nykStemmed.txt

a grinch steal a bank and fire an angel by nichola kristof feb 1 2020 to understand how some company have lost their soul consider what happen after us bank stiff a customer before christmas 
marc eugenio had deposit a 1080 paycheck into his account at us bank 
the bank put a hold on most of the sum and he spent many hour in a branch office over two days try to get access to the money so he could buy presents for his 9yearold daughter and 13yearold son 
on christmas eve eugenio found himself park at a gas station in clackama ore a portland suburb both his fuel gauge and his bank balance on empty 
a bank employee had told him that money would soon show up in his account — perhaps a ruse to get him out of the branch office 
for hour eugenio then try his debit card at the gas pump so he could buy a few gallon and get home to his wife and children 
i was stranded he told me 
i could have walk home but it would have been five mile in the cold 
that's when eugenio found an angel 
he telephone the bank's tollfree number and spoke with emily james a senior officer at a call center in portland 
she spent an hour on the phone with eugenio try to get some money release so he could at least get home 
she soon realize that he had been misle and that money wouldn't reach his account any time soon 
feeling badly for a customer stuck on christmas eve james offer to drive over from her call center and personally hand him 20 
no no no eugenio told her 
he couldn't impose 
but she suggest she could use her break and she received permission from a supervise to drive 20 minutes to eugenio 
she later recall that when she arrive she wish him merry christmas and hand him 20 of her own money 
twenty dollar wouldn't break me she explain to me and it would enable him to get home to his family 
when us bank found out that it had such a generous employee what did it do 
it fire her 
she broke the rule putt herself and the bank at unnecessary risk us bank said in a statement 
the company bar call center worker from meeting customer so it dismiss both her and the manager who had approve her trip 
the manager abigail gilbert told me that james's account was essentially correct 
james had work at the bank since 2017 and had received numerous commendation and award that i examine but the bank paid her no severance 
she is single and use her last paycheck to buy sack of food for her two dogs domino and harley quinn 
she is now reduce to sell blood plasma at 25 a visit 
i won't let myself be homeless she told me 
eugenio is horrify at what happen 
i was lie to and treat like dirt by the bank eugenio said and he can't understand why the bank axed the one employee who was helpful 
i felt really bad he told me 
how could she get fire 
us bank's vision statement boast our employee are empower to do the right thing 
so i try to ask the company's ceo andrew cecere why the bank fire an employee who with permission rescue a frustrate customer on christmas eve 
cecere wouldn't return my call 
david palombi a bank spokesman told me that an internal investigate had conclude that james misle her manager to get permission that james could have found other ways to get money to eugenio that the 20 came from the manager which gilbert confirmed to me and that james previous had disciplinary issue 
i found the bank's investigate a whitewash and its explanation to be incoherent meanspirite and contradict by a series of internal bank message that i review 
the bottom line is this cecere who was paid 141 million in 2018 preside over a company that has smear a muchdecorate employee who help a customer and as a result survive by sell blood plasma 
i suggest cecere apologize reinstate james and promote her he might also show contrition by sell his own blood plasma and donate the proceeds to a charity of james's choose 
when young america say in poll that they react more positively to socialism than to capitalism it's because of the hypocrisy of institution like us bank 
i've often noted that company have enormous capacity to help their community 
but too often they act like america tobacco company which kill more people than stalin did or pharma company peddle opioid or mckinsey company advise a business to get more patient on higher dose of opioid or boeing mock regulator 
that's one reason to seek strong privatesector labor union at least union and corporation can then provide some check on each other 
one bit of reassure some chief executive do seem more enlightened than cecere 
after the oregonian wrote two excellent articles about james other company reach out to her saying that she's the kind of care person they want to attract 
no job offer yet she told me but there are a couple of possibility i'm really excited by 
brexit is here 
sort of by the editorial board jan 31 2020 finally after 1317 days of confusion rancor and endless vote in parliament it was time for brexit 
on wednesday teary member of the europe parliament join hand and sang auld lang syne a clock project onto 10 down street count down the minutes union jack line the mall before buckingham palace 
a new dawn for europe leader of the europe union wrote in a joint article 
this is the moment when the dawn break came prime minister boris johnson's echo from across the newly raise divide line 
it was left to the dispassionate bbc to cut short the bathos brexit is far from 'done' the beeb cold said before list the many travail still to come most notably the negotiation that now begin with the eu 
on the detail of britain's future relationship with the continent 
mr johnson has promise not to seek an extension of the dec 31 deadline which he could though a less complex trade deal between the eu 
and canada took seven years to finish 
to discourage other member from exit the eu 
is not likely to cut britain much slack on eu 
standard and rule in their trade 
britain will now also reach across the atlantic to what president trump has held out as a very big trade deal big than we've ever had with the uk which mr johnson has tout as a benefit of quit the eu 
that too could prove a disappointment 
a former britain ambassador to washington kim darroch — who resigned in july after his derogatory comment about mr trump leak out — was among those who noted in interview that mr trump is not given to generous trade concession least of all in an election year 
in the same europe parliament session at which ursula von der leyen the president of the eu 
commission promise depart britain delegate we will always love you and we will never be far aileen mcleod of the scotland national party spoke of scotland's anger over being drag out of the union and ask that the member leave a light on for scotland where brexit has fuel demand for a new referendum on independence 
still the fact was that after 47 years in the eu britain was officially out and there was no go back at least not in the foreseeable future 
for many briton the long and bitter debate had been less about economics and politics than about identity 
those who fought to leave the eu 
fought for what they saw as lost sovereignty often tinge with a sense of lost empire those who fought to stay saw the union as postimperial britain's place in the future join with the rest of europe in value standard and security 
in the end after nearly three years of uncertainty and bitter voter elect mr johnson out of exhaustion to get it over with not because they had reach agreement 
headline reflect the divide 
probrexit tabloid join in gleeful celebration our time has come proclaim the sun offering a free giant brexit poster yes we did it 
