theintercept--2020-06-19--How to Mark Juneteenth in the Year 2020

How to Mark Juneteenth in the Year 2020

Target ’ s Chair and Chief Executive Brian Cornell released a somber statement .
“ We recognize the racial trauma the country is experiencing now is not new , but throughout recent weeks there has been a sense that this time is , and has to be , different , ” said Cornell , who makes 767 times the average Target worker .
“ Juneteenth takes an additional significance at this moment.
” On the flip side , the United Auto Workers is shutting down assembly lines for eight minutes and 46 seconds on Juneteenth , marking the time it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s life .
The dockworkers on the West Coast , members of the progressive International Longshore and Warehouse Union , or ILWU , are also shutting down ports in honor of Juneteenth .
This latter approach is far closer to honoring the true history of Juneteenth .
The holiday marks , generally , the end of slavery in the United States , and more specifically the order of Gen. Gordon Granger that declared the freedom of enslaved people in Texas , a state that was a stubborn holdout after Gen. Robert E. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ order was read on June 19 , 1865 , and lore has it that upon learning of emancipation , those it applied to stopped working instantly and launched into celebration .
That wasn ’ t the only work stoppage that Juneteenth celebrates .
Some of the discourse surrounding Juneteenth is palatable to corporate America because it can reinforce some of the comforting ideas about the Civil War : that Abraham Lincoln and the generals of the Union Army , in their benevolence , freed the slaves .
The reality , argued W.E.B Du @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is that some 500,000 Black Americans freed themselves from slavery by walking off their plantation , with many of them joining up with the Union Army .
Then , with the help of some Union Army officers , they organized themselves into soldiers , officers , farmers , spies , cooks , and nurses who enabled the Union to win the war , while their absence on plantations crippled the South ’ s economy .
This is the true Juneteenth : a freedom won by the freed .
The Civil War , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Union in large part thanks to a mass “ general strike ” of enslaved Black Americans , as revealed by Du Bois in his seminal 1935 work “ Black Reconstruction , ” which historian Eric Foner has described as “ a landmark of historical scholarship and essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the era of Civil War and Reconstruction.
” The book , which to this day has never been reviewed in the American Historical Review , the central organ of American historians , ran roughshod over the then-dominant white supremacist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dunning school .
The Dunning school saw the democratic explosion wrought by Reconstruction as a great historical crime and the participation of Black Americans in the war and Reconstruction as a sideshow at best .
In taking apart the Dunning school , Du Bois posited that every army depends on its logistics .
Soldiers do need food and medical supplies .
World War II Admiral Lynde McCormick said that “ logistics is all of war making , except shooting the guns , releasing the bombs , and firing the torpedoes.
” Using the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ The Southern worker , black and white , held the key to the war ; and of the two groups , the black worker raising food and raw materials held an even more strategic place than the white.
” Du Bois had always recognized what Reconstruction had really meant .
In the space of just a few years , hundreds of Black Americans denied citizenship were elected to office .
Hundreds of thousands more became landowners .
The plantation economy was wiped away .
In his 1903 work , “ The Souls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had expounded on this , challenging the predominant narratives of corruption and revivifying the awesome tasks achieved by the Freedmen ’ s Bureau .
But in the face of the Great Depression he decided a deeper study was needed .
The year before Du Bois wrote “ Black Reconstruction , ” in 1934 , hundreds of thousands of workers had gone on strike , and workers in Minneapolis and the San Francisco Bay had general strikes .
The change in historical circumstances required a new theoretical analysis .
Lincoln was ever reluctant to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ war : slavery ; and what it would take to win it : emancipation .
But the circumstances demanded that Lincoln do so .
John C. Fremont , a radical Republican general , who had been the party ’ s first nominee four years before Lincoln , had freed slaves under his command in Missouri in 1861 , and Lincoln had “ repudiated ” him , Du Bois noted .
Black Americans forced Lincoln ’ s hand .
Du Bois quoted John Eaton , a colonel in the Union Army who was appointed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Imagine , if you will … an army of slaves and fugitives , pushing its way irresistibly toward an army of fighting men , perpetually on the defensive and perpetually ready to attack .
… There was no plan in this exodus , no Moses to lead it .
Unlettered reason or the mere inarticulate decision of instinct brought them to us .
Often the slaves met prejudices against their color more bitter than any they had left behind .
But their own interests were identical , they felt , with the objects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stung them , an equally blind hope allured them , and to us they come.
” Early on Southern newspapers had boasted of their ability to draft a far larger proportion of military-aged white men than the North , as they could do so without disrupting industrial production .
Despite the numerous rebellions and the searing example of Haiti 60 years earlier , the South thought that the defeat of John Brown ’ s forces at Harper ’ s Ferry in 1859 portended a population immune to revolt .
The Confederacy was completely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hundreds of thousands of slaves were very evidently leaving their masters ’ homes and plantations , ” wrote Du Bois .
And with draft riots creating huge political problems for Lincoln , the initial approach , which was keeping Black Americans relegated to spying , cooking , nursing , and farming for the Union , would no longer work .
“ The men who handled a spade for the Northern armies , the men who fed them , and as spies brought in information , could also handle a gun and shoot , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legal authority and in spite of it , suddenly the Negro became a soldier .
Later his services as soldier were not only permitted but were demanded to replace the tired and rebellious white men of the North .
But as a soldier , the Negro must be free.
” The general strike , Du Bois wrote , “ was not merely the desire to stop work .
It was a strike on a wide basis against the conditions of work .
It was a general strike that involved directly in the end @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wanted to stop the economy of the plantation system , and to do that they left the plantations.
” Of those 500,000 , 130,000 to 200,000 ended up joining the Union Army in various capacities .
The mass of refugees were organized by Eaton with a corps of Black officers , the great forces of production created profits and tax revenue for the Union Army , which began the Reconstruction of the South .
General wage taxes were put on the Black Americans serving the Union Army , and those taxes went to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and infrastructure to serve the community .
The general strike of Black Americans in the South created an exodus of poor whites as well .
As the Union Army marched on and the strike crushed the ability of the Confederacy to respond .
“ If the Negro was to be free where would the poor white be ?
Why should he fight against the blacks and his victorious friends ?
The poor white not only began to desert and run away ; but thousands followed the Negro into the Northern camps , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Proclamation was issued effective January 1 , 1863 .
It was a turning point in the war .
“ The Proclamation made four and a half million laborers willing almost in mass to sacrifice their last drop of blood for their new-found country .
It sent them into transports of joy and sacrifice .
It changed all their pessimism and despair into boundless faith .
It was the Coming of the Lord.
” Du Bois concluded , “ it was thus the black worker , as founding stone of a new economic system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ modern world , who brought civil war in America .
He was its underlying cause , in spite of every effort to base the strife upon the union , ” rejecting the then-dominant “ War of Northern Aggression ” narrative .
Indeed , just as Black Americans denying their labor to the South and offering their service instead to the Union turned the tide of the war , wildcat resistance to enslavement is what brought the nation to that war .
From our vantage point today , it ’ s difficult to understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was with people who escaped slavery .
But it ’ s also hard to overstate .
Entire industries existed to prevent escape and to capture and return those who made it .
Abolitionists made supporting fugitives central to their campaign against slavery , with the Underground Railroad the most vivid expression of the effort .
Quakers and other whites who resisted slavery created sanctuary communities , passing laws that barred state and local authorities from assisting slave catchers .
Southern slavers launched raids into the North in search of escapees , often repelled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ escapees who told their stories publicly up North , Frederick Douglass most famously among them , had a dramatic effect on public opinion , exploding the propaganda that slavery was ultimately a benign institution .
After the smash commercial success of “ Uncle Tom ’ s Cabin , ” Southern propagandists argued that the fiction was just that , fiction produced by a biased white abolitionist , Harriet Beecher Stowe , with no grounding in the reality of the institution .
A year later , a previously free Black man , Solomon Northup @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in captivity , following his horrifying abduction in New York .
Northup ’ s own memoir , titled “ 12 Years a Slave , ” was an explosive , culture-defining best-seller in 1859 , telling the story of his abduction from New York and time spent in brutal captivity .
The two works acted as a call-and-response , with Northup dedicating his book to Beecher Stowe .
Aware of the profound weakness at the heart of the slave system — the relentless resistance of the people it chained — the slave states had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issue of fugitives a defining political priority .
This culminated in the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 , which passed as the central component of the Compromise of 1850 .
It passed only narrowly , and if the Southern states didn ’ t have extra members of Congress as a result of the three-fifths compromise — whereby slave states were awarded additional congressional representatives based on the number of slaves living there , but only counted as three-fifths of a person — the bill would have fallen short .
The new law required @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Southerner swore was an escaped slave .
It implemented stiff penalties for harboring fugitives and gave those arrested no opportunity to plead their case .
Not only were escaped slaves captured and brought back , free Blacks like Northup were , too .
As the risk of slaves escaping decreased , their price rose significantly in the border states .
Now that any Black person was at risk of being sent into slavery , the Black population of Canada exploded .
The Fugitive Slave Act forced whites in the North to reckon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Whig Party , which had long been a coalition that straddled North and South and simply preferred to ignore the issue of slavery , relied for its existence on a pro-slavery party — the Democrats — that was , for lack of a better word , moderate — one that was content to keep slavery in the South , and agree to “ reasonable ” restrictions on the trade .
The Fugitive Slave Act broke apart that arrangement , making it clear that the extremists in the slavocracy were in charge in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t stop until they had achieved a hemisphere-wide slave empire .
Moderation and compromise could no longer counter the far right .
Only a movement bent on the full blown destruction of slavery was capable of meeting the challenge .
It was the 19th Century American version of socialism or barbarism , and the Whigs were not up to it .
The Whig Party collapsed amid its implacable internal contradiction .
In its place rose the Republican Party , founded on principles of abolition .
The South had swung the nation in such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rest of the country in the opposite .
Had it not been for those unfathomably brave people willing to risk everything to escape slavery , there would have been no realignment , and no Civil War — at least not the one we had , when we had it .
As Reverend Dr. William Barber argues that our present moment is a Third Reconstruction , it is also important to remember that the Second Reconstruction–the civil rights movement–too was built on a foundation of workers .
Along with Freedom Rides , sit-ins and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organized to join unions in the ‘ 60s and ‘ 70s , much of them in the public sector .
Martin Luther King came to the aid of Memphis sanitation workers because he saw the potential for a new movement , one based on workers taking action for themselves .
It was also in 1968 that King gave a speech praising Du Bois ’ “ Black Reconstruction , ” historian Robert Greene II points out .
Labor journalist Mike Elk has been tracking strike actions since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ there has been a verifiable surge of strike activity .
There may be no better way to mark Juneteenth in the year 2020 .
Some language from this article is excerpted from the book “ We ’ ve Got People .
”

