vox--2020-08-03--Last week the US wanted to break up Big Tech. Now it’s trying to supersize it.

Last week , US lawmakers hauled the heads of four giant tech companies into a virtual antitrust hearing , ostensibly over concerns their companies are too big .
This week , the president of the United States is sort-of-kind-of-maybe trying to help a different giant US tech company become even bigger — by forcing the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell it to Microsoft .
There are all kinds of perspectives on a potential sale of TikTok from ByteDance to Microsoft .
Some rational people think it ’ s a good idea : They don ’ t want the popular @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the US to be controlled by a Chinese company because Chinese companies are , in various ways , extensions of the Chinese government .
Others quite rightly worry about potential retaliation from China against US companies that do business in that country , as well as the breakdown of the entire concept of an open internet .
But it seems to me that one of the striking parts of the whole deal would be that the US government , which says it worries about the reach and power of its homegrown tech @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deal that would supersize one of those giants .
Which suggests that the US isn ’ t really worried about the reach and power of its tech giants .
Caveat time !
There are many confounding , surprising , and improbable components to the ByteDance-TikTok-Microsoft-White House-China story , which is very much a moving target .
This afternoon , for instance , Donald Trump insisted that in order for the deal to go through , the US government would have to get a “ very substantial portion ” of any sale price if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump , of course , says all kinds of things , all the time .
Many of those things are not true .
But if he actually means it this time , it means the deal looks much less likely than it did a few hours earlier .
And while we ’ re at it , let ’ s be clear that it ’ s hard to make a real antitrust argument against a Microsoft-TikTok deal , at least as antitrust law works in the US right now : TikTok may worry the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still dwarfs TikTok ; same thing for Google ’ s YouTube .
Facebook , for instance , says it has 256 million users in the US and Canada ; TikTok says it is at 100 million .
It ’ s also not a coincidence that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was not in Washington last week , testifying along with the heads of Apple , Google , Facebook , and Amazon .
With the exception of its Xbox gaming platform , Microsoft has a very modest consumer internet presence in the US psyche* .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to acquire TikTok , it would be Microsoft .
But let ’ s also be very clear : While Microsoft has turned itself into a giant tech company that focuses on business customers , it is still very much a Giant Tech Company — one that the US government spent years trying to break up because of the way it abused its status as the dominant computer operating system in the 1990s .
In its last 12 months , Microsoft generated a staggering $ 143 billion in revenue — for context , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its growth is coming from enterprise customers and cloud services , Microsoft still dominates personal computers .
If you ’ re not reading this on a phone or tablet , the odds are very high you ’ re reading this on a Microsoft Windows-powered machine .
In short : If you were worried about the concentration of tech power in the US , you wouldn ’ t add the most consequential new social media platform in years to a company that made $ 44 billion in profits — four Amazons — last year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ near term , Facebook execs won ’ t complain while Microsoft figures out , structurally and technically , how to separate TikTok from its current owner/operators and rebuilt large portions of it .
Big companies usually expect to take a year or more to swallow up a significant acquisition ; this one could be way more difficult . )
If US lawmakers were truly concerned about the power of tech giants , they would be actively be debating laws to rein that in , instead of punting the work to enforcement agencies like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an entire faction of US politicians wouldn ’ t spend their time in important antitrust hearings focusing on made-up claims that big internet companies are bad because they censor conservatives .
If anything , you could argue that a TikTok sale to Microsoft makes it even less likely that we ’ ll see real antitrust movement against Google or Facebook .
If that deal goes through , both companies can credibly argue that TikTok is now an even fiercer rival to their business because it has Microsoft behind it .
Again : I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or against TikTokSoft — it ’ s a genuinely fascinating and important inflection point for tech and world politics .
But next time you tell me the US government is Very Worried About Big Tech , you ’ re going to have work much harder to convince me .
* Not for lack of trying : If Microsoft had succeeded in its attempt to buy Yahoo many years ago , or if it hadn ’ t burned billions trying to build a consumer ad business , maybe things would be different .
Every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Last week, US lawmakers hauled the heads of four giant tech companies into a virtual antitrust hearing, ostensibly over concerns their companies are too big.
This week, the president of the United States is sort-of-kind-of-maybe trying to help a different giant US tech company become even bigger — by forcing the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell it to Microsoft.
There are all kinds of perspectives on a potential sale of TikTok from ByteDance to Microsoft. Some rational people think it’s a good idea: They don’t want the popular social video app with a huge presence in the US to be controlled by a Chinese company because Chinese companies are, in various ways, extensions of the Chinese government.
Others quite rightly worry about potential retaliation from China against US companies that do business in that country, as well as the breakdown of the entire concept of an open internet.
But it seems to me that one of the striking parts of the whole deal would be that the US government, which says it worries about the reach and power of its homegrown tech giants, is now actively encouraging a deal that would supersize one of those giants.
Which suggests that the US isn’t really worried about the reach and power of its tech giants.
Caveat time! There are many confounding, surprising, and improbable components to the ByteDance-TikTok-Microsoft-White House-China story, which is very much a moving target. This afternoon, for instance, Donald Trump insisted that in order for the deal to go through, the US government would have to get a “very substantial portion” of any sale price if Microsoft does buy TikTok from ByteDance.
Trump, of course, says all kinds of things, all the time. Many of those things are not true. But if he actually means it this time, it means the deal looks much less likely than it did a few hours earlier.
And while we’re at it, let’s be clear that it’s hard to make a real antitrust argument against a Microsoft-TikTok deal, at least as antitrust law works in the US right now: TikTok may worry the social media giant Facebook, but Facebook still dwarfs TikTok; same thing for Google’s YouTube. Facebook, for instance, says it has 256 million users in the US and Canada; TikTok says it is at 100 million.
It’s also not a coincidence that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was not in Washington last week, testifying along with the heads of Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon. With the exception of its Xbox gaming platform, Microsoft has a very modest consumer internet presence in the US psyche*. If any big tech company is going to acquire TikTok, it would be Microsoft.
But let’s also be very clear: While Microsoft has turned itself into a giant tech company that focuses on business customers, it is still very much a Giant Tech Company — one that the US government spent years trying to break up because of the way it abused its status as the dominant computer operating system in the 1990s.
In its last 12 months, Microsoft generated a staggering $143 billion in revenue — for context, that’s two Facebooks. And while its growth is coming from enterprise customers and cloud services, Microsoft still dominates personal computers. If you’re not reading this on a phone or tablet, the odds are very high you’re reading this on a Microsoft Windows-powered machine.
In short: If you were worried about the concentration of tech power in the US, you wouldn’t add the most consequential new social media platform in years to a company that made $44 billion in profits — four Amazons — last year. (That said! In the near term, Facebook execs won’t complain while Microsoft figures out, structurally and technically, how to separate TikTok from its current owner/operators and rebuild large portions of it. Big companies usually expect to take a year or more to swallow up a significant acquisition; this one could be way more difficult.)
If US lawmakers were truly concerned about the power of tech giants, they would actively be debating laws to rein that in, instead of punting the work to enforcement agencies like the DOJ and the FTC. And an entire faction of US politicians wouldn’t spend their time in important antitrust hearings focusing on made-up claims that big internet companies are bad because they censor conservatives.
If anything, you could argue that a TikTok sale to Microsoft makes it even less likely that we’ll see real antitrust movement against Google or Facebook. If that deal goes through, both companies can credibly argue that TikTok is now an even fiercer rival because it has Microsoft behind it.
Again: I’m happy to entertain arguments for or against TikTokSoft — it’s a genuinely fascinating and important inflection point for tech and world politics. But next time you tell me the US government is Very Worried About Big Tech, you’re going to have work much harder to convince me.
* Not for lack of trying: If Microsoft had succeeded in its attempt to buy Yahoo many years ago, or if it hadn’t burned billions trying to build a consumer ad business, maybe things would be different.


vox--2020-08-03--Alabama’s and Mississippi’s troubling Covid-19 curves, briefly explained

For the first time in a while , there is a bit of good news to report about America ’ s coronavirus pandemic : Nationally , cases have plateaued — and in some places , they have begun to decline slightly .
But , as always is the case when looking at the national numbers , the situation is more complicated than it seems .
Over the last two weeks , the average number of new cases reported daily has dipped from more than 66,000 to roughly 60,000 , according to the Covid Exit Strategy tracker .
The number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fallen in the last 10 days , which would suggest an ebb in the virus ’ s spread .
The explanation for the drops is pretty simple : Arizona , Florida , California , and Texas — the four states that had driven much of the summer wave — have seen their daily new cases drop by between 11 percent and 28 percent over the last two weeks .
Hospitalizations in those states have also tailed off .
Deaths are still at their highest levels since May , however , with the US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every day .