cheer the daily express in what it describe as a historic edition free and independent once more after 47 years declared the daily mail over a photograph of the white cliff of dove 
those same cliff feature on the cover of the guardian a strong advocate of stay in the eu over a crumble sand castle surmount by a tiny britain flag 
the headline small island 
try to reconcile these divergent worldview will be the main task of coming years as mr johnson appear to recognize when he declared in a speech to the nation friday evening our job as the government my job is to bring this country together now and take us forward 
… this is not an end but a beginning 
for the moment what forward meant remain unclear 
for at least the coming years not much would change in economic trade and practical terms but many potential battle loom over the shape of the future relationship with europe america and the rest of the world 
perhaps in paraphrase winston churchill on whether the moment was an end or a beginning mr johnson would have done better to use his predecessor's entire quote that one about a military campaign 78 years ago now this is not the end 
it is not even the beginning of the end 
but it is perhaps the end of the beginning 
china didn't want us to know 
now its own file are do the talk 
by adrian zenz nov 24 2019 no more deny no more dodge 
the china communist party can no long hide its relentless campaign of mass internment against the ethnic minority in the northwestern region of xinjiang or claim that the effort is an innocuous educational program 
what was already widely known vastly report and confirmed by firsthand account has now been prove beyond doubt by the government's own record — gigabyte of file ream of report thousand of spreadsheet — some of them classified and highly confidential 
last weekend the new york times disclose and analyze the contents of a trove of leak internal china government document that outline specific policy for how to repress xinjiang's predominantly muslim minority — and reveal that president xi jinp himself set out the foundation for them 
this sunday the contents of two more set of document — all of which i have review — are being disclose 
among the first batch also leak is a confidential telegram sign by zhu hailun xinjiang's deputy party secretary which detail how local authority should manage and operate the vocational skill training center — a euphemism for the internment camp 
all translate here are mine 
the second set of document a large cache of file and spreadsheet from local government reveal the internment campaign's devastating economic and social impact on the family and community it target 
the telegram — dated nov 5 2017 and address to local politics and legal affair bureau — is marked extremely urgent and bear the secondhighest level of secrecy within china's classifieddocument scheme 
it reveal the extent of the security and surveillance measure taken around the camp partly to shield the camp from external scrutiny 
the message a directive note that the work conduct there is strict confidential and highly sensitive in nature 
even staff at the camp are forbidden from aggregate detainee figures 
the authorities' attempt to enforce absolute secrecy is confirmed by another document dated november 2018 this one from a local government file in hotan county 
it chide official for not protect secret related to the internment campaign well enough 
it stipulate that no person is under any circumstances permit to disseminate information about detention or reeducate via telephone smartphone or the internet and that official are strict forbidden from receiving related media interview or make unauthorized disclosure about the internment campaign 
that the china authority so deliberate sought to shield from external scrutiny information about operation at the xinjiang camp suggest that they are only too aware of how incriminate their policy and practice are 
i was also able to obtain a massive cache of local government file from within xinjiang 
among the most revealing document are thousand of detailed spreadsheet with the name identification numbers and address of ten of thousand of people mostly uighur and many of them in detention prison or reeducate camp 
in yarkand a county of about 800000 people in southwestern xinjiang 96 percent of the population is uighur 
six official spreadsheet about six village dated 2018 show that on average nearly 16 percent of the rural adult population was either interne or in prison 
in two village in kosherik township — which the document describe as heavy pollute by extremist ideology — nearly 60 percent of all household had one person or more interne 
in addition to the extraordinary scale of the internment campaign the file reveal its devastating impact well beyond the camp — deep into the community and family of xinjiang 
the spreadsheet show that the government has primarily target middleage men most often the head of the household and main wageearner 
beijing's occasional tour of its socall model camp often feature attractive young women 
in reality people between 30 and 59 were especially likely to be interne according to the spreadsheet 
the policy's socioeconomic fallout is dire — and local government are keeping a meticulous record of it 
one spreadsheet from 2017 for one town in yarkand county which list household with low income that might qualify for welfare included a young family with five children between the age of three and 14 
the father had been imprison the mother placed in a reeducate camp and the children in effect orphan 
in another hardly unusual case a household's two workingage parent were detain leave elderly grandparent — including a grandmother describe as seriously ill — to care for two toddler 
in a column with the header reason for poverty the relevant spreadsheet offer this explanation lack labor force and finances 
the toddlers' father isn't schedule to be release until 2030 
another spreadsheet from september 2018 show lists of loan default in pile township akto county 
in 80 percent of the case where the reason for default was list as internment most of the borrow funds were shown to still be in the bank 
a particularly depress example come from a village in yarkand county 
a uighur farmer and head of a family of five was interne in 2017 
in october 2016 he had received a loan of 40000 renminbi nearly 5700 to purchase agriculture machinery 
the equipment went unused during his detention — no other family member knew how to operate it — and the loan could not be repaid as schedule 
the government direct the family to rent out the equipment and send its oldest child a son to work 
the family was then officially marked as have been povertyalleviate by benefit from policy 
in june 2018 after his release the farmer applied for financial assistance so he could repay the loan and related interest 
in january 2019 he start to work in the yarkand county textile industrial park earn just 800 rmb about 113 a month 
by then the son age 20 had somehow become disabled and was list on government form as unable to work 
thanks to these new document disclosure we now have hard evidence — and the government's own evidence — that in addition to implement a vast internment program in xinjiang the china communist party is deliberate break up family and force them into poverty and a form of indenture labor 
for all its effort at secrecy the china government can no long hide the extent and the reach of its campaign of repression in xinjiang 
