vox--2020-06-22--Funeral homes have been changed by the coronavirus. Here’s what it’s like to work in one.

The Hellum Funeral Home has offered a drive-thru memorial service for decades .
The idea , first germinated during a 1980 remodeling after a fire , was to give the people of Murfreesboro , Tennessee , the opportunity for a kitschy viewing service — a slow parade of cars peeling through the parking lot to pay their respects without ever leaving the vehicle .
To that end , they installed a big rectangle window peering out from the home ’ s back wall and a cubby big enough to hold a casket .
Wendy Hellum , the owner of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never took advantage of the service .
Now , in the middle of a pandemic and statewide limitations on gatherings , she ’ d guess that drive-thru funerals are 90 percent of her business .
Hellum Funeral Home can still hold in-person ceremonies .
But under Tennessee policy , the number of attendees needs to be restricted to 10 or fewer .
For now , it is simply more efficient , and more communal , to summon a cavalcade of friends and family , each individually sheltered by their own sedans and SUVs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with as many witnesses as possible .
Hellum holds up her end of the bargain ; her employees hand out bookmarks and programs to each car .
They sign each attendee ’ s name in the guest book .
They wear masks emblazoned with the funeral home logo .
It was difficult to imagine the mechanics of an automated memorial service three months ago , but Hellum generated a socially distant workaround at a remarkable pace .
Wendy Hellum believes that someday , things will go back to normal .
But she also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will stick around for months , not weeks .
It is heartening , she says , to watch her clients honor the departed as best they can , considering the circumstances , but she feels awful that they aren ’ t able to mourn together .
Elbow-bumping at a funeral just isn ’ t the same .
Read our conversation below .
When did you start noticing the pandemic affecting your business ?
When the state started closing down stuff with social distancing and everything [ on April 2 . ]
That ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We didn ’ t have to cancel anybody coming in , but now we ’ re having 10 people show up at a time .
People are coming and going , one batch at a time .
How did you end up with a funeral home with a drive-thru window ?
We had a fire , and we rebuilt in 1980 .
So we put a window in , and we didn ’ t really use it until now .
But now it works out perfectly .
My employee brought it to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can start using this drive-thru window now !
” I said , “ Yeah , this is the perfect time.
” As soon as we started shutting down , that ’ s when we started it up .
How do all these proceedings work ?
“ We put flowers on top of the casket .
People never have to come out in the cars.
” I have the window open , and we have the remains in there , which you can see as the bereaved drive through .
We put flowers on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have to come out in the cars .
I have people out there signing register forms .
We have family members greeting people while they ’ re coming through .
It really fits the bill .
And you have employees signing the register books and everything ?
Yeah , they have the register books .
We ’ ll have a girl writing everyone ’ s name down in them .
And we have programs .
We ’ ll have someone handing out the programs and bookmarks [ through the car windows . ]
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ all stocked up in PPE during these ceremonies .
Yes , masks on , gloves on .
I got someone to make the masks .
They ’ ve all got our funeral home logo on it , so everybody knows .
I want the family members to be safe as well as us .
How appreciative have people been that you ’ ve found a way to stay open despite the circumstances ?
They ’ ve been very appreciative .
I ’ m glad we can give people some sort of closure .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ guys changed any of your sanitation policies when it comes to prepping bodies during this pandemic ?
We ’ ve only had three Covid cases .
But we ’ ve still been busy .
I ’ ve always felt that anyone that comes in contact with a body should be taking precautions anyway .
But it ’ s doubled now .
We ’ re especially careful .
More bleach , more hand sanitizer , more wipes .
“ I feel bad for my clients because they can ’ t grieve in the traditional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re serving , do they expect this to be the only funeral they have for the deceased ?
Or do they expect to have a more formal ceremony when people can gather again ?
I ’ ve never had anyone say that , but I ’ ve offered it to them .
That we could hold it later , free of charge , if they ’ re still grieving .
But this is the new normal .
And I think everybody has to get used to it .
Either way , I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whatever they want to do is fine .
So it ’ s started to dawn on you that this is going to be the way you ’ ll be forced to do things for a long time .
Yeah , I say that we ’ ll be doing this for a long time , but eventually things will go back to normal .
But for now , everything has been canceled ; everything has changed .
Have you felt any more pride in your work right now , given how important it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time ?
Yeah , I feel bad for my clients because they can ’ t grieve in the traditional way .
Our community is a hands-on , touchy-feely , kissy-huggy place .
We love on each other .
Now we ’ re just bumping and dapping .
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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
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 .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

The Hellum Funeral Home has offered a drive-thru memorial service for decades. The idea, first germinated during a 1980 remodeling after a fire, was to give the people of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the opportunity for a kitschy viewing service — a slow parade of cars peeling through the parking lot to pay their respects without ever leaving the vehicle. To that end, they installed a big rectangle window peering out from the home’s back wall and a cubby big enough to hold a casket. Wendy Hellum, the owner of the facility, tells me that people almost never took advantage of the service. Now, in the middle of a pandemic and statewide limitations on gatherings, she’d guess that drive-thru funerals are 90 percent of her business.
Hellum Funeral Home can still hold in-person ceremonies. But under Tennessee policy, the number of attendees needs to be restricted to 10 or fewer. For now, it is simply more efficient, and more communal, to summon a cavalcade of friends and family, each individually sheltered by their own sedans and SUVs, to send off a loved one with as many witnesses as possible. Hellum holds up her end of the bargain; her employees hand out bookmarks and programs to each car. They sign each attendee’s name in the guest book. They wear masks emblazoned with the funeral home logo. It was difficult to imagine the mechanics of an automated memorial service three months ago, but Hellum generated a socially distant workaround at a remarkable pace.
Wendy Hellum believes that someday, things will go back to normal. But she also expects that the realities of drive-thru funerals will stick around for months, not weeks. It is heartening, she says, to watch her clients honor the departed as best they can, considering the circumstances, but she feels awful that they aren’t able to mourn together. Elbow-bumping at a funeral just isn’t the same. Read our conversation below.
When did you start noticing the pandemic affecting your business?
When the state started closing down stuff with social distancing and everything [on April 2.] That’s when it all started for me. We didn’t have to cancel anybody coming in, but now we’re having 10 people show up at a time. People are coming and going, one batch at a time.
How did you end up with a funeral home with a drive-thru window?
We had a fire, and we rebuilt in 1980. So we put a window in, and we didn’t really use it until now. But now it works out perfectly. My employee brought it to my attention, like, “We can start using this drive-thru window now!” I said, “Yeah, this is the perfect time.” As soon as we started shutting down, that’s when we started it up.
How do all these proceedings work?
“We put flowers on top of the casket. People never have to come out in the cars.”
I have the window open, and we have the remains in there, which you can see as the bereaved drive through. We put flowers on top of the casket. People never have to come out in the cars. I have people out there signing register forms. We have family members greeting people while they’re coming through. It really fits the bill.
And you have employees signing the register books and everything?
Yeah, they have the register books. We’ll have a girl writing everyone’s name down in them. And we have programs. We’ll have someone handing out the programs and bookmarks [through the car windows.]
I would imagine that your employees are all stocked up in PPE during these ceremonies.
Yes, masks on, gloves on. I got someone to make the masks. They’ve all got our funeral home logo on it, so everybody knows. I want the family members to be safe as well as us.
How appreciative have people been that you’ve found a way to stay open despite the circumstances?
They’ve been very appreciative. I’m glad we can give people some sort of closure. Especially in these times.
Have you guys changed any of your sanitation policies when it comes to prepping bodies during this pandemic?
We’ve only had three Covid cases. But we’ve still been busy. I’ve always felt that anyone that comes in contact with a body should be taking precautions anyway. But it’s doubled now. We’re especially careful. More bleach, more hand sanitizer, more wipes.
