vox--2020-01-10--Pop culture that makes bad days better

Pop culture that makes bad days better

Life is beautiful , and sometimes beauty is pain .
A long day at work or school ; the weeks following a breakup ; T-minus five days until rent is due ; the seemingly endless stream of horrifying news ... we could go on and on listing the inevitabilities that stress or depress us .
And these moments all suck , but we couldn ’ t have life without them , could we ?
That ’ s what we tell ourselves in order to persist , at least .
Accepting our bad moods is a lot easier said than done @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
When we ’ re sad , or frustrated , or feeling hopeless , humans tend to look for ways to ease tension .
Some people find release in the form of mindless entertainment ; others might find it in the mopiest song in the world .
Everyone has a different outlet .
The important thing to remember is that all of them are valid as we process our hard times .
No matter what you might be dealing with , the Vox Culture team came together to share some of the many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or kinship during the moments when we need it most .
From podcasts to video games to TV shows to music , here are 22 examples of media that can make us feel better on a hard day , even if only a little bit .
It ’ s a clichéd observation by now but it ’ s still true to say that in an increasingly dystopian world , few shows offer such a calm , unapologetic look at the panoply of humanity all striving together to do the impossible as The Great @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the impossible is the weekly technical challenge , and the monumental drama of a dropped cake tin or an un-set flour mix can temporarily eclipse everything else happening on Earth .
When my faith in humanity wavers , I often replenish it by turning to the GBBS bakers and their commitment , passion , humility , and the way they stride into the tent , arm-in-arm .
( The Great British Baking Show is streaming on Netflix . )
—Aja Romano There are few ways to tune out the world more easily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I ’ ve been picking my way through Middlemarch by George Eliot for the first time since college , and last year , I spent several months working my way through Sigrid Undset ’ s mesmerizing Kristin Lavransdatter , a gorgeously written book about the life of a medieval Norwegian woman from age 7 until her death .
Long novels brilliantly capture the ebb and flow of life as it ’ s lived , and they remind us that we exist atop so many different past lives we can ’ t quite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appropriately gripping one will help you forget anything else that might be happening , at least for a little while .
—Emily VanDerWerff I don ’ t advocate for real-world violence .
I ’ m not a fan of fake-world violence , either !
But sometimes I need a physical release after a frustrating day .
Exercise usually helps .
But if it doesn ’ t , I sure love punching the hell out of anyone in my way via Super Smash Bros. , Nintendo ’ s fighting video game franchise that pits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against each other .
It ’ s endlessly satisfying to play as darling pink puffball Kirby and send burlyman Captain Falcon flying off-screen .
There ’ s no blood or death in Super Smash Bros. , and everyone cheerily applauds each other at the end of a fight .
It ’ s wildly charming .
—Allegra Frank Below Deck is Bravo ’ s best show .
It ’ s more authentic than Vanderpump Rules , contains more drama and messy rich people than an entire season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for pound , than any of the dim bulbs on Southern Charm .
It is the pinnacle of affluent chaos without major consequence , and it is perfect television .
The show follows a yacht crew — three stewards ( stews ) , four deckhands , one chef , and one captain — as they cater to the not-super-unreasonable whims of very rich yacht renters .
There ’ s usually only a handful of competent crew members on each season , leading to blowups over what seem like the simplest tasks .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a stewardess was upset because , while she has a degree in math , she didn ’ t know how to open a bottle of wine or pour a beer without foam .
Making sure the rich clientele never catch wind of this idiocy is a tumultuous charade , and each week brings a new maritime foolishness the crew has to somehow put up with .
—Alex Abad-Santos I ’ ve seen the Jagged Little Pill Broadway musical , and it ’ s fine .
But nothing will match Alanis Morissette ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stressed or feel like I ’ m spinning out , I turn it up in my ears , and from that opening chord of “ All I Really Want , ” I can feel my heart rate curiously slowing .
I listened to Jagged Little Pill a lot when I was in college , a time that was a lot more stressful than most anything I do now .
It reminds me of how much water has gone under the bridge since then and how much I have to look forward to .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ YouTube is awash in these music channels , sometimes called “ chill-hop , ” from standard lo-fi hip-hop live radio and late-night study sessions , to the Miyazaki variant and the Christmas raccoon edition .
All of them are wonderful , the best of the Hygge internet .
Lo-fi channels singlehandedly incorporate Soundcloud culture , wholesome internet culture , teen study communities on Tumblr and Instagram , and all that subtly detailed animated Tumblr GIF art into one beautiful easy-listening soundtrack .
You can kick back , do your work , and relish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ along with millions of other busy bees — while occasionally checking in to see that , yes , sleepy raccoon ’ s alarm clock is still set to “ CH : LL.
” —AR The Art of Eating by M.F.K .
Fisher Food is comforting in general during bad times because it reminds us that we are still alive and can feel pleasure .
And reading about food can help immerse us in those feelings even when we are not up to cooking or eating ourselves .
Plus , food essays tend to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for those times when your attention span is shattered .
M.F.K .
Fisher is America ’ s greatest food writer , and her essays always capture my attention and turn it elsewhere when I need them to .
—Constance Grady When loneliness strikes , I find it helpful to listen to a podcast , an inviting way to eavesdrop on fascinating people I don ’ t have to interact with .
I love comedy shows in particular , which make me feel like I ’ m hanging out with the funniest and most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the absolutely nonsensical U Talkin ’ U2 to Me ?
, in which Scott Aukerman ( Comedy Bang Bang ! )
and Adam Scott ( Parks and Rec ) ostensibly focus their attention on reviewing every U2 album .
But most of the time they instead launch into hilarious , juvenile , instantly quotable back-and-forths .
It ’ s the best kind of company when I think I can ’ t handle any .
—AF I ’ ve never worn makeup beyond a dab of concealer to hide a stubborn , relentless zit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me from consuming hours of beauty YouTubers ’ videos , watching them test out new products , talk about their lives , dish about vlogger drama , and sometimes issue ( multiple ) apologies for being racist .
My favorite is Samantha Ravndahl , a beauty guru from Vancouver .
Ravndahl is an artist ( her claim to fame is that Lil ’ Kim stole one of her images and a lawsuit soon followed ) , but she also has a brutally silly way of describing beauty products she loves , hates , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s videos are self-deprecating and grounded , offering an expert way of thinking about skin care and beauty .
She makes the daunting world of beauty understandable and presents it in a way that ’ s entertaining , usually at her own expense .
—AAS The best TV comfort food is a nice , solid sitcom .
Schitt ’ s Creek , about a wealthy family who loses everything and must move to the tiny town of Schitt ’ s Creek , is much more than solid .
( At least after the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have my full permission to skip . )
The Canadian series is a genuinely romantic show that is both clear-eyed and generous toward its neurotic central cast , and it has a heart as warm as Moira Rose ’ s wig collection is voluminous .
( Also , the first five seasons are streaming on Netflix . )
—CG If Schitt ’ s Creek is a gentler , more Canadian spin on Parks and Recreation , then Letterkenny is its much cruder ( though still Canadian ) cousin .
Letterkenny follows the lives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tiny town in Canada where the social caste system feels at once impossibly rigid and sort of like a ladder one can climb .
It ’ s a series fond of wordplay and wacky sight gags , but it ’ s also frequently touching about what it means to be different in a place where everybody tries diligently to be the same .
( Here in the US , you can watch the show on Hulu . )
—EV Pet Rescue Saga is just one of a zillion mobile games built around the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blocks .
Only this time , there are cute animated pets trapped on the blocks , and when you successfully match the blocks , you set the pets free and they wag their tails or bounce around gratefully .