some important elements are still unknown 
the total internment figure remains a wellguarde secret 
base on the new evidence i have revise my own estimate i think that between 900000 and 18 million people have been detain in xinjiang since the spring of 2017 
also missing from the official document that have surface so far are precise record of how the detainee are treat and how exactly the process of reeducate works 
about those things however we have witness account 
the confidential telegram and local file do not mention the use of physical violence — but for one notable exception 
the telegram states that people who resist brainwashing must be single out for assaultstyle reeducate 
yet another sinister understatement and it suggest that force and torture may in fact be widely use 
in a way though we already know all that we really need to know 
the document that have been disclose these past few week reveal the staggering scale of the repression in xinjiang and its ruinous effects on the region's ethnic community well beyond the camp themselves 
consider this official statistics show that the combine net population growth rate of hotan and kashgar two of the largest uighur regions drop by about 84 percent between 2015 and 2018 
the china communist party set out it claim to transform through education ethnic minority in xinjiang 
in fact it is rip apart entire community and subjugate them on a colossal scale 
and this at the direction of president xi himself 
china's new civil religion by ian johnson dec 21 2019 beije — in the northern suburbs of this city is a small temple to a china folk deity lord guan a famous warrior deify more than a millennium ago 
renovate five years ago at the government's expense the temple is use by a group of retire who run pilgrimage to a holy mountain schoolchildren who come to learn traditional culture and a taoist priest who preach to wealthy urbanite about the traditional value of ancient china 
perch atop a hillock overlook the sprawl capital the temple is a microcosm of a new civil religion taking shape in china — an effort by the china communist party to satisfy china people's search for moral guidelines by supplement the largely irrelevant ideology of communism with a curate version of the past 
this new stateguide religios is the flip side of the government's harsh policy toward islam and christianity 
official believe these two global faith are hard to control because of their foreign tie and they have use negotiation or force — diplomacy with the vatican arrest of prominent protestant internment camp for muslim — to try to bring these religion to heel 
yet beijing's recent turn to tradition may be even more significant 
even though islam and christianity are world religion in china they remain minor with the number of their combine adherent amount to less than 10 percent of the population 
most china believe in an amalgam of buddhism taoism confucianism and other traditional value and idea that still resonate deep 
for this silent majority of hundred of million of people the government's newfound support for things like the temple to lord guan is welcome — a feeling that the china communist party hope will bolster its legitimacy especially given the irrelevance today of its found idea 
the benefit of its move to embrace the past may seem obvious but the shift mark a radical departure not just for a party officially committed to atheism but also from how reform over the past century have imagine a modern prosperous china 
from the 19th century onward china's elite argue that the country's tradition and faith were a major reason for its decline 
reform in 1898 call for temple to be convert into school 
while the nationalist party under chiang kaishek approve of four religion — buddhism taoism sometimes call dao christianity and islam — it largely considered traditional china belief to be superstition and advocate the destruction of temple 
scholar estimate that by the middle of the 20th century half of the temple that exist in china at the end of the 19th century had been destroy 
an 1851 survey of the old city of beije list 866 temple today i count just 18 
at the end of the 19th century most village had at least one temple and many had half a dozen vast section of the china countryside now have no temple at all 
when the communist took power in 1949 they like the nationalist officially recognize four religion — but then prompt began persecute them 
traditional faith came under especially harsh treatment with the government ban bedrock traditional practice from worship ancestor and local deity to following the advice of geomance master and spirit medium 
the three decade of reform that start in the late 1970s loosen control over society allow the revival of all religion and many tradition that had been proscribe 
despite periodic crackdown church and mosque but also temple were rebuilt and clergy train 
although all faith were supposed to remain under party control religious feeling boom with the number of believer in china topping 500 million by 2010 
xi jinping's rise to power in late 2012 mark a new era the third in the history of the china communist party's religious policy 
instead of the destruction of the mao years and the relatively laissezfaire approach of the reform period the state has embark on a form of highly curate revival 
one part of its approach rest on a deep suspicion of christianity and islam 
the party's policy toward islam has been the most draconian 
some believer especially uighur in the northwestern province of xinjiang have been subject to a policy of forced secularize 
this has included send hundred of thousand of muslim to reeducate camp compel restaurant to serve pork and alcohol and forbidding fast during ramadan 
the policy toward christianity is more nuance 
last year beije struck a deal with the vatican to joint appoint catholic bishop 
the vatican seem to hope to reverse the decline in the number of catholic in china 
but for beije the measure was a way to tighten control over the catholic clergy — and by extension the church itself 
protestant pose an especially vex problem for the party 
it is arguable china's fastestgrowe religion with an estimate 60 million or more adherent today compare with one million in 1949 including some 20 to 30 million who are thought to worship in unregistered or underground protestant church 
but the faith lack a unify structure that would allow for negotiation 
and so the government has fire a few shot across the bow close several of the country's bestknown underground church 
in many ways however the xi administration's embrace of traditional faith is more radical 
since taking office the president has met with buddhist leader and his government has allow taoism to flourish 
the state recently issue a landmark plan to improve social mores the first such program since 2001 
the plan stem from a widespread feeling that china's relentless drive to get ahead economically has create a spiritual vacuum and sometimes justify break rule and trample civility 
many people do not trust one another 
the government's blueprint for handle this moral crisis call for endorse certain traditional belief 
the epic paper — it runs to 10000 china character and would be significant long translate into english — doesn't mention communist china's found father mao zedong or his successor and their ideology focus instead on mr xi and his effort to fix social problem like money worship and hedonism 