“I feel bad for my clients because they can’t grieve in the traditional way”
For the clients you’re serving, do they expect this to be the only funeral they have for the deceased? Or do they expect to have a more formal ceremony when people can gather again?
I’ve never had anyone say that, but I’ve offered it to them. That we could hold it later, free of charge, if they’re still grieving. But this is the new normal. And I think everybody has to get used to it. Either way, I’ve offered it to them. So whatever they want to do is fine.
So it’s started to dawn on you that this is going to be the way you’ll be forced to do things for a long time.
Yeah, I say that we’ll be doing this for a long time, but eventually things will go back to normal. But for now, everything has been canceled; everything has changed.
Have you felt any more pride in your work right now, given how important it is that your business stays open during this time?
Yeah, I feel bad for my clients because they can’t grieve in the traditional way. Our community is a hands-on, touchy-feely, kissy-huggy place. We love on each other. Now we’re just bumping and dapping.


vox--2020-06-22--Google employees are demanding the company stop selling software to police

Over 1,600 Google employees have signed an internal petition as of Monday afternoon that calls for their employer stop selling its software to police .
The employees ’ demands follow a wave of protests calling for racial justice in the US after a spate of killings targeting black Americans , including the alleged murder of Ahmaud Arbery , a black man on a run in Glynn County , Georgia , and the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville , Kentucky , who were both unarmed .
“ We ’ re disappointed to know that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and advertises its connection with police forces as somehow progressive , and seeks more expansive sales rather than severing ties with police and joining the millions who want to defang and defund these institutions , ” reads the petition , which was started by a group of Google employees called Googlers Against Racism last week and is addressed to Sundar Pichai , the CEO of Google ’ s parent company Alphabet .
“ Why help the institutions responsible for the knee on George Floyd ’ s neck to be more effective organizationally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a request for comment in time for publication .
The company currently employs over 100,000 employees globally — so this petition ’ s signees represent a relatively small percentage of its workforce .
But it is still one of the most significant showings of internal dissent at the company in the past few months .
It ’ s not clear how extensively or closely Google works with US police departments .
Google currently sells cloud-based software , such as the business version of its Gmail product , through a third-party vendor to at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Police Department in Rockland County , New York .
According to a customer testimonial page , Google touts its software as being a “ catalyst for a culture change ” at Clarkstown County Police Department , which was sued in 2017 by Black Lives Matter activists who said the department conducted illegal surveillance on them .
Google also invests in police AI technology that includes drone surveillance through its venture capital arm , Gradient Ventures .
The Google employees ’ petition is the latest example of workers at major tech companies challenging their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ donations and issuing statements in support of Black Lives Matter .
These employees want their companies to significantly change their business practices to minimize harm to the black community , both inside their companies and beyond them .
In recent weeks , some Amazon employees renewed their calls for the company to stop selling its facial recognition technology to police , which it announced it would pause for the next year .
And employees at Facebook have called for the company to moderate political speech that could incite racial violence or mislead voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the company we work for .
We want the company we build to speak to our values and how we want to show up in the world , ” reads the Google employees ’ letter , which calls for the company to “ take real steps to help dismantle racism.
” Civil rights advocates have warned that police disproportionately use surveillance technology , such as AI-based facial recognition or drone surveillance , against black communities — and that these practices could have a chilling effect on free speech if people feel they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everyday lives and when they engage in political activism .
In the past , Google employees have uncovered details about some of the company ’ s controversial government contracts , and pressured the company to end them — such as Project Maven , the company ’ s contract with the Pentagon , and its secretive efforts to build a censored search product for China , known as Project Dragonfly .
Google did not renew its contract with the Pentagon in June of 2018 and reportedly halted its work on Dragonfly in December of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Intercept reported that the company may be resuming some of that work .
In August 2019 , hundreds of employees signed a protest asking the company not to bid on a project with US immigration agency Customs and Border Patrol ( CBP ) , Monday ’ s petition about working with police departments is the first notable activist effort that ’ s happened at Google since November 2019 , when Google fired four employee activists , including some who spoke out against the company ’ s work with CBP in light of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immigrant detention facilities and family separation .
Google said it fired these workers for violating its data security policies .
In light of the recent protests against police brutality and racism that have spread across the nation after George Floyd ’ s death , major tech companies are facing a reckoning about their work with police , agitated by their own employees — and today ’ s letter at Google is yet another a sign of that movement ’ s advancement .

More than 1,600 Google employees have signed an internal petition as of Monday afternoon that calls for their employer to stop selling its software to police.
The employees’ demands follow a wave of protests calling for racial justice in the US after a spate of killings targeting Black Americans, including the alleged murder of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man out for a jog in Glynn County, Georgia, and the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, who were both unarmed.
“We’re disappointed to know that Google is still selling to police forces, and advertises its connection with police forces as somehow progressive, and seeks more expansive sales rather than severing ties with police and joining the millions who want to defang and defund these institutions,” reads the petition, which was started by a group of Google employees called Googlers Against Racism last week and is addressed to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google parent company Alphabet. “Why help the institutions responsible for the knee on George Floyd’s neck to be more effective organizationally?”
Google did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. The company currently employs more than 100,000 employees globally, so this petition’s signees represent a relatively small percentage of its workforce. But it is still one of the most significant showings of internal dissent at the company in the past few months.
It’s not clear how extensively or closely Google works with US police departments. Google currently sells cloud-based software, such as the business version of its Gmail product, through a third-party vendor to at least one police department, the Clarkstown Police Department in Rockland County, New York. According to a customer testimonial page, Google touts its software as being a “catalyst for a culture change” at Clarkstown County Police Department, which was sued in 2017 by Black Lives Matter activists who said the department conducted illegal surveillance on them.
Google also invests in police AI technology that includes drone surveillance through its venture capital arm, Gradient Ventures.
The Google employees’ petition is the latest example of workers at major tech companies challenging their employers to do more than simply making donations and issuing statements in support of Black Lives Matter. These employees want their companies to significantly change their business practices to minimize harm to the Black community, both inside their companies and beyond. In recent weeks, some Amazon employees renewed their calls for the company to stop selling its facial recognition technology to police, which it announced it would pause for the next year. And employees at Facebook have called for the company to moderate political speech that could incite racial violence or mislead voters.
“We want to be proud of the company we work for. We want the company we build to speak to our values and how we want to show up in the world,” reads the Google employees’ letter, which calls for the company to “take real steps to help dismantle racism.”
Civil rights advocates have warned that police disproportionately use surveillance technology, such as AI-based facial recognition or drone surveillance, against Black communities — and that these practices could have a chilling effect on free speech if people feel they’re being unjustly surveilled in their everyday lives and when they engage in political activism.
In the past, Google employees have uncovered details about some of the company’s controversial government contracts and pressured the company to end them, such as Project Maven, the company’s contract with the Pentagon, and its secretive efforts to build a censored search product for China, known as Project Dragonfly. Google did not renew its contract with the Pentagon in June of 2018 and reportedly halted its work on Dragonfly in December of 2018, although a March article from the Intercept reported that the company may be resuming some of that work.
In August 2019, hundreds of employees signed a protest document asking the company not to bid on a project with the US immigration agency Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).
Monday’s petition about working with police departments is the first notable activist effort that’s happened at Google since November 2019, when Google fired four employee activists, including some who spoke out against the company’s work with CBP due to humanitarian concerns about the agency’s immigrant detention facilities and family separation. Google said it fired these workers for violating its data security policies.
In light of the recent protests against police brutality and racism that have spread across the nation after George Floyd’s death, major tech companies are facing a reckoning about their work with police, agitated by their own employees. Today’s letter at Google is yet another sign of that movement’s advancement.


vox--2020-06-22--A new Trump proclamation will block foreign workers

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Monday temporarily blocking the entry of foreign workers coming to the US on certain visas — including the sought-after H-1B visa for skilled workers — through the end of the year .
