wages and then subject to sexist surveillance by both society and the state. “Survival. That’s why we had to go on welfare. And that’s why we can’t get off welfare now,” Tillmon wrote. “Not until we do something about liberating poor women in this country.” A few decades later, though, Hillary Clinton, a self-described champion for women and girls, would press for the dismantling of that very safety net. The ambiguity and built-in contradictions over what gets branded as a “women’s issue” or “good for women” has only multiplied since then: In recent years, advocates have claimed that both gun rights and gun control are women’s issues, as are both combating climate change and strengthening the fossil fuel industry. Becoming a successful capitalist is a women’s issue, but so is fighting them. And while Planned Parenthood operates on behalf of women, the Susan B. Anthony List—the anti-abortion PAC that’s pledged $52 million to Trump’s reelection—says that it does, too.
That’s to say that there are multiple and often incompatible ways of defining women’s interests that make it extremely difficult to sustain the notion of a coherent “women’s vote,” even (or perhaps especially) a hundred years after the franchise was extended to women nationwide. The early women’s suffrage movement itself contained several competing visions of what women’s political participation and womanhood itself meant. White suffragists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton notoriously juxtaposed their own cause with voting rights for Black men, and Anthony once declared, “I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work or demand the ballot for the Negro and not the woman.” On the other hand, the Black suffragists of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs—including Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, and Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin—fought for laws around lynching and other forms of racial violence in addition to the right to vote themselves. “White women were seeking the vote as a symbol of parity with their husbands and brothers,” The New York Times’ Brent Staples wrote in 2018. “Black women, most of whom lived in the South, were seeking the ballot for themselves and their men, as a means of empowering black communities besieged by the reign of racial terror that erupted after Emancipation.”


newrepublic--2020-06-29--It Will Take Years to Undo the Damage from Trump’s Environmental Rollback

Bolstered by the pandemic ’ s economic emergency , the EPA in March announced the agency would no longer be holding industry polluters to task for breaking pollution standards .
The administration has also in some instances denied requests to extend the public comment period on pending rules , which environmentalists say has led to a decrease in public input .
Critics argue it ’ s a purposeful tactic to speed up the process .
“ They ’ re using the epidemic to say EPA doesn ’ t have the resources in these troubled times for continuous enforcement , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environmental practice at the University of California , Davis School of Law .
“ But the validity or truth of that is belied by the fact that while it ’ s announced that they are shutting down most of their environment enforcement efforts , it ’ s still moving forward on all of these 11th-hour efforts to repeal or implement planned environmental rollbacks on natural resources and pollution controls.
” Some of this damage to environmental regulations will be easier to reverse under new leadership than others .
Executive orders enacted by Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to revert , as they can be deleted by a stroke of the next president ’ s pen .
( Wiping out the predecessor ’ s orders is common whenever the White House changes parties . )
Any regulations that are still in draft stage or need to go through a public comment period would likewise be easy to halt under a new administration , which could simply stop the process and uphold the current environmental regulations they were set to replace .
For finalized rules , like the repeal and replacement of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ options become murkier .
The Congressional Review Act , a tool used broadly by Trump in the early days of his administration , allows Congress to overturn a regulation or federal rule within 60 days of its finalization .
With that timeline , any rule completed after the end of May or early June could be axed if Democrats take control of the Senate and hold onto the House .
Rules finalized prior to that date , however , would have to be repealed or replaced under a much longer regulatory process that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public comment period , and then likely a lawsuit from the opposing party or corporations .
This mirrors the process gone through by the Trump administration , which has seen its policies repeatedly challenged in court by blue states and environmentalists .
“ It ’ s going to be the same difficulty that the Trump Administration has in promulgating awful rules .
We ’ ll have the same difficulties trying to overturn it .
If you look at the track record , Trump is losing close to 75 percent of these cases in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a former EPA staffer turned whistleblower who now works as the director of science policy at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility ( PEER ) .
“ That ’ s good news .
But the bad news is we are going to be suffering from the same slow-as-molasses justice system to overturn that thing.
” Some of the Trump administration ’ s defeats in court can be partly chalked up to the sloppy way it has tried to strike down regulations .
A number of final rules , like this year ’ s rule @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criticism for math that didn ’ t add up and basic spelling errors .
But any legal win and reversal by environmentalists or blue states won ’ t rectify damage that ’ s been done in the interim , argues Bennett .
She points to recent changes made to a provision of the Clean Water Act known as the Waters of the United States rule ( WOTUS ) , which shrinks the number of small waterways and wetlands eligible for federal protection .
The changes are being challenged in court by environmental groups @ @ @ @ @ @ @ judge refused to stay its implementation until the suit concludes .
The rule went into effect last week .
“ The two questions are , ‘ What can it take to reverse the old rules ?
’ and , ’ Can we come back from the damage that was done on the ground ?
’ Those are two separate questions , ” said Bennett , citing WOTUS .
“ The first answer is : It ’ s going to take years .
And we will have some permanent losses .
I think personally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never come back from .
”