it do invoke communist slogan such as core socialist value but in contrast to the previous such document from 2001 — which made only passing reference to china tradition — it call the past a rich source of morality 
the plan orders party official to promote ancient and worthy sage as well as to deep expound traditional concept such as ren'ai benevolence zhengyi righteous and jianyi zhengwei standing up brave for the truth 
this effort is not an attempt to replace communism with confucianism 
yet it is fair to say that for the first time since china's imperial order collapse in 1911 a central government is embrace the idea that made up the politicalreligious order that ran china for much of the past 2500 years 
why 
not only to address china's moral vacuum but also as a populist measure 
the country is enter a more uncertain era of slow growth and rising inequality and beije is drape itself in the mantle of tradition to broaden its appeal 
in do so the government seem to be assume that traditional china value and belief are easy to control than foreign religion and that support them will outweigh the costs of suppress islam and christianity 
but i have my doubt 
during a visit this fall to the lord guan temple i saw a dozen or so people mostly in their 30s and 40s reading works by wang yangm a philosopher born in the late 15th century 
on the face of it this was in line with government policy the party has embrace wang for exemplify an incorruptible spirit and matching words with deed 
but after reading a passage of wang's work the men and women sat around a big wooden table wield brush to write out over and over again his most famous phrase zhi xing he yi knowledge and action are one 
this knowledge according to wang come from an inner light a conscience — one that no government no matter how powerful can control 
china where state pomp come with real feeling by ian johnson oct 3 2019 beije — attend china's national day celebration over the years has been a bit like listen to different take of a song with the composer hone the theme and jettison the raw bit until the piece sound just right 
that's how i felt at tuesday's celebration on tiananmen square held to observe the 70th anniversary of the found of the people's republic of china 
i've attend two other ceremony like this before — for the 35th anniversary in 1984 and the 50th in 1999 — and i knew the basic drill there would be a big military parade follow by float celebrate the government's accomplishment 
but this show felt big and brassy than either of those as if the composer had decided to use every instrument in the orchestra and cast subtlety aside 
it was slick and sleek but also overpowering and at times bombast 
when i received my invitation government official told me that i was lucky to attend because it was such a great honor 
i nod polite but only really understood what they meant when i arrive at tiananmen square on tuesday at 6 am we media type were just a few hundred in a sea of loyal member of the china communist party ccp 
and for many of them it must have felt like one of the biggest event of their lives 
it would be easy to write these people off as extra 
and 20 years ago the last time i was at such an event the people in attendance were mainly highly train performer who held aloft placard that spell out different message north korea–style 
but tuesday's crowd was different 
it was made up of university professor scientist administrator bureaucrat and people who had made some sort of contribution to the state 
they weren't prop but excited participant who expect to remember this day 
i notice that right away when i walk past a raise platform cover with artificial grass that surround a big television screen 
people were crouch down next to the platform and neat arrange their letter of invitation paradepicture id and program almost all in the same fashion like sacrament on a church altar 
then they would snap a picture aim their camera so that china's national symbol the gate of heavenly peace appear in the background 
these were photo design to be boast about on social media guess where i was today 
yes at tiananmen square 
yes at the ceremony 
and here is proof 
if these were their sacrament and this ceremony was their ritual what then was their belief 
that would probably be the message broadcast on the giant screen that surround us 
before the parade began those screen show archive footage of the past 70 years present a story about how china had been poor and beaten down by outside powers until the communist party save the country 
the mao era wasn't portray as foreign journalist and academic often depict it — a series of violent campaign against imagine enemy of the state and the worst famine in record history — but as a period of pioneer glory when china secure its border for the first time in a century built a heavy industrial base and set the stage for its economic takeoff 
raise on this ideology the attendee seem visibly move when soldier carry the national flag goosestep from the monument to the people's hero at the center of the square down to the enormous flagpole 
i was unnerve by the background barrage of artillery and the amplify sound of the boots striking the pavement — it felt like an invasion of giant — but many people around me stood solemn 
this wasn't stagemanage some look bore other gaze around kid play 
but many more look earnest just like america do when they stand up hand on heart for the national anthem at a sports event 
and i don't think it was just for show that people jump out of their seat at one of the early high points of the ceremony when president xi jinp appear standing in an opentop limousine driving out of the gate of heavenly peace 
the moment was pure theater with mr xi in a dark traditional suit appear frame by the vermilion wall of the imperial forbidden city as he set off to inspect the troops 
people also oohe and aahe at another signature moment that owe much to peking opera 
when mr xi pass the soldier their head swivel as if on socket their eyes bulge as they follow the nation's most important person 
it was a show of the armed forces' unswerving allegiance to the ccp's leader and the audience need no encouragement to cheer 
realize that some of these emotion are genuine is important because we can't understand china if we think the party only rule through the authoritarian method that reporter understand focus on 
on my social media feed which include disgruntled intellectual but also workingclass practitioner of folk religion it's clear that many buy into the national story create by the ccp 
invent tradition is nothing new nor unique to china 
but here these construct can sometimes feel uneasy because many of them are import — from soldiers' dress uniform that seem decade out of date gold braid enormous epaulet row of medal to soundtracklike music worthy of john williams fanfare kettle drum plenty of brass 
i might be nostalgic but the mood 35 years ago felt a bit different 
i was a student then and a group of us was bus down to tiananmen square for the ceremony 
we then mill around for most of the day 
there was also an orchestrate event but security was minimal and you could still stand right next to the performer as they march or dance past 
some student even jump into the parade and held up a banner greeting the paramount leader deng xiaope 
china today is more serious about being a superpower 
when the spontaneous enthusiasm flag on tuesday cheerleader made sure the flag kept wave 
and security was so tight that it border on paranoia neighborhood park around town implement airportstyle security to even enter 
