thenation--2020-07-01--The Climate Emergency Won’t Wait for the Press to Play Catch-up Again

This story is being co-published by The Guardian , The Nation , and Columbia Journalism Review as part of Covering Climate Now , a global collaboration of more than 400 news outlets committed to transforming news coverage of the defining story of our time .
To hear many journalists tell it , the spring of 2020 has brought a series of extraordinary revelations .
Look at what the nation has learned : that our health care system was not remotely up to the challenge of a deadly pandemic .
That our economic safety net was largely nonexistent .
That our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tied to our race and where we live .
That our political leadership sowed misinformation that left people dead .
That systemic racism and the killing of Black people by police is undiminished , despite decades of protest and so many Black lives lost .
Journalism is now engaged in explaining and contextualizing this moment , a frenzy of feature writing prompted by the filling of morgues and the throngs of people in the streets .
Some of these pieces will be impressive ; a few will win our most prestigious journalism prizes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the spring of 2020 and congratulate ourselves on the central role played by professional reporters , who helped the nation navigate these crises .
But let ’ s save the self-congratulations .
While it is true that the virus and the uprising in the streets have exposed deep injustices and inequities in our nation , none of them are new .
Climate-Justice Stories Are in Every Community , Waiting to Be Told Just Like Covid-19 , Racial Justice Is a Climate Story More in this series This summer and fall , all of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote in an election that is also a decisive turning point in the overarching story of our time—the onrushing climate emergency .
This summer , scientists say , will bring heat waves , wildfires , and “ one of the most active ” hurricane seasons on record .
Protests against racial injustice may well rise along with temperatures , no doubt fueled by more videos of pain and death .
In the fall , our health crisis may well increase , as the Covid-19 pandemic collides with the seasonal flu , all while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Depression levels of unemployment .
It is to the shame of journalism if we don ’ t get to the root of why all of this is happening so that voters can make informed choices in November .
It ’ s worth remembering the media hand-wringing that followed the election of Donald Trump in 2016 .
Mainstream news outlets , out of touch and understaffed , reported largely from inside their own establishment bubbles , and few in those confined spaces believed Trump had a shot at winning the presidency .
So the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t understand the stirring of disaffection in the country ; it underestimated the racism and economic fear that would drive white people to support Trump ; it misread polling and cherry-picked data to convince itself that a Trump loss was inevitable .
In a presidential election , the media ’ s job is to understand the electorate , not predict the outcome before voters have cast ballots .
Four years ago , reporters and editors became too obsessed with political gamesmanship , personality , and trivia to do the media ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ humiliating defeat for journalism and an acceleration of the mistrust of the press that already existed .
At the start of the 2020 election year , despite pledges by newsroom leaders to do better , the same tendencies showed .
Trump was defining the narrative .
Structural chasms in the country were ignored .
The Democratic field was reduced to caricature .
Then came the coronavirus and the police killings of George Floyd , Breonna Tayor , and Ahmaud Arbery , among too many others .
Exactly none of what we as journalists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three months should have come as a surprise .
We have known , or should have known , that the public health system in the United States is overpriced and unequal .
We have known , or should have known , that Americans are not equipped to withstand an economic downturn .
We have known , or should have known , that racial injustice is pervasive in our country ( and in our media ) and that Black people continue to die , be incarcerated , and suffer economically at tragically disproportionate rates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic , police killings , and mass protests to focus mainstream journalistic attention on these issues is damning , and must prompt a reappraisal of how we work .
Why weren ’ t newsrooms obsessing about these issues before the world imploded this spring ?
Why must we always be reactive to injustice , instead of proactively highlighting it ?
Isn ’ t it the job of journalism to ferret out wrongdoing even if people in power want it to remain hidden ?
Why aren ’ t we advocating for our audiences and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the climate crisis .
This summer , wildfires will ravage the American West .
Deadly heat will pound the Global South .
Hurricanes will march up the Atlantic coast .
Homes , and perhaps whole communities , will be lost .
Crops and people will die .
If the journalistic status quo holds , news organizations will respond by going into disaster-coverage mode , mobilizing their dwindling staffs to cover the crisis as it unfolds .
They ’ ll take astonishing pictures of the destruction and hear heroic stories from survivors and rescue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the economic costs and run heartbreaking profiles of families who died in their swimming pools while trying to escape the fire or children who were washed out to sea .
And then , only after the work of covering the disaster is done , will they perhaps take a moment to examine why all this is happening—why these disasters are occurring , again and again , all over the world , with increased frequency and ferocity .
The Media ’ s Covid-19 Coverage Proves It Could Also Spotlight the Climate Crisis There ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ business waits for news to happen when , in fact , we shouldn ’ t need another Black person to be shot to start reporting on racism in the police force .
Nor should we need yet another Category 5 hurricane to flatten yet another community before we sound the alarm that the planet is on the brink of climate collapse .
These are deep , structural stories that are all linked .
Novel viruses like Covid-19 often begin in wild animals , many of which are coming into closer contact with humans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deforestation , mining , and other extractive activities .
The first line of infection is often among disadvantaged communities .
The heat waves , droughts , storms , and other effects of rising temperatures almost always punish the poor and people of color first and worst .
Where are we in covering the climate-emergency story ?
Not remotely close to where we should be .
Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation , in partnership with The Guardian , cofounded Covering Climate Now a year ago because we were convinced that most newsrooms were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ story .
Over the past year , we have made impressive progress .
Our partners now include more than 400 news outlets representing more than 50 countries , with a combined audience of roughly 2 billion people .
Our collaboration has done weeks of joint coverage that yielded thousands of additional climate stories .
During our first week of joint coverage , last September , Google searches for the term “ climate change ” were the highest in history .
And some news outlets that are not Covering Climate Now partners also have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ editors , adding and deepening climate coverage , and including climate among the key issues in the 2020 elections .
And yet .
And yet .
And yet .
While we have been heartened ( and grateful ) to see so many of our colleagues join this effort , we still don ’ t sense the urgency that the climate emergency demands , especially as the 2020 election approaches .
Our window to prevent catastrophe is closing fast .
In some respects , it has already shut : At least three feet of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and possibly much sooner , scientists say , compelling the relocation of millions of people and trillions of dollars ’ worth of coastal infrastructure around the world .
Making the Climate Emergency the Story of the 2020 Elections The public sees the urgency and actually wants more climate news .
Even during the peak of coronavirus coverage in April , some of the world ’ s biggest news organizations told us that their audiences had little appetite for stories that weren ’ t about the virus , with one exception : climate change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Journalism now has a window of opportunity to get these interconnected stories right .
Editorially , we are urging our partners—and journalists everywhere—to play the climate story bigger .
It ’ s not enough to do one story on one candidate ’ s position on climate change and be done with it .
Climate change should be a continuing part of the narrative about any candidate ’ s campaign , just as the candidate ’ s positions on Covid-19 , the economy , and health care are .
The word “ climate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broadcast scripts often enough that the public can ’ t miss it .
Above all , we hope newsrooms will remember the big picture and cover the real horse race .
It ’ s easy for campaign coverage to get mired in minutiae .
The contest between Republicans and Democrats is of great interest , of course , and the outcome couldn ’ t matter more .
But the horse race that matters most is humanity ’ s collective race to defuse the climate emergency , which means strong action must begin now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ What ’ s ultimately being decided in these elections is nothing less than whether all of us are going to have a livable planet 20 years from now and beyond .
If the press is most comfortable chasing fires and sending reporters into disaster zones , so be it .
But newsrooms should know : The disaster is here .
It is raging now .
Our job is to cover it with the urgency it deserves .