For finalized rules, like the repeal and replacement of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, the options become murkier. The Congressional Review Act, a tool used broadly by Trump in the early days of his administration, allows Congress to overturn a regulation or federal rule within 60 days of its finalization. With that timeline, any rule completed after the end of May or early June could be axed if Democrats take control of the Senate and hold onto the House. Rules finalized prior to that date, however, would have to be repealed or replaced under a much longer regulatory process that involves months of legal analysis, a public comment period, and then likely a lawsuit from the opposing party or corporations. This mirrors the process gone through by the Trump administration, which has seen its policies repeatedly challenged in court by blue states and environmentalists.
“It’s going to be the same difficulty that the Trump administration has in promulgating awful rules. We’ll have the same difficulties trying to overturn it. If you look at the track record, Trump is losing close to 75 percent of these cases in court,” said Kyla Bennett, a former EPA staffer turned whistleblower who now works as the director of science policy at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “That’s good news. But the bad news is we are going to be suffering from the same slow-as-molasses justice system to overturn that thing.”
Some of the Trump administration’s defeats in court can be partly chalked up to the sloppy way it has tried to strike down regulations. A number of final rules, like this year’s rule on car emissions, have also faced criticism for math that didn’t add up and basic spelling errors.


newrepublic--2020-06-29--The Surprising Cross-Racial Saga of Modern Wealth Inequality

