thenation--2020-06-25--Senate Candidate Andrew Romanoff’s Campaign for Climate Justice

Starting with a declaration that “ we have a choice : a once or perhaps last in a lifetime chance to rescue the world we know , ” Andrew Romanoff has framed his bid for Colorado ’ s Democratic US Senate nomination around a climate justice message that rejects the failed vision of “ tired politicians [ who ] tell us to lower our sights , to curb our ambitions , to settle for the status quo.
” Romanoff has been blunt , calling out cautious Democrats like his primary rival , former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper , for their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to recognize the political potency of climate activism .
Speaking of political insiders who pull their punches on the issue , the former speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives said last December , “ They badly underestimate the urgency of this moment and the power of our persistence.
” With little money , little support from D.C. insiders , and little media attention , Romanoff persisted in his primary run .
Now , as the primary approaches , it appears that the power of his progressive message may have been underestimated by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entered the Senate race only after crashing and burning as a corporate-friendly centrist presidential contender who attacked progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren , is still identified as the front-runner in the contest to pick an opponent for vulnerable Republican Senator Cory Gardner .
But the margins are narrowing , as headlines announce : “ Hickenlooper stumbles in must-win Senate race for Democrats , ” “ ‘ A hot mess ’ : Hickenlooper stumbles into Democratic primary , ” and “ Andrew Romanoff is closing the gap after John Hickenlooper ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ About Movements—and It ’ s Winning Charles Booker Is Determined to Fight Voter Suppression in Kentucky Charles Booker Is the Democrat With the Best Chance of Beating Mitch McConnell Like Kentucky insurgent Charles Booker , who gained traction in the final weeks before the June 23 Kentucky Democratic primary—votes are still being counted—Romanoff is rising in the final days before the June 30 Colorado primary .
The former legislator is doing so as a candidate who speaks with a sense of urgency about the need to go big for structural change , telling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of time to rescue our planet , repair our democracy , and restore the American Dream.
” In Colorado , where environmental issues are an especially big deal , Romanoff has run the sort of campaign that Democrats everywhere should be studying for ideas about how to approach climate issues .
As part of a broad progressive agenda that focuses on economic , social , and racial justice , the former legislator begins his list of priorities with a pledge to “ combat the climate crisis ” framed around support for “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fuel with renewable energy.
” Romanoff embraces the vision advanced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey—championing what he describes as “ an ambitious set of national goals : cut in half the total greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors , including transportation , industry , and buildings by 2030 ; replace fracked gas , coal , and other fossil fuels with enough clean energy to meet all of our electricity needs by 2035 ; and reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
” But the Coloradan goes further , explaining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there , we need to : • Place a comprehensive and effective price on carbon to account for the immense costs to our environment and public health .
• Strengthen energy efficiency and emissions standards in order to make all new homes , buildings , and vehicles carbon-free .
• Accelerate the research , development , and implementation of clean-energy infrastructure and energy efficiency improvements .
• Prioritize our clean-energy transition in the frontline communities that suffer most from toxic pollutants .
• Invest in workforce development and training , aiding workers displaced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
• Prohibit new fossil fuel extraction on public lands and offshore .
• Ban all fracking and end the construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure .
• Upgrade the power grid to deliver energy more efficiently ; to facilitate the use of more wind , solar , and other renewable energy sources ; and to withstand the damage inflicted by the climate crisis .
• Strengthen public health protections and the enforcement of air , land , and water safeguards , including the monitoring and reporting of emissions and waste storage and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use in federal operations .
• Expand our public transportation network to reduce congestion and pollution and improve safety and access .
This bet on a comprehensive approach has earned Romanoff strong support from the Sunrise Movement , which late last year made the Coloradan their first endorsement of a Senate challenger in the 2020 cycle .
At the time , Sunrise ’ s Stephen O ’ Hanlon said : Hickenlooper and Gardner are both in cahoots with the billionaires who got us into this mess.… Nearly all the Democratic presidential candidates signed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but Hickenlooper—who used to work for Buckhorn Petroleum—was one of three who refused .
Young people refuse to settle for a dangerous candidate who is more concerned with fossil fuel profits than our health and safety .
Romanoff is the right candidate to defeat Cory Gardner , and that ’ s why we ’ re launching an ambitious field program to elect him .
As the race has progressed , the argument that Romanoff is the right candidate has gained steam .
Noting a series of stumbles by the failed presidential contender in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Politico explained this week : The Sunrise Movement activists , who have played a critical role in boosting the campaigns of Booker in Kentucky and congressional candidates such as New York ’ s Jamaal Bowman , have seized on that last stumble .
Now they are ramping up a final push for Romanoff : For his part , Romanoff says he is closing the gap because of both Hickenlooper ’ s fumbles and the appeal of his “ bold progressive call for climate action.
” He ’ s also playing up the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ backing of DC Democrats—including , to the surprise of many , Elizabeth Warren—he has in-state support from grassroots activists and local elected officials .
“ It ’ s true we don ’ t have endorsements from D.C. , but we do have about 400 county commissioners , mayors and school board members and city council members and legislators who have endorsed my campaign , ” Romanoff explained this week on the Hill.TV program Rising .
“ So it ’ s turning into a contest between Colorado and Washington.
” It ’ s also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in compromise mode and those who recognize that “ America can and should lead the way by enacting a Green New Deal .
”

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Starting with a declaration that “we have a choice: a once or perhaps last in a lifetime chance to rescue the world we know,” Andrew Romanoff has framed his bid for Colorado’s Democratic US Senate nomination around a climate justice message that rejects the failed vision of “tired politicians [who] tell us to lower our sights, to curb our ambitions, to settle for the status quo.”
Romanoff has been blunt, calling out cautious Democrats like his primary rival, former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, for their lack of moral clarity and their failure to recognize the political potency of climate activism. Speaking of political insiders who pull their punches on the issue, the former speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives said last December, “They badly underestimate the urgency of this moment and the power of our persistence.”
With little money, little support from D.C. insiders, and little media attention, Romanoff persisted in his primary run. Now, as the primary approaches, it appears that the power of his progressive message may have been underestimated by an over-confident rival.
Hickenlooper, who entered the Senate race only after crashing and burning as a corporate-friendly centrist presidential contender who attacked progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, is still identified as the front-runner in the contest to pick an opponent for vulnerable Republican Senator Cory Gardner. But the margins are narrowing, as headlines announce: “Hickenlooper stumbles in must-win Senate race for Democrats,” “‘A hot mess’: Hickenlooper stumbles into Democratic primary,” and “Andrew Romanoff is closing the gap after John Hickenlooper’s stumbles.” More From John Nichols A GOP Debate Without Trump Is the Definition of Pointlessness August 11, 2023 A Win for Abortion Rights, a Win for Democracy: Ohio Voters Reject Issue 1 August 9, 2023 The Biggest Threat to Donald Trump Could Be the Constitution Itself August 4, 2023
Like Kentucky insurgent Charles Booker, who gained traction in the final weeks before the June 23 Kentucky Democratic primary—votes are still being counted—Romanoff is rising in the final days before the June 30 Colorado primary. The former legislator is doing so as a candidate who speaks with a sense of urgency about the need to go big for structural change, telling voters, “We’re running out of time to rescue our planet, repair our democracy, and restore the American Dream.”
