thenation--2020-05-29--How the CIA Learned to Rock

How the CIA Learned to Rock

James Jesus Angleton , chief of CIA counterintelligence from 1954 to 1975 , was nicknamed “ the Poet.
” Before he was a spy , he had literary aspirations .
As an undergraduate at Yale , he wrote verse and , more impressively , coedited the literary journal Furioso , which published poets like E.E .
Cummings , Ezra Pound , and William Carlos Williams .
Angleton was an aesthete turned tormentor .
The two facets of his personality were combined in disturbing ways .
His literary sensibility was nurtured on the close reading taught by the New Criticism , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Types of Ambiguity ( 1930 ) being an especially formative influence .
Empson taught Angleton that no line of poetry had just one meaning , that the job of the reader was to squeeze out every ambiguity and hidden implication .
Angleton notoriously applied this methodology to the interrogation of Soviet defectors , never taking them at face value but constantly pressuring them to reveal their covert intentions , always postulating that they might be double agents , and sometimes torturing them .
Strange as it may seem , Angleton ’ s use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unique .
The CIA in its first few decades was led by Ivy League eggheads .
Angelton ’ s protégé Cord Meyer often hired literary critics from The Kenyon Review , an organ of the New Criticism , to work as spies .
The CIA had not just an ideology but also an aesthetic .
The Cold War was a cultural struggle as well as a political one .
To demonstrate the superiority of Western Civilization , and particularly to win over wavering European intellectuals who might be attracted to communism , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Review—founding editor Peter Matthiesson was on the CIA ’ s payroll as a spy—and sponsored exhibits of Abstract Expressionism .
In the late 1970s , the journalist Richard Elman researched “ the Aesthetics of the CIA ” and found documents revealing that the agency seriously considered a suggestion that “ T.S .
Eliot ’ s Four Quartets be translated into Russian and dropped by airplane all over the Soviet Union.
” Mitch McConnell Is Even Worse Than Trump For Biden to Unite the Party , He Needs Warren as His Running Mate The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Own Words The cultural Cold War was the precursor to the space race .
In both competitions , government largesse was deployed to prove that America could outdo the Reds .
In order to show that America was fully as sophisticated as fellow-travelers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso , the CIA embraced difficult and experimental art .
In the same spirit , NASA sent astronauts to the moon to wipe out the humiliation of Sputnik .
But there was one creative field where the CIA was more populist : music .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ study , The Mighty Wurlitzer : How the CIA Played America , “ Yet surprisingly , the CIA appeared reluctant to extend its patronage to America ’ s musical avant-garde , experimental , ‘ serialist ’ composers such as Milton Babbitt and John Cage , both of whom shared many of the same aesthetic ideas and indeed often collaborated with abstract expressionists.
” Instead , the agency even in the 1950s thought that America ’ s musical strength lay in popular work .
In a 1955 , Frank Wisner , then deputy director @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sending the New York Ballet to Moscow .
“ Our initial presentations to Soviet audiences should aim for mass appeal , ” Wisner argued .
He wanted music that was “ expressive of our folklore or unmistakably typical of U.S. ” Wisner was particularly interested in works by “ negro performers ” that would display their “ capacity ” and “ the opportunities they have in U.S. artistic life.
” Wisner believed that “ first-rate American jazz ” would “ serve to demonstrate the breadth and vitality of American musicianship.
” Wisner ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to why the CIA embraced popular culture in music even as it was much more hoity-toity in regard to literature and painting .
The CIA was well aware that the Soviet Union was calling attention to American racism .
This was a particularly vulnerable point in the competition for support among the decolonizing nations of Africa and Asia .
Jazz , and popular music more broadly , would be the way to show that America wasn ’ t racist .
The story of the CIA ’ s love of popular music is brought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called Wind of Change , by New Yorker journalist Patrick Radden Keefe .
In the eight-episode series , Keefe investigates the rumor that CIA agents composed the ballad “ Wind of Change , ” first performed in 1989 by the German heavy metal group Scorpions and released the following year .
The song was a huge hit on both sides of the Iron Curtain , becoming a kind of unofficial anthem for the end of communism .
The podcast is very much a detective story , and like all whodunits deserves to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strengths is that Keefe places his story fully in the context of the CIA ’ s history of arts patronage .
In the third episode , there ’ s a discussion of the troubled relationship this patronage had with black musicians .
In 1955 , The New York Times wrote , “ America ’ s secret weapon is a blue note in a minor key .
Right now its most effective ambassador is Louis ( Satchmo ) Armstrong.
” But Armstrong was a reluctant ambassador , uncomfortable with doing propaganda for Jim Crow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Department tours but continued to speak out against racism .
In the case of Nina Simone , the CIA had to use trickery .
As Wilford uncovered , Simone was sent on a tour to Nigeria in 1961 by the American Society of African Culture , a CIA front organization .
As Keefe notes , “ It ’ s one thing for the government to pressure Louis Armstrong to go to Africa on a propaganda mission and have him grudgingly but knowingly go along .
It ’ s a very different thing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And Nina Simone was no patriot .
She ended up renouncing the United States and living abroad .
She called it , ‘ the United Snakes of America.
’ ” How the CIA Tricked the World ’ s Best Writers One of the great merits of Wind of Change is that it directly confronts what is morally troubling about spy agencies ’ funding art .
Arguably , the CIA ’ s patronage was one of its most defensible deeds , certainly preferable to fomenting coups or assassinating foreign leaders .
But even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ art .
As Keefe observes , “ We think of culture—or we want to think of culture—as organic and spontaneous , as purer than politics .
Nina Simone clearly did .
She felt it gave her a deep connection to the people she met in Nigeria .
So it is really unsettling to learn that the hidden hand of government was at work .
It ’ s a feeling of dispossession , like someone picked your pocket.
” Another virtue of the podcast is that it recuperates the idea of ambiguity , stealing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If Angleton corrupted ambiguity by turning it into a justification for torture , Keefe shows that when ambiguity is properly used , it is an essential tool for moral analysis .
Throughout the series , each bit of evidence , each new testimony or historical discovery , is examined for its implicit content or possible falsehood .
The end result is not Angleton ’ s murk but the illumination that comes from honestly confronting the limits of knowledge .