The proclamation is the latest in Trump ’ s series of crackdowns on legal immigration during the coronavirus pandemic .
The move , which will affect hundreds of thousands of people who had planned to come to the US , is necessary , according to a senior administration official , because Americans face staggeringly high unemployment levels as a result of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go into effect at 12:01 am ET on June 24 , will prevent foreigners from coming to the US through a variety of visa categories , including H-1B visas , which the tech industry has come to rely on , as well as the H-4 visa for H-1B recipients ’ spouses .
It would similarly restrict foreigners transferring to the US offices of their multinational companies through L visas , including business executives ; some scholars and people participating in cultural and work exchanges on J-1 visas ; and temporary workers in nonagricultural @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ordinary circumstances , properly administered temporary worker programs can provide benefits to the economy , ” Trump wrote in the proclamation .
“ But under the extraordinary circumstances of the economic contraction resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak , certain visa programs authorizing such employment pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers.
” There are a few key exceptions to the proclamation : It does not affect immigrants who are already in the US , existing visa holders , temporary workers in food production industries , and health care workers and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would still impact hundreds of thousands of immigrants .
Still , the proclamation might not immediately shift the status quo since many US consulates , which process visa applications for foreigners overseas , remain closed due to the pandemic .
The closures have caused visa issuances to drop precipitously in recent months .
The pandemic has given Trump long-sought opportunities to implement restrictions on legal immigration .
He has already effectively shut down asylum processing on the southern border and temporarily barred the issuance of new green cards for 60 days .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through the end of the year , the official said Monday .
The official said that the latest proclamation would open up roughly 525,000 jobs for Americans .
But it ’ s not clear that companies will be able to fill those jobs with American workers with the necessary skills and experience .
Many employers would face challenges filling positions requiring specialized skills , particularly in STEM fields where there are well-documented labor shortages that help drive economic expansion and create jobs for native-born workers .
The proclamation could therefore create uncertainty for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in their workforce , as well as the Americans they employ .
“ This order is economically baseless , ” David Bier , an immigration policy analyst for the libertarian Cato Institute , said in a statement .
“ It will hurt the recovery and U.S. workers .
Foreign workers create demand for other better jobs for U.S. workers elsewhere in the economy .
Restricting migration will not lower unemployment , but it will harm American businesses — that are struggling to make it through this period — who employ both Americans and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weighing a slew of additional changes to legal immigration via regulation .
The official said the administration is finalizing a rule that would deny work permits to asylum seekers who cross the US border without authorization .
For asylum seekers who can not afford to be unemployed and are not eligible for most public benefits , that means they would need to either give up their asylum claims in the US altogether or find under-the-table jobs in the shadow economy .
Trump is also planning to eliminate work permits for people who have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crimes in the US , which encompasses roughly 50,000 people per year , the official said .
Trump is pursuing reforms to the H-1B visa program , in which demand consistently outstrips the supply of visas .
More than 85,000 immigrants get H-1B visas for skilled workers annually , including more than 1,000 apiece for workers at tech giants such as Google and Amazon .
Recipients are currently selected by lottery , but Trump is proposing to instead prioritize workers with the highest wages and raise the program ’ s minimum wage requirements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the issuance of H-1Bs to outsourcing firms that bring in employees , primarily from India , on these visas to fill IT positions — at times displacing American workers — a practice that lawmakers in both parties agree should be prohibited through reforms .
The largest of these firms , Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys , consistently receive more H-1Bs than even the largest US tech companies .
These regulatory changes , however , could take months , if not years , to implement .
And Trump may not have time to carry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Joe Biden , the presumptive Democratic nominee , wins the presidential election this fall .
The fraught debate over H-1Bs and why suspending them won ’ t help economic recovery The H-1B program is a pipeline for foreign talent , particularly in the fields of computer science , engineering , education , and medicine .
The program has its flaws , but shutting it down likely won ’ t help the vast majority of job-seeking Americans during this crisis .
The application process for H-1B visas is expensive , costing about $ 10,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employer .
But without these visas , many companies argue they would face difficulty filling jobs that require specialized skills or degrees .
The business community has consequently in recent years lobbied Congress to increase the cap on H-1B visas .
While many businesses are facing a legitimate gap in their workforce and pay their skilled foreign workers a fair wage , some employers have used H-1Bs to fill positions cheaply — sometimes at the expense of American workers .
Federal guidelines say the H-1B program should not “ adversely affect the wages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The question of whether H-1B workers are generally underpaid and drive down American wages has proved difficult to answer , spurring disagreement among researchers .
But it ’ s clear that employers have , in fact , been able to use the H-1B program to displace Americans .
Most employers aren ’ t required to show that they have advertised a job to Americans and that there are no qualified Americans available to fill the position before hiring an H-1B worker .
That has allowed companies ranging from Disney to the electric utility @ @ @ @ @ @ @ test producer Abbott Labs to lay off US workers and replace them with H-1B workers with lower salaries — in some cases , even ordering the US workers to train their replacements .
Even so , experts say that amending the program to ensure foreign workers don ’ t displace Americans is preferable to ending it .
Lawmakers in both parties have sought such reforms to the H-1B program for more than a decade , including Sens .
Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley .
Their latest bill mirrors much of the regulatory changes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proposing , clamping down on outsourcing companies that rely on H-1Bs , ensuring that companies have to look for qualified American candidates before hiring H-1B workers , and prioritizing high earners .
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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Monday temporarily blocking the entry of foreign workers coming to the US on certain visas — including the sought-after H-1B visa for skilled workers — through the end of the year.
The proclamation is the latest in Trump’s series of crackdowns on legal immigration during the coronavirus pandemic. The move, which will affect hundreds of thousands of people who had planned to come to the US, is necessary, according to a senior administration official, because Americans face staggeringly high unemployment levels as a result of the pandemic.
The proclamation, which will go into effect at 12:01 am ET on June 24, will prevent foreigners from coming to the US through a variety of visa categories, including H-1B visas, which the tech industry has come to rely on, as well as the H-4 visa for H-1B recipients’ spouses. It would similarly restrict foreigners transferring to the US offices of their multinational companies through L visas, including business executives; some scholars and people participating in cultural and work exchanges on J-1 visas; and temporary workers in nonagricultural industries on H-2B visas.
“Under ordinary circumstances, properly administered temporary worker programs can provide benefits to the economy,” Trump wrote in the proclamation. “But under the extraordinary circumstances of the economic contraction resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak, certain visa programs authorizing such employment pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers.”
There are a few key exceptions to the proclamation: It does not affect immigrants who are already in the US, existing visa holders, temporary workers in food production industries, and health care workers and researchers fighting Covid-19. But the restrictions would still impact hundreds of thousands of immigrants.
Still, the proclamation might not immediately shift the status quo since many US consulates, which process visa applications for foreigners overseas, remain closed due to the pandemic. The closures have caused visa issuances to drop precipitously in recent months.
The pandemic has given Trump long-sought opportunities to implement restrictions on legal immigration. He has already effectively shut down asylum processing on the southern border and temporarily barred the issuance of new green cards for 60 days. He will extend that ban on green cards through the end of the year, the official said Monday.
The official said that the latest proclamation would open up roughly 525,000 jobs for Americans. But it’s not clear that companies will be able to fill those jobs with American workers with the necessary skills and experience. Many employers would face challenges filling positions requiring specialized skills, particularly in STEM fields where there are well-documented labor shortages that help drive economic expansion and create jobs for native-born workers.
The proclamation could therefore create uncertainty for employers who are facing a legitimate gap in their workforce, as well as the Americans they employ.
“This order is economically baseless,” David Bier, an immigration policy analyst for the libertarian Cato Institute, said in a statement. “It will hurt the recovery and U.S. workers. Foreign workers create demand for other better jobs for U.S. workers elsewhere in the economy. Restricting migration will not lower unemployment, but it will harm American businesses — that are struggling to make it through this period — who employ both Americans and immigrants.”