I ’ m aware Pet Rescue is a giant marketing scheme to deplete my wallet via in-game purchases , but I also find it incredibly soothing to strategize , match those blocks , and rescue those pets .
I ’ m not alone ; studies have shown that these kinds of games can decrease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rescue got me through several intense years reporting on Gamergate and its scale-up , and I am as grateful as those rescued pups .
—AR This immensely sweet series about a girl growing up in a small Midwestern town at the beginning of the 20th century is filled with rich sensory details .
Every time I reread it , I ’ m so overwhelmed by them that I forget everything else : families eating onion sandwiches on Sunday ; girls piling their hair over “ rats ” to make big elaborate pompadours ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an old cigar box she keeps in an actor-uncle ’ s theatrical trunk .
It ’ s enough to sweep you away .
—CG Are you supposed to read cookbooks cover to cover ?
I don ’ t really know , but I often do it , especially when I need to escape the demands of life , work , or the internet .
Cooking , creating something that appeals to the senses , satisfies a need ; it expresses love and care .
It always helps brighten my mood , but when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cook or don ’ t want to make a mess , reading cookbooks comes surprisingly close .
Particular favorites right now : both of Alison Roman ’ s books ( brightly , beautifully photographed ) ; Ruth Reichl ’ s My Kitchen Year ( about how cooking got her through the period after Gourmet magazine folded ) ; the Franny ’ s cookbook , from the beloved and now devastatingly closed restaurant ; and back issues of Bon Appetit and Saveur .
—AW Sometimes the best way to de-stress is to replace your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
If I can shove aside anxiety about my job , family , and relationships to instead focus on the absurd level of awfulness that Breaking Bad ’ s Walter White and Jesse Pinkman experience throughout the show ’ s five seasons , that ’ s a win .
There ’ s a strange comfort I find in knowing that I am far , far away from their messy lives in Albuquerque , and my daily problems are no match compared to a drug lord ’ s .
( Breaking Bad is streaming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need to veg out , the only game I turn to is Stardew Valley , in which you are gifted a small farm in the titular valley by your grandfather , then aim to turn it into a profitable enterprise .
The game isn ’ t especially hard , but it rewards you with ever-increasing numbers of things to do , from diving deep into monster-infested mines to fishing for rare creatures to wooing a local single to begin a family .
Within its low-res world , Stardew Valley soothes .
—EV I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ job , but when it comes to comfort films , I have only one : The Devil Wears Prada , which came out in 2006 , the year after I moved to New York .
The movie feels like it has grown and changed along with me .
How well I remember the feeling of panicking and being in over my head !
How much more I respect the “ villain ” ( and kind of hate the “ heroine ” ) !
But what I really love are the montages of people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ things at work and Andy finally getting the hang of her job .
It ’ s glossy and a tad silly but also very , very real ... which is just , in the end , like life .
—AW As many of us now know , Marie Kondo ’ s TV show was too stressful to be fully soothing .
( That one couple who palpably hated each other but kept calling each other “ babe ” ?
?
?
?
? )
And Marie Kondo ’ s books are fun , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the most soothing thing about organizing books : all the “ after ” pictures showing us previously chaotic environments that have been tamed into a state of perfect order .
Enter Marie Kondo ’ s Instagram feed : a series of incredibly satisfying pictures of things that have been Tetris-ed into the most correct possible order , and calming captions about how you should always fold your linens with intention .
I ’ m in an ASMR state just thinking about it .
—CG Whenever I ’ m stressed out , I need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nothing too bad ever happens .
Hence my appreciation for the frothier , more bubble-gummy episodes of Sex and the City ( think : less Berger breaking up with Carrie on a Post-It and more Kyra — played by Tatum O ’ Neal — hosting a party where Carrie ’ s shoes get stolen ) .
Those episodes , full of storylines ranging from Samantha babysitting a child with a Sharper Image vibrator to Miranda getting adult braces , hit the sweet spot of silliness , comedy , and wit that ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days , the kind of television to put on while chopping vegetables for dinner or folding laundry .
It ’ s worth noting that some of the jokes on Sex and the City haven ’ t aged particularly well ( the first season aired 22 years ago ) , but that rings true for many comedies .
The silliness and terrible puns are still pretty timeless .
( Sex and the City is streaming on HBO . )
—AAS I ’ ve written plenty about how much I adore the musical Hadestown — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Orpheus and Eurydice set in a New Orleans jazz club ( try saying that five times fast ) — and its cast recording is increasingly my go-to album for hard times .
When Orpheus offers a toast to “ the world we dream about and the one we live in now , ” it just gets me right here [ gestures to heart ] , you know ?
And it certainly doesn ’ t hurt that the songs run the gamut from hell-raising rave-ups to plaintive ballads .
—EV This is possibly the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but I , like what seems like half of America , have been watching The Office on a continuous loop since late 2016 .
Why ?
I ’ m not sure .
It ’ s not as if the idea of having a stressful yet boring job is somehow relaxing .
Neither is all the contact embarrassment I feel , especially in the early Michael Scott years .
But its familiarity and banality — and the fact that the show really knows how to set up a good gag — is , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comforting .
Especially with a cup of tea or something stronger perched in my lap .
—AW I have to confess that I have never read Tove Jansson ’ s legendary comic strip , but in the last year , thanks to the advent of the 2019 British TV show Moominvalley , my social media feeds have been awash in oblong cow-dogs and their wide-brim-hatted companions .
Every glimpse of the Moomins , be it in the form of fanart or glimpses of the show itself , has been immeasurably soothing and fascinating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ folkloric otherworld .
Oh , and did you think there wasn ’ t a lo-fi hip-hop Moomin edition ?
Do you even know the internet ?
—AR

Life is beautiful, and sometimes beauty is pain. A long day at work or school; the weeks following a breakup; T-minus five days until rent is due; the seemingly endless stream of horrifying news ... we could go on and on listing the inevitabilities that stress or depress us. And these moments all suck, but we couldn’t have life without them, could we?
That’s what we tell ourselves in order to persist, at least. Accepting our bad moods is a lot easier said than done, and so is moving past them. When we’re sad, or frustrated, or feeling hopeless, humans tend to look for ways to ease tension. Some people find release in the form of mindless entertainment; others might find it in the mopiest song in the world. Everyone has a different outlet. The important thing to remember is that all of them are valid as we process our hard times.
No matter what you might be dealing with, the Vox Culture team came together to share some of the many different ways we find calm or laughter or kinship during the moments when we need it most. From podcasts to video games to TV shows to music, here are 22 examples of media that can make us feel better on a hard day, even if only a little bit.
The Great British Baking Show
It’s a clichéd observation by now but it’s still true to say that in an increasingly dystopian world, few shows offer such a calm, unapologetic look at the panoply of humanity all striving together to do the impossible as The Great British Baking Show. In this case, the impossible is the weekly technical challenge, and the monumental drama of a dropped cake tin or an un-set flour mix can temporarily eclipse everything else happening on Earth. When my faith in humanity wavers, I often replenish it by turning to the GBBS bakers and their commitment, passion, humility, and the way they stride into the tent, arm-in-arm. (The Great British Baking Show is streaming on Netflix.) —Aja Romano
Enormous novels
There are few ways to tune out the world more easily than losing oneself in a giant book. I’ve been picking my way through Middlemarch by George Eliot for the first time since college, and last year, I spent several months working my way through Sigrid Undset’s mesmerizing Kristin Lavransdatter, a gorgeously written book about the life of a medieval Norwegian woman from age 7 until her death. Long novels brilliantly capture the ebb and flow of life as it’s lived, and they remind us that we exist atop so many different past lives we can’t quite recall. If nothing else, an appropriately gripping one will help you forget anything else that might be happening, at least for a little while. —Emily VanDerWerff
Super Smash Bros.