To honor Juneteenth, Target’s Chair and Chief Executive Brian Cornell released a somber statement. “We recognize the racial trauma the country is experiencing now is not new, but throughout recent weeks there has been a sense that this time is, and has to be, different,” said Cornell, who makes 767 times the average Target worker. “Juneteenth takes an additional significance at this moment.”
On the flip side, the United Auto Workers is shutting down assembly lines for eight minutes and 46 seconds on Juneteenth, marking the time it took Minneapolis police to take George Floyd’s life. The dockworkers on the West Coast, members of the progressive International Longshore and Warehouse Union, or ILWU, are also shutting down ports in honor of Juneteenth. This latter approach is far closer to honoring the true history of Juneteenth.
The holiday marks, generally, the end of slavery in the United States, and more specifically the order of Gen. Gordon Granger that declared the freedom of enslaved people in Texas, a state that was a stubborn holdout after Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered his army. The order was read on June 19, 1865, and lore has it that upon learning of emancipation, those it applied to stopped working instantly and launched into celebration.
That wasn’t the only work stoppage that Juneteenth celebrates. Some of the discourse surrounding Juneteenth is palatable to corporate America because it can reinforce some of the comforting ideas about the Civil War: that Abraham Lincoln and the generals of the Union Army, in their benevolence, freed the slaves. The reality, argued W.E.B Du Bois in a series of landmark works, is that some 500,000 Black Americans freed themselves from slavery by walking off their plantation, with many of them joining up with the Union Army. Then, with the help of some Union Army officers, they organized themselves into soldiers, officers, farmers, spies, cooks, and nurses who enabled the Union to win the war, while their absence on plantations crippled the South’s economy. This is the true Juneteenth: a freedom won by the freed.
The Civil War, and therefore emancipation, was won for the Union in large part thanks to a mass “general strike” of enslaved Black Americans, as revealed by Du Bois in his seminal 1935 work “Black Reconstruction,” which historian Eric Foner has described as “a landmark of historical scholarship and essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the era of Civil War and Reconstruction.” The book, which to this day has never been reviewed in the American Historical Review, the central organ of American historians, ran roughshod over the then-dominant white supremacist school of historiography, known as the Dunning school. The Dunning school saw the democratic explosion wrought by Reconstruction as a great historical crime and the participation of Black Americans in the war and Reconstruction as a sideshow at best.
In taking apart the Dunning school, Du Bois posited that every army depends on its logistics. Soldiers do need food and medical supplies. World War II Admiral Lynde McCormick said that “logistics is all of war making, except shooting the guns, releasing the bombs, and firing the torpedoes.”
Using the same logic, Du Bois noted that “The Southern worker, black and white, held the key to the war; and of the two groups, the black worker raising food and raw materials held an even more strategic place than the white.”
Du Bois had always recognized what Reconstruction had really meant. In the space of just a few years, hundreds of Black Americans denied citizenship were elected to office. Hundreds of thousands more became landowners. The plantation economy was wiped away. In his 1903 work, “The Souls of Black Folk,” Du Bois had expounded on this, challenging the predominant narratives of corruption and revivifying the awesome tasks achieved by the Freedmen’s Bureau. But in the face of the Great Depression he decided a deeper study was needed. The year before Du Bois wrote “Black Reconstruction,” in 1934, hundreds of thousands of workers had gone on strike, and workers in Minneapolis and the San Francisco Bay had general strikes. The change in historical circumstances required a new theoretical analysis.
Lincoln was ever reluctant to make explicit the root cause of the war: slavery; and what it would take to win it: emancipation. But the circumstances demanded that Lincoln do so. John C. Fremont, a radical Republican general, who had been the party’s first nominee four years before Lincoln, had freed slaves under his command in Missouri in 1861, and Lincoln had “repudiated” him, Du Bois noted.
Black Americans forced Lincoln’s hand. Du Bois quoted John Eaton, a colonel in the Union Army who was appointed superintendent of freedmen, as writing “Imagine, if you will … an army of slaves and fugitives, pushing its way irresistibly toward an army of fighting men, perpetually on the defensive and perpetually ready to attack. … There was no plan in this exodus, no Moses to lead it. Unlettered reason or the mere inarticulate decision of instinct brought them to us. Often the slaves met prejudices against their color more bitter than any they had left behind. But their own interests were identical, they felt, with the objects of our armies; a blind terror stung them, an equally blind hope allured them, and to us they come.”
Early on Southern newspapers had boasted of their ability to draft a far larger proportion of military-aged white men than the North, as they could do so without disrupting industrial production. Despite the numerous rebellions and the searing example of Haiti 60 years earlier, the South thought that the defeat of John Brown’s forces at Harper’s Ferry in 1859 portended a population immune to revolt.
The Confederacy was completely unprepared for this general strike. “Hundreds of thousands of slaves were very evidently leaving their masters’ homes and plantations,” wrote Du Bois. And with draft riots creating huge political problems for Lincoln, the initial approach, which was keeping Black Americans relegated to spying, cooking, nursing, and farming for the Union, would no longer work.
“The men who handled a spade for the Northern armies, the men who fed them, and as spies brought in information, could also handle a gun and shoot,” wrote Du Bois. “Without legal authority and in spite of it, suddenly the Negro became a soldier. Later his services as soldier were not only permitted but were demanded to replace the tired and rebellious white men of the North. But as a soldier, the Negro must be free.”
The general strike, Du Bois wrote, “was not merely the desire to stop work. It was a strike on a wide basis against the conditions of work. It was a general strike that involved directly in the end perhaps a half million people. They wanted to stop the economy of the plantation system, and to do that they left the plantations.” Of those 500,000, 130,000 to 200,000 ended up joining the Union Army in various capacities.
The mass of refugees were organized by Eaton with a corps of Black officers, the great forces of production created profits and tax revenue for the Union Army, which began the Reconstruction of the South. General wage taxes were put on the Black Americans serving the Union Army, and those taxes went to fund the construction of schools, hospitals, and infrastructure to serve the community.
The general strike of Black Americans in the South created an exodus of poor whites as well. As the Union Army marched on and the strike crushed the ability of the Confederacy to respond. “If the Negro was to be free where would the poor white be? Why should he fight against the blacks and his victorious friends? The poor white not only began to desert and run away; but thousands followed the Negro into the Northern camps,” Du Bois wrote.
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued effective January 1, 1863. It was a turning point in the war. “The Proclamation made four and a half million laborers willing almost in mass to sacrifice their last drop of blood for their new-found country. It sent them into transports of joy and sacrifice. It changed all their pessimism and despair into boundless faith. It was the Coming of the Lord.” Du Bois concluded, “it was thus the black worker, as founding stone of a new economic system in the nineteenth century and for the modern world, who brought civil war in America. He was its underlying cause, in spite of every effort to base the strife upon the union,” rejecting the then-dominant “War of Northern Aggression” narrative.
Company D, 8th Illinois Volunteer Regiment. Image collected by W.E.B .Du Bois and Thomas J Calloway, January 1, 1899. Photo: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Indeed, just as Black Americans denying their labor to the South and offering their service instead to the Union turned the tide of the war, wildcat resistance to enslavement is what brought the nation to that war.
From our vantage point today, it’s difficult to understand just how deeply preoccupied the slaveholding class was with people who escaped slavery. But it’s also hard to overstate. Entire industries existed to prevent escape and to capture and return those who made it. Abolitionists made supporting fugitives central to their campaign against slavery, with the Underground Railroad the most vivid expression of the effort.
Quakers and other whites who resisted slavery created sanctuary communities, passing laws that barred state and local authorities from assisting slave catchers. Southern slavers launched raids into the North in search of escapees, often repelled in high-profile and violent fashion. The escapees who told their stories publicly up North, Frederick Douglass most famously among them, had a dramatic effect on public opinion, exploding the propaganda that slavery was ultimately a benign institution. After the smash commercial success of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Southern propagandists argued that the fiction was just that, fiction produced by a biased white abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe, with no grounding in the reality of the institution.
A year later, a previously free Black man, Solomon Northup, re-won his freedom after 12 years in captivity, following his horrifying abduction in New York. Northup’s own memoir, titled “12 Years a Slave,” was an explosive, culture-defining best-seller in 1859, telling the story of his abduction from New York and time spent in brutal captivity. The two works acted as a call-and-response, with Northup dedicating his book to Beecher Stowe.
Aware of the profound weakness at the heart of the slave system — the relentless resistance of the people it chained — the slave states had turned to Congress, and made the issue of fugitives a defining political priority. This culminated in the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which passed as the central component of the Compromise of 1850. It passed only narrowly, and if the Southern states didn’t have extra members of Congress as a result of the three-fifths compromise — whereby slave states were awarded additional congressional representatives based on the number of slaves living there, but only counted as three-fifths of a person — the bill would have fallen short.
The new law required officials to arrest any black-presenting person that a Southerner swore was an escaped slave. It implemented stiff penalties for harboring fugitives and gave those arrested no opportunity to plead their case. Not only were escaped slaves captured and brought back, free Blacks like Northup were, too. As the risk of slaves escaping decreased, their price rose significantly in the border states. Now that any Black person was at risk of being sent into slavery, the Black population of Canada exploded.
The Fugitive Slave Act forced whites in the North to reckon with slavery, to choose sides. The Whig Party, which had long been a coalition that straddled North and South and simply preferred to ignore the issue of slavery, relied for its existence on a pro-slavery party — the Democrats — that was, for lack of a better word, moderate — one that was content to keep slavery in the South, and agree to “reasonable” restrictions on the trade. The Fugitive Slave Act broke apart that arrangement, making it clear that the extremists in the slavocracy were in charge in the South, and they wouldn’t stop until they had achieved a hemisphere-wide slave empire. Moderation and compromise could no longer counter the far right. Only a movement bent on the full blown destruction of slavery was capable of meeting the challenge. It was the 19th Century American version of socialism or barbarism, and the Whigs were not up to it.
The Whig Party collapsed amid its implacable internal contradiction. In its place rose the Republican Party, founded on principles of abolition. The South had swung the nation in such an extreme direction that it radicalized the rest of the country in the opposite. Had it not been for those unfathomably brave people willing to risk everything to escape slavery, there would have been no realignment, and no Civil War — at least not the one we had, when we had it.
As Reverend Dr. William Barber argues that our present moment is a Third Reconstruction, it is also important to remember that the Second Reconstruction–the civil rights movement–too was built on a foundation of workers. Along with Freedom Rides, sit-ins and student movements, millions of Black workers organized to join unions in the ‘60s and ‘70s, much of them in the public sector. Martin Luther King came to the aid of Memphis sanitation workers because he saw the potential for a new movement, one based on workers taking action for themselves. It was also in 1968 that King gave a speech praising Du Bois’ “Black Reconstruction,” historian Robert Greene II points out.
Labor journalist Mike Elk has been tracking strike actions since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the murder of George Floyd, there has been a verifiable surge of strike activity. There may be no better way to mark Juneteenth in the year 2020.
Some language from this article is excerpted from the book “We’ve Got People.”