Additional regulatory changes to legal immigration
The Trump administration is also weighing a slew of additional changes to legal immigration via regulation.
The official said the administration is finalizing a rule that would deny work permits to asylum seekers who cross the US border without authorization. For asylum seekers who cannot afford to be unemployed and are not eligible for most public benefits, that means they would need to either give up their asylum claims in the US altogether or find under-the-table jobs in the shadow economy.
Trump is also planning to eliminate work permits for people who have been ordered deported or who have committed crimes in the US, which encompasses roughly 50,000 people per year, the official said.
Trump is pursuing reforms to the H-1B visa program, in which demand consistently outstrips the supply of visas. More than 85,000 immigrants get H-1B visas for skilled workers annually, including more than 1,000 apiece for workers at tech giants such as Google and Amazon. Recipients are currently selected by lottery, but Trump is proposing to instead prioritize workers with the highest wages and raise the program’s minimum wage requirements.
He is also proposing to bar the issuance of H-1Bs to outsourcing firms that bring in employees, primarily from India, on these visas to fill IT positions — at times displacing American workers — a practice that lawmakers in both parties agree should be prohibited through reforms. The largest of these firms, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, consistently receive more H-1Bs than even the largest US tech companies.
These regulatory changes, however, could take months, if not years, to implement. And Trump may not have time to carry out those changes if former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, wins the presidential election this fall.
The fraught debate over H-1Bs and why suspending them won’t help economic recovery
The H-1B program is a pipeline for foreign talent, particularly in the fields of computer science, engineering, education, and medicine. The program has its flaws, but shutting it down likely won’t help the vast majority of job-seeking Americans during this crisis.
The application process for H-1B visas is expensive, costing about $10,000 per worker, usually paid by an employer. But without these visas, many companies argue they would face difficulty filling jobs that require specialized skills or degrees. The business community has consequently in recent years lobbied Congress to increase the cap on H-1B visas.
While many businesses are facing a legitimate gap in their workforce and pay their skilled foreign workers a fair wage, some employers have used H-1Bs to fill positions cheaply — sometimes at the expense of American workers.
Federal guidelines say the H-1B program should not “adversely affect the wages and working conditions” of Americans. The question of whether H-1B workers are generally underpaid and drive down American wages has proved difficult to answer, spurring disagreement among researchers. But it’s clear that employers have, in fact, been able to use the H-1B program to displace Americans.
Most employers aren’t required to show that they have advertised a job to Americans and that there are no qualified Americans available to fill the position before hiring an H-1B worker. That has allowed companies ranging from Disney to the electric utility Southern California Edison to the coronavirus antibody test producer Abbott Labs to lay off US workers and replace them with H-1B workers with lower salaries — in some cases, even ordering the US workers to train their replacements.
Even so, experts say that amending the program to ensure foreign workers don’t displace Americans is preferable to ending it. Lawmakers in both parties have sought such reforms to the H-1B program for more than a decade, including Sens. Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley. Their latest bill mirrors much of the regulatory changes to the H-1B program that Trump is proposing, clamping down on outsourcing companies that rely on H-1Bs, ensuring that companies have to look for qualified American candidates before hiring H-1B workers, and prioritizing high earners.


vox--2020-06-22--Apple is finally making it easy to hide from trackers

Apple is cracking down on what it allows other companies to know about you .
The company announced on Monday that iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur will feature a host of improved privacy features that will give users better control over their data and knowledge over what apps and websites know about them .
This is great for users who don ’ t like the idea of , say , a period tracker app sending their data to a company they ’ ve never heard of .
It ’ s bad news for that company they ’ ve never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mobile operating system that powers iPhones , apps will now have to get your permission before they can track your data , which is used to target ads to you based on that behavior .
Apps often come loaded with secret trackers that send data , such as your location , device type , or usage time , to big companies like Facebook or Google or to the lesser-known brokers like Unacast or Cuebiq .
These companies usually have their trackers in several , even thousands , of apps , allowing them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them .
Your identity is typically anonymized and hidden behind a unique advertising identifier assigned to your phone .
Privacy experts , however , will tell you that nothing is truly anonymous , and we ’ ve seen how it ’ s possible to re-identify someone .
If you ’ re wondering how location data firms , which have been helping public health authorities track the spread of coronavirus , knew so much about where we go , these hidden trackers are how .
Apple has offered users a way to opt out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In Safari , you can find it by going to Preferences > Privacy , and then scrolling all the way down to find the switch .
But most people don ’ t do that , either because they ’ re not aware the feature exists or they simply can ’ t be bothered .
Now , Mac and iOS users will know right from the start that their apps want to track them because they ’ ll have to actively give the app permission to do so .
Why would anyone choose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Well , the case advertisers like to make is that it means the ads you get will be more in line with your interests .
Assuming most people decide not to allow their apps to track them , this could fundamentally change the mobile app ad tech industry .
The ads will still be there , of course , but they ’ re worth a lot less if advertisers can ’ t target them to certain audiences — which means less money for the companies that make the apps .
“ This announcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Bennett Cyphers , staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation , told Recode .
“ For years , trackers in mobile apps have used the identifier for advertisers ( IDFA ) to silently profile users by default .
Apple never should have added the IDFA to iOS in the first place , but it ’ s good to see the company cede control back to users.
” The second change in iOS14 is that apps will now have to put something akin to a “ nutrition label , ” as Apple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tells users what data may be collected about them or used to track them .
You ’ re probably aware of some of this already — apps have to ask your permission to access your contacts and location data , for instance — but some of the things shown on the sample label , like device identifiers , aren ’ t generally known .
You can find this information in app privacy policies , but most people don ’ t read those policies because they ’ re usually too long and complicated .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ be served to the user in an easily readable form .
“ The devil will be in the details of implementation , ” Jen King , the director of consumer privacy at Stanford Law School ’ s Center for Internet and Society , told Recode .
“ For example , will users understand what ’ s being asked of them with respect to opting-in to data tracking ?
Will Apple educate their users about the different practices they are highlighting in the App Store feature summaries ?
A concern I have is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new tools without sufficiently explaining what they are for and how they work.
” These moves are somewhat of a surprise given how entrenched in the app ecosystem user tracking is .
But the updates are also in line with some other recent privacy-conscious decisions Apple has made .
Apple ’ s web browser , Safari , now blocks cookies by default .
Rival Google , which makes the Android mobile operating system and the Chrome browser , does not yet have these privacy-protecting features by default .
( Google has a massive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But according to Google , a cookie ban is coming to Chrome within the next two years , and now that Apple has taken the initiative to turn mobile ad tracking off by default , Google may well follow .
“ This puts iOS firmly ahead of Android in terms of user control , ” Cyphers added .
“ Android still allows all apps , and all third-party trackers , to access a user ’ s mobile ad ID by default .
This clearly favors the interests of advertisers and data brokers over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s now no excuse for Google to continue allowing this kind of tracking without clear and specific consent.
” Speaking of Safari , Apple also announced that its upcoming macOS Big Sur will include an update to the company ’ s web browser that gives users an easy-to-access “ Privacy Report ” right up next to the URL field .
In a single click , the report will tell users which website trackers the browser has blocked .
If you have tracker blocking extensions or use browsers like DuckDuckGo or Firefox , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these work .
If you aren ’ t , then you ’ ll probably find the sheer number of trackers on a typical website alarming and appreciate a way to significantly reduce — but probably not completely eliminate — them .
Apple hasn ’ t set a release date for iOS 14 or macOS Big Sur , but expect them sometime later this year .
Open Sourced is made possible by the Omidyar Network .
All Open Sourced content is editorially independent and produced by our journalists .
