vox--2020-12-08--How Biden’s FCC could fix America’s internet

When Joe Biden is inaugurated as president on January 20 , he stands to oversee a Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) that could do remarkable things .
Among other things , the new FCC could bridge the digital divide , ensuring all Americans have access to the internet .
But even though Biden ’ s victory is assured , how much his FCC will be able to do — or if it ’ ll have the Democratic majority likely necessary to do it — hangs in the balance .
The Trump administration ’ s FCC has had a particular @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chairman Ajit Pai , the agency has pushed to deregulate the industries under its purview and , in turn , to create a business-friendly environment with few rules , little accountability , and minimal oversight for some of the biggest and most powerful companies in the world .
In the months and years to come , the FCC is likely to reverse some of those policies , especially Pai ’ s most controversial decision : repealing net neutrality , a policy that required internet service providers to treat all types of internet traffic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in as many homes as possible during the pandemic is many Democrats ’ most urgent goal , and one they feel the Trump administration failed to accomplish .
“ Because the Trump FCC failed to meaningfully address the digital divide , tens of millions of Americans still lack high-speed internet , ” Rep. Anna Eshoo ( D-CA ) told Recode .
“ This worsens the impacts of the pandemic , and the Biden administration has to take this head-on.
” She added : “ Every person in our country must have high-speed internet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for too long to expand access to rural and tribal areas , and too many urban communities can ’ t afford broadband.
” The Biden administration ’ s FCC can aid this effort by making the internet more affordable and accessible .
This could involve providing more subsidies to lower-income people , continuing its work increasing broadband access , and opening up more radio frequency bands for high-speed 5G networks in order to bring the United States to the level of its peers .
The agency is also poised to restore net neutrality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ II service , which would give the FCC more authority over carriers .
Under the Biden administration , the agency will also probably let Trump ’ s anti-social media Section 230 rulemaking mission die .
With these goals in mind , Biden will get to pick a new FCC chair , who will do much to set the agency ’ s agenda .
But he will also inherit an FCC gridlocked at two Republican commissioners and two Democrats , with an open seat that might be difficult to fill if the Republicans maintain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Senate likely will also refuse to vote on laws that could provide funding needed for Democrat-chaired FCC initiatives .
Experts and FCC insiders told Recode they foresee a Biden FCC that goes back to trying to govern and reclaims some of the authority it ceded under Trump .
And the FCC ’ s glass ceiling may finally break with the first chairwoman in its 86-year history .
Where the FCC is now The legacy of Pai ’ s FCC will be a “ light-touch ” approach and mass scale deregulation .
Proponents say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opponents argue that it favors businesses at the expense of consumers .
While Pai ’ s FCC has made an effort to bring broadband internet to rural and tribal communities — which overwhelmingly benefits red states — it hasn ’ t done much to make those services affordable to lower-income people .
“ We still don ’ t really know what the results of [ Pai ’ s ] multi-billions of dollars to rural internet service providers will be , ” Gigi Sohn , a distinguished fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Technology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ member of the FCC during the Obama administration , told Recode .
“ I hope it results in a lot more people being connected , but that ’ s the smallest part of the digital divide .
The biggest part of the digital divide is affordability .
He never talks about that.
” Much to the consternation of many Democrats , including the FCC ’ s Democratic commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks , the agency has dragged its feet on updating programs like E-Rate and Lifeline that could help people afford increasingly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pai will perhaps best be remembered for repealing the Obama-era ’ s net neutrality decision , which he vehemently opposed as a minority party commissioner .
When Trump took office and promoted Pai to chair , he immediately set about undoing that decision .
Under Chairman Tom Wheeler , the Obama FCC had classified broadband internet as a Title II service , subjecting it to increased oversight and establishing internet service as a necessary utility for Americans .
This meant internet access would no longer be treated as a luxury , like cable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like telephone service .
Pai ’ s FCC reclassified broadband as a Title I service which was largely under the purview of the Federal Trade Commission .
This was perhaps one of the most controversial decisions in the FCC ’ s history , seen by its opponents as a gift to internet service providers that could now charge consumers more for accessing certain sites or using different internet services .
Pai framed it as “ restoring internet freedom ” and encouraging internet service providers to pour more money into extending their reach across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ burdensome regulations that would cut into their bottom line .
Pai ’ s order was protested by millions of Americans , in person and online .
Meanwhile , millions of comments supporting the end of net neutrality were determined to be fake .
So that ’ s how Pai ’ s FCC began .
Here ’ s how it ’ s going : Pai recently announced that he will be packing up his trademark giant mug and leaving the FCC when Biden takes office , so his reign will likely end , ironically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more regulation through Section 230 , a 25-year-old law that lets websites moderate third-party content as they see fit without being liable for that content ( with a few exceptions ) .
Simply put , you can sue a Twitter user if they tweet something defamatory about you , but you can ’ t sue Twitter .
This is what allows websites that rely on user-generated content to exist .
Trump hoped to weaponize the FCC , a supposedly independent agency that has become increasingly partisan in recent years , against social media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by making rules that could remove their Section 230 protections .
Repealing or significantly changing Section 230 has become Trump and his surrogates ’ rallying cry in the latter half of his one-term presidency .
But Republican lawmakers ’ bills that would change Section 230 to force platforms to be “ politically neutral ” in their moderation or make their moderation rules more transparent and clear to users have so far come to nothing .
An executive order Trump issued in late May attempted to circumvent the legislative process by asking the FCC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can and can not moderate if they want to keep their Section 230 protections .
Some scoffed at this authority , arguing that it was both wrong and in direct conflict with Pai ’ s reasoning behind repealing the Obama-era ’ s net neutrality rules .
In effect , Pai ’ s willingness to accede to Trump ’ s demands over Section 230 means his tenure , once defined by the desire to impose as few rules as possible on private businesses , will likely end with a failed attempt to introduce more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the world .
Rosenworcel and Starks have publicly stated that they do not think the FCC should play a role in Section 230 , and this opinion seems to be shared by Democratic lawmakers .
While Biden expressed a desire to revoke Section 230 to the New York Times in January — an opinion that a campaign spokesperson told Recode he hasn ’ t changed — he has yet to follow that up with any proposed action to do so , and Section 230 is not likely to be a major priority @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump FCC could still try to get something done with Section 230 before the administration changes hands — and , with the confirmation of a third Republican commissioner in Nathan Simington , has the majority needed to do it .
But it only has a thin window of time before Pai leaves , which will then keep the FCC gridlocked at 2-2 until the Senate confirms whoever Biden nominates to be the fifth commissioner .
And House Democrats have also asked the FCC to stop any work on controversial items .
This request @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump won the election , and it was followed .
At the time , then-commissioner Pai issued a statement supporting the pause , so it would be hypocritical for him to forge ahead with the controversial Section 230 business .
Wheeler , who was the FCC chair during Obama ’ s second term , said he would be disappointed in Pai if he refused to honor the Democrats ’ request but not necessarily surprised : “ It wouldn ’ t be beyond the way that the Trump administration has been operating : ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Who will be on the FCC when Biden takes office The FCC can only have three commissioners from the same political party and currently has a 3-2 majority of Republicans .
Michael O ’ Rielly , a Republican commissioner nominated by Obama , finished his first full term in July 2019 and was nominated by Trump to serve a second term , only for Trump to rescinded the nomination after O ’ Rielly stated that he didn ’ t think the FCC should regulate Section 230 .
Trump then nominated National Telecommunications @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adviser Nathan Simington , who assisted in carrying out Trump ’ s anti-Section 230 executive order and is seen as a Trump loyalist .
At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee , Simington wouldn ’ t commit to supporting Democratic initiatives like expanding the E-Rate program , which provides discounted internet access to schools and libraries , into homes that have become classrooms during the pandemic .
Sen. Richard Blumenthal ( D-CT ) has been an especially vocal opponent of Simington , in part because of his association with Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before the Senate vote to confirm Simington , Blumenthal said the nominee was “ dangerous ” to any FCC efforts to make broadband internet more accessible and affordable for millions of students who need it and that he was appointed by Trump solely to fulfill the president ’ s vendetta against social media companies .