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This story is being co-published by The Guardian, The Nation, and Columbia Journalism Review as part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 400 news outlets committed to transforming news coverage of the defining story of our time.
To hear many journalists tell it, the spring of 2020 has brought a series of extraordinary revelations. Look at what the nation has learned: that our health care system was not remotely up to the challenge of a deadly pandemic. That our economic safety net was largely nonexistent. That our vulnerability to disease and death was directly tied to our race and where we live. That our political leadership sowed misinformation that left people dead. That systemic racism and the killing of Black people by police is undiminished, despite decades of protest and so many Black lives lost.
Journalism is now engaged in explaining and contextualizing this moment, a frenzy of feature writing prompted by the filling of morgues and the throngs of people in the streets. Some of these pieces will be impressive; a few will win our most prestigious journalism prizes. We’ll look back at the spring of 2020 and congratulate ourselves on the central role played by professional reporters, who helped the nation navigate these crises.
But let’s save the self-congratulations. While it is true that the virus and the uprising in the streets have exposed deep injustices and inequities in our nation, none of them are new. Covering Climate Now How to Stop the Spread of Climate Disinformation Erika Seiber and Michael Khoo A Soundtrack for the Climate Emergency Mark Hertsgaard Can Gen Z Save the Midterms for Democrats? Mark Hertsgaard
This summer and fall, all of these stories will crash together as Americans vote in an election that is also a decisive turning point in the overarching story of our time—the onrushing climate emergency. This summer, scientists say, will bring heat waves, wildfires, and “one of the most active” hurricane seasons on record. Protests against racial injustice may well rise along with temperatures, no doubt fueled by more videos of pain and death. In the fall, our health crisis may well increase, as the Covid-19 pandemic collides with the seasonal flu, all while the US economy continues to experience Great Depression levels of unemployment. It is to the shame of journalism if we don’t get to the root of why all of this is happening so that voters can make informed choices in November.
It’s worth remembering the media hand-wringing that followed the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Mainstream news outlets, out of touch and understaffed, reported largely from inside their own establishment bubbles, and few in those confined spaces believed Trump had a shot at winning the presidency. So the press missed the story. It didn’t understand the stirring of disaffection in the country; it underestimated the racism and economic fear that would drive white people to support Trump; it misread polling and cherry-picked data to convince itself that a Trump loss was inevitable. 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
In a presidential election, the media’s job is to understand the electorate, not predict the outcome before voters have cast ballots. Four years ago, reporters and editors became too obsessed with political gamesmanship, personality, and trivia to do the media’s primary job. The result was a humiliating defeat for journalism and an acceleration of the mistrust of the press that already existed. Current Issue View our current issue
At the start of the 2020 election year, despite pledges by newsroom leaders to do better, the same tendencies showed. Trump was defining the narrative. Structural chasms in the country were ignored. The Democratic field was reduced to caricature.
Then came the coronavirus and the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Tayor, and Ahmaud Arbery, among too many others. Exactly none of what we as journalists learned about our nation in the past three months should have come as a surprise. We have known, or should have known, that the public health system in the United States is overpriced and unequal. We have known, or should have known, that Americans are not equipped to withstand an economic downturn. We have known, or should have known, that racial injustice is pervasive in our country (and in our media) and that Black people continue to die, be incarcerated, and suffer economically at tragically disproportionate rates.
The fact that it took a pandemic, police killings, and mass protests to focus mainstream journalistic attention on these issues is damning, and must prompt a reappraisal of how we work. Why weren’t newsrooms obsessing about these issues before the world imploded this spring? Why must we always be reactive to injustice, instead of proactively highlighting it? Isn’t it the job of journalism to ferret out wrongdoing even if people in power want it to remain hidden? Why aren’t we advocating for our audiences and their lives?
Which brings us to the climate crisis. This summer, wildfires will ravage the American West. Deadly heat will pound the Global South. Hurricanes will march up the Atlantic coast. Homes, and perhaps whole communities, will be lost. Crops and people will die.
If the journalistic status quo holds, news organizations will respond by going into disaster-coverage mode, mobilizing their dwindling staffs to cover the crisis as it unfolds. They’ll take astonishing pictures of the destruction and hear heroic stories from survivors and rescue workers. They’ll tally up the economic costs and run heartbreaking profiles of families who died in their swimming pools while trying to escape the fire or children who were washed out to sea. And then, only after the work of covering the disaster is done, will they perhaps take a moment to examine why all this is happening—why these disasters are occurring, again and again, all over the world, with increased frequency and ferocity. Covid-19 The Media’s Covid-19 Coverage Proves It Could Also Spotlight the Climate Crisis Mark Hertsgaard
There’s a pattern here. The news business waits for news to happen when, in fact, we shouldn’t need another Black person to be shot to start reporting on racism in the police force. Nor should we need yet another Category 5 hurricane to flatten yet another community before we sound the alarm that the planet is on the brink of climate collapse.
These are deep, structural stories that are all linked. Novel viruses like Covid-19 often begin in wild animals, many of which are coming into closer contact with humans because their habitats are being destroyed by deforestation, mining, and other extractive activities. The first line of infection is often among disadvantaged communities. The heat waves, droughts, storms, and other effects of rising temperatures almost always punish the poor and people of color first and worst.
Where are we in covering the climate-emergency story? Not remotely close to where we should be. Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation, in partnership with The Guardian, cofounded Covering Climate Now a year ago because we were convinced that most newsrooms were not doing enough to tell the climate story. Over the past year, we have made impressive progress. Our partners now include more than 400 news outlets representing more than 50 countries, with a combined audience of roughly 2 billion people. Our collaboration has done weeks of joint coverage that yielded thousands of additional climate stories. During our first week of joint coverage, last September, Google searches for the term “climate change” were the highest in history. And some news outlets that are not Covering Climate Now partners also have upped their game, hiring dedicated climate editors, adding and deepening climate coverage, and including climate among the key issues in the 2020 elections.
And yet. And yet. And yet.
While we have been heartened (and grateful) to see so many of our colleagues join this effort, we still don’t sense the urgency that the climate emergency demands, especially as the 2020 election approaches. Our window to prevent catastrophe is closing fast. In some respects, it has already shut: At least three feet of sea-level rise is inevitable by 2100, and possibly much sooner, scientists say, compelling the relocation of millions of people and trillions of dollars’ worth of coastal infrastructure around the world. Climate Emergency Making the Climate Emergency the Story of the 2020 Elections Mark Hertsgaard
The public sees the urgency and actually wants more climate news. Even during the peak of coronavirus coverage in April, some of the world’s biggest news organizations told us that their audiences had little appetite for stories that weren’t about the virus, with one exception: climate change, which continued to generate significant traffic.
Journalism now has a window of opportunity to get these interconnected stories right. Editorially, we are urging our partners—and journalists everywhere—to play the climate story bigger. It’s not enough to do one story on one candidate’s position on climate change and be done with it. Climate change should be a continuing part of the narrative about any candidate’s campaign, just as the candidate’s positions on Covid-19, the economy, and health care are. The word “climate” should be included in headlines and broadcast scripts often enough that the public can’t miss it.
Above all, we hope newsrooms will remember the big picture and cover the real horse race. It’s easy for campaign coverage to get mired in minutiae. The contest between Republicans and Democrats is of great interest, of course, and the outcome couldn’t matter more. But the horse race that matters most is humanity’s collective race to defuse the climate emergency, which means strong action must begin now, not four years from now. What’s ultimately being decided in these elections is nothing less than whether all of us are going to have a livable planet 20 years from now and beyond. If the press is most comfortable chasing fires and sending reporters into disaster zones, so be it. But newsrooms should know: The disaster is here. It is raging now. Our job is to cover it with the urgency it deserves.


thenation--2020-07-02--Representative Barbara Lee: ‘Defund the Pentagon Budget’