Every day at Vox , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 to offer free articles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Update, September 3: Apple is delaying enforcement of its “permission to track” feature on iOS 14 until “early next year” to give app developers more time to make the required changes.
Apple is cracking down on what it allows other companies to know about you. The company announced on Monday that iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur will feature a host of improved privacy features that will give users better control over their data and knowledge over what apps and websites know about them. This is great for users who don’t like the idea of, say, a period tracker app sending their data to a company they’ve never heard of. It’s bad news for that company they’ve never heard of.
Over on iOS, the mobile operating system that powers iPhones, apps will now have to get your permission before they can track your data, which is used to target ads to you based on that behavior. Apps often come loaded with secret trackers that send data, such as your location, device type, or usage time, to big companies like Facebook or Google or to the lesser-known brokers like Unacast or Cuebiq. These companies usually have their trackers in several, even thousands, of apps, allowing them to track your data across all of them. Your identity is typically anonymized and hidden behind a unique advertising identifier assigned to your phone. Privacy experts, however, will tell you that nothing is truly anonymous, and we’ve seen how it’s possible to re-identify someone.
If you’re wondering how location data firms, which have been helping public health authorities track the spread of coronavirus, knew so much about where we go, these hidden trackers are how.
Apple has offered users a way to opt out of this tracking for a while now. In Safari, you can find it by going to Preferences > Privacy, and then scrolling all the way down to find the switch. But most people don’t do that, either because they’re not aware the feature exists or they simply can’t be bothered. Now, Mac and iOS users will know right from the start that their apps want to track them because they’ll have to actively give the app permission to do so.
Why would anyone choose to be tracked, you wonder? Well, the case advertisers like to make is that it means the ads you get will be more in line with your interests. Assuming most people decide not to allow their apps to track them, this could fundamentally change the mobile app ad tech industry. The ads will still be there, of course, but they’re worth a lot less if advertisers can’t target them to certain audiences — which means less money for the companies that make the apps.
“This announcement is a great step forward for privacy,” Bennett Cyphers, staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Recode. “For years, trackers in mobile apps have used the identifier for advertisers (IDFA) to silently profile users by default. Apple never should have added the IDFA to iOS in the first place, but it’s good to see the company cede control back to users.”
The second change in iOS14 is that apps will now have to put something akin to a “nutrition label,” as Apple described it, on their apps that tells users what data may be collected about them or used to track them.
You’re probably aware of some of this already — apps have to ask your permission to access your contacts and location data, for instance — but some of the things shown on the sample label, like device identifiers, aren’t generally known. You can find this information in app privacy policies, but most people don’t read those policies because they’re usually too long and complicated. Now, information about privacy policies will be served to the user in an easily readable form.
“The devil will be in the details of implementation,” Jen King, the director of consumer privacy at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, told Recode. “For example, will users understand what’s being asked of them with respect to opting-in to data tracking? Will Apple educate their users about the different practices they are highlighting in the App Store feature summaries? A concern I have is that they give their users a set of new tools without sufficiently explaining what they are for and how they work.”
These moves are somewhat of a surprise given how entrenched in the app ecosystem user tracking is. But the updates are also in line with some other recent privacy-conscious decisions Apple has made. Apple’s web browser, Safari, now blocks cookies by default. Rival Google, which makes the Android mobile operating system and the Chrome browser, does not yet have these privacy-protecting features by default. (Google has a massive mobile and web advertising business.) But according to Google, a cookie ban is coming to Chrome within the next two years, and now that Apple has taken the initiative to turn mobile ad tracking off by default, Google may well follow.
“This puts iOS firmly ahead of Android in terms of user control,” Cyphers added. “Android still allows all apps, and all third-party trackers, to access a user’s mobile ad ID by default. This clearly favors the interests of advertisers and data brokers over the interests of regular people. There’s now no excuse for Google to continue allowing this kind of tracking without clear and specific consent.”
Speaking of Safari, Apple also announced that its upcoming macOS Big Sur will include an update to the company’s web browser that gives users an easy-to-access “Privacy Report” right up next to the URL field. In a single click, the report will tell users which website trackers the browser has blocked.
If you have tracker blocking extensions or use browsers like DuckDuckGo or Firefox, you’re probably familiar with how these work. If you aren’t, then you’ll probably find the sheer number of trackers on a typical website alarming and appreciate a way to significantly reduce — but probably not completely eliminate — them.
Apple hasn’t set a release date for iOS 14 or macOS Big Sur, but expect them sometime later this year.
Open Sourced is made possible by the Omidyar Network. All Open Sourced content is editorially independent and produced by our journalists.


vox--2020-06-22--The firing of SDNY US Attorney Geoffrey Berman, explained

US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman became the latest Justice Department official to run afoul of the Trump administration this weekend — and ended up being fired for it after an unusual public showdown .
Late on Friday night , Attorney General Bill Barr announced that Berman was “ stepping down ” from his post .
Trump would nominate SEC chair Jay Clayton , who had no prosecutorial experience , to fill the post .
But until the Senate confirms Clayton , US Attorney for New Jersey Craig Carpenito would take the job , Barr @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Berman , who issued a statement shortly afterward saying , “ I have not resigned , and have no intention of resigning.
” He added : “ Our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption , ” a potential hint that his sudden ouster might relate to delaying or interrupting certain investigations .
With Berman not agreeing to resign , Barr decided to have him fired the next day , announcing that President Trump had officially fired him .
( The president himself said he was “ not involved ” in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Monday he was involved in “ a sign-off capacity.
” ) Though there was some legal uncertainty about whether Berman , who was technically appointed to his position by judges , could be fired ( and if so , by whom ) , Berman decided not to contest the move further after Barr made an important concession .
Barr backed off from his attempt to install Carpenito , his hand-picked acting replacement for Berman .
Instead , Barr agreed Berman ’ s deputy , Audrey Strauss , could take over the post @ @ @ @ @ @ @ independence , and Berman showered praise on her on his way out the door .
The specific reasons for Berman ’ s ouster aren ’ t yet clear .
But the bigger picture is no real mystery .
In Manhattan , Berman oversaw an independent investigative office that pursued investigations Trump didn ’ t like — into Trump ’ s former lawyer Michael Cohen , into Trump ’ s current lawyer Rudy Giuliani , into Trump ’ s inaugural committee , and more .
Whether or not Barr found a passable pretext for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ context is unmistakable .
Again and again in the Trump administration , those who have pursued or supervised investigations that could harm Trump politically end up being pushed out .
Berman was appointed US attorney for the Southern District of New York ( SDNY ) by the Trump administration in January 2018 .
Long before that , in the early 1990s , he had served as an assistant US attorney for SDNY , and he had spent the next two and a half decades in private practice .
The specifics of Berman ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump personally interviewed him for the job but never officially nominated him .
Instead , in January 2018 , the administration appointed Berman to the post on an acting basis .
In general , the Trump administration has used acting appointments to circumvent the Senate — and in this case , they were trying to circumvent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ( D-NY ) , who had said she ’ d try to block Berman ’ s confirmation .
However , once Berman ’ s interim term was set to expire that April , judges @ @ @ @ @ @ @ invoked a rarely used authority to give him a full appointment .
During Berman ’ s tenure at the famously independent SDNY office , prosecutors have pursued several politically fraught cases .
They investigated the hush money payments arranged by Trump ’ s lawyer Michael Cohen to women who had alleged affairs with Trump .
securing a guilty plea from Cohen ( though Berman recused himself from involvement in this ) .
They also charged Rudy Giuliani ’ s associates , Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman , with campaign finance violations — and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ SDNY prosecutors also scrutinized the finances of the Trump inaugural committee , angered the Turkish government by charging the bank Halkbank with violating Iran sanctions laws , and indicting Jeffrey Epstein last year before Epstein ’ s untimely demise .