I don’t advocate for real-world violence. I’m not a fan of fake-world violence, either! But sometimes I need a physical release after a frustrating day. Exercise usually helps. But if it doesn’t, I sure love punching the hell out of anyone in my way via Super Smash Bros., Nintendo’s fighting video game franchise that pits dozens of the company’s mascots against each other. It’s endlessly satisfying to play as darling pink puffball Kirby and send burlyman Captain Falcon flying off-screen. There’s no blood or death in Super Smash Bros., and everyone cheerily applauds each other at the end of a fight. It’s wildly charming. —Allegra Frank
Below Deck
Below Deck is Bravo’s best show. It’s more authentic than Vanderpump Rules, contains more drama and messy rich people than an entire season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and boasts more collective ineptness, pound for pound, than any of the dim bulbs on Southern Charm. It is the pinnacle of affluent chaos without major consequence, and it is perfect television.
The show follows a yacht crew — three stewards (stews), four deckhands, one chef, and one captain — as they cater to the not-super-unreasonable whims of very rich yacht renters. There’s usually only a handful of competent crew members on each season, leading to blowups over what seem like the simplest tasks. For example, in a recent episode, a stewardess was upset because, while she has a degree in math, she didn’t know how to open a bottle of wine or pour a beer without foam. Making sure the rich clientele never catch wind of this idiocy is a tumultuous charade, and each week brings a new maritime foolishness the crew has to somehow put up with. —Alex Abad-Santos
Jagged Little Pill
I’ve seen the Jagged Little Pill Broadway musical, and it’s fine. But nothing will match Alanis Morissette’s original album. When I’m stressed or feel like I’m spinning out, I turn it up in my ears, and from that opening chord of “All I Really Want,” I can feel my heart rate curiously slowing. I listened to Jagged Little Pill a lot when I was in college, a time that was a lot more stressful than most anything I do now. It reminds me of how much water has gone under the bridge since then and how much I have to look forward to. Thank you, Alanis. —Alissa Wilkinson
Lo-fi YouTube channels
YouTube is awash in these music channels, sometimes called “chill-hop,” from standard lo-fi hip-hop live radio and late-night study sessions, to the Miyazaki variant and the Christmas raccoon edition. All of them are wonderful, the best of the Hygge internet. Lo-fi channels singlehandedly incorporate Soundcloud culture, wholesome internet culture, teen study communities on Tumblr and Instagram, and all that subtly detailed animated Tumblr GIF art into one beautiful easy-listening soundtrack. You can kick back, do your work, and relish in the joy of doing that work along with millions of other busy bees — while occasionally checking in to see that, yes, sleepy raccoon’s alarm clock is still set to “CH:LL.” —AR
The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher
Food is comforting in general during bad times because it reminds us that we are still alive and can feel pleasure. And reading about food can help immerse us in those feelings even when we are not up to cooking or eating ourselves. Plus, food essays tend to be quick reads, which is ideal for those times when your attention span is shattered. M.F.K. Fisher is America’s greatest food writer, and her essays always capture my attention and turn it elsewhere when I need them to. —Constance Grady
U Talkin’ U2 to Me?
When loneliness strikes, I find it helpful to listen to a podcast, an inviting way to eavesdrop on fascinating people I don’t have to interact with. I love comedy shows in particular, which make me feel like I’m hanging out with the funniest and most easy-going folks possible. My favorite is the absolutely nonsensical U Talkin’ U2 to Me?, in which Scott Aukerman (Comedy Bang Bang!) and Adam Scott (Parks and Rec) ostensibly focus their attention on reviewing every U2 album. But most of the time they instead launch into hilarious, juvenile, instantly quotable back-and-forths. It’s the best kind of company when I think I can’t handle any. —AF
Beauty vlogger Samantha Ravndahl’s videos
I’ve never worn makeup beyond a dab of concealer to hide a stubborn, relentless zit. But that hasn’t stopped me from consuming hours of beauty YouTubers’ videos, watching them test out new products, talk about their lives, dish about vlogger drama, and sometimes issue (multiple) apologies for being racist. My favorite is Samantha Ravndahl, a beauty guru from Vancouver. Ravndahl is an artist (her claim to fame is that Lil’ Kim stole one of her images and a lawsuit soon followed), but she also has a brutally silly way of describing beauty products she loves, hates, and feels lukewarm about. Ravndahl’s videos are self-deprecating and grounded, offering an expert way of thinking about skin care and beauty. She makes the daunting world of beauty understandable and presents it in a way that’s entertaining, usually at her own expense. —AAS
Schitt’s Creek
The best TV comfort food is a nice, solid sitcom. Schitt’s Creek, about a wealthy family who loses everything and must move to the tiny town of Schitt’s Creek, is much more than solid. (At least after the first season or so, which you have my full permission to skip.) The Canadian series is a genuinely romantic show that is both clear-eyed and generous toward its neurotic central cast, and it has a heart as warm as Moira Rose’s wig collection is voluminous. (Also, the first five seasons are streaming on Netflix.) —CG
Letterkenny
If Schitt’s Creek is a gentler, more Canadian spin on Parks and Recreation, then Letterkenny is its much cruder (though still Canadian) cousin. Letterkenny follows the lives of a group of friends in a tiny town in Canada where the social caste system feels at once impossibly rigid and sort of like a ladder one can climb. It’s a series fond of wordplay and wacky sight gags, but it’s also frequently touching about what it means to be different in a place where everybody tries diligently to be the same. (Here in the US, you can watch the show on Hulu.) —EV
Pet Rescue Saga
Pet Rescue Saga is just one of a zillion mobile games built around the same basic premise of strategically matching colored blocks. Only this time, there are cute animated pets trapped on the blocks, and when you successfully match the blocks, you set the pets free and they wag their tails or bounce around gratefully. I’m aware Pet Rescue is a giant marketing scheme to deplete my wallet via in-game purchases, but I also find it incredibly soothing to strategize, match those blocks, and rescue those pets. I’m not alone; studies have shown that these kinds of games can decrease anxiety and increase brain efficiency. Pet Rescue got me through several intense years reporting on Gamergate and its scale-up, and I am as grateful as those rescued pups. —AR
This immensely sweet series about a girl growing up in a small Midwestern town at the beginning of the 20th century is filled with rich sensory details. Every time I reread it, I’m so overwhelmed by them that I forget everything else: families eating onion sandwiches on Sunday; girls piling their hair over “rats” to make big elaborate pompadours; aspiring writer Betsy stowing her stories-in-progress in an old cigar box she keeps in an actor-uncle’s theatrical trunk. It’s enough to sweep you away. —CG
Cookbooks
Are you supposed to read cookbooks cover to cover? I don’t really know, but I often do it, especially when I need to escape the demands of life, work, or the internet. Cooking, creating something that appeals to the senses, satisfies a need; it expresses love and care. It always helps brighten my mood, but when I don’t have time to cook or don’t want to make a mess, reading cookbooks comes surprisingly close. Particular favorites right now: both of Alison Roman’s books (brightly, beautifully photographed); Ruth Reichl’s My Kitchen Year (about how cooking got her through the period after Gourmet magazine folded); the Franny’s cookbook, from the beloved and now devastatingly closed restaurant; and back issues of Bon Appetit and Saveur. —AW
Breaking Bad
Sometimes the best way to de-stress is to replace your own worries with someone else’s. If I can shove aside anxiety about my job, family, and relationships to instead focus on the absurd level of awfulness that Breaking Bad’s Walter White and Jesse Pinkman experience throughout the show’s five seasons, that’s a win. There’s a strange comfort I find in knowing that I am far, far away from their messy lives in Albuquerque, and my daily problems are no match compared to a drug lord’s. (Breaking Bad is streaming on Netflix.) —AF
Stardew Valley
When I need to veg out, the only game I turn to is Stardew Valley, in which you are gifted a small farm in the titular valley by your grandfather, then aim to turn it into a profitable enterprise. The game isn’t especially hard, but it rewards you with ever-increasing numbers of things to do, from diving deep into monster-infested mines to fishing for rare creatures to wooing a local single to begin a family. Within its low-res world, Stardew Valley soothes. —EV