Barbara Lee tweeted a four-word message last week that made the connection between domestic and foreign policy that is too often neglected : “ Defund the Pentagon budget.
” The Democratic representative from California , who cast the sole vote against the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force that became an excuse for bloated military budgets and forever wars , has long argued for a reordering of priorities that places human needs above the demands of the military-industrial complex .
But the struggle is different now .
A jarring moment shaped by the coronavirus pandemic , mass unemployment , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ address systemic racism and the climate crisis has highlighted the urgency of Lee ’ s argument .
And the congresswoman who has stood alone more than once now has allies who are prepared to challenge outdated thinking and immoral calculations .
“ Congress needs to prioritize our safety and our future , not more war , ” says Lee .
“ The prioritization of defense spending and the underinvestment in public health has led to 10 times more deaths from COVID-19 than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan .
By over-prioritizing the Pentagon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drastically underprepared for any crisis that needs a non-military solution.
” Borrowing a page from the racial justice movement that calls for reallocating money from municipal police budgets to serve historically neglected communities , Lee speaks of the need to reallocate Pentagon spending to fund historically neglected domestic programs .
She ’ s not talking about leaving the United States defenseless or abandoning the troops ; Lee emphasizes the need to “ provide the best for our men and women in the armed services…especially the more than 16,000 military families now living on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ It ’ s time to cut weapons of war and prioritize the well-being of our troops , anti-poverty programs , public health initiatives , and diplomacy.
” Why Are Federal Jurists Cheering on Voter Suppression in Wisconsin ?
Other members of House are joining Lee in her advocacy for new priorities .
In May , Lee and Congressional Progressive Caucus cochair Representative Mark Pocan led a group of 29 Democrats in demanding that this year ’ s National Defense Authorization Act ( NDAA ) authorize a level of spending below last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last three years alone–during a time of relative peace–we have increased annual defense spending by more than $ 100 billion , almost 20 percent , ” read the letter .
“ This has occurred during a period without any military action authorized by this Congress .
Right now , the coronavirus is our greatest adversary .
It has killed more than 90,000 Americans , far surpassing the number of casualties during the Vietnam War.
” “ We are facing a crisis in this country and billions of dollars in defense spending increases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ explains Pocan .
“ Year after year , we see taxpayer dollars line the pocket of defense contractors instead of supporting the American public .
The enemy we ’ re fighting right now is COVID-19 , so our sole focus should be on expanding testing , tracing , and treatment , funding towards vaccine development , and relief for the American people .
Increasing defense spending now would be a slap in the face to the families of over 90,000 Americans that have died from this virus.
” As Congress wrestles with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turned up the volume in the House .
And they now have a high-profile ally in the Senate .
“ We need to cut our military budget by 10 percent and invest that money in human needs , ” says Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders , the second-place finisher in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination .
Defund the Police .
And the Military , Too .
“ If the horrific pandemic we are now experiencing has taught us anything it is that national security means a lot more than building bombs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , submarines , nuclear warheads , and other weapons of mass destruction , ” says Sanders .
“ National security also means doing everything we can to improve the lives of our people , many of whom have been abandoned by our government decade after decade.
” The amendment to the NDAA that Sanders has proposed , with support from Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and from Lee and Pocan in the House , “ would take $ 74 billion in annual savings from the Pentagon—exempting salaries and health care—to create a domestic federal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ housing , childcare and educational opportunities for cities and towns experiencing a poverty rate of 25 percent or more.
” More than 60 national economic , environmental , racial justice , and peace groups have endorsed the amendment , including Public Citizen , Peace Action , Greenpeace , 350.org , Roots Action , and Veterans for Peace .
No longer standing alone , Lee sees a movement building , within the Democratic Party and beyond its boundaries .
While this movement may not prevail this year , she points to a dawning recognition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prioritize funding for a department known for its waste , fraud , abuse , and failure to pass an audit—especially when the money to ‘ protect national security ’ is failing to protect our most vulnerable citizens .
”

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Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
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Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
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Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
Barbara Lee tweeted a four-word message last week that made the connection between domestic and foreign policy that is too often neglected: “Defund the Pentagon budget.” The Democratic representative from California, who cast the sole vote against the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force that became an excuse for bloated military budgets and forever wars, has long argued for a reordering of priorities that places human needs above the demands of the military-industrial complex.
But the struggle is different now. A jarring moment shaped by the coronavirus pandemic, mass unemployment, and growing awareness that this country must address systemic racism and the climate crisis has highlighted the urgency of Lee’s argument. And the congresswoman who has stood alone more than once now has allies who are prepared to challenge outdated thinking and immoral calculations.
“Congress needs to prioritize our safety and our future, not more war,” says Lee. “The prioritization of defense spending and the underinvestment in public health has led to 10 times more deaths from COVID-19 than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By over-prioritizing the Pentagon and military solutions, our country is drastically underprepared for any crisis that needs a non-military solution.”
Borrowing a page from the racial justice movement that calls for reallocating money from municipal police budgets to serve historically neglected communities, Lee speaks of the need to reallocate Pentagon spending to fund historically neglected domestic programs. She’s not talking about leaving the United States defenseless or abandoning the troops; Lee emphasizes the need to “provide the best for our men and women in the armed services…especially the more than 16,000 military families now living on food stamps.” But, she declares, “It’s time to cut weapons of war and prioritize the well-being of our troops, anti-poverty programs, public health initiatives, and diplomacy.” 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
Other members of House are joining Lee in her advocacy for new priorities. In May, Lee and Congressional Progressive Caucus cochair Representative Mark Pocan led a group of 29 Democrats in demanding that this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorize a level of spending below last year’s budget. “In the last three years alone–during a time of relative peace–we have increased annual defense spending by more than $100 billion, almost 20 percent,” read the letter. “This has occurred during a period without any military action authorized by this Congress. Right now, the coronavirus is our greatest adversary. It has killed more than 90,000 Americans, far surpassing the number of casualties during the Vietnam War.” 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 are facing a crisis in this country and billions of dollars in defense spending increases won’t solve it,” explains Pocan.
“Year after year, we see taxpayer dollars line the pocket of defense contractors instead of supporting the American public. The enemy we’re fighting right now is COVID-19, so our sole focus should be on expanding testing, tracing, and treatment, funding towards vaccine development, and relief for the American people. Increasing defense spending now would be a slap in the face to the families of over 90,000 Americans that have died from this virus.”
As Congress wrestles with the new NDAA, Lee and Pocan have turned up the volume in the House. And they now have a high-profile ally in the Senate. “We need to cut our military budget by 10 percent and invest that money in human needs,” says Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the second-place finisher in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Defund Defund the Police. And the Military, Too. Andrew J. Bacevich
“If the horrific pandemic we are now experiencing has taught us anything it is that national security means a lot more than building bombs, missiles, jet fighters, tanks, submarines, nuclear warheads, and other weapons of mass destruction,” says Sanders. “National security also means doing everything we can to improve the lives of our people, many of whom have been abandoned by our government decade after decade.”
The amendment to the NDAA that Sanders has proposed, with support from Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and from Lee and Pocan in the House, “would take $74 billion in annual savings from the Pentagon—exempting salaries and health care—to create a domestic federal grant program to fund health care, housing, childcare and educational opportunities for cities and towns experiencing a poverty rate of 25 percent or more.”
More than 60 national economic, environmental, racial justice, and peace groups have endorsed the amendment, including Public Citizen, Peace Action, Greenpeace, 350.org, Roots Action, and Veterans for Peace.
No longer standing alone, Lee sees a movement building, within the Democratic Party and beyond its boundaries. While this movement may not prevail this year, she points to a dawning recognition that “we cannot continue to prioritize funding for a department known for its waste, fraud, abuse, and failure to pass an audit—especially when the money to ‘protect national security’ is failing to protect our most vulnerable citizens.”