theintercept--2020-06-19--Rep. Eliot Engel's Positions on Foreign Policy Are Hawkish — and Shameful

a House Democrat who better personifies the more aggressive and amoral wing of the Democratic Party than Eliot Engel ?
The House Foreign Affairs Committee chair , who has been representing New York ’ s 16th Congressional District since 1989 , has one of the most hawkish — and shameful — Democratic foreign policy records on Capitol Hill .
Let ’ s start with Iraq .
Engel was among a minority of House Democrats to vote for the illegal invasion of Iraq .
“ It would be a monumental mistake not to support ” George W. Bush , he proclaimed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as he disingenuously tried to link Saddam Hussein ’ s Iraq to Al Qaeda and the wider “ war on terror.
” He told his colleagues , “ In this era of terrorism , the U.S. has to be proactive.
” Lest we forget , hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis were killed as a result of that vote .
Then there ’ s Iran .
President Barack Obama ’ s signature foreign policy achievement , the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action , or Iran nuclear deal , was negotiated not just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but with the other four permanent members of the United Nations Security Council , plus Germany and the European Union .
The historic 2015 agreement saw the Iranian government publicly reaffirm that “ under no circumstances will Iran ever seek , develop or acquire any nuclear weapons ” and , to quote Obama , subjected Iran “ to the most comprehensive , intrusive inspection regime ever negotiated to monitor a nuclear program.
” Yet Engel , then the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee , opposed Obama ’ s Iran deal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of only 25 House Democrats to vote against it — compared to 162 Democrats who backed the JCPOA .
( Engel has since said he reluctantly supports the Iran deal and criticized Trump ’ s unilateral withdrawal from it ) .
How about Saudi Arabia ?
In 2016 , Engel was one of only 16 Democrats to join with 200 Republicans and defeat a measure that would have banned the sale of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia .
Cluster munitions , as my colleague Alex Emmons noted , often leave behind “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ farmland decades after a conflict ends.
” At the time of the vote , Saudi jets were in the midst of dropping U.S.-made cluster bombs on civilian areas in Yemen — and Engel helped them to carry on doing so !
Rather than backing Bowman , Democratic Party leaders like Nancy Pelosi , James Clyburn , and Adam Schiff have lined up behind Engel .
Hillary Clinton decided to make the New York Democrat her first primary endorsement of 2020 .
“ The establishment is racing to save the House Foreign Affairs Committee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political reporter Shane Goldmacher .
Bowman , in stark contrast , has the backing of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , Bernie Sanders , and — on Tuesday — Elizabeth Warren .
Like so many politicians who are keen to bomb brown people in the Middle East , and ask questions ( or offer regrets ! )
later , Engel has a nasty streak .
Forget his hot-mic confession that he “ wouldn ’ t care ” about speaking at an event on racism if he didn ’ t have a primary to fight .
Forget @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bowman as a communist .
Forget his ludicrous dismissal of AOC ’ s endorsement of his opponent as a sign of dictatorship .
Consider , instead , the manner in which the New York congressman treated a Muslim student at Manhattan College , in April 2019 , after she dared to challenge him over his long history of support for Israel ’ s human rights violations .
Engel ’ s response to this young , female student of color ?
“ You know , you ought to be nicer too , ” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your face .
It wouldn ’ t hurt .
”