These trends in income distribution are significant in parsing the racial wealth gap because income distribution directly shapes the maldistribution of wealth across the races .
That has been the finding of another recent study published under the aegis of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland , which notes that the income gap seems to be the most important source of persistent black-white wealth inequality .
Researchers have long chronicled the great differences in accumulated wealth between African Americans and whites .
But they have been less successful in identifying the causes of those persistent differences .
They usually argue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ levels of income and education , it can ’ t be attributable to income disparities .
As a result , they look to noneconomic factors like neighborhood differences , family size , age , and direct or indirect discrimination .
But none of these inquiries really explains how those factors produce the great wealth inequalities .
In reality , the maldistribution of income across the races can supply a good part of the answer to this quandary .
Dionissi Aliprantis and his co-authors have estimated the effects that eliminating income inequality at a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ later trajectory of black wealth accumulation—and found them to be significant .
They took this approach because incentives for saving and opportunities for accumulating wealth vary over time and through the life cycle .
This means in turn that income differences at one point can have significant impact on wealth differences at a later time—a critical consideration , because wealth typically accumulates only gradually .
Aliprantis and his colleagues draw forth this critical point via predictions of what the current wealth gap would be like if income inequality had been eliminated in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ data forward from 1962 , they found the numbers matched up with current outcomes .
And in turn they projected that finding to estimate that , if current trends persist , it will take 259 years for black mean wealth to reach 90 percent of the white mean .
They then adjusted the model to assume that income equality had been attained in 1962 and to make similar projections from that base .
They found that , if median black and white incomes had been equalized in 1962 , by 2007 median black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of median white family wealth , nearly wiping out the racial wealth gap .
This key finding suggests strongly that the racial wealth gap ’ s ultimate source is the racial income gap—and therefore closing the income gap would be the most effective route to narrowing the wealth gap .
The right-wing panaceas of tax cuts and privatization count for little in redressing the black-white wealth gap , in other words ; policies that redistribute income downward will have the greatest direct effect on most African Americans ’ capacities to accumulate household or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vital lesson here for liberal economic reformers as well : Reversing the great concentration of income at the top that has occurred during the last half-century not only would benefit all working- and middle-class Americans but also would be especially beneficial to African Americans hoping at long last to overcome the economic legacies of discrimination .
This crucial insight should be at the center of revived efforts of substantive reform aimed at eliminating the wealth gap—and making the American socioeconomic hierarchy flatter and fairer across the board .
The path forward is to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serious enforcement of anti-discrimination law and related interventions .
By contrast , an interpretation of racialized economic disparities that places the wealth gap , in isolation , at the top of the agenda , has not and will not yield any such clear and concrete diagnosis .
Examinations of the racial wealth gap seldom do more than document the existence of statistical disparities—and are tellingly vague about their deeper causes .
“ Racism ” is an alternative to a concrete explanation ; it doesn ’ t tell us how inequalities are produced , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us a name by which we can group , and stigmatize , them .
Patterns of racial difference in outcomes can occur for many different reasons , some of them random .
Knowing what produces the truly ongoing and germane unequal outcomes behind the wealth gap is the only way we can hope ultimately to address and correct them .
What ’ s more , recognizing that racial economic inequality is in large part a product of 40 years or more of upward redistribution and intensifying concentration of income among the already wealthy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responses .
To eradicate the racial wealth gap , we need to link up the pursuit of justice and equality for African Americans to the broader campaign to bring justice and equality to all working Americans .

Aliprantis and his colleagues draw forth this critical point via predictions of what the current wealth gap would be like if income inequality had been eliminated in the 1960s. As they pivoted the actual data forward from 1962, they found the numbers matched up with current outcomes. And in turn they projected that finding to estimate that, if current trends persist, it will take 259 years for black mean wealth to reach 90 percent of the white mean. They then adjusted the model to assume that income equality had been attained in 1962 and to make similar projections from that base. They found that, if median black and white incomes had been equalized in 1962, by 2007 median black family wealth would have been 90 percent of median white family wealth, nearly wiping out the racial wealth gap.
This key finding suggests strongly that the racial wealth gap’s ultimate source is the racial income gap—and therefore closing the income gap would be the most effective route to narrowing the wealth gap. The right-wing panaceas of tax cuts and privatization count for little in redressing the black-white wealth gap, in other words; policies that redistribute income downward will have the greatest direct effect on most African Americans’ capacities to accumulate household or family wealth. There’s a vital lesson here for liberal economic reformers as well: Reversing the great concentration of income at the top that has occurred during the last half-century not only would benefit all working- and middle-class Americans but also would be especially beneficial to African Americans hoping at long last to overcome the economic legacies of discrimination.
This crucial insight should be at the center of revived efforts of substantive reform aimed at eliminating the wealth gap—and making the American socioeconomic hierarchy flatter and fairer across the board. The path forward is to pursue broadly redistributive policies, combined with serious enforcement of anti-discrimination law and related interventions. By contrast, an interpretation of racialized economic disparities that places the wealth gap, in isolation, at the top of the agenda, has not and will not yield any such clear and concrete diagnosis. Examinations of the racial wealth gap seldom do more than document the existence of statistical disparities—and are tellingly vague about their deeper causes.


newrepublic--2020-06-29--The Western Origins of the “Southern Strategy”