thenation--2020-07-02--Jon Fosse’s Existential Doppelgängers

Jon Fosse’s Existential Doppelgängers

In the mystical fictions of Jon Fosse , plot dangles behind consciousness like a tail from a kite .
Events do not occur so much as they circle outward in dense , leaden rings .
His protagonists are little theaters of repetition .
Particular thoughts and phrases are compulsively returned to , adjusted , undermined , and reconstituted in pale , fleeting action .
The surfaces of his characters ’ lives are scoured by gestures of obsession and doubt .
They are derivatives in a divine calculus that forever exceeds their understanding .
Fosse often dramatizes these states of consciousness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the limits of life and art .
The Other Name : Septology I-II Fosse ’ s latest novel , The Other Name , whose two parts comprise the first book in a three-volume septet , has recently reached English readers in a hypnotic translation by Damion Searls .
It follows the lives of two men , both named Asle , on the west coast of Norway .
The first Asle , an accomplished painter and widower , lives a quiet , ascetic , uncompromising life in a tiny hamlet .
The second @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slowly drinking himself to death in a nearby town .
A chance encounter between the two sets in motion an enigmatic convergence .
They are , we come to realize , not two separate men but rather two possible paths of a single existence .
Across various and often surprising simultaneities of character , geography , and form , Fosse ’ s existential scrutiny suggests a world not yet denuded of its mystery .
The novel opens with the first Asle driving between Dylgja , where he lives , and Bjørgvin , where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to think about the other Asle , who we learn is estranged from his family , and chastises himself for not stopping to see him .
After arriving home , he immediately sets off to Bjørgvin again , where by chance he finds the other Asle drunk and passed out in the snow .
He takes him to a clinic and later has an encounter with a woman who mistakes him for the other Asle .
The dreamlike texture of these events is streaked with digressions on painting and prayer , parallel manifestations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” a paradoxical shorthand for divine presence .
The exquisite contradictions of his faith—the way it saturates his life and art even as it eludes , or refuses , proper explanation—lend the novel its private and eminently sensual drama : “ No one can think their way to God , ” he tells his neighbor .
Fosse offsets the vastness of the Asles ’ inner worlds with intimate , sometimes airless narrative environments .
As physical space shrinks—a significant portion of the book takes place within an isolated homestead , a car @ @ @ @ @ @ @ room—so too do the distances between versions of selves , between the past and the present , between the dead and the living .
This is of a piece with Fosse ’ s other novels , where circumscribed settings stand in stark contrast to the depthless minds that inhabit them .
Boathouse ( 1989 ) unfurls in the attic of the narrator ’ s mother .
Melancholy ( 1995 ) follows a mentally ill artist from his rented room to a bar and eventually to the confines of an institution .
These austere @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contain , the excessive volume of which creates the characteristic claustrophobia of a Fosse novel .
The Other Name drifts between first- and third-person narration , a formal choice that allows for a certain porousness between the two painters .
Unlike most doppelgänger fiction , there is no moment of anxious recognition between the two men , no uncanniness , no role reversals or changes of fortune .
They are familiar with one another , and this familiarity allows for plausible slippages in perspective .
One Asle will begin to think of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and suddenly we find ourselves on the other side of this imagining , inhabiting the mind of the other painter .
They think of one another often , as if circling some shared , magnetic center .
Memories , dreams , and terrors achieve an associative resonance , as if both men were recalling them simultaneously .
The reader wonders along with the first Asle , “ is it really happening ?
or is it all just something I ’ m dreaming ?
or is it something that actually happened to me once @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , druidic prose .
Seas , fjords , trees , sky , snow , and fire lend his fictions a sort of metallic aftertaste , like licking stone .
There is something dirgelike , too , about his paragraphs , in which long sentences carefully wrap themselves around God , nothingness , light , love , art , time , and death .
He is unafraid of spirituality , stripping the term of its glossy , contemporary superficiality .
The Other Name trembles with the beauty , doubt , and gnostic weariness of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s hands , God is a difficult , pungent , overwhelmingly aesthetic force , “ the invisible inside the visible.
” Opposing this religiosity is the annihilating power of alcohol .
The novel is concerned with alcoholism , continuing a rich Scandinavian literary tradition that includes Tom Kristensen ’ s modernist epic Havoc and , more recently , Karl Ove Knausgaard ’ s My Struggle novel cycle .
( Fosse , himself an alcoholic , quit drinking in 2012 . )
Each of the two painters can be seen as representing a path @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work and faith , the other by way of unrelenting intoxication .
Fosse has no interest in moralizing .
( “ Alcohol is good and bad , ” the first Asle admits . )
The permanent thirst of the alcoholic is merely another dimension of cosmic yearning , as Asle speculates while looking over the desperate patrons of a bar frequented by his doppelgänger : the sea inside them is large , whether stormy or calm , as they sit there and wait for the next and last crossing they ’ ll set @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yes , Our Lord must have given it meaning , they think , he writes straight on crooked lines , they think , or anyway the good Lord is part of it all somehow , and it ’ s the devil who made the lines crooked , they think and they hold onto their cigarettes and pints and then they pray a silent prayer , a prayer more like a look out over the sea inside them , wordless , but as far as the eye can reach over that sea the prayer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ words will be left behind… The novel ends with an extraordinary soliloquy .
The first Asle , falling asleep , begins to think of his latest painting , which sits completed in his studio .
The bare , abstract image , of two lines intersecting , possesses what he calls , in another of his paradoxical formulations , “ the shining darkness , ” which can be thought of as the hypnic jerk induced by aesthetic truth .
The painting is unique to his career : “ I see that the black darkness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ almost the whole picture , the black darkness is shining , yes , I ’ ve hardly ever seen the black darkness shine like that from any other picture.
” The two lines , of course , are the two Asles , twinned trajectories that briefly touch in a moment of salvatory possibility .
Reified in the painting , their lives are reduced—or exalted—to the purity of symbols .
Deeply enigmatic though never obscure , the novel presents questions—Why do we choose one sort of life and not another ?
What is known @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which it has no answer .
In place of solutions , we are offered enormous and deliberately paced illumination , like the darkened half of a planet slowly turning toward the sun .
“ Life isn ’ t something you can understand , ” the first Asle says , “ and death isn ’ t either.
” But to understand how completely these things elude comprehension , and to clothe their fundamental mystery in such gorgeous raiment , is an achievement no less profound .

In the mystical fictions of Jon Fosse, plot dangles behind consciousness like a tail from a kite. Events do not occur so much as they circle outward in dense, leaden rings. His protagonists are little theaters of repetition. Particular thoughts and phrases are compulsively returned to, adjusted, undermined, and reconstituted in pale, fleeting action. The surfaces of his characters’ lives are scoured by gestures of obsession and doubt. They are derivatives in a divine calculus that forever exceeds their understanding. Fosse often dramatizes these states of consciousness under duress—paranoia, delusion, mania—to theorize about the limits of life and art. Books in Review The Other Name: Septology I-II By Jon Fosse; Translated by Damion Searls Buy this book
Fosse’s latest novel, The Other Name, whose two parts comprise the first book in a three-volume septet, has recently reached English readers in a hypnotic translation by Damion Searls. It follows the lives of two men, both named Asle, on the west coast of Norway. The first Asle, an accomplished painter and widower, lives a quiet, ascetic, uncompromising life in a tiny hamlet. The second Asle, also a painter, is slowly drinking himself to death in a nearby town. A chance encounter between the two sets in motion an enigmatic convergence. They are, we come to realize, not two separate men but rather two possible paths of a single existence. Across various and often surprising simultaneities of character, geography, and form, Fosse’s existential scrutiny suggests a world not yet denuded of its mystery.
The novel opens with the first Asle driving between Dylgja, where he lives, and Bjørgvin, where he shows his work. He begins to think about the other Asle, who we learn is estranged from his family, and chastises himself for not stopping to see him. After arriving home, he immediately sets off to Bjørgvin again, where by chance he finds the other Asle drunk and passed out in the snow. He takes him to a clinic and later has an encounter with a woman who mistakes him for the other Asle. The dreamlike texture of these events is streaked with digressions on painting and prayer, parallel manifestations of what Asle calls “invisible light,” a paradoxical shorthand for divine presence. The exquisite contradictions of his faith—the way it saturates his life and art even as it eludes, or refuses, proper explanation—lend the novel its private and eminently sensual drama: “No one can think their way to God,” he tells his neighbor.
Fosse offsets the vastness of the Asles’ inner worlds with intimate, sometimes airless narrative environments. As physical space shrinks—a significant portion of the book takes place within an isolated homestead, a car’s interior, or a hotel room—so too do the distances between versions of selves, between the past and the present, between the dead and the living. This is of a piece with Fosse’s other novels, where circumscribed settings stand in stark contrast to the depthless minds that inhabit them. Boathouse (1989) unfurls in the attic of the narrator’s mother. Melancholy (1995) follows a mentally ill artist from his rented room to a bar and eventually to the confines of an institution. These austere frameworks contract around the surplus consciousness they contain, the excessive volume of which creates the characteristic claustrophobia of a Fosse novel. 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
The Other Name drifts between first- and third-person narration, a formal choice that allows for a certain porousness between the two painters. Unlike most doppelgänger fiction, there is no moment of anxious recognition between the two men, no uncanniness, no role reversals or changes of fortune. They are familiar with one another, and this familiarity allows for plausible slippages in perspective. One Asle will begin to think of the other, to imagine his life, and suddenly we find ourselves on the other side of this imagining, inhabiting the mind of the other painter. They think of one another often, as if circling some shared, magnetic center. Memories, dreams, and terrors achieve an associative resonance, as if both men were recalling them simultaneously. The reader wonders along with the first Asle, “is it really happening? or is it all just something I’m dreaming? or is it something that actually happened to me once?”
Fosse writes slow, lambent, druidic prose. Seas, fjords, trees, sky, snow, and fire lend his fictions a sort of metallic aftertaste, like licking stone. There is something dirgelike, too, about his paragraphs, in which long sentences carefully wrap themselves around God, nothingness, light, love, art, time, and death. He is unafraid of spirituality, stripping the term of its glossy, contemporary superficiality. The Other Name trembles with the beauty, doubt, and gnostic weariness of great religious fiction. In Fosse’s hands, God is a difficult, pungent, overwhelmingly aesthetic force, “the invisible inside the visible.”
Opposing this religiosity is the annihilating power of alcohol. The novel is concerned with alcoholism, continuing a rich Scandinavian literary tradition that includes Tom Kristensen’s modernist epic Havoc and, more recently, Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle novel cycle. (Fosse, himself an alcoholic, quit drinking in 2012.) Each of the two painters can be seen as representing a path toward transcendence, one by way of work and faith, the other by way of unrelenting intoxication. Fosse has no interest in moralizing. (“Alcohol is good and bad,” the first Asle admits.) The permanent thirst of the alcoholic is merely another dimension of cosmic yearning, as Asle speculates while looking over the desperate patrons of a bar frequented by his doppelgänger:
the sea inside them is large, whether stormy or calm, as they sit there and wait for the next and last crossing they’ll set out on…it must have a meaning, yes, Our Lord must have given it meaning, they think, he writes straight on crooked lines, they think, or anyway the good Lord is part of it all somehow, and it’s the devil who made the lines crooked, they think and they hold onto their cigarettes and pints and then they pray a silent prayer, a prayer more like a look out over the sea inside them, wordless, but as far as the eye can reach over that sea the prayer extends, entirely wordless, because the words will be left behind…
The novel ends with an extraordinary soliloquy. The first Asle, falling asleep, begins to think of his latest painting, which sits completed in his studio. The bare, abstract image, of two lines intersecting, possesses what he calls, in another of his paradoxical formulations, “the shining darkness,” which can be thought of as the hypnic jerk induced by aesthetic truth. The painting is unique to his career: “I see that the black darkness is shining from the picture, from almost the whole picture, the black darkness is shining, yes, I’ve hardly ever seen the black darkness shine like that from any other picture.” The two lines, of course, are the two Asles, twinned trajectories that briefly touch in a moment of salvatory possibility. Reified in the painting, their lives are reduced—or exalted—to the purity of symbols.
Deeply enigmatic though never obscure, the novel presents questions—Why do we choose one sort of life and not another? What is known and what is merely believed?—for which it has no answer. In place of solutions, we are offered enormous and deliberately paced illumination, like the darkened half of a planet slowly turning toward the sun. “Life isn’t something you can understand,” the first Asle says, “and death isn’t either.” But to understand how completely these things elude comprehension, and to clothe their fundamental mystery in such gorgeous raiment, is an achievement no less profound.