Earlier in the summer , there seemed to be a disconnect between case numbers and death counts , with the death count remaining low even as new case counts rose .
But this time , the case count is declining and the death count is rising .
Because of the lag between when a person ’ s case is reported and when their death would be reported if they fall victim to the coronavirus — which can sometimes be a month or more — we may not see the drop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a while .
It ’ s too soon to say any of those four states are out of the woods entirely .
Certain areas , like the Rio Grande Valley in Texas , are still struggling , and experts warn that any progress could be quickly reversed .
“ It would not take much — schools reopening in person , or people relaxing precautions a little bit because we ’ re ‘ past the peak ’ — for us to have a growing epidemic again , ” Tom Hladish , a research @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Emerging Pathogens Institute , told me .
But if the summer ’ s hot spots are in fact starting to turn a corner , the worry is new ones will flare up .
The US had enjoyed a steady decline in cases and deaths after the New York City region got through the worst of its outbreak in the spring — until Arizona , California , Florida , and Texas began reopening their economies and cases picked up again in June .
This was an important reminder that the US does not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any improvements in one place could be quickly offset if new areas experience a spike in cases , hospitalizations , and , eventually , deaths .
With that in mind , I asked public health experts which states show signs of an accelerating outbreak and looked at the data myself .
There are some states that have had worrying trends for a while but flew under the radar while much of the nation ’ s attention focused on the Big Four .
Georgia and Nevada typify that group ; their daily new cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are stubbornly high .
Others are definitely trending in the wrong direction : Missouri and Oklahoma are two states where cases and positive test rates have gone up recently .
But two states stood out from the rest , the unfortunate candidates most likely to become the next US hot spots : Alabama and Mississippi .
There are various ways to measure the scale and trajectory of a state ’ s outbreak — percent of tests coming back positive , number of new cases per million people , number of hospital beds occupied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Alabama is in a bad place .
At the beginning of July , Alabama was averaging fewer than 1,000 new Covid-19 cases every day .
Today , the daily average is above 1,600 .
The percentage of tests that are positive is more than 21 percent and rising , according to Covid Exit Strategy ; experts say that the positivity rate should be 5 percent or less in order for a state to feel it is adequately managing its outbreak .
According to the Covid Tracking Project , about 800 people were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1 ; today , the number is 1,529 .
Going by the number of new cases per million people — a good proxy for how saturated a state is with Covid-19 infections — Alabama has the fourth-worst outbreak in the US .
It also ranks fifth in the number of people hospitalized per million people .
Right now , 72 percent of the state ’ s hospital beds are occupied , which the public health researchers at Covid Exit Strategy characterize as an “ elevated ” level of hospitalizations .
Taken together , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Alabama did issue a statewide mask order in mid-July , which may help to ensure the situation does not spiral out of control , and Gov .
Kay Ivey has extended the mandate through August .
But the state has been reluctant to order businesses closed again after starting to reopen its economy in late April , and Ivey has been insistent about starting in-person instruction at Alabama schools .
“ It is worth watching whether face mask orders in place ... help to curtail or prevent widespread outbreaks , ” Jennifer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the Kaiser Family Foundation , said .
It will likely be several weeks before any effect would be seen , given the lags in reporting .
Mississippi is , if anything , even worse off than its neighbor to the east .
The number of daily new cases roughly doubled from 639 on July 1 to 1,178 on August 2 .
More than 20 percent of tests are positive , and that number has been steadily rising for the last two weeks .
A month ago , about 800 people were hospitalized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearly 1,200 are .
It now ranks second in new cases per million people , behind only Florida .
Most troubling is the growing death toll .
The state reported 52 new deaths on July 31 , a record , and dramatically higher than one month ago , when Mississippi was seeing 10 deaths per day on average .
Its large Black population and high poverty levels could make the state particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus , considering being a person of color and of a lower socioeconomic status have been linked to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Mississippi have an awful lot of counties that are predicted to be vulnerable on the basis of their population demographics , ” William Hanage , a Harvard epidemiologist , told me , “ Whether age , race , or socioeconomic status , or some combination of all three.
” The state has so far not reimposed any social distancing restrictions or issued a statewide mask requirement , according to Boston University ’ s database of state Covid-19 policies , adding to the concern among public health experts .
Gov .
Tate Reeves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ counties and warned bars may have to be closed if the virus continues to spread .
But the state has also pushed ahead with opening schools ; one of the first school districts to restart classes has already reported that one student has tested positive for the coronavirus .
The school district said it has notified people who came into close contact with the student , the public health practice known as contact tracing .
But the level of spread in the state and the lack of contact tracing workers could make it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; NPR reported last month that the state had not hired enough people to meet its estimated contact tracing needs .
Given the trend lines in Mississippi , Harvard Global Health Institute director Ashish Jha predicted the state would become first in the nation in the number of new cases as a share of its population .
In other words , Mississippi may soon be the worst Covid-19 hot spot in the country .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Vox today .

For the first time in a while, there is a bit of good news to report about America’s coronavirus pandemic: Nationally, cases have plateaued — and in some places, they have begun to decline slightly.
But, as always is the case when looking at the national numbers, the situation is more complicated than it seems.
Over the last two weeks, the average number of new cases reported daily has dipped from more than 66,000 to roughly 60,000, according to the Covid Exit Strategy tracker. The number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 nationwide has also fallen in the last 10 days, which would suggest an ebb in the virus’s spread. The explanation for the drops is pretty simple: Arizona, Florida, California, and Texas — the four states that had driven much of the summer wave — have seen their daily new cases drop by between 11 percent and 28 percent over the last two weeks. Hospitalizations in those states have also tailed off.
Deaths are still at their highest levels since May, however, with the US currently averaging more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths every day.
Earlier in the summer, there seemed to be a disconnect between case numbers and death counts, with the death count remaining low even as new case counts rose. But this time, the case count is declining and the death count is rising. Because of the lag between when a person’s case is reported and when their death would be reported if they fall victim to the coronavirus — which can sometimes be a month or more — we may not see the drop in cases reflected in the death data for a while.
It’s too soon to say any of those four states are out of the woods entirely. Certain areas, like the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, are still struggling, and experts warn that any progress could be quickly reversed.
“It would not take much — schools reopening in person, or people relaxing precautions a little bit because we’re ‘past the peak’ — for us to have a growing epidemic again,” Tom Hladish, a research scientist at the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute, told me.
But if the summer’s hot spots are in fact starting to turn a corner, the worry is new ones will flare up. The US had enjoyed a steady decline in cases and deaths after the New York City region got through the worst of its outbreak in the spring — until Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas began reopening their economies and cases picked up again in June. This was an important reminder that the US does not have one outbreak but many, and any improvements in one place could be quickly offset if new areas experience a spike in cases, hospitalizations, and, eventually, deaths.
With that in mind, I asked public health experts which states show signs of an accelerating outbreak and looked at the data myself.
There are some states that have had worrying trends for a while but flew under the radar while much of the nation’s attention focused on the Big Four. Georgia and Nevada typify that group; their daily new cases, positive test rates, and hospitalizations are stubbornly high. Others are definitely trending in the wrong direction: Missouri and Oklahoma are two states where cases and positive test rates have gone up recently.
But two states stood out from the rest, the unfortunate candidates most likely to become the next US hot spots: Alabama and Mississippi.
Alabama
There are various ways to measure the scale and trajectory of a state’s outbreak — percent of tests coming back positive, number of new cases per million people, number of hospital beds occupied — but by any of these metrics, Alabama is in a bad place.
At the beginning of July, Alabama was averaging fewer than 1,000 new Covid-19 cases every day. Today, the daily average is above 1,600. The percentage of tests that are positive is more than 21 percent and rising, according to Covid Exit Strategy; experts say that the positivity rate should be 5 percent or less in order for a state to feel it is adequately managing its outbreak. According to the Covid Tracking Project, about 800 people were hospitalized with Covid-19 in Alabama on July 1; today, the number is 1,529.
Going by the number of new cases per million people — a good proxy for how saturated a state is with Covid-19 infections — Alabama has the fourth-worst outbreak in the US. It also ranks fifth in the number of people hospitalized per million people. Right now, 72 percent of the state’s hospital beds are occupied, which the public health researchers at Covid Exit Strategy characterize as an “elevated” level of hospitalizations.
Taken together, these are a troubling set of trends. Alabama did issue a statewide mask order in mid-July, which may help to ensure the situation does not spiral out of control, and Gov. Kay Ivey has extended the mandate through August. But the state has been reluctant to order businesses closed again after starting to reopen its economy in late April, and Ivey has been insistent about starting in-person instruction at Alabama schools.
“It is worth watching whether face mask orders in place ... help to curtail or prevent widespread outbreaks,” Jennifer Tolbert, director of state health reform at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said. It will likely be several weeks before any effect would be seen, given the lags in reporting.