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James Jesus Angleton, chief of CIA counterintelligence from 1954 to 1975, was nicknamed “the Poet.” Before he was a spy, he had literary aspirations. As an undergraduate at Yale, he wrote verse and, more impressively, coedited the literary journal Furioso, which published poets like E.E. Cummings, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams.
Angleton was an aesthete turned tormentor. The two facets of his personality were combined in disturbing ways. His literary sensibility was nurtured on the close reading taught by the New Criticism, with William Empson’s classic Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930) being an especially formative influence. Empson taught Angleton that no line of poetry had just one meaning, that the job of the reader was to squeeze out every ambiguity and hidden implication. Angleton notoriously applied this methodology to the interrogation of Soviet defectors, never taking them at face value but constantly pressuring them to reveal their covert intentions, always postulating that they might be double agents, and sometimes torturing them.
Strange as it may seem, Angleton’s use of high modernism for spycraft was hardly unique. The CIA in its first few decades was led by Ivy League eggheads. Angelton’s protégé Cord Meyer often hired literary critics from The Kenyon Review, an organ of the New Criticism, to work as spies.
The CIA had not just an ideology but also an aesthetic. The Cold War was a cultural struggle as well as a political one. To demonstrate the superiority of Western Civilization, and particularly to win over wavering European intellectuals who might be attracted to communism, the agency funded literary magazines like The Paris Review—founding editor Peter Matthiesson was on the CIA’s payroll as a spy—and sponsored exhibits of Abstract Expressionism. In the late 1970s, the journalist Richard Elman researched “the Aesthetics of the CIA” and found documents revealing that the agency seriously considered a suggestion that “T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets be translated into Russian and dropped by airplane all over the Soviet Union.” More From Jeet Heer The Indigenous Roots of Robbie Robertson’s Rock and Roll Revolution August 14, 2023 Why Does This Racist Keep Getting Silicon Valley Money? August 11, 2023 When Phallocrats Go Limp August 4, 2023
The cultural Cold War was the precursor to the space race. In both competitions, government largesse was deployed to prove that America could outdo the Reds. In order to show that America was fully as sophisticated as fellow-travelers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso, the CIA embraced difficult and experimental art. In the same spirit, NASA sent astronauts to the moon to wipe out the humiliation of Sputnik. 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 How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection 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 How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
But there was one creative field where the CIA was more populist: music. As historian Hugh Wilford noted in his 2008 study, The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America, “Yet surprisingly, the CIA appeared reluctant to extend its patronage to America’s musical avant-garde, experimental, ‘serialist’ composers such as Milton Babbitt and John Cage, both of whom shared many of the same aesthetic ideas and indeed often collaborated with abstract expressionists.”
Instead, the agency even in the 1950s thought that America’s musical strength lay in popular work. In a 1955, Frank Wisner, then deputy director of plans, rejected the idea of sending the New York Ballet to Moscow. “Our initial presentations to Soviet audiences should aim for mass appeal,” Wisner argued. He wanted music that was “expressive of our folklore or unmistakably typical of U.S.” Wisner was particularly interested in works by “negro performers” that would display their “capacity” and “the opportunities they have in U.S. artistic life.” Wisner believed that “first-rate American jazz” would “serve to demonstrate the breadth and vitality of American musicianship.” Current Issue View our current issue
Wisner’s enthusiasm for jazz is the key to why the CIA embraced popular culture in music even as it was much more hoity-toity in regard to literature and painting. The CIA was well aware that the Soviet Union was calling attention to American racism. This was a particularly vulnerable point in the competition for support among the decolonizing nations of Africa and Asia. Jazz, and popular music more broadly, would be the way to show that America wasn’t racist.
The story of the CIA’s love of popular music is brought up to date in a splendid podcast called Wind of Change, by New Yorker journalist Patrick Radden Keefe. In the eight-episode series, Keefe investigates the rumor that CIA agents composed the ballad “Wind of Change,” first performed in 1989 by the German heavy metal group Scorpions and released the following year. The song was a huge hit on both sides of the Iron Curtain, becoming a kind of unofficial anthem for the end of communism.
The podcast is very much a detective story, and like all whodunits deserves to be left spoiler-free. But one of its strengths is that Keefe places his story fully in the context of the CIA’s history of arts patronage.
In the third episode, there’s a discussion of the troubled relationship this patronage had with black musicians. In 1955, The New York Times wrote, “America’s secret weapon is a blue note in a minor key. Right now its most effective ambassador is Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong.” But Armstrong was a reluctant ambassador, uncomfortable with doing propaganda for Jim Crow America. He went along on State Department tours but continued to speak out against racism.
In the case of Nina Simone, the CIA had to use trickery. As Wilford uncovered, Simone was sent on a tour to Nigeria in 1961 by the American Society of African Culture, a CIA front organization. As Keefe notes, “It’s one thing for the government to pressure Louis Armstrong to go to Africa on a propaganda mission and have him grudgingly but knowingly go along. It’s a very different thing to covertly send an artist on false pretenses. And Nina Simone was no patriot. She ended up renouncing the United States and living abroad. She called it, ‘the United Snakes of America.’” CIA and Culture How the CIA Tricked the World’s Best Writers Patrick Lawrence
One of the great merits of Wind of Change is that it directly confronts what is morally troubling about spy agencies’ funding art. Arguably, the CIA’s patronage was one of its most defensible deeds, certainly preferable to fomenting coups or assassinating foreign leaders. But even so, it involved a corruption of art.
As Keefe observes, “We think of culture—or we want to think of culture—as organic and spontaneous, as purer than politics. Nina Simone clearly did. She felt it gave her a deep connection to the people she met in Nigeria. So it is really unsettling to learn that the hidden hand of government was at work. It’s a feeling of dispossession, like someone picked your pocket.”
Another virtue of the podcast is that it recuperates the idea of ambiguity, stealing it back from James Jesus Angleton. If Angleton corrupted ambiguity by turning it into a justification for torture, Keefe shows that when ambiguity is properly used, it is an essential tool for moral analysis. Throughout the series, each bit of evidence, each new testimony or historical discovery, is examined for its implicit content or possible falsehood. The end result is not Angleton’s murk but the illumination that comes from honestly confronting the limits of knowledge.