The strengthened Republicans greeted the alienated Southerners with open arms .
While there was no possibility of them actually becoming Republicans , they were perfectly willing to form a conservative coalition in Congress to block progressive legislation .
Harry Truman ’ s ascension to the presidency in 1945 created another crisis for the South .
Unlike Roosevelt—who mostly accommodated that region on racial issues—Truman acted , desegregating the military and the civil service , which had been segregated by Woodrow Wilson .
At the same time , Northern liberals like Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey were pushing the Democratic Party to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Southerners were outraged by Truman ’ s actions and hatched a plan to assure his defeat in 1948 by running a third-party presidential bid led by Senator Strom Thurmond , Democrat of South Carolina .
In what was expected to be a close race against Republican Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York , the loss of a couple of Southern states would likely doom Truman ’ s prospects , the insurgents thought .
Although Thurmond carried four states , Truman eked out an upset victory .
Not only that , Democrats recaptured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taken control of both in 1946 .
The bulk of new members were liberals from the North , eager to do something meaningful about civil rights .
Frustrating their efforts , however , were seniority rules that greatly benefited the Southerners .
Southern Democrats had largely escaped losses in the 1946 elections and thus gained considerable seniority , becoming chairmen of many important committees for the next several decades .
They also installed one of their own , Lyndon Johnson of Texas , as Senate majority leader in 1955 .
His principal job @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaving anyone ’ s fingerprints behind .
As all of this was happening , the dynamics within the Republican Party were changing in ways that made it even more accommodating to Southern conservatives .
The key was the rise of the West and its increasing political power as the population of Western states skyrocketed after World War II .
Unlike Eastern Republicans , whose history was defined by opposition to slavery , Western Republicans had long held racial views toward Asians and Native Americans similar to those of Southern Democrats toward African Americans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stanford of California had this to say in his 1862 Inaugural Address : To my mind it is clear , that the settlement among us of an inferior race is to be discouraged , by every legitimate means .
Asia , with her numberless millions , sends to our shores the dregs of her population.… There can be no doubt but that the presence of numbers among us of a degraded and distinct people must exercise a deleterious influence upon the superior race , and , to a certain extent , repel desirable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pleasure to concur with the Legislature in any constitutional action , having for its object the repression of the immigration of the Asiatic races .
Discrimination against Asians culminated in enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 under Republican President Chester A. Arthur , which formed the basis for all subsequent efforts to restrict immigration based on race and ethnicity .
The 1888 Republican platform , in fact , said this was just the first step : “ We declare our hostility to the introduction into this country of foreign contract labor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our civilization and constitution ; and we demand the rigid enforcement of the existing laws against it , and favor such immediate legislation as will exclude such labor from our shores .
”

Unlike Eastern Republicans, whose history was defined by opposition to slavery, Western Republicans had long held racial views toward Asians and Native Americans similar to those of Southern Democrats toward African Americans. For example, Republican Governor Leland Stanford of California had this to say in his 1862 Inaugural Address:
To my mind it is clear, that the settlement among us of an inferior race is to be discouraged, by every legitimate means. Asia, with her numberless millions, sends to our shores the dregs of her population.… There can be no doubt but that the presence of numbers among us of a degraded and distinct people must exercise a deleterious influence upon the superior race, and, to a certain extent, repel desirable immigration. It will afford me great pleasure to concur with the Legislature in any constitutional action, having for its object the repression of the immigration of the Asiatic races.
Discrimination against Asians culminated in enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 under Republican President Chester A. Arthur, which formed the basis for all subsequent efforts to restrict immigration based on race and ethnicity. The 1888 Republican platform, in fact, said this was just the first step: “We declare our hostility to the introduction into this country of foreign contract labor and of Chinese labor, alien to our civilization and constitution; and we demand the rigid enforcement of the existing laws against it, and favor such immediate legislation as will exclude such labor from our shores.”
Thus by 1890, “the West had an ideology more in common with that of the South than that of the North,” Richardson writes.