Mississippi
Mississippi is, if anything, even worse off than its neighbor to the east.
The number of daily new cases roughly doubled from 639 on July 1 to 1,178 on August 2. More than 20 percent of tests are positive, and that number has been steadily rising for the last two weeks. A month ago, about 800 people were hospitalized with Covid-19 in Mississippi; today, nearly 1,200 are. It now ranks second in new cases per million people, behind only Florida.
Most troubling is the growing death toll. The state reported 52 new deaths on July 31, a record, and dramatically higher than one month ago, when Mississippi was seeing 10 deaths per day on average. Its large Black population and high poverty levels could make the state particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus, considering being a person of color and of a lower socioeconomic status have been linked to more adverse outcomes.
“Both Alabama and Mississippi have an awful lot of counties that are predicted to be vulnerable on the basis of their population demographics,” William Hanage, a Harvard epidemiologist, told me, “Whether age, race, or socioeconomic status, or some combination of all three.”
The state has so far not reimposed any social distancing restrictions or issued a statewide mask requirement, according to Boston University’s database of state Covid-19 policies, adding to the concern among public health experts. Gov. Tate Reeves did impose a mask mandate for specific counties and warned bars may have to be closed if the virus continues to spread.
But the state has also pushed ahead with opening schools; one of the first school districts to restart classes has already reported that one student has tested positive for the coronavirus. The school district said it has notified people who came into close contact with the student, the public health practice known as contact tracing. But the level of spread in the state and the lack of contact tracing workers could make it difficult to do that work at scale; NPR reported last month that the state had not hired enough people to meet its estimated contact tracing needs.
Given the trend lines in Mississippi, Harvard Global Health Institute director Ashish Jha predicted the state would become first in the nation in the number of new cases as a share of its population.
Mississippi will become nation's #1 in new cases/pop
Already #1 on test +
Can't open schools now. They'll just shut down
If MS wants kids in school, recipe known
Stop indoor dining/bars/gyms
Statewide masking
Fix testing
Then, may be, kids can go to school safely. Later
Fin — Ashish K. Jha (@ashishkjha) August 2, 2020
In other words, Mississippi may soon be the worst Covid-19 hot spot in the country.


vox--2020-08-03--The TikTok-Microsoft-Trump drama, explained

President Trump won ’ t try to ban TikTok in the US — at least for now .
On Monday , he reversed his stance on the wildly popular video streaming app and said in a White House press briefing that instead of banning it , he would allow a US-based company to purchase the app .
“ I don ’ t mind if — whether it is Microsoft or someone else — a big company , a secure company , a very American company , buys it , ” said Trump about TikTok .
Trump also warned that TikTok @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States ” by September 15 if the company doesn ’ t reach a deal to sell by then .
Though TikTok , which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance , is best known as a place where teens share short , often lighthearted musical videos , it has become the center of geopolitical controversy between the US and China over technological power .
For months , Trump and other bipartisan politicians have periodically raised concerns about TikTok as a potential national security threat , worrying that the app ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the US or access American users ’ sensitive data at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party .
The company has vehemently denied these accusations .
But reports last year showed a lack of TikTok content about subjects controversial with the Chinese government — such as videos of the Hong Kong protests .
These reports have fueled US government suspicions that the company is influenced by the Chinese government , particularly as China has been expanding its surveillance state in recent years and US-China diplomatic relations have become more strained .
Over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spotlight when Trump told reporters on Friday evening that he planned to ban the app effective “ immediately ” — saying he would do so using emergency economic powers or an executive order .
But getting rid of an app used by some 100 million Americans isn ’ t easy , even if you ’ re the president .
According to a New York Times report , after Trump ’ s advisers convinced him that an executive action to ban TikTok would face severe legal and political consequences , Trump agreed that instead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allow the tech giant Microsoft to continue its previous talks to buy TikTok , which had reportedly been in the works for weeks .
Since Microsoft is a US-based company , the idea is that if Microsoft took control , it would ensure all of TikTok ’ s user data is stored in the US , secure from the potentially prying eyes of the Chinese government .
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talked to Trump about it over the weekend , according to a Microsoft blog post published on Saturday evening , and has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or not — by September 15 .
Here ’ s a rundown of the recent controversy surrounding TikTok and what ’ s expected to happen next : TikTok has faced intense political scrutiny for months now , long before Trump ’ s latest call for a ban .
Republicans have escalated their attacks on TikTok this summer , with some bipartisan support from Democrats as well .
Last Thursday , Sens .
Richard Blumenthal ( D-CT ) and Josh Hawley ( R-MO ) sent a letter to the Justice Department demanding that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Zoom over reported violations of “ Americans ’ civil liberties ” and national security concerns about relationships between these companies and China .
This followed statements in July from Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , who both said the Trump administration was considering banning TikTok altogether .
For the past year , it ’ s been thought that the app has been under government review for national security reasons .
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed this last week , and said he ’ s expecting the review to conclude soon .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ review , the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ( CFIUS ) , has the power to recommend the president force TikTok to sell to a US company .
Even if Trump doesn ’ t issue a full ban , a government decision that forces TikTok ’ s parent company to sell it off would be a game changer for the social media industry , and would threaten to disrupt the app ’ s extraordinary popularity .
And for established social media giants Facebook and Google , the decision could significantly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forced sale of TikTok could have negative consequences beyond the people running TikTok , too .
The move threatens to jeopardize the success of an app that ’ s had a meteoric rise from a relative underdog to one of the most downloaded apps in the world .
And since TikTok is one of the only recent social media startups to compete with tech giants like Facebook , weakening TikTok could further concentrate power among a few tech giants in the US .
“ While we do not comment on rumors or speculation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ success of TikTok , ” a spokesperson for TikTok told Recode on Friday , adding the company is “ committed to protecting their privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform.
” You may be asking how Trump can force a company as popular as TikTok to sell itself , or go so far as to try to ban it .
The answer is complicated and bureaucratic .
To force a sale , Trump could issue an order for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , an interagency committee that reviews foreign acquisitions and investments in US businesses that can threaten national security .
The committee , chaired by Mnuchin , has the power to block or reverse mergers and acquisitions involving US and foreign companies .
Increasingly , the agency has been exercising its authority over foreign-owned tech companies operating in the US .
Last year , CFIUS helped block one of the biggest deals in tech history , after Trump followed its recommendations to stop Singapore-based Broadcom from acquiring the US semiconductor company Qualcomm .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the dating app Grindr and the health startup PatientsLikeMe .
But as Brookings Institution fellow Geoffrey Gertz has written , tech companies weren ’ t always the target of CFIUS .
In the past , the committee “ tended to focus on companies with military or intelligence connections , ” but more recently , personal data and high-tech intellectual property have become a bigger focus for the committee .
Last year , CFIUS started investigating ByteDance , which had purchased the Chinese-owned lip-sync video platform Musical.ly in 2017 and then rebranded and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ under the name TikTok .
When that investigation comes to a close , the committee ’ s recommendations will reportedly lead to Trump ’ s order for ByteDance to sell TikTok or divest its US operations .
It ’ s unclear how CFIUS would enforce a potential unwinding of ByteDance and TikTok , but last year , the committee issued a $ 1 million fine to an undisclosed company for not following through on a mitigation agreement , its first penalty of that kind .
It could also fine TikTok — or Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of banning TikTok altogether , no matter how legally or politically contentious that would be .
In a press briefing on Monday , Trump said that whoever ends up owning TikTok should pay the Treasury department of the US government a “ substantial amount of money ” as part of the deal .
As some have pointed out , including Axios ’ s Dan Primack , Trump ’ s comments could be “ skating very close to announcing extortion.
” It ’ s not immediately clear how Trump would try to ensure the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sale or whether it ’ s even legal to do that .
What comes next If Microsoft or another major US company does purchase TikTok , it ’ s likely that TikTok as we know it would remain largely unchanged .
TikTok is a valuable brand in a lucrative industry with a massive , devoted user base — so for Microsoft , buying TikTok would be an opportunity to seriously compete with other major tech companies like Facebook and Google in the social media space .
Microsoft also has experience when it comes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them to retain their independence — as it did when it acquired the platform for software developers , GitHub , in 2018 , and the video game Minecraft in 2014 .
Depending on how Microsoft chooses to run TikTok — if it acquires it — the app could continue to grow , and with the backing of a major US tech company , it might more seriously take on other social media companies , including Facebook .
Microsoft isn ’ t the only potential buyer — other firms could try to buy TikTok @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may invite outside investors to join them in the deal , according to the Wall Street Journal .
It ’ s too soon to say what impact a sale would have on the app ’ s popularity and growth .
But in the meantime , there are plenty of Clippy jokes to make .
On Monday , a spokesperson for TikTok told Recode in a statement that the company is “ committed to continuing to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform as we build TikTok @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be here for many years to come.