thenation--2020-05-29--The Coronavirus Thrives on Hate

The Coronavirus Thrives on Hate

On May 1 , just before social distancing rules were officially relaxed , a man went out to a few gay clubs in Seoul .
He was later confirmed to have the novel coronavirus , promptly outed by Christian-backed media , and vilified nationwide as another careless , contaminated gay.1 By dint of being at the same club as Patient 66 ( as the man was dubbed ) , I was sucked into a vortex of government surveillance .
I was there filming a documentary about queer South Korean nightlife .
Before I could enter the club , I had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my temperature checked , sanitize my hands , and sign in with my name and phone number .
Officials later added my information to a list of more than 5,000 clubgoers who had visited the area.2 That weekend , people in line smiled more than usual , and a few embraced the bouncer after receiving their wristbands , still in disbelief that they could go dancing again .
It had been about two months since the club last opened , and the spring night felt like a hard-earned moment of normalcy for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That feeling lasted exactly five days , at which point public health officials announced that Patient 66 had the virus .
One of the first media outlets to report on the incident was a conservative Christian paper , which ran a headline emphasizing that the patient had visited a gay club .
It also published personal details—including information about his job , workplace , and place of residence—that could out the man to his coworkers , family , and friends.4 Dear Grown-Ups , It ’ s Time to Let LGBTQ Students Be Our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gay men who went clubbing in Itaewon , a multicultural district in Seoul , confronted a dilemma : Come forward to get tested ( and potentially be outed , get pushed out of their jobs , and face stigma ) or do nothing ( and potentially serve as a vector of virus transmission ) .
It ’ s the kind of impossible choice forced on you when the place where you live tacitly condones prejudice against you.5 “ With the amount of information that was made public due to media reports , if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would have been pretty easy for you to figure out who that was , ” said Yookyeong Im , a PhD student and an activist with Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea .
“ And because the larger public knows that the local outbreak was from this gay bar , just the fact that you got tested could make your colleagues or friends think , ‘ Oh , I didn ’ t know he was gay !
’ ” 6 “ That chain of thinking and inference makes many members of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out yet because of social stigma even more afraid , ” Im added.7 There is no national antidiscrimination law protecting LGBTQ people in South Korea .
The country ’ s evangelical right , which boasts millions of followers , has helped make sure of that by lobbying against such proposals.8 The first attempt came in 2007 , when South Korea ’ s Ministry of Justice proposed a policy that would have prohibited discrimination based on various grounds , including sexual orientation , in employment , education , and more .
Conservatives succeeded in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and several other categories from the list , effectively killing the bill .
Attempts to pass similar laws in 2011 , 2012 , and 2013 failed.9 After media outlets published reports linking Covid-19 to specific gay clubs this month , many South Koreans took to the Internet to spew homophobia .
Others smashed eggs and threw flour onto the facade of one of the venues .
Officials at some Covid-19 testing centers began asking visitors if they had HIV .
And LGBTQ hotlines received a surge in calls from people concerned about being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discovered that many of the clubgoers had used fake names and numbers when signing in .
( We queers know that adding our names to a government tracking list is rarely a good idea . )
Those officials scrambled to identify those who had used a pseudonym , through a combination of threatening fines , going through cell phone location data and credit card trails , and offering anonymous testing .
But the damage had been done : Conservative media and evangelical Christians had once again made the queer community public scapegoats.11 “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with HIV/AIDS in the US and in Korea , ” a queer Korean friend who is living with HIV told me .
“ It ’ s not that folks in power only ever target the gays .
They try to push as much blame as they can onto any minority group so they can pretend that they did nothing wrong or that they had nothing to do with it.
” 12 Seoul ’ s LGBTQ community will keep thriving .
The city is home to a range of queer spaces , from outdoor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cafés , gender-neutral hair salons , and more .
When I started exploring queer Seoul a decade ago , I noticed how the LGBTQ scene is not so much underground as it exists in plain sight under a “ don ’ t ask , don ’ t tell ” policy : We ’ re allowed to take up space , as long as we don ’ t make too much of a fuss.13 This kind of conditional societal acceptance is not enough , especially now .
The pandemic has made it clear that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rights issue for the marginalized ; it ’ s a public health priority for everyone.14 This does not bode well for America , since LGBTQ people in at least 25 US states can be denied services , fired by private employers , and refused housing because of their gender identity or sexual orientation .
What happened in Seoul could easily happen in many US states .
And as businesses start to reopen , people will be on the lookout for new waves of infections—and for new groups to blame when they occur.15 How @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Floundered , Over the Pandemic A potential legislative solution already exists in the United States : passing the Equality Act , which would expand US civil rights laws so that they explicitly cover gender identity and sexual orientation .
But it has stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate .
As in South Korea , the anti-discrimination bill faces challenges from those who claim that “ religious freedom ” would be endangered.16 But if we can learn something from Seoul , it ’ s that leadership rarely comes from above and that bottom-up organizing can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ queerphobia , South Korean LGBTQ grassroots groups banded together to call out the unethical journalism that essentially outed Patient 66 .
They named the unnecessary incursions on privacy being carried out by local public health authorities , including the release of personally identifiable information that could reveal someone ’ s Covid-19 status .
They held meetings with government officials to make sure that Seoul ’ s Covid-19 response would adapt to address the fears and anxieties of the LGBTQ community .
And they provided counseling and mental health support , all the while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you are in the United States and worried about your family ’ s health , here ’ s a tangible action you can take : Support your local LGBTQ community group .
It might be a chapter of GSA Network or a partner of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance , of which I ’ m a member .
Google “ LGBTQ ” and the name of your town or nearest city .
And if you can , donate.18 These groups will be part of the first line of response when it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most vulnerable in our society : trans people , black and brown folks , queers , sex workers , undocumented migrants , people with disabilities , and others in marginalized communities .
Whether or not you stand with us will determine if America can beat the coronavirus or if hate will fuel a second , third , or even fourth wave.19