The only reason for the Senate to confirm Simington now , Blumenthal said , would be to undermine the incoming Biden administration , at the cost of precedent and the agency ’ s perceived independence .
It didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ confirmation was rushed through the Senate on Tuesday and he was approved along party lines for a five-year term , backdated to July 1 , 2019 ( when O ’ Rielly ’ s term officially ended ) .
So he ’ ll be around for a while .
There is also the question of who Biden will select as the FCC ’ s new chair .
Many believe that Biden will appoint a woman here , as the FCC has never had a chairwoman in its 86-year history ( unless you count Mignon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months in 2013 ) .
Clyburn and Rosenworcel have been circulated as likely choices here .
Both have FCC experience and both have championed broadband affordability and expanding the Lifeline program , which subsidizes phone bills for low-income people , to include broadband internet .
But Clyburn seems to have moved on from her time at the FCC , which ended in 2018 .
She joined the boards of Lionsgate in July and RingCentral , a cloud communications provider , in November .
The Senate would also have to confirm Clyburn , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ refuse to do so .
That could be a point in Rosenworcel ’ s favor , since she doesn ’ t have to be confirmed .
Rosenworcel has long advocated for FCC measures to close what she calls the “ homework gap ” between students who have access to reliable high-speed internet to do their schoolwork at home and students who don ’ t .
That gap has never been more apparent or destructive than during the pandemic .
“ Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is brilliant and effective , and possesses a broad and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Rep. Eshoo said in an email .
“ Hands down , she ’ s my # 1 choice for Chairwoman of the FCC .
She would hit the ground running from Day One.
” Of course , it ’ s also entirely possible that Biden nominates someone else — perhaps even someone completely unexpected — to head up the FCC .
Clinton-era FCC chair Reed Hundt , for example , was unknown and had very little to no telecommunications experience before he was appointed .
He was , however , Vice President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I know that a whole bunch of people want it , ” Wheeler said .
“ The fact of the matter is that Joe Biden ’ s been around this town for 47 years .
He knows a lot of people , and it doesn ’ t have to be the usual suspects.
” What the FCC will do Having a Democratic majority will make it significantly easier for whoever becomes the new FCC chair to accomplish their vision .
But even without that advantage , there are ways to get things @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lot you can do because the chair controls the bureau and the offices , ” Harold Feld , senior vice president at open internet advocacy group Public Knowledge , told Recode .
“ And you can do a lot on what ’ s called delegated authority .
… The chairman is not toothless in terms of the ability to use the power of the FCC.
” What ’ s pretty clear is that a Biden FCC will want to do as much as possible to address the digital divide .
Broadband affordability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Along with expanding E-Rate and Lifeline programs and continuing work to increase access in rural and tribal areas , expect a Biden FCC to reverse the net neutrality repeal and reclassify broadband internet as a Title II service under the Communications Act .
This would subject broadband internet carriers to the same increased oversight and rate regulations that phone companies have .
So , where Pai had to ask companies not to cut off homes or businesses from the internet if they couldn ’ t pay their bills during the pandemic and to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of which are up for debate ) , an FCC that classified broadband as a Title II carrier would have more leverage to require it .
There is also one possible privacy benefit if internet service providers become Title II carriers , as Wheeler pointed out .
Under Title II , the FCC was able to establish the authority to require ISPs to get consumers ’ permission before sharing certain information about their internet lives , including browsing history , location , and email contents .
This was seen as a big win @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the new FCC will find a way to restore those privacy protections .
The Biden FCC will also have to help facilitate the spread of 5G across the country and will be responsible for freeing up more bands in the spectrum to provide it .
Increased 5G access would give more Americans access to higher internet speeds in more places , which has become a priority during the pandemic .
While the current FCC is already working on this effort , some think the Biden administration will promote the inter-agency cooperation necessary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump administration , different agencies fought over spectrum , which held back efforts to open up more bands and expand 5G ’ s potential .
“ The way that Trump ran things was to set everybody against each other , ” Feld explained .
“ It has become much more of a problem in that federal agencies have now just increasingly said ‘ no ’ to the FCC .
...
It ’ s critically important that a Biden administration takes steps to smooth this over.
” All this said , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Biden administration can do , especially when it comes to this already atypical transition process .
The uncertainty regarding the new FCC even extends now to when and if the Biden transition team will get access to the FCC , or if the Trump administration will hold out for as long as possible just to make life difficult for the Biden team .
Given the issues on the table — bridging the digital divide , restoring net neutrality , and expanding 5G — any delay in getting the new FCC running would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American people .
But there will be a new FCC eventually .
“ It ’ s gon na be interesting , ” Wheeler said .
“ This will be a great time to be chairman of the FCC.
” Open Sourced is made possible by Omidyar Network .
All Open Sourced content is editorially independent and produced by our journalists .

President Biden has named Jessica Rosenworcel as the acting chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Rosenworcel, a two-term commissioner who has championed closing the digital divide, restoring net neutrality, and women (she even has a podcast where she talks to women in various communications fields). She’ll head up a divided FCC with two Democrats and two Trump-loyalist Republicans — at least until whoever Biden picks to be the third Democratic commissioner is confirmed.
That pick may well be the permanent chair. Typically, the new president brings in someone new to be the FCC chair, but it’s not unprecedented for an acting chair to get the permanent spot. Trump did just that with Ajit Pai, who was a commissioner before being named as chair. Rosenworcel, an Obama appointee, is seen as a contender for the top job, and she has supporters.
“Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is brilliant and effective, and possesses a broad and deep knowledge of all things FCC,” Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) told Recode in November. “Hands down, she’s my No. 1 choice for chairwoman of the FCC. She would hit the ground running from day one.”
Biden’s FCC has the potential to do remarkable things after four years of the business-friendly “light-touch” approach that defined Trump’s FCC, such as making the internet more accessible and affordable for everyone. And with a Democratic majority in the Senate, it’s more likely than ever that the president will be able to appoint a third Democratic member to pass some of those measures.
Under Pai’s leadership, the FCC pushed to deregulate the industries under its purview. This meant there were few rules, little accountability, and minimal oversight for some of the biggest and most powerful companies in the world. But in the months and years to come, the FCC is likely to reverse some of those policies, especially Pai’s most controversial decision: repealing net neutrality, a policy that required internet service providers to treat all types of internet traffic the same.
Getting broadband internet in as many homes as possible during the pandemic is many Democrats’ most urgent goal. It’s also something they feel the Trump administration failed to accomplish.
“Because the Trump FCC failed to meaningfully address the digital divide, tens of millions of Americans still lack high-speed internet,” Eshoo said. “This worsens the impacts of the pandemic, and the Biden administration has to take this head-on.”
She added: “Every person in our country must have high-speed internet. Period. We’ve failed for too long to expand access to rural and tribal areas, and too many urban communities can’t afford broadband.”
The Biden administration’s FCC can aid this effort by providing more subsidies to lower-income people, continuing its work increasing broadband access, and opening up more radio frequency bands for high-speed 5G networks in order to bring the United States to the level of its peers. The agency is also poised to restore net neutrality and reclassify broadband internet as a Title II service, which would give the FCC more authority over carriers.
Experts and FCC insiders told Recode they foresee a Biden FCC that goes back to trying to govern and reclaims some of the authority it ceded under Trump. And the FCC’s glass ceiling may finally break with its first chairwoman in the agency’s 86-year history.
Where the FCC is now
Pai left the FCC on January 20, the day Biden was sworn in. The legacy of Pai’s FCC will be a “light-touch” approach and mass-scale deregulation. Proponents say this encourages investment and innovation, and opponents argue that it favors businesses at the expense of consumers. While Pai’s FCC made an effort to bring broadband internet to rural and tribal communities — which overwhelmingly benefits red states — it didn’t do much to make those services affordable to lower-income people.
“We still don’t really know what the results of [Pai’s] multibillions of dollars to rural internet service providers will be,” Gigi Sohn, a distinguished fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Technology & Law Policy who was a staff member of the FCC during the Obama administration, told Recode. “I hope it results in a lot more people being connected, but that’s the smallest part of the digital divide. The biggest part of the digital divide is affordability. He never talks about that.”
