vox--2020-05-01--Elizabeth Warren is the favored VP pick among Democrats, poll shows

Sen. Elizabeth Warren may not be the likeliest vice-presidential pick for Joe Biden , but she ’ s emerging as the running mate Democratic voters would prefer most — and who they believe would be best for the job .
In a Data for Progress poll shared exclusively with Vox , the Massachusetts senator ranked first as the vice-presidential candidate likely Democratic voters think is most ready to be president and would be best at handling the coronavirus pandemic and implementing policies , including those that benefit working-class people .
Forty-two percent of poll respondents said they believe Warren is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Sen. Kamala Harris at 15 percent , Sen. Amy Klobuchar at 9 percent , former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams at 7 percent , Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer at 4 percent , and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto at 3 percent .
Nearly 20 percent of respondents said they didn ’ t know .
Warren ranks significantly better than the other candidates surveyed across gender , age , and education .
But among black voters , she is basically tied with Harris and Abrams .
Warren outpolled the other potential contenders on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the most preferred vice presidential candidate , with 31 percent support , and the pick Democrats are likeliest to say would make them more inclined to vote for Biden .
It is also worth noting that Warren is among the vice presidential contenders with the highest name identification among voters — she ran for president for longer than most of the 2020 field , and she ’ s a famous figure .
Warren endorsed Biden in April , saying in an endorsement video the former vice president “ knows that a government run @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will save lives and save livelihoods.
” In the video , she also nodded at their past disagreements .
“ One thing I appreciate about Joe Biden is that he will always tell you where he stands .
When you disagree , he ’ ll listen — and not just listen , but really hear you , and treat you with respect no matter where you ’ re coming from.
” Warren , who suspended her own White House run in March , has also been open that she would agree to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Data for Progress conducted the survey of 605 Democratic likely voters using web panel respondents on April 26 .
The results have been weighted , and the margin of error is ± 3.9 percent .
Elizabeth Warren would be a highly capable vice president .
But politically , she might not be the best pick .
So here is the thing about Elizabeth Warren : She is an incredibly competent politician and policy wonk .
She went from being a school teacher to a Harvard law professor , was a crucial player @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , conceived of and helped build the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau , and is among the most focused and shrewd lawmakers on Capitol Hill .
On the campaign trail , she rolled out plan after plan to address dozens of issues , and even after wrapping her presidential bid , the plans keep coming .
As the country responds to the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying economic crisis it ’ s brought with it , Warren is someone many people would want to have in the room shaping decisions and coming up with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power within the government better than many .
And as a political pick for Biden , she appeals to the progressive voters he is looking to court .
But Warren also has some political drawbacks as a potential VP pick .
Biden ’ s electoral college path to the White House runs through a mix of the Rustbelt and the Sunbelt , As Vox ’ s Ella Nilsen wrote , it ’ s not clear an “ unapologetic liberal Democrat representing Massachusetts ” will be a boost on that front .
She ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Senate , and it ’ s not clear she would be more so as a vice president .
Moreover , Massachusetts has a Republican governor who would be charged with choosing a temporary replacement if she gives up her seat .
The governor would have to hold a special election 145 to 160 days after a vacancy arises , but that also covers the first 100 days of a presidency .
Biden has said he will definitely choose a woman to be his running mate , but he ’ s also come under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Whatever Biden ’ s choice , this latest poll shows that many Democrats do , indeed , like Elizabeth Warren , and they view her as the most capable VP pick to do the job of president if need be — or at least , the potential candidate that they are most familiar with .
Of course , Democrats also had the choice of having her as their presidential nominee .
But that ship has sailed .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making a contribution to Vox today .

Sen. Elizabeth Warren may not be the likeliest vice-presidential pick for Joe Biden, but she’s emerging as the running mate Democratic voters would prefer most — and who they believe would be best for the job.
In a Data for Progress poll shared exclusively with Vox, the Massachusetts senator ranked first as the vice-presidential candidate likely Democratic voters think is most ready to be president and would be best at handling the coronavirus pandemic and implementing policies, including those that benefit working-class people.
Forty-two percent of poll respondents said they believe Warren is most ready to be president, followed by Sen. Kamala Harris at 15 percent, Sen. Amy Klobuchar at 9 percent, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams at 7 percent, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at 4 percent, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto at 3 percent. Nearly 20 percent of respondents said they didn’t know. Warren ranks significantly better than the other candidates surveyed across gender, age, and education. But among black voters, she is basically tied with Harris and Abrams.
Warren outpolled the other potential contenders on nearly every measure. She’s the most preferred vice presidential candidate, with 31 percent support, and the pick Democrats are likeliest to say would make them more inclined to vote for Biden. It is also worth noting that Warren is among the vice presidential contenders with the highest name identification among voters — she ran for president for longer than most of the 2020 field, and she’s a famous figure.
Warren endorsed Biden in April, saying in an endorsement video the former vice president “knows that a government run with integrity, competence, and heart will save lives and save livelihoods.” In the video, she also nodded at their past disagreements. “One thing I appreciate about Joe Biden is that he will always tell you where he stands. When you disagree, he’ll listen — and not just listen, but really hear you, and treat you with respect no matter where you’re coming from.”
Warren, who suspended her own White House run in March, has also been open that she would agree to be Biden’s running mate if asked.
Data for Progress conducted the survey of 605 Democratic likely voters using web panel respondents on April 26. The results have been weighted, and the margin of error is ± 3.9 percent.
Elizabeth Warren would be a highly capable vice president. But politically, she might not be the best pick.
So here is the thing about Elizabeth Warren: She is an incredibly competent politician and policy wonk. She went from being a school teacher to a Harvard law professor, was a crucial player in congressional oversight of the 2008 bailout, conceived of and helped build the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and is among the most focused and shrewd lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
On the campaign trail, she rolled out plan after plan to address dozens of issues, and even after wrapping her presidential bid, the plans keep coming. As the country responds to the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying economic crisis it’s brought with it, Warren is someone many people would want to have in the room shaping decisions and coming up with ideas. She understands the levers of power within the government better than many. And as a political pick for Biden, she appeals to the progressive voters he is looking to court.
But Warren also has some political drawbacks as a potential VP pick. Biden’s electoral college path to the White House runs through a mix of the Rustbelt and the Sunbelt, As Vox’s Ella Nilsen wrote, it’s not clear an “unapologetic liberal Democrat representing Massachusetts” will be a boost on that front. She’s very useful and effective in the Senate, and it’s not clear she would be more so as a vice president.
Moreover, Massachusetts has a Republican governor who would be charged with choosing a temporary replacement if she gives up her seat. The governor would have to hold a special election 145 to 160 days after a vacancy arises, but that also covers the first 100 days of a presidency. Biden has said he will definitely choose a woman to be his running mate, but he’s also come under pressure to choose a woman of color.
Whatever Biden’s choice, this latest poll shows that many Democrats do, indeed, like Elizabeth Warren, and they view her as the most capable VP pick to do the job of president if need be — or at least, the potential candidate that they are most familiar with. Of course, Democrats also had the choice of having her as their presidential nominee. But that ship has sailed.


vox--2020-05-01--Exclusive: One Democrat’s plan to stretch expanded unemployment insurance through December