In Colorado, where environmental issues are an especially big deal, Romanoff has run the sort of campaign that Democrats everywhere should be studying for ideas about how to approach climate issues. As part of a broad progressive agenda that focuses on economic, social, and racial justice, the former legislator begins his list of priorities with a pledge to “combat the climate crisis” framed around support for “a Green New Deal to replace fossil fuel with renewable energy.” Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
Romanoff embraces the vision advanced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey—championing what he describes as “an ambitious set of national goals: cut in half the total greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors, including transportation, industry, and buildings by 2030; replace fracked gas, coal, and other fossil fuels with enough clean energy to meet all of our electricity needs by 2035; and reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.”
But the Coloradan goes further, explaining that “to get from here to there, we need to:
Place a comprehensive and effective price on carbon to account for the immense costs to our environment and public health.
End tax giveaways to fossil fuel companies.
Strengthen energy efficiency and emissions standards in order to make all new homes, buildings, and vehicles carbon-free.
Accelerate the research, development, and implementation of clean-energy infrastructure and energy efficiency improvements.
Prioritize our clean-energy transition in the frontline communities that suffer most from toxic pollutants.
Complete land and water reclamation projects.
Invest in workforce development and training, aiding workers displaced by the transition to a clean-energy economy.
Prohibit new fossil fuel extraction on public lands and offshore.
Ban all fracking and end the construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure.
Upgrade the power grid to deliver energy more efficiently; to facilitate the use of more wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources; and to withstand the damage inflicted by the climate crisis.
Strengthen public health protections and the enforcement of air, land, and water safeguards, including the monitoring and reporting of emissions and waste storage and disposal.
Phase out fossil fuel use in federal operations.
Expand our public transportation network to reduce congestion and pollution and improve safety and access.
This bet on a comprehensive approach has earned Romanoff strong support from the Sunrise Movement, which late last year made the Coloradan their first endorsement of a Senate challenger in the 2020 cycle. At the time, Sunrise’s Stephen O’Hanlon said:
Hickenlooper and Gardner are both in cahoots with the billionaires who got us into this mess.… Nearly all the Democratic presidential candidates signed the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge, but Hickenlooper—who used to work for Buckhorn Petroleum—was one of three who refused. Young people refuse to settle for a dangerous candidate who is more concerned with fossil fuel profits than our health and safety. Romanoff is the right candidate to defeat Cory Gardner, and that’s why we’re launching an ambitious field program to elect him.
As the race has progressed, the argument that Romanoff is the right candidate has gained steam.
Noting a series of stumbles by the failed presidential contender in the closing weeks of the Senate race, Politico explained this week:
After being cited for contempt this month for initially failing to appear before Colorado’s Independent Ethics Commission, Hickenlooper was fined $2,750 for two violations dating back to his second term as governor. He’s also apologized for comments about race, including responding to a question about the Black Lives Matter protests in a recent forum by saying the phrase means “every life matters,” echoing a common refrain among conservatives.
The Sunrise Movement activists, who have played a critical role in boosting the campaigns of Booker in Kentucky and congressional candidates such as New York’s Jamaal Bowman, have seized on that last stumble. Now they are ramping up a final push for Romanoff:
While Andrew is joining the Movement for Black Lives in the streets, John Hickenlooper is nowhere to be found. One of his only public appearances was at a debate where he said “Black Lives Matter means that every life matters.” For his whole career, he’s been out of touch with Colorado: he was one of the only Presidential candidates who didn’t sign the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge. As Denver Mayor he promoted a racist ‘broken windows’ policing policy. We deserve better.
For his part, Romanoff says he is closing the gap because of both Hickenlooper’s fumbles and the appeal of his “bold progressive call for climate action.” He’s also playing up the fact that while his opponent has the backing of DC Democrats—including, to the surprise of many, Elizabeth Warren—he has in-state support from grassroots activists and local elected officials.
“It’s true we don’t have endorsements from D.C., but we do have about 400 county commissioners, mayors and school board members and city council members and legislators who have endorsed my campaign,” Romanoff explained this week on the Hill.TV program Rising. “So it’s turning into a contest between Colorado and Washington.”
It’s also a contest between Democrats who are still in compromise mode and those who recognize that “America can and should lead the way by enacting a Green New Deal.”


thenation--2020-06-25--Let’s Stop Putting the Worst Americans on a Pedestal

So many monuments to racism , slavery , and colonialism have been toppled , removed , or slated for removal in the wake of the George Floyd protests that Wikipedia ’ s army of volunteer editors is keeping a running tally : Robert E. Lee , Jefferson Davis , and a slew of other Confederate generals and notable white supremacists and segregationists ; Frank Rizzo , the notoriously racist mayor ( “ Vote white ” ) of Philadelphia ; even symbolic figures like the Pioneer and Pioneer Mother , formerly of the University of Oregon in Eugene .
As I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statue of Theodore Roosevelt mounted on a horse and trailed by a Native American man and a black man on foot will be removed from the main entrance of New York ’ s Museum of Natural History .
Yesterday ’ s heroes are history ’ s villains .
That nice Pope Francis thought so well of Father Junípero Serra that he canonized him in 2015 , despite Native Americans ’ objections to Serra ’ s harsh and coercive missionary work .
He ’ s now the patron saint of California .
But protesters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tore down his statue .
As for Christopher Columbus—19 statues and counting—New York Governor Andrew Cuomo defended his presence in Manhattan ’ s Columbus Circle .
( It “ has come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian American contribution to New York , ” he said at a press conference . )
But I wouldn ’ t bet on Chris keeping his pedestal much longer .
Maybe Italian Americans could choose another compatriot , someone who brought joy to the world and didn ’ t massacre and enslave vast numbers of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In fact , there already is a Verdi Square just a few blocks from Columbus Circle .
( There ’ s a Dante Park nearby as well , which is tiny and not well publicized .
I ’ ve lived in New York all my life and found out about it only while researching this column . )
Italy ’ s contribution to the worlds of literature , art , music , science , and thought is so huge , every park in Manhattan could be renamed after world-famous , beloved Italians with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Maria Montessori Plaza .
Primo Levi Square .
History is large and contains multitudes .
There is no reason to cling to torturers , warlords , conquerors , and exploiters—and especially no reason to celebrate Confederate traitors who plunged the nation into civil war , in the aftermath of which we are in many ways still living .
Indeed , the posthumous reputation of the Confederacy proves the adage is wrong : It is not always the winners who write history .
The “ Lost Cause ” —a fantasy of the antebellum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ courtly soldiers , and happy slaves and of the war itself as a matter of “ states ’ rights , ” never specifying which rights were at issue—has set the popular narrative ever since Reconstruction .
It ’ s great that NASCAR is banning the Stars and Bars , but why did it take so long ?
And why did it take the horrible killing of George Floyd and the marching of hundreds of thousands of protesters daily for weeks to achieve what is , after all , a symbolic victory ?
Go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Then the System Too ) Symbols matter .
Aunt Jemima , Uncle Ben , Mrs. Butterworth , and the black chef on the Cream of Wheat box are the remnants of a once mighty flood of ads , logos , and household items depicting black people as happy cooks , servants , mammies , and comical children .