Much to the consternation of many Democrats, including Rosenworcel and the other Democratic commissioner, Geoffrey Starks, the agency dragged its feet on updating programs like E-Rate and Lifeline that could help people afford increasingly necessary internet services in their homes.
But Pai will perhaps best be remembered for repealing the Obama-era net neutrality decision, which he vehemently opposed as a minority party commissioner. When Trump took office and promoted Pai to chair, he immediately set about undoing that decision. Under Chairman Tom Wheeler, the Obama FCC had classified broadband internet as a Title II service, subjecting it to increased oversight and establishing internet service as a necessary utility for Americans. This meant internet access would no longer be treated as a luxury, like cable television, but rather protected and ensured like telephone service. Pai’s FCC reclassified broadband as a Title I service, which put it largely under the purview of the Federal Trade Commission.
This was perhaps one of the most controversial decisions in the FCC’s history, seen by its opponents as a gift to internet service providers that could now charge consumers more for accessing certain sites or using different internet services. Pai framed it as “restoring internet freedom” and encouraging internet service providers to pour more money into extending their reach across the country without having to worry about burdensome regulations that would cut into their bottom line. Pai’s order was protested by millions of Americans, in person and online. Meanwhile, millions of comments supporting the end of net neutrality were determined to be fake.
So that’s how Pai’s FCC began. Here’s how it ended: Pai’s FCC tenure ended with a half-hearted attempt to introduce more regulation through Section 230, a 25-year-old law that lets websites moderate third-party content as they see fit without being liable for that content (with a few exceptions). Simply put, you can sue a Twitter user if they tweet something defamatory about you, but you can’t sue Twitter. This is what allows websites that rely on user-generated content to exist. Trump hoped to weaponize the FCC, a supposedly independent agency that has become increasingly partisan in recent years, against social media companies that he believes censor conservative speech by making rules that could remove their Section 230 protections.
Repealing or significantly changing Section 230 became Trump and his surrogates’ rallying cry in the latter half of his one-term presidency. But Republican lawmakers’ bills that would change Section 230 to force platforms to be “politically neutral” in their moderation or make their moderation rules more transparent and clear to users came to nothing. An executive order Trump issued in late May 2020 attempted to circumvent the legislative process by asking the FCC to “clarify” what content platforms can and cannot moderate if they want to keep their Section 230 protections.
Some scoffed at this authority, arguing that it was wrong and in direct conflict with Pai’s reasoning behind repealing net neutrality rules. Less than two weeks before his time with the FCC would end — and in full Trump-distancing mode — Pai said he wouldn’t move forward with rule-making on Section 230. Even so, Pai’s willingness to accede to Trump’s demands over Section 230 means his tenure, which was once defined by the desire to impose as few rules as possible on private businesses, ended with a failed attempt to introduce more rules for some of the biggest companies in the world.
Do not expect Biden’s FCC to pick up where Trump’s left off on Section 230. Rosenworcel and Starks have publicly stated that they do not think the FCC should play a role in Section 230, and this opinion seems to be shared by Democratic lawmakers. While Biden expressed a desire to revoke Section 230 to the New York Times in January — an opinion that a campaign spokesperson told Recode he hasn’t changed — he has yet to follow that up with any proposed action to do so, and Section 230 is not likely to be a major priority for the administration anytime soon (Congress, however, might be willing to give the law another look).
Who will be on the FCC when Biden takes office
The FCC can only have three commissioners from the same political party, which leaves one open spot for Biden to fill now. The two Republicans, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, are Trump picks whose terms won’t expire until well into Biden’s presidency, thanks to Simington’s rushed confirmation just a month before Trump left office. Carr and Simington were seen as proponents of Trump’s vision for the FCC, but that doesn’t really mean much now that he’s gone and Democrats have control of the Senate.
That leaves the question of who Biden will select as the FCC’s new permanent chair. Many expect Biden to appoint a woman, as the FCC has never had a chairwoman in its 86-year history and Rosenworcel is now only its second acting chairwoman (Mignon Clyburn was the acting chairwoman for several months in 2013). Clyburn and Rosenworcel have been circulated as likely choices here. Both have FCC experience and both have championed broadband affordability and expanding the Lifeline program, which subsidizes phone bills for low-income people, to include broadband internet.
But Clyburn seems to have moved on from her time at the FCC, which ended in 2018. She joined the board of Lionsgate last July and of RingCentral, a cloud communications provider, last November. Rosenworcel has long advocated for FCC measures to close what she calls the “homework gap” between students who have access to reliable high-speed internet to do their schoolwork at home and students who don’t. That gap has never been more apparent or destructive than during the pandemic.
There’s also Starks, the other Democratic commissioner. He’s a long shot at this point, given that Biden went with Rosenworcel as acting chair. Civil rights advocacy group Color of Change recently rallied for Starks, who is Black, to get the chair, saying in a statement: “The Biden-Harris Administration must ensure that regulatory agencies like the FCC are steered by people who reflect the communities most impacted by the policy decisions they dictate ... As FCC Chair, Starks will be the leader we need to restore essential protections for millions of Black Americans who rely on digital spaces for information and commerce.”
It’s also entirely possible that Biden nominates someone else — perhaps even someone completely unexpected — to head up the FCC. Clinton-era FCC chair Reed Hundt, for example, was unknown and had very little to no telecommunications experience before he was appointed. He was, however, Vice President Al Gore’s college roommate.
“I know that a whole bunch of people want it,” Wheeler, the former FCC chair, told Recode. “The fact of the matter is that Joe Biden’s been around this town for 47 years. He knows a lot of people, and it doesn’t have to be the usual suspects.”
What the FCC will do
It’s pretty clear that the Biden FCC will want to do as much as possible to address the digital divide. Broadband affordability is a major part of this. Along with expanding E-Rate and Lifeline programs and continuing work to increase access in rural and tribal areas, expect a Biden FCC to reverse the net neutrality repeal and reclassify broadband internet as a Title II service under the Communications Act. This would subject broadband internet carriers to the same increased oversight and rate regulations that phone companies have. So, where Pai had to ask companies not to cut off homes or businesses from the internet if they couldn’t pay their bills during the pandemic and to expand their low-income programs (the results of which are up for debate), an FCC that classified broadband as a Title II carrier would have more leverage to require it.
There is also one possible privacy benefit if internet service providers become Title II carriers, as Wheeler pointed out. Under Title II, the FCC was able to establish the authority to require ISPs to get consumers’ permission before sharing certain information about their internet lives, including browsing history, location, and email contents. This was seen as a big win for data privacy, and Wheeler hopes that the new FCC will find a way to restore those privacy protections.
The Biden FCC will also have to help facilitate the spread of 5G across the country and will be responsible for freeing up more bands in the spectrum to provide it. Increased 5G access would give more Americans access to higher internet speeds in more places, which has become a priority during the pandemic. While the current FCC is already working on this effort, some think the Biden administration will promote the interagency cooperation necessary to do it quickly. During the Trump administration, different agencies fought over spectrum, which held back efforts to open up more bands and expand 5G’s potential.
“The way that Trump ran things was to set everybody against each other,” Harold Feld, senior vice president at open internet advocacy group Public Knowledge, told Recode. “It has become much more of a problem in that federal agencies have now just increasingly said ‘no’ to the FCC. ... It’s critically important that a Biden administration takes steps to smooth this over.”
It’s now up to Biden to pick his new commissioner (and possible chair). And in the meantime, it’s on Rosenworcel to set the agency’s agenda. There are still a lot of unknowns, but one thing is almost certain: The light-touch era is over.
“It’s gonna be interesting,” Wheeler said. “This will be a great time to be chairman of the FCC.”
Open Sourced is made possible by Omidyar Network. All Open Sourced content is editorially independent and produced by our journalists.


vox--2020-12-08--Asian American lawmakers want more representation in Biden’s Cabinet

President-elect Joe Biden has said he ’ ll build an administration that “ looks like America , ” but Asian American lawmakers aren ’ t satisfied with what they ’ ve seen of his Cabinet so far .