Even as some states start reopening , there ’ s little sign the coronavirus pandemic — or most of its adverse economic effects — will end anytime soon .
But the $ 600-per-week lifeline the federal government extended to newly laid-off Americans will .
The aim of that money is two-fold : to keep millions of newly jobless Americans and their dependents financially afloat in a time of great economic uncertainty , and to keep them at home and not potentially getting exposed to the coronavirus at work .
But these expanded benefits will run out in late July , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back on smaller amounts of state benefits .
A new bill introduced by Rep. Dan Kildee ( D-MI ) would extend the amount of time people who are unemployed due to the coronavirus can stay on the federal government ’ s expanded unemployment insurance until December 31 , 2020 .
“ We can ’ t have these short-term interventions for what will be a long-term problem , ” Kildee told Vox in a recent interview .
“ We need to scale the response to the actual crisis.
” • Exempt UI benefits as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federal Section 8 housing , and food programs like SNAP and WIC .
• Make the federal expanded benefits available as far back as March 13 , 2020 , when President Donald Trump declared a national emergency due to the coronavirus .
• Provide expanded benefits to workers whose hours have been reduced due to the coronavirus .
• Create a partial $ 300 weekly benefit for college students and recent college graduates who are currently excluded because they don ’ t have enough work experience .
In essence , Kildee is trying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or impacted by the coronavirus economic crisis after July 31 still have a safety net to fall back on .
“ We ’ re going to see rolling layoffs , somebody could get laid off in October or September , ” Kildee told Vox .
“ What we ’ re trying to do with this legislation is realistically frame the benefit to what we think the course of the crisis actually looks like and be realistic that we ’ re in this for a while.
” Kildee introduced the bill as the House @ @ @ @ @ @ @ next coronavirus relief package , which will largely focus on getting money to states , House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said .
But given the depth of the economic crisis , Democrats are also looking at the possibility of either extending expanded unemployment insurance or extending the amount of time laid-off people can be on their state ’ s unemployment benefits .
He ’ s hopeful this bill , which has 53 cosponsors , makes it into the next package , or at least goes into effect before July 31 rolls around .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ one that goes further than the immediate Band-Aid Congress slapped on in March and addresses the crisis ’ s continued impact on Americans beyond the summer .
But it doesn ’ t go so far as other options floating around Capitol Hill , like one by Sen. Michael Bennett that would increase the federal government ’ s role in the unemployment insurance system long term .
Even so , other House Democrats admitted Kildee ’ s bill could have a steep climb in the Republican-controlled Senate , where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about further federal coronavirus spending .
“ Dan is painting a picture where it ’ s going to be really tough for the rest of the year , and I respect that , ” Rep. Don Beyer ( D-VA ) , vice-chair of Congress ’ s Joint Economic Committee , told Vox .
“ But it has to get through Mitch McConnell and the president , too.
” What Kildee ’ s bill would do As the CARES Act currently stands , laid-off or furloughed workers impacted by the coronavirus ( including freelancers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unemployment insurance through their state .
The federal government is now providing $ 600 extra per week , on top of each state ’ s base weekly benefit .
However , that expanded benefit will run out at the end of July unless Congress extends it .
And as of yet , there ’ s no guarantee the economy will snap back into shape by mid-summer .
Beyer ’ s committee recently released a report citing a sobering statistic from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office : Unemployment could remain at 9.5 percent by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social distancing measures continue throughout the rest of this year .
For comparison , peak unemployment during the Great Recession was around 10 percent .
“ The biggest question for the economists has been V shape , U shape , L shape [ recovery ] , ” Beyer said .
“ No one says V shape .
The economists are saying U shape , and the decisions we make could determine how flat that U is.
” In other words , we still don ’ t know when the economic situation we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one thinks there will be a quick , steep recovery after this precipitous decline .
And it ’ s entirely plausible this drags on for many people , as my colleagues Emily Stewart and Dylan Scott explained , past the end of July .
That ’ s where Kildee ’ s bill steps in .
Here ’ s what it would do .
• It would extend the $ 600 weekly benefit through December 31 , 2020 , and could extend those benefits even further for people who find themselves newly laid off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year .
• Currently , the CARES Act changes the law to make sure expanded UI benefits don ’ t impact a person ’ s eligibility for Medicaid or the Children ’ s Health Insurance Program ( known as CHIP ) .
Kildee ’ s bill would take it further , applying the exemption to all means-tested programs like SNAP and WIC , Section 8 housing , and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families .
• The bill would make the expanded $ 600 per week benefit available to those who lost their job @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the day Trump declared a national emergency .
Currently , the benefit is available beginning on the date the state enters into an agreement with the US Department of Labor to enroll in the program .
• It would provide the expanded benefit to those who are still working but with reduced hours .
Workers whose employers establish work-sharing programs and who have reduced hours would qualify for the expanded federal benefit , along with partial state UI benefits .
• The bill would also open up partial benefits to college students and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because they don ’ t have enough work experience .
This would give a $ 300 weekly benefit for students and recent graduates who can ’ t find work due to the coronavirus .
“ We want to make sure they have some safety net available for them , ” Kildee said .
Kildee ’ s bill is one of a few others on Capitol Hill relating to UI , including a bill from Sen. Michael Bennett ( D-CO ) , who is looking at something called “ automatic stabilizers.
” The idea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the federal government should step in to fund unemployment insurance when there ’ s a sudden dip in the national economy due to an emergency , and then ease up on federal funds when things return to normal .
Kildee ’ s plan instead has a set date for when expanded UI would stop , focusing on the immediate problem .
It ’ s a plan that anticipates a continuing US economic crisis and expands the safety net to prepare for it .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 , videos , and podcasts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Even as some states start reopening, there’s little sign the coronavirus pandemic — or most of its adverse economic effects — will end anytime soon. But the $600-per-week lifeline the federal government extended to newly laid-off Americans will.
The aim of that money is two-fold: to keep millions of newly jobless Americans and their dependents financially afloat in a time of great economic uncertainty, and to keep them at home and not potentially getting exposed to the coronavirus at work. But these expanded benefits will run out in late July, after which Americans will have to fall back on smaller amounts of state benefits.
A new bill introduced by Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) would extend the amount of time people who are unemployed due to the coronavirus can stay on the federal government’s expanded unemployment insurance until December 31, 2020.
“We can’t have these short-term interventions for what will be a long-term problem,” Kildee told Vox in a recent interview. “We need to scale the response to the actual crisis.”
Kildee’s bill would also:
Exempt UI benefits as income for all means-tested programs, including federal Section 8 housing, and food programs like SNAP and WIC.
Make the federal expanded benefits available as far back as March 13, 2020, when President Donald Trump declared a national emergency due to the coronavirus.
Provide expanded benefits to workers whose hours have been reduced due to the coronavirus.
Create a partial $300 weekly benefit for college students and recent college graduates who are currently excluded because they don’t have enough work experience.
In essence, Kildee is trying to ensure people who are laid off or impacted by the coronavirus economic crisis after July 31 still have a safety net to fall back on.
“We’re going to see rolling layoffs, somebody could get laid off in October or September,” Kildee told Vox. “What we’re trying to do with this legislation is realistically frame the benefit to what we think the course of the crisis actually looks like and be realistic that we’re in this for a while.”
Kildee introduced the bill as the House is working on its draft of the next coronavirus relief package, which will largely focus on getting money to states, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said. But given the depth of the economic crisis, Democrats are also looking at the possibility of either extending expanded unemployment insurance or extending the amount of time laid-off people can be on their state’s unemployment benefits. He’s hopeful this bill, which has 53 cosponsors, makes it into the next package, or at least goes into effect before July 31 rolls around.
It’s a medium-term idea, one that goes further than the immediate Band-Aid Congress slapped on in March and addresses the crisis’s continued impact on Americans beyond the summer. But it doesn’t go so far as other options floating around Capitol Hill, like one by Sen. Michael Bennet that would increase the federal government’s role in the unemployment insurance system long term.
Even so, other House Democrats admitted Kildee’s bill could have a steep climb in the Republican-controlled Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled he wants to be cautious about further federal coronavirus spending.
“Dan is painting a picture where it’s going to be really tough for the rest of the year, and I respect that,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), vice-chair of Congress’s Joint Economic Committee, told Vox. “But it has to get through Mitch McConnell and the president, too.”
What Kildee’s bill would do
As the CARES Act currently stands, laid-off or furloughed workers impacted by the coronavirus (including freelancers and self-employed people) can apply for unemployment insurance through their state. The federal government is now providing $600 extra per week, on top of each state’s base weekly benefit.
However, that expanded benefit will run out at the end of July unless Congress extends it. And as of yet, there’s no guarantee the economy will snap back into shape by mid-summer. Beyer’s committee recently released a report citing a sobering statistic from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office: Unemployment could remain at 9.5 percent by the end of 2021, especially if social distancing measures continue throughout the rest of this year. For comparison, peak unemployment during the Great Recession was around 10 percent.
“The biggest question for the economists has been V shape, U shape, L shape [recovery],” Beyer said. “No one says V shape. The economists are saying U shape, and the decisions we make could determine how flat that U is.”
In other words, we still don’t know when the economic situation we’re in will end, but no one thinks there will be a quick, steep recovery after this precipitous decline. And it’s entirely plausible this drags on for many people, as my colleagues Emily Stewart and Dylan Scott explained, past the end of July.
That’s where Kildee’s bill steps in. Here’s what it would do.
It would extend the $600 weekly benefit through December 31, 2020, and could extend those benefits even further for people who find themselves newly laid off due to the coronavirus late in the year.
Currently, the CARES Act changes the law to make sure expanded UI benefits don’t impact a person’s eligibility for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (known as CHIP). Kildee’s bill would take it further, applying the exemption to all means-tested programs like SNAP and WIC, Section 8 housing, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
The bill would make the expanded $600 per week benefit available to those who lost their job as far back as March 13, the day Trump declared a national emergency. Currently, the benefit is available beginning on the date the state enters into an agreement with the US Department of Labor to enroll in the program.
It would provide the expanded benefit to those who are still working but with reduced hours. Workers whose employers establish work-sharing programs and who have reduced hours would qualify for the expanded federal benefit, along with partial state UI benefits.
The bill would also open up partial benefits to college students and recent graduates who currently do not qualify because they don’t have enough work experience. This would give a $300 weekly benefit for students and recent graduates who can’t find work due to the coronavirus.
“We want to make sure they have some safety net available for them,” Kildee said.
Kildee’s bill is one of a few others on Capitol Hill relating to UI, including a bill from Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), who is looking at something called “automatic stabilizers.” The idea behind Bennet’s plan is that the federal government should step in to fund unemployment insurance when there’s a sudden dip in the national economy due to an emergency, and then ease up on federal funds when things return to normal.
As Vox’s Dylan Matthews explained:
The plan would vastly ramp up “extended benefits,” the long-neglected part of the UI system mentioned above that is already part of the unemployment insurance law, and adds emergency money during large downturns. Bennet’s plan would fully federally fund the program, taking pressure off states, and trigger extended benefits automatically when the unemployment rate spikes, or if it ever exceeds 6.5 percent. It would set benefits to 100 percent replace wages, up to a maximum level (set at 80 percent of the median wage) during public health emergencies like the coronavirus.
Kildee’s plan instead has a set date for when expanded UI would stop, focusing on the immediate problem. It’s a plan that anticipates a continuing US economic crisis and expands the safety net to prepare for it.