” Update , August 3 , 3:05 pm ET : This article has been updated to include new comments from President Trump and new reporting about ongoing negotiations between Microsoft and TikTok .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
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President Trump issued an executive order on Thursday night that will effectively ban any US company or individual from making transactions with ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the TikTok app, after 45 days.
While this conditional ban on TikTok’s US business operations will likely face serious legal challenges, and it’s unclear how immediately enforceable it is, the order creates a serious challenge for TikTok, a wildly popular video streaming app with some 100 million US users.
For months, Trump and other bipartisan politicians have periodically raised concerns about TikTok as a potential national security threat, worrying that the app’s Chinese parent company could censor content in the US or access American users’ sensitive data at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party.
The executive order states that TikTok “automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users,” and that this “threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”
The company has vehemently denied these accusations, saying repeatedly that it does not share user data with the Chinese government. But reports last year showed a lack of TikTok content about subjects controversial with the Chinese government — such as videos of the Hong Kong protests. These reports have fueled US government suspicions that the company is influenced by the Chinese government, particularly as China has been expanding its surveillance state in recent years and US-China diplomatic relations have become more strained.
Trump has gone back and forth about how he planned to take action on TikTok. As recently as last Friday, he warned of an eminent executive ban on TikTok. On Monday though, Trump seemed to reverse his stance and said in a White House press briefing that instead of banning it, he would allow a US-based company to purchase the app.
“I don’t mind if — whether it is Microsoft or someone else — a big company, a secure company, a very American company, buys it,” said Trump about TikTok. Trump also warned that TikTok will be “out of business in the United States” by September 15 if the company doesn’t reach a deal to sell by then. Now, the executive order has established a timeline of 45 days from Thursday (which would be September 20) for the sale to happen before TikTok will no longer be able to conduct business in the US.
Related The case for and against banning TikTok
Though TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, is best known as a place where teens share short, often lighthearted musical videos, it has become the center of geopolitical controversy between the US and China over technological power.
But getting rid of an app used by some 100 million Americans isn’t easy, even if you’re the president. According to a New York Times report on Sunday, after Trump’s advisers convinced him that an executive action to ban TikTok would face severe legal and political consequences, Trump decided he would allow the tech giant Microsoft to continue its previous talks to buy the app, which had reportedly been in the works for weeks. Since Microsoft is a US-based company, the idea is that if Microsoft took control, it would ensure all of TikTok’s user data is stored in the US, secure from the potentially prying eyes of the Chinese government. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talked to Trump about it over the weekend, according to a Microsoft blog post published on Saturday evening, and has agreed to work out a deal — or not — by September 15.
Do you work at TikTok and have thoughts about what’s going on? Please email Shirin Ghaffary at shirin.ghaffary@protonmail.com to reach her confidentially. Signal number available upon request.
Here’s a rundown of the recent controversy surrounding TikTok and what’s expected to happen next:
TikTok’s political troubles
TikTok has faced intense political scrutiny for months leading up to Trump’s executive order.
Republicans escalated their attacks on TikTok this summer, with some bipartisan support from Democrats as well. Last Thursday, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to the Justice Department demanding that the agency open an investigation into TikTok and Zoom over reported violations of “Americans’ civil liberties” and national security concerns about relationships between these companies and China. This followed statements in July from Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who both said the Trump administration was considering banning TikTok altogether.
For the past year, it’s been thought that the app has been under government review for national security reasons. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed this last week, and said he’s expecting the review to conclude soon. The government committee in charge of this review, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), has the power to recommend the president force TikTok to sell to a US company.
Even if Trump can’t enforce a full-on ban, a government decision that forces TikTok’s parent company to sell it off would be a game changer for the social media industry, and would threaten to disrupt the app’s extraordinary popularity. And for established social media giants Facebook and Google, the decision could significantly weaken their fiercest new competitor.
A forced sale of TikTok could have negative consequences beyond the people running TikTok, too. The move threatens to jeopardize the success of an app that’s had a meteoric rise from a relative underdog to one of the most downloaded apps in the world. And since TikTok is one of the only recent social media startups to compete with tech giants like Facebook, weakening TikTok could further concentrate power among a few tech giants in the US.
“While we do not comment on rumors or speculation, we are confident in the long-term success of TikTok,” a spokesperson for TikTok told Recode last Friday, adding the company is “committed to protecting their privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform.”
How a sale would work
You may be asking how Trump can force a company as popular as TikTok to sell itself, or go so far as to try to ban it. The answer is complicated and bureaucratic.
To force a sale, Trump could issue an order for ByteDance to divest from TikTok through CFIUS, an interagency committee that reviews foreign acquisitions and investments in US businesses that can threaten national security. The committee, chaired by Mnuchin, has the power to block or reverse mergers and acquisitions involving US and foreign companies.
Increasingly, the agency has been exercising its authority over foreign-owned tech companies operating in the US. Last year, CFIUS helped block one of the biggest deals in tech history, after Trump followed its recommendations to stop Singapore-based Broadcom from acquiring the US semiconductor company Qualcomm. The committee also forced Chinese owners to divest from the dating app Grindr and the health startup PatientsLikeMe.
But as Brookings Institution fellow Geoffrey Gertz has written, tech companies weren’t always the target of CFIUS. In the past, the committee “tended to focus on companies with military or intelligence connections,” but more recently, personal data and high-tech intellectual property have become a bigger focus for the committee.
Last year, CFIUS started investigating ByteDance, which had purchased the Chinese-owned lip-sync video platform Musical.ly in 2017 and then rebranded and launched a similar app in the US under the name TikTok. When that investigation comes to a close, the committee’s recommendations will reportedly lead to Trump’s order for ByteDance to sell TikTok or divest its US operations.
It’s unclear how CFIUS would enforce a potential unwinding of ByteDance and TikTok, but last year, the committee issued a $1 million fine to an undisclosed company for not following through on a mitigation agreement, its first penalty of that kind. It could also fine TikTok — or Trump could just continue to dangle the threat of banning TikTok altogether, no matter how legally or politically contentious that would be.
In a press briefing on Monday, Trump said that whoever ends up owning TikTok should pay the Treasury department of the US government a “substantial amount of money” as part of the deal. As some have pointed out, including Axios’s Dan Primack, Trump’s comments could be “skating very close to announcing extortion.” It’s not immediately clear how Trump would try to ensure the US government gets a cut of the sale or whether it’s even legal to do that.
What comes next
If Microsoft or another major US company does purchase TikTok, it’s likely that TikTok as we know it would remain largely unchanged.
TikTok is a valuable brand in a lucrative industry with a massive, devoted user base — so for Microsoft, buying TikTok would be an opportunity to seriously compete with other major tech companies like Facebook and Google in the social media space.
Microsoft also has experience when it comes to purchasing already successful companies and allowing them to retain their independence — as it did when it acquired the platform for software developers, GitHub, in 2018, and the video game Minecraft in 2014.
Depending on how Microsoft chooses to run TikTok — if it acquires it — the app could continue to grow, and with the backing of a major US tech company, it might more seriously take on other social media companies, including Facebook. Microsoft isn’t the only potential buyer — other firms could try to buy TikTok or share ownership. Reportedly, Microsoft may invite outside investors to join them in the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It’s too soon to say what impact a sale would have on the app’s popularity and growth. But in the meantime, there are plenty of Clippy jokes to make.
On Monday, a spokesperson for TikTok told Recode in a statement that the company is “committed to continuing to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform as we build TikTok for the long term. TikTok will be here for many years to come.”
Update, August 6, 9:54 pm ET: This article has been updated to include news of Trump’s executive order against TikTok.
Update, August 3, 3:05 pm ET: This article has been updated to include new comments from President Trump and new reporting about ongoing negotiations between Microsoft and TikTok.


vox--2020-08-03--Join the Vox Book Club!

Join the Vox Book Club!

The Vox Book Club is linking to Bookshop.org to support local and independent book sellers .
Here ’ s how the Vox Book Club works : Every month , we pick a book .
Throughout the month , we publish discussion posts containing thoughts and questions from Vox book critic Constance Grady , but we also have comments turned on and moderated so you can share your thoughts , too .
Talk among yourselves !
Post your opinions and questions !
Or use our discussion posts as a jumping-off point for ( socially distanced ) discussions with your own friends @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the month , we gather on Zoom for a virtual live discussion .
Our pick for August is Brit Bennett ’ s The Vanishing Half , a rich , extravagant fairy tale of a book .
It concerns a set of twin sisters , Stella and Desiree , who grow up in an all-Black town where the population is devoted to ensuring that each successive generation has lighter skin than the one before it .
At 16 , light-skinned Stella and Desiree run away .
Desiree goes on to marry the darkest-skinned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ starts passing for white .