The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus ( CAPAC ) is urging Biden to increase the Asian American and Pacific Islander representation among Cabinet appointees , a push that the group has been mounting for weeks .
Thus far , Biden has nominated Neera Tanden — who is the president of the Center for American Progress and is of Indian descent — as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Budget .
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is also of both Jamaican and Indian descent .
Previous administrations have had more AAPI representation among Cabinet appointees ( though there are many roles Biden has yet to announce ) : The Obama administration had three AAPI Cabinet secretaries , while the Trump administration had two Cabinet appointees .
“ It is vital that those in the highest positions in the executive branch of government reflect the great diversity of our nation , and that includes the selection of AAPIs for Cabinet positions , ” Rep. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first vice chair of CAPAC , told Vox in a statement .
“ The Biden administration should not go backwards .
It should be more diverse and inclusive than past administrations , not less.
” When asked by Politico about AAPI inclusion so far , Rep. Pramila Jayapal ( D-WA ) also expressed dismay .
“ Frankly , it feels extremely disrespectful to the AAPI community , ” she said .
Uncertainty about Tanden ’ s confirmation has raised concerns , too .
If Tanden is not confirmed for the OMB role , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ faced from Senate Republicans , it ’ s possible there could be no AAPI Cabinet-level appointees barring new nominations from Biden , CAPAC Chair Judy Chu told Politico .
That would make Biden ’ s Cabinet the first in roughly two decades that wouldn ’ t have an AAPI appointee .
Biden , however , still has several outstanding positions to fill and more nominations to announce .
He has also stressed that he is prioritizing diversity as these decisions are being made ; so far , half of his Cabinet picks have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Becerra for health and human services secretary , Cecilia Rouse for chair of the Council of Economic Advisers , Linda Thomas-Greenfield for United Nations ambassador , and Alejandro Mayorkas for homeland security secretary .
“ When it ’ s all over , people will take a look and say , I promise you , you ’ ll see the most diverse Cabinet , representative of all folks , Asian Americans , African Americans , Latinos , LGBTQ , across the board , ” Biden said in CNN interview last week .
There are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have yet to be announced Candidates for some of the open Cabinet roles were mentioned during a meeting between CAPAC and members of the transition team on Monday , a source familiar with the matter told Vox .
Individuals that CAPAC lawmakers highlighted included House Ways and Means Trade Counsel Katherine Tai , who ’ s seen as a leading contender for the US trade representative role ; California Labor Secretary Julie Su , who ’ s been floated as a possibility for labor secretary ; and former Obama administration Deputy Secretary of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a senior White House adviser job .
Additionally Chu and Jayapal have pushed for surgeon general nominee Vivek Murthy ’ s position to be treated as a Cabinet-level post , both to increase AAPI representation and to add more public health expertise .
( Currently , Murthy ’ s role would be housed within the Department of Health and Human Services , rather than reporting directly to the president . )
The source familiar with the meeting noted that the transition team signaled this was unlikely to happen .
Lawmakers across many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden transition team to increase representation in the Cabinet , as candidates for more positions — including attorney general , agriculture secretary , labor secretary , and transportation secretary — are named .
Asian American leaders have stated that they simply want more perspectives to be included in the open roles , and for the support from Asian American voters , a majority of whom backed Biden , to be acknowledged .
Often , Asian Americans are left out of conversations about a range of policies — including immigration — the source told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that there were no AAPI co-chairs on Biden ’ s transition and inauguration efforts .
In addition to its push for Cabinet spots , CAPAC plans to continue advocating for more AAPI candidates to be considered for other White House staffing roles and federal judiciary appointments .
In a letter that the group sent to Biden this past November , members emphasized that they ’ d like to see at least 7 percent of the White House Cabinet and other appointed personnel be AAPI , given that those who identify as AAPI comprise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ In order to ensure your administration is filled with appointees who truly reflect the strength and diversity of our nation , we urge you to continue this trend of appointing AAPI candidates to the Cabinet and prioritizing AAPI representation throughout your administration , ” CAPAC members wrote in the letter .

President-elect Joe Biden has said he’ll build an administration that “looks like America,” but Asian American lawmakers aren’t satisfied with what they’ve seen of his Cabinet so far.
The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) is urging Biden to increase the Asian American and Pacific Islander representation among Cabinet appointees, a push that the group has been mounting for weeks.
Thus far, Biden has nominated Neera Tanden — who is the president of the Center for American Progress and is of Indian descent — as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is also of both Jamaican and Indian descent.
Previous administrations have had more AAPI representation among Cabinet appointees (though there are many roles Biden has yet to announce): The Obama administration had three AAPI Cabinet secretaries, while the Trump administration had two Cabinet appointees.
“It is vital that those in the highest positions in the executive branch of government reflect the great diversity of our nation, and that includes the selection of AAPIs for Cabinet positions,” Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), the first vice chair of CAPAC, told Vox in a statement. “The Biden administration should not go backwards. It should be more diverse and inclusive than past administrations, not less.”
When asked by Politico about AAPI inclusion so far, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) also expressed dismay. “Frankly, it feels extremely disrespectful to the AAPI community,” she said.
Uncertainty about Tanden’s confirmation has raised concerns, too. If Tanden is not confirmed for the OMB role, due to the pushback she’s faced from Senate Republicans, it’s possible there could be no AAPI Cabinet-level appointees barring new nominations from Biden, CAPAC Chair Judy Chu told Politico. That would make Biden’s Cabinet the first in roughly two decades that wouldn’t have an AAPI appointee.
Biden, however, still has several outstanding positions to fill and more nominations to announce. He has also stressed that he is prioritizing diversity as these decisions are being made; so far, half of his Cabinet picks have been people of color, including Xavier Becerra for health and human services secretary, Cecilia Rouse for chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Linda Thomas-Greenfield for United Nations ambassador, and Alejandro Mayorkas for homeland security secretary.
“When it’s all over, people will take a look and say, I promise you, you’ll see the most diverse Cabinet, representative of all folks, Asian Americans, African Americans, Latinos, LGBTQ, across the board,” Biden said in CNN interview last week.
There are still a number of Cabinet roles that have yet to be announced
Candidates for some of the open Cabinet roles were mentioned during a meeting between CAPAC and members of the transition team on Monday, a source familiar with the matter told Vox.
Individuals that CAPAC lawmakers highlighted included House Ways and Means Trade Counsel Katherine Tai, who’s seen as a leading contender for the US trade representative role; California Labor Secretary Julie Su, who’s been floated as a possibility for labor secretary; and former Obama administration Deputy Secretary of Labor Chris Lu, who was suggested for a senior White House adviser job.
Additionally Chu and Jayapal have pushed for surgeon general nominee Vivek Murthy’s position to be treated as a Cabinet-level post, both to increase AAPI representation and to add more public health expertise. (Currently, Murthy’s role would be housed within the Department of Health and Human Services, rather than reporting directly to the president.) The source familiar with the meeting noted that the transition team signaled this was unlikely to happen.
Lawmakers across many races and backgrounds have called on the Biden transition team to increase representation in the Cabinet, as candidates for more positions — including attorney general, agriculture secretary, labor secretary, and transportation secretary — are named.
Asian American leaders have stated that they simply want more perspectives to be included in the open roles, and for the support from Asian American voters, a majority of whom backed Biden, to be acknowledged. Often, Asian Americans are left out of conversations about a range of policies — including immigration — the source told Vox. There have also been concerns that there were no AAPI co-chairs on Biden’s transition and inauguration efforts.
In addition to its push for Cabinet spots, CAPAC plans to continue advocating for more AAPI candidates to be considered for other White House staffing roles and federal judiciary appointments. In a letter that the group sent to Biden this past November, members emphasized that they’d like to see at least 7 percent of the White House Cabinet and other appointed personnel be AAPI, given that those who identify as AAPI comprise 7 percent of the US population.
“In order to ensure your administration is filled with appointees who truly reflect the strength and diversity of our nation, we urge you to continue this trend of appointing AAPI candidates to the Cabinet and prioritizing AAPI representation throughout your administration,” CAPAC members wrote in the letter.