thenation--2020-07-02--How Did Police Unions Get So Powerful?

How Did Police Unions Get So Powerful?

New York City ’ s liberal mayor , elected on a platform of overhauling a police department accused of deep-seated racism and corruption , had a seemingly obvious idea for reform : instituting civilian oversight of the police .
The Civilian Complaint Review Board , established not long before to investigate instances of police misconduct , didn ’ t actually have civilian members ; deputy police commissioners investigated complaints .
So the mayor proposed adding four civilians to the board .
The remaining three would be members of the police department .
Police officers , led by their brand-new union @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I am sick and tired of giving in to minority groups with their whims and their gripes and shouting , ” thundered John Cassese , the president of the Patrolmen ’ s Benevolent Association ( PBA ) , which represented rank-and-file cops .
“ Any review board with civilians is detrimental to the operations of the police department.
” That fall , just two years after the formation of the PBA , Cassese would lead a successful referendum to overwhelmingly crush City Hall ’ s plan to institute civilian oversight of the New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For the rest of his time in office , John Lindsay , the liberal Republican mayor , would be perpetually on the defensive , getting booed at police funerals and enduring an unofficial strike in his second term .
It was a warning to mayors across America : If the glamorous Lindsay , who once had graced the covers of national magazines , could be brought to heel by a police union , so could other politicians .
Police were greatly emboldened .
For the next half-century , their unions furiously challenged any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and activists , often beating them back .
Democrats and Republicans alike cowered .
The recent mass protests against police brutality , catalyzed by George Floyd ’ s death , may radically alter this dynamic .
For perhaps the first time since their formation , police unions are on the defensive , with calls to boot them from the AFL-CIO and even strip them of collective bargaining rights .
Activists and scholars committed to a systemic overhauling of police practices have long viewed powerful police unions as a distressing and uniquely formidable roadblock @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , those in organized labor fear that undoing rights for police unions could lead to more attacks on besieged public-sector workers in liberal and conservative states alike .
“ The larger issue is whether police unions , given their liberty implications via their members ’ state power to arrest and their oversize political power , should enjoy the same collective bargaining privileges and rights as teachers , sanitation workers , firefighters , and social workers , ” said Jeffrey Fagan , a law professor at Columbia University .
Not all police forces are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still forbid public-sector employees from collective bargaining .
In Georgia , North Carolina , South Carolina , Tennessee , and Virginia , police officers can not collectively bargain .
Elsewhere , particularly in major American cities , police unions are among the most powerful political actors .
They derive their clout , in part , from mobilizing their membership to vote in local elections .
But more important is the money they spend : millions annually in cities like New York , Chicago , and Los Angeles to protect favored politicians , defeat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Police unions historically derived strength from the singular position they held in society and their willingness to militantly confront the politicians and activists who opposed them .
From the 1960s through the 1980s , crime steadily increased nationwide , fueling bipartisan calls for more-punitive policing and sentencing .
The influence of police unions grew as they argued in the media that they were the lone safeguard against further disorder and anarchy .
Any attempts at introducing new oversight or transparency would be “ tying their hands , ” which , they say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In the early 1990s , another New York City mayor , David Dinkins , successfully implemented civilian oversight of the NYPD .
Until then , since Lindsay ’ s defeat , civilians could not investigate police complaints .
But New York ’ s first and only Black mayor had to contend with a massive riot of off-duty police officers outside City Hall that blocked traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge and injured journalists .
“ There ’ s no question police unions can stymie reform efforts , ” said L. Song Richardson , dean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the University of California , Irvine School of Law .
“ Police unions empower police .
It ’ s why we see more use of force and fewer disciplinary actions .
They have an impact on police culture , solidifying the code of silence so many police departments have .
They can also silence more progressive voices among rank and file because of fear of the union.
” Richardson cautioned , however , that changing policing in America will be more complicated than just weakening union power , especially with statutes already @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In June , over loud objections from police union leaders , there was finally enough political will to repeal a four-decade-old law in New York State that shielded police disciplinary records from public view .
Since the 1960s , aggressive lobbying and public campaigns by police unions have won a wide array of protections for rank-and-file police , varying by locality : shielding or expungement of misconduct records , permitting officers to challenge disciplinary findings , bans on civilian oversight , and prevention of anonymous civilian complaints .
When federal consent decrees have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unions have successfully weakened them on the grounds that they are in violation of their contracts , Richardson said .
Donald Trump Is the ‘ Undertaker ’ of American Politics Athletes Are Taking Their Solidarity to the Streets How to Make Defunding the Police a Reality More in this series Within the broader labor movement , police have a fraught history .
In the 19th century , as labor unions rose to prominence and , in some cases , acquired radical leftist politics , there was strong resistance to organizing police officers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violently break strikes .
Even more moderate unions like the American Federation of Labor were opposed to organizing police : “ It is not within the province of the trade union movement to especially organize policemen , no more than to organize militiamen , as both policemen and militiamen are often controlled by forces inimical to the labor movement.
” The AFL argument was the consensus for the early half of the 20th century .
Police officers began to organize into various associations and fraternities to bolster their ability to win wage increases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were not labor unions with collective bargaining rights .
“ Until the 1950s , really , it was largely an answered question : Cops weren ’ t part of labor , ” said David Unger , a labor educator with the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies .
A flashpoint came in 1919 , when Boston police officers went on strike after the police commissioner rejected their attempts to form a union .
Several nights of unrest followed the strike , and the National Guard was called in by Massachusetts ’ Republican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ striking officers were eventually fired .
Coolidge ’ s crackdown would help elevate him to the vice presidential nomination in 1920 and the presidency shortly after .
But it took the greater push to organize public-sector employees in the wake of World War II and during a time of growing domestic prosperity to sweep up police .
As teachers , sanitation workers , and transportation workers unionized , labor leaders disregarded past opposition to organizing police in the name of broader solidarity with all public employees .
In New York , the Patrolmen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ union in 1964 , renouncing the ability to strike in return for collective bargaining power .
In Chicago , the police won the right to join unions a decade later , in 1975 .
But even when goals align , police unions are often reluctant to coalition-build with progressive advocates or even other labor unions .
Both left-leaning reformers and the unions themselves were critical of the NYPD ’ s escalation of stop-and-frisk in the 2000s , with rank-and-file police complaining of department-enforced quotas that forced them into tense confrontations .
Robert Gangi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reform Organizing Project , recalled reaching out to the PBA about working together on a public campaign to curtail stop-and-frisk when Michael Bloomberg was mayor of New York City .
“ They said there was no way they would ever join with us , ” Gangi said .
For progressives in organized labor , police unions represent another quandary .
As the AFL observed more than a century ago , police officers are agents of the state , called upon , at certain points , to break strikes .
At the same time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republicans who have held police unions in higher esteem .
When Scott Walker , the former Republican governor of Wisconsin , stripped bargaining authority for state workers , he spared the state troopers ’ union , which supported his gubernatorial bids .
The troopers , loyal to Walker , stood guard as protests rocked the state capital in 2011 .
Bill de Blasio Is Not the First New York City Mayor to Clash With Police Unions Some labor observers worry any move to diminish police unions now could embolden conservative actors who have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unions .
Republicans like Walker , close to the Koch brothers and other right-wing power brokers , have long dreamed of crushing these unions altogether .
A law to strip collective bargaining rights from police on the grounds of their resistance to reform could theoretically be weaponized against public school teachers .
“ Criticism of police unions can have an overflow effect and call into question the rights of all public employees , ” said William P. Jones , a history professor at the University of Minnesota and the president of the Labor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conservative circles , they ’ re saying , ‘ Look at police .
Police are blocking reform efforts within their unions .
Neither should the teachers.
’ ” Not all recent police reform efforts mention union power directly .
Campaign Zero , a movement to eliminate police violence that was first launched in 2015 , calls for removing certain protections for officers that police unions have won over the years , like allowing an officer 48 hours or more before being interrogated after an incident and prohibiting civilians from having the power to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 8toAbolition , which Campaign Zero launched this year , doesn ’ t make specific mention of eliminating union provisions .
Labor leaders sympathetic to the movement against police brutality are watching these developments closely .
John Samuelsen , the president of Transport Workers International , the union representing more than 150,000 transit workers nationwide , said it was “ absurd ” that collective bargaining rights for police are now being questioned , calling it an “ absolute slippery slope.
” But when New York City transportation workers went on strike , illegally , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police who came to arrest protesting workers , Samuelsen said .
And recently , bus drivers in New York refused to transport protesters whom police had arrested during marches following George Floyd ’ s death .
The local union , TWU Local 100 , tweeted that their “ bus operators do not work for the NYPD.
” “ It ’ s undeniable police are an arm of the government and the government uses police to break strikes , to disrupt picket lines , ” Samuelsen said .
“ The cops ’ answer to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing my job.
’ That ’ s a valid answer , but if you ’ re just doing your job , your job is in conflict with organized labor .
”