President Trump has “ long griped to aides about the New York office , complaining that it was filled with Democrats out to get him , ” with specific complaints about the Cohen and Giuliani investigations , according to the Washington Post ’ s Rosalind Helderman , Ellen Nakashima , Matt Zapotosky , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s relationship with Berman had also grown tense .
How Berman ’ s firing went down On Friday , Barr met Berman in New York .
According to a report by CNN ’ s Erica Orden , Kara Scannell , and Evan Perez , they had some discussions about Berman potentially taking another job in the Justice Department , but Berman was reluctant .
The meeting appears not to have ended with a clear decision or agreement .
Yet shortly after 9 pm ET on Friday , Barr released a statement making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claimed , would be “ stepping down ” from the US attorney post on July 3 .
• Craig Carpenito , the US attorney for New Jersey , would then be appointed to head SDNY on an acting basis .
• Jay Clayton , the current chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission , would be nominated by Trump to head SDNY once he is confirmed by the Senate .
Though dressed up like an ordinary personnel announcement , the statement seemed odd .
It ’ s strange for a US Attorney to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of the year , also the end of Trump ’ s term , would be the logical time to transition ) .
Eyebrows were raised that Carpenito , rather than Berman ’ s deputy at SDNY , would fill the job temporarily , and that Clayton , the nominee , had never been a prosecutor before .
And there was the timing : late Friday night , where administrations tend to try to bury bad news or announce involuntary departures .
Things got even weirder , though , when Berman issued his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I have not resigned , and have no intention of resigning , ” Berman declared , saying he first learned he was “ stepping down ” from Barr ’ s press release .
Berman did say , however , that he ’ d be happy to step down once a nominee to replace him is confirmed by the Senate .
But he objected to being shown the door suddenly — and , it seems , having Carpenito replace him .
Furthermore , Berman implied that this may be part of an effort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption , ” he said , adding that “ this Office ’ s important cases ” will “ continue unimpeded.
” So on Saturday morning , Berman went into his office to work .
But later in the day , Barr released a new letter officially firing Berman .
“ With your statement of last night , you have chosen spectacle over public service , ” Barr wrote .
“ I have asked the President to remove you as of today , and he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claimed he was “ not involved ” in Berman ’ s ouster . )
Now , there was some legal question over whether Berman could be fired by Barr or even Trump ( because of his unusual appointment by judges ) , but Berman then chose to accept his firing .
That was at least partly because Barr made an important concession : He dropped the plan to install Carpenito , the US attorney for New Jersey , in Berman ’ s job .
Instead , Barr wrote , Berman ’ s deputy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ I anticipate she will serve in that capacity until a permanent successor is in place , ” Barr wrote .
Since Barr would now let Strauss succeed him , Berman said , he thought the office would be in good hands .
It ’ s not totally clear why Berman was pushed out Trump and Barr ’ s defenders have claimed that the point of all this was to get a new job for Jay Clayton .
The SEC chair purportedly wanted to move back to New York , so the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to remain in the administration .
This can ’ t possibly be the full story , though .
If this were all about Clayton , Berman could have simply stayed in his post until Clayton was confirmed .
Instead , Barr ’ s initial plan involved ousting Berman and replacing him temporarily with a prosecutor from a separate district .
So the goal wasn ’ t to get Clayton in — it was to get Berman out , quickly .
It ’ s no secret that Trump has been angry about SDNY prosecutors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s no secret that Trump and Barr viewed Berman as politically unreliable .
( Just this week , Barr and Berman reportedly clashed over a letter the DOJ wanted to send condemning New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ’ s social distancing policies . )
So , with Trump ’ s reelection approaching , Barr may have wanted to prevent any unpleasant “ surprises ” — news about pesky investigations that would generate bad headlines for the president .
( Barr has argued that the Russia investigation was essentially baseless @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trusted as the SDNY US Attorney could be a means to that end .
Others have speculated that there may be specific developments in unfolding investigations that alarmed Barr or Trump and spurred them to hasty action against Berman .
For now , this remains speculation .
If it is true , however , one person who would know is Berman himself .
House Democrats have invited Berman to testify at a hearing this Wednesday , but it is not yet clear if he will appear .
The larger context : Those who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may be forgiven for feeling a bit of déjà vu here .
Berman isn ’ t the first Trump justice official to be pushed out — he isn ’ t even the first US attorney for the Southern District of New York to be fired after refusing to resign .
( Preet Bharara exited the post in that fashion in March 2017 . )
Indeed , the list of law enforcement or investigative officials ousted by Trump has become absurdly long .
In just Trump ’ s first four months in office , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked dozens of US attorneys to resign , and dismissed the director of the FBI .
Since then , Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe , Attorney General Jeff Sessions , FBI general counsel Dana Boente , and several inspectors general across various agencies ( including Michael Atkinson , who handled the whistleblower complaint that sparked Trump ’ s impeachment ) , among others have been asked to leave or fired .
In fact , a similar situation to Berman ’ s unfolded at the US Attorney ’ s Office for the District of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the US attorney who was overseeing Michael Flynn ’ s and Roger Stone ’ s sentencings , planned to leave her job once confirmed to a Treasury Department post .
But Barr asked her to step aside early and installed a close ally of his , Tim Shea , in her place .
And once Liu had stepped aside , Trump revoked her nomination to the Treasury job .
Even more broadly , back in February , Carol Lee , Ken Dilanian , and Peter Alexander of NBC News reported that Barr @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ take control of legal matters of personal interest to President Donald Trump.
” And Barr also instituted a new rule requiring his personal approval for any investigations into presidential candidates or campaigns .
So all of this certainly looks like Barr clamping down on independent power centers in the Justice Department and trying to get his ducks in a row before Trump ’ s reelection .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
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 .
Please consider making a contribution to @ @ @

US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman became the latest Justice Department official to run afoul of the Trump administration this weekend — and ended up being fired for it after an unusual public showdown.
Late on Friday night, Attorney General Bill Barr announced that Berman was “stepping down” from his post. Trump would nominate SEC chair Jay Clayton, who had no prosecutorial experience, to fill the post. But until the Senate confirms Clayton, US Attorney for New Jersey Craig Carpenito would take the job, Barr said.
All this was news to Berman, who issued a statement shortly afterward saying, “I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning.” He added: “Our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption,” a potential hint that his sudden ouster might relate to delaying or interrupting certain investigations.
With Berman not agreeing to resign, Barr decided to have him fired the next day, announcing that President Trump had officially fired him. (The president himself said he was “not involved” in the matter, though the White House said on Monday he was involved in “a sign-off capacity.”)
Though there was some legal uncertainty about whether Berman, who was technically appointed to his position by judges, could be fired (and if so, by whom), Berman decided not to contest the move further after Barr made an important concession. Barr backed off from his attempt to install Carpenito, his hand-picked acting replacement for Berman. Instead, Barr agreed Berman’s deputy, Audrey Strauss, could take over the post. Strauss is widely respected for her independence, and Berman showered praise on her on his way out the door.
The specific reasons for Berman’s ouster aren’t yet clear. But the bigger picture is no real mystery. In Manhattan, Berman oversaw an independent investigative office that pursued investigations Trump didn’t like — into Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, into Trump’s current lawyer Rudy Giuliani, into Trump’s inaugural committee, and more.
Whether or not Barr found a passable pretext for Berman’s dismissal, the larger context is unmistakable. Again and again in the Trump administration, those who have pursued or supervised investigations that could harm Trump politically end up being pushed out.
Who is Geoffrey Berman?
Berman was appointed US attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) by the Trump administration in January 2018. Long before that, in the early 1990s, he had served as an assistant US attorney for SDNY, and he had spent the next two and a half decades in private practice.