vox--2020-12-08--A 90-year-old woman and William Shakespeare get the UK’s first Covid-19 vaccines

A 90-year-old woman in the United Kingdom is now the first person in the world to receive a government-approved Covid-19 vaccine backed by robust clinical trials , marking the start of the country ’ s national mass vaccination campaign .
Margaret Keenan , a grandmother who turns 91 next week , received the first of the UK ’ s 800,000 doses of Pfizer and BioNTech ’ s mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine early Tuesday morning at the University Hospital in Coventry .
“ I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19 , ” Keenan said , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ It ’ s the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year.
” The UK granted temporary emergency use authorization for the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine last week , beating the United States and Europe in the race to approve a vaccine .
The country purchased 40 million doses of this version of the two-dose vaccine , which will go toward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As Vox ’ s Umair Irfan has reported , the UK government is prioritizing vaccination based primarily on age and “ on the number of vaccinations that would be needed in each tier to prevent one death , not necessarily the risk of exposure.
” Older people , specifically those living in care facilities , and the personnel who work in such places are the first in line to receive the new vaccine , based on the guidelines drawn up by the country ’ s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation ( JCVI @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dose went to , appropriately , William Shakespeare , an 81-year-old man from Warwickshire — giving the internet the chance to break out a lot of Bard jokes in addition to celebrating this historic moment .
( And yes , he ’ s probably a relation . )
“ It could make a difference to our lives from now on , couldn ’ t it ?
” Shakespeare said after getting the shot .
According to the BBC , about 4 million people in the UK could be vaccinated by the end of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ start of the [ National Health Service ] ’ s herculean task to deploy vaccines right across the UK , in line with its founding mission , to support people according to clinical need , not ability to pay , ” UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Tuesday .
“ And while today is a day to celebrate , there is much work to be done , ” he added .
“ We must all play our part in suppressing the virus until the vaccine can make us safe , and we can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NHS to deliver the vaccine across the country.
” The United Kingdom experienced one of the worst excess death rates in Europe in the first wave of the pandemic and experienced a deadly second wave this fall .
As of Tuesday , the country has confirmed more than 1.7 million cases of Covid-19 and recorded more than 61,000 deaths in its population of roughly 66 million .
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was himself gravely ill and hospitalized with Covid-19 in the spring .
Johnson , who has recently faced a revolt from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may get a much-needed political boost from the UK becoming the first country to approve and prepare to distribute a vaccine backed by rigorous clinical trials .
( China and Russia have already begun administering their own Covid-19 vaccines to their populations , but they ’ ve done so before large-scale clinical trials have been completed , and serious questions remain about their safety and efficacy . )
After months of sickness and lockdowns , the first vaccinations in the United Kingdom represent some welcome good news : a real sign that there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The United States likely won ’ t be too far behind the UK .
The Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) is expected to grant emergency use authorization to the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine as soon as this week , after the FDA reviewed the company ’ s data on its efficacy , which is about 95 percent .
That means vaccinations could roll out in the US before the end of the year , with health care workers the first in line .
But in the UK and elsewhere , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is an extraordinarily challenging undertaking , one that could face serious logistical hurdles and public distrust .
Most of all , it ’ s going to take time .
The United States is in the most dire phase of the coronavirus pandemic to date , recently setting hospitalization and single-day death records .
A vaccine approval can ’ t undo the death and devastation that ’ s happening now .
The speed of vaccination approval — less than a year — is remarkable , but it is going to take many , many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Shakespeare will get a dose .

A 90-year-old woman in the United Kingdom is now the first person in the world to receive a government-approved Covid-19 vaccine backed by robust clinical trials, marking the start of the country’s national mass vaccination campaign.
Margaret Keenan, a grandmother who turns 91 next week, received the first of the UK’s 800,000 doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine early Tuesday morning at the University Hospital in Coventry.
“I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19,” Keenan said, according to the UK’s National Health Service. “It’s the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year.”
90-year-old Margaret Keenan is the first to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, administered by Matron May Parsons, as UK's mass vaccination programme begins https://t.co/3eBGv3RUsU pic.twitter.com/ltWAL8uDmr — BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) December 8, 2020
The UK granted temporary emergency use authorization for the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine last week, beating the United States and Europe in the race to approve a vaccine. The country purchased 40 million doses of this version of the two-dose vaccine, which will go toward inoculating 20 million people through 2021.
Second patient to get the COVID jab at University Hospital Coventry - would you believe it....William Shakespeare from Warwickshire pic.twitter.com/y0LzxgbJ9w — Hugh Pym (@BBCHughPym) December 8, 2020
As Vox’s Umair Irfan has reported, the UK government is prioritizing vaccination based primarily on age and “on the number of vaccinations that would be needed in each tier to prevent one death, not necessarily the risk of exposure.” Older people, specifically those living in care facilities, and the personnel who work in such places are the first in line to receive the new vaccine, based on the guidelines drawn up by the country’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
After Keenan, the second dose went to, appropriately, William Shakespeare, an 81-year-old man from Warwickshire — giving the internet the chance to break out a lot of Bard jokes in addition to celebrating this historic moment. (And yes, he’s probably a relation.)
“It could make a difference to our lives from now on, couldn’t it?” Shakespeare said after getting the shot.
TAMING OF THE FLU: As the U.K. began administering COVID-19 vaccines to the first patients outside of trials, the second man to get one was named William Shakespeare. https://t.co/wo3FzqNvJ6 pic.twitter.com/ayBMKgmybI — ABC News (@ABC) December 8, 2020
According to the BBC, about 4 million people in the UK could be vaccinated by the end of this month.
“This marks the start of the [National Health Service]’s herculean task to deploy vaccines right across the UK, in line with its founding mission, to support people according to clinical need, not ability to pay,” UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Tuesday.
“And while today is a day to celebrate, there is much work to be done,” he added. “We must all play our part in suppressing the virus until the vaccine can make us safe, and we can all play our part in supporting the NHS to deliver the vaccine across the country.”
The United Kingdom experienced one of the worst excess death rates in Europe in the first wave of the pandemic and experienced a deadly second wave this fall. As of Tuesday, the country has confirmed more than 1.7 million cases of Covid-19 and recorded more than 61,000 deaths in its population of roughly 66 million. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was himself gravely ill and hospitalized with Covid-19 in the spring.
Johnson, who has recently faced a revolt from his own party over Covid-19 restrictions, may get a much-needed political boost from the UK becoming the first country to approve and prepare to distribute a vaccine backed by rigorous clinical trials. (China and Russia have already begun administering their own Covid-19 vaccines to their populations, but they’ve done so before large-scale clinical trials have been completed, and serious questions remain about their safety and efficacy.)
After months of sickness and lockdowns, the first vaccinations in the United Kingdom represent some welcome good news: a real sign that there will be an end to the pandemic.
The United States likely won’t be too far behind the UK. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to grant emergency use authorization to the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine as soon as this week, after the FDA reviewed the company’s data on its efficacy, which is about 95 percent. That means vaccinations could roll out in the US before the end of the year, with health care workers the first in line.
But in the UK and elsewhere, the effort to vaccinate populations against Covid-19 is an extraordinarily challenging undertaking, one that could face serious logistical hurdles and public distrust.
Most of all, it’s going to take time. The United States is in the most dire phase of the coronavirus pandemic to date, recently setting hospitalization and single-day death records. A vaccine approval can’t undo the death and devastation that’s happening now.
The speed of vaccination approval — less than a year — is remarkable, but it is going to take many, many months before most people not named William Shakespeare will get a dose.


vox--2020-12-08--Why movies about public servants are so soothing in 2020

Some people self-soothe by listening to whale sounds .
Others watch artists mixing paints or sea otters doing their sea otter thing .
Still others find joy in things organized neatly .
But 2020 has reminded me that the most gratifying thing to watch right now , in all the world , may be bureaucracy in action .
( Seriously .
Stay with me . )
“ Bureaucracy ” is probably not quite the right term ; the word has depressing connotations , calling to mind hours of standing in line at the DMV or something out of Kafka .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ What I mean , instead , is seeing civil servants ( some elected , but mostly appointed ) perform their jobs imperfectly , but with conviction and purpose .