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On May 1, just before social distancing rules were officially relaxed, a man went out to a few gay clubs in Seoul. He was later confirmed to have the novel coronavirus, promptly outed by Christian-backed media, and vilified nationwide as another careless, contaminated gay.1
By dint of being at the same club as Patient 66 (as the man was dubbed), I was sucked into a vortex of government surveillance. I was there filming a documentary about queer South Korean nightlife. Before I could enter the club, I had to put on a mask, have my temperature checked, sanitize my hands, and sign in with my name and phone number. Officials later added my information to a list of more than 5,000 clubgoers who had visited the area.2
That weekend, people in line smiled more than usual, and a few embraced the bouncer after receiving their wristbands, still in disbelief that they could go dancing again. It had been about two months since the club last opened, and the spring night felt like a hard-earned moment of normalcy for a country lauded globally for its coronavirus response.3
That feeling lasted exactly five days, at which point public health officials announced that Patient 66 had the virus. One of the first media outlets to report on the incident was a conservative Christian paper, which ran a headline emphasizing that the patient had visited a gay club. It also published personal details—including information about his job, workplace, and place of residence—that could out the man to his coworkers, family, and friends.4 Related Article Dear Grown-Ups, It’s Time to Let LGBTQ Students Be Our Teachers Takeru Nagayoshi
In that moment, thousands of gay men who went clubbing in Itaewon, a multicultural district in Seoul, confronted a dilemma: Come forward to get tested (and potentially be outed, get pushed out of their jobs, and face stigma) or do nothing (and potentially serve as a vector of virus transmission). It’s the kind of impossible choice forced on you when the place where you live tacitly condones prejudice against you.5
“With the amount of information that was made public due to media reports, if you already knew Patient 66, it would have been pretty easy for you to figure out who that was,” said Yookyeong Im, a PhD student and an activist with Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea. “And because the larger public knows that the local outbreak was from this gay bar, just the fact that you got tested could make your colleagues or friends think, ‘Oh, I didn’t know he was gay!’”6
“That chain of thinking and inference makes many members of the queer community who couldn’t come out yet because of social stigma even more afraid,” Im added.7 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 How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection 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 How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Current Issue View our current issue
There is no national antidiscrimination law protecting LGBTQ people in South Korea. The country’s evangelical right, which boasts millions of followers, has helped make sure of that by lobbying against such proposals.8
The first attempt came in 2007, when South Korea’s Ministry of Justice proposed a policy that would have prohibited discrimination based on various grounds, including sexual orientation, in employment, education, and more. Conservatives succeeded in pressuring the government to remove sexual orientation and several other categories from the list, effectively killing the bill. Attempts to pass similar laws in 2011, 2012, and 2013 failed.9
After media outlets published reports linking Covid-19 to specific gay clubs this month, many South Koreans took to the Internet to spew homophobia. Others smashed eggs and threw flour onto the facade of one of the venues. Officials at some Covid-19 testing centers began asking visitors if they had HIV. And LGBTQ hotlines received a surge in calls from people concerned about being outed at their workplaces.10
Public health officials discovered that many of the clubgoers had used fake names and numbers when signing in. (We queers know that adding our names to a government tracking list is rarely a good idea.) Those officials scrambled to identify those who had used a pseudonym, through a combination of threatening fines, going through cell phone location data and credit card trails, and offering anonymous testing. But the damage had been done: Conservative media and evangelical Christians had once again made the queer community public scapegoats.11
“It’s similar to what happened with HIV/AIDS in the US and in Korea,” a queer Korean friend who is living with HIV told me. “It’s not that folks in power only ever target the gays. They try to push as much blame as they can onto any minority group so they can pretend that they did nothing wrong or that they had nothing to do with it.”12
Seoul’s LGBTQ community will keep thriving. The city is home to a range of queer spaces, from outdoor food stands to disco-blaring clubs, lesbian cafés, gender-neutral hair salons, and more. When I started exploring queer Seoul a decade ago, I noticed how the LGBTQ scene is not so much underground as it exists in plain sight under a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy: We’re allowed to take up space, as long as we don’t make too much of a fuss.13
This kind of conditional societal acceptance is not enough, especially now. The pandemic has made it clear that LGBTQ equality is not just a human rights issue for the marginalized; it’s a public health priority for everyone.14
This does not bode well for America, since LGBTQ people in at least 25 US states can be denied services, fired by private employers, and refused housing because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. What happened in Seoul could easily happen in many US states. And as businesses start to reopen, people will be on the lookout for new waves of infections—and for new groups to blame when they occur.15 Related Article How South Korea Triumphed, and the US Floundered, Over the Pandemic Tim Shorrock
A potential legislative solution already exists in the United States: passing the Equality Act, which would expand US civil rights laws so that they explicitly cover gender identity and sexual orientation. But it has stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate. As in South Korea, the anti-discrimination bill faces challenges from those who claim that “religious freedom” would be endangered.16
But if we can learn something from Seoul, it’s that leadership rarely comes from above and that bottom-up organizing can make a crucial difference. Facing institutionalized queerphobia, South Korean LGBTQ grassroots groups banded together to call out the unethical journalism that essentially outed Patient 66. They named the unnecessary incursions on privacy being carried out by local public health authorities, including the release of personally identifiable information that could reveal someone’s Covid-19 status. They held meetings with government officials to make sure that Seoul’s Covid-19 response would adapt to address the fears and anxieties of the LGBTQ community. And they provided counseling and mental health support, all the while encouraging folks to get tested.17
So if you are in the United States and worried about your family’s health, here’s a tangible action you can take: Support your local LGBTQ community group. It might be a chapter of GSA Network or a partner of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, of which I’m a member. Google “LGBTQ” and the name of your town or nearest city. And if you can, donate.18
These groups will be part of the first line of response when it comes to protecting the safety of the most vulnerable in our society: trans people, black and brown folks, queers, sex workers, undocumented migrants, people with disabilities, and others in marginalized communities. Whether or not you stand with us will determine if America can beat the coronavirus or if hate will fuel a second, third, or even fourth wave.19


thenation--2020-05-29--Argentina and the Future of Finance Capitalism

It ’ s no news that the world is going through a pandemic , and that the pandemic is having unprecedented impacts on the global economy .
While here in the United States the true unemployment rate soars to 25 percent or more , the pandemic has had an even more devastating effect on less-developed countries around the world .
Because of poverty , their baseline levels of health are already lower , their citizens live in more crowded and less sanitary conditions , their health care systems lack the capacity to deal with the huge increase in patient numbers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to cope with the health and economic impacts of a prolonged pandemic .
We can expect a surge in the number of countries facing debt restructurings—especially among those already overburdened with debt .
That ’ s why what happens to Argentina is so important .
Argentina ’ s struggles to restructure its debt with BlackRock , Pacific Investment Management Co , and the country ’ s other major creditors will tell us a lot about the nature of 21st century finance capitalism and the mindset and morality of the creditors : Do they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remain shortsighted—a myopia so clearly demonstrated in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis ?
Will they stick to their recent rhetoric about “ social responsibility ” and going beyond just looking after the interests of shareholders ?
Or is that just rhetoric ?
A mild dose of rationality would indicate caution in trying to push Argentina beyond the point of reason .
Argentina has made an offer to its creditors that is at the outer limits of what is sustainable—that is , at reasonable estimates of growth rates and other relevant variables @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back .
Traditionally , creditors have asked for more than that , which is why half of all debt restructurings wind up being followed by another debt restructuring within five years .
The creditors provide too little relief—and they typically provide it too late .
Nobody wins from such strategies .
The people in the debtor country suffer , and the creditors don ’ t get back the money they counted on .
Far better to agree to a sustainable debt restructuring .
If public reports on the negotiations are correct , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t adjusted to the new realities of the pandemic—though it simply doesn ’ t seem possible that they live in such a bubble that they are unaware of what is going on , that the news of the pandemic and its devastating economic consequences hasn ’ t reached them .
But they haven ’ t even adjusted to the changed global landscape after the 2008 crisis .
Long ago , the IMF used to act as the creditors ’ collection agency , showing little concern about the effects of its policies on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world itself was arguably less concerned either about sustainability or inclusive growth .
But in the post-2008 world , the IMF has become a champion for both , arguing that greater equality leads to better economic performance .
The IMF has recently outlined what Argentina can sustainably pay—an inconvenient truth that the country ’ s creditors would like to ignore .
Just as they would like to ignore the new role the IMF is playing , in the hope that if they just hold out long enough , old-style politics will , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ old routine goes like this : Creditors lean on the US Treasury , which then leans on the IMF , which leans on Argentina , until finally the country cries “ uncle.
” Well , that ’ s not the IMF ’ s playbook anymore , and the creditors need to throw it out , too .
The first offer made by BlackRock called for Argentina to pay roughly twice what the IMF had determined the country could afford .
Evaluating an offer entails assessing what economists call the “ time value of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ today ’ s money a dollar will be worth at some point in the future .
Debt restructuring requires postponing payments a country can ’ t make today , adding them into payments down the line .
Evaluating these future payments at a 5 percent discount rate ( remember , interest rates today are close to zero , and even the extra yield on more risky assets has come down enormously .
Also bear in mind that debt restructuring is supposed to be sustainable , so that future payments shouldn ’ t be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asking Argentina to pay a huge premium for the right to postpone .
While the subsequent offer from the group headed by BlackRock was better , it was still 50 percent over what the IMF said was sustainable , and if correctly valued ( using , say , a 5 percent discount rate ) , represented minuscule relief for the country .
There is a lot of speculation about why Argentina ’ s creditors are acting in such an obdurate way , first not negotiating in good faith , then making offers that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tactics that eventually forced a technical default on May 22 .
Don ’ t they know the only choice is between an orderly restructuring and a disorderly restructuring ?
Turmoil in emerging market bonds will be particularly costly to many of the creditors , who own not only Argentinean bonds but bonds of many other countries , too .
Creditors like BlackRock are supposed to be masters of risk analysis .
Don ’ t they know the risks of asking what ’ s beyond what ’ s sustainable ?
The irony is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in his famous open letter to CEOs , rightly emphasized the importance of sustainability : “ …with the impact of sustainability on investment returns increasing , we believe that sustainable investing is the strongest foundation for client portfolios going forward.
” But while he was focusing on long-term environmental sustainability , the same could be said even more forcefully for economic sustainability .
Is it that the creditors are just slow to adjust to this new world , hoping that if they play hardball long enough , it will go away ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ they ’ re soft on Argentina , they ’ ll wind up having to settle for less in the rash of restructurings coming down the line .
Perhaps Argentina is being forced to pay the price so its creditors can maintain their reputations as tough guys without much humanity .
Debt crises have , of course , been a feature of the global financial system for the past four decades .
In what may be an apocryphal story , the lead negotiator in an earlier crisis was Citibank ’ s legendary Bill Rhodes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were playing their usual game of financial brinkmanship , Rhodes supposedly said , “ OK , it ’ s enough.
” Today we seem to be missing a leader in the financial community who can play that role .
Someone who understands the realities of the pandemic and the new financial order .
If this were a story just about Argentina , it would be interesting enough .
But this is also the story of 21st century finance capitalism .
It ’ s not too late for the story to have a happy @ @ @ @ @ @ @