The specifics of Berman’s US attorney appointment are unusual. Trump personally interviewed him for the job but never officially nominated him. Instead, in January 2018, the administration appointed Berman to the post on an acting basis. In general, the Trump administration has used acting appointments to circumvent the Senate — and in this case, they were trying to circumvent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who had said she’d try to block Berman’s confirmation. However, once Berman’s interim term was set to expire that April, judges for the Southern District of New York invoked a rarely used authority to give him a full appointment.
During Berman’s tenure at the famously independent SDNY office, prosecutors have pursued several politically fraught cases. They investigated the hush money payments arranged by Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen to women who had alleged affairs with Trump. securing a guilty plea from Cohen (though Berman recused himself from involvement in this). They also charged Rudy Giuliani’s associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, with campaign finance violations — and have been investigating Giuliani as well. SDNY prosecutors also scrutinized the finances of the Trump inaugural committee, angered the Turkish government by charging the bank Halkbank with violating Iran sanctions laws, and indicting Jeffrey Epstein last year before Epstein’s untimely demise.
President Trump has “long griped to aides about the New York office, complaining that it was filled with Democrats out to get him,” with specific complaints about the Cohen and Giuliani investigations, according to the Washington Post’s Rosalind Helderman, Ellen Nakashima, Matt Zapotosky, and Seung Min Kim, and Barr’s relationship with Berman had also grown tense.
How Berman’s firing went down
On Friday, Barr met Berman in New York. According to a report by CNN’s Erica Orden, Kara Scannell, and Evan Perez, they had some discussions about Berman potentially taking another job in the Justice Department, but Berman was reluctant. The meeting appears not to have ended with a clear decision or agreement.
Yet shortly after 9 pm ET on Friday, Barr released a statement making three announcements:
Berman, he claimed, would be “stepping down” from the US attorney post on July 3.
Craig Carpenito, the US attorney for New Jersey, would then be appointed to head SDNY on an acting basis.
Jay Clayton, the current chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, would be nominated by Trump to head SDNY once he is confirmed by the Senate.
Though dressed up like an ordinary personnel announcement, the statement seemed odd. It’s strange for a US Attorney to depart months before the election (the end of the year, also the end of Trump’s term, would be the logical time to transition). Eyebrows were raised that Carpenito, rather than Berman’s deputy at SDNY, would fill the job temporarily, and that Clayton, the nominee, had never been a prosecutor before. And there was the timing: late Friday night, where administrations tend to try to bury bad news or announce involuntary departures.
Things got even weirder, though, when Berman issued his own statement about two hours later. “I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning,” Berman declared, saying he first learned he was “stepping down” from Barr’s press release.
Berman did say, however, that he’d be happy to step down once a nominee to replace him is confirmed by the Senate. But he objected to being shown the door suddenly — and, it seems, having Carpenito replace him. Furthermore, Berman implied that this may be part of an effort to interfere with certain unnamed investigations. “Our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption,” he said, adding that “this Office’s important cases” will “continue unimpeded.”
So on Saturday morning, Berman went into his office to work. But later in the day, Barr released a new letter officially firing Berman. “With your statement of last night, you have chosen spectacle over public service,” Barr wrote. “I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so.” (Trump himself claimed he was “not involved” in Berman’s ouster.)
Now, there was some legal question over whether Berman could be fired by Barr or even Trump (because of his unusual appointment by judges), but Berman then chose to accept his firing.
That was at least partly because Barr made an important concession: He dropped the plan to install Carpenito, the US attorney for New Jersey, in Berman’s job. Instead, Barr wrote, Berman’s deputy — Audrey Strauss — would succeed him. “I anticipate she will serve in that capacity until a permanent successor is in place,” Barr wrote. Since Barr would now let Strauss succeed him, Berman said, he thought the office would be in good hands.
It’s not totally clear why Berman was pushed out
Trump and Barr’s defenders have claimed that the point of all this was to get a new job for Jay Clayton. The SEC chair purportedly wanted to move back to New York, so the SDNY US Attorney post would allow him to remain in the administration.
This can’t possibly be the full story, though. If this were all about Clayton, Berman could have simply stayed in his post until Clayton was confirmed. Instead, Barr’s initial plan involved ousting Berman and replacing him temporarily with a prosecutor from a separate district. So the goal wasn’t to get Clayton in — it was to get Berman out, quickly.
It’s no secret that Trump has been angry about SDNY prosecutors’ actions during his tenure, and it’s no secret that Trump and Barr viewed Berman as politically unreliable. (Just this week, Barr and Berman reportedly clashed over a letter the DOJ wanted to send condemning New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s social distancing policies.)
So, with Trump’s reelection approaching, Barr may have wanted to prevent any unpleasant “surprises” — news about pesky investigations that would generate bad headlines for the president. (Barr has argued that the Russia investigation was essentially baseless.) Installing someone he and Trump trusted as the SDNY US Attorney could be a means to that end.
Others have speculated that there may be specific developments in unfolding investigations that alarmed Barr or Trump and spurred them to hasty action against Berman. For now, this remains speculation. If it is true, however, one person who would know is Berman himself. House Democrats have invited Berman to testify at a hearing this Wednesday, but it is not yet clear if he will appear.
The larger context: Those who investigate Trump get shown the door
You may be forgiven for feeling a bit of déjà vu here. Berman isn’t the first Trump justice official to be pushed out — he isn’t even the first US attorney for the Southern District of New York to be fired after refusing to resign. (Preet Bharara exited the post in that fashion in March 2017.)
Indeed, the list of law enforcement or investigative officials ousted by Trump has become absurdly long. In just Trump’s first four months in office, he fired the acting attorney general, asked dozens of US attorneys to resign, and dismissed the director of the FBI. Since then, Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI general counsel Dana Boente, and several inspectors general across various agencies (including Michael Atkinson, who handled the whistleblower complaint that sparked Trump’s impeachment), among others have been asked to leave or fired.
In fact, a similar situation to Berman’s unfolded at the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia earlier this year. Jessie Liu, the US attorney who was overseeing Michael Flynn’s and Roger Stone’s sentencings, planned to leave her job once confirmed to a Treasury Department post. But Barr asked her to step aside early and installed a close ally of his, Tim Shea, in her place. And once Liu had stepped aside, Trump revoked her nomination to the Treasury job.
Even more broadly, back in February, Carol Lee, Ken Dilanian, and Peter Alexander of NBC News reported that Barr was making a series of moves to “take control of legal matters of personal interest to President Donald Trump.” And Barr also instituted a new rule requiring his personal approval for any investigations into presidential candidates or campaigns.
So all of this certainly looks like Barr clamping down on independent power centers in the Justice Department and trying to get his ducks in a row before Trump’s reelection.


vox--2020-06-22--The Covid-19 pandemic is threatening vital rainforests

One of the most alarming environmental problems stemming from the coronavirus pandemic is the unchecked destruction of tropical rainforests happening in Brazil and Indonesia .
Human-caused fires are posing a major threat to the ecology of these regions .
In addition , the fires ’ smoke is adding to the problems of the pandemic by placing more stress on people ’ s lungs .
With governments distracted with the pandemic — both Indonesia and Brazil have seen major increases in infections — both countries may face another spike in forest fires as enforcement of environmental laws lapses and pressure mounts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , blazes have already been detected in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest , months ahead of the typical fire season .
It will take coordinated action to fight the pandemic and forest fires at the same time .
Tropical forest fires are caused by humans and must be stopped by humans .
Otherwise , an ecological disaster and a health crisis could converge in the tropics , sending shockwaves around the world .
How the Covid-19 pandemic is threatening rainforests The world watched with alarm in 2019 as record fires burned in Brazil and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the two largest tropical rainforests in the world and are the nations with the highest rates of deforestation .
The fires caused international outrage as activists argued these blazes were ignited with tacit or overt approval from governments .
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro campaigned for office on lifting environmental regulations around the rainforest and said that international alarm about the Amazon threatens Brazil ’ s sovereignty .
In Indonesia , slash-and-burn tactics are common for clearing forests to grow crops , particularly palm oil plantations .