It is not possible to escape this history by slenderizing Aunt Jemima and giving her a modern hairstyle or by making Mrs. Butterworth ’ s bottle more abstract .
I ’ m glad the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Green , who was born into slavery , spoke out against poverty and , according to legend , became a millionaire , but that ’ s not a reason to keep the franchise going .
It ’ s 2020 !
Retiring these products is not “ political correctness ” ; it is the removal of a profound racial insult from our grocery stores and kitchen tables .
And if Eskimo Pies have to follow the Land O ’ Lakes Native American woman into oblivion , so be it .
What will it take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of our worst moments and our worst people ?
It ’ s easy enough to take down a statue or to change the name of a road .
( Looking at you , Virginia , home of Stonewall Jackson Highway and Lee Highway . )
But some names are so embedded in our history , our culture , and our maps that it ’ s hard to imagine eradicating them , even if we wanted to .
There are dozens of places named after Columbus—Columbus , Ohio ( and Indiana and Georgia and… @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Columbia River .
( To say nothing of Colombia , but fortunately that ’ s not our problem . )
There ’ s not much anyone can do about Serra ’ s sainthood ; canonization is forever .
( Still , Stanford University gets points for changing the name of Serra Mall , its main drag and postal address , to Jane Stanford Way , after the insufficiently acknowledged cofounder , with her husband , of the university . )
We do not lack for heroes , many of whom , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gotten their due .
( More will soon be added , but as of right now , in all of New York City there are only five public statues of women . )
Let ’ s get rid of the bad men on horses and honor instead those who have been neglected , famous or not .
We could start with Fort Bragg , Fort Benning , Fort Hood , and the other military bases named , bizarrely , after Confederate fighters and rechristen them after people who fought to save the republic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ artists and writers and poets ; surely Walt Whitman deserves something more inspiring than a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike .
We could tell a new American story by lifting up the people who worked to make us better , not worse—the radicals and freethinkers , progressive politicians , labor leaders , feminists , and fighters for racial equality and the liberty and justice for all to which our schoolchildren pledge .
Germany and Austria have gotten rid of all ( well , almost all ) of their place names honoring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are currently on a binge of naming things after women , whose role in those countries ’ histories has been startlingly overlooked .
But while we are toppling some statues and erecting others , let ’ s not forget to do the deeper work of combating injustice .
George Floyd didn ’ t die because Minneapolis lacked the right monuments .

This article appears in the July 13/20, 2020 issue.
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So many monuments to racism, slavery, and colonialism have been toppled, removed, or slated for removal in the wake of the George Floyd protests that Wikipedia’s army of volunteer editors is keeping a running tally: Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and a slew of other Confederate generals and notable white supremacists and segregationists; Frank Rizzo, the notoriously racist mayor (“Vote white”) of Philadelphia; even symbolic figures like the Pioneer and Pioneer Mother, formerly of the University of Oregon in Eugene. As I write, word comes that the embarrassing statue of Theodore Roosevelt mounted on a horse and trailed by a Native American man and a black man on foot will be removed from the main entrance of New York’s Museum of Natural History.
Yesterday’s heroes are history’s villains. That nice Pope Francis thought so well of Father Junípero Serra that he canonized him in 2015, despite Native Americans’ objections to Serra’s harsh and coercive missionary work. He’s now the patron saint of California. But protesters in San Francisco and Los Angeles recently tore down his statue. As for Christopher Columbus—19 statues and counting—New York Governor Andrew Cuomo defended his presence in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle. (It “has come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian American contribution to New York,” he said at a press conference.) But I wouldn’t bet on Chris keeping his pedestal much longer. Maybe Italian Americans could choose another compatriot, someone who brought joy to the world and didn’t massacre and enslave vast numbers of people. Like Verdi or Puccini.
In fact, there already is a Verdi Square just a few blocks from Columbus Circle. (There’s a Dante Park nearby as well, which is tiny and not well publicized. I’ve lived in New York all my life and found out about it only while researching this column.) Italy’s contribution to the worlds of literature, art, music, science, and thought is so huge, every park in Manhattan could be renamed after world-famous, beloved Italians with no trouble at all. Gramsci Triangle. Maria Montessori Plaza. Primo Levi Square.
History is large and contains multitudes. There is no reason to cling to torturers, warlords, conquerors, and exploiters—and especially no reason to celebrate Confederate traitors who plunged the nation into civil war, in the aftermath of which we are in many ways still living. Indeed, the posthumous reputation of the Confederacy proves the adage is wrong: It is not always the winners who write history. The “Lost Cause”—a fantasy of the antebellum South as all crinolines, magnolias, courtly soldiers, and happy slaves and of the war itself as a matter of “states’ rights,” never specifying which rights were at issue—has set the popular narrative ever since Reconstruction. It’s great that NASCAR is banning the Stars and Bars, but why did it take so long? And why did it take the horrible killing of George Floyd and the marching of hundreds of thousands of protesters daily for weeks to achieve what is, after all, a symbolic victory? False idols Go Ahead and Destroy That Racist Statue (and Then the System Too) Jillian Steinhauer
Symbols matter. Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, Mrs. Butterworth, and the black chef on the Cream of Wheat box are the remnants of a once mighty flood of ads, logos, and household items depicting black people as happy cooks, servants, mammies, and comical children. It is not possible to escape this history by slenderizing Aunt Jemima and giving her a modern hairstyle or by making Mrs. Butterworth’s bottle more abstract. I’m glad the original spokesperson for Aunt Jemima, Nancy Green, who was born into slavery, spoke out against poverty and, according to legend, became a millionaire, but that’s not a reason to keep the franchise going. It’s 2020! Retiring these products is not “political correctness”; it is the removal of a profound racial insult from our grocery stores and kitchen tables. And if Eskimo Pies have to follow the Land O’Lakes Native American woman into oblivion, so be it. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
What will it take to get rid of the widespread celebration of our worst moments and our worst people? It’s easy enough to take down a statue or to change the name of a road. (Looking at you, Virginia, home of Stonewall Jackson Highway and Lee Highway.) But some names are so embedded in our history, our culture, and our maps that it’s hard to imagine eradicating them, even if we wanted to. There are dozens of places named after Columbus—Columbus, Ohio (and Indiana and Georgia and… ). Columbia University, Columbia County, the Columbia River. (To say nothing of Colombia, but fortunately that’s not our problem.) There’s not much anyone can do about Serra’s sainthood; canonization is forever. (Still, Stanford University gets points for changing the name of Serra Mall, its main drag and postal address, to Jane Stanford Way, after the insufficiently acknowledged cofounder, with her husband, of the university.)
We do not lack for heroes, many of whom, being women and/or nonwhite, have never gotten their due. (More will soon be added, but as of right now, in all of New York City there are only five public statues of women.) Let’s get rid of the bad men on horses and honor instead those who have been neglected, famous or not. We could start with Fort Bragg, Fort Benning, Fort Hood, and the other military bases named, bizarrely, after Confederate fighters and rechristen them after people who fought to save the republic and end slavery. We could celebrate artists and writers and poets; surely Walt Whitman deserves something more inspiring than a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. We could tell a new American story by lifting up the people who worked to make us better, not worse—the radicals and freethinkers, progressive politicians, labor leaders, feminists, and fighters for racial equality and the liberty and justice for all to which our schoolchildren pledge. Germany and Austria have gotten rid of all (well, almost all) of their place names honoring Nazis and anti-Semites, and some municipalities are currently on a binge of naming things after women, whose role in those countries’ histories has been startlingly overlooked.