It’s no news that the world is going through a pandemic, and that the pandemic is having unprecedented impacts on the global economy. While here in the United States the true unemployment rate soars to 25 percent or more, the pandemic has had an even more devastating effect on less-developed countries around the world. Because of poverty, their baseline levels of health are already lower, their citizens live in more crowded and less sanitary conditions, their health care systems lack the capacity to deal with the huge increase in patient numbers, and they have much fewer resources to cope with the health and economic impacts of a prolonged pandemic. We can expect a surge in the number of countries facing debt restructurings—especially among those already overburdened with debt.
That’s why what happens to Argentina is so important. Argentina’s struggles to restructure its debt with BlackRock, Pacific Investment Management Co, and the country’s other major creditors will tell us a lot about the nature of 21st century finance capitalism and the mindset and morality of the creditors: Do they value money over lives? Will they remain shortsighted—a myopia so clearly demonstrated in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis? Will they stick to their recent rhetoric about “social responsibility” and going beyond just looking after the interests of shareholders? Or is that just rhetoric?
A mild dose of rationality would indicate caution in trying to push Argentina beyond the point of reason. Argentina has made an offer to its creditors that is at the outer limits of what is sustainable—that is, at reasonable estimates of growth rates and other relevant variables, a sum Argentina could possibly pay back. Traditionally, creditors have asked for more than that, which is why half of all debt restructurings wind up being followed by another debt restructuring within five years. The creditors provide too little relief—and they typically provide it too late. Nobody wins from such strategies. The people in the debtor country suffer, and the creditors don’t get back the money they counted on. Far better to agree to a sustainable debt restructuring.
If public reports on the negotiations are correct, it suggests that Argentina’s creditors haven’t adjusted to the new realities of the pandemic—though it simply doesn’t seem possible that they live in such a bubble that they are unaware of what is going on, that the news of the pandemic and its devastating economic consequences hasn’t reached them.
But they haven’t even adjusted to the changed global landscape after the 2008 crisis. Long ago, the IMF used to act as the creditors’ collection agency, showing little concern about the effects of its policies on poverty. In this bygone era, the world itself was arguably less concerned either about sustainability or inclusive growth. But in the post-2008 world, the IMF has become a champion for both, arguing that greater equality leads to better economic performance.
The IMF has recently outlined what Argentina can sustainably pay—an inconvenient truth that the country’s creditors would like to ignore. Just as they would like to ignore the new role the IMF is playing, in the hope that if they just hold out long enough, old-style politics will, in the end, prevail. The old routine goes like this: Creditors lean on the US Treasury, which then leans on the IMF, which leans on Argentina, until finally the country cries “uncle.” Well, that’s not the IMF’s playbook anymore, and the creditors need to throw it out, too.
The first offer made by BlackRock called for Argentina to pay roughly twice what the IMF had determined the country could afford. Evaluating an offer entails assessing what economists call the “time value of money,” or how much in today’s money a dollar will be worth at some point in the future. Debt restructuring requires postponing payments a country can’t make today, adding them into payments down the line. Evaluating these future payments at a 5 percent discount rate (remember, interest rates today are close to zero, and even the extra yield on more risky assets has come down enormously. Also bear in mind that debt restructuring is supposed to be sustainable, so that future payments shouldn’t be that risky), the creditors were asking Argentina to pay a huge premium for the right to postpone. While the subsequent offer from the group headed by BlackRock was better, it was still 50 percent over what the IMF said was sustainable, and if correctly valued (using, say, a 5 percent discount rate), represented minuscule relief for the country.
There is a lot of speculation about why Argentina’s creditors are acting in such an obdurate way, first not negotiating in good faith, then making offers that are so out of touch with reality—delaying tactics that eventually forced a technical default on May 22. Don’t they know the only choice is between an orderly restructuring and a disorderly restructuring? Turmoil in emerging market bonds will be particularly costly to many of the creditors, who own not only Argentinean bonds but bonds of many other countries, too.
Creditors like BlackRock are supposed to be masters of risk analysis. Don’t they know the risks of asking what’s beyond what’s sustainable? The irony is that the head of BlackRock, Larry Fink, in his famous open letter to CEOs, rightly emphasized the importance of sustainability: “…with the impact of sustainability on investment returns increasing, we believe that sustainable investing is the strongest foundation for client portfolios going forward.” But while he was focusing on long-term environmental sustainability, the same could be said even more forcefully for economic sustainability.
Is it that the creditors are just slow to adjust to this new world, hoping that if they play hardball long enough, it will go away? Maybe they’re worried that if they’re soft on Argentina, they’ll wind up having to settle for less in the rash of restructurings coming down the line. Perhaps Argentina is being forced to pay the price so its creditors can maintain their reputations as tough guys without much humanity.
Debt crises have, of course, been a feature of the global financial system for the past four decades. In what may be an apocryphal story, the lead negotiator in an earlier crisis was Citibank’s legendary Bill Rhodes. At some point, when creditors were playing their usual game of financial brinkmanship, Rhodes supposedly said, “OK, it’s enough.” Today we seem to be missing a leader in the financial community who can play that role. Someone who understands the realities of the pandemic and the new financial order.
If this were a story just about Argentina, it would be interesting enough. But this is also the story of 21st century finance capitalism. It’s not too late for the story to have a happy ending. I hope it does.