There ’ s a lot to delve into here : the history of narratives of passing , the power of American fairy tales , the question of how we are bound by our bodies and our families .
To close out the month , Constance will host a live discussion of The Vanishing Half on Thursday , August 27 , with the author herself , Brit Bennett .
Come join us !
Sign up here to be notified about new book selections , discussions , and related live @ @ @ @ @ @ @ First discussion post on The Vanishing Half Friday , August 21 : Second discussion post on The Vanishing Half Thursday , August 27 : Virtual live discussion featuring Vox book critic Constance Grady and The Vanishing Half author Brit Bennett .
Sign up for the Vox Book Club newsletter and we ’ ll send you the RSVP link as soon as it ’ s up !

The Vox Book Club is linking to Bookshop.org to support local and independent booksellers.
Here’s how the Vox Book Club works: Each month, we pick a book. Around the middle of the month, we publish a discussion post containing thoughts and questions from Vox book critic Constance Grady, but we also have comments turned on and moderated so you can share your thoughts, too. Talk among yourselves! Post your opinions and questions! Or use the conversation as a jumping-off point for your own conversations with friends and family. And at the end of the month, we gather on Zoom for a virtual live discussion.
Our pick for November 2021 is Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. It’s a witty and biting debut novel that also contains one of the cringiest Thanksgiving scenes ever committed to the page. We’ll have plenty to discuss here on the site, and at the end of the month, we’ll meet with Reid herself live on Zoom to discuss the whole thing. RSVP here to join the fun, and in the meantime, subscribe to the Vox Book Club newsletter to make sure you don’t miss anything.
Here’s the full Vox Book Club schedule for November 2021:
Friday, November 19: Discussion post on Such a Fun Age published to Vox.com
Tuesday, November 30, 5 pm Eastern: Virtual live event with author Kiley Reid. RSVP here. Reader questions are encouraged!


vox--2020-08-03--After revealing in a sermon that she is trans, a Baptist pastor is fired by the church

Share All sharing options for : After revealing in a sermon that she is trans , a Baptist pastor is fired by the church Junia Joplin , the Mississauga , Toronto , pastor who came out as a trans woman in a livestreamed sermon on June 14 ( and who was profiled shortly thereafter by Vox ) , has lost her job after a congregational vote .
Joplin ’ s sermon proved hugely popular within the world of queer Christianity , in large part due to her skill as a preacher and how she weaved together themes of God-given acceptance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s truest self .
“ I want to proclaim to my transgender siblings that I believe in a God who knows your name , even if that name hasn ’ t been chosen yet , ” she said during the livestream .
“ I believe in a God who calls you a beloved daughter even if your parents insist you ’ ll always be their son.
” Shortly after delivering her coming-out sermon , Joplin , a pastor at Lorne Park Baptist Church , said she received an outpouring of support from parishioners @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expected to be in her corner .
But the church ’ s leadership council sent her a terse email shortly afterward , saying “ no decisions have been made yet.
” A July 20 vote on whether to remove Joplin from her position was carried out by drive-through balloting due to the Covid-19 pandemic .
In a narrow 58-53 result , the congregation decided against Joplin ’ s continued employment by the church .
Lorne Park issued the following statement to Vox : Joplin said those who voted to remove her were also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ theological reasoning .
Eight of those people said they saw no theological basis for her firing , but voted to remove her for other reasons .
On the theological grounds laid out in the church ’ s statement , Joplin said she came out ahead , 61-50 .
She still lost her job .
In the wake of Joplin ’ s firing , Lorne Park has undergone considerable upheaval .
Six of its eight executive council members stepped down , as did two members of the church ’ s pastoral team , Joplin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” page on the church ’ s website is notably sparse .
Joplin ’ s firing was also a disappointment to trans Christians , who hoped she would avoid the fate of other pastors and church leaders who have come out as trans and subsequently lost their jobs .
Yet there might be some room for optimism in the closeness of the vote .
“ What you ’ re seeing played out [ in recent years ] are the ways in which the gradual increased understanding of queerness in the general population is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Michael Pettinger , co-editor of the book Queer Christianities : Lived Religion in Transgressive Forms .
“ It ’ s intriguing and really encouraging that [ Joplin ] could get almost a 50/50 split .
That would have been unimaginable 50 years ago.
” How Baptist church policies are ultimately decided gave some trans Christians hope that the congregation would vote to keep Joplin behind the pulpit at Lorne Park .
Unlike with , say , the Catholic church , which has a central governing body dictating how churches are allowed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Baptist congregation is allowed to establish its own rules.Though Joplin said many churchgoers were very supportive , some who hadn ’ t gone through the process of becoming official members of Lorne Park were not allowed to vote , even if they attended regularly .
“ I ’ ve had church members reach out to me and say , ‘ You ’ ve got to remember the membership is not the same as the congregation , ’ ” Joplin told Vox .
“ In other words , if it had been a vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pews , then it would have gone differently.
” She also said that she ’ s somewhat frustrated that people who voted for her removal didn ’ t bother to talk to her after she came out .
But arguments against her were ongoing within the larger Lorne Park community .
Adam McKerlie , who has been going to the church since he was very young and now attends with his wife , Lauren , said via email that he had been involved in a Facebook argument that reflected the groundswell against Joplin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Park spoke out against June , going as far as using her incorrect pronouns and name .
When I called the pastor out on Facebook , it generated some discussion and seemed to split our old youth group into people who were with June and those who were against , which was sad , ” McKerlie said .
“ I unfortunately didn ’ t have a lot of hope for how the vote would go .
I was surprised with how close it was , but saddened by the decision.
” McKerlie and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be attending Lorne Park .
Joplin told Vox that she has heard , at least secondhand , that some of the arguments supporting her firing went beyond suggesting a trans woman shouldn ’ t be a pastor .
“ You had two congregations .
The congregation that was , like , ‘ Who cares if our pastor is trans ?
That ’ s fine .
It changes nothing .
She ’ s just as good as before , if not better , ’ and then the other congregation is , like , ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be pastors , ’ ” Joplin said .
“ Our denomination has been [ ordaining women ] for 60 or 70 years !
Folks just had no clue that ’ s what our values are , because people don ’ t bother to learn.
” This exact debate — between embracing queer Christians and rigidly adhering to traditions that might be out of date — is at the center of arguments across Christian denominations right now , said Pettinger .
“ What we ’ re seeing now is a kind of struggle in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ believed that there was something wrong with gender- and sexuality-variant people suddenly realizing that , in fact , no , the question is not the worthiness or the worth of these people or the lives they live .
The question is actually the sinfulness of homophobia , ” Pettinger said , pointing to how often anti-LGBTQ Christians note that they ’ re “ not homophobic ” but still don ’ t think queer people should have a place in the church .
“ It ’ s almost more about their need to maintain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ person in the face of increasing evidence that , in fact , this is not a good and loving position , ” Pettinger added .
“ It ’ s really intriguing to me that we ’ re seeing that shift at exactly the time we ’ re once again dealing with the legacy of racism and white supremacy in this country.
” None of that will get Joplin her job back , however .
She told Vox she is exploring her legal options — in Canada , it is illegal to fire someone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exceptions based on religious grounds .
She also said that any severance payment from the church would likely come with strings attached that would make it harder for her to tell her story and build support for the next pastor to come out as trans to their congregation .
Joplin , who is American , has started looking for the next thing , which is somewhat constrained by her need to stay in Canada and not return to the US , both for medical reasons and because her children will remain in Canada @ @ @ @ @ @ @ complicated process .
The soonest she might begin a new job would be in early 2021 , she said , and it ’ s far more likely she would start later than that .
So until she finds something else , Joplin is guest preaching ( though it doesn ’ t pay nearly as well as a regular job ) , and has a GoFundMe she hopes will buy her some financial breathing room to figure out what ’ s next .
And yet she , too , has hope .
“ Christianity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ways over the last 150 years , and it ’ s going to change more .
...
Either stories like mine are going to invite the church to change , or it will die , at least in the way we know it .
That ’ s sad in some ways , but the church constantly needs to die and be resurrected .
That ’ s our story , ” Joplin said .
“ If the 10 percent of every church that ’ s LGBTQ+ identified and if the one person out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in their congregation and spoke up , I think together , we could bring about a lot of change.
” Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Share All sharing options for: After revealing in a sermon that she is trans, a Baptist pastor is fired by the church
Junia Joplin, the Mississauga, Toronto, pastor who came out as a trans woman in a livestreamed sermon on June 14 (and who was profiled shortly thereafter by Vox), has lost her job after a congregational vote.
Joplin’s sermon proved hugely popular within the world of queer Christianity, in large part due to her skill as a preacher and how she weaved together themes of God-given acceptance and the struggle to embrace one’s truest self. “I want to proclaim to my transgender siblings that I believe in a God who knows your name, even if that name hasn’t been chosen yet,” she said during the livestream. “I believe in a God who calls you a beloved daughter even if your parents insist you’ll always be their son.”