vox--2020-05-01--America’s Covid-19 hot spots shed a light on our moral failures

In 2010 , the moral philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah made a list of practices that he believed people in the distant future will condemn our generation of humanity for , much as people in the 21st century almost universally condemn slavery or the denial of women ’ s suffrage .
His four candidates were the American prison system , which cages about 2.3 million Americans at any given time ; the exploitation of animals in factory farms ; the abandonment of America ’ s elderly ( and the elderly of many rich countries ) in nursing homes ; and environmental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a journalist turned nurse , sent me Appiah ’ s piece a few weeks into the coronavirus pandemic , when Appiah ’ s list started to read like a premonition .
Excluding the environment — climate change specifically , which has gotten a temporary respite as we do much less carbon emitting under quarantine — Appiah ’ s list doubles as a rundown of the most prominent and brutal vectors of Covid-19 in the US .
Coronavirus outbreaks have been reported at carceral facilities across the country , including pretrial detention centers like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yet been convicted of the offense with which they ’ re charged ; one prison in Ohio reported that 78 percent of inmates tested positive .
More humane states are releasing prisoners simply to avoid a medical catastrophe that feels inevitable if they stay caged .
The Tyson , Smithfield , and JBS meat production companies have shut down pork plants that collectively produce 15 percent of America ’ s pork due to coronavirus spread .
Tyson ’ s CEO took out a full-page newspaper ad warning that the nation ’ s food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s a ludicrous exaggeration ( experts say the US isn ’ t about to run out of food ) , but it is true that the factory farming industry is particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 and poses a pandemic risk generally .
Nursing homes for both older people and those with disabilities are likewise seeing widespread coronavirus outbreaks .
The Washington Post analyzed news reports and state data releases and found that almost 1 in 10 nursing homes in the US have reported coronavirus cases .
The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 27 percent of deaths from Covid-19 have occurred in nursing homes .
In several states , like Massachusetts and Pennsylvania , most deaths have occurred in nursing homes .
It ’ s not a coincidence that Covid-19 is foregrounding these institutions .
This crisis has cast a spotlight on inequalities that have plagued American life for decades , and it is forcing us to look seriously at how we relate to one another .
Social distancing has a way of clarifying social reality , and America ’ s social reality is one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , prisons , and factory farms have in common If I were more religious , I would say this feels like a biblical plague , a force beyond our control identifying our worst societal sins to get us to finally pay attention .
But that would be incorrect , because in many ways the spread of this virus is within our control .
That the coronavirus has ripped through the US via these vectors only underscores how complicit Americans have been in making ourselves more vulnerable to this disease .
What factory farms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in common is that they ’ re warehousing efforts .
They all involve placing people or animals into confined facilities where most of society doesn ’ t have to think too hard about them anymore .
They are institutions optimized for neglect .
Few people would likely be able to eat a Chicken McNugget if each order came with a photo of the tortured chickens who were killed to fulfill that order ; but because that torture takes place behind closed doors , confined to a few big facilities in rural areas and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are free to forget about the actual chickens and the working conditions there and eat their nuggets in peace .
It ’ s no fluke that “ ag gag ” laws banning the dissemination of information about factory farms are one of the industry ’ s main lobbying priorities .
Big corporations know perfectly well what would happen if people actually paid attention .
Prisons enable governments to take people that civilian society doesn ’ t want to deal with anymore and stash them out of sight so that average citizens can forget @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conditions .
Groups of prisoners in Washington , DC , and Texas are so desperate that they ’ ve sued for access to soap , cleaning supplies , and toilet paper amid the pandemic .
” On at least one unit , a closet full of cleaning supplies and clean rags is present , but residents are told they will be punished if they attempt to access or use those supplies to clean the unit , their own cells , or their hands and bodies , ” the DC lawsuit alleges .
These @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day rationing of toilet paper and a ban on showering more than once a week were among the policies at Attica state prison in New York that sparked the 1971 prisoner takeover there .
But this neglect is increasingly deadly in a pandemic .
Nursing homes are not necessarily an injustice , and there are plenty of valid reasons for families to place relatives there , or for residents to ask to be placed in homes .
My family is no exception .
But the same mechanisms through which nursing homes ease pressure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ widespread neglect is possible .
Richard Mollot , an advocate for long-term care patients , notes that about one-third of Medicare beneficiaries admitted to nursing homes reported suffering some kind of harm within two weeks of entering the home .
“ These are the short-term residents for whom homes are paid the most and who are typically most able to articulate their concerns if something is wrong , ” Mollot writes .
“ Where does that leave a majority of residents who are there long-term , most of whom are older , frail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its victims vulnerable to Covid-19 through at least two mechanisms .
First , it forces affected individuals into close proximity with one other — including those maintaining the warehouse , like factory farm staff or prison guards or nursing home attendants .
It ’ s difficult to socially distance under those conditions .
But the second mechanism is subtler and arguably just as important .
Warehousing fosters social inequality , and we know that social inequality kills .
Pandemics are times of scarcity .
Tests are scarce , doctors and nurses are scarce @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And scarce goods tend to be distributed according to existing social inequalities , because those inequalities reflect varying levels of respect paid to various groups by governments , businesses , and other social decision-makers .
So it is with coronavirus .
It ’ s fairly well-known at this point that Covid-19 has disproportionately affected black Americans .
Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that out of Covid-19 patients for whom race is known , 30 percent are African American , more than double African Americans ’ share of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , prisons , and nursing homes have in common is that they ’ re warehousing efforts Unauthorized immigrants in detention , or working close-proximity jobs at farms and as delivery staff , or just existing in the US without access to most of the social safety net , are uniquely vulnerable too , and not just in the US but in many rich countries .
Many report fear of seeking out health care because of the risk that their status will be uncovered .
We see the same inequalities with factory farms , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people , especially ones locked up for violent offenses , have long suffered from politicians ’ , and the public ’ s , conviction that their past deeds make them undeserving of help .
That ’ s especially true now , with grave consequences for both them and their guards .
Nursing home patients are victims not just of density but of a broader societal disregard toward older people and those with disabilities .
Texas Lt. Gov .
Dan Patrick famously suggested that Americans 70-plus should be willing to die to get the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Covid-19 outbreaks at factory farms aren ’ t among their animals but among their staffers and the staffers at meatpacking facilities , who are disproportionately black , Latino , and/or immigrants .
Warehousing hurts the people enlisted to do the warehousing , too .
( And , it should be noted , even though the coronavirus didn ’ t originate in a factory farm , factory farms are a pretty big pandemic risk — if not this pandemic , it may well be the next one . )
None of this is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the political theorist Judith Shklar taught us , fosters cruelty .
In unequal societies , where one group of individuals is privileged in power above others , that power differential creates the social estrangement necessary for the powerful to treat the less powerful with cruelty .
But social equality can remedy social cruelty .
“ If such social distances create the climate for cruelty , then a greater equality might be a remedy , ” she wrote .
“ Even Machiavelli had known that one can not rule one ’ s equals with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inferior subjects.
” Covid-19 is not simply a natural disaster .
It is a brutal reminder of the consequences of inequality Shklar identified .
And it is a reminder that things can be different .
The US can shrink its prisons .
It can create housing laws , social supports , and other structures that enable older people to live with their families whenever possible .
It can abolish factory farming , for both the animals ’ and the workers ’ sakes .
Sign up for the Future Perfect newsletter and we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and solutions for tackling the world ’ s biggest challenges — and how to get better at doing good .
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 .