But while we are toppling some statues and erecting others, let’s not forget to do the deeper work of combating injustice. George Floyd didn’t die because Minneapolis lacked the right monuments.


thenation--2020-06-26--‘I Got Nicer Everything,’ Says Man Who Ruins All He Touches

The Signal : The Covid-19 epidemic is rampaging anew , with more than 30,000 new cases being diagnosed every day .
Hospitals in Houston and other major cities in Texas are on the verge of being swamped with patients .
Many Trumpland states whose conservative leaders embraced Trump ’ s plans to reopen their economies—before public-health thresholds were met—are now seeing huge spikes in infections .
Another 1.48 million Americans just filed for unemployment , and the stock market is once more heading south , as awareness of the severity of this new chapter takes hold there .
No other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America ’ s infection rate as a percentage of its population .
The director of the US Centers for Disease Control is so distraught that he reported to Congress this week that the virus had “ brought this nation to its knees.
” Not surprisingly , the European Union—where some member states are starting to reopen to tourism—is on the verge of barring American travelers because of this .
The United States under Trump has become radioactive .
There ’ s no sign that Trump will respond to any of this with sensible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arsenal at this point consists of Noise , Noise , and still more Noise .
He ’ ll likely rant and rage , try to punish the EU with tariffs , and perhaps strut out of NATO in a huff—all while continuing to blame high infection numbers on an increase in testing .
The Arena Was Half Empty .
Trump Was Still Full of It .
Trump thinks that if he just talks big enough , the virus will magically dissipate .
So he ’ ll keep on holding ill-advised , indoor rallies—even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and their families and neighbors , to pick up the disease .
The Secret Service agents who guard him already had to self-quarantine after the Tulsa rally .
They had been forced to work at an event where Trump bragged about being more attractive than Democrats : “ Much more handsome .
Got better hair than they do .
I got nicer properties .
I got nicer houses .
I got nicer apartments .
I got nicer everything.
” A few days after that rally , Trump was at it again , this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of how he deals with journalists he doesn ’ t like : “ I get interviewed by people , and I ’ m sitting the other day in the Oval Office , and I didn ’ t like the tone .
And I said , ‘ You know , it ’ s really nice because I ’ m here and you ’ re not . '
” Seriously : Who in hell—over the age of , say , 6—talks this way ?
This man ’ s insecurity knows no limits .
He can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the applause of unthinking acolytes , as he recycles one tired old MAGA catchphrase after another .
Remember that line in the film Sunset Boulevard that sums up all the psychological needs and angst of a has-been entertainer , unable to graciously leave the stage ?
All right , Mr. DeMille , I ’ m ready for my close-up .
And so , while our modern-day Rome burns , this self-absorbed old man will continue to waste government resources on nonsense—such as ordering US marshals to protect Confederate statues , and threatening those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years behind bars .
This is the same person whose lackeys have put their thumbs on the scale to ensure that serious criminals such as Michael Flynn and Roger Stone escape the full force of the law .
He will continue to use the public health crisis as an excuse to lock out more and more immigrants and push white nationalism .
Just this past week , he suspended the issuance of most H-1B visas and made it all but impossible for spouses of temporary workers to come into the country .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seekers—who were then dealt another blow by the Supreme Court yesterday .
He will also continue to allege that his awful poll numbers are rigged and rage against voting by mail , even while conservative states are busy shuttering in-person polling booths in large , more liberal , cities with high numbers of African American voters .
Witness the shame of Louisville , Ky. , where the entire city had only one polling station open for primaries this week .
Hundreds of people in line to vote were then locked out of that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 6 pm .
( A judge subsequently ordered extra time for them to be able to cast ballots . )
The only good news coming out of this is that most of the American public isn ’ t buying what Trump ’ s selling .
This week , Trump was brutally trolled in a couple of ads—both of them visual and auditory gut-punches—from the Lincoln Project , a group of Republicans opposed to his presidency .
He was also the subject of withering commentary from Steve Schmidt , John McCain ’ s campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ why Trump is an “ imbecile , an idiot.
” Now that is Noise worth listening to .

The Signal: The Covid-19 epidemic is rampaging anew, with more than 30,000 new cases being diagnosed every day. Hospitals in Houston and other major cities in Texas are on the verge of being swamped with patients. Many Trumpland states whose conservative leaders embraced Trump’s plans to reopen their economies—before public-health thresholds were met—are now seeing huge spikes in infections. Another 1.48 million Americans just filed for unemployment, and the stock market is once more heading south, as awareness of the severity of this new chapter takes hold there.
No other first-world country on earth comes close to America’s infection rate as a percentage of its population. The director of the US Centers for Disease Control is so distraught that he reported to Congress this week that the virus had “brought this nation to its knees.” Not surprisingly, the European Union—where some member states are starting to reopen to tourism—is on the verge of barring American travelers because of this. The United States under Trump has become radioactive.
There’s no sign that Trump will respond to any of this with sensible public health strategies. His entire tactical arsenal at this point consists of Noise, Noise, and still more Noise.
He’ll likely rant and rage, try to punish the EU with tariffs, and perhaps strut out of NATO in a huff—all while continuing to blame high infection numbers on an increase in testing. Related Article The Arena Was Half Empty. Trump Was Still Full of It. Sasha Abramsky
Trump thinks that if he just talks big enough, the virus will magically dissipate. So he’ll keep on holding ill-advised, indoor rallies—even if those rallies cause his fans, and their families and neighbors, to pick up the disease. The Secret Service agents who guard him already had to self-quarantine after the Tulsa rally. They had been forced to work at an event where Trump bragged about being more attractive than Democrats: “Much more handsome. Got better hair than they do. I got nicer properties. I got nicer houses. I got nicer apartments. I got nicer everything.”
A few days after that rally, Trump was at it again, this time in Phoenix. There he boasted of how he deals with journalists he doesn’t like: “I get interviewed by people, and I’m sitting the other day in the Oval Office, and I didn’t like the tone. And I said, ‘You know, it’s really nice because I’m here and you’re not.'”
Seriously: Who in hell—over the age of, say, 6—talks this way? Current Issue View our current issue
This man’s insecurity knows no limits. He can, apparently, find validation only in the applause of unthinking acolytes, as he recycles one tired old MAGA catchphrase after another. Remember that line in the film Sunset Boulevard that sums up all the psychological needs and angst of a has-been entertainer, unable to graciously leave the stage? All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
And so, while our modern-day Rome burns, this self-absorbed old man will continue to waste government resources on nonsense—such as ordering US marshals to protect Confederate statues, and threatening those who vandalize monuments with up to 10 years behind bars. This is the same person whose lackeys have put their thumbs on the scale to ensure that serious criminals such as Michael Flynn and Roger Stone escape the full force of the law.
He will continue to use the public health crisis as an excuse to lock out more and more immigrants and push white nationalism. Just this past week, he suspended the issuance of most H-1B visas and made it all but impossible for spouses of temporary workers to come into the country. He also further constricted the rights of asylum seekers—who were then dealt another blow by the Supreme Court yesterday.