Meeting with constituents in a church basement .
Checking in voters as they arrive at the polls .
Performing marriage ceremonies in a small room at the city hall .
Debating what kind of decorations should be used at the town ’ s holiday kick-off party .
Thrilling ?
Depends on your perspective .
But three movies I saw this year reminded me of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ difficult , ordinary public service done well , and how refreshing it can be to witness .
One of the first movies I saw in 2020 was actually a five-part documentary series , City So Real , from Oscar-nominated director Steve James .
He shot most of the series last year , focusing on the groundbreaking 2019 Chicago mayoral election .
The race featured a crowded field of candidates seeking to distinguish themselves and gain constituents ’ trust , against the backdrop of protests over the impending Lincoln Yards development project and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times .
City So Real is genuinely thrilling and even heart-pounding at times , but a lot of what makes it so appealing is that the electioneering and debates and speeches are mixed with more mundane matters — like the lengthy and tedious process of contesting ballots in a heated political race .
Scenes like these involve three people sitting at a desk , peering intently at a ballot , arguing about who the person voted for .
Not visually scintillating , to be sure .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ this is how democracy works : Regular people , doing their jobs , trying to make sure the outcome of an election reflects the will of the voters .
( For obvious reasons , this particular scene has become far more resonant late in the year . )
Or there ’ s City Hall , from legendary director Frederick Wiseman , who excels at crafting compelling , almost mesmerizing ( and often very lengthy ) portraits of institutions and places in his observational documentaries .
Wiseman has built a career of looking at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ services , civil society , and the justice system , from Juvenile Court ( 1973 ) to State Legislature ( 2007 ) , which gave a peek into a full session of the Idaho legislature .
My personal favorite is Welfare ( 1975 ) , in which Wiseman ’ s camera hovers around a welfare office in New York City , showing how tricky it is for both the workers and the recipients to navigate a labyrinthine system .
For City Hall , Wiseman turned his attention to Boston ’ s , uh @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weeks filming its many employees at work .
Sitting around a conference table , discussing how best to keep residents of public housing from falling through the cracks .
Thinking about how to protect LGBTQ young people who are homeless .
Filing papers .
Answering emergency services phone lines .
When the movie leaves City Hall , it ’ s usually following Mayor Marty Walsh as he makes remarks at gatherings of people from the larger community : veterans , nurses , new graduates , older people worried about avoiding scams .
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; it ’ s just three hours and 40 minutes of watching people slowly push a rock up a hill , where the hill is the public square and the rock is the common good .
But while everyone knows that no city government is perfect , and incompetence frequently abounds , watching the movie feels like a little ray of hope , a reminder that there are plenty of people who spend their lives doggedly working to make this messy world just a little safer .
But my favorite of the genre @ @ @ @ @ @ @ favorites of the year , hands-down — was David Osit ’ s hilarious and moving documentary Mayor .
The subject of the film is Musa Hadid , mayor of Ramallah , the de facto Palestinian capital that is surrounded on all sides by Israeli settlements .
Hadid is beloved in the city , a true public servant , and also one who has to deal with matters that few mayors encounter — dealing with sewage and cemetery issues that stem from stonewalling by the Israelis ; receiving the British royal family for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politics that directly affect your city .
But he also just has to do normal mayor things .
Mayor opens with Hadid and several advisers debating Ramallah ’ s branding .
He pleads with his staff to fetch him a radio so he can hear what is happening on the news .
He fiddles with the playlist that his new dancing fountain outside city hall will play .
He visits local schools and shakes hands with visitors and tries , unsuccessfully , to pry himself away from a constituent who insists that Hadid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mayor is a very funny film , at times playing like Veep — if the characters in Veep were actually kind , compassionate , and oriented toward what best serves the public ’ s interest .
But it also shows how challenging the job of mayor is , even for a talented leader like Hadid .
And this portrait is a reminder , once again , of the huge difference that the run-of-the-mill work of local leaders and public servants can make in the lives of ordinary citizens .
If all of this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — it ’ s not , but I understand why it comes across that way .
People simply doing their jobs and serving the public good is not fodder for riveting dramatic tension .
When scripted TV tries to replicate it ( as in , say , Parks and Recreation ) , it has to heighten the drama and hijinx , making characters larger than life to keep people watching .
But I ’ ve found there ’ s something soothing and rewarding in seeing real people perform those tasks and recalling that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are people all over the world doing the same thing .
Since we spend so much time watching people mess up our politics on the news , documentaries in which people do their best to fix things feel like an antidote .
In some ways , following the news in the weeks since the US election has had the same effect for me .
I ’ ve realized that the further you get from the center of power , away from people accustomed to performing for TV cameras , the more you ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ boards and judges and secretaries and vote counters who are nobly committed to doing what they ’ ve been hired to do .
2020 has been a trash fire , no doubt .
But to the extent that the world is moving forward , most of the credit is due to the regular , workaday goodness of the folks down at City Hall doing their job right .
All five episodes of City So Real are streaming on Hulu .
City Hall is available nationwide through virtual theaters ( short-term rentals that benefit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s website for listings .
Mayor opened on November 2 in virtual theaters throughout the country ; see the film ’ s website for listings .

Some people self-soothe by listening to whale sounds. Others watch artists mixing paints or sea otters doing their sea otter thing. Still others find joy in things organized neatly.
But 2020 has reminded me that the most gratifying thing to watch right now, in all the world, may be bureaucracy in action. (Seriously. Stay with me.)
“Bureaucracy” is probably not quite the right term; the word has depressing connotations, calling to mind hours of standing in line at the DMV or something out of Kafka. I don’t mean that.
What I mean, instead, is seeing civil servants (some elected, but mostly appointed) perform their jobs imperfectly, but with conviction and purpose. Meeting with constituents in a church basement. Checking in voters as they arrive at the polls. Performing marriage ceremonies in a small room at the city hall. Debating what kind of decorations should be used at the town’s holiday kick-off party.
Thrilling? Depends on your perspective. But three movies I saw this year reminded me of how much joy there can be in difficult, ordinary public service done well, and how refreshing it can be to witness.
One of the first movies I saw in 2020 was actually a five-part documentary series, City So Real, from Oscar-nominated director Steve James. He shot most of the series last year, focusing on the groundbreaking 2019 Chicago mayoral election. The race featured a crowded field of candidates seeking to distinguish themselves and gain constituents’ trust, against the backdrop of protests over the impending Lincoln Yards development project and the trial of police officer Jason Van Dyke, who shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times.
City So Real is genuinely thrilling and even heart-pounding at times, but a lot of what makes it so appealing is that the electioneering and debates and speeches are mixed with more mundane matters — like the lengthy and tedious process of contesting ballots in a heated political race. Scenes like these involve three people sitting at a desk, peering intently at a ballot, arguing about who the person voted for. Not visually scintillating, to be sure. But watching it happen, you realize this is how democracy works: Regular people, doing their jobs, trying to make sure the outcome of an election reflects the will of the voters. (For obvious reasons, this particular scene has become far more resonant late in the year.)
Or there’s City Hall, from legendary director Frederick Wiseman, who excels at crafting compelling, almost mesmerizing (and often very lengthy) portraits of institutions and places in his observational documentaries. Wiseman has built a career of looking at the inner workings of bureaucracies, government services, civil society, and the justice system, from Juvenile Court (1973) to State Legislature (2007), which gave a peek into a full session of the Idaho legislature. My personal favorite is Welfare (1975), in which Wiseman’s camera hovers around a welfare office in New York City, showing how tricky it is for both the workers and the recipients to navigate a labyrinthine system.
For City Hall, Wiseman turned his attention to Boston’s, uh, city hall, where he spent weeks filming its many employees at work. Sitting around a conference table, discussing how best to keep residents of public housing from falling through the cracks. Thinking about how to protect LGBTQ young people who are homeless. Filing papers. Answering emergency services phone lines. When the movie leaves City Hall, it’s usually following Mayor Marty Walsh as he makes remarks at gatherings of people from the larger community: veterans, nurses, new graduates, older people worried about avoiding scams.