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New York City’s liberal mayor, elected on a platform of overhauling a police department accused of deep-seated racism and corruption, had a seemingly obvious idea for reform: instituting civilian oversight of the police.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board, established not long before to investigate instances of police misconduct, didn’t actually have civilian members; deputy police commissioners investigated complaints. So the mayor proposed adding four civilians to the board. The remaining three would be members of the police department. Police officers, led by their brand-new union, went into full revolt.
“I am sick and tired of giving in to minority groups with their whims and their gripes and shouting,” thundered John Cassese, the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA), which represented rank-and-file cops. “Any review board with civilians is detrimental to the operations of the police department.”
The year was 1966.
That fall, just two years after the formation of the PBA, Cassese would lead a successful referendum to overwhelmingly crush City Hall’s plan to institute civilian oversight of the New York Police Department (NYPD). For the rest of his time in office, John Lindsay, the liberal Republican mayor, would be perpetually on the defensive, getting booed at police funerals and enduring an unofficial strike in his second term.
It was a warning to mayors across America: If the glamorous Lindsay, who once had graced the covers of national magazines, could be brought to heel by a police union, so could other politicians. Police were greatly emboldened. For the next half-century, their unions furiously challenged any and all reforms proffered by elected officials and activists, often beating them back. Democrats and Republicans alike cowered.
The recent mass protests against police brutality, catalyzed by George Floyd’s death, may radically alter this dynamic. For perhaps the first time since their formation, police unions are on the defensive, with calls to boot them from the AFL-CIO and even strip them of collective bargaining rights. Activists and scholars committed to a systemic overhauling of police practices have long viewed powerful police unions as a distressing and uniquely formidable roadblock to reform. 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 Current Issue View our current issue
At the same time, those in organized labor fear that undoing rights for police unions could lead to more attacks on besieged public-sector workers in liberal and conservative states alike.
“The larger issue is whether police unions, given their liberty implications via their members’ state power to arrest and their oversize political power, should enjoy the same collective bargaining privileges and rights as teachers, sanitation workers, firefighters, and social workers,” said Jeffrey Fagan, a law professor at Columbia University.
Not all police forces are unionized, because a handful of states still forbid public-sector employees from collective bargaining. In Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, police officers cannot collectively bargain.
Elsewhere, particularly in major American cities, police unions are among the most powerful political actors. They derive their clout, in part, from mobilizing their membership to vote in local elections. But more important is the money they spend: millions annually in cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles to protect favored politicians, defeat reformers, and doom certain ballot initiatives.
Police unions historically derived strength from the singular position they held in society and their willingness to militantly confront the politicians and activists who opposed them. From the 1960s through the 1980s, crime steadily increased nationwide, fueling bipartisan calls for more-punitive policing and sentencing. The influence of police unions grew as they argued in the media that they were the lone safeguard against further disorder and anarchy. Any attempts at introducing new oversight or transparency would be “tying their hands,” which, they say, would allow crime to soar. 50-A This Law Keeps Police Misconduct Secret Ross Barkan
In the early 1990s, another New York City mayor, David Dinkins, successfully implemented civilian oversight of the NYPD. Until then, since Lindsay’s defeat, civilians could not investigate police complaints. But New York’s first and only Black mayor had to contend with a massive riot of off-duty police officers outside City Hall that blocked traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge and injured journalists.
“There’s no question police unions can stymie reform efforts,” said L. Song Richardson, dean and chancellor’s professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. “Police unions empower police. It’s why we see more use of force and fewer disciplinary actions. They have an impact on police culture, solidifying the code of silence so many police departments have. They can also silence more progressive voices among rank and file because of fear of the union.”
Richardson cautioned, however, that changing policing in America will be more complicated than just weakening union power, especially with statutes already on the books that protect police. In June, over loud objections from police union leaders, there was finally enough political will to repeal a four-decade-old law in New York State that shielded police disciplinary records from public view.
Since the 1960s, aggressive lobbying and public campaigns by police unions have won a wide array of protections for rank-and-file police, varying by locality: shielding or expungement of misconduct records, permitting officers to challenge disciplinary findings, bans on civilian oversight, and prevention of anonymous civilian complaints. When federal consent decrees have been imposed on problematic departments, police unions have successfully weakened them on the grounds that they are in violation of their contracts, Richardson said. Police Brutality Meet the Ex-Prosecutor Behind the Legal Effort to Stop Atlanta’s “Cop City” Ryan Zickgraf Police Are Spreading Authoritarianism Under the Guise of Counterterrorism Michael Gould-Wartofsky France Has a Deep History of Racist Policing—Even if It Won’t Admit It Amit Prakash
Within the broader labor movement, police have a fraught history. In the 19th century, as labor unions rose to prominence and, in some cases, acquired radical leftist politics, there was strong resistance to organizing police officers, since governments and businesses employed them to violently break strikes. Even more moderate unions like the American Federation of Labor were opposed to organizing police: “It is not within the province of the trade union movement to especially organize policemen, no more than to organize militiamen, as both policemen and militiamen are often controlled by forces inimical to the labor movement.”
The AFL argument was the consensus for the early half of the 20th century. Police officers began to organize into various associations and fraternities to bolster their ability to win wage increases and safeguard working conditions, but these were not labor unions with collective bargaining rights. “Until the 1950s, really, it was largely an answered question: Cops weren’t part of labor,” said David Unger, a labor educator with the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies.
A flashpoint came in 1919, when Boston police officers went on strike after the police commissioner rejected their attempts to form a union. Several nights of unrest followed the strike, and the National Guard was called in by Massachusetts’ Republican governor, Calvin Coolidge. Thousands of striking officers were eventually fired. Coolidge’s crackdown would help elevate him to the vice presidential nomination in 1920 and the presidency shortly after.
But it took the greater push to organize public-sector employees in the wake of World War II and during a time of growing domestic prosperity to sweep up police. As teachers, sanitation workers, and transportation workers unionized, labor leaders disregarded past opposition to organizing police in the name of broader solidarity with all public employees. In New York, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association became a full-fledged union in 1964, renouncing the ability to strike in return for collective bargaining power. In Chicago, the police won the right to join unions a decade later, in 1975.
But even when goals align, police unions are often reluctant to coalition-build with progressive advocates or even other labor unions. Both left-leaning reformers and the unions themselves were critical of the NYPD’s escalation of stop-and-frisk in the 2000s, with rank-and-file police complaining of department-enforced quotas that forced them into tense confrontations. Robert Gangi, the executive director of the Police Reform Organizing Project, recalled reaching out to the PBA about working together on a public campaign to curtail stop-and-frisk when Michael Bloomberg was mayor of New York City.
“They said there was no way they would ever join with us,” Gangi said.
For progressives in organized labor, police unions represent another quandary. As the AFL observed more than a century ago, police officers are agents of the state, called upon, at certain points, to break strikes. At the same time, it’s traditionally been anti-labor Republicans who have held police unions in higher esteem. When Scott Walker, the former Republican governor of Wisconsin, stripped bargaining authority for state workers, he spared the state troopers’ union, which supported his gubernatorial bids. The troopers, loyal to Walker, stood guard as protests rocked the state capital in 2011. Mayors V. NYPD Bill de Blasio Is Not the First New York City Mayor to Clash With Police Unions John Nichols
Some labor observers worry any move to diminish police unions now could embolden conservative actors who have long sought to undercut public sector employee unions. Republicans like Walker, close to the Koch brothers and other right-wing power brokers, have long dreamed of crushing these unions altogether. A law to strip collective bargaining rights from police on the grounds of their resistance to reform could theoretically be weaponized against public school teachers.
“Criticism of police unions can have an overflow effect and call into question the rights of all public employees,” said William P. Jones, a history professor at the University of Minnesota and the president of the Labor and Working-Class History Association. “In conservative circles, they’re saying, ‘Look at police. Police are blocking reform efforts within their unions. Neither should the teachers.’”
Not all recent police reform efforts mention union power directly. Campaign Zero, a movement to eliminate police violence that was first launched in 2015, calls for removing certain protections for officers that police unions have won over the years, like allowing an officer 48 hours or more before being interrogated after an incident and prohibiting civilians from having the power to discipline and subpoena officers. Another campaign working to eliminate police violence, #8toAbolition, doesn’t make specific mention of eliminating union provisions.
Labor leaders sympathetic to the movement against police brutality are watching these developments closely. John Samuelsen, the president of Transport Workers International, the union representing more than 150,000 transit workers nationwide, said it was “absurd” that collective bargaining rights for police are now being questioned, calling it an “absolute slippery slope.”
But when New York City transportation workers went on strike, illegally, in 2005, it was the unionized police who came to arrest protesting workers, Samuelsen said. And recently, bus drivers in New York refused to transport protesters whom police had arrested during marches following George Floyd’s death. The local union, TWU Local 100, tweeted that their “bus operators do not work for the NYPD.”
“It’s undeniable police are an arm of the government and the government uses police to break strikes, to disrupt picket lines,” Samuelsen said. “The cops’ answer to this is, ‘I’m doing my job.’ That’s a valid answer, but if you’re just doing your job, your job is in conflict with organized labor.”
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Campaign Zero had launched the #8toAbolition campaign. The text has been corrected.