The Devil Wears Prada
I watch every movie imaginable for my actual job, but when it comes to comfort films, I have only one: The Devil Wears Prada, which came out in 2006, the year after I moved to New York. The movie feels like it has grown and changed along with me. How well I remember the feeling of panicking and being in over my head! How much more I respect the “villain” (and kind of hate the “heroine”)! But what I really love are the montages of people getting ready for work and people doing things at work and Andy finally getting the hang of her job. It’s glossy and a tad silly but also very, very real ... which is just, in the end, like life. —AW
As many of us now know, Marie Kondo’s TV show was too stressful to be fully soothing. (That one couple who palpably hated each other but kept calling each other “babe”?????) And Marie Kondo’s books are fun, but also low on what is obviously the most soothing thing about organizing books: all the “after” pictures showing us previously chaotic environments that have been tamed into a state of perfect order. Enter Marie Kondo’s Instagram feed: a series of incredibly satisfying pictures of things that have been Tetris-ed into the most correct possible order, and calming captions about how you should always fold your linens with intention. I’m in an ASMR state just thinking about it. —CG
Sex and the City
Whenever I’m stressed out, I need something where the stakes are low and nothing too bad ever happens. Hence my appreciation for the frothier, more bubble-gummy episodes of Sex and the City (think: less Berger breaking up with Carrie on a Post-It and more Kyra — played by Tatum O’Neal — hosting a party where Carrie’s shoes get stolen). Those episodes, full of storylines ranging from Samantha babysitting a child with a Sharper Image vibrator to Miranda getting adult braces, hit the sweet spot of silliness, comedy, and wit that’s a perfect steam valve release for terrible days, the kind of television to put on while chopping vegetables for dinner or folding laundry. It’s worth noting that some of the jokes on Sex and the City haven’t aged particularly well (the first season aired 22 years ago), but that rings true for many comedies. The silliness and terrible puns are still pretty timeless. (Sex and the City is streaming on HBO.) —AAS
Hadestown: The Original Broadway Cast recording
I’ve written plenty about how much I adore the musical Hadestown — a post-apocalyptic retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice set in a New Orleans jazz club (try saying that five times fast) — and its cast recording is increasingly my go-to album for hard times. When Orpheus offers a toast to “the world we dream about and the one we live in now,” it just gets me right here [gestures to heart], you know? And it certainly doesn’t hurt that the songs run the gamut from hell-raising rave-ups to plaintive ballads. —EV
The Office
This is possibly the most unoriginal suggestion on the planet, but I, like what seems like half of America, have been watching The Office on a continuous loop since late 2016. Why? I’m not sure. It’s not as if the idea of having a stressful yet boring job is somehow relaxing. Neither is all the contact embarrassment I feel, especially in the early Michael Scott years. But its familiarity and banality — and the fact that the show really knows how to set up a good gag — is, I think, why it’s so comforting. Especially with a cup of tea or something stronger perched in my lap. —AW
Moomins
I have to confess that I have never read Tove Jansson’s legendary comic strip, but in the last year, thanks to the advent of the 2019 British TV show Moominvalley, my social media feeds have been awash in oblong cow-dogs and their wide-brim-hatted companions. Every glimpse of the Moomins, be it in the form of fanart or glimpses of the show itself, has been immeasurably soothing and fascinating — regular dispatches from a pure, folkloric otherworld.
Oh, and did you think there wasn’t a lo-fi hip-hop Moomin edition? Do you even know the internet? —AR


vox--2020-01-10--Can the fire catastrophe make Australia’s government finally act on climate change?

The world is watching our country burn .
At least 17.9 million acres have got up in flames since September , an area 15 times the Amazon fires .
At least 27 people have died .
A billion animals and 2,000 homes may have been lost .
And we are only about halfway through the fire season .
A complex interplay of weather phenomena and systems — including a positive-phase Indian Ocean Dipole , the cycle of the temperature gradient between the eastern and western parts of the Indian Ocean — has created the tinder-dry landscape .
But the record @ @ @ @ @ @ @ change have vastly intensified the fires .
The fires have also brought international scrutiny of our stance on climate change .
Why was Australia as the worst-performing country on climate policy in the 2020 Climate Change Performance Index ?
While the current fire catastrophe is unprecedented , these are not the first climate-related losses Australia has mourned .
Prolonged drought has devastated much of the agricultural sector , forcing many farming families off the land .
The jewel in our tourism crown , the Great Barrier Reef , is dying .
So why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Saudi Arabia to nearly derail the UN climate negotiations in Madrid at the COP25 if we have so much to lose ?
And why does Australia have no national energy policy ?
The answers are largely the same : Our politics is tainted by fossil fuel interests , doubt , and fear of change .
But the fire provides a unique opportunity to move forward .
Climate action has been brandished as a political weapon Australia ’ s greenhouse gas emissions account for 1.3 percent of the global total , which doesn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the size of our population .
With just 25.5 million people , we ’ re the second-highest per capita emitter in the world , behind Saudi Arabia .
Not included in this figure are emissions generated by burning the resources we sell : We ’ re the world ’ s largest exporter of both coal and liquified natural gas ( LNG ) .
But to understand why we have no national energy policy , we have to go back to 2007 when Labor opposition leader Kevin Rudd called climate change as the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He went on to win the election , but as prime minister he failed to pass an emissions trading scheme .
He was deposed by his deputy , Julia Gillard , who in 2012 introduced a price on carbon .
That was a big step .
“ We did actually succeed in placing a full market-based mechanism over two years , ” says John Connor , CEO of Australia ’ s Carbon Market Institute , with members ranging from conservation groups to heavy emitters .
“ The carbon pricing mechanism reduced emissions while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brought down emissions , but it may have cost the Labor Party control of the government .
Labor lost in 2014 after conservative Liberal National Party ( LNP ) leader Tony Abbott , on record for referring to climate change as “ absolute crap , ” campaigned on a promise to “ axe the tax.
” Abbott successfully established fear of climate action as a political weapon , leading the free-market Liberals away from a market-based mechanism .
Abbot ’ s short run ended in 2015 when he was rolled by Malcolm Turnbull @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ I will not lead a party that is not as committed to effective action on climate change as I am.
” It turned out his party agreed , and last year he was dumped after failing to reach party room consensus on national energy policy , due in part to the inclusion of modest emission reduction targets .
The man who replaced him as prime minister was Scott Morrison , who refers to himself as ScoMo , back then arguably most famous for brandishing a lump of coal in parliament .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ election , which played out amid a severe drought , reports of irreversible damage to the Great Barrier Reef , and a high-profile fight over the proposed Adani Carmichael coal mega-mine in the state of Queensland .
National polling put climate change on top of the list of critical threats to Australia ’ s vital interests over the next 10 years .
The Labor opposition promised ambitious , science-based emission reduction targets .
The incumbent government arranged its remaining members ( many had quit expecting electoral wipeout ) behind Morrison , who warned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s climate plan .
But polling showed a narrow race close to the election , and the Liberal party was returned to power .
No one was more surprised than Morrison himself .
“ I ’ ve always believed in miracles , ” he concluded .
Many , un-supernatural factors can explain this result : an unpopular opposition leader with an expansive reform agenda .
Moreover , the election was decided in the coal-rich electorates of regional Queensland and the resources state of Western Australia .