Shortly after delivering her coming-out sermon, Joplin, a pastor at Lorne Park Baptist Church, said she received an outpouring of support from parishioners, including some she hadn’t expected to be in her corner. But the church’s leadership council sent her a terse email shortly afterward, saying “no decisions have been made yet.”
A July 20 vote on whether to remove Joplin from her position was carried out by drive-through balloting due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In a narrow 58-53 result, the congregation decided against Joplin’s continued employment by the church.
Lorne Park issued the following statement to Vox:
The Corporation of Lorne Park Baptist Church confirms that the congregation has voted to terminate the employment of Rev. Junia (June) Joplin as Lead Pastor of the church. The Church has journeyed for the past month through a process of attempting to discern God’s will resulting from June’s announcement of June 14, 2020 that she is a transgender woman. The vote concludes the first stage of that process. After a month of prayerful discernment and discussions between June and the congregation, it was determined, for theological reasons, that it is not in God’s will that June remain as our pastor. We wish June God’s grace and peace as she departs from us.
Joplin said those who voted to remove her were also asked whether their decision was based on theological reasoning. Eight of those people said they saw no theological basis for her firing, but voted to remove her for other reasons. On the theological grounds laid out in the church’s statement, Joplin said she came out ahead, 61-50. She still lost her job.
In the wake of Joplin’s firing, Lorne Park has undergone considerable upheaval. Six of its eight executive council members stepped down, as did two members of the church’s pastoral team, Joplin said. The “Who We Are” page on the church’s website is notably sparse.
Joplin’s firing was also a disappointment to trans Christians, who hoped she would avoid the fate of other pastors and church leaders who have come out as trans and subsequently lost their jobs. Yet there might be some room for optimism in the closeness of the vote.
“What you’re seeing played out [in recent years] are the ways in which the gradual increased understanding of queerness in the general population is changing the policies of the churches,” said Michael Pettinger, co-editor of the book Queer Christianities: Lived Religion in Transgressive Forms. “It’s intriguing and really encouraging that [Joplin] could get almost a 50/50 split. That would have been unimaginable 50 years ago.”
How Baptist church policies are ultimately decided gave some trans Christians hope that the congregation would vote to keep Joplin behind the pulpit at Lorne Park.
Unlike with, say, the Catholic church, which has a central governing body dictating how churches are allowed to carry out their business, each Baptist congregation is allowed to establish its own rules.Though Joplin said many churchgoers were very supportive, some who hadn’t gone through the process of becoming official members of Lorne Park were not allowed to vote, even if they attended regularly.
“I’ve had church members reach out to me and say, ‘You’ve got to remember the membership is not the same as the congregation,’” Joplin told Vox. “In other words, if it had been a vote that actually reflected the people in the pews, then it would have gone differently.”
She also said that she’s somewhat frustrated that people who voted for her removal didn’t bother to talk to her after she came out. But arguments against her were ongoing within the larger Lorne Park community. Adam McKerlie, who has been going to the church since he was very young and now attends with his wife, Lauren, said via email that he had been involved in a Facebook argument that reflected the groundswell against Joplin.
“A previous pastor of Lorne Park spoke out against June, going as far as using her incorrect pronouns and name. When I called the pastor out on Facebook, it generated some discussion and seemed to split our old youth group into people who were with June and those who were against, which was sad,” McKerlie said. “I unfortunately didn’t have a lot of hope for how the vote would go. I was surprised with how close it was, but saddened by the decision.”
McKerlie and his wife said they will no longer be attending Lorne Park.
Joplin told Vox that she has heard, at least secondhand, that some of the arguments supporting her firing went beyond suggesting a trans woman shouldn’t be a pastor.
“You had two congregations. The congregation that was, like, ‘Who cares if our pastor is trans? That’s fine. It changes nothing. She’s just as good as before, if not better,’ and then the other congregation is, like, ‘Well, not even cis women can be pastors,’” Joplin said. “Our denomination has been [ordaining women] for 60 or 70 years! Folks just had no clue that’s what our values are, because people don’t bother to learn.”
This exact debate — between embracing queer Christians and rigidly adhering to traditions that might be out of date — is at the center of arguments across Christian denominations right now, said Pettinger.
“What we’re seeing now is a kind of struggle in the conscience of people who have always believed that there was something wrong with gender- and sexuality-variant people suddenly realizing that, in fact, no, the question is not the worthiness or the worth of these people or the lives they live. The question is actually the sinfulness of homophobia,” Pettinger said, pointing to how often anti-LGBTQ Christians note that they’re “not homophobic” but still don’t think queer people should have a place in the church.
“It’s almost more about their need to maintain an identity as a good, loving person in the face of increasing evidence that, in fact, this is not a good and loving position,” Pettinger added. “It’s really intriguing to me that we’re seeing that shift at exactly the time we’re once again dealing with the legacy of racism and white supremacy in this country.”
None of that will get Joplin her job back, however. She told Vox she is exploring her legal options — in Canada, it is illegal to fire someone for being trans, but there are exceptions based on religious grounds. She also said that any severance payment from the church would likely come with strings attached that would make it harder for her to tell her story and build support for the next pastor to come out as trans to their congregation.
Joplin, who is American, has started looking for the next thing, which is somewhat constrained by her need to stay in Canada and not return to the US, both for medical reasons and because her children will remain in Canada. Church hiring is a long and complicated process. The soonest she might begin a new job would be in early 2021, she said, and it’s far more likely she would start later than that.
So until she finds something else, Joplin is guest preaching (though it doesn’t pay nearly as well as a regular job), and has a GoFundMe she hopes will buy her some financial breathing room to figure out what’s next.
And yet she, too, has hope.
“Christianity has had to change in some enormous ways over the last 150 years, and it’s going to change more. ... Either stories like mine are going to invite the church to change, or it will die, at least in the way we know it. That’s sad in some ways, but the church constantly needs to die and be resurrected. That’s our story,” Joplin said. “If the 10 percent of every church that’s LGBTQ+ identified and if the one person out of every 100 that was trans came out in their congregation and spoke up, I think together, we could bring about a lot of change.”


vox--2020-08-03--Why the next coronavirus stimulus bill is still stalled in Congress

Enhanced unemployment insurance — a key lifeline for millions of workers during the Covid-19 pandemic — has now lapsed , with no clear indication of when it might be renewed .
And in a delay that ’ s surprising even for Congress , lawmakers ’ talks over extending the weekly $ 600 boost in UI — and approving broader stimulus — remain stalled .
As a result , nearly 32 million people are set to see a sharp drop in their UI benefits this week .
And depending on the state , weekly UI support could be reduced by as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ July 30 .
Congress is also planning to leave for August recess this Friday , putting a tight time frame on next steps .
Whether lawmakers are able to reach an agreement by then depends on Democrats and Republicans working through their differences on the scope of the stimulus , as well as Senate Republicans addressing dissent within their own conference .
Thus far , Senate Republicans have been a major source of delays .
While House Democrats passed another round of stimulus in May , for example , Senate Republicans didn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week .
And even then , internal GOP fractures over the need for more funding have limited Republicans ’ ability to present a united front , further muddling negotiations .
“ We ’ re trying to get them to a coherent position , ” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said last July 29 .
“ We don ’ t even know what their position is .
One senator says one thing .
One senator says another .
The president says ‘ this ’ one day .
The president says ‘ that.
’ ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ White House made a last-ditch attempt at approving a short-term extension of the UI program , which Democrats rebuffed as an attempt by Republicans to get out of doing something more comprehensive .
Republicans now argue that Democrats are blocking progress on UI , while Democrats decry the maneuver as a way to avoid confronting the need for broader stimulus .
“ They never have understood the gravity of it , ” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday .
Congressional lawmakers , as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue negotiations in the coming days as they seek to find an agreement on UI , funding for states , and liability protections for businesses .
In the meantime , millions of people are left wondering what ’ s next .
How we got here Republicans have been dragging their feet on stimulus for weeks .
Although Democrats approved the HEROES Act — their opening bid for the next package , which included a six-month extension of the $ 600 weekly UI expansion — more than 10 weeks ago , Republicans have long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its own as states reopen .
“ I think conditions are definitely going to improve .
We ’ ve seen the virus take down the best economy in the world , but it looks like it ’ s pretty resilient and starting to come back , ” Sen. John Cornyn ( R-TX ) told Politico in early June .
Because of this , Republicans weren ’ t interested in considering more stimulus until it became it impossible to ignore that state reopenings weren ’ t going as planned in July , due to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then , members who were worried about the national debt remained unconvinced .