thenation--2020-07-02--‘We Are Not Even Beginning to Be Over This Pandemic’

Just this week , something startling occurred .
We heard the unvarnished truth about Covid-19 in the United States from a major public health official , the Center for Disease Control and Prevention ’ s principal deputy director Anne Schuchat .
She is not a political appointee , has been at the agency since 1988 , occupied many leadership roles since then , and has been at the forefront of the US response to pandemics like SARS and H1N1 influenza .
The CDC ’ s career scientists have largely been silent since the early days of the current crisis , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ senior administration officials took charge of the American effort against Covid-19 , under tight control by the president and his son-in-law Jared Kushner .
What did Dr. Schuchat say that was so remarkable ?
We ’ re not in the situation of New Zealand or Singapore or Korea where a new case is rapidly identified , and all the contacts are traced , and people are isolated who are sick , and people who are exposed are quarantined , and they can keep things under control .
We have way too much virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , so it ’ s very discouraging .
In other words , the Covid-19 epidemic in the United States is out of control , erupting on a massive scale in many different places across the country , and attempts to rein it in will be difficult .
Schuchat ’ s remarks , which were made in an interview for a podcast with the Journal of the American Medical Association ’ s editor in chief Howard Bauchner , are sobering .
Schuchat points to the wishful thinking and denial that have characterized the American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not even beginning to be over this.… As much as we ’ ve studied [ the 1918 flu pandemic ] , I think what we ’ re experiencing as a global community is really bad and it ’ s similar to that 1918 transformational experience.
” Even the hopes that the summer would bring some relief are disposed of by Dr. Schuchat : “ In terms of the weather or the season helping us , I don ’ t think we can count on that.
” When Police and Public Health Collide in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Threat .
The President Is Worse .
In some ways , we ’ re back to square one .
The number of cases recorded in one day hit a record of 42,161 on Sunday , more than 5,000 cases above the previous record set in late April .
In addition , the five highest numbers of total daily cases of new infections have happened just over the past few days , with cases rising to double what they were two weeks ago .
Meanwhile , White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany—in what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic—said on Monday , “ We ’ re aware that there are embers that need to be put out.
” Not to be outdone by McEnany , Pence said last Friday : “ We have made truly remarkable progress in moving our nation forward…all 50 states are opening up safely and responsibly.
” Of course , all of this is what scholars of totalitarianism would call the “ Big Lie ” —a lie so brazen that it ’ s almost hard to believe anyone would have the temerity to utter it aloud @ @ @ @ @ @ @ language of fascism Jason Stanley ( a Yale colleague ) tweeted on Sunday : “ Not just Trump—also Bolsonaro , Modi , and Putin—all of them see the world through a friend-enemy distinction .
Reality can ’ t be thought of that way so they will invariably deal poorly with it .
These leaders have their own reality in which they can do no wrong.
” Why are Schuchat ’ s comments so important right now ?
Because , as George Orwell is often erroneously to have remarked , “ in a time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ revolutionary act.
” Separating truth from lies about the epidemic is crucial at this moment .
As Jay Rosen , professor of journalism at New York University , explains , Trump ’ s denial of his disastrous handling of the response to Covid-19 will be “ one of the biggest propaganda battles in American history.
” On current evidence , the press isn ’ t immune to the president and his party ’ s manipulations of facts .
Even august newspapers like The New York Times get bamboozled easily—as Joan Walsh recently noted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Columbia Journalism Review points out , allows “ bad actors to launder disinformation.
” Over the weekend , for instance , The New York Times ran a story titled , “ After Asking Americans to Sacrifice in Shutdown , Leaders Failed to Control Virus.
” While the Times story points out the administration ’ s missteps , it soon pivots to blame public health experts and seems to excuse Trump ’ s failings by comparing the pandemic ’ s toll in the United States to that in other countries , suggesting that no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus successfully , with resurgences happening even where the response has led to far fewer cases and deaths .
It ’ s that “ genuflection to fairness , ” that “ scrupulous passivity ” that Joan Didion long ago labeled the “ deferential spirit ” in American journalism .
In this version of bothsidesism , the truth and the lie get equal billing out of some impulse to soften the blow on the administration lest the paper get blamed for partisanship .
Contrast the Times story with a piece published by The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ With Trump leading the way , America ’ s Coronavirus Failures Exposed by Record Surge in New Infections , ” which pulls no punches , simply remaining focused on the actions and policies of the administration—the single major actor in the pandemic , with the force and power of the US government behind it—showing how it has driven the country ’ s response to , and failure on , Covid-19 .
We Take Homelessness for Granted .
The Pandemic Should Change That .
More in this series Schuchat ’ s comments on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and listening .
However , over the past few weeks , the torrent of lies and misinformation has been so overwhelming that , frankly , I ’ ve begun to think that there was no way to keep from being dragged down under the waves of bullshit coming at us in all directions .
Schuchat ’ s comments were a hand reaching out , pulling us back to reality , telling us , “ Yes , this is happening .
You have every right to be afraid , angry , sad.
” Because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ once-in-a-century cataclysm , affecting a series of generations who haven ’ t seen anything quite like it before .
Yet the path forward remains clear .
In terms of public health , it ’ s set out in the hymnal many of us have been singing from for some time : more social distancing , hand-washing and mask-wearing , test-trace-isolate , and yes , probably more lockdowns—with the proviso that these need to come with real economic and social support for ordinary Americans , not bailouts for corporations and the rich .
Responding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much harder now , and will require far more resources than we needed only a few weeks ago .
We ’ ve also got to stop the lies , challenging every one of them , whether from the administration or from news sources that parrot them or give them any safe harbor out of some misplaced desire to be fair and balanced , setting truths and falsehoods thus on equal footing .
Right now we ’ re all at the mercy of Trump and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and the GOP governors—and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 to do this work .
That means an unprecedented civic mobilization to push them as far as we can now .
It means getting on the phones , on e-mail , visiting local offices ( masked up ! )
, and it means lots of direct action and civil disobedience .
My good friend and ACT UP comrade Peter Staley once put a giant condom on the late Senator Jesse Helms ’ s home that said “ Helms is deadlier than a virus.
” Donald Trump , Mitch McConnell , Ron DeSantis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jared Kushner , Alex Azar are far deadlier than a virus .
We ’ re going to have to get creative .
The Helms action was outdoors and took only a few people to make it happen .
Attempting something like it today would be low-risk for Covid-19 transmission , particularly if activists wear masks .
There are lots of ways to peacefully ratchet up the pressure on these men .
We ’ ve just got to take that step now to save our lives and the lives of those we love and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the most horrible days of the AIDS epidemic in the United States .
What we know now is that , in Schuchat ’ s words , “ We are not even beginning to be over this.
” The dead will keep piling up , unless we attempt the extraordinary .
We don ’ t have to ask what we would have done in the darker moments of human history .
Our test is here , now , today .
Act up .
Fight back .
Fight Covid-19 .