Voters in Queensland resented the caravan of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ traveled through their towns protesting against the Adani coal mine , which promised thousands of jobs to the region .
The election became a contest between regional and urban , between past and future .
And between the status quo and the unknown .
“ As one of the world ’ s top fossil fuel exporters , we are straddling the barbed wire fence .
On one side climate risks and opportunities in cleaner technologies , but on the other side deeply entrenched interests , attitudes , and simple human inertia , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is why Australia ’ s identity as a major coal exporter is so inextricably linked to its inability to undergo an energy transition at home .
The vast majority of emissions from Australian coal are counted overseas .
Hypothetically , Australia could decouple its own economy from fossil fuels without impacting exports .
But neither side of politics will quickly forget that Morrison managed to make fear of the costs of climate action more terrifying than the reality of climate change itself .
There has always been a tussle in the LNP between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deniers .
But the moderates have a problem : weaponizing climate change keeps winning elections .
Will the fires be a catalyst for change ?
Australia ’ s fires have reignited the debate over this deadlock .
“ You can no longer argue that it ’ s just inner city ‘ woke ’ people who care about climate change , ” says Will Grant , a senior lecturer in science communication at the Australian National Center for the Public Awareness of Science .
But he says the complexity of the catastrophe makes it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — some of which is deliberate misinformation from climate deniers — which fits their belief system .
“ An event like this may be catalyzing , but a lot of people will interpret these bushfires through their existing biases and beliefs about whether climate change is happening or not.
” Still , he says , “ It might be a moment .
Maybe this is the thing where the moderates in the Liberal party start saying , ‘ shut up ’ to the far-right anti-climate groups.
” “ I do hope we can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he says , “ and that we hear more conservative voices drawing a direct link between emissions and this crisis.
” One of those voices is a woman who served as deputy to both Turnbull and Abbott , before quitting politics at the last election .
Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was blunt when interviewed about the fires on breakfast television this week , saying , “ Australia is a highly developed country .
...
If a country like Australia fails to show leadership ( on climate change ) , we can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ showing leadership in this area.
” Australia ’ s “ leadership ” in the most recent COP25 in Madrid involved creative carbon accounting , raising a contentious argument that it should be able to use carryover credits from the Kyoto agreement , to meet its Paris targets .
“ Morrison deliberately misquoted data at the UN , to say we are reducing emissions when the data says that we are not ... that we are going to achieve our Paris commitments ‘ in a canter ’ when you can only do that if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” says John Hewson , who led the federal Liberal party from 1990 to 1994 and now works with the Crawford School of Public Policy in Canberra .
“ That ’ s like some kid trying to count the six gold stars they got at the end of Primary School for their university admission .
It ’ s nonsense.
” Hewson believes more transparency from elected representatives on the issue of climate action is key .
“ Government is responding to a handful of people within the coalition , with the support of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ indefensible .
“ I ’ d like to see every individual member of parliament declare their position and be responsible to their constituents .
Whatever poll you want to look at , you get overwhelming support for decisive action and it ’ s getting stronger.
” State governments are acutely aware of this , and have almost uniform net-zero 2050 targets , including the conservative-ruled states of South Australia and New South Wales .
In the absence of a government agenda , Australia ’ s heavy emitters are taking some small steps to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and sitting on the doorstep of Asia , Australia is poised to benefit from an energy transition .
And in the absence of a government agenda , the market is taking over .
Large-scale private investment in renewables is underway , with Australia ’ s per capita renewable energy growing at a rate 10 times the world average .
In the north , a number of mega-projects are in development , including one to export solar energy via subsea cable to Asia .
A race is underway to establish hydrogen fuel — an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — as a viable export commodity .
Industry is also agitating for policy certainty .
Heavy emitters including Rio Tinto , BHP , and Australia ’ s largest oil and gas companies Santos and Woodside have called for a price on carbon .
BHP has set a net-zero target for 2050 .
“ There is a sense of [ industry ] getting on with it and not being reliant on government , ” said Connor .
“ We ’ re not just talking about policy , we ’ re talking about pressure from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ consumers , so those forces are very actively at play whilst public policy is moving slowly .
I hope that at least one positive that will come out of this horror is that we can move to embrace the opportunities , as well as better managing the risk of the future that is facing us.
” So , when the smoke clears , will the Australian government end its climate inertia ?
“ I do think 2020 is a year of opportunity , ” Connor says .
“ Government has said it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this year .
We are encouraged under the Paris agreement to have a mid-century emissions reduction strategy , and there will be incredible scrutiny on that.
” Perhaps we should all believe in miracles .
Michelle Crowther is an Australian journalist based in Perth .
She has worked in emissions reduction with the resources sector and holds a master ’ s degree in strategic communication focusing on climate change .

Share All sharing options for: Can the catastrophic fires bring some sanity to Australian climate politics?
The world is watching our country burn. More than 17.9 million acres have gone up in flames since September, an area 15 times the Amazon fires. At least 27 people have died. A billion animals and 2,000 homes may have been lost. And we are only about halfway through the fire season.
A complex interplay of weather phenomena and systems — including a positive-phase Indian Ocean Dipole, the cycle of the temperature gradient between the eastern and western parts of the Indian Ocean — has created the tinder-dry landscape. But the record temperatures and drought conditions linked to climate change have vastly intensified the fires.
The fires have also brought international scrutiny of our stance on climate change. Why was Australia as the worst-performing country on climate policy in the 2020 Climate Change Performance Index?
While the current fire catastrophe is unprecedented, these are not the first climate-related losses Australia has mourned. Prolonged drought has devastated much of the agricultural sector, forcing many farming families off the land. The jewel in our tourism crown, the Great Barrier Reef, is dying.
So why did we team up with Brazil and Saudi Arabia to nearly derail the UN climate negotiations in Madrid at the COP25 if we have so much to lose? And why does Australia have no national energy policy?
The answers are largely the same: Our politics is tainted by fossil fuel interests, doubt, and fear of change. But the fire provides a unique opportunity to move forward.
Climate action has been brandished as a political weapon
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions account for 1.3 percent of the global total, which doesn’t sound like much until you consider the size of our population. With just 25.5 million people, we’re the second-highest per capita emitter in the world, behind Saudi Arabia. Not included in this figure are emissions generated by burning the resources we sell: We’re the world’s largest exporter of both coal and liquified natural gas (LNG).
But to understand why we have no national energy policy, we have to go back to 2007 when Labor opposition leader Kevin Rudd called climate change as the “greatest moral challenge of our generation.” He went on to win the election, but as prime minister he failed to pass an emissions trading scheme. He was deposed by his deputy, Julia Gillard, who in 2012 introduced a price on carbon.
That was a big step. “We did actually succeed in placing a full market-based mechanism over two years,” says John Connor, CEO of Australia’s Carbon Market Institute, with members ranging from conservation groups to heavy emitters. “The carbon pricing mechanism reduced emissions while the economy grew.”
The carbon tax brought down emissions, but it may have cost the Labor Party control of the government. Labor lost in 2013 after conservative Liberal National Party (LNP) leader Tony Abbott, on record for referring to climate change as “absolute crap,” campaigned on a promise to “axe the tax.”
Abbott successfully established fear of climate action as a political weapon, leading the free-market Liberals away from a market-based mechanism.
Abbot’s short run ended in 2015 when he was rolled by Malcolm Turnbull, a Liberal moderate who once said, “I will not lead a party that is not as committed to effective action on climate change as I am.”
It turned out his party agreed, and last year he was dumped after failing to reach party room consensus on national energy policy, due in part to the inclusion of modest emission reduction targets. The man who replaced him as prime minister was Scott Morrison, who refers to himself as ScoMo, back then arguably most famous for brandishing a lump of coal in parliament.