He will also continue to allege that his awful poll numbers are rigged and rage against voting by mail, even while conservative states are busy shuttering in-person polling booths in large, more liberal, cities with high numbers of African American voters. Witness the shame of Louisville, Ky., where the entire city had only one polling station open for primaries this week. Hundreds of people in line to vote were then locked out of that polling station when voting hours ended at 6 pm. (A judge subsequently ordered extra time for them to be able to cast ballots.)
The only good news coming out of this is that most of the American public isn’t buying what Trump’s selling. This week, Trump was brutally trolled in a couple of ads—both of them visual and auditory gut-punches—from the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans opposed to his presidency. He was also the subject of withering commentary from Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s campaign chair in 2008, who explained precisely why Trump is an “imbecile, an idiot.” Now that is Noise worth listening to.


thenation--2020-06-26--Sex and the Stricken City: In Praise of Proximity

We were very tired , we were very merry— We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry .
I was young and in love in New York when I remember first reading those lines from an earlier period of rebellion .
We bought fresh bread instead of apples and pears and gave away our money , even our subway fares , to kids shaky and a little bit menacing with a steak knife .
Pleasure and danger were always close .
We kissed on the ferry and frolicked in a broom closet at Macy ’ s and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in any part of Central Park that offered just enough concealment and carried just enough risk of being found out .
New York , the poet didn ’ t quite say , burst with possibilities for public sex .
That all waned decades before social distancing—with AIDS , with the domestication of the docks , the sanitizing of Times Square , the explosion of homelessness and cops and enthusiasm for moral policing .
Flaming youth no doubt found a way ; with any luck , they will again .
And pairs in first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exuberantly , tenderly , till “ the sun rose dripping , a bucketful of gold.
” What emboldened ardent souls , though—the lovers who just met , the lovers who were pledged , the lovers who might never know each other ’ s names—was more primal than romance .
It was what had always drawn so many to cities , especially New York : the chance to be simultaneously anonymous and known , to be yourself , in your skin , in a crowd , in the streets , in proximity to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what made New York electric when kids like me wrapped ourselves around each other and downtown drag queens ruled the night , in the days before so much about the city was reduced to greed and ambition and bows to that mayor or this police chief for cleaning the place up .
That ’ s what somehow survived , too , with a weak pulse—the sensual idea , the prospect that in any crush of bodies something might still go zing !
Now proximity is killing us—or might .
We who are nonessential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or walk in the bike lane when another body comes close .
We pass judgment on sunbathers , picnickers : The louche have a new name ; maybe we shame them on Instagram .
We ’ re cautious , and we ought to be , but we have been in training for distance for a long time , and it ’ s showing .
We probably don ’ t think too much about how central sex has been to creating distance in the political sense .
I didn ’ t think there was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ park in the late 1970s , either .
I was a white working-class girl with a white Army-brat boyfriend who ’ d inherited the freedoms for which others had paid .
Sexual freedom seemed the least of these—but of course it would , for us , relatively protected , relatively confident of getting the benefit of the doubt .
We didn ’ t even fully know whom we owed .
Bohemia had been a social and political fact when we were growing up .
All the meetings and the marching and the riots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about multiple oppressions had been had ( though hardly settled ) by people who were just a little bit older .
Liberation rode on a song .
It was easy to take things for granted when Marvin Gaye had been the soundtrack of your life .
We would wise up soon enough , because in that moment , sex was being wielded with particular cunning as a political weapon not only against the liberation movements whose fights had made kids like us feel daringly alive but also against the ethic of solidarity , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to advance against inhumanity .
Anyone who spent part of lockdown watching Mrs. America , the FX on Hulu series about the 1970s battle over the Equal Rights Amendment , would have gathered that the New Right ’ s fight against the ERA wasn ’ t waged primarily to stop loose “ libbers ” or abortion or godless homosexuals or even the amendment .
In the figure of its chief strategist , Phyllis Schlafly , it was waged for political power .
It used fear and lies , enabled religious fanatics , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who felt the ground shifting under their families , their incomes , their identity , their lives .
Like the contemporaneous fight against sex education led by the Christian Crusade and the John Birch Society ( which sold fear of depravity when overt racism and the Red Scare became outré ) , it sought to build a base for an agenda with different , less homely priorities .
Kneecapping organized workers , redistributing wealth upward , dismantling the state ’ s social program and fortifying its violence program—the prisons , the military budget @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were the priorities of the original “ Make America Great ” campaign , later renamed the Reagan Revolution , which , among other things , would look the other way as tens of thousands of gay men died of AIDS .
Stoking suspicion—of moral contagion , of one another—had been mainly a tactic , which became a fact as fear of sex , of strangers and child snatching , of crime and juvenile criminals , of touch and proximity , rippled through the culture , echoed by liberals out of opportunism , cowardice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ media jacked on scandal and alarm .
Unlike the TV movie version of events , that politics of fear and retribution never retreated .
It just took more baroque , bipartisan forms .
Many of us are legitimately afraid now and alone .
Shocked by vulnerability on so many levels , people worry over large questions .
What does freedom mean ?
What is public health , beyond the metrics of disease ?
Will I be loved , kissed ?
Will I die bereft ?
They withdraw .
They lash out .
Contagion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ neighbor on my street avidly checks an app he says broadcasts the latest Covid-related crime .
His is a learned response , and why not ?
We criminalize HIV ; we monitor sex offense registries and banish whole populations from civic life ; we lock up 6,000 ex-cons in mental institutions as “ sexually dangerous ” for fear of what they might do ; we consign millions to pestilence in prisons .
None of it has kept us safe .
Our thin hope is that what has been learned might be unlearned .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be about negotiating distance and proximity .
The politics of fear points in one direction , solidarity in another .
Both make demands first on thought .
An injury to one is an injury to all , solidarity famously affirms .
The slogan implies a humane reordering of economic and international relations , but its primal source is a reverence for the human person in the most quotidian of circumstances .
Reason plays a big part in that .
What , after all , is more remarkable—that the subways , which New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same way , were dirty , loud , and occasionally frequented by the random nasty groper or that every day millions of people pressed their bodies against one another , not sexual but strangely intimate , not fearless exactly but wordlessly acknowledging that the space each occupied depended on a certain generosity among all ?
We groused .
Of course we did .
But if that proximity made us especially susceptible to the virus , its spirit value-signaled something else .
Because anyone who ever considered the experience while emerging into the light @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unlegislated and unacknowledged generosity , this most common love , among most of us , most of the time .
Defiant humanity , it said , is possible , if we want it .
Coda : Every passing day threatens to make the one before seem irrelevant .
A graph of daily Covid-19 deaths in the US resembles a fire : 1,379 dead on May 27 ; 478 on June 1 ; 1,039 on June 2 ; 448 on June 7 ; 926 on June 9 ; 345 on June 14 .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of disposability that connects the health crisis , the economic crisis , the immigration catastrophe , and the protests in the streets in the name of all the George Floyds , all those extinguished more methodically , with less notice , and for so long .
Whether or not one can join the protesters and without dismissing every legitimate concern about proximity and danger , they have struck a blow against political distance .
The politics of fear is potent , but it may be losing its grip .