newrepublic--2020-06-29--The Hidden Racism of Vaccine Testing

The Hidden Racism of Vaccine Testing

In Adverse Events , Fisher reports her discoveries traveling across the U.S. to go inside the “ hidden world ” of Phase I testing facilities .
Fisher interviewed more than 200 healthy human subjects in Phase I trials and the staff who managed , castigated , and cared for them in six facilities evenly distributed across the East Coast , Midwest , and West Coast .
She hung out for days or weeks in the facilities , which she and her interviewees described at different points as prisons , frat houses , and quirky cruise ships , depending on your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a clinic with no kitchen , Jackass on TV ) .
Either way , you could not easily get out .
Phase I testing clinics are often lock-in , windowless , residential clinics .
At security screening , along with outside food and illicit toiletries , staff confiscate anything with a camera .
Think airport security , but worse .
Phase I testing is a liability nightmare .
It is little surprise , then , that companies that develop new drugs and vaccines rarely test the medicine themselves .
As with the vaccine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contracts out to other companies to do the testing .
These private contractors are companies dedicated to running clinical trials , and many exclusively run the most profitable Phase I trials .
Some are academic centers that take contracts from drug developers to make ends meet , itself a sad comment on the state of health care and health education in the U.S. “ Phase I trials can be read as protocols designed to produce harm in healthy volunteers in order to document investigational drugs ’ safety profile , ” Fisher writes .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ are euphemistically referred to as “ adverse events , ” the phrase Fisher , with one eyebrow raised , takes for the title of her book .
When she talked to people , she found that those who identified as White were most likely serving in their first trial .
Few would do it more than a time or two .
Yet the people who had served in more than five studies typically identified as Black .
Several people had served in more than 50 trials .
All of them were Black men @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had served in more than 100 trials .
There is an important difference between the life circumstances of occasional human subjects and those of serial participants .
Unlike the ( predominantly White ) people who serve in Phase I trials once or maybe a few times , serial participants are dealing with multiple , reinforcing life disadvantages .
They may be unemployed or in debt , or have a prison record or a low level of education .
There is not a perfect correlation between race and serial participation .
Nonetheless , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Black people are unusually and unjustly more likely than White people to face any given disadvantage because of racism in education , employment , health care , and criminal justice , as the ongoing call for Black lives to matter is showing right now .
Adverse life events , as Fisher puts it , expose people unevenly to adverse health events .
These “ serial participants ” work a grueling circuit .
They load up their cars , which for some double as their homes , and drive to testing facilities with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with each other and develop preferences for the more luxe facilities .
They learn to be selective about studies .
( To be avoided : lumbar punctures . )
Some think of starting a union .
But a union would expose a gig economy that reproduces its labor force by keeping people in “ persistent economic insecurity.
” In this corrupt economy , the pharmaceutical industry is the culprit and the U.S. government , through craven regulation , is its alibi .
In the waning days of the Obama administration , the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ research on human subjects .
It was the first substantial update to the rules in 40 years and came after six years of work between experts , industry , and the public .
The proposed rules had originally extended regulations to privately funded clinical trials , which had been able to slip the golden handcuffs of federal funding that forced most trials also to follow federal rules .
By extending the regulations , privately funded trials would have been required to have readable consent forms , to have basic accountability for how contractors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to federal audits .
Cowering from industry pushback , the federal government ultimately decided not to extend regulations to private industry , saying that the problem of “ unregulated clinical trials would benefit from further deliberation.
” Unlike the Covid-19 vaccine trials , there are few heroics in the studies Fisher describes .
Serial participants actively work to keep their involvement secret among their intimates .
Long-term relationships are already hard to maintain and participants ’ secrecy is a beacon of the shame that the industry reinforces .
“ If healthy volunteers believe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Phase I trials , subpar facilities , in which they are made to feel as though they were in jail or less than human , might just confirm this belief , ” Fisher writes .
Though the style and upkeep of the facilities varied substantially , the list of building types has a brutal clarity : “ former warehouse , ” “ former factory , ” “ suite in an office park.
” Staff “ fine ” participants for infractions during studies—being minutes late for a blood draw , for example—which reduces their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of people willing to earn any money in its next trial , the industry has little incentive to improve its facilities or up its stipends .