“ The majority of Republicans are now no different than socialist Democrats when it comes to debt , ” Sen. Rand Paul ( R-KY ) wrote in a July tweet criticizing Republican spending plans .
Given the dissent within the party , it wasn ’ t until Tuesday , July 28 , that Senate Republicans unveiled pieces of their bill , the HEALS Act , which would authorize another round of stimulus checks and a reduced UI expansion aimed at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s preexisting wages .
According to Sen. Lindsey Graham ( R-SC ) , many Republicans aren ’ t expected to get on board with this narrower proposal , either .
“ Half the Republicans are going to vote ‘ no ’ to any more aid , ” Graham said during a Fox News appearance in July .
“ That ’ s just a fact.
” As Senate Republicans have been grappling with their differences , the White House has focused on pushing its own priorities .
While McConnell has repeatedly highlighted liability protections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for example , the White House has signaled a willingness to approve a deal without them , according to the Washington Post .
Additionally , the administration has sought the inclusion of unrelated measures like funding for a new FBI building , which McConnell has since opposed .
Ultimately , Republicans ’ disjointed front led to a slew of negotiations that didn ’ t really go anywhere .
In recent days , the White House has sought to cast blame on Democrats by framing them as obstructionists for rejecting a temporary extension of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushed on July 30 .
“ It surprises me that when we talk about compassion and caring about those that truly are in need , that a temporary solution to make sure that unemployment — enhanced unemployment — continues has been rejected not once but multiple times , ” Meadows told reporters .
Democrats , however , worry that agreeing to a short-term extension means there won ’ t be any urgency for Republicans to consider a more comprehensive stimulus package — which the economy still needs .
Pelosi noted that Democrats were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with no larger compromise on the horizon .
“ There would be a time for that — if we had a bill .
What are we going to do in a week ?
” she said Friday .
Moreover , because final negotiations had been pushed so close to the July 31 expiration of enhanced UI , it would have been weeks before states could actually implement the extension .
That ’ s not to say lawmakers shouldn ’ t have considered one ; it speaks more to the fact that Republicans delayed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would have faced a gap in benefits no matter what .
For any bill to pass Congress , both Republicans and Democrats will have to buy in .
The legislation will require the agreement of the majority of House Democrats , as well as the support of at least seven Senate Democrats , if the Republican caucus sticks together .
Since Senate Republicans are expected to split on stimulus , it ’ s likely they ’ ll need even more Democratic support to get anything through this week .
There ’ s a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The extension of unemployment insurance is just one of a long list of things that are at stake in the next stimulus bill .
Funding for states and more coronavirus testing , as well as another round of stimulus checks , are among a slew of pressing provisions that lawmakers still need to work through .
Since it lapsed , the focus on UI has been front and center .
UI support has helped curb or halt a surge in the country ’ s poverty rate , per a study by researchers at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget , both supplemental UI and the first $ 1,200 stimulus check expanded people ’ s disposable income from 5 percent to 7 percent between February and May .
This support has helped maintain a healthy level of consumer spending , which has , in turn , bolstered roughly 5 million jobs , the Economic Policy Institute found .
If the enhanced UI fully lapses in the coming month , the fallout for individual households and the broader economy will be significant .
House and Senate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ funding package targeting aid to states , cities , and towns , many of which had to dial up their own spending to try to curb the virus even as revenue from lost sales and income taxes dried up .
“ The last recession felt like running down a hill , ” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego told Vox ’ s Emily Stewart in April .
“ This one feels like falling off a cliff , it happened so quickly.
” Skip ahead to July , and the situation is still bleak .
Far @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , multiple hot spots have broken out around the country .
The US has over 4.6 million confirmed cases , and more than 154,000 people have died , according to Johns Hopkins ’ s tracker .
Yet with Congress stalling on a new bill , states are getting no new federal assistance , forcing many to consider cuts to other social services , including funding for public schools and universities .
Money for public education support has never been more critical ; some schools and colleges are set to open up at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will start the year with remote school .
The new stimulus , too , is intended to contain funding to help schools cover the necessary protections and precautions needed for reopening , as well as more money for both coronavirus testing and contact tracing , which will be crucial to get the public health crisis under control .
There are major implications for the general election With the general election just months away , the pressure is growing on both parties to reach a deal .
Democrats may be able to point to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both parties are poised to face immense pushback from the public if stimulus continues to stall .
And President Donald Trump will have to navigate voter backlash if economic conditions don ’ t improve .
According to polling by CNBC/Change Research , 62 percent of voters in battleground states support extending enhanced unemployment insurance .
The stimulus limbo could also have a notable impact on the operations of the election itself , since states desperately need more funding to help facilitate vote-by-mail and other changes forced by the pandemic .
States also have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elections in an unpredictable year with little assistance from the feds .
The summer primaries have painted a worrisome picture : Many states are woefully underprepared for a 2020 general election in the age of Covid-19 .
States that have had universal vote-by-mail or no-excuse absentee voting in prior years should be in a better position to handle the high turnout of a presidential year .
But it will be more difficult for states that are moving to no-excuse absentee voting for the first time to get up to speed and hold safe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They almost have to run two elections instead of just one .
It ’ s quite the challenge , ” elections expert Ned Foley , a constitutional law professor at the Ohio State University Moritz School of Law , recently told Vox .
“ Looking at the primaries , unfortunately they show we have serious capacity challenges we are not yet ready for and we are really running out of time.
” With in-person voting , the main challenges have to do with staffing and physical space .
Poll workers tend to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ choosing not to volunteer at their polling place for fear of contracting Covid-19 .
This has caused some states and municipalities to close certain polling locations , which results in long lines at the places remaining open .
States trying to adapt to vote-by-mail systems in a short amount of time need to secure contracts with third-party vendors to print ballots , envelopes , and instructions for voters .
States that are new to the system may also need to purchase costly equipment to scan and count votes in a timely manner because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people to process a crush of returned ballots .
The primaries so far have shown tremendous appetite from voters to cast their ballots by mailing an envelope .
In the 2020 primary , Georgia saw nearly 1.5 million requests for absentee ballots , according to the Georgia secretary of state ’ s office .
In the 2016 presidential primary , the state got just 45,000 requests for absentee ballots , according to a Brennan Center report .
Worries also abound about the state of the US Postal Service , which is chronically in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it prepay its employees ’ retiree benefits .
The Post Office has asked Congress for financial help to no avail ; Republicans seem intent on cutting costs there instead of giving it more money .
Elections experts fear that recent changes to the USPS mail delivery times ordered by Trump donor and new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy could cause further delays for Americans casting their ballots absentee .
“ For tens of millions of Americans , they ’ ll have their ballot handed to them by a postal worker , not a poll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ senior adviser on elections at the nonpartisan foundation Democracy Fund , recently told Vox .
“ They ’ re not getting the same sort of support from Congress and from the administration that we ’ re seeing fast-food restaurants get or some of these other service providers and markets.
” Congress allocated $ 400 million to states in the CARES Act it passed this spring , but many states spent most of their money to prepare for their summer primaries , and Congress has yet to pass more federal funds to help them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poll workers and expand their absentee mail capacity .
“ It ’ s not that we ’ re doing five extra things with the money , it ’ s more of the things we ’ re doing now , ” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told Vox .
“ To minimize the risk of something going wrong , more resources would be appreciated.
” Although Democrats had allocated $ 4 billion in the Heroes Act to help states on this matter , Republicans have shown little appetite for boosting election funding .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , states may be left on their own to figure out how to safely and securely conduct an unprecedented election .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Enhanced unemployment insurance — a key lifeline for millions of workers during the Covid-19 pandemic — has now lapsed, with no clear indication of when it might be renewed.
And in a delay that’s surprising even for Congress, lawmakers’ talks over extending the weekly $600 boost in UI — and approving broader stimulus — remain stalled. As a result, nearly 32 million people are set to see a sharp drop in their UI benefits this week. And depending on the state, weekly UI support could be reduced by as much as 93 percent, CNBC reported July 30.
Congress is also planning to leave for August recess this Friday, putting a tight time frame on next steps. Whether lawmakers are able to reach an agreement by then depends on Democrats and Republicans working through their differences on the scope of the stimulus, as well as Senate Republicans addressing dissent within their own conference.
Thus far, Senate Republicans have been a major source of delays. While House Democrats passed another round of stimulus in May, for example, Senate Republicans didn’t even introduce a bill until last week. And even then, internal GOP fractures over the need for more funding have limited Republicans’ ability to present a united front, further muddling negotiations.
“We’re trying to get them to a coherent position,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said last July 29. “We don’t even know what their position is. One senator says one thing. One senator says another. The president says ‘this’ one day. The president says ‘that.’”
Late Thursday, July 30, the White House made a last-ditch attempt at approving a short-term extension of the UI program, which Democrats rebuffed as an attempt by Republicans to get out of doing something more comprehensive. Republicans now argue that Democrats are blocking progress on UI, while Democrats decry the maneuver as a way to avoid confronting the need for broader stimulus.