In 2010, the moral philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah made a list of practices that he believed people in the distant future will condemn our generation of humanity for, much as people in the 21st century almost universally condemn slavery or the denial of women’s suffrage.
His four candidates were the American prison system, which cages about 2.3 million Americans at any given time; the exploitation of animals in factory farms; the abandonment of America’s elderly (and the elderly of many rich countries) in nursing homes; and environmental degradation.
My friend Avi Zenilman, a journalist turned nurse, sent me Appiah’s piece a few weeks into the coronavirus pandemic, when Appiah’s list started to read like a premonition. Excluding the environment — climate change specifically, which has gotten a temporary respite as we do much less carbon emitting under quarantine — Appiah’s list doubles as a rundown of the most prominent and brutal vectors of Covid-19 in the US.
Coronavirus outbreaks have been reported at carceral facilities across the country, including pretrial detention centers like Rikers Island where most inmates have not yet been convicted of the offense with which they’re charged; one prison in Ohio reported that 78 percent of inmates tested positive. More humane states are releasing prisoners simply to avoid a medical catastrophe that feels inevitable if they stay caged.
The Tyson, Smithfield, and JBS meat production companies have shut down pork plants that collectively produce 15 percent of America’s pork due to coronavirus spread. Tyson’s CEO took out a full-page newspaper ad warning that the nation’s food supply is breaking down. That’s a ludicrous exaggeration (experts say the US isn’t about to run out of food), but it is true that the factory farming industry is particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 and poses a pandemic risk generally.
Nursing homes for both older people and those with disabilities are likewise seeing widespread coronavirus outbreaks. The Washington Post analyzed news reports and state data releases and found almost 1 in 10 nursing homes in the US have reported coronavirus cases. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that in the 23 states for which data exists, 27 percent of deaths from Covid-19 have occurred in nursing homes. In several states, like Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, most deaths have occurred in nursing homes.
It’s not a coincidence that Covid-19 is foregrounding these institutions. This crisis has cast a spotlight on inequalities that have plagued American life for decades, and it is forcing us to look seriously at how we relate to one another. Social distancing has a way of clarifying social reality, and America’s social reality is one of haves and have-nots.
What nursing homes, prisons, and factory farms have in common
If I were more religious, I would say this feels like a biblical plague, a force beyond our control identifying our worst societal sins to get us to finally pay attention. But that would be incorrect, because in many ways the spread of this virus is within our control. That the coronavirus has ripped through the US via these vectors only underscores how complicit Americans have been in making ourselves more vulnerable to this disease.
What factory farms, prisons, and nursing homes have in common is that they’re warehousing efforts. They all involve placing people or animals into confined facilities where most of society doesn’t have to think too hard about them anymore. They are institutions optimized for neglect.
Few people would likely be able to eat a Chicken McNugget if each order came with a photo of the tortured chickens who were killed to fulfill that order; but because that torture takes place behind closed doors, confined to a few big facilities in rural areas and staffed by invisible low-wage workers, people are free to forget about the actual chickens and the working conditions there and eat their nuggets in peace. It’s no fluke that “ag gag” laws banning the dissemination of information about factory farms are one of the industry’s main lobbying priorities. Big corporations know perfectly well what would happen if people actually paid attention.
Prisons enable governments to take people civilian society doesn’t want to deal with anymore and stash them out of sight so that average citizens can forget about them. That enables truly horrendous conditions. Groups of prisoners in Washington, DC, and Texas are so desperate that they’ve sued for access to soap, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper amid the pandemic. “On at least one unit, a closet full of cleaning supplies and clean rags is present, but residents are told they will be punished if they attempt to access or use those supplies to clean the unit, their own cells, or their hands and bodies,” the DC lawsuit alleges.
These conditions are hardly new — a one-sheet-per-day rationing of toilet paper and a ban on showering more than once a week were among policies at Attica state prison in New York that sparked a 1971 prisoner takeover there. But this neglect is increasingly deadly in a pandemic.
Nursing homes are not necessarily an injustice, and there are plenty of valid reasons for families to place relatives there, or for residents to ask to be placed in homes. My family is no exception. But the same mechanisms through which nursing homes ease pressure on family caregivers make them places where widespread neglect is possible. Richard Mollot, an advocate for long-term care patients, notes that about one-third of Medicare beneficiaries admitted to nursing homes reported suffering some kind of harm within two weeks of entering the home.
“These are the short-term residents for whom homes are paid the most and who are typically most able to articulate their concerns if something is wrong,” Mollot writes. “Where does that leave a majority of residents who are there long-term, most of whom are older, frail and cognitively impaired?”
Warehousing leaves its victims vulnerable to Covid-19 through at least two mechanisms. First, it forces affected individuals into close proximity with one another — including those maintaining the warehouse, like factory farm workers or prison guards or nursing home attendants. It’s difficult to socially distance under those conditions.
But the second mechanism is subtler and arguably just as important. Warehousing fosters social inequality, and we know that social inequality kills.
Social inequality in a pandemic
Pandemics are times of scarcity. Tests are scarce, doctors and nurses are scarce, masks and gloves are scarce. And scarce goods tend to be distributed according to existing social inequalities, because those inequalities reflect varying levels of respect paid to various groups by governments, businesses, and other social decision-makers.
So it is with coronavirus. It’s fairly well-known at this point that Covid-19 has disproportionately affected black Americans. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that of Covid-19 patients for whom race is known, 30 percent are African American, more than double African Americans’ share of the overall population.
What factory farms, prisons, and nursing homes have in common is that they’re warehousing efforts
Unauthorized immigrants in detention, or working close-proximity jobs at farms and as delivery staff, or just existing in the US without access to most of the social safety net, are uniquely vulnerable too, and not just in the US but in many rich countries. Many report fear of seeking out health care because of the risk that their status will be uncovered.
We see the same inequalities with factory farms, nursing homes, and prisons. Incarcerated people, especially ones locked up for violent offenses, have long suffered from politicians’, and the public’s, conviction that their past deeds make them undeserving of help. That’s especially true now, with grave consequences for both them and their guards.
Nursing home patients are victims not just of density but of a broader societal disregard toward older people and those with disabilities. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick famously suggested that Americans 70 and older should be willing to die to get the economy back running again.
Meanwhile, the Covid-19 outbreaks at factory farms aren’t among their animals but among their workers and those at meatpacking facilities, who are disproportionately black, Latino, and/or immigrants. Warehousing hurts the people enlisted to do the warehousing, too. (And, it should be noted, even though the novel coronavirus didn’t originate in a factory farm, factory farms are a pretty big pandemic risk — if not this pandemic, it may well be the next one.)
None of this is an accident. Social inequality, as the political theorist Judith Shklar taught us, fosters cruelty. In unequal societies, where one group of individuals is privileged in power above others, that power differential creates the social estrangement necessary for the powerful to treat the less powerful with cruelty.
But social equality can remedy social cruelty. “If such social distances create the climate for cruelty, then a greater equality might be a remedy,” she wrote. “Even Machiavelli had known that one cannot rule one’s equals with cruelty, but only one’s inferior subjects.”
Covid-19 is not simply a natural disaster. It is a brutal reminder of the consequences of inequality Shklar identified. And it is a reminder that things can be different. The US can shrink its prisons. It can create housing laws, social supports, and other structures that enable older people to live with their families whenever possible. It can abolish factory farming, for both the animals’ and the workers’ sakes.
Pandemics are social phenomena, and addressing pandemics requires attacking social inequalities head-on.
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What day is it today?

Today is Friday , May 1 , 2020 , at least in the continental United States .
It is already Saturday , May 2 , in some parts of the world .
To some degree , time is an illusion .
We are bound by its forward passage , being the third-dimensional creatures we are , but the perceptions we have placed upon time have been invented .
Humans invented the year .
Humans invented the month .
Humans invented the day , the hour , the minute , the second .
These distinctions are not arbitrary — it really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Earth to orbit the sun — but their creation was not inevitable .
Our numerical system is likely base-10 because we have 10 fingers ; the way we understand time is almost entirely dependent on the fact that we evolved on this planet , circling this sun .
Time , at least as we understand it , is also a byproduct of capitalism .
In his seminal 1967 economic paper “ Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism , ” E. P. Thompson notes that in early human cultures , delineations of time were broad understandings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ went down , when the seasons changed .
But as industrialization became the norm , time became a mechanized system that no longer served those who ’ d invented it .
We increasingly served at the beck and call of time , for that is how those who possessed capital could best regulate those who performed the labor .
For we are now at a point where sociologists are discussing the “ problem ” of leisure .
And a part of the problem is : how did it come to be a problem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ convenience with industrial capitalism , was the agent which converted men to new valuations of time ; which taught children even in their infancy to improve each shining hour ; and which saturated men ’ s minds with the equation , time is money .
One recurrent form of revolt within Western industrial capitalism , whether bohemian or beatnik , has often taken the form of flouting the urgency of respectable timevalues .
And the interesting question arises : if Puritanism was a necessary part of the work-ethos which enabled the industrialized world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the past , will the Puritan valuation of time begin to decompose as the pressures of poverty relax ?
Is it decomposing already ?
Will men begin to lose that restless urgency , that desire to consume time purposively , which most people carry just as they carry a watch on their wrists ?
But it remains that on some base level , we will always understand time .
The sun comes up , the sun goes down .
Though we might be inside , where that process is more difficult to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does not obscure the day and night cycle .
What is lost , as each day blends into the next , in vaguely similar ways , is the mechanistic definition of time , the capitalist definition of time , the industrial definition of time .
We do not know what day it is , but we do know when there is a new day .
To live inside is to lose distinction .
There is a numbing effect that occurs when each day is the same , when our schedules are subsumed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ undifferentiated time .
And yet isn ’ t this how so many of the less privileged around the world , forced to work jobs involving menial labor , day after day after day , already live ?
Isn ’ t this why we invented the weekend ?
Has this quarantine simply shown to those of us with more economic privilege that our “ free time ” was always a mirage , which could disappear before our eyes , by giving us so much “ free ” time ?
I have a wall calendar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I need to orient myself in time , I look at it .
But even the usefulness of my calendar has started to fray around the edges .
I began writing this story because I couldn ’ t quite believe it was a Thursday , even as I knew it had to be a Thursday .
But it might as well not be .
A cycle that bears the sun across our sky until it sets in the west is a reality ; “ Thursday ” is an invention .
Is it still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I will update this article daily until we don ’ t need it anymore .
I hope there is a time when we know it is Thursday or Tuesday or June 17 without having to look at a calendar or ask each other or Google .
I hope there is a time when going outside to see the sun doesn ’ t feel like exposing yourself to toxic levels of radiation .
( I know I should be taking walks ; every time , I feel like I ’ m risking everything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time in which all this “ free ” time no longer feels like a period we must exploit for maximum value .
I hope there is a time when I remember what it ’ s like to grab lunch with a friend , to watch dogs play in the surf , to breathe in the air and just be .
Until then , find a way to make time have meaning for you .
Read a long book .
Cook an elaborate meal .
Take up knitting .
Write an epic poem .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ always meant to get to .
Sleep .
Remember that time doesn ’ t own you , and that you own time .
This will be over someday , a part of the past .
It will someday be a memory .
Hang on to that .
I ’ ll see you outside again .
For now , it is Friday , May 1 , 2020 .
In some parts of the world , it is Saturday , May 2 , 2020 .
Are you a “ What day is it today ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ theme song .
It ’ s written by composer Laura Stratford , and it is wonderful .