thenation--2020-05-31--Exclusive: The US Military Is Monitoring Protests in 7 States

The US military is monitoring protests in at least seven states , according to Defense Department documents obtained exclusively by The Nation .
In addition to Minnesota , where a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd , the military is tracking uprisings in New York , Ohio , Colorado , Arizona , Tennessee , and Kentucky , according to a Defense Department situation report .
Notably , only Minnesota has requested National Guard support .
The documents were originally stored on an unclassified server but were subsequently “ elevated ” to a classified system .
While the documents reveal significant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the seven states , one Minnesota Guard member expressed concerns about the troops ’ lack of training in responding to civil unrest .
One document pertaining to the Minnesota National Guard , marked “ For Official Use Only ” ( FOUO ) , describes one operation ’ s purpose : “ Augment MN State Patrol Civil Disturbance Operations with a show of force.
” Other operations are variously described as providing security for law enforcement agencies , defending the capitol building , and “ maintaining governance.
” Another document about the protests in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Response Storybook , ” is also marked FOUO and dated May 29 .
It states that National Guard members have been authorized for “ weapon status red , ” meaning magazines loaded but safety on .
The document seems particularly concerned not just with harm to civilians but also potential damage to property , to which it refers several times .
For example , the assessment line notes that the Guard will “ ensure the safety of citizens and property.
” Trump ’ s Decision to Freeze WHO Funding Worries the US Military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” and “ National Guard Reaction Force Capabilities ” in six cities : Denver , Memphis , Phoenix , Louisville , New York City , and Columbus .
While troop capacities ( labelled “ PAX ” in the document ) range from 100 to 500 troops in each state , the document also reveals that there ’ s only enough riot gear ( RG ) for a fraction of these personnel .
Asked why they were generating intelligence reports for six states besides Minnesota , Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell , a spokesperson for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that producing this information amounts to sensible preparation in the event these states require assistance : “ Without such situational awareness , it would be more difficult for DOD to respond if it becomes necessary ( if requested by the governors of those states ) .
” The system that some documents were moved to , called the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network ( SIPRNet ) , is a more tightly secured program than the unclassified one in which these documents had previously been stored .
The enhanced security makes it less likely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Associated Press ’ s James LaPorta reported last night that Military Police deployed to Minneapolis had their orders placed in SIPRNet .
Last year , LaPorta wrote that Defense Department documents regarding the Trump administration ’ s military deployment to the US-Mexico border were also on SIPRNet in order to prevent leaks to the press and limit media coverage .
Mitchell told The Nation , “ The Department of Defense takes appropriate measures to ensure our information—electronic or otherwise—is safeguarded and handled appropriately .
As such , we take necessary and prudent steps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but sensitive information.
” On Saturday , Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced that he is fully mobilizing the Minnesota National Guard—the first time it ’ s been called out since World War II .
Benjamin Haas , a D.C.-based attorney with expertise in national security law who is himself a former Army intelligence officer , stressed that while the Guard ’ s deployment is technically legal , that does not make it wise .
“ Putting soldiers into a politically charged law enforcement context is a sensitive matter , and Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tense moment even worse , ” Haas said .
Walz also reportedly said during a press conference that the NSA was providing “ intelligence support ” and intercepted communications regarding the riots .
When Zack Whittaker , a reporter for TechCrunch , asked about the governor ’ s statement , the NSA declined to comment .
Responding to a request for comment from The Nation , the spokesperson for the Minnesota governor ’ s office declined to go on the record .
While the documents reveal significant National Guard capacities in each of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have very little training in how to respond to civil unrest .
Steven Aftergood , director of the Federation of American Scientists ’ Project on Government Secrecy , told The Nation via e-mail , “ Although the National Guard is a component of the US Armed Forces , their crowd control mission in Minnesota is not a military mission .
They are not trying to defeat an adversary , but to support their fellow citizens , to preserve order and to protect the defenseless .
And unlike a response to natural disaster , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of intense anger and provocation without losing their own bearings .
It ’ s a near-impossible task even with the best training and equipment.
” One Minnesota Guard member , who spoke to The Nation on the condition of anonymity , said that many in the Guard were dreading being called up : “ We ’ re a combat unit not trained for riot control or safely handling civilians in this context .
Soldiers up and down the ranks are scared about hurting someone , and leaders are worried about soldiers ’ suffering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ My [ colleagues ] are people of common sense and common decency .
They may not want to step over any lines when doing their jobs , but wanting only goes so far when you ’ re under-trained and under-equipped .
”