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Nation believes that helping readers stay informed about the impact of the coronavirus crisis is a form of public service. For that reason, this article, and all of our coronavirus coverage, is now free. Please subscribe to support our writers and staff, and stay healthy.
This article appears in the July 13/20, 2020 issue.
We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
—“Recuerdo,” Edna St. Vincent Millay
I was young and in love in New York when I remember first reading those lines from an earlier period of rebellion. We bought fresh bread instead of apples and pears and gave away our money, even our subway fares, to kids shaky and a little bit menacing with a steak knife. Pleasure and danger were always close. We kissed on the ferry and frolicked in a broom closet at Macy’s and by abandoned rail tracks in winter and in any part of Central Park that offered just enough concealment and carried just enough risk of being found out. New York, the poet didn’t quite say, burst with possibilities for public sex.
That all waned decades before social distancing—with AIDS, with the domestication of the docks, the sanitizing of Times Square, the explosion of homelessness and cops and enthusiasm for moral policing. Flaming youth no doubt found a way; with any luck, they will again. And pairs in first flush could still drain the night, exuberantly, tenderly, till “the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.” What emboldened ardent souls, though—the lovers who just met, the lovers who were pledged, the lovers who might never know each other’s names—was more primal than romance. It was what had always drawn so many to cities, especially New York: the chance to be simultaneously anonymous and known, to be yourself, in your skin, in a crowd, in the streets, in proximity to the skin of others.
That’s what made New York electric when kids like me wrapped ourselves around each other and downtown drag queens ruled the night, in the days before so much about the city was reduced to greed and ambition and bows to that mayor or this police chief for cleaning the place up. That’s what somehow survived, too, with a weak pulse—the sensual idea, the prospect that in any crush of bodies something might still go zing!
Now proximity is killing us—or might. We who are nonessential turn away, cross the street, or walk in the bike lane when another body comes close. We pass judgment on sunbathers, picnickers: The louche have a new name; maybe we shame them on Instagram. We’re cautious, and we ought to be, but we have been in training for distance for a long time, and it’s showing. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
We probably don’t think too much about how central sex has been to creating distance in the political sense. I didn’t think there was anything political about a romp in the park in the late 1970s, either. I was a white working-class girl with a white Army-brat boyfriend who’d inherited the freedoms for which others had paid. Sexual freedom seemed the least of these—but of course it would, for us, relatively protected, relatively confident of getting the benefit of the doubt. We didn’t even fully know whom we owed. Bohemia had been a social and political fact when we were growing up. All the meetings and the marching and the riots had gone before; all the arguments about multiple oppressions had been had (though hardly settled) by people who were just a little bit older. Liberation rode on a song. It was easy to take things for granted when Marvin Gaye had been the soundtrack of your life. We would wise up soon enough, because in that moment, sex was being wielded with particular cunning as a political weapon not only against the liberation movements whose fights had made kids like us feel daringly alive but also against the ethic of solidarity, which bohemias had always tried, imperfectly, to advance against inhumanity. Current Issue View our current issue
Anyone who spent part of lockdown watching Mrs. America, the FX on Hulu series about the 1970s battle over the Equal Rights Amendment, would have gathered that the New Right’s fight against the ERA wasn’t waged primarily to stop loose “libbers” or abortion or godless homosexuals or even the amendment. In the figure of its chief strategist, Phyllis Schlafly, it was waged for political power. It used fear and lies, enabled religious fanatics, and exploited the real anxieties of women who felt the ground shifting under their families, their incomes, their identity, their lives. Like the contemporaneous fight against sex education led by the Christian Crusade and the John Birch Society (which sold fear of depravity when overt racism and the Red Scare became outré), it sought to build a base for an agenda with different, less homely priorities. Kneecapping organized workers, redistributing wealth upward, dismantling the state’s social program and fortifying its violence program—the prisons, the military budget, the new cold and hot wars—those were the priorities of the original “Make America Great” campaign, later renamed the Reagan Revolution, which, among other things, would look the other way as tens of thousands of gay men died of AIDS.
Stoking suspicion—of moral contagion, of one another—had been mainly a tactic, which became a fact as fear of sex, of strangers and child snatching, of crime and juvenile criminals, of touch and proximity, rippled through the culture, echoed by liberals out of opportunism, cowardice, or rage and inflated by a media jacked on scandal and alarm. Unlike the TV movie version of events, that politics of fear and retribution never retreated. It just took more baroque, bipartisan forms.
Many of us are legitimately afraid now and alone. Shocked by vulnerability on so many levels, people worry over large questions. What does freedom mean? What is public health, beyond the metrics of disease? Will I be loved, kissed? Will I die bereft? They withdraw. They lash out. Contagion is shocking and exploitable. A masked neighbor on my street avidly checks an app he says broadcasts the latest Covid-related crime. His is a learned response, and why not? We criminalize HIV; we monitor sex offense registries and banish whole populations from civic life; we lock up 6,000 ex-cons in mental institutions as “sexually dangerous” for fear of what they might do; we consign millions to pestilence in prisons. None of it has kept us safe.
Our thin hope is that what has been learned might be unlearned. So much about social life turns out to be about negotiating distance and proximity. The politics of fear points in one direction, solidarity in another. Both make demands first on thought. An injury to one is an injury to all, solidarity famously affirms. The slogan implies a humane reordering of economic and international relations, but its primal source is a reverence for the human person in the most quotidian of circumstances. Reason plays a big part in that. What, after all, is more remarkable—that the subways, which New Yorkers may not experience again in the same way, were dirty, loud, and occasionally frequented by the random nasty groper or that every day millions of people pressed their bodies against one another, not sexual but strangely intimate, not fearless exactly but wordlessly acknowledging that the space each occupied depended on a certain generosity among all?
We groused. Of course we did. But if that proximity made us especially susceptible to the virus, its spirit value-signaled something else. Because anyone who ever considered the experience while emerging into the light from underground had to marvel at this unlegislated and unacknowledged generosity, this most common love, among most of us, most of the time. Defiant humanity, it said, is possible, if we want it.
Coda: Every passing day threatens to make the one before seem irrelevant. A graph of daily Covid-19 deaths in the US resembles a fire: 1,379 dead on May 27; 478 on June 1; 1,039 on June 2; 448 on June 7; 926 on June 9; 345 on June 14. The fire is the thing, the spectacle of disposability that connects the health crisis, the economic crisis, the immigration catastrophe, and the protests in the streets in the name of all the George Floyds, all those extinguished more methodically, with less notice, and for so long. Whether or not one can join the protesters and without dismissing every legitimate concern about proximity and danger, they have struck a blow against political distance. The politics of fear is potent, but it may be losing its grip.


thenation--2020-06-26--How Amazon Used the Pandemic to Amass More Monopoly Power

If lawmakers in Congress stick to their guns and maintain the threat of a subpoena , at some point in the coming weeks Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will have to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to answer lawmakers ’ questions about the scope and impact of Amazon ’ s market power .
The hearing will be a final step before the committee releases the findings from its year-long investigation of big tech and makes a set of policy recommendations that might include breaking up Amazon .
Policy-makers here and around the world are beginning to question whether and how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gatekeeper for most online product searches and shopping traffic .
In addition to the House investigation , antitrust enforcers in California , Washington state , and the European Union are all reportedly weighing antitrust charges against the corporation .