Is there a House Democrat who better personifies the more aggressive and amoral wing of the Democratic Party than Eliot Engel?
The House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, who has been representing New York’s 16th Congressional District since 1989, has one of the most hawkish — and shameful — Democratic foreign policy records on Capitol Hill.
Let’s start with Iraq. Engel was among a minority of House Democrats to vote for the illegal invasion of Iraq. “It would be a monumental mistake not to support” George W. Bush, he proclaimed on the House floor in October 2002, as he disingenuously tried to link Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to Al Qaeda and the wider “war on terror.” He told his colleagues, “In this era of terrorism, the U.S. has to be proactive.” Lest we forget, hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis were killed as a result of that vote.
Then there’s Iran. President Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or Iran nuclear deal, was negotiated not just between the United States and Tehran, but with the other four permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany and the European Union. The historic 2015 agreement saw the Iranian government publicly reaffirm that “under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons” and, to quote Obama, subjected Iran “to the most comprehensive, intrusive inspection regime ever negotiated to monitor a nuclear program.”
Yet Engel, then the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, opposed Obama’s Iran deal. In September 2015, he was one of only 25 House Democrats to vote against it — compared to 162 Democrats who backed the JCPOA. (Engel has since said he reluctantly supports the Iran deal and criticized Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from it).
How about Saudi Arabia? In 2016, Engel was one of only 16 Democrats to join with 200 Republicans and defeat a measure that would have banned the sale of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. Cluster munitions, as my colleague Alex Emmons noted, often leave behind “mine-like explosives that kill civilians and destroy farmland decades after a conflict ends.”
At the time of the vote, Saudi jets were in the midst of dropping U.S.-made cluster bombs on civilian areas in Yemen — and Engel helped them to carry on doing so!
The House Foreign Affairs Committee chair has since shifted his position on Saudi Arabia, and even voted to end U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen in 2019. Yet his opposition to the Saudis only goes so far: In December 2018, the month after the CIA determined that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, for example, Engel told NPR that he did not want to see MBS “punished.”
“We need to talk to him about the disagreements we have,” said the New York congressman. Got that? Disagreements.
There’s also Egypt. Engel was a vocal supporter of the violent military coup in Cairo in 2013, which led to the mass killing of hundreds of unarmed protesters in Rabaa Square, and the imprisonment and torture of tens of thousands of Egyptians. The New York Democrat also slammed the Obama administration for daring to consider cuts in U.S. aid to Egypt’s brutal military. So much for his support for human rights!
And, of course, how can we forget the Israel-Palestine conflict? Engel is one of Israel’s most die-hard supporters on Capitol Hill, often taking positions to the right of that country’s own leaders. As foreign policy scholar Stephen Zunes has documented in the Progressive, Engel “was an outspoken supporter of Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” insists the United States “should veto any and all U.N. resolutions critical of Israel,” and has “pushed for defunding the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.”
Despite growing support for conditioning aid to Israel from across the party’s political spectrum, and from Democratic voters, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair has denounced the proposal to condition aid as “one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.” Time and again, he puts all the blame for the occupation … on the occupied Palestinians themselves.
Is it any wonder, then, that the pro-Trump lobbyist Morton Klein, who has his own lengthy history of bigoted remarks, has called Engel his “friend” and a person “who fully understands the truth of the Arab-Islamic war against Israel and the West”?
Backing illegal wars and coups. Appeasing foreign dictators. Defending Israel’s repression of the Palestinians. This is the Engel foreign policy record. He may be presented in the press as “mainstream” or a “moderate,” but his votes on Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia put him in a hawkish, hard-right minority inside of his own party. In fact, as my colleagues Ryan Grim and Akela Lacy revealed, a Republican super PAC is helping fund Engel’s reelection effort, behind the scenes, via a $100,000 donation to a pro-Engel super PAC called Democratic Majority for Israel.
Meanwhile, his primary opponent, educator and activist Jamaal Bowman, has defended the humanity of Palestinian children and told me in a recent interview that when the Israeli government is committing human rights violations “we have to have honest conversations about that.” Bowman also pointed out that, unlike Engel, he does not “take a dime from weapons manufacturers” and supports “dramatically” reducing defense spending.
Rather than backing Bowman, Democratic Party leaders like Nancy Pelosi, James Clyburn, and Adam Schiff have lined up behind Engel. Hillary Clinton decided to make the New York Democrat her first primary endorsement of 2020. “The establishment is racing to save the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman,” tweeted New York Times political reporter Shane Goldmacher.
Bowman, in stark contrast, has the backing of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and — on Tuesday — Elizabeth Warren.
Like so many politicians who are keen to bomb brown people in the Middle East, and ask questions (or offer regrets!) later, Engel has a nasty streak. Forget his hot-mic confession that he “wouldn’t care” about speaking at an event on racism if he didn’t have a primary to fight. Forget his campaign’s attempt to smear Bowman as a communist. Forget his ludicrous dismissal of AOC’s endorsement of his opponent as a sign of dictatorship.
Consider, instead, the manner in which the New York congressman treated a Muslim student at Manhattan College, in April 2019, after she dared to challenge him over his long history of support for Israel’s human rights violations.
Engel’s response to this young, female student of color?
“You know, you ought to be nicer too,” he said. “Put a smile on your face. It wouldn’t hurt.”


theintercept--2020-06-18--John Bolton Is Telling the Truth, but Let’s Not Forget His Horrible, Dangerous Career

new memoir of his days in the Trump administration , “ The Room Where It Happened , ” an accurate @ @ @ @ @ in the White House as national security adviser ?
The answer is almost certainly yes @ @ @ @ @ historical record .
Journalists may be particularly interested to learn that Donald Trump said that @ @ @ @ @ ” We can believe what Bolton says not because he has a long track record @ @ @ @ @ contrary , he ’ s one of the most deceitful individuals ever to hold high @ @ @ @ @ However , Bolton is also extremely intelligent by the standards of the right-wing and has @ @ @ @ @ own self-interest .
His lies in the past have always been about people and nations @ @ @ @ @ couldn ’ t exact a price for his mendacity .
By contrast , when he @ @ @ @ @ than him , such as a sitting president , we can be sure he ’ @ @ @ @ @ on his side .

Is John Bolton’s new memoir of his days in the Trump administration, “The Room Where It Happened,” an accurate account of what he saw in the White House as national security adviser? The answer is almost certainly yes, making it a valuable historical record. Journalists may be particularly interested to learn that Donald Trump said that we “should be executed.”
We can believe what Bolton says not because he has a long track record of honesty. On the contrary, he’s one of the most deceitful individuals ever to hold high office in the U.S. However, Bolton is also extremely intelligent by the standards of the right-wing and has a keen sense of his own self-interest. His lies in the past have always been about people and nations weaker than him, who couldn’t exact a price for his mendacity. By contrast, when he takes on those more powerful than him, such as a sitting president, we can be sure he’s careful to have reality on his side.
But whatever the merits of Bolton’s new book, it’s important to remember that he is no truth-telling hero. Here’s a short list of just some of his dreadful actions over his long and destructive career.
Bolton strenuously supported the Vietnam War, but just as strenuously opposed the idea of him personally having to fight it. Before graduating from Yale, he enlisted in the Maryland National Guard to be sure he avoided combat. He later explained, “I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy,” suggesting that he was generously providing an opportunity for someone who did want to die like that. Bolton shortly went on to intern for Vice President Spiro Agnew.
Perhaps Bolton’s most powerful impact on U.S. politics is the oldest and least-known: his role as a baby right-wing lawyer destroying post-Watergate campaign finance reforms. In Bolton’s memoir, he writes proudly of his efforts on the lawsuit Buckley v. Valeo, which resulted in a 1976 Supreme Court decision that was more important than Citizens United. The ruling struck down limits on campaign finance expenditures and self-funding by super-rich candidates. As Bolton explains, “Everyone knew the decision in Buckley v. Valeo could determine … the future shape of American politics.” He was right. Without Buckley v. Valeo, Donald Trump would never have been able to spend tens of millions of dollars of his own money to get elected and then hire Bolton.
Bolton held many different positions in the Reagan administration in the 1980s. One administration obsession was killing international regulations on the marketing of baby formula in countries without clean water. A subordinate later wrote that when she refused to help with this project, Bolton “shouted that Nestlé was an important company and that he was giving me a direct order from President Reagan.” He then tried to fire the subordinate, and when he couldn’t, had her moved into a basement office.
Bolton joined the George W. Bush administration as an undersecretary of state for arms control. In 2002, he declared that Cuba had a limited offensive biological weapons program. When a State Department analyst disputed stronger language in an earlier draft of the speech, Bolton characteristically tried to have the analyst fired.
That same year Bolton did succeed in getting Brazilian diplomat leader José Bustani ousted from his position as head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. “We know where your kids live,” Bolton told Bustani when first attempting to get him to quit. “You have two sons in New York.” Bustani’s sin was persuading Iraq to sign the international chemical weapons ban treaty. This in turn would have led to intrusive OPCW inspections, which would have demonstrated that Iraq didn’t have anything. This would have been, from Bolton’s perspective, the worst outcome possible, since it would have made it more difficult for the U.S. to attack Iraq.
In 2015, Bolton wrote an op-ed for the New York Times headlined, “To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran.” It was riddled with Bolton’s characteristic falsehoods, all to make the case for unprovoked war.
Just before Trump brought Bolton into his administration in 2018, Bolton wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal calling for yet another unprovoked war, this time with North Korea. In it, Bolton argued that presidents should now be able to ignore the war powers clause of the Constitution, which reserves the right to declare war to Congress, and attack other countries whenever they feel like it.
This barely scratches the surface of Bolton’s lifelong hard-right crusade. In particular, it will likely be years before we have a full accounting of his actions as national security adviser. But in a certain sense, Bolton’s expulsion from the Trump administration demonstrates just how successful he’s been. Like many extremist revolutionaries, he triumphed and then found that the people who eventually seized power in the chaos didn’t share his agenda, and finally decided that he himself had to be purged.