Though tropical rainforests have a dry season @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that they almost never burn without human intervention .
However , fires are just the most visible signal of a wider pattern of destruction , spurred by the huge economic pressure to exploit the rainforest .
The blazes in 2019 were ignited by people in degraded parts of the forest to clear land for mining and agriculture , and in some cases to drive out indigenous people who live in the area .
Now that pressure is only growing amid the Covid-19 pandemic , with many people forced out of work .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rules against illegal deforestation and burning as they cope with the virus .
Tropical forest fires can make the damage from the pandemic worse The consequences of these fires may be even more severe this year .
Beyond the ecological destruction , the blazes stand to exacerbate illnesses .
“ In this year , it ’ s especially concerning because the small particulate matter — the smoke , the soot — that is emanating from these fires , exacerbates respiratory infection , ” said Harvey Fineberg , dean of the Harvard T.H .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a press briefing from Columbia ’ s Earth Institute on June 17 .
“ That respiratory susceptibility means that Covid infections are more likely to be more serious among the populations who are directly affected by the fires .
In many tropical areas , those who are especially vulnerable are the indigenous peoples on whose lands these fires may be set.
” The smoke from these fires can harm people even if they don ’ t have an infection , adding to the strain on the health system .
In the tropics , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can infect people alongside other endemic diseases like malaria and dengue , with unknown effects .
And indigenous people have been struck especially hard by the Covid-19 pandemic .
“ It ’ s also important to keep in mind that what happens in the Amazon does not stay in the Amazon , ” said Marcia Castro , chair of the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H .
Chan School of Public Health , during the press conference .
In both Indonesia and Brazil , rainforest fires in past years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , worsening air quality over major cities .
And as people flee the fires , they can spread infection to other regions .
“ We have an environmental crisis on top of a sanitary crisis , ” said Ane Alencar , director of science at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute ( IPAM ) , during the press conference .
Tropical forests benefit the whole world , and humans can protect them It ’ s hard to overstate the value of tropical rainforests to the planet .
They are home to the largest concentrations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trees channel water into the sky and create vital rainfall for farms and cities .
This evaporation is also a vital mechanism for keeping temperatures cool in the surrounding regions .
Rainforests also play a critical role in the global climate system and can influence rainfall patterns in far-off countries that are critical for farming and other economic activities .
They also soak up and store a gargantuan volume of carbon , cushioning the blows of climate change .
Losing tropical rainforests puts all of these mechanisms in jeopardy .
And for rainforests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where if enough of the forest is lost , it won ’ t be able to circulate enough moisture to sustain itself , leading to an irreversible cycle of collapse .
For the Amazon rainforest , researchers estimate that this will occur at 25 percent deforestation .
To date , about 17 percent of the rainforest has been lost .
Yet despite these global stakes , the bulk of tropical rainforests are situated in a handful of countries , some of which are less inclined to protect them .
That ’ s created @ @ @ @ @ @ @ step toward protecting rainforests is to enforce rules against destroying and burning them .
“ We need to have the government really onboard to fight illegal activities and to give the signal that it is going to fight illegal activities , ” Alencar said .
There also needs to be diplomatic pressure to encourage countries to protect forests as well as financing mechanisms to create incentives to preserve valuable ecosystems .
However , with new infections rising in Brazil and Indonesia , stopping fires may become a lower priority .
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One of the most alarming environmental problems stemming from the coronavirus pandemic is the unchecked destruction of tropical rainforests happening in Brazil and Indonesia.
Human-caused fires are posing a major threat to the ecology of these regions. In addition, the fires’ smoke is adding to the problems of the pandemic by placing more stress on people’s lungs.
With governments distracted with the pandemic — both Indonesia and Brazil have seen major increases in infections — both countries may face another spike in forest fires as enforcement of environmental laws lapses and pressure mounts to exploit their riches. This year, blazes have already been detected in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, months ahead of the typical fire season.
It will take coordinated action to fight the pandemic and forest fires at the same time. Tropical forest fires are caused by humans and must be stopped by humans. Otherwise, an ecological disaster and a health crisis could converge in the tropics, sending shockwaves around the world.
How the Covid-19 pandemic is threatening rainforests
The world watched with alarm in 2019 as record fires burned in Brazil and Indonesia. These counties are home to the two largest tropical rainforests in the world and are the nations with the highest rates of deforestation. The fires caused international outrage as activists argued these blazes were ignited with tacit or overt approval from governments. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro campaigned for office on lifting environmental regulations around the rainforest and said that international alarm about the Amazon threatens Brazil’s sovereignty. In Indonesia, slash-and-burn tactics are common for clearing forests to grow crops, particularly palm oil plantations.
Though tropical rainforests have a dry season, these areas have so much moisture that they almost never burn without human intervention.
However, fires are just the most visible signal of a wider pattern of destruction, spurred by the huge economic pressure to exploit the rainforest. The blazes in 2019 were ignited by people in degraded parts of the forest to clear land for mining and agriculture, and in some cases to drive out indigenous people who live in the area.
Now that pressure is only growing amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with many people forced out of work. And governments are having a harder time enforcing rules against illegal deforestation and burning as they cope with the virus.
Tropical forest fires can make the damage from the pandemic worse
The consequences of these fires may be even more severe this year. Beyond the ecological destruction, the blazes stand to exacerbate illnesses.
“In this year, it’s especially concerning because the small particulate matter — the smoke, the soot — that is emanating from these fires, exacerbates respiratory infection,” said Harvey Fineberg, dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, during a press briefing from Columbia’s Earth Institute on June 17. “That respiratory susceptibility means that Covid infections are more likely to be more serious among the populations who are directly affected by the fires. In many tropical areas, those who are especially vulnerable are the indigenous peoples on whose lands these fires may be set.”
The smoke from these fires can harm people even if they don’t have an infection, adding to the strain on the health system. In the tropics, there is also the risk that Covid-19 can infect people alongside other endemic diseases like malaria and dengue, with unknown effects. And indigenous people have been struck especially hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s also important to keep in mind that what happens in the Amazon does not stay in the Amazon,” said Marcia Castro, chair of the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, during the press conference.
In both Indonesia and Brazil, rainforest fires in past years have sent smoke hundreds of miles away, worsening air quality over major cities. And as people flee the fires, they can spread infection to other regions.
“We have an environmental crisis on top of a sanitary crisis,” said Ane Alencar, director of science at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), during the press conference.
Tropical forests benefit the whole world, and humans can protect them
It’s hard to overstate the value of tropical rainforests to the planet. They are home to the largest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet. Their trees channel water into the sky and create vital rainfall for farms and cities. This evaporation is also a vital mechanism for keeping temperatures cool in the surrounding regions.
Rainforests also play a critical role in the global climate system and can influence rainfall patterns in far-off countries that are critical for farming and other economic activities. They also soak up and store a gargantuan volume of carbon, cushioning the blows of climate change.
Losing tropical rainforests puts all of these mechanisms in jeopardy. And for rainforests, there is likely a tipping point where if enough of the forest is lost, it won’t be able to circulate enough moisture to sustain itself, leading to an irreversible cycle of collapse. For the Amazon rainforest, researchers estimate that this will occur at 25 percent deforestation. To date, about 17 percent of the rainforest has been lost.
Yet despite these global stakes, the bulk of tropical rainforests are situated in a handful of countries, some of which are less inclined to protect them. That’s created a thorny political challenge.
A big step toward protecting rainforests is to enforce rules against destroying and burning them. “We need to have the government really onboard to fight illegal activities and to give the signal that it is going to fight illegal activities,” Alencar said.
There also needs to be diplomatic pressure to encourage countries to protect forests as well as financing mechanisms to create incentives to preserve valuable ecosystems.
However, with new infections rising in Brazil and Indonesia, stopping fires may become a lower priority.