but that too was part of the spectacle the message and the vision — of a focus and discipline state led by the china communist party that can put on a spectacle few country can match 
coronaviru and the panic epidemic by ian johnson jan 30 2020 beije — the absurd of the situation hit me on wednesday when i was coming home from a local bar at 8 pm 
i had ridden my bike a few hour early to a park for a walk and then to meet a friend — my first human contact in five days excluding the cashier at the grocery store 
but the side gate i'd use to leave the enormous communistera compound was now chain shut 
what 
a notice in china said it was lock to prevent the spread of the new coronaviru 
so i head toward the north entrance 
that one is for pedestrian and has two barrier set slightly apart just wide enough to get through on foot 
that's ok i thought i can squeeze by with my bike and be home in a few minutes 
i rode around the block but when i got to the gate i had to slam on the brake 
someone had taken a dozen rideshare bike lash them together with wire and pile them in between the barrier 
then for good measure they'd fasten the heap to the post with more wire making it into some sort of postmodern commentary on our hypermobile society 
laugh i rode on to the main entrance 
it has a car entrance with a big gate and on either side walkway for pedestrian 
one of those was also pile high with rideshare bike sacrifice for the national good the other was protect by two security guard i'd never seen before 
they block my way 
what do you want 
one of them ask 
to go home 
i live here 
have you been to wuhan recently 
i just rode back 
i'm exhaust 
the humor was beyond their pay grade 
is anyone in your home from wuhan or has been there recently 
i need to stop fool around 
no i haven't been there in four years 
i live alone 
no fever 
i feel fine 
they silent let me through 
this felt like the height of foolish why would the gate be open during the day but lock down at night 
do virus operate like vampire 
that's when i realize the guards' effort was just part of a borglike lockdown that the state had put into place with the alacrity of official in full cya 
mode 
the next day i was clean my apartment no one could enter beije anymore so my one luxury an houraweek house cleaner was stuck in her village even though the main phase of the lunar new year holiday was over 
there was a knock on my door 
it was the good people from the apartment management office mrs luo and her assistant 
oh mr zhang nice to see you mrs luo the hennahaire manager of lease renewal said address me by my china name 
is there anyone from wuhan in your apartment 
no 
still not 
ok 
take a look at this please 
she hand me a sheet from the local communist party district committee list dos and don'ts to follow during the outbreak 
do seek help 
do listen to the local government 
do keep warm 
do stay at home 
do avoid contact 
do wash your hand 
don't spit 
don't exert yourself too much 
don't associate with people who've recently arrive from the infect area around the megac of wuhan 
on the back was a list of all the communist party street committee and their phone numbers 
finally after five years of living in this neighborhood and countless fail effort to register my complaint about illegal construction at night i had some phone numbers 
i file the sheet for future use 
the germany language has as usual a hyperspecific word for this phenomenon aktionismu literally action or action for action's sake 
what i was witness was aktionismu in the face of a problem that require a sensitive response involve public trust 
but since the china government cannot elicit either of those things i was seeing the compensatory flailingaround of a state with no other option 
instead of have an adult conversation with the population about the virus and putt in place reasonable policy that have been use effectively elsewhere the china state has gone into full lockdown mode 
this demonstrate one of those truism from politics science authoritarian government are like people who don't have any finger but do possess two thumb 
they can take forceful action but can't finetune the lever of government 
actually i'm not being fair 
when the china communist party has time it can come up with and use sophisticated policy — witness its coopt of traditional faith to fill a spiritual vacuum in society 
but when face with a crisis the party can't seem to avoid grand gesture building hospital from scratch in two week lock down ten of million of people ban million more from travel to big city and so on 
in some ways a moment like this one is a technocrat's dream when western health care expert say that this sort of lockdown won't work they basically mean it's never been try on this scale with this kind of uberefficient government 
now that it's being try not just in beije but also across the country the effects are kind of thrill to watch 
apartment compound like mine are being fumigate 
with what 
who care 
people are walking around with loudspeaker blare out warning against the virus 
village are close their gate as if bandit were on the prowl 
and go to a restaurant or a bar is almost an act of treason or at best foolish selfish 
the most interesting question is why the party feel the need to carry on like this 
i think it know the people don't trust it in these case and assume there has been a coverup 
hence one of the most popular figures in the crisis zhong nanshan the hero of the 20023 sar outbreak now 83 who is back in action treat patient and warning citizen about the need for hygiene 
he has been adopt as the incorruptible official — a familiar trope in china history the confucian official who stand tall despite pressure to bend 
and so we read endless profile of dr zhong in china social media discuss his family background upbringing success and apolitic pursuit of sciencebase truth 
the clear implication is that he is that rare official capable of such principled conduct 
behind all this lie the feeling that most other people in the party can't quite be trust 
this has been reinforce over the past few days by report that at least eight people who were detain in wuhan in early january on charge of spread rumor are in fact medical doctor not fearmongere ne'erdowells 
this startle fact is now leak out in online report that are sometimes but not always being block 
at some point the government will have to admit to a partial coverup 
considering the underlying distrust it's hard for the government to say what many epidemiologist are saying this outbreak is serious but not catastrophe 
because if the state level with the people it would also have to admit that there is no need for this degree of social control 
some 259 people were report to have die as of saturday evening in a country of nearly 14 billion and there is no indication that we are at the start of a hollywood disasterstyle movie 
the government's inability to formulate a measured response will turn this outbreak into a direct successor of the sar epidemic 
that hardly was a huge public health disaster — few than 800 death — yet it has taken on a legendary reputation as a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions one that should never be allow to recur 
but of course a new outbreak has occur 
do this mean that the state will suffer 
i don't think so 
for despite their mistrust of the system people over all are go along with the lockdown 
in private conversation and on chat rooms they say it's impossible not to take drastic action in a country as big as china 