In Adverse Events, Fisher reports her discoveries traveling across the U.S. to go inside the “hidden world” of Phase I testing facilities. Fisher interviewed more than 200 healthy human subjects in Phase I trials and the staff who managed, castigated, and cared for them in six facilities evenly distributed across the East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast. She hung out for days or weeks in the facilities, which she and her interviewees described at different points as prisons, frat houses, and quirky cruise ships, depending on your tastes (meals catered by IHOP in a clinic with no kitchen, Jackass on TV). Either way, you could not easily get out. Phase I testing clinics are often lock-in, windowless, residential clinics. At security screening, along with outside food and illicit toiletries, staff confiscate anything with a camera. Think airport security, but worse.
Phase I testing clinics are often lock-in, windowless, residential clinics. At security screening, staff confiscate anything with a camera. Think airport security, but worse.
Phase I testing is a liability nightmare. It is little surprise, then, that companies that develop new drugs and vaccines rarely test the medicine themselves. As with the vaccine for Covid-19, the pharmaceutical company typically contracts out to other companies to do the testing. These private contractors are companies dedicated to running clinical trials, and many exclusively run the most profitable Phase I trials. Some are academic centers that take contracts from drug developers to make ends meet, itself a sad comment on the state of health care and health education in the U.S.
“Phase I trials can be read as protocols designed to produce harm in healthy volunteers in order to document investigational drugs’ safety profile,” Fisher writes. In the trials industry, these harms are euphemistically referred to as “adverse events,” the phrase Fisher, with one eyebrow raised, takes for the title of her book. When she talked to people, she found that those who identified as White were most likely serving in their first trial. Few would do it more than a time or two. Yet the people who had served in more than five studies typically identified as Black. Several people had served in more than 50 trials. All of them were Black men. One African American man estimated he had served in more than 100 trials.