2019: The climate change election
This brings us to the 2019 federal election, which played out amid a severe drought, reports of irreversible damage to the Great Barrier Reef, and a high-profile fight over the proposed Adani Carmichael coal mega-mine in the state of Queensland. National polling put climate change on top of the list of critical threats to Australia’s vital interests over the next 10 years.
The Labor opposition promised ambitious, science-based emission reduction targets. The incumbent government arranged its remaining members (many had quit expecting electoral wipeout) behind Morrison, who warned of economic ruin under the opposition’s climate plan.
But polling showed a narrow race close to the election, and the Liberal party was returned to power.
No one was more surprised than Morrison himself. “I’ve always believed in miracles,” he concluded.
Many, un-supernatural factors can explain this result: an unpopular opposition leader with an expansive reform agenda.
Moreover, the election was decided in the coal-rich electorates of regional Queensland and the resources state of Western Australia. Voters in Queensland resented the caravan of climate campaigners from southern cities, who traveled through their towns protesting against the Adani coal mine, which promised thousands of jobs to the region.
The election became a contest between regional and urban, between past and future. And between the status quo and the unknown.
“As one of the world’s top fossil fuel exporters, we are straddling the barbed wire fence. On one side climate risks and opportunities in cleaner technologies, but on the other side deeply entrenched interests, attitudes, and simple human inertia,” Connor says.
Less easy to understand is why Australia’s identity as a major coal exporter is so inextricably linked to its inability to undergo an energy transition at home. The vast majority of emissions from Australian coal are counted overseas. Hypothetically, Australia could decouple its own economy from fossil fuels without impacting exports.
But neither side of politics will quickly forget that Morrison managed to make fear of the costs of climate action more terrifying than the reality of climate change itself.
There has always been a tussle in the LNP between moderates and a small band of climate deniers. But the moderates have a problem: weaponizing climate change keeps winning elections.
Will the fires be a catalyst for change?
Australia’s fires have reignited the debate over this deadlock.
“You can no longer argue that it’s just inner city ‘woke’ people who care about climate change,” says Will Grant, a senior lecturer in science communication at the Australian National Center for the Public Awareness of Science.
But he says the complexity of the catastrophe makes it possible for people to pick the information — some of which is deliberate misinformation from climate deniers — which fits their belief system.
“An event like this may be catalyzing, but a lot of people will interpret these bushfires through their existing biases and beliefs about whether climate change is happening or not.”
Still, he says, “It might be a moment. Maybe this is the thing where the moderates in the Liberal party start saying, ‘shut up’ to the far-right anti-climate groups.”
Connor agrees.
“I do hope we can use what we’ve seen,” he says, “and that we hear more conservative voices drawing a direct link between emissions and this crisis.”
One of those voices is a woman who served as deputy to both Turnbull and Abbott, before quitting politics at the last election. Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was blunt when interviewed about the fires on breakfast television this week, saying, “Australia is a highly developed country. ... If a country like Australia fails to show leadership (on climate change), we can hardly blame other nations for likewise not showing leadership in this area.”
Polls show overwhelming support for decisive climate action
Australia’s “leadership” in the most recent COP25 in Madrid involved creative carbon accounting, raising a contentious argument that it should be able to use carryover credits from the Kyoto agreement, to meet its Paris targets.
“Morrison deliberately misquoted data at the UN, to say we are reducing emissions when the data says that we are not ... that we are going to achieve our Paris commitments ‘in a canter’ when you can only do that if carry over all your Kyoto credits,” says John Hewson, who led the federal Liberal party from 1990 to 1994 and now works with the Crawford School of Public Policy in Canberra. “That’s like some kid trying to count the six gold stars they got at the end of Primary School for their university admission. It’s nonsense.”
Hewson believes more transparency from elected representatives on the issue of climate action is key. “Government is responding to a handful of people within the coalition, with the support of the Murdoch press, to defend the indefensible.
“I’d like to see every individual member of parliament declare their position and be responsible to their constituents. Whatever poll you want to look at, you get overwhelming support for decisive action and it’s getting stronger.”
State governments are acutely aware of this, and have almost uniform net-zero 2050 targets, including the conservative-ruled states of South Australia and New South Wales.
In the absence of a government agenda, the private sector is moving toward lowering emissions
Blessed with boundless renewable resources and sitting on the doorstep of Asia, Australia is poised to benefit from an energy transition. And in the absence of a government agenda, the market is evolving quickly.
Large-scale private investment in renewables is underway, with Australia’s per capita renewable energy growing at a rate 10 times the world average. In the north, a number of mega-projects are in development, including one to export solar energy via subsea cable to Asia. A race is underway to establish “green hydrogen” — an alternative fuel produced using only renewable energy — as a viable export commodity.
Industry is also agitating for policy certainty. Heavy emitters including Rio Tinto, BHP, and Australia’s largest oil and gas companies Santos and Woodside have called for a price on carbon. BHP has set a net-zero target for 2050.
“There is a sense of [industry] getting on with it and not being reliant on government,” said Connor. “We’re not just talking about policy, we’re talking about pressure from investors, prudential regulators, shareholders and consumers, so those forces are very actively at play whilst public policy is moving slowly. I hope that at least one positive that will come out of this horror is that we can move to embrace the opportunities, as well as better managing the risk of the future that is facing us.”
So, when the smoke clears, will the Australian government end its climate inertia?
“I do think 2020 is a year of opportunity,” Connor says. “Government has said it’s committed to completing a long-term strategy this year. We are encouraged under the Paris agreement to have a mid-century emissions reduction strategy, and there will be incredible scrutiny on that.”
Perhaps we should all believe in miracles.
Michelle Crowther is an Australian journalist based in Perth. She has worked in emissions reduction with the resources sector and holds a master’s degree in strategic communication focusing on climate change.


vox--2020-01-10--Trump says most asylum seekers don’t show up for their court hearings. A new study shows 99% do.

President Donald Trump has often claimed that the only way to ensure that migrants show up for their court hearings rather than vanish into the US is to keep them in detention or else make sure that they never step foot on American soil in the first place .
But the president ’ s theory doesn ’ t hold up : About 99 percent of asylum seekers who were not detained or who were previously released from immigration custody showed up for their hearings over the last year , according to new data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think tank that tracks data in the immigration courts .
Studies from previous years have also disproven the idea that most migrants will choose to live in the US without authorization rather than see their immigration cases through .
But it ’ s nevertheless central to Trump ’ s immigration policies , including those that aim to keep migrants in Mexico rather than letting them walk free in the US .
The latest data from TRAC shows that nearly every asylum seeker showed up for their court hearings over the course of 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vast majority of asylum seekers — about 4 in 5 — were not detained at all or had been released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody before their court date .
Migrants can end up in immigration court in one of two ways : turning themselves in to immigration agents or getting caught while trying to cross the border without authorization .
In both cases , officials will initiate deportation proceedings against them and give them a date to appear in court , where they can ask a judge for asylum and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remain in the US with legal status , or else be ordered deported .
On average , immigrants with currently pending cases have been waiting almost two years for their court hearings , and cases take even longer to complete .
Under previous administrations , a migrant who came into contact with immigration agents would have typically been released from custody into the US during that waiting period , unless they were found to be likely to flee or a risk to public safety .
But Trump has repeatedly maligned that practice , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” a concept that predates his presidency but that became a rallying cry during his 2016 campaign .
He has falsely claimed that most asylum seekers who are allowed to walk free while their immigration cases are pending will not show up for their court hearings , instead absconding into the US to live as unauthorized immigrants .