theintercept--2020-06-20--Not Just "Cops": It's Time to End the Entertainment Industry's Anti-Black, Pro-Police Programming

the longest-running reality TV show in U.S. history , was recently canceled after more than 30 years on air .
You ’ d be hard-pressed to find a TV viewer who couldn ’ t sing along to the show ’ s signature tune , “ Bad boys , bad boys , whatcha gon na do ?
” Having been nominated for an Emmy four times , “ Cops ” even spawned a trail of ubiquitous knockoffs , including “ LAPD : Life on the Beat , ” “ Police POV , ” and “ Live PD.
” The Paramount Network @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the seminal reality show after protests over George Floyd ’ s death and police brutality .
The cancellation is barely a first step , however .
The entertainment industry has an insidious though unmistakable influence over how the public thinks about policing .
It is necessary for people to understand how long and how thoroughly “ Cops ” and shows like it have habituated tens of millions of people to the police abuse of black , brown , and poor communities .
Increasingly comfy in this sewer of misrepresentation , legions of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ overdue reform .
To enjoy “ Cops ” is to relish seeing black , Latinx , and poor men harangued , choked , slammed , shot at , and handcuffed by police officers , with no meaningful context or resolution to any given human being ’ s situation , whether it be mental illness , substance addiction , or wrongful accusation .
Weekly footage exhilarated viewers through jerky bodycams capturing men of color getting snared and engrossed them with narrative idolatry lavished on white cops .
All of this reflected and abetted structural @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as racial and class bias in the criminal justice system .
Here lies a kind of gross misdemeanor .
Defund the Police and Campaign Zero — two progressive , nonpartisan efforts to overhaul policing — have no parallel in entertainment .
But the culture industry should be held accountable for helping consolidate the power of corrupt policing .
The popularity of “ Cops ” soared after its 1989 debut , alongside the documented evidence of its racism .
A 2004 academic study in the Internet Journal of Criminology , for example , analyzed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ examining the race and gender of the protagonists and antagonists , as well as each show ’ s depiction of crime .
The study found that black men were largely shown as criminal perpetrators — usually of violent crimes — and that Latino men also were typically depicted as violent criminals .
The police officers appearing were overwhelmingly white , and the disproportionately few white offenders portrayed were often shown committing nonviolent offenses .
Subsequent studies showed that “ Cops ” leads white viewers to believe that crime is more prevalent than it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more crime than they actually do ; that the public is more likely to be victimized than they actually are ; and that police “ intuitions ” and biases are better at helping to catch perpetrators than they actually are .
As one of the most iconic reality shows in television history , “ Cops ” served for three decades as a shadow advertising campaign for racist and brutal policing .
This demonstrates why entertainment activism is just as necessary and worthwhile as policy activism .
The culture industry , hand in glove @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mobilized to surveil , assault , and cage black and brown people .
The country gorged itself on brutal , racially charged reality TV as it turned its eyes from mounting evidence of police brutality in real life .
Yet entertainment activism is demonstrably different than police reform , because policing is presumably a public service supposedly accountable to democracy , whereas Hollywood is a business accountable mostly to the bottom line .
How do people of color confront a capitalist enterprise that , like physical white spaces , is seething with our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making its leaders and general audiences aware of dangerous portrayals of policing that come at the expense of people of color .
An ecosystem of artists , activists , and allied industry insiders — especially producers , directors , actors , agents , and writers — needs to be enlisted to push back against industry leaders as they make development and production decisions .
This activist network would collaborate with producers and writers to offer script consultations and to advocate for fair and accurate content .
Also , this country needs to establish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ television , music , streaming , and other media for their portrayals of anti-black policing .
Enhancing the media-advocacy tactics innovated by Jewish and LGBTQ communities , this group would advocate for inclusive and humane portrayals of people of color being policed .
When content runs that is pro-police brutality , classist , or anti-black , this new body would denounce the content strategically and loudly to audiences and to the industry , outlining why these harmful messages have no value in entertainment and how those messages damage actual communities and lives .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ abusive entertainment should be identified and targeted for boycott .
Companies should be encouraged to withdraw their ad dollars from shows that feature this content , not unlike the companies withdrawing their marketing buys from Tucker Carlson ’ s show on Fox News .
It ’ s important to hold accountable both the advertiser and the entertainment vehicle .
In addition to these important reactive strategies , we can also proactively work to transform the cultural landscape to deliver impressive entertainment experiences that can catalyze mass audiences for social change .
An example @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this regard is the film adaptation of Angie Thomas ’ s bestselling book , “ The Hate U Give.
” Both feature the adventures of Starr Carter , a black 16-year-old girl who responds to police violence “ by any means necessary.
” The critically acclaimed film grossed $ 35 million against its $ 23 million budget .
judging from their massive turnout at protests , seem to finally understand that racist policing portrayed in so-called entertainment , rarely named as such , has its parallel in actual events .
So many white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , wondering whether all that amateur video of the Alton Sterlings and the Philando Castiles and the Eric Garners was really a thing .
Weren ’ t those black people overreacting , griping , in fact , about being targeted and killed by police ?
Later , the length and the graphic clarity and the poignancy of George Floyd gasping for his life under the knee of police officer Derek Chauvin was the footage that somehow convinced the white masses that really it is a thing .
Many white people have now come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more telling form of reality programming .
Put bluntly , are white people recognizing their decades-long complicity in aggressive policing by way of amateur footage that is more urgent and more convincing than “ Cops ” ?
Judging from recent news coverage , you ’ d think that the police are an extraterrestrial organization descending on our cities .
Outfitted in their camouflage , semiautomatic rifles , grenade launchers , night-vision sniper scopes , and tactical armored vehicles , the police appear like a science-fictive force with paranormal capacity to parachute into civil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a war zone .
In fact , the police are no such thing .
They are a mundane reflection of society — of the constituencies they protect .
Though de jure segregation , as codified by law , no longer exists , de facto segregation remains .
Police enforce segregation .
Police guard private property .
Police normalize racial and economic divisions .
Police perform those roles so that white and upper-income and property-owning Americans don ’ t have to .
Police serve , in effect , as a kind of communal border @ @ @ @ @ @ @ erupted , and paramilitarized police struck back against protesters and journalists with brute force , much of the public expressed shock and indignation .
The communities historically policed this way — black , brown , low-income — harbored no such surprise .
That is because the police ’ s reaction to the protests was an escalated , better-equipped iteration of traditional policing , especially as witnessed in our living rooms through entertainment vehicles like “ Cops.
” All those public policy reforms being considered at the local and federal levels — enhancing training @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policing , ” requiring body cams , and instituting accountability measures — might do only so much .
Consumers of mass entertainment need to be shown a forward-looking reality different from the unreality they previously devoured .
What is needed , to augment policing and law enforcement reform , is a root-and-branch transformation of entertainment itself .
This article was supported by the journalism nonprofit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project .

Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection
“Cops,” the longest-running reality TV show in U.S. history, was recently canceled after more than 30 years on air. You’d be hard-pressed to find a TV viewer who couldn’t sing along to the show’s signature tune, “Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?” Having been nominated for an Emmy four times, “Cops” even spawned a trail of ubiquitous knockoffs, including “LAPD: Life on the Beat,” “Police POV,” and “Live PD.”
The Paramount Network announced its decision to pull the plug on the seminal reality show after protests over George Floyd’s death and police brutality. The cancellation is barely a first step, however. The entertainment industry has an insidious though unmistakable influence over how the public thinks about policing. It is necessary for people to understand how long and how thoroughly “Cops” and shows like it have habituated tens of millions of people to the police abuse of black, brown, and poor communities. Increasingly comfy in this sewer of misrepresentation, legions of viewers were numbed to the need for overdue reform.
To enjoy “Cops” is to relish seeing black, Latinx, and poor men harangued, choked, slammed, shot at, and handcuffed by police officers, with no meaningful context or resolution to any given human being’s situation, whether it be mental illness, substance addiction, or wrongful accusation. Weekly footage exhilarated viewers through jerky bodycams capturing men of color getting snared and engrossed them with narrative idolatry lavished on white cops. All of this reflected and abetted structural flaws in law enforcement, as well as racial and class bias in the criminal justice system.
Here lies a kind of gross misdemeanor. Defund the Police and Campaign Zero — two progressive, nonpartisan efforts to overhaul policing — have no parallel in entertainment. But the culture industry should be held accountable for helping consolidate the power of corrupt policing.
The popularity of “Cops” soared after its 1989 debut, alongside the documented evidence of its racism. A 2004 academic study in the Internet Journal of Criminology, for example, analyzed 16 episodes of “Cops,” examining the race and gender of the protagonists and antagonists, as well as each show’s depiction of crime. The study found that black men were largely shown as criminal perpetrators — usually of violent crimes — and that Latino men also were typically depicted as violent criminals. The police officers appearing were overwhelmingly white, and the disproportionately few white offenders portrayed were often shown committing nonviolent offenses. Subsequent studies showed that “Cops” leads white viewers to believe that crime is more prevalent than it actually is; that black people commit more crime than they actually do; that the public is more likely to be victimized than they actually are; and that police “intuitions” and biases are better at helping to catch perpetrators than they actually are. As one of the most iconic reality shows in television history, “Cops” served for three decades as a shadow advertising campaign for racist and brutal policing.
This demonstrates why entertainment activism is just as necessary and worthwhile as policy activism. The culture industry, hand in glove with the state, has for decades mobilized to surveil, assault, and cage black and brown people. The country gorged itself on brutal, racially charged reality TV as it turned its eyes from mounting evidence of police brutality in real life. Yet entertainment activism is demonstrably different than police reform, because policing is presumably a public service supposedly accountable to democracy, whereas Hollywood is a business accountable mostly to the bottom line. How do people of color confront a capitalist enterprise that, like physical white spaces, is seething with our presence?
The culture industry, hand in glove with the state, has for decades mobilized to surveil, assault, and cage black and brown people.
Challenging the entertainment industry means making its leaders and general audiences aware of dangerous portrayals of policing that come at the expense of people of color. An ecosystem of artists, activists, and allied industry insiders — especially producers, directors, actors, agents, and writers — needs to be enlisted to push back against industry leaders as they make development and production decisions. This activist network would collaborate with producers and writers to offer script consultations and to advocate for fair and accurate content.
Also, this country needs to establish a rapid-response group to monitor film, television, music, streaming, and other media for their portrayals of anti-black policing. Enhancing the media-advocacy tactics innovated by Jewish and LGBTQ communities, this group would advocate for inclusive and humane portrayals of people of color being policed. When content runs that is pro-police brutality, classist, or anti-black, this new body would denounce the content strategically and loudly to audiences and to the industry, outlining why these harmful messages have no value in entertainment and how those messages damage actual communities and lives.
Read Our Complete Coverage Protests for Black Lives
As well, advertisers contributing to this abusive entertainment should be identified and targeted for boycott. Companies should be encouraged to withdraw their ad dollars from shows that feature this content, not unlike the companies withdrawing their marketing buys from Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News. It’s important to hold accountable both the advertiser and the entertainment vehicle.
In addition to these important reactive strategies, we can also proactively work to transform the cultural landscape to deliver impressive entertainment experiences that can catalyze mass audiences for social change. An example of how much can be accomplished in this regard is the film adaptation of Angie Thomas’s bestselling book, “The Hate U Give.” Both feature the adventures of Starr Carter, a black 16-year-old girl who responds to police violence “by any means necessary.” The critically acclaimed film grossed $35 million against its $23 million budget.
Many white people, judging from their massive turnout at protests, seem to finally understand that racist policing portrayed in so-called entertainment, rarely named as such, has its parallel in actual events. So many white politicians had scratched their heads in confusion, wondering whether all that amateur video of the Alton Sterlings and the Philando Castiles and the Eric Garners was really a thing. Weren’t those black people overreacting, griping, in fact, about being targeted and killed by police? Later, the length and the graphic clarity and the poignancy of George Floyd gasping for his life under the knee of police officer Derek Chauvin was the footage that somehow convinced the white masses that really it is a thing. Many white people have now come to accept this footage, perhaps the more telling form of reality programming. Put bluntly, are white people recognizing their decades-long complicity in aggressive policing by way of amateur footage that is more urgent and more convincing than “Cops”?
Judging from recent news coverage, you’d think that the police are an extraterrestrial organization descending on our cities. Outfitted in their camouflage, semiautomatic rifles, grenade launchers, night-vision sniper scopes, and tactical armored vehicles, the police appear like a science-fictive force with paranormal capacity to parachute into civil disobedience and inflict damage, like in a war zone.
Are white people recognizing their complicity in aggressive policing by way of amateur footage that is more urgent and more convincing than “Cops”?
In fact, the police are no such thing. They are a mundane reflection of society — of the constituencies they protect.
Though de jure segregation, as codified by law, no longer exists, de facto segregation remains. Police enforce segregation. Police guard private property. Police normalize racial and economic divisions. Police perform those roles so that white and upper-income and property-owning Americans don’t have to. Police serve, in effect, as a kind of communal border patrol. Once the George Floyd protests erupted, and paramilitarized police struck back against protesters and journalists with brute force, much of the public expressed shock and indignation. The communities historically policed this way — black, brown, low-income — harbored no such surprise. That is because the police’s reaction to the protests was an escalated, better-equipped iteration of traditional policing, especially as witnessed in our living rooms through entertainment vehicles like “Cops.”
All those public policy reforms being considered at the local and federal levels — enhancing training, diversifying forces, implementing “community policing,” requiring body cams, and instituting accountability measures — might do only so much. Consumers of mass entertainment need to be shown a forward-looking reality different from the unreality they previously devoured. What is needed, to augment policing and law enforcement reform, is a root-and-branch transformation of entertainment itself.
This article was supported by the journalism nonprofit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.


theintercept--2020-06-20--Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s “Tough On Crime” History Has Become a Political Liability