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.
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Just this week, something startling occurred. We heard the unvarnished truth about Covid-19 in the United States from a major public health official, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s principal deputy director Anne Schuchat. She is not a political appointee, has been at the agency since 1988, occupied many leadership roles since then, and has been at the forefront of the US response to pandemics like SARS and H1N1 influenza. The CDC’s career scientists have largely been silent since the early days of the current crisis, when Vice President Mike Pence and other senior administration officials took charge of the American effort against Covid-19, under tight control by the president and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
What did Dr. Schuchat say that was so remarkable?
We’re not in the situation of New Zealand or Singapore or Korea where a new case is rapidly identified, and all the contacts are traced, and people are isolated who are sick, and people who are exposed are quarantined, and they can keep things under control. We have way too much virus across the country for that right now, so it’s very discouraging.
In other words, the Covid-19 epidemic in the United States is out of control, erupting on a massive scale in many different places across the country, and attempts to rein it in will be difficult. Schuchat’s remarks, which were made in an interview for a podcast with the Journal of the American Medical Association’s editor in chief Howard Bauchner, are sobering. Schuchat points to the wishful thinking and denial that have characterized the American response, saying, “We are not even beginning to be over this.… As much as we’ve studied [the 1918 flu pandemic], I think what we’re experiencing as a global community is really bad and it’s similar to that 1918 transformational experience.” Even the hopes that the summer would bring some relief are disposed of by Dr. Schuchat: “In terms of the weather or the season helping us, I don’t think we can count on that.” More From Gregg Gonsalves These New Alzheimer’s Drugs Are a Travesty July 27, 2023 It's Not “Unreasonable” to Want to Change Our Rotten Health Care System June 1, 2023 Now More Than Ever, We Need to Fight, Not Despair May 11, 2023
In some ways, we’re back to square one. The number of cases recorded in one day hit a record of 42,161 on Sunday, more than 5,000 cases above the previous record set in late April. In addition, the five highest numbers of total daily cases of new infections have happened just over the past few days, with cases rising to double what they were two weeks ago. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany—in what may be the greatest epidemiological understatement of the pandemic—said on Monday, “We’re aware that there are embers that need to be put out.”
Not to be outdone by McEnany, Pence said last Friday: “We have made truly remarkable progress in moving our nation forward…all 50 states are opening up safely and responsibly.” Of course, all of this is what scholars of totalitarianism would call the “Big Lie”—a lie so brazen that it’s almost hard to believe anyone would have the temerity to utter it aloud. As philosopher and scholar of the language of fascism Jason Stanley (a Yale colleague) tweeted on Sunday: “Not just Trump—also Bolsonaro, Modi, and Putin—all of them see the world through a friend-enemy distinction. Reality can’t be thought of that way so they will invariably deal poorly with it. These leaders have their own reality in which they can do no wrong.” 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
Why are Schuchat’s comments so important right now? Because, as George Orwell is often erroneously to have remarked, “in a time of universal deceit—telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” Separating truth from lies about the epidemic is crucial at this moment. As Jay Rosen, professor of journalism at New York University, explains, Trump’s denial of his disastrous handling of the response to Covid-19 will be “one of the biggest propaganda battles in American history.” On current evidence, the press isn’t immune to the president and his party’s manipulations of facts. Even august newspapers like The New York Times get bamboozled easily—as Joan Walsh recently noted in The Nation. This susceptibility, Columbia Journalism Review points out, allows “bad actors to launder disinformation.” Current Issue View our current issue
Over the weekend, for instance, The New York Times ran a story titled, “After Asking Americans to Sacrifice in Shutdown, Leaders Failed to Control Virus.” While the Times story points out the administration’s missteps, it soon pivots to blame public health experts and seems to excuse Trump’s failings by comparing the pandemic’s toll in the United States to that in other countries, suggesting that no leader has been able to fend off the virus successfully, with resurgences happening even where the response has led to far fewer cases and deaths. It’s that “genuflection to fairness,” that “scrupulous passivity” that Joan Didion long ago labeled the “deferential spirit” in American journalism. In this version of bothsidesism, the truth and the lie get equal billing out of some impulse to soften the blow on the administration lest the paper get blamed for partisanship.
Contrast the Times story with a piece published by The Washington Post on the same day: “With Trump leading the way, America’s Coronavirus Failures Exposed by Record Surge in New Infections,” which pulls no punches, simply remaining focused on the actions and policies of the administration—the single major actor in the pandemic, with the force and power of the US government behind it—showing how it has driven the country’s response to, and failure on, Covid-19. Coronavirus Amid Partisan Politicking, Revelations on a Covid Origins Article Jimmy Tobias It’s Not “Unreasonable” to Want to Change Our Rotten Health Care System Gregg Gonsalves Covid Has Left Deep Wounds in America’s Rural Communities Anne N. Sosin
Schuchat’s comments on where we are now make depressing reading and listening. However, over the past few weeks, the torrent of lies and misinformation has been so overwhelming that, frankly, I’ve begun to think that there was no way to keep from being dragged down under the waves of bullshit coming at us in all directions. Schuchat’s comments were a hand reaching out, pulling us back to reality, telling us, “Yes, this is happening. You have every right to be afraid, angry, sad.” Because we are in the midst of a once-in-a-century cataclysm, affecting a series of generations who haven’t seen anything quite like it before.
Yet the path forward remains clear. In terms of public health, it’s set out in the hymnal many of us have been singing from for some time: more social distancing, hand-washing and mask-wearing, test-trace-isolate, and yes, probably more lockdowns—with the proviso that these need to come with real economic and social support for ordinary Americans, not bailouts for corporations and the rich. Responding to this pandemic is going to be much harder now, and will require far more resources than we needed only a few weeks ago. We’ve also got to stop the lies, challenging every one of them, whether from the administration or from news sources that parrot them or give them any safe harbor out of some misplaced desire to be fair and balanced, setting truths and falsehoods thus on equal footing.
Right now we’re all at the mercy of Trump and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and the GOP governors—and we can’t wait until January 2021 to do this work. That means an unprecedented civic mobilization to push them as far as we can now. It means getting on the phones, on e-mail, visiting local offices (masked up!), and it means lots of direct action and civil disobedience.
My good friend and ACT UP comrade Peter Staley once put a giant condom on the late Senator Jesse Helms’s home that said “Helms is deadlier than a virus.” Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, Doug Ducey, Jared Kushner, Alex Azar are far deadlier than a virus. We’re going to have to get creative. The Helms action was outdoors and took only a few people to make it happen. Attempting something like it today would be low-risk for Covid-19 transmission, particularly if activists wear masks.
There are lots of ways to peacefully ratchet up the pressure on these men. We’ve just got to take that step now to save our lives and the lives of those we love and care for, just as we did in the most horrible days of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. What we know now is that, in Schuchat’s words, “We are not even beginning to be over this.” The dead will keep piling up, unless we attempt the extraordinary. We don’t have to ask what we would have done in the darker moments of human history. Our test is here, now, today. Act up. Fight back. Fight Covid-19.