Today is Wednesday, July 1, 2020, at least in the continental United States. It is already Thursday, July 2, 2020, in some parts of the world. Life isn’t resuming gracefully, but the herky jerky train wreck of America’s reopening certainly speaks to some desire to exit this quarantine period. And so “What Day Is It Today” will exit the stage, too. For now, at least.
To some degree, time is an illusion. We are bound by its forward passage, being the third-dimensional creatures we are, but the perceptions we have placed upon time have been invented. Humans invented the year. Humans invented the month. Humans invented the day, the hour, the minute, the second.
These distinctions are not arbitrary — it really does take about 365 days for the Earth to orbit the sun — but their creation was not inevitable. Our numerical system is likely base-10 because we have 10 fingers; the way we understand time is almost entirely dependent on the fact that we evolved on this planet, circling this sun.
Time, at least as we understand it, is also a byproduct of capitalism. In his seminal 1967 economic paper “Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism,” E. P. Thompson notes that in early human cultures, delineations of time were broad understandings of when the sun came up and went down, when the seasons changed. But as industrialization became the norm, time became a mechanized system that no longer served those who’d invented it. We increasingly served at the beck and call of time, for that is how those who possessed capital could best regulate those who performed the labor.
Thompson writes:
For we are now at a point where sociologists are discussing the “problem” of leisure. And a part of the problem is: how did it come to be a problem ? Puritanism, in its marriage of convenience with industrial capitalism, was the agent which converted men to new valuations of time; which taught children even in their infancy to improve each shining hour; and which saturated men’s minds with the equation, time is money. One recurrent form of revolt within Western industrial capitalism, whether bohemian or beatnik, has often taken the form of flouting the urgency of respectable timevalues. And the interesting question arises: if Puritanism was a necessary part of the work-ethos which enabled the industrialized world to break out of the poverty-stricken economies of the past, will the Puritan valuation of time begin to decompose as the pressures of poverty relax? Is it decomposing already? Will men begin to lose that restless urgency, that desire to consume time purposively, which most people carry just as they carry a watch on their wrists?
But it remains that on some base level, we will always understand time. The sun comes up, the sun goes down. Though we might be inside, where that process is more difficult to witness, the fact of our insideness does not obscure the day and night cycle. What is lost, as each day blends into the next, in vaguely similar ways, is the mechanistic definition of time, the capitalist definition of time, the industrial definition of time. We do not know what day it is, but we do know when there is a new day.
To live inside is to lose distinction. There is a numbing effect that occurs when each day is the same, when our schedules are subsumed by what feels like an endless gulf of undifferentiated time. And yet isn’t this how so many of the less privileged around the world, forced to work jobs involving menial labor, day after day after day, already live? Isn’t this why we invented the weekend? Has this quarantine simply shown to those of us with more economic privilege that our “free time” was always a mirage, which could disappear before our eyes, by giving us so much “free” time?
I have a wall calendar hanging above my desk, and when I need to orient myself in time, I look at it. But even the usefulness of my calendar has started to fray around the edges. I began writing this story because I couldn’t quite believe it was a Thursday, even as I knew it had to be a Thursday. But it might as well not be. A cycle that bears the sun across our sky until it sets in the west is a reality; “Thursday” is an invention. Is it still necessary? I don’t know.
What’s important to remember is that time doesn’t own you. You own time. This will be over someday, a part of the past. It will someday be a memory. Hang on to that. I’ll see you outside again.
This story was originally published Friday, March 27, 2020.
Are you a “What day is it today?” superfan? Check out our official theme song. It’s written by composer Laura Stratford, and it is wonderful.


vox--2020-05-01--The push for Joe Biden to choose a black woman as his running mate, explained