Patel nearly bested Maloney in 2018 .
The race revolving around the issue of racism is not firm political ground for Maloney , who famously torched her shot at a Senate seat when she publicly dropped the n-word in 2010 .
Her record , though , is her bigger liability among a Democratic electorate that now rejects ‘ 80s and ‘ 90s-style criminal justice policies .
Her opponents in the June 23 primary , Suraj Patel and Lauren Ashcraft , both took aim at her record on policing and mass incarceration at a recent debate , as the protests around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York to Kentucky and Texas .
Patel ramped the attack up a notch on Saturday , telling the New York Times that Maloney is a “ vicious , vindictive person who uses racist tropes to attack a brown man running against her because it makes her uncomfortable , ” and that she “ weaponized my race against me ” with a digital ad calling Patel “ creepy .
” Patel , in a statement , worked to connect the ad attacking him to the broader protests against systemic racism .
“ Unfortunately being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black and Brown men in America — and frankly the world — for too long .
It ’ s an amorphous word that intentionally lacks an accusatory action , ” he argued .
Maloney , who didn ’ t respond to requests for comment , told the Times the ad merely used Patel ’ s own words , and his campaign ’ s prior practice of using Tinder to reach voters , in casting its judgment .
For Carolyn Maloney ’ s entire career , the longtime representative from Manhattan has been among @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tactics , a prominent champion of the tough-on-crime legislation that is now being challenged in the streets of New York .
Now that record has become a major liability in the veteran representative ’ s bid for office .
Maloney was first elected to the New York City Council in 1982 , the first midterm after Ronald Reagan ’ s election .
She spent a decade in that position , where she became friends with Ray Kelly , who was then rising through the ranks of the police force .
Kelly , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s police commissioner , was a controversial and outspoken advocate of practices such as stop-and-frisk .
Even as the broken windows theory of policing he championed fell out of favor nationally , Maloney stuck by him , recommending him to President Barack Obama as an ideal secretary of the Department of Homeland Security .
In 2017 , she suggested that President Donald Trump would make an “ excellent appointment ” if he were to name Kelly head of the FBI .
“ He has been apolitical , I would say .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he would be a fine choice , ” Maloney said .
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries , her fellow member of the New York delegation , suggested the idea was not such a good one .
The FBI director , Jeffries noted , “ has to be completely and fully vetted by the United States Senate as an individual with the highest degree of integrity , and independent with not a political bone in his or her body .
It ’ s not clear to me Ray Kelly falls into that category.
” Maloney and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her decade on the council , she boasted that she established Manhattan ’ s first-ever Tactical Narcotics Team , claiming it led to 2,000 drug arrests .
Elected to Congress in 1992 , she was an outspoken supporter of Joe Biden ’ s 1994 Crime Bill , which has plagued his current presidential campaign .
“ It ’ s the best news for New York City to come out of Washington since before Ronald Reagan took office , ” she said at a press conference announcing its passage .
At that press conference @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York delegation appeared at City Hall with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani “ brandishing assault weapons and a mock check as trophies of the war , predict [ ing ] increased funds for rape counselors , drug prosecutors , afterschool programs and police technology , ” Newsday reported at the time .
She continued voting for similarly tough legislation throughout the decade .
In 1997 , Maloney voted to strengthen criminal penalties for juveniles who commit violent crimes .
In 2000 , she voted to give $ 100 million in block grants to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violent crimes involving guns .
Before voting for it , she criticized the bill on the floor , saying it was a “ a limited half-measure ” put forth by Republicans “ that will only help six states.
” Four years later , she drew protests outside her office for backing an effort to place CIA agents inside police departments .
Also in 2004 , Kelly cost the city millions in lawsuits for his brutal treatment of protesters at the Republican National Convention .
Ashcraft said that it ’ s only been the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushed Maloney to add her name to some reform efforts .
“ My opponent voted for the Crime Bill and also voted against the H.Amdt.918 to H.R.4870 to stop the flow of military equipment to local police and has largely ignored legislation to demilitarize the police until she ’ s been pressured to co-sponsor 11 bills this month alone , ” Ashcraft said .
“ She may have found Black Lives Matter two weeks ago but that ’ s about 28 years too late , ” Patel said .
“ As a lawyer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s record on criminal justice and police brutality is disqualifying.
” Patel , who lost to Maloney by 8,644 votes in 2018 , is a hotel executive , New York University professor , and Obama campaign alum .
He is running on Medicare for All and a Green New Deal , as well as decriminalizing poverty and ending the war on drugs .
He ’ s raised $ 544,130 so far .
Ashcraft , running to Patel ’ s left , has worked in affordable housing and assistance for low-income families , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She ’ s a democratic socialist with a focus on disability rights and supporting underbanked communities and has raised $ 142,972 so far .

For Carolyn Maloney’s entire career, the longtime representative from Manhattan has been among the most vocal supporters of aggressive police tactics, a prominent champion of the tough-on-crime legislation that is now being challenged in the streets of New York. Now that record has become a major liability in the veteran representative’s bid for office.
Her opponents in the June 23 primary, Suraj Patel, Lauren Ashcraft, and Pete Harrison, took aim at her record on policing and mass incarceration at a recent debate, as the protests around the country have upended primaries from New York to Kentucky and Texas. Patel ramped the attack up a notch on Saturday, telling the New York Times that Maloney is a “vicious, vindictive person who uses racist tropes to attack a brown man running against her because it makes her uncomfortable,” and that she “weaponized my race against me” with a digital ad calling Patel “creepy.” Patel, in a statement, worked to connect the ad attacking him to the broader protests against systemic racism. “Unfortunately being called ‘creepy’ has happened to Black and Brown men in America — and frankly the world — for too long. It’s an amorphous word that intentionally lacks an accusatory action,” he argued. Maloney, who didn’t respond to requests for comment, told the Times the ad merely used Patel’s own words, and his campaign’s prior practice of using Tinder to reach voters, in casting its judgment.
Patel nearly bested Maloney in 2018. The race revolving around the issue of racism is not firm political ground for Maloney, who famously torched her shot at a Senate seat when she publicly dropped the N-word in 2010. Her record, though, is her bigger liability among a Democratic electorate that now rejects ’80s and ’90s-style criminal justice policies.
Maloney was first elected to the New York City Council in 1982, the first midterm after Ronald Reagan’s election. She spent a decade in that position, where she became friends with Ray Kelly, who was then rising through the ranks of the police force. Kelly, as former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s police commissioner, was a controversial and outspoken advocate of practices such as stop-and-frisk. Even as the broken windows theory of policing he championed fell out of favor nationally, Maloney stuck by him, recommending him to President Barack Obama as an ideal secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. In 2017, she suggested that President Donald Trump would make an “excellent appointment” if he were to name Kelly head of the FBI. “He has been apolitical, I would say. I think he’s extremely competent and he would be a fine choice,” Maloney said.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, her fellow member of the New York delegation, suggested the idea was not such a good one. The FBI director, Jeffries noted, “has to be completely and fully vetted by the United States Senate as an individual with the highest degree of integrity, and independent with not a political bone in his or her body. It’s not clear to me Ray Kelly falls into that category.”
Maloney and Kelly are aligned on policing. In her decade on the council, she boasted that she established Manhattan’s first-ever Tactical Narcotics Team, claiming it led to 2,000 drug arrests. Elected to Congress in 1992, she was an outspoken supporter of Joe Biden’s 1994 Crime Bill, which has plagued his current presidential campaign. “It’s the best news for New York City to come out of Washington since before Ronald Reagan took office,” she said at a press conference announcing its passage. At that press conference, Maloney and other members of the New York delegation appeared at City Hall with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani “brandishing assault weapons and a mock check as trophies of the war, predict[ing] increased funds for rape counselors, drug prosecutors, afterschool programs and police technology,” Newsday reported at the time.
She continued voting for similarly tough legislation throughout the decade. In 1997, Maloney voted to strengthen criminal penalties for juveniles who commit violent crimes. In 2000, she voted to give $100 million in block grants to states that imposed five-year mandatory minimums for violent crimes involving guns. Before voting for it, she criticized the bill on the floor, saying it was a “a limited half-measure” put forth by Republicans “that will only help six states.”
Four years later, she drew protests outside her office for backing an effort to place CIA agents inside police departments. Also in 2004, Kelly cost the city millions in lawsuits for his brutal treatment of protesters at the Republican National Convention.
Ashcraft said that it’s only been the pressure of protests and primaries that has pushed Maloney to add her name to some reform efforts. “My opponent voted for the Crime Bill and also voted against the H.Amdt.918 to H.R.4870 to stop the flow of military equipment to local police and has largely ignored legislation to demilitarize the police until she’s been pressured to co-sponsor 11 bills this month alone,” Ashcraft said.
“She may have found Black Lives Matter two weeks ago but that’s about 28 years too late,” Patel said. “As a lawyer, I can say that Rep. Maloney’s record on criminal justice and police brutality is disqualifying.”
Patel, who lost to Maloney by 8,644 votes in 2018, is a hotel executive, New York University professor, and Obama campaign alum. He is running on Medicare for All and a Green New Deal, as well as decriminalizing poverty and ending the war on drugs. He’s raised $544,130 so far. Ashcraft, running to Patel’s left, has worked in affordable housing and assistance for low-income families, and is also a standup comedian. She’s a democratic socialist with a focus on disability rights and supporting underbanked communities and has raised $142,972 so far. Harrison, a democratic socialist housing activist, has raised $45,056.


theintercept--2020-06-20--Bolsonaro Fraudulently Circumvented Trump's COVID-19 Immigration Ban to Smuggle His Scandal-Plagued

Bolsonaro Fraudulently Circumvented Trump's COVID-19 Immigration Ban to Smuggle His Scandal-Plagued Ex-Education Minister Into the U.S.