Amazon ’ s response to the Covid-19 pandemic should give lawmakers even more questions for Bezos .
For the past quarter-century , Amazon has grown its monopoly by exploiting workers , suppliers , and small businesses .
During the pandemic , Amazon ’ s abuse has spread to those it claims have always been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the height of the pandemic , with many storefronts shuttered over statewide shelter-in-place orders , shoppers who turned en masse to Amazon ’ s ubiquitous online marketplace found many of the products they wanted wouldn ’ t arrive for weeks .
For a company “ obsessed ” with consumer satisfaction , Amazon Prime was unable to deliver .
On its face , the excuses Amazon gave for the delays rang true .
The company was inundated with orders to the point that its warehousing and shipping system buckled .
Shoppers had so flooded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s revenue skyrocketed , even as it chose to stop storing and shipping many nonessential goods .
How Amazon Used the Pandemic to Amass More Monopoly Power But the surge in customer orders was only part of the failure .
The other is that , as demand spiked , Amazon ’ s quest to dominate the shipping industry ultimately won out over its promise to get packages on doorsteps quickly .
The long delivery times that many customers experienced were the result of Amazon ’ s quiet mission to leverage its market power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that could topple FedEx and UPS .
It ’ s been doing this in large part by compelling merchants that sell on its platform to use its storage and shipping system .
Even when it became clear that Amazon ’ s logistics weren ’ t up to the task , and that sellers on its marketplace could independently get orders to customers faster , Amazon wouldn ’ t relent .
Amazon ’ s quest to dominate logistics services is well documented .
But what is less known is Amazon ’ s decision to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a program that during the pandemic , would have allowed the company ’ s millions of customers to more easily find and buy Prime-labeled products with faster shipping times—and sometimes lower prices .
Amazon and its supporters typically defend the company ’ s behavior by claiming the company is acting as a champion of its millions of customers or as a partner of small businesses that rely on Amazon ’ s massive reach to find shoppers .
The decision to not allow additional sellers into the program , known as Seller Fulfilled Prime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic clearly hurt both its customers and its third-party sellers .
Prime is Amazon ’ s carrot and its stick .
If a seller pays to use Amazon ’ s logistics business , Amazon gives that product a Prime badge and with it , a message : Trust us .
It ’ s authentic .
It will get to your doorstep quickly , at no extra charge .
You can buy it with a click .
Businesses that refuse to pay Amazon ’ s additional fees and sell products without the Prime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ invisible to most shoppers , especially Amazon ’ s more than 100 million Prime subscribers .
How can anyone tell if it ’ s real ?
It says it will be delivered in a few days—but how do you know that ?
Amazon also makes sure that products with a Prime badge shipped using the company ’ s logistics arm get more prominent placement in the marketplace than competing non-Prime offers , even if the exact same product is sold for a lower price and is delivered faster than the product with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ploy Amazon uses to siphon ever increasing fees from small businesses and to expand its monopoly in online commerce to its growing fulfillment business .
As the name suggests , Seller Fulfilled Prime in theory allows businesses that choose to store and ship their own goods in less than two days to get the same placement and promotion as sellers who chose to store and ship goods using Amazon .
So when the company launched the program in 2015 , it appeared to offer an alternative to third-party sellers without paying Amazon ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Amazon ’ s retail ecosystem was smaller than it is today .
It had about half the number of sellers as it does now , and Amazon ’ s own logistic service was still in its infancy .
With fewer employees and warehouses , Amazon mostly relied on UPS , USPS , and FedEx to deliver Prime offers .
Amazon delivered only a fraction of its own orders itself .
Today , Amazon is quickly approaching 1 million workers—a number that has grown significantly during the pandemic—and it owns more than 150 warehouses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its march toward the total monopolization of the e-commerce supply chain , it has spent years building a logistics system over land , sea , and air intended to rival any fulfillment company in the world .
As this logistics system grew , Amazon adjusted its search and promotion algorithm to penalize those sellers that continued to use another fulfillment company rather than paying Amazon to store and ship its products .
Under the algorithm , even products that cost less—surely a crucial metric for shoppers—would be buried beneath listings for products that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carried the Prime logo or were otherwise more profitable for the company .
Then , last February , Amazon closed Seller Fulfilled Prime to new sellers altogether .
The manager of a company that sells on Amazon , who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation , says that during the pandemic , their products in Amazon ’ s fulfillment system saw significant delays ; it would be weeks before Amazon could get those products to customers .
The company had the same products in its own warehouse that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , not weeks .
But in order for shoppers to find those products , it had to drastically increase the prices of the products stored in Amazon ’ s warehouse , despite the far longer shipping times .
Only after jacking up the prices of their “ Prime ” offers did the company see some increase in sales , albeit still a fraction of their sales last March , the manager says .
If sellers were allowed to offer independent Prime shipping , none of this would have been necessary ; Seller Fulfilled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that products shipped by Amazon receive .
Not only would shoppers have seen more and often better choices had Amazon reopened the Seller Fulfilled Prime program , but Amazon ’ s own workers would have likely been safer during the crisis .
Rather than rely on Amazon shipping from warehouses where workers suffered through Covid outbreaks and retaliation for speaking out about conditions , sellers and customers could have more easily chosen fulfillment through companies with union workers—such as UPS—or in smaller facilities with safer working conditions .
Earlier this year , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the Federal Trade Commission calling for an investigation into Amazon ’ s practices .
The petition points to Amazon ’ s attempt to dominate package delivery as a key issue .
“ Amazon has demonstrated its power in the logistics market by disfavoring competitors , limiting options for sellers , and allegedly driving up prices for consumers .
Now , the only way that third-party sellers not already enrolled in Seller Fulfilled Prime can obtain favorable search rankings…is if they also pay FBA fees , ” the petition noted , using the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company ’ s warehousing service .
Amazon ’ s decision to keep the Seller Fulfilled Prime program closed during the pandemic will enable the tech giant to continue to leverage its dominance in e-commerce to build a massive logistics empire .
Many sellers who opted to fulfill their own orders during the pandemic are likely to go back to using Amazon ’ s warehouses to ensure their products get good placement and one-click buying on the site .
Had Amazon reopened Seller Fulfilled Prime , many merchants , able to buy shipping services @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at lower cost and with more control over their products and customer service , would have had no reason to go back to using Amazon ’ s warehousing and delivery services .
Amazon would both lose out on the fees it could charge those sellers and face legitimate shipping and storage competition on its own platform .
Amazon has no intention of letting that happen .
Now , Bezos will soon have to answer for this decision .
House investigators are keen to learn all they can about Amazon ’ s business practices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be hurting competition , small businesses , workers , and consumers .
As members of the Judiciary Committee said in their letter to Bezos insisting that he testify : “ It is vital to the Committee , as part of its critical work investigating and understanding competition issues in the digital market , that Amazon respond to…critical questions .
”

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If lawmakers in Congress stick to their guns and maintain the threat of a subpoena, at some point in the coming weeks Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will have to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to answer lawmakers’ questions about the scope and impact of Amazon’s market power. The hearing will be a final step before the committee releases the findings from its year-long investigation of big tech and makes a set of policy recommendations that might include breaking up Amazon.