newrepublic--2020-07-01--A Satire That Demolishes the Influencer Industry

This is of course bullshit , as Maren knows .
The brains behind the operation , Maren pities Devin but is in thrall to her own problems , drinking wine by the case and easing her raging insecurity by working all day .
Richual is not just a startup , it ’ s a community , the branding says .
But actually , it is a startup , and while Devin is at Soulcycle , Maren is crunching the numbers .
If Maren is the swan ’ s frantically paddling feet , Devin is the graceful part of the bird @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or that Moon Juice lady we all love to hate , the Richual business is aimed straight at women ’ s hearts .
“ Richual asked , ” Maren recalls , “ when ’ s the last time you put yourself first ?
” The Richual aficionados use it as a “ digital sanctuary ” that runs on pain and competition .
Devin posts pictures of her hot skinny body ( she has an eating disorder ) to inspire the masses to cleanse their guts .
App functions let you “ track your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and REM sleep and macros and upcoming Mercury retrogrades and see who among your friends was best at prioritizing # metime , based on how many hours a day they spent on the app.
” The company ’ s revenue comes from brands that offer relief , via “ serums and creams , juices and dusts , clays and scrubs , drugs and masks , oils and enemas , scraping and purging , vaping and waxing , lifting and lengthening , straightening and defining , detox and retox , the cycle of life.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ by her publisher , Stein describes the moment in 2017 that this particular paradox came to the cultural fore .
After Trump ’ s election , there was both “ outrage and disbelief on the left … and a call to practice self-care when you needed a break from the 24/7 outrage that was your civic duty.
” Companies “ capitalized on self-care as a marketing strategy ” with shocking speed .
This isn ’ t a new observation , though it feels new for fiction .
Stein ’ s light touch keeps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ subject of sexual assault comes up , things darken .
Although Self Care is a mite too short to do justice to its subject matter , Stein throws a classic accusation of abuse at one of Richual ’ s most important investors .
Devin doesn ’ t believe it , since she herself has been sleeping with the investor .
As Doreen St. Felix wrote this week in a review of I May Destroy You , some of the most interesting narratives around rape written by young women today investigate the perils and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ media invites us to spin our stories of triumph over adversity into # content .
Richual is another example of the personal being made commercial .
As with so many supposedly feminist capitalist ventures , the vulnerabilities of its own charismatic founders render it brittle .
Stein said that she was inspired by “ what happened in 2017 , when the actress Aurora Perrineau made sexual assault allegations against Murray Miller , a writer on the TV show Girls , and Lena Dunham and her partner Jenni Konner initially defended Miller.
” ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over again , Richual ’ s real-life analogs ( or their financial backers ) have staked their reputations on the public image of their founders ( Audrey Gelman and The Wing , Dunham and Girls , Amanda Chantal Bacon and Moon Juice ) in a way that all but guarantees failure , since an individual will never be able to satisfy every consumer with their life choices .
Since so many of those companies have faced accusations of racism , Self Care almost by necessity deals with race in Khadijah ’ s sections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ compensating Khadijah , the company ’ s first hire , fairly , and once tried to give her 5 percent of Richual “ as reparations.
” ( Devin talked her down to 2.5 percent . )
Despite all their public “ badassery ” around protecting women , neither Maren nor Devin can find a minute to listen to Khadijah ’ s actual problems , which build over the course of the novel until we can not but wish she would walk out the door with a match thrown over her shoulder , like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and class are the issues that prove Devin and Maren are not fit company executives .
“ I agreed that I was white , ” Devin thinks in one of her chapters , “ but I didn ’ t feel as bad about it as Maren did.
” She compliments Khadijah ’ s skin rapturously , but also “ was confused about whether I was supposed to let Khadijah know that I knew she was black or if I was supposed to pretend that her blackness never crossed my mind.
” This kind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of microaggressions .
Everybody at the Richual office calls each other babe , Khadijah notes , but she was “ only ever Khadijah.
” Amid all this multivalent offensiveness , Stein throws in some stark truths , like the fact that all this controversy might , in the long term , be good for the paradigmatically canceled feminist founder .
On a very early page , Maren observes , “ The worse it gets—I mean the more women who are outraged and terrified and suffering—the more our user base grows .
The more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flits around themes from friendship to rape to eating disorders , it is ultimately a story about rapacious capitalism .

Stein’s light touch keeps her tone sparkly, but when the subject of sexual assault comes up, things darken. Although Self Care is a mite too short to do justice to its subject matter, Stein throws a classic accusation of abuse at one of Richual’s most important investors. Devin doesn’t believe it, since she herself has been sleeping with the investor. As Doreen St. Felix wrote this week in a review of I May Destroy You, some of the most interesting narratives around rape written by young women today investigate the perils and luxuries of victimhood and the ways social media invites us to spin our stories of triumph over adversity into #content.
Richual is another example of the personal being made commercial. As with so many supposedly feminist capitalist ventures, the vulnerabilities of its own charismatic founders render it brittle. Stein said that she was inspired by “what happened in 2017, when the actress Aurora Perrineau made sexual assault allegations against Murray Miller, a writer on the TV show Girls, and Lena Dunham and her partner Jenni Konner initially defended Miller.” (They later apologized.) Over and over again, Richual’s real-life analogs (or their financial backers) have staked their reputations on the public image of their founders (Audrey Gelman and The Wing, Dunham and Girls, Amanda Chantal Bacon and Moon Juice) in a way that all but guarantees failure, since an individual will never be able to satisfy every consumer with their life choices.
Since so many of those companies have faced accusations of racism, Self Care almost by necessity deals with race in Khadijah’s sections. Maren has always been concerned about compensating Khadijah, the company’s first hire, fairly, and once tried to give her 5 percent of Richual “as reparations.” (Devin talked her down to 2.5 percent.) Despite all their public “badassery” around protecting women, neither Maren nor Devin can find a minute to listen to Khadijah’s actual problems, which build over the course of the novel until we cannot but wish she would walk out the door with a match thrown over her shoulder, like Bernadine in Waiting to Exhale.