“They never have understood the gravity of it,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday. Congressional lawmakers, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, are poised to continue negotiations in the coming days as they seek to find an agreement on UI, funding for states, and liability protections for businesses.
In the meantime, millions of people are left wondering what’s next.
How we got here
Republicans have been dragging their feet on stimulus for weeks.
Although Democrats approved the HEROES Act — their opening bid for the next package, which included a six-month extension of the $600 weekly UI expansion — more than 10 weeks ago, Republicans have long argued that the economy will recover on its own as states reopen.
“I think conditions are definitely going to improve. We’ve seen the virus take down the best economy in the world, but it looks like it’s pretty resilient and starting to come back,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told Politico in early June.
Because of this, Republicans weren’t interested in considering more stimulus until it became it impossible to ignore that state reopenings weren’t going as planned in July, due to a resurgence in coronavirus cases. Even then, members who were worried about the national debt remained unconvinced.
“The majority of Republicans are now no different than socialist Democrats when it comes to debt,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) wrote in a July tweet criticizing Republican spending plans.
The majority of Republicans are now no different than socialist Democrats when it comes to debt. They simply don’t care about debt and are preparing to add at least another trillion dollars in debt this month, combined with the trillions from earlier this summer. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 21, 2020
Given the dissent within the party, it wasn’t until Tuesday, July 28, that Senate Republicans unveiled pieces of their bill, the HEALS Act, which would authorize another round of stimulus checks and a reduced UI expansion aimed at matching 70 percent of a worker’s preexisting wages.
According to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), many Republicans aren’t expected to get on board with this narrower proposal, either. “Half the Republicans are going to vote ‘no’ to any more aid,” Graham said during a Fox News appearance in July. “That’s just a fact.”
As Senate Republicans have been grappling with their differences, the White House has focused on pushing its own priorities. While McConnell has repeatedly highlighted liability protections for businesses as an important redline, for example, the White House has signaled a willingness to approve a deal without them, according to the Washington Post. Additionally, the administration has sought the inclusion of unrelated measures like funding for a new FBI building, which McConnell has since opposed.
Ultimately, Republicans’ disjointed front led to a slew of negotiations that didn’t really go anywhere.
In recent days, the White House has sought to cast blame on Democrats by framing them as obstructionists for rejecting a temporary extension of UI support, a message that Meadows pushed on July 30.
“It surprises me that when we talk about compassion and caring about those that truly are in need, that a temporary solution to make sure that unemployment — enhanced unemployment — continues has been rejected not once but multiple times,” Meadows told reporters.
Democrats, however, worry that agreeing to a short-term extension means there won’t be any urgency for Republicans to consider a more comprehensive stimulus package — which the economy still needs. Pelosi noted that Democrats were reluctant to back a short-term proposal, with no larger compromise on the horizon.
“There would be a time for that — if we had a bill. What are we going to do in a week?” she said Friday.
Moreover, because final negotiations had been pushed so close to the July 31 expiration of enhanced UI, it would have been weeks before states could actually implement the extension. That’s not to say lawmakers shouldn’t have considered one; it speaks more to the fact that Republicans delayed acting for so long that UI recipients would have faced a gap in benefits no matter what.
For any bill to pass Congress, both Republicans and Democrats will have to buy in. The legislation will require the agreement of the majority of House Democrats, as well as the support of at least seven Senate Democrats, if the Republican caucus sticks together. Since Senate Republicans are expected to split on stimulus, it’s likely they’ll need even more Democratic support to get anything through this week.
There’s a lot at stake in this stimulus bill
The extension of unemployment insurance is just one of a long list of things that are at stake in the next stimulus bill. Funding for states and more coronavirus testing, as well as another round of stimulus checks, are among a slew of pressing provisions that lawmakers still need to work through.
Since it lapsed, the focus on UI has been front and center.
UI support has helped curb or halt a surge in the country’s poverty rate, per a study by researchers at the University of Chicago. And according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, both supplemental UI and the first $1,200 stimulus check expanded people’s disposable income from 5 percent to 7 percent between February and May.
This support has helped maintain a healthy level of consumer spending, which has, in turn, bolstered roughly 5 million jobs, the Economic Policy Institute found. If the enhanced UI fully lapses in the coming month, the fallout for individual households and the broader economy will be significant.
House and Senate Democrats are also intent on this coronavirus funding package targeting aid to states, cities, and towns, many of which had to dial up their own spending to try to curb the virus even as revenue from lost sales and income taxes dried up.
“The last recession felt like running down a hill,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego told Vox’s Emily Stewart in April. “This one feels like falling off a cliff, it happened so quickly.”
Skip ahead to July, and the situation is still bleak. Far from Covid-19 infections falling in the US, multiple hot spots have broken out around the country. The US has over 4.6 million confirmed cases, and more than 154,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins’s tracker. Yet with Congress stalling on a new bill, states are getting no new federal assistance, forcing many to consider cuts to other social services, including funding for public schools and universities. Money for public education support has never been more critical; some schools and colleges are set to open up at the end of the summer, while more will start the year with remote school.
The new stimulus, too, is intended to contain funding to help schools cover the necessary protections and precautions needed for reopening, as well as more money for both coronavirus testing and contact tracing, which will be crucial to get the public health crisis under control.
There are major implications for the general election
With the general election just months away, the pressure is growing on both parties to reach a deal.
Democrats may be able to point to the Republican delay thus far, but both parties are poised to face immense pushback from the public if stimulus continues to stall. And President Donald Trump will have to navigate voter backlash if economic conditions don’t improve. According to polling by CNBC/Change Research, 62 percent of voters in battleground states support extending enhanced unemployment insurance.
The stimulus limbo could also have a notable impact on the operations of the election itself, since states desperately need more funding to help facilitate vote-by-mail and other changes forced by the pandemic.
States also have to figure out how to run their elections in an unpredictable year with little assistance from the feds. The summer primaries have painted a worrisome picture: Many states are woefully underprepared for a 2020 general election in the age of Covid-19. States that have had universal vote-by-mail or no-excuse absentee voting in prior years should be in a better position to handle the high turnout of a presidential year. But it will be more difficult for states that are moving to no-excuse absentee voting for the first time to get up to speed and hold safe in-person elections by November 3.
“They almost have to run two elections instead of just one. It’s quite the challenge,” elections expert Ned Foley, a constitutional law professor at the Ohio State University Moritz School of Law, recently told Vox. “Looking at the primaries, unfortunately they show we have serious capacity challenges we are not yet ready for and we are really running out of time.”
With in-person voting, the main challenges have to do with staffing and physical space. Poll workers tend to be older or retired, and some are choosing not to volunteer at their polling place for fear of contracting Covid-19. This has caused some states and municipalities to close certain polling locations, which results in long lines at the places remaining open.
States trying to adapt to vote-by-mail systems in a short amount of time need to secure contracts with third-party vendors to print ballots, envelopes, and instructions for voters. States that are new to the system may also need to purchase costly equipment to scan and count votes in a timely manner because they simply don’t have enough people to process a crush of returned ballots.
The primaries so far have shown tremendous appetite from voters to cast their ballots by mailing an envelope. In the 2020 primary, Georgia saw nearly 1.5 million requests for absentee ballots, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office. In the 2016 presidential primary, the state got just 45,000 requests for absentee ballots, according to a Brennan Center report.
Worries also abound about the state of the US Postal Service, which is chronically in debt due to a 2006 law mandating it prepay its employees’ retiree benefits. The Post Office has asked Congress for financial help to no avail; Republicans seem intent on cutting costs there instead of giving it more money. Elections experts fear that recent changes to the USPS mail delivery times ordered by Trump donor and new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy could cause further delays for Americans casting their ballots absentee.
“For tens of millions of Americans, they’ll have their ballot handed to them by a postal worker, not a poll worker,” Tammy Patrick, a senior adviser on elections at the nonpartisan foundation Democracy Fund, recently told Vox. “They’re not getting the same sort of support from Congress and from the administration that we’re seeing fast-food restaurants get or some of these other service providers and markets.”
Congress allocated $400 million to states in the CARES Act it passed this spring, but many states spent most of their money to prepare for their summer primaries, and Congress has yet to pass more federal funds to help them prepare for the election by recruiting younger poll workers and expand their absentee mail capacity.
“It’s not that we’re doing five extra things with the money, it’s more of the things we’re doing now,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told Vox. “To minimize the risk of something going wrong, more resources would be appreciated.”
Although Democrats had allocated $4 billion in the Heroes Act to help states on this matter, Republicans have shown little appetite for boosting election funding. And without bipartisan agreement on the issue, states may be left on their own to figure out how to safely and securely conduct an unprecedented election.