As former Vice President Joe Biden ’ s search for a running mate heats up , the pressure is growing on him to pick a black woman for the role .
“ I certainly agree with my colleagues who have said a woman of color , but specifically an African-American woman , ” Rep. Alma Adams ( D-NC ) told CBS News .
“ Knowing the support that we have always given to this party .
We have carried this party for as long as I can remember.
” Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams , one of the women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this call explicitly in an interview last week as well : “ We need a ticket that reflects the diversity of America , ” she said .
There are several reasons Democrats are making this push : There ’ s a desire for more representation on the presidential ticket , a sense that Biden owes much of his success in the primary to the support of black voters , and the possibility that a black running mate could help spur higher turnout in November .
But not everyone is convinced : Historically , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ major impact on the electoral outcomes in presidential races , and some think Biden already has strong support from black voters and needs to ramp up outreach in other ways .
There are questions , too , about how desirable the post may be for some of the Democratic Party ’ s most celebrated women , given the bind they face when it comes to allegations of sexual assault that have been brought against Biden by former Senate staffer Tara Reade .
( The campaign has denied these allegations . )
Biden , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the presumptive nomination from the most diverse field of candidates the Democratic Party has ever seen , and his ultimate choice of running mate will send a clear message : It says something not just about his strategy for the general election but about what the future of the party could look like .
“ We started out the Democratic primary process with the most diverse contenders in our nation ’ s history and that says something about the appetite of the electorate and our interest in diverse leadership , ” said Glynda @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , an organization dedicated to supporting black women running for office .
The case that some Democrats are making for choosing a black woman , briefly explained There are several reasons experts have cited for Biden to choose a black woman as vice president : Doing so would acknowledge the range of voices in the party , give a nod to how black voters helped boost him in the primary — particularly in the critical state of South Carolina — and inspire greater voter turnout .
Some of the top names that have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Harris ( D-CA ) , and Rep. Val Demings ( D-FL ) .
Research suggests that vice presidential picks haven ’ t had an explicit impact on electoral outcomes in the past , but a couple of factors make this cycle different : Because of Biden ’ s age and the possibility that he may not pursue a second term , his choice of running mate has taken on greater importance .
The potential impact that a vice presidential pick could have on increasing black voter turnout , especially , is seen as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diverse ticket .
“ The strategic considerations that might impel Biden to pick a black running mate would be driven by the abysmal turnout among registered black voters in Michigan , Wisconsin , and Pennsylvania in 2016 , ” Columbia political science professor Donald Green tells Vox .
To Green ’ s point , the turnout rate among black voters was notably different between 2012 and 2016 .
In 2016 , when Hillary Clinton was the Democratic nominee , 59.6 percent of black voters turned out nationally .
Meanwhile , in 2012 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 66.6 percent of black voters did .
Across key battleground states including Michigan and Wisconsin , turnout rates dipped among black voters between the two cycles as well .
President Barack Obama ’ s groundbreaking candidacy in 2008 and 2012 was viewed as a significant reason for higher black voter turnout in both cycles — and the historic choice of a black woman as vice president could possibly lead to a similar uptick .
“ It would be good to have a woman that looks like the rest of America : smart @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warrior ” “ Many have questioned what the Democratic Party could do to return the electorate to the levels of turnout we saw in the 2008 election , ” said Howard University political science professor Keneshia Grant .
“ I believe selecting a black woman to be the vice presidential nominee for the Democratic Party would do just that.
” According to the Niskanen Center ’ s Rachel Bitecofer , increased turnout from both voters of color and younger voters will be central to Biden ’ s efforts to defeat Trump .
Given @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2016 , higher turnout from black voters in these battleground states could ultimately make the difference .
Some Democrats want a candidate who ’ s been tested in the Midwest There are other camps , however , pulling for a vice presidential pick who ’ s shown that they can perform well in certain battleground states , like in the Midwest .
Although there ’ s no evidence to suggest that a candidate of color wouldn ’ t do as well in this region , some of the top names that have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Those interested in a candidate with Midwestern experience , as Politico reports , lean more toward backing running mates like Sen. Amy Klobuchar ( D-MN ) or Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer , who ’ ve already demonstrated that they can win in Minnesota and Michigan .
Prominent progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren ( D-MA ) has also been talked about as a high-profile running mate who could help Biden further establish his bona fides with the more liberal wing of the party .
When it comes to the voter bases he needs to reach @ @ @ @ @ @ @ black voters so there ’ s an open question of how much a black running mate would help him expand on this strength .
In South Carolina , for example , 61 percent of black voters backed him in the Democratic primary .
Experts caution , however , that such support shouldn ’ t be conflated with enthusiasm for his candidacy .
As Bitecofer emphasizes , black voters were also closely aligned with Hillary Clinton in 2016 but turnout was down because enthusiasm for the ticket was down .
Biden ’ s commitment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gender — and the push for him to do so based on race — has led some critics to argue that he ’ s playing into identity politics in a way that obscures individual qualifications .
In the past , some Democrats have said that appealing to voters with “ identity politics ” around gender and race is not always effective and that doing so could push away swing voters .
But there is nothing to suggest that the focus on a more representative candidate and one who ’ s qualified for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ picks historically haven ’ t mattered much , but this cycle could be different An important caveat to all this is that vice presidential picks haven ’ t historically had a notable impact on the final electoral outcome , barring some specific exceptions .
As Vox ’ s Ella Nilsen reported , the research suggests that many voters don ’ t weigh the vice presidential pick that heavily in their final decision : The idea that Whitmer or Klobuchar could deliver their home states is thin as well , according to Devine and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the impact of vice presidential choices .
“ We ’ re pretty skeptical of the home-state advantage too , ” Kopko told Nilsen in a recent interview .
“ You have to make a lot of assumptions that someone ’ s going to feel so strongly about their home state , that ’ s going to override any partisan predispositions.
” At 78 , Biden would be the oldest nominee to ever be inaugurated if he ’ s elected in November .
He has said that he ’ s looking for a running @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country “ the day after they ’ re picked.
” And there is one area where some experts think Biden ’ s pick could matter : A woman of color as vice president would boost the excitement around the ticket in a way that builds on Biden ’ s established base .
“ Biden may have existing support , but he lacks enthusiasm , ” says Aimee Allison , founder of She the People .
“ He won ’ t win unless women of color are inspired to organize our communities to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will just be a repeat of 2016.
” As previously noted , Clinton also had strong support among black voters , besting Biden ’ s numbers in South Carolina , though she still saw dips in turnout during the general election .
For now , Biden ’ s choice for vice president remains an open question .
Regardless of who he chooses , the role will have massive implications : It will be a huge platform for whoever is picked , but it will also put them in the difficult position of having @ @ @ @ @ @ @ range of issues — including the sexual assault allegation that ’ s been levied against him .
The Biden campaign has said this allegation is “ false , ” but as Rebecca Traister wrote in The Cut , whoever is selected as his running mate will likely be asked to answer for this as well .
According to a FiveThirtyEight analysis of the timing around past vice presidential decisions , Biden likely won ’ t announce his pick until early summer .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 , videos , and podcasts at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

As former Vice President Joe Biden’s search for a running mate heats up, the pressure is growing on him to pick a black woman for the role.
“I certainly agree with my colleagues who have said a woman of color, but specifically an African-American woman,” Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) told CBS News. “Knowing the support that we have always given to this party. We have carried this party for as long as I can remember.”
Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, one of the women vying for the job, laid out this call explicitly in an interview last week as well: “We need a ticket that reflects the diversity of America,” she said.
There are several reasons Democrats are making this push: There’s a desire for more representation on the presidential ticket, a sense that Biden owes much of his success in the primary to the support of black voters, and the possibility that a black running mate could help spur higher turnout in November.
But not everyone is convinced: Historically, vice presidential picks have not had a major impact on the electoral outcomes in presidential races, and some think Biden already has strong support from black voters and needs to ramp up outreach in other ways.
There are questions, too, about how desirable the post may be for some of the Democratic Party’s most celebrated women, given the bind they face when it comes to allegations of sexual assault that have been brought against Biden by former Senate staffer Tara Reade. (The campaign has denied these allegations.)
Biden, a 77-year-old white man, emerged with the presumptive nomination from the most diverse field of candidates the Democratic Party has ever seen, and his ultimate choice of running mate will send a clear message: It says something not just about his strategy for the general election but about what the future of the party could look like.
“We started out the Democratic primary process with the most diverse contenders in our nation’s history and that says something about the appetite of the electorate and our interest in diverse leadership,” said Glynda Carr, the president of Higher Heights, an organization dedicated to supporting black women running for office.
The case that some Democrats are making for choosing a black woman, briefly explained
There are several reasons experts have cited for Biden to choose a black woman as vice president: Doing so would acknowledge the range of voices in the party, give a nod to how black voters helped boost him in the primary — particularly in the critical state of South Carolina — and inspire greater voter turnout.
Some of the top names that have been circulated include Abrams, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Rep. Val Demings (D-FL).
Research suggests that vice presidential picks haven’t had an explicit impact on electoral outcomes in the past, but a couple of factors make this cycle different: Because of Biden’s age and the possibility that he may not pursue a second term, his choice of running mate has taken on greater importance.
The potential impact that a vice presidential pick could have on increasing black voter turnout, especially, is seen as a major argument to run a more diverse ticket.
“The strategic considerations that might impel Biden to pick a black running mate would be driven by the abysmal turnout among registered black voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania in 2016,” Columbia political science professor Donald Green tells Vox.
To Green’s point, the turnout rate among black voters was notably different between 2012 and 2016. In 2016, when Hillary Clinton was the Democratic nominee, 59.6 percent of black voters turned out nationally. Meanwhile, in 2012, when Barack Obama was running for reelection, 66.6 percent of black voters did.
Across key battleground states including Michigan and Wisconsin, turnout rates dipped among black voters between the two cycles as well.
President Barack Obama’s groundbreaking candidacy in 2008 and 2012 was viewed as a significant reason for higher black voter turnout in both cycles — and the historic choice of a black woman as vice president could possibly lead to a similar uptick.
“It would be good to have a woman that looks like the rest of America: smart, gifted, a fighter, a warrior”
“Many have questioned what the Democratic Party could do to return the electorate to the levels of turnout we saw in the 2008 election,” said Howard University political science professor Keneshia Grant. “I believe selecting a black woman to be the vice presidential nominee for the Democratic Party would do just that.”
According to the Niskanen Center’s Rachel Bitecofer, increased turnout from both voters of color and younger voters will be central to Biden’s efforts to defeat Trump. Given how close the final outcome was in 2016, higher turnout from black voters in these battleground states could ultimately make the difference.
Some Democrats want a candidate who’s been tested in the Midwest
There are other camps, however, pulling for a vice presidential pick who’s shown that they can perform well in certain battleground states, like in the Midwest. Although there’s no evidence to suggest that a candidate of color wouldn’t do as well in this region, some of the top names that have been floated in this context are white.
Those interested in a candidate with Midwestern experience, as Politico reports, lean more toward backing running mates like Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) or Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who’ve already demonstrated that they can win in Minnesota and Michigan. Prominent progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has also been talked about as a high-profile running mate who could help Biden further establish his bona fides with the more liberal wing of the party.
When it comes to the voter bases he needs to reach, Biden has already performed strongly with black voters so there’s an open question of how much a black running mate would help him expand on this strength. In South Carolina, for example, 61 percent of black voters backed him in the Democratic primary.
Experts caution, however, that such support shouldn’t be conflated with enthusiasm for his candidacy. As Bitecofer emphasizes, black voters were also closely aligned with Hillary Clinton in 2016 but turnout was down because enthusiasm for the ticket was down.
Biden’s commitment to choosing a vice president based on gender — and the push for him to do so based on race — has led some critics to argue that he’s playing into identity politics in a way that obscures individual qualifications.
In the past, some Democrats have said that appealing to voters with “identity politics” around gender and race is not always effective and that doing so could push away swing voters. But there is nothing to suggest that the focus on a more representative candidate and one who’s qualified for the role are mutually exclusive.
Vice presidential picks historically haven’t mattered much, but this cycle could be different
An important caveat to all this is that vice presidential picks haven’t historically had a notable impact on the final electoral outcome, barring some specific exceptions.
As Vox’s Ella Nilsen reported, the research suggests that many voters don’t weigh the vice presidential pick that heavily in their final decision:
[Elizabethtown College’s Kyle Kopko] and [University of Dayton’s Chris Devine] analyzed election and voter data going back more than 100 years, and found vice presidential candidates usually only make a difference to the outcome of a general election when they are either very popular or very polarizing. The Wall Street Journal in 2016 also analyzed years of election data and found that even when a vice presidential pick was viewed favorably by voters in their party, a majority of voters ultimately said the VP pick ultimately had no measurable impact on their vote for president.
The idea that Whitmer or Klobuchar could deliver their home states is thin as well, according to Devine and Kopko, who have for years studied the impact of vice presidential choices.
“We’re pretty skeptical of the home-state advantage too,” Kopko told Nilsen in a recent interview. “You have to make a lot of assumptions that someone’s going to feel so strongly about their home state, that’s going to override any partisan predispositions.”
At 78, Biden would be the oldest nominee to ever be inaugurated if he’s elected in November. He has said that he’s looking for a running mate who is able to lead the country “the day after they’re picked.” And there is one area where some experts think Biden’s pick could matter: A woman of color as vice president would boost the excitement around the ticket in a way that builds on Biden’s established base.
“Biden may have existing support, but he lacks enthusiasm,” says Aimee Allison, founder of She the People. “He won’t win unless women of color are inspired to organize our communities to get out the vote. Otherwise, this will just be a repeat of 2016.”
As previously noted, Clinton also had strong support among black voters, besting Biden’s numbers in South Carolina, though she still saw dips in turnout during the general election.
For now, Biden’s choice for vice president remains an open question. Regardless of who he chooses, the role will have massive implications: It will be a huge platform for whoever is picked, but it will also put them in the difficult position of having to align themselves with Biden on a range of issues — including the sexual assault allegation that’s been levied against him.
The Biden campaign has said this allegation is “false,” but as Rebecca Traister wrote in The Cut, whoever is selected as his running mate will likely be asked to answer for this as well.
According to a FiveThirtyEight analysis of the timing around past vice presidential decisions, Biden likely won’t announce his pick until early summer.