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The US military is monitoring protests in at least seven states, according to Defense Department documents obtained exclusively by The Nation.
In addition to Minnesota, where a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, the military is tracking uprisings in New York, Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, Tennessee, and Kentucky, according to a Defense Department situation report. Notably, only Minnesota has requested National Guard support. The documents were originally stored on an unclassified server but were subsequently elevated to a classified system. While the documents reveal significant National Guard force capabilities in each of those states, one Minnesota Guard member expressed concerns about the troops’ lack of training to respond to civil unrest.
A document pertaining to the Minnesota National Guard, marked “For official use only” (FOUO), describes one operation’s purpose: “Augment MN State Patrol Civil Disturbance Operations with a show of force.” Other operations are variously described as providing security for law enforcement agencies, defending the state Capitol, and “maintaining governance.”
Another document about the protests in Minnesota, titled “MNNG Civil Disturbance Response Storybook,” is also marked FOUO and is dated May 29. It states that National Guard members have been authorized for “weapon status red,” meaning magazines loaded but safety on. The document seems particularly concerned with not just harm to civilians but also potential damage to property, to which it refers several times. For example, the assessment line says the Guard will “ensure the safety of citizens and property.” Related Article Trump’s Decision to Freeze WHO Funding Worries the US Military Ken Klippenstein
A situation report details “Protester Actions” and “National Guard Reaction Force Capabilities” in six cities: Denver, Memphis, Phoenix, Louisville, New York, and Columbus. Troop capacities (labeled “PAX” in the document) range from 100 to 500 Guard members in each state, but the document reveals that there’s enough riot gear (RG) for only a fraction of them.
Asked why they were generating intelligence reports for six states besides Minnesota, Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell, a spokesperson for the Defense Department, told The Nation that producing this information amounts to sensible preparation in the event these states require assistance. “Without such situational awareness, it would be more difficult for DOD to respond if it becomes necessary (if requested by the governors of those states),” Mitchell said.
The system that some documents were moved to, the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet), is a more tightly secured program than the unclassified one in which these documents were previously stored. The enhanced security makes it less likely that the documents would leak. 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 How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection 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 How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Current Issue View our current issue
The Associated Press’s James LaPorta reported last night that military police deployed to Minneapolis had their orders placed in SIPRNet. Last year, LaPorta wrote that Defense Department documents regarding the Trump administration’s military deployment to the US-Mexico border were also on SIPRNet in order to prevent leaks to the press and limit media coverage.
Mitchell told The Nation, “The Department of Defense takes appropriate measures to ensure our information—electronic or otherwise—is safeguarded and handled appropriately. As such, we take necessary and prudent steps to minimize the unauthorized release of unclassified, but sensitive information.”
On Saturday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced that he is fully mobilizing the Minnesota National Guard—the first time it has been called out since World War II.
In addition to the National Guard, Donald Trump has reportedly considered deploying active-duty military. Benjamin Haas, a D.C.-based attorney with expertise in national security law who is a former Army intelligence officer, stressed the dangers of this course of action. “Even if involving the active-duty military is legal and the circumstances on the ground demand further resources, it may not be wise as a matter of policy and optics. Putting soldiers into a politically charged law enforcement context is a sensitive matter, and Trump’s incendiary rhetoric has made an already tense moment even worse,” Haas said.
Walz also reportedly said during a press conference that the National Security Agency was providing “intelligence support” and intercepted communications regarding riots.
When Zack Whittaker, a reporter for TechCrunch, asked about the governor’s statement, the NSA declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Minnesota governor’s office declined to comment on the record for The Nation.
Asked about the Guard’s suitability for responding to civil unrest, Steven Aftergood, the director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy, told The Nation via e-mail, “Although the National Guard is a component of the US Armed Forces, their crowd control mission in Minnesota is not a military mission. They are not trying to defeat an adversary, but to support their fellow citizens, to preserve order and to protect the defenseless. And unlike a response to natural disaster, they have to act in an environment of intense anger and provocation without losing their own bearings. It’s a near-impossible task even with the best training and equipment.”
One Minnesota Guard member, who spoke to The Nation on the condition of anonymity, said that many in the Guard were dreading being called up: “We’re a combat unit not trained for riot control or safely handling civilians in this context. Soldiers up and down the ranks are scared about hurting someone, and leaders are worried about soldiers’ suffering liability.”
The Guard member added, “My [colleagues] are people of common sense and common decency. They may not want to step over any lines when doing their jobs, but wanting only goes so far when you’re undertrained and underequipped.”


thenation--2020-05-31--Trump’s Authoritarian Porn Has a Lot of Fans

Twitter has finally begun removing a smattering of Donald Trump tweets for fomenting violence or spreading lies .
The company ought to remove a whole series of them for spreading pornography : authoritarian pornography .
President Bone Spurs woke up in his White House bunker Saturday and waxed orgasmic about the supposed performance of the Secret Service in protecting him from protesters Friday night .
“ The front line was replaced with fresh agents , like magic , ” he panted .
The crowd had been peaceful , but “ if they had [ not ] they would have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and most ominous weapons , I have ever seen .
That ’ s when people would have been really badly hurt , at least.
” “ At least.
” He really enjoyed writing that .
Also that a Secret Service official had told him , “ We put the young ones on the front line , sir , they love it , and good practice.
” ( He had to get in the “ sir.
” ) And he closed his stream with an invitation to a violent orgy : “ Tonight , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ THE WHITE HOUSE ?
?
?
” ( He deleted that one . )
The Only Solution Is to Defund the Police Meanwhile , The New York Times reports that Trump ’ s aides are “ trying to get him to stop using violent rhetoric while maintaining a law and order posture.
” Um , sure .
So am I .
And we ’ re having equal success .
Now a nation led by a man who is a coward , a bully , a liar , and a sadist is being policed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he stands for .
The president doesn ’ t have the macho swagger of a Derek Chauvin , the Minneapolis police officer ( now fired ) who murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes , one hand casually in his pocket like he was waiting for a latte .
Trump ’ s more like the three cowards who helped get the cruelty started , then looked on while a fellow human being cried for his mother and then died .
The head of the Minneapolis police union , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leader of “ Cops for Trump ” who has long been accused of racism and civil rights abuses by Minneapolis justice advocates .
He joined a Trump rally last October and said this to the crowd : “ The Obama administration and the handcuffing and oppression of police was despicable .
The first thing President Trump did when he took office was turn that around , got rid of the [ Attorney Generals Eric ] Holder-Loretta Lynch regime and decided to start takin—letting the cops do their job , put the handcuffs on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of course , it ’ s not just Minneapolis .
All weekend long , we saw footage of police officers in cities from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York using brutal force against multiracial protesters , as well as journalists .
In Columbus , cops pepper-sprayed Congresswoman Joyce Beatty ; in Seattle , a 9-year-old child .
Clearly , we ’ re being led by the worst imaginable man for the moment .
Yes , as we say so often , Trump is a symptom of the metastatic racism that afflicts the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as we ’ ve seen with other diseases , whether cancer or Covid-19 , symptoms kill if not treated .
White racism is certainly the disease , worsened by the too-frequent silence and indifference of white moderates and liberals , as Dr. King warned us from that Birmingham jail almost 30 years ago .
But we saw violence from other white people this weekend , many of them purporting to back the protesters .
Not all white protesters ; very few .
But along with reports of white cops escalating confrontation came complaints @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Brooklyn , that it was often white people who turned protest from peaceful to violent .
Early reports from Minnesota leaders that the worst offenders came from outside the area have so far not been proven ; arrest records show the vast majority of those taken into custody were local .
More information could change that story .
But it was certainly true in some places .
A young white woman from upstate Catskill , N.Y. , was charged with throwing a Molotov cocktail at a car containing four police officers in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ young black woman leader in Eugene tearfully begging mostly white protesters not to vandalize a store .
In Pittsburgh , a well-organized protest grew violent Saturday when elements unaffiliated with the organizers began to damage police cars and other property .
In Baltimore , you can see white protesters defy another young black woman , who told them that when they egg on the cops , they put black lives at risk .
One retorted , “ They ’ re killing you guys already.
” Way to be an ally , dude .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ blamed elements of the left and “ antifa ” movements for the violence .
Just after noon on Sunday , Trump tweeted , “ The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization , ” a fascistic flourish .
Some of the white protesters may be affiliated with “ antifa , ” others with the so-called Black Bloc , known for its willingness to escalate to violent tactics .
Some are reportedly white nationalists and militia members , and a few could be police infiltrators .
It will take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We shouldn ’ t let Trump define this moment .
Of course , there are plenty of black protesters venting rage through property destruction in these cities ; they ’ re not being duped by white agitators .
But it ’ s tough to see young white adventurers defying black leadership .
It ’ s essential for white people who care about racial and economic justice and who want to work on these issues , whether by protesting the murder of George Floyd or addressing grinding systemic racism , to seek out black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaders .
We have been incredibly lucky that so few people have died in this national spasm of justified anger , righteous protest , and not so easily defended violence .
We ’ re lucky no employees were hurt when small local businesses and community nonprofits were torched in Minneapolis and elsewhere .
It ’ s important to emphasize that most protest has been peaceful .
On Saturday afternoon , tens of thousands of people turned out in Harlem , where I live , with no violence ( though after midnight , long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crowd clashed with police in my neighborhood and several people were arrested ) .
In Flint , Mich. , and Camden , N.J. , historically black and ravaged by poverty , police officials joined the peaceful protests , as they did in Santa Cruz , Ca .
In Denver , Col. , thousands of protesters laid on their stomachs and chanted “ I can ’ t breathe ” for the full nine minutes it took for Derek Chauvin to pin and suffocate George Floyd .
It ’ s a shame that these stories @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s almost as if police want it this way , and that ’ s why they keep wrongly arresting people like CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez and why they shot MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi with a rubber bullet in Minneapolis and pepper-sprayed local journalists in Louisville , Detroit , and other cities .
Trump and his backers in blue enjoy these orgies of violence .
We should resist giving them what they want .