In an address last January , Trump asserted that as few as 2 percent of asylum seekers who aren ’ t in detention show up for their court hearings : But data from both TRAC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s claim : the rate at which non-detained migrants showed up for their court hearings still far exceeded 2 percent even in the years prior to 2019 , in which attendance rates were unusually high .
About 75 percent showed up for their hearings in fiscal year 2018 , similar to rates over the previous five years .
It ’ s not clear why migrants skipped out on their hearings at significantly lower rates in 2019 , but it ’ s possible that Trump ’ s hardline rhetoric on immigration and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ choosing to live in the US without authorization .
Meanwhile , the rate at which migrants ’ asylum claims have been denied has steadily grown over the last seven years from just 42 percent in 2012 to 69 percent in 2019 .
Trump has called for the end of “ catch and release ” Trump has made efforts to end catch and release , instead keeping migrants in detention or else sending them back to Central America .
To do so , he has increased funding for immigration detention , despite Congress ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Congress had sought to decrease the number of migrants in detention to just over 40,000 in its 2019 appropriations bill .
But in August , Trump transferred $ 271 million in Department of Homeland Security disaster relief funds to ICE to pay for more detention capacity — about 50,000 migrants daily — and temporary immigration courts along the southern border .
Trump has also rolled out a series of policies that allow immigration agents to send migrants back to Mexico and Guatemala .
Under his “ Remain in Mexico ” policy , officially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he has sent about 56,000 migrants back to Mexico to await decisions on their asylum cases in the US .
The administration consequently announced that it had ended catch and release for families arriving at the southern border with some limited exceptions , instead sending them all back to Mexico under MPP .
And he ’ s brokered agreements with the countries in Central America ’ s “ Northern Triangle ” region — Guatemala , Honduras , and El Salvador — that would allow his administration to send migrants back to those countries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the US .
Only the agreement with Guatemala is in effect so far , but the agreement with Honduras is weeks away from implementation .
There are comparatively low-cost alternatives to keeping immigrants in detention or sending them abroad , including the now-defunct Obama-era Family Case Management Program .
Under that program , which Trump ended in June 2017 , families were released and assigned to social workers who aided them in finding attorneys and accommodation and ensured that they showed up for their court hearings .
The program was small in scale @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enrolled at any one time , but appeared to be successful in ensuring that 99 percent of participants showed up for their court appearances and ICE check-ins .

President Donald Trump has often claimed that the only way to ensure that migrants show up for their court hearings rather than vanish into the US is to keep them in detention or else make sure that they never step foot on American soil in the first place.
But the president’s theory doesn’t hold up: About 99 percent of asylum seekers who were not detained or who were previously released from immigration custody showed up for their hearings over the last year, according to new data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, a think tank that tracks data in the immigration courts.
Studies from previous years have also disproven the idea that most migrants will choose to live in the US without authorization rather than see their immigration cases through. But it’s nevertheless a central idea in Trump’s immigration policies, including those that aim to keep migrants in Mexico rather than letting them walk free in the US.
The latest data from TRAC shows that nearly every migrant who applied for asylum and whose case was completed in 2019 showed up for all of their court hearings. That’s even though the vast majority of asylum seekers — about four in five — were not detained at all or had been released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody before their court date.
TRAC’s report doesn’t account for every migrant in immigration court: those who sought other kinds of relief from deportation or who didn’t apply for any relief at all aren’t included. The Department of Justice has also previously raised concerns about the accuracy of TRAC’s analysis, which relies on data obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, since the organization does not disclose its methodology.
A spokesperson for the DOJ declined to comment.
Data from the DOJ suggests that the rate at which migrants overall show up for their immigration court proceedings is lower than the rate TRAC cites. In 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, about 75 percent of migrants showed up for their court hearings in 2018 — similar to rates over the previous five years. The DOJ has also reported that the number of migrants and asylum seekers who fail to show up for their hearings is on the rise.
Migrants can end up in immigration court in one of two ways: turning themselves in to immigration agents or getting caught while trying to cross the border without authorization. In both cases, officials will initiate deportation proceedings against them and give them a date to appear in court, where they can ask a judge for asylum and other protections that would allow them to remain in the US with legal status, or else be ordered deported.
On average, immigrants with currently pending cases have been waiting almost two years for their court hearings, and cases take even longer to complete. Under previous administrations, a migrant who came into contact with immigration agents would have typically been released from custody into the US during that waiting period, unless they were found to be likely to flee or a risk to public safety.
But Trump has repeatedly maligned that practice, dubbing it “catch and release,” a concept that predates his presidency but that became a rallying cry during his 2016 campaign. He has falsely claimed that most asylum seekers who are allowed to walk free while their immigration cases are pending will not show up for their court hearings, instead absconding into the US to live as unauthorized immigrants.
In an address last January, Trump asserted that as few as 2 percent of asylum seekers who aren’t in detention show up for their court hearings:
Tell me, what percentage of people come back? Would you say 100 percent? No, you’re a little off. Like, how about 2 percent? And those people, you almost don’t want, because they cannot be very smart... Those two percent are not going to make America great again, that I can tell you.
But data from both TRAC and the Department of Justice clearly refutes Trump’s claim: The rate at which non-detained migrants showed up for their court hearings still far exceeded 2 percent even in the years prior to 2019.
Meanwhile, the rate at which migrants’ asylum claims have been denied has steadily grown over the last seven years from just 42 percent in 2012 to 69 percent in 2019.
Trump has called for the end of “catch and release”
Trump has made efforts to end catch and release, instead keeping migrants in detention or else sending them back to Central America. To do so, he has increased funding for immigration detention, despite Congress’s attempts to rein him in.
Congress had sought to decrease the number of migrants in detention to just over 40,000 in its 2019 appropriations bill. But in August, Trump transferred $271 million in Department of Homeland Security disaster relief funds to ICE to pay for more detention capacity — about 50,000 migrants daily — and temporary immigration courts along the southern border.
Trump has also rolled out a series of policies that allow immigration agents to send migrants back to Mexico and Guatemala.
Under his “Remain in Mexico” policy, officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, he has sent about 56,000 migrants back to Mexico to await decisions on their asylum cases in the US. The administration consequently announced that it had ended catch and release for families arriving at the southern border with some limited exceptions, instead sending them all back to Mexico under MPP.
And he’s brokered agreements with the countries in Central America’s “Northern Triangle” region — Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador — that would allow his administration to send migrants back to those countries to seek protection there rather than in the US. Only the agreement with Guatemala is in effect so far, but the agreement with Honduras is weeks away from implementation.
There are comparatively low-cost alternatives to keeping immigrants in detention or sending them abroad, including the now-defunct Obama-era Family Case Management Program. Under that program, which Trump ended in June 2017, families were released and assigned to social workers who aided them in finding attorneys and accommodation and ensured that they showed up for their court hearings.
The program was small in scale, with no more than 1,600 people enrolled at any one time, but appeared to be successful in ensuring that 99 percent of participants showed up for their court appearances and ICE check-ins.


vox--2020-01-10--Barstool Sports is close to selling to a casino company you’ve never heard of

Barstool Sports , the high-profile , controversial , and fast-growing sports media company , may soon have a new owner : A low-profile casino operator .
Sources say The Chernin Group , which currently owns Barstool , is in advanced talks to sell a majority stake in the company to Penn National Gaming , a publicly traded , regional gambling company that operates 41 properties in 19 states .
Barstool was last valued at more than $ 100 million , but a potential purchase price could be much higher , and might create the biggest media-gambling tie-up in the US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2018 .
Recode has asked Penn National for comment .
The Chernin Group has declined to comment .
A representative for Barstool Sports replied with the following , attributed to Barstool founder Dave Portnoy : “ We continue to speak or have spoken with everybody from DraftKings to FanDuel to Stars to PointsBet to Penn to Willam Hill to MGM to Rush Street , etc .