vox--2020-05-01--Mail has never been more important. Here’s what it’s like to be a postal worker now.

In some ways , Harry says , delivering the mail has never been easier .
The streets are empty , and traffic is at an all-time low .
It ’ s hard to navigate a clunky mail truck around New York ’ s chaotic surface streets , but now , Harry never has to worry about rush hour or pedestrians or double-parking on Bedford Avenue .
It ’ d be perfect , if it wasn ’ t for the lingering knowledge of why everyone is inside .
Harry , who asked that Vox withhold his name for privacy reasons , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ front lines of the coronavirus .
Courier services — including the US Postal Service — are essential to keeping society afloat during the unprecedented stay-at-home orders we ’ re all living through , and Harry tells me he ’ s been loading up his truck with enough packages to make it feel like Christmas in May .
While many stores are closed , Americans no longer want to risk a trip to the few that are open , so everyday items like toothpaste and toilet paper are being ordered through the post more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ persists through the summer , Harry might be asked to process mail-in electoral ballots .
The USPS will bear the brunt of American democracy for the first time in US history .
It ’ s a double-edged sword .
Harry obviously doesn ’ t want to expose himself to the virus , but he ’ s also started to take added pride in his job .
Stimulus checks just started going out in the mail , and civilians need to receive them .
Harry is also well aware of the pressures this economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an institution .
It was already struggling financially before the pandemic , and if the slowdown continues , officials warn that the post office will effectively “ run out of cash ” in September , putting 630,000 jobs at risk .
Republican lawmakers have long resisted bailing out the USPS due to an ideological preference for a privatized mail-delivery system , as well as President Donald Trump ’ s unyielding vitriol toward Jeff Bezos and the favorable rates it offers Amazon .
If the USPS were to collapse , it would be devastating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 14.5 million people in rural areas don ’ t have broadband internet access , 18 percent of Americans still pay their bills by mail , and more than half the people who get their medicine delivered are over the age of 65 .
Harry has a hard time imagining the Trump administration liquidating the postal service , but in his words , “ Never say never.
” Our conversation , lightly edited for length and clarity , follows .
When did the coronavirus start to impact your job ?
I work in New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and governor started talking about shelter in place , that ’ s when it started getting weird for us .
Once they shut down the schools , they had to provide leave for workers who needed to take care of their kids at home .
A lot of our employees don ’ t have a babysitter at home .
They relied on the school system to watch their kids .
So as far as staffing goes , we ’ ve lost about 50 percent of our workforce at that point .
It got @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into , like , 14-hour days .
Just because of the understaffing ?
Yeah , just staffing .
The operations still need to happen , but we just don ’ t have the staffing to get it done .
Oh yeah , a 12-hour shift is normal .
Twelve hours a day , six days a week — but we ’ re getting paid overtime .
It seems to me that some people in the USPS are frustrated by these crazy shifts , and others are enjoying the extra money .
Where do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s good money .
It could be worse .
There are people who have lost their jobs and are facing unemployment .
It ’ s been tiring , but I ’ m thankful for what I have .
Have you noticed a difference in the physical act of delivering packages since the coronavirus has picked up ?
I used to hand over a package to a customer , no problem .
Now more and more of them are saying , “ It ’ s okay , just leave it outside.
” That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ d rather not interact with them , because you never know .
Have people been more grateful for you when you ’ re out on your routes lately ?
People do say thank you .
They ’ re appreciative .
Someone gave me a handmade card [ thanking me for my service . ]
It was a rough couple of weeks , and when I got that , it was really touching .
It ’ s the little things .
It was a little pick-me-up .
Is there anything about this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that has given you a greater sense of duty ?
I think so .
More so now than before .
People are relying on us for medicine .
...
The stimulus checks are going out .
There ’ s more of a sense of urgency now than there was on a normal spring afternoon .
Are there fewer cars on the street ?
“ There ’ s a lot fewer cars on the road .
It ’ s bittersweet , because you know why people are home.
” Yeah , there ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot fewer cars on the road .
It ’ s bittersweet , because you know why people are home .
It ’ s great for driving , but it sucks that they ’ re stuck at home .
Has the amount of packages you ’ re delivering changed at all ?
Volume has gone up .
People are ordering essentials from Amazon and Target or whatever .
It feels like Christmas , it really does .
Normally springtime is our lighter season .
But now it feels like it ’ s November and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ post office is in the news right now , as the Trump administration has refused to commit to a bailout for the USPS .
What has been the buzz around your peers ?
Is there any fear that the infrastructure could collapse ?
Currently , our main financial goal comes with the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act , [ which mandated the agency to pre-fund pensions for workers . ]
There ’ s talk about relieving that in some ways , but in terms of sentiment , I ’ m not sure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I see it .
You know what I mean ?
It ’ s one of those things that sounds nice .
Are you surprised at all that there has been an ambivalence toward the postal service from the Trump administration during this time of crisis ?
No , this has been going on for a while .
It does feel like the GOP doesn ’ t care as much .
But there are people on the other side of the aisle that do fight for us .
The idea that the postal service @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can you imagine that ?
Are you at all worried ?
Never say never , anything is possible .
This machine has gone on for more than 150 years , but anything is possible .
Things could be worse .
It doesn ’ t feel viable right now .
People rely on us to get their medicine and their packages .
It doesn ’ t seem like something that would happen tomorrow .
But again , never say never .
Sign up for The Goods newsletter .
Twice a week , we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exploring what we buy , why we buy it , and why it matters .
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 resources — particularly during a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 .