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Twitter has finally begun removing a smattering of Donald Trump tweets for fomenting violence or spreading lies. The company ought to remove a whole series of them for spreading pornography—authoritarian pornography.
President Bone Spurs woke up in his White House bunker Saturday and waxed orgasmic about the supposed performance of the Secret Service in protecting him from protesters Friday night.
“The front line was replaced with fresh agents, like magic,” he panted. The crowd had been peaceful, but “if they had [not] they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least.”
“At least.” He really enjoyed writing that. Also that a Secret Service official had told him, “We put the young ones on the front line, sir, they love it, and good practice.” (He had to get in the “sir.”) And he closed his stream with an invitation to a violent orgy: “Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???” (He deleted that one.) Police Violence The Only Solution Is to Defund the Police Alex S. Vitale
Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that Trump’s aides are “trying to get him to stop using violent rhetoric while maintaining a law and order posture.” Um, sure. So am I. And we’re having equal success.
A nation led by a man who is a coward, a bully, a liar, and a sadist is being policed by forces who admire him and what he stands for. The president doesn’t have the macho swagger of a Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer (now fired) who murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes, one hand casually in his pocket as if he were waiting for a latte. Trump’s more like the three cowards who helped get the cruelty started, then looked on while a fellow human being cried for his mother and then died.
The head of the Minneapolis police union, Sgt. Bob Kroll, is a prominent leader of “Cops for Trump” who has long been accused of racism and civil rights abuses by Minneapolis justice advocates. He joined a Trump rally last October and said this to the crowd: “The Obama administration and the handcuffing and oppression of police was despicable. The first thing President Trump did when he took office was turn that around, got rid of the [Attorney Generals Eric] Holder–Loretta Lynch regime and decided to start taking—letting the cops do their job, put the handcuffs on the criminals instead of us.” 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 How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection 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 How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Current Issue View our current issue
But of course, it’s not just Minneapolis. All weekend long, we saw footage of police officers in cities from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York using brutal force against multiracial protesters, as well as journalists. In Columbus, cops pepper-sprayed Representative Joyce Beatty. In Seattle, a 9-year-old child.
Clearly, we’re being led by the worst imaginable man for the moment. Yes, as we say so often, Trump is a symptom of the metastatic racism that afflicts the country, not the cause. But as we’ve seen with other diseases, whether cancer or Covid-19, symptoms kill if not treated.
White racism is certainly the disease, worsened by the too-frequent silence and indifference of white moderates and liberals, as Martin Luther King Jr. warned us from that Birmingham jail almost 60 years ago. But we saw violence from other white people this weekend, many of them purporting to back the protesters. Not all white protesters. Very few. But along with reports of white cops escalating confrontation came complaints from black community members, from Minneapolis to Brooklyn, that it was often white people who turned protest from peaceful to violent. Early reports from Minnesota leaders that the worst offenders came from outside the area have so far not been substantiated; arrest records show the vast majority of those taken into custody were local. More information could change that story.
But it was certainly true in some places. A young white woman from Catskill, N.Y., was charged with throwing a Molotov cocktail at a car containing four police officers in Brooklyn Friday night. We saw a young black woman leader in Eugene tearfully begging mostly white protesters not to vandalize a store. In Pittsburgh a well-organized protest grew violent Saturday when elements unaffiliated with the organizers began to damage police cars and other property. In Baltimore you can see white protesters defy another young black woman, who told them that when they egg on the cops, they put black lives at risk. One retorted, “They’re killing you guys already.” Way to be an ally, dude.
On Saturday, Attorney General William Barr blamed elements of the left and antifa movements for the violence. Just after noon on Sunday, Trump tweeted, “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” a fascistic flourish. Some of the white protesters may be affiliated with antifa, others with the so-called black bloc, known for its willingness to escalate to violent tactics. Some are reportedly white nationalists and militia members, and a few could be police infiltrators. It will take a while to sort this out. We shouldn’t let Trump define this moment.
Of course, there are plenty of black protesters venting rage through property destruction in these cities; they’re not being duped by white agitators. But it’s tough to see young white adventurers defying black leadership. It’s essential for white people who care about racial and economic justice and who want to work on these issues, whether by protesting the murder of George Floyd or addressing grinding systemic racism, to seek out black groups and take their cues from black leaders. We have been incredibly lucky that so few people have died in this national spasm of justified anger, righteous protest, and not so easily defended violence. We’re lucky no employees were hurt when small businesses and community nonprofits were torched in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
It’s important to emphasize that most protest has been peaceful. On Saturday afternoon, tens of thousands of people turned out in Harlem, where I live, with no violence (though after midnight, long after the protests had dispersed, a crowd clashed with police in my neighborhood, and several people were arrested). In Flint, Mich., and Camden, N.J., historically black and ravaged by poverty, police officials joined the peaceful protests, as they did in Santa Cruz, Calif. In Denver thousands of protesters lay on their stomachs and chanted “I can’t breathe” for the nine minutes it took for Derek Chauvin to pin and suffocate George Floyd.
It’s a shame that these stories are being obscured by images of violence—but it’s almost as if police want it this way and that’s why they keep wrongly arresting people like CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez and why they shot MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi with a rubber bullet in Minneapolis and pepper-sprayed local journalists in Louisville, Ky.; Detroit; and other cities. Trump and his backers in blue enjoy these orgies of violence. We should resist giving them what they want.