in this sense the population has absorb the government's narrative of china exceptional running china require a strong hand and these measure as absurd as they seem are proof that the government is do a good job — and portend that the party will come out of this as always triumphant 
coronaviru spread and the world pay for china's dictatorship by nichola kristof jan 29 2020 china's leader sometimes seem 10 feet tall preside over a politics and economic juggernaut that has found university at a rate of one a week and that recently use more cement in three years than the united states did in the entire 20th century 
president trump has hail china's president xi jinp as a brilliant leader and michael bloomberg say xi is not a dictator 
but we're now seeing the danger of xi's authoritarian model for china and the world 
the first known coronaviru infection in the city of wuhan present symptom beginning on dec 1 and by late december there was alarm in wuhan's medical circle 
that would have been the moment for the authority to act decisive 
and act decisive they did — not against the virus but against whistleblower who were try to call attention to the public health threat 
a doctor who told a wechat group about the virus was discipline by the communist party and forced to admit wrongdoing 
the police report give education and criticism to eight frontline doctor for rumormonger about the epidemic instead of punishing these doctor xi should have listen to them 
china informed the world health organization of the virus on dec 31 but kept its own citizen in the dark as other country report infection even as china pretended that it had confine the outbreak to wuhan china joke grim about a patriotic virus that only struck foreigner 
wuhan's mayor said he wasn't authorize to discuss the virus until late this month 
in that time people traveled to and from wuhan and didn't take precaution 
the government finally ordered a lockdown on jan 23 that effectively quarantine people in wuhan 
but by then according to the mayor five million people had already flee the city 
partly because the government cover up the epidemic in the early stage hospital were not able to gather supplies and there are now major shortage of test kit mask and protective gear 
some doctor were reduce to making goggles out of plastic folder 
one reason for the early coverup is that xi's china has systematic gut institution like journalism social media nongovernmental organization the legal profession and other that might provide accountable 
these institution were never very robust in china but on and off they were tolerate until xi came along 
i conduct a series of experiment on china blog over the years beginning in 2003 and was sometimes surprise by what i could get away with — but no long 
xi has drag china backward in terms of civil society crush almost every wisp of freedom and oversight 
for the same reason that xi's increasingly authoritarian china bungle the coronaviru outbreak it also mishandle a swine fever virus that since 2018 has devastate china's hog industry and kill almost onequarter of the world's pig 
dictator often make poor decision because they don't get accurate information when you squelch independent voice you end up get just flattery and optimism from those around you 
senior china official have told me that they are routine lie to on trip to meet local official and must dispatch their driver and secretary to assess the truth and gauge the real mood 
for this or other reason xi has made a series of mistake 
he mishandle and inflamed the politics crisis in hong kong he inadvertent assured the reelection of his nemesis as president of taiwan and he has preside over worsen relations with the united states and many other country 
the coronaviru has already reach the xinjiang region in the far west of china and one risk is that it will spread in the internment camp where china is confine about one million muslim with poor sanitation and limited health care 
virus are challenge for any country and it's only fair to note that china do a better job protect its people from measles than the us do 
it's a credit to china's system that a baby born in beije today has a long life expectancy than a baby born in washington dc more broad the united states which has several impoverish county with lower life expectancy than cambodia or bangladesh is in no position to lecture anyone about health 
but with a dose of humility let's get over any misplace admiration some america have for xi's authoritarian model 
the china social contract has been that citizen will not get ballot but will live steady better lives yet china's economy is now as weak as it has been in three decade — and the coronaviru will sap growth further 
xi is not living up to his end of the bargain and this is seen in the anger emerge on china social media despite the best effort of censor 
i don't know if xi is in politics trouble for his misrule but he should be 
he's a preen dictator and with this outbreak some citizen are pay a price 
cuomo's bad medicine on medicaid by the editorial board jan 31 2020 for years new york state has operate one of the most generous medicaid program in the country a point of pride in a state with a long tradition of invest in the social safety net 
the program provide health care and other service to more than six million people largely lowincome new yorker and the costs are share between the state and federal government 
but profligate spend has sent costs spiral in recent years 
the medicaid program has become a driving force behind a 61 billion hole in new york's budget next year and a brew politics battle over what to do about it 
though medicaid costs are rising across the united states in new york — among the country's largest program and long one of its most expensive — spend has surge 
from 2015 to 2019 annual spend grew by an average of 6 percent according to a report last year by the empire center for public policy a conservative nonprofit research organization 
that's roughly double the rate of growth in the previous several years even as enrollment remain flat 
health care and budget expert have said a variety of factor are behind the trend including an increase in demand for personal care program that provide nonmedic service to disabled new yorker a minimumwage increase and financial assistance that the state has provided to struggle hospital 
new york's share of its 75 billion annual medicaid bill is now about 30 billion and grow imposing an increasingly untenable burden on state and local budget 
the federal government pay the rest 
the good news is that gov 
andrew cuomo who is in charge of administer the federal program has move to rein in costs 
the bad news is that he has said locality will have to pay for increase in local medicaid spend above 3 percent 
that's unfair and unrealistic 
local government in new york already pay more mandate medicaid costs than local government in any other state a dynamic that's been in place since the program began in the 1960s 
that's not unusual in new york where albany rely on new york city's tax base to fund the bulk of state service from education to commuter rails 
in 2018 local government in new york sent 76 billion to albany for the program according to a 2018 report from the citizen budget commission 
in fulton county in upstate new york for instance the local medicaid bill for 2016 amount to more than 15 percent of the county budget 
in new york city the annual medicaid tab is roughly 5 billion or nearly 5 percent of the city's budget 