There’s no story to City Hall; it’s just three hours and 40 minutes of watching people slowly push a rock up a hill, where the hill is the public square and the rock is the common good. But while everyone knows that no city government is perfect, and incompetence frequently abounds, watching the movie feels like a little ray of hope, a reminder that there are plenty of people who spend their lives doggedly working to make this messy world just a little safer.
But my favorite of the genre in 2020 — and one of my favorites of the year, hands-down — was David Osit’s hilarious and moving documentary Mayor. The subject of the film is Musa Hadid, mayor of Ramallah, the de facto Palestinian capital that is surrounded on all sides by Israeli settlements.
Hadid is beloved in the city, a true public servant, and also one who has to deal with matters that few mayors encounter — dealing with sewage and cemetery issues that stem from stonewalling by the Israelis; receiving the British royal family for a visit; experiencing the repercussions of international politics that directly affect your city.
But he also just has to do normal mayor things. Mayor opens with Hadid and several advisers debating Ramallah’s branding. He pleads with his staff to fetch him a radio so he can hear what is happening on the news. He fiddles with the playlist that his new dancing fountain outside city hall will play. He visits local schools and shakes hands with visitors and tries, unsuccessfully, to pry himself away from a constituent who insists that Hadid stay at his home for lunch.
Mayor is a very funny film, at times playing like Veep — if the characters in Veep were actually kind, compassionate, and oriented toward what best serves the public’s interest. But it also shows how challenging the job of mayor is, even for a talented leader like Hadid. And this portrait is a reminder, once again, of the huge difference that the run-of-the-mill work of local leaders and public servants can make in the lives of ordinary citizens.
If all of this banal public service sounds boring, well — it’s not, but I understand why it comes across that way. People simply doing their jobs and serving the public good is not fodder for riveting dramatic tension. When scripted TV tries to replicate it (as in, say, Parks and Recreation), it has to heighten the drama and hijinx, making characters larger than life to keep people watching.
But I’ve found there’s something soothing and rewarding in seeing real people perform those tasks and recalling that they’re not isolated; there are people all over the world doing the same thing. Since we spend so much time watching people mess up our politics on the news, documentaries in which people do their best to fix things feel like an antidote.
In some ways, following the news in the weeks since the US election has had the same effect for me. I’ve realized that the further you get from the center of power, away from people accustomed to performing for TV cameras, the more you’ll notice the efforts of state-level election boards and judges and secretaries and vote counters who are nobly committed to doing what they’ve been hired to do.
2020 has been a trash fire, no doubt. But to the extent that the world is moving forward, most of the credit is due to the regular, workaday goodness of the folks down at City Hall doing their job right.
All five episodes of City So Real are streaming on Hulu. City Hall is available nationwide through virtual theaters (short-term rentals that benefit local theaters); check the film’s website for listings. Mayor opened on November 2 in virtual theaters throughout the country; see the film’s website for listings.


vox--2020-12-08--A guide to Steve McQueen’s Small Axe, the greatest film series you’ll see this year

“ If you are the big tree , we are the small axe.
” The Jamaican proverb — from which Steve McQueen ’ s new five-part Amazon anthology series , Small Axe , takes its name — is a bold statement of defiance .
The phrase , which was popularized by Bob Marley in 1973 , echoes a biblical story in which John the Baptist sees the oppressive religious leaders of his time approaching and calls them a “ brood of vipers ” who refuse to repent .
“ The axe is already at the root of the trees , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
” In other words , if you ’ ve been hurting those you ’ re supposed to serve and you refuse to repent , your days are numbered .
That McQueen looked to this proverb to title his series of films highlights the director ’ s aims .
McQueen started developing Small Axe a long time ago , before he became the first Black director of a Best Picture winner at the Oscars .
( His film @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . )
He wanted to explore the lives of the West Indian community in London .
And , as he recently told the New York Times , McQueen — a Brit of Grenadian and Trinidadian heritage — wanted to “ understand myself , where I came from.
” The result morphed over time from a TV series into something resembling a set of feature films , each one wholly distinct from the others in casting , plot , time period , and , in some cases , even visual sensibility ; they ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and feel tonally different .
( McQueen worked with two co-writers — Courttia Newland on two of the episodes , and Alastair Siddons on the other three — but he directed all five . )
And each film is exquisite .
Running from just over an hour to well over two in length , each installment of Small Axe centers on part of the West Indian experience in London .
The films are all set between the 1960s and the 1980s .
Some are fictional .
Some are based in fact .
All @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ought to be star making .
What ’ s most stunning about Small Axe is that while the stories don ’ t strictly overlap , they build out a universe .
The characters don ’ t recur ; instead , the connective tissue comes from matters that concern the West Indian community — police brutality , anti-Black sentiment , finding work , code-switching , getting an education , becoming part of the fabric of British society — and the shared life they live that brings them joy .
Because as much as Small @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is filled to the brim with joy .
There is so much music .
People play games and joke with one another in patois .
Women dance and sing while they cook .
Young lovers trade flirtatious insults , then kisses .
Families gather around dining room tables during the day ; friends gather around bar tables at night .
McQueen captures the texture of their lives as much as any plot point — the reflection of a fist-pumping revolutionary in the hood of a car , goat curry steaming in a pot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dancer rolling slowly down a gilded wall .
The series is a remarkable achievement , one that expands the ways in which we can imagine British history on screen .
But it makes its point clearly .
Small Axe is not a sentimental portrait of a bygone time ; it ’ s an act of revolution .
Together , these characters and their stories — from activists to dancers to old men reading the paper — are a small axe , one that chips away at a country that hasn ’ t yet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s a guide to the five films of Small Axe , which debut in the US on Fridays on Amazon Prime for five consecutive weeks .
The first , Mangrove , premiered on November 20 .
In the late 1960s , a restaurant in London ’ s Notting Hill neighborhood , the Mangrove , was an important gathering place for members of the West Indian community — a place to eat , to meet , to talk and argue , to laugh and dance , and to discuss the issues that affected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ targeted by police in the area , who frequently raided , ransacked , and arrested people at the Mangrove .
In 1970 , nine people were arrested and charged with inciting a riot during a protest against the actions of the local police force .
They became known as the “ Mangrove Nine , ” and their trial was highly unusual .
Mangrove tells their story , weaving it into the larger life of London ’ s West Indian community and showing the deeply entrenched racial animus they fought against .
The film @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wright ( Black Panther ) , who plays Altheia Jones-LeCointe , the leader of the British Black Panther movement .
Lovers Rock is exhilarating .
The film takes its name from a style of reggae that foregrounds women ’ s voices and experiences , and the film does the same .
Set at a house party in the early 1980s , it ’ s less of a story than a mood .
At the time , white-dominated nightclubs were not friendly to Black people , so house parties provided an alternative scene where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lovers Rock is like being at the party at which the film takes place .
There ’ s a story focusing on a young woman named Martha ( Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn ) who sneaks out of her strict parents ’ home to attend with her friend Patty ( Shaniqua Okwok ) .
There she meets Franklyn ( Micheal Ward ) .
There are other characters and plot lines , but Lovers Rock is all about the music , and a scene where the revelers dance and sing to Silly Games — one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alone is worth the price of admission .
John Boyega stars in Red , White and Blue as Leroy Logan , who as a child witnesses his father being harassed and beaten by white police officers .
Leroy grows up and trains as a research scientist , but he ’ s always been interested in the police force , believing change might be spurred from within the system .
So he decides to join the force and be that change .
Yet what he encounters once he becomes a cop starts to expose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are many obvious reasons why Red , White and Blue feels timely , but perhaps the greatest one is that it depicts the tricky dynamics Leroy experiences among his superiors .
They embrace him as a token Black person who might help their recruitment efforts in communities of color , but when it comes to actual change , they ’ re much less interested in paying the cost .
Alex Wheatle is named for its protagonist , who joined the 1981 Brixton riots , an infamous clash between London ’ s Metropolitan Police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The real-life Wheatle ( portrayed by Asad-Shareef Muhammad as a boy and Sheyi Cole as a young man ) is a well-known and critically acclaimed author of fiction .
But in his youth , he struggled to feel as though he belonged .
As a boy , he was placed in foster care after his family gave him up .