In some ways, Harry says, delivering the mail has never been easier. The streets are empty, and traffic is at an all-time low. It’s hard to navigate a clunky mail truck around New York’s chaotic surface streets, but now, Harry never has to worry about rush hour or pedestrians or double-parking on Bedford Avenue. It’d be perfect, if it wasn’t for the lingering knowledge of why everyone is inside.
Harry, who asked that Vox withhold his name for privacy reasons, is one of the workers on the front lines of the coronavirus. Courier services — including the US Postal Service — are essential to keeping society afloat during the unprecedented stay-at-home orders we’re all living through, and Harry tells me he’s been loading up his truck with enough packages to make it feel like Christmas in May. While many stores are closed, Americans no longer want to risk a trip to the few that are open, so everyday items like toothpaste and toilet paper are being ordered through the post more than ever before. If the quarantine persists through the summer, Harry might be asked to process mail-in electoral ballots. The USPS will bear the brunt of American democracy for the first time in US history.
It’s a double-edged sword. Harry obviously doesn’t want to expose himself to the virus, but he’s also started to take added pride in his job. Stimulus checks just started going out in the mail, and civilians need to receive them.
Harry is also well aware of the pressures this economic downturn has had on the USPS as an institution. It was already struggling financially before the pandemic, and if the slowdown continues, officials warn that the post office will effectively “run out of cash” in September, putting 630,000 jobs at risk. Republican lawmakers have long resisted bailing out the USPS due to an ideological preference for a privatized mail-delivery system, as well as President Donald Trump’s unyielding vitriol toward Jeff Bezos and the favorable rates it offers Amazon.
If the USPS were to collapse, it would be devastating for large swathes of rural America: 14.5 million people in rural areas don’t have broadband internet access, 18 percent of Americans still pay their bills by mail, and more than half the people who get their medicine delivered are over the age of 65. Harry has a hard time imagining the Trump administration liquidating the postal service, but in his words, “Never say never.” Our conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows.
When did the coronavirus start to impact your job?
“Normal eight-hour days turned into, like, 14-hour days.”
I work in New York City, so once the mayor and governor started talking about shelter in place, that’s when it started getting weird for us. Once they shut down the schools, they had to provide leave for workers who needed to take care of their kids at home. A lot of our employees don’t have a babysitter at home. They relied on the school system to watch their kids. So as far as staffing goes, we’ve lost about 50 percent of our workforce at that point. It got really weird. Normal eight-hour days turned into, like, 14-hour days.
Just because of the understaffing?
Yeah, just staffing. The operations still need to happen, but we just don’t have the staffing to get it done.
So you’re routinely working 12- to 14-hour days?
Oh yeah, a 12-hour shift is normal. Twelve hours a day, six days a week — but we’re getting paid overtime.
It seems to me that some people in the USPS are frustrated by these crazy shifts, and others are enjoying the extra money. Where do you fall on that scale?
It’s good money. It could be worse. There are people who have lost their jobs and are facing unemployment. It’s been tiring, but I’m thankful for what I have.
Have you noticed a difference in the physical act of delivering packages since the coronavirus has picked up?
I used to hand over a package to a customer, no problem. Now more and more of them are saying, “It’s okay, just leave it outside.” That’s for me, too. I’d rather not interact with them, because you never know.
Have people been more grateful for you when you’re out on your routes lately?
People do say thank you. They’re appreciative. Someone gave me a handmade card [thanking me for my service.] It was a rough couple of weeks, and when I got that, it was really touching. It’s the little things. It was a little pick-me-up.
Is there anything about this moment, being deemed an essential worker, that has given you a greater sense of duty?
I think so. More so now than before. People are relying on us for medicine. ... The stimulus checks are going out. There’s more of a sense of urgency now than there was on a normal spring afternoon.
Are there fewer cars on the street?
“There’s a lot fewer cars on the road. It’s bittersweet, because you know why people are home.”
Yeah, there’s a lot less traffic and a lot fewer cars on the road. It’s bittersweet, because you know why people are home. It’s great for driving, but it sucks that they’re stuck at home.
Has the amount of packages you’re delivering changed at all?
Volume has gone up. People are ordering essentials from Amazon and Target or whatever. It feels like Christmas, it really does. Normally springtime is our lighter season. But now it feels like it’s November and December in terms of volume.
The post office is in the news right now, as the Trump administration has refused to commit to a bailout for the USPS. What has been the buzz around your peers? Is there any fear that the infrastructure could collapse?
Currently, our main financial goal comes with the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, [which mandated the agency to pre-fund pensions for workers.] There’s talk about relieving that in some ways, but in terms of sentiment, I’m not sure. I’ll believe it when I see it. You know what I mean? It’s one of those things that sounds nice.
Are you surprised at all that there has been an ambivalence toward the postal service from the Trump administration during this time of crisis?
No, this has been going on for a while. It does feel like the GOP doesn’t care as much. But there are people on the other side of the aisle that do fight for us.
The idea that the postal service would collapse is almost unthinkable, but can you imagine that? Are you at all worried?
Never say never, anything is possible. This machine has gone on for more than 150 years, but anything is possible.
Things could be worse. It doesn’t feel viable right now. People rely on us to get their medicine and their packages. It doesn’t seem like something that would happen tomorrow. But again, never say never.
Sign up for The Goods newsletter. Twice a week, we’ll send you the best Goods stories exploring what we buy, why we buy it, and why it matters.


vox--2020-05-01--Kim Jong Un is alive. And he’s ... at a fertilizer factory.

Well , it looks like North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un isn ’ t dead after all .
For the last 21 days , the world has been wondering where Kim Jong Un is and if he ’ s even alive .
Kim hadn ’ t been seen publicly since April 11 .
He missed a really important national holiday on April 15 honoring his grandfather , the country ’ s founder .
State-run media didn ’ t publish any photos of a recent weapons test , which typically show the leader watching in approval .
And official statements from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comments from Kim himself .
All of that led to rampant media speculation that the 36-year-old Kim was recovering from major surgery , or gravely ill , or dead , and a flurry of activity by United States intelligence to figure out what , if anything , is really going on .
But it turns out he ’ s alive .
On Friday , North Korean state radio reported that the Dear Respected Supreme Leader had participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of a new fertilizer plant .
About two hours @ @ @ @ @ @ @ started to surface .
So , mystery solved — well , sort of .
We still have no idea where he ’ s been for the last 21 days .
And it ’ s entirely likely we won ’ t ever know the answer to that second mystery .
Kim has disappeared before — and we still don ’ t know why As North Korea expert Rachel Minyoung Lee wrote for the New York Times on Friday , “ This year alone , Mr. Kim disappeared for 21 days between Jan. 26 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between March 22 and April 10.
” And in 2014 , Kim wasn ’ t seen in public for five weeks , during which he missed a major holiday commemorating the founding of the ruling party .
At the time , speculation about why he was absent ranged from him nursing a hangover , suffering from gout , or having been overthrown in a coup .
When he finally reemerged , there was no confirmed explanation of where he ’ d been .
And , even more mysterious , he showed up walking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he ’ d been recovering from some sort of health issue .
Kim is believed to be in poor health : He ’ s a chain smoker , he ’ s obese , and he may suffer from gout .
During this latest disappearance , there were unconfirmed reports that he ’ d undergone heart surgery and was recuperating — and perhaps that he was gravely ill due to complications from the surgery .
But it ’ s going to be near impossible to confirm that information , as Kim ’ s health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ secrets in the country .
Instead , Kim almost surely wants to change the subject , and showing up at a fertilizer plant as if nothing happened is one way to do just that .
So maybe Kim was sick , or maybe he was just enjoying a little vacation at his oceanside resort .
Whatever the reason , he ’ s back now .
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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 Vox today @

Well, it looks like North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un isn’t dead after all.
In fact, he’s, uh, at a fertilizer factory.
For the last 21 days, the world has been wondering where Kim Jong Un is and if he’s even alive. Kim hadn’t been seen publicly since April 11. He missed a really important national holiday on April 15 honoring his grandfather, the country’s founder. State-run media didn’t publish any photos of a recent weapons test, which typically show the leader watching in approval. And official statements from the country have curiously lacked any direct comments from Kim himself.
All of that led to rampant media speculation that the 36-year-old Kim was recovering from major surgery, or gravely ill, or dead, and a flurry of activity by United States intelligence to figure out what, if anything, is really going on.
But it turns out he’s alive. On Friday, North Korean state radio reported the Dear Respected Supreme Leader had participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of a new fertilizer plant. About two hours later, the first photos of Kim started to surface.
JUST IN: Photos of Kim Jong Un opening a fertilizer factory in Sunchon on May 1, according to KCNA. pic.twitter.com/jaLjjFk55K — Martyn Williams (@martyn_williams) May 1, 2020
So, mystery solved — well, sort of. We still have no idea where he’s been for the last 21 days.
And it’s entirely likely we won’t ever know the answer to that second mystery.
KCNA announcement on the Sunchon plant opening: the “production base of Juche fertilizer”. pic.twitter.com/aDhJz7TG8i — Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) May 1, 2020
Kim has disappeared before — and we still don’t know why
As North Korea expert Rachel Minyoung Lee wrote for the New York Times on Friday, “This year alone, Mr. Kim disappeared for 21 days between Jan. 26 and Feb. 16, and for 19 days between March 22 and April 10.”
And in 2014, Kim wasn’t seen in public for five weeks, during which he missed a major holiday commemorating the founding of the ruling party. At the time, speculation about why he was absent ranged from him nursing a hangover, suffering from gout, or having been overthrown in a coup.
When he finally reemerged, there was no confirmed explanation of where he’d been. And, even more mysterious, he showed up walking with a cane — leading to speculation he’d been recovering from some sort of health issue.
Kim is believed to be in poor health: He’s a chain smoker, he’s obese, and he may suffer from gout. During this latest disappearance, there were unconfirmed reports that he’d undergone heart surgery and was recuperating — and perhaps that he was gravely ill due to complications from the surgery.
But it’s going to be near impossible to confirm that information, as Kim’s health is one of the most jealously guarded secrets in the country. Instead, Kim almost surely wants to change the subject, and showing up at a fertilizer plant as if nothing happened is one way to do just that.
So maybe Kim was sick, or maybe he was just enjoying a little vacation at his oceanside resort. Whatever the reason, he’s back now.