if the spend increase continue and the state forces local government to pay for them the de blasio administration estimate the city would owe an additional 11 billion next year 
the state say the figure would be much lower 
mr cuomo has call on local government to reduce costs 
that's fine new york city and county across the state which oversee enrollment should work to root out any fraud or abuse and ensure that those who sign up for the program are eligible and truly in need 
they are the ontheground administrator 
we respond to them mr cuomo said in a phone call wednesday 
really though local government have limited say over how the program is run 
most of that responsibility rest with the state 
when it come to reduce medicaid costs that's where the focus should remain 
the most promising effort so far is mr cuomo's medicaid redesign team a working group assign to find 25 billion in savings this year preserve benefit while slash waste 
the governor use a similar task force to successful carry out costsave medicaid reform nearly a decade ago aid by the afford care act 
the new group will be led by the same two men michael dowl the president and ceo 
of northwell health and by dennis rivera the former head of 1199 seiu the powerhouse health care union 
they are set to make their recommendation ahead of the april 1 budget deadline 
it will be up to mr cuomo to ensure the public good is top of mind 
the redesign group should issue a thorough report present its finding to the public and the legislature 
right now it's not clear they plan to do so and that's a problem 
while not perfect the approach is far better than simply fork over more and more taxpayer dollar and stick local government with an evergrowe tab as the state has been do 
to get new york's medicaid program back on track the group will need to take a hard look at spend on nonmedic service like cooking and bathing for homebound new yorker 
according to the empire center new york's medicaid spend on such personal service was the highest in the country 
that may be because of a program that has expand in recent years in which medicaid pay nonmedic provider like family member to care for client 
in 2016 personal spend in new york account for 40 percent of national medicaid spend for the category overall up from 23 percent in 2011 the empire center said 
complicate matter is a politics dynamic friendly to the health care industry 
in 2018 for example the greater new york hospital association gave more than 1 million in politics contribution to the state's democratic party 
not long afterward the state increase medicaid reimbursement rate for the first time since 2008 cost the state an estimate 140 million per year 
mr cuomo has deny that donation influence his policy decision and cuomo administration official said at the time that the increase was necessary and simply long overdue 
health care expert disagree and say hospital revenue had already been on the rise 
new york's medicaid bill is out of control 
the first order of business is to understand more about why and to be honest with the public about what needs to be done about it 
democrats' baffling 2020 mess by frank bruni dec 7 2019 kamala harris fold her tent and on that patch of ground many flimsy theory bloom 
disappointed democrat grouse that you obviously had to be rich to compete in the 2020 race — because she was gone while two billionaire remain — and pointed to the potential allwhite undiverse lineup at the party's next debate as proof that the qualify criteria put too much of a premium on fundraise 
but harris had made the cut for that debate 
and she enter the presidential sweepstakes with a higher net worth 6 million according to forbes than bernie sander 25 million amy klobuchar 2 million or pete buttigieg 100000 who are still in the hunt and are among the six contender slate to be spar onstage on dec 19 
what's more sander and another of the six elizabeth warren have raise bucket of money without courting plutocrat 
many democrat blame the media for harris's demise 
they have a point inasmuch as some news organization never had the kind of romance with her that they did with buttigieg and beto o'rourke two white men 
i noted as much in a column last may point to o'rourke's placement on the cover of vanity fair and buttigieg's on the cover of time 
but the media fell quick out of love with o'rourke and is pick buttigieg apart for his lack of support among africanamerican and his past employment as a mckinsey consultant 
and harris was hardly ignore her initial campaign rally in oakland calif in january was cover live in its entirety on msnbc and cnn 
that same month rachel maddow of msnbc told her in a facetoface interview i think there is a good chance that you are go to win the nomination 
and after the democratic debate in june when harris stirring confront joe biden about his past opposition to federal mandate bus to integrate school she received a bonanza of media attention and rapturous review 
i get that this democratic primary isn't play out as anyone predict or in remote accordance with the party's image of itself and with its priority 
none of the top four candidate — biden warren buttigieg and sander — is a person of color three of them are 70 or old and the billionaire tom steyer and mike bloomberg are dip into their personal fortune in their effort to gain ground 
for a party that celebrate diversity pitch itself to underdog and pride itself on being futureminde and youthoriente that's a freaky baffling turn of event 
but some of the conclusion being drawn and complaint being raise don't fully hold water 
take the fear about the nomination being purchase 
without question running for office is too expensive 
that dynamic can definitely favor candidate with lucrative connection 
and candidate are forced — unless they're steyer or bloomberg — to devote ludicrous and possibly corrupt sum of time to politics panhandle 
but at least at present neither steyer nor bloomberg is exactly barrel toward victory 
and while cory book drew a connection between harris's departure and a process warp by wealth the link is tenuous 
book whose campaign press on despite his failure to qualify for the december debate said of harris's withdrawal voter did not determine her destiny 
actually they kind of did 
they're the one who are or aren't excited enough about a candidacy to donate money and keep it alive 
they're the one respond to pollster and by flag their preference determine which candidate take on the air of plausible that often generate the next round of donation 
i keep seeing on twitter and facebook lament about harris's fate from democrat who chose to support candidate other than her 
well she couldn't succeed on generalize ambient good will 
i also keep seeing and hearing statement along the lines that the party should be ashamed of the way things are turning out that the party fail 
while an official party entity the democratic national committee indeed set criteria for the debate — which had to have some criteria — there's otherwise no committee of elder or secret cabal that decree which candidate prosper and which don't 
besides which as ere levitz observe in new york magazine harris boast the enthusiast support of hillary's donor network and supporter warm relations with obamaworld and the sympathies of a broad range of democratic lawmaker in the nation's largest state and beyond 
levitz add that when harris end her campaign on tuesday she trail only biden in the website fivethirtyeight's tally of important endorse that book has more such endorse than sander who is far ahead of him and that klobuchar has more than buttigieg whom she distantly trail 