He was raised in the system , miserable , with a cruel foster mother and a daily life comprised of insults and provocations from racist teachers and cops .
Upon coming of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social services hotel in Brixton , where he found community and sought the approval of others by running errands and performing tasks that weren ’ t always on the up and up .
Learning quickly what he would need to do to survive , he eventually joined the uprising , was arrested with hundreds of others , and wound up incarcerated with a man who inspired him to change his life .
Alex Wheatle plays like a conventional coming-of-age story , of sorts , but the film is a fitting addition to Small @ @ @ @ @ @ @ young manhood and serving up powerful images of isolation and courage .
Kingsley Smith is a bright 12-year-old who , like many boys his age , struggles with certain aspects of school .
His teachers don ’ t know what to do with him , so they reassign him to a school for students who are considered by the system to be “ sub-normal.
” There , Kingsley languishes among faculty who don ’ t care and students who range from emotionally disturbed to simply bored .
His parents insist he attend anyhow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a group of West Indian women , suspecting that the educational system has built-in biases that push their children into these “ sub-normal ” schools , decide to take matters into their own hands .
Education becomes a portrait of a community disappointed by the country they came to with eagerness — and determined to make something of themselves , and their culture , in spite of it .

“If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.”
The Jamaican proverb — from which Steve McQueen’s new five-part Amazon anthology series, Small Axe, takes its name — is a bold statement of defiance. The phrase, which was popularized by Bob Marley in 1973, echoes a biblical story in which John the Baptist sees the oppressive religious leaders of his time approaching and calls them a “brood of vipers” who refuse to repent. “The axe is already at the root of the trees,” he declares, “and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
In other words, if you’ve been hurting those you’re supposed to serve and you refuse to repent, your days are numbered.
That McQueen looked to this proverb to title his series of films highlights the director’s aims. McQueen started developing Small Axe a long time ago, before he became the first Black director of a Best Picture winner at the Oscars. (His film 12 Years a Slave won in 2013.) He wanted to explore the lives of the West Indian community in London. And, as he recently told the New York Times, McQueen — a Brit of Grenadian and Trinidadian heritage — wanted to “understand myself, where I came from.”
The result morphed over time from a TV series into something resembling a set of feature films, each one wholly distinct from the others in casting, plot, time period, and, in some cases, even visual sensibility; they’re shot in a range of formats and feel tonally different. (McQueen worked with two co-writers — Courttia Newland on two of the episodes, and Alastair Siddons on the other three — but he directed all five.)
And each film is exquisite. Running from just over an hour to well over two in length, each installment of Small Axe centers on part of the West Indian experience in London. The films are all set between the 1960s and the 1980s. Some are fictional. Some are based in fact. All are brilliantly crafted, with performances that ought to be star making.
What’s most stunning about Small Axe is that while the stories don’t strictly overlap, they build out a universe. The characters don’t recur; instead, the connective tissue comes from matters that concern the West Indian community — police brutality, anti-Black sentiment, finding work, code-switching, getting an education, becoming part of the fabric of British society — and the shared life they live that brings them joy.
Because as much as Small Axe is concerned with pain, it is filled to the brim with joy. There is so much music. People play games and joke with one another in patois. Women dance and sing while they cook. Young lovers trade flirtatious insults, then kisses. Families gather around dining room tables during the day; friends gather around bar tables at night. McQueen captures the texture of their lives as much as any plot point — the reflection of a fist-pumping revolutionary in the hood of a car, goat curry steaming in a pot, a drop of sweat from a dancer rolling slowly down a gilded wall.
The series is a remarkable achievement, one that expands the ways in which we can imagine British history on screen. But it makes its point clearly. Small Axe is not a sentimental portrait of a bygone time; it’s an act of revolution. Together, these characters and their stories — from activists to dancers to old men reading the paper — are a small axe, one that chips away at a country that hasn’t yet realized it needs some leveling.
Here’s a guide to the five films of Small Axe, which debut in the US on Fridays on Amazon Prime for five consecutive weeks. The first, Mangrove, premiered on November 20.
Mangrove
In the late 1960s, a restaurant in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood, the Mangrove, was an important gathering place for members of the West Indian community — a place to eat, to meet, to talk and argue, to laugh and dance, and to discuss the issues that affected them. But it was also repeatedly targeted by police in the area, who frequently raided, ransacked, and arrested people at the Mangrove.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark
In 1970, nine people were arrested and charged with inciting a riot during a protest against the actions of the local police force. They became known as the “Mangrove Nine,” and their trial was highly unusual. Mangrove tells their story, weaving it into the larger life of London’s West Indian community and showing the deeply entrenched racial animus they fought against. The film boasts a stellar cast led by Letitia Wright (Black Panther), who plays Altheia Jones-LeCointe, the leader of the British Black Panther movement.
Runtime: 128 minutes
Release date: November 20
Lovers Rock
Lovers Rock is exhilarating. The film takes its name from a style of reggae that foregrounds women’s voices and experiences, and the film does the same. Set at a house party in the early 1980s, it’s less of a story than a mood. At the time, white-dominated nightclubs were not friendly to Black people, so house parties provided an alternative scene where passion and defiance could entwine.
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Watching Lovers Rock is like being at the party at which the film takes place. There’s a story focusing on a young woman named Martha (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn) who sneaks out of her strict parents’ home to attend with her friend Patty (Shaniqua Okwok). There she meets Franklyn (Micheal Ward). There are other characters and plot lines, but Lovers Rock is all about the music, and a scene where the revelers dance and sing to Silly Games — one of the genre’s biggest hits — alone is worth the price of admission.
Runtime: 70 minutes
Release date: November 27
Red, White and Blue
John Boyega stars in Red, White and Blue as Leroy Logan, who as a child witnesses his father being harassed and beaten by white police officers. Leroy grows up and trains as a research scientist, but he’s always been interested in the police force, believing change might be spurred from within the system. So he decides to join the force and be that change.
Rating: 4 out of 5 vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark
Yet what he encounters once he becomes a cop starts to expose how idealistic he has been. There are many obvious reasons why Red, White and Blue feels timely, but perhaps the greatest one is that it depicts the tricky dynamics Leroy experiences among his superiors. They embrace him as a token Black person who might help their recruitment efforts in communities of color, but when it comes to actual change, they’re much less interested in paying the cost.
Runtime: 81 minutes
Release date: December 4
Alex Wheatle
Alex Wheatle is named for its protagonist, who joined the 1981 Brixton riots, an infamous clash between London’s Metropolitan Police and Black activists following a tragic fire. The real-life Wheatle (portrayed by Asad-Shareef Muhammad as a boy and Sheyi Cole as a young man) is a well-known and critically acclaimed author of fiction. But in his youth, he struggled to feel as though he belonged. As a boy, he was placed in foster care after his family gave him up. He was raised in the system, miserable, with a cruel foster mother and a daily life comprised of insults and provocations from racist teachers and cops.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark
Upon coming of age, he moved into a dingy social services hotel in Brixton, where he found community and sought the approval of others by running errands and performing tasks that weren’t always on the up and up. Learning quickly what he would need to do to survive, he eventually joined the uprising, was arrested with hundreds of others, and wound up incarcerated with a man who inspired him to change his life. Alex Wheatle plays like a conventional coming-of-age story, of sorts, but the film is a fitting addition to Small Axe, rounding out a picture of young manhood and serving up powerful images of isolation and courage.
Runtime: 66 minutes
Release date: December 11
Education
Kingsley Smith is a bright 12-year-old who, like many boys his age, struggles with certain aspects of school. His teachers don’t know what to do with him, so they reassign him to a school for students who are considered by the system to be “sub-normal.” There, Kingsley languishes among faculty who don’t care and students who range from emotionally disturbed to simply bored. His parents insist he attend anyhow.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark
That all changes one day when a group of West Indian women, suspecting that the educational system has built-in biases that push their children into these “sub-normal” schools, decide to take matters into their own hands. Education becomes a portrait of a community disappointed by the country they came to with eagerness — and determined to make something of themselves, and their culture, in spite of it.
Runtime: 63 minutes
Release date: December 18