At his firing/resignation ceremony hosted by Bolsonaro on Thursday , the Brazilian President suggested that he would appoint Weintraub to a senior position with the World Bank , one of the few important posts that do not require Senate approval .
But vehement opposition quickly coalesced inside the Bank , with an extraordinary , lengthy letter from various Brazilian experts sent to the Ambassadors of seven countries listing all of Weintraub ’ s scandals and embarrassments , “ strongly advising ” that he not be appointed , and warning of “ irreparable harm that he would cause to your country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” While Weintraub last night bizarrely announced that he was “ leaving Brazil as soon as possible ” — by which he said he meant “ in a few days ” — news broke this morning that he actually rushed to the airport last night after he tweeted that and flew to the U.S. , apparently on an overnight flight .
At 9:07 a.m this morning , his brother Arthur announced on Twitter : “ Thank you all for your prayers and support .
My brother is in the USA.
” It was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ media that the former Education Minister arrived in Miami .
But there ’ s a looming question about all of this .
How could Weintraub have traveled to and entered the United States given the Executive Order issued by President Trump on May 24 which barred all Brazilian nationals and other non-citizens who have been in Brazil for the prior 14 days from entering the U.S. ?
Trump ’ s May 24 “ Proclamation on Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Certain Additional Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting Novel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States , as immigrants or nonimmigrants , of all aliens who were physically present within the Federative Republic of Brazil during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States is hereby suspended… .
How did Weintraub enter the U.S. in light of this sweeping ban ?
The answer seems to be that Bolsonaro conspired with Weintraub to enable him to circumvent the ban by traveling on a diplomatic passport even though his “ resignation ” from the Brazilian government was announced on Thursday .
Given that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and since his appointment to the World Bank is just rumored and not yet codified , he has no basis for entering into the U.S. under one of the exceptions to Trump ’ s order , which exempts from the ban “ a foreign government official or immediate family member of an official.
” Even though Weintraub ’ s resignation was announced Thursday , Bolsonaro waited until this morning — once it was announced that Weintraub was safely on U.S. soil — to publish his official notice of resignation .
Artificially and deceitfully @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s departure allowed Weintraub to enter the U.S. despite the coronavirus ban on all non-officials who have been in Brazil in the last 14 days , So now Bolsonaro ’ s close ally is safely ensconced in the U.S. , presumably out of the reach of the Brazilian law enforcement investigators scrutinizing suspected criminality .
And Bolsonaro , to smuggle his ally into the U.S. where he can be immune from Brazilian legal process , manipulated the public health order of President Trump that is designed to protect Americans from the spiraling , @ @ @ @ @ @

AP
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is subsumed by numerous scandals implicating his family and closest allies. Just in the the last week, multiple law enforcement developments have targeted Bolsonaro’s allies, his family, and even himself.
The last week in Brazil has seen large-scale search and seizure operations ordered by the Supreme Court at the homes of the President’s most vocal blogger and YouTuber supporters on suspicions of anti-democratic activity and Fake News rings. One of his most fanatical supporters was imprisoned. Subpoenas were issued for the bank records of a dozen pro-Bolsonaro members of Congress. And, most threateningly of all, his long-time fugitive-friend Fabricio Queiroz, who worked for a decade as the key aide and driver for Bolsonaro’s Senator-son Flavio and who is charged with coordinating a kickback scheme for Flavio’s enrichment and having close links to the country’s most dangerous para-military gangs, was finally found (at the home of the Bolsonaro family’s lawyer) and arrested (the home featured three Scarface dolls on the fireplace along with a poster for AI-5, the most terrifying decree issued by the military junta that ruled Brazil until 1985 and which Bolsonaro continues to praise).
In the midst of all that, Bolsonaro’s far-right Education Minister, Abraham Weintraub, was fired (or “quit”) on Thursday after he got caught on tape at a cabinet meeting screaming that Supreme Court Justices should be arrested, followed by Weintraub’s mask-free attendance over the weekend at an explicitly anti-democracy protest aimed at the Supreme Court. Even in a government that has suffered dizzying turnover due to corruption and other humiliations by ministers — Bolsonaro is on his third Health Minister in four months in the middle of a pandemic, and his fifth Culture Minister (one was fired after extensively quoting approvingly from Josef Goebbels) — Weintraub stood out as a failure and embarrassment, but he became a hero to the pro-military-dictatorship factions of Bolsonaro’s movement due to his screaming demand that the Supreme Court judges be imprisoned.
Speculation has been rampant in Brazil that Weintraub is the next target of law enforcement operations. Those suspicions were greatly fuelled when he abruptly announced on Twitter on Friday night: “I’m leaving Brazil as soon as possible (a few days). I DO NOT WANT TO FIGHT! I want to be quiet, leave me alone, but don’t provoke me!”
Aviso à tigrada e aos gatos angorás (gov bem docinho). Estou saindo do Brasil o mais rápido possível (poucos dias). NÃO QUERO BRIGAR! Quero ficar quieto, me deixem em paz, porém, não me provoquem! — Abraham Weintraub (@AbrahamWeint) June 19, 2020
At his firing/resignation ceremony hosted by Bolsonaro on Thursday, the Brazilian President suggested that he would appoint Weintraub to a senior position with the World Bank, one of the few important posts that do not require Senate approval. But vehement opposition quickly coalesced inside the Bank, with an extraordinary, lengthy letter from various Brazilian experts sent to the Ambassadors of seven countries listing all of Weintraub’s scandals and embarrassments, “strongly advising” that he not be appointed, and warning of “irreparable harm that he would cause to your country’s standing within the World Bank.”
While Weintraub last night bizarrely announced that he was “leaving Brazil as soon as possible” — by which he said he meant “in a few days” — news broke this morning that he actually rushed to the airport last night after he tweeted that and flew to the U.S., apparently on an overnight flight. At 9:07 a.m this morning, his brother Arthur announced on Twitter: “Thank you all for your prayers and support. My brother is in the USA.” It was reported later this morning by the Brazilian media that the former Education Minister arrived in Miami.
But there’s a looming question about all of this. How could Weintraub have traveled to and entered the United States given the Executive Order issued by President Trump on May 24 which barred all Brazilian nationals and other non-citizens who have been in Brazil for the prior 14 days from entering the U.S.? Trump’s May 24 “Proclamation on Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Certain Additional Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting Novel Coronavirus” states:
The entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of all aliens who were physically present within the Federative Republic of Brazil during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States is hereby suspended….
How did Weintraub enter the U.S. in light of this sweeping ban?
AP
The answer seems to be that Bolsonaro conspired with Weintraub to enable him to circumvent the ban by traveling on a diplomatic passport even though his “resignation” from the Brazilian government was announced on Thursday. Given that Weintraub occupies no official government position, and since his appointment to the World Bank is just rumored and not yet codified, he has no basis for entering into the U.S. under one of the exceptions to Trump’s order, which exempts from the ban “a foreign government official or immediate family member of an official.”
Even though Weintraub’s resignation was announced Thursday, Bolsonaro waited until this morning — once it was announced that Weintraub was safely on U.S. soil — to publish his official notice of resignation. Artificially and deceitfully delaying the official codification of Weintraub’s departure allowed Weintraub to enter the U.S. despite the coronavirus ban on all non-officials who have been in Brazil in the last 14 days,
So now Bolsonaro’s close ally is safely ensconced in the U.S., presumably out of the reach of the Brazilian law enforcement investigators scrutinizing suspected criminality. And Bolsonaro, to smuggle his ally into the U.S. where he can be immune from Brazilian legal process, manipulated the public health order of President Trump that is designed to protect Americans from the spiraling, unprecedented coronavirus crisis in Brazil.