Policy-makers here and around the world are beginning to question whether and how Amazon has abused its position as the gatekeeper for most online product searches and shopping traffic. In addition to the House investigation, antitrust enforcers in California, Washington state, and the European Union are all reportedly weighing antitrust charges against the corporation. Amazon’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic should give lawmakers even more questions for Bezos. For the past quarter-century, Amazon has grown its monopoly by exploiting workers, suppliers, and small businesses. During the pandemic, Amazon’s abuse has spread to those it claims have always been its top priority: customers.
At the height of the pandemic, with many storefronts shuttered over statewide shelter-in-place orders, shoppers who turned en masse to Amazon’s ubiquitous online marketplace found many of the products they wanted wouldn’t arrive for weeks. For a company “obsessed” with consumer satisfaction, Amazon Prime was unable to deliver.
On its face, the excuses Amazon gave for the delays rang true. The company was inundated with orders to the point that its warehousing and shipping system buckled. Shoppers had so flooded the Amazon marketplace that the corporation’s revenue skyrocketed, even as it chose to stop storing and shipping many nonessential goods. Related Article How Amazon Used the Pandemic to Amass More Monopoly Power Ron Knox and Shaoul Sussman
But the surge in customer orders was only part of the failure. The other is that, as demand spiked, Amazon’s quest to dominate the shipping industry ultimately won out over its promise to get packages on doorsteps quickly.
The long delivery times that many customers experienced were the result of Amazon’s quiet mission to leverage its market power in e-commerce to build a logistics operation that could topple FedEx and UPS. It’s been doing this in large part by compelling merchants that sell on its platform to use its storage and shipping system. Even when it became clear that Amazon’s logistics weren’t up to the task, and that sellers on its marketplace could independently get orders to customers faster, Amazon wouldn’t relent. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
Amazon’s quest to dominate logistics services is well documented. But what is less known is Amazon’s decision to curtail the ability of sellers to join a program that during the pandemic, would have allowed the company’s millions of customers to more easily find and buy Prime-labeled products with faster shipping times—and sometimes lower prices. Current Issue View our current issue
Amazon and its supporters typically defend the company’s behavior by claiming the company is acting as a champion of its millions of customers or as a partner of small businesses that rely on Amazon’s massive reach to find shoppers. The decision to not allow additional sellers into the program, known as Seller Fulfilled Prime, and not to reopen it during the pandemic clearly hurt both its customers and its third-party sellers.
Prime is Amazon’s carrot and its stick. If a seller pays to use Amazon’s logistics business, Amazon gives that product a Prime badge and with it, a message: Trust us. It’s authentic. It will get to your doorstep quickly, at no extra charge. You can buy it with a click. Businesses that refuse to pay Amazon’s additional fees and sell products without the Prime badge? They might as well be invisible to most shoppers, especially Amazon’s more than 100 million Prime subscribers. How can anyone tell if it’s real? It says it will be delivered in a few days—but how do you know that?
Amazon also makes sure that products with a Prime badge shipped using the company’s logistics arm get more prominent placement in the marketplace than competing non-Prime offers, even if the exact same product is sold for a lower price and is delivered faster than the product with the Prime logo. Prime is a psychological ploy Amazon uses to siphon ever increasing fees from small businesses and to expand its monopoly in online commerce to its growing fulfillment business.
As the name suggests, Seller Fulfilled Prime in theory allows businesses that choose to store and ship their own goods in less than two days to get the same placement and promotion as sellers who chose to store and ship goods using Amazon. So when the company launched the program in 2015, it appeared to offer an alternative to third-party sellers without paying Amazon’s high tolls.
Back then, Amazon’s retail ecosystem was smaller than it is today. It had about half the number of sellers as it does now, and Amazon’s own logistic service was still in its infancy. With fewer employees and warehouses, Amazon mostly relied on UPS, USPS, and FedEx to deliver Prime offers. Amazon delivered only a fraction of its own orders itself.
Today, Amazon is quickly approaching 1 million workers—a number that has grown significantly during the pandemic—and it owns more than 150 warehouses around the world. As part of its march toward the total monopolization of the e-commerce supply chain, it has spent years building a logistics system over land, sea, and air intended to rival any fulfillment company in the world.
As this logistics system grew, Amazon adjusted its search and promotion algorithm to penalize those sellers that continued to use another fulfillment company rather than paying Amazon to store and ship its products. Under the algorithm, even products that cost less—surely a crucial metric for shoppers—would be buried beneath listings for products that used Amazon’s fulfillment service and carried the Prime logo or were otherwise more profitable for the company.
Then, last February, Amazon closed Seller Fulfilled Prime to new sellers altogether.
The manager of a company that sells on Amazon, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, says that during the pandemic, their products in Amazon’s fulfillment system saw significant delays; it would be weeks before Amazon could get those products to customers. The company had the same products in its own warehouse that it could deliver to customers in days, not weeks. But in order for shoppers to find those products, it had to drastically increase the prices of the products stored in Amazon’s warehouse, despite the far longer shipping times. Related Article Amazon Cash Fails to Oust Seattle Socialist Kshama Sawant John Nichols
Only after jacking up the prices of their “Prime” offers did the company see some increase in sales, albeit still a fraction of their sales last March, the manager says. If sellers were allowed to offer independent Prime shipping, none of this would have been necessary; Seller Fulfilled Prime offers receive the same algorithmic treatment that products shipped by Amazon receive.
Not only would shoppers have seen more and often better choices had Amazon reopened the Seller Fulfilled Prime program, but Amazon’s own workers would have likely been safer during the crisis. Rather than rely on Amazon shipping from warehouses where workers suffered through Covid outbreaks and retaliation for speaking out about conditions, sellers and customers could have more easily chosen fulfillment through companies with union workers—such as UPS—or in smaller facilities with safer working conditions.
Earlier this year, a group of labor unions filed a petition with the Federal Trade Commission calling for an investigation into Amazon’s practices. The petition points to Amazon’s attempt to dominate package delivery as a key issue. “Amazon has demonstrated its power in the logistics market by disfavoring competitors, limiting options for sellers, and allegedly driving up prices for consumers. Now, the only way that third-party sellers not already enrolled in Seller Fulfilled Prime can obtain favorable search rankings…is if they also pay FBA fees,” the petition noted, using the acronym for Fulfillment by Amazon, the company’s warehousing service.
Amazon’s decision to keep the Seller Fulfilled Prime program closed during the pandemic will enable the tech giant to continue to leverage its dominance in e-commerce to build a massive logistics empire. Many sellers who opted to fulfill their own orders during the pandemic are likely to go back to using Amazon’s warehouses to ensure their products get good placement and one-click buying on the site. Had Amazon reopened Seller Fulfilled Prime, many merchants, able to buy shipping services from other carriers, in some cases at lower cost and with more control over their products and customer service, would have had no reason to go back to using Amazon’s warehousing and delivery services. Amazon would both lose out on the fees it could charge those sellers and face legitimate shipping and storage competition on its own platform. Amazon has no intention of letting that happen.
Now, Bezos will soon have to answer for this decision. House investigators are keen to learn all they can about Amazon’s business practices, and how its monopoly power may be hurting competition, small businesses, workers, and consumers. As members of the Judiciary Committee said in their letter to Bezos insisting that he testify: “It is vital to the Committee, as part of its critical work investigating and understanding competition issues in the digital market, that Amazon respond to…critical questions.”