I think that if we aligned ourselves with one company with a shared vision , that company would have an extraordinary advantage in the race to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United States.
” The Big Lead had previously reported that Barstool was looking at a deal to sell itself to a gambling company .
The deal would tie Barstool , a well-known company with a passionate audience , to a casino company you may have never heard of , which is part of the logic of the tie-up : Industry observers expect Penn National , which operates properties like the Hollywood Casino in Bangor , Maine , and the Greektown Casino-Hotel in Detroit , to adopt the Barstool brand for at least some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use of Barstool ’ s brand would be to help Penn National move into online sports betting , which the Supreme Court blessed on a state-by-state basis in May 2018 .
Since then , a host of media companies have tried to capitalize on what they think will be a sports betting boom by creating their own betting-centric properties , as well as by making deals with traditional casinos like Caesars and online betting companies like DraftKings and FanDuel .
( Vox Media , which owns this site , has a deal between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sports property . )
Barstool already has a Barstool Bets site , which publishes sports-betting stories and videos , and runs free sports-betting games ; the company also has deals to direct its users to betting operations like MGM Resorts .
Until now , the biggest media and sports betting deal we ’ ve seen in the US has been Fox Corp ’ s purchase of a little less than 5 percent of The Stars Group , an online gambling company , for $ 236 million last year ; the two companies launched @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months later .
Other media transactions in recent years have been driven by a desire to gain scale to fight against tech companies ( like AT & T ’ s purchase of Time Warner , and Disney ’ s purchase of much of Fox ) or because of fire sales of startups that had planned to grow alongside Facebook and ended up running out of money ( like Mashable and Mic ) .
But Barstool is different : It is growing quickly , has a passionate audience that likes its off-color approach to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doesn ’ t appear to have cash flow problems .
Barstool founder Dave Portnoy , who is still the company ’ s best-known talent , sold a majority stake in his company to The Chernin Group for a reported $ 10 million in 2016 ; in 2018 , Chernin put another $ 15 million into the company at a reported valuation of more than $ 100 million .
The deal could be a windfall for both Portnoy and Chernin .
And it could also solve a problem for Chernin , a media investment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Murdoch lieutenant Peter Chernin .
Barstool is beloved by its audience , but it is reviled by lots of media commentators , who grimace at the publishers ’ frat-boy persona .
Barstool pits itself against everyone from the NFL to ESPN to people who have a problem with stories like “ Josh Duhamel Compared His New Smokeshow Girlfriend Audra Mari to Patrick Mahomes , ” which is currently featured on the site ’ s homepage .
Portnoy himself is a controversial face for the company .
Last summer , via Twitter , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to union organizers .
That prompted an investigation by the National Labor Relations Board , which is still open .
That brand has created problems for Chernin ’ s executives who have grown weary of defending their investment in Barstool .
( For the record , their usual defense is that people who criticize Barstool probably don ’ t read or watch what Barstool makes , and what the company does is similar to Howard Stern ’ s show . )
It may also have limited possible acquirers for the company ; conventional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do business with pro sports leagues like the NFL wouldn ’ t be able to buy the Barstool for fear of offending their current or future partners .
Or even offending their own employees : In 2017 , ESPN launched a Barstool-branded chat show , then canceled it after a single episode after blowback from the sports programmer ’ s on-air talent .
“ I erred in assuming we could distance our efforts from the Barstool site and its content , ” former ESPN President John Skipper wrote at the time .

Barstool Sports, the high-profile, controversial, and fast-growing sports media company, may soon have a new owner: A low-profile casino operator.
Sources say The Chernin Group, which currently owns Barstool, is in advanced talks to sell a majority stake in the company to Penn National Gaming, a publicly traded, regional gambling company that operates 41 properties in 19 states.
Barstool was last valued at more than $100 million, but a potential purchase price could be much higher, and might create the biggest media-gambling tie-up in the US since the Supreme Court legalized sports betting in 2018.
Recode has asked Penn National for comment. The Chernin Group has declined to comment. A representative for Barstool Sports replied with the following, attributed to Barstool founder Dave Portnoy: “We continue to speak or have spoken with everybody from DraftKings to FanDuel to Stars to PointsBet to Penn to Willam Hill to MGM to Rush Street, etc. I think that if we aligned ourselves with one company with a shared vision, that company would have an extraordinary advantage in the race to becoming the leading gambling company in the United States.”
The Big Lead had previously reported that Barstool was looking at a deal to sell itself to a gambling company.
The deal would tie Barstool, a well-known company with a passionate audience, to a casino company you may have never heard of, which is part of the logic of the tie-up: Industry observers expect Penn National, which operates properties like the Hollywood Casino in Bangor, Maine, and the Greektown Casino-Hotel in Detroit, to adopt the Barstool brand for at least some of its operations.
The most logical use of Barstool’s brand would be to help Penn National move into online sports betting, which the Supreme Court blessed on a state-by-state basis in May 2018.
Since then, a host of media companies have tried to capitalize on what they think will be a sports betting boom by creating their own betting-centric properties, as well as by making deals with traditional casinos like Caesars and online betting companies like DraftKings and FanDuel. (Vox Media, which owns this site, has a deal between DraftKings and Vox’s SB Nation sports property.)
Barstool already has a Barstool Bets site, which publishes sports-betting stories and videos, and runs free sports-betting games; the company also has deals to direct its users to betting operations like MGM Resorts.
Until now, the biggest media and sports betting deal we’ve seen in the US has been Fox Corp’s purchase of a little less than 5 percent of The Stars Group, an online gambling company, for $236 million last year; the two companies launched a Fox-branded sports betting unit a few months later.
Other media transactions in recent years have been driven by a desire to gain scale to fight against tech companies (like AT&T’s purchase of Time Warner, and Disney’s purchase of much of Fox) or because of fire sales of startups that had planned to grow alongside Facebook and ended up running out of money (like Mashable and Mic). But Barstool is different: It is growing quickly, has a passionate audience that likes its off-color approach to covering sports and pop culture, and doesn’t appear to have cash flow problems.
Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, who is still the company’s best-known talent, sold a majority stake in his company to The Chernin Group for a reported $10 million in 2016; in 2018, Chernin put another $15 million into the company at a reported valuation of more than $100 million.
The deal could be a windfall for both Portnoy and Chernin. And it could also solve a problem for Chernin, a media investment and holding group run by former Rupert Murdoch lieutenant Peter Chernin. Barstool is beloved by its audience, but it is reviled by lots of media commentators, who grimace at the publishers’ frat-boy persona. Barstool pits itself against everyone from the NFL to ESPN to people who have a problem with stories like “Josh Duhamel Compared His New Smokeshow Girlfriend Audra Mari to Patrick Mahomes,” which is currently featured on the site’s homepage.
Portnoy himself is a controversial face for the company. Last summer, via Twitter, he threatened to fire any employee who talked to union organizers. That prompted an investigation by the National Labor Relations Board, which is still open.
That brand has created problems for Chernin’s executives who have grown weary of defending their investment in Barstool. (For the record, their usual defense is that people who criticize Barstool probably don’t read or watch what Barstool makes, and what the company does is similar to Howard Stern’s show.)
It may also have limited possible acquirers for the company; conventional wisdom is that media companies that want to do business with pro sports leagues like the NFL wouldn’t be able to buy the Barstool for fear of offending their current or future partners. Or even offending their own employees: In 2017, ESPN launched a Barstool-branded chat show, then canceled it after a single episode after blowback from the sports programmer’s on-air talent. “I erred in assuming we could distance our efforts from the Barstool site and its content,” former ESPN President John Skipper wrote at the time.