so if the party is fellow democratic politician of note it's hardly driving the direction of this contest 
we in the media aren't driving it either though there's constant carp along those lines 
we've always been fundamentally responsive bestow coverage base on establish interest and we're more responsive than ever in this digitize age of sophisticated realtime measure of precisely what our audience do and doesn't turn to 
we give you a tide of warren in part because you thrill to the early trickle 
we serve you oodles of buttigieg because we've notice your appetite for it 
another questionable assessment of this primary is that elect is crowd out candidate who don't fit some safe profile 
yes many democratic voter tell pollster that choose the candidate most likely to beat trump is their top concern 
yes there's evidence that such an impulse is leading some voter away from candidate of color 
but if elect emphatically rule the day wouldn't at least one of the three current or former governor already gone from the race — john hickenlooper of colorado steve bullock of montana and jay inslee of washington — have fare better 
governor are frequent tout as the best candidate and they account for four of the past seven president 
if elect rule the day would biden's stiffest competition be coming from a 78yearold democratic socialist who recently had a heart attack and just placed first in a california poll a 70yearold former ivy league law professor whom trump delight in calling pocahonta and the 37yearold gay mayor of a small indiana city 
there's a lot to this primary that's more complicated than meet the eye a lot that explode assumption 
according to the polling so far voter aren't drawn to candidate whose demography profile overlap with theirs 
biden's support from black democrat in a national quinnipiac poll late last month was more than eight times what harris's or booker's was 
he and sander do exponential better among latino than juli�n castro do 
sander not buttigieg has the advantage among democrat under the age of 35 
and many gay democrat have reject buttigieg as inadequate progressive and even insufficient gay 
so if identity group elect media bias and personal wealth aren't the secret to success what are 
i think we're learning yet again that there's no tidy trusty formula 
but broad name recognition among engaged voter — which biden sander and to a lesser extent warren all had at the outset — is an enormous asset 
so are a sales pitch and brand like buttigieg's that are distinct from any other contender's 
finally there's politics acumen 
there's raw talent 
the last democratic president barack obama had plenty of it 
the next democratic president will too 
devin nun is danielle steel by frank bruni nov 15 2019 i came to your house with a gun 
at least imagine i did 
i tie you to a chair took a step back and repeatedly fire 
but my arm twitch every bullet miss 
meanwhile you slip your knot and flee 
by the reasoning of representative jim jordan i did absolutely nothing wrong 
you're alive 
not a drop of blood on you 
an unconsummated crime is no crime at all or so jordan one of the republican party's more rococo philosopher argue on wednesday in defense of president trump 
ukraine got its military aid trump did not get his investigate of the biden 
to jordan that's proof of innocence 
to a normal person that's proof of incompetence which doesn't exonerate the president but should definitely reassure us 
trump's an autocrat all right but the silver lining is that he's an inept one 
all strongmen should be this weak 
and all of us should have the mental limber and ethical elasticity that jordan and his troupe possess 
they're the cirque du soleil of c'est la vie 
i've never seen anything like the republican effort to defend trump which chart the frontier of creativity explore the outer limit of audacity mutate like the monster in the alien movies and restore my faith in america ingenuity 
my faith in washington too 
i long fear that politics had stop attract the country's top talent but some of our finest storyteller are working in the united states capitol 
john grisham has nothing on jordan 
danielle steel can't hold a candle to devin nun 
nun was among the first republican to pipe up on day 1 of the impeach inquiry's public hearing held by the house intelligence committee and it wasn't just his narrative ambition that mesmerize me 
it was his bold descent into his thesaurus a sort of semantic spelunk 
the hearing he said marked the pitiful finale and spectacular implosion of the russia hoax 
they amount to a scorchedearth war against president trump that was horrific oneside and preposterous 
this lowrent ukraine sequel had already involved a closeddoor audition process in a cultlike atmosphere in the basement of the capitol 
cultlike no less 
that's a more fitting description of republicans' obeisance to the president and launder of his wrongdoing but then one hallmark of trump and his sycophant is the projection of their own flaw onto their adversary 
nunes's best bit on wednesday and then again on friday was his portrayal of trump's democratic detractor as amateur pornographer intent on finding nude pictures of the president 
i'm fairly confident that no one is intent on finding nude photograph of the president 
but at this point it wouldn't surprise me if trump himself tweet one out 
would that be any crazy than what he did on friday as marie yovanovitch the former ambassador to ukraine testify 
there she was a pained stoic state department amalgam of erin brockovich and norma rae and trump use his twitter account to call her an international wreck ball singlehanded responsible for the mess that is mogadishu 
one of her post before ukraine was somalia 
this accomplished nothing in the way of silence her but raise the prospect of witness intimidation being add to any articles of impeach 
clearly the republican response to this impeach inquiry isn't some elegant strategy 
it's an epic snit 
its leitmotif is hypocrisy 
nun open friday's hearing by lament all the important government business that was on hold because democrat prefer to torture trump 
i somehow miss his plea that lawmaker keep their eyes on the ball and devote themselves to practical problemsolv when the president stir up one culture war after another just to change the topic of a given news cycle or hear a rally audience's roar 
but along come the impeach inquiry and sudden house republican are stymie steward of levelheade government 
they're dismiss wednesday's and friday's hearing held in public as pure theater 
but they complain about the closeddoor testimony beforehand 
they're shrug off the account of william taylor george kent and other as hearsay 
but the white house has decree that such firsthand witness as mick mulvaney not cooperate 
one moment mulvaney public acknowledge the shakedown of ukraine's president insist that it's how foreign policy is done and tell the media to get over it 
the next he tell the media that they're reprehensible fabulist for report exactly what he said 
one moment republican completely ignore trump's infamous july 25 phone call and claim that there's no direct evidence of his bully and — yes nance pelosi is right — his bribery 
the next they acknowledge the call sigh over trump's behavior but say that it's hardly impeach 
in fair that's only slightly more confuse to me than the democrats' perspective on the call a definitive piece of evidence that they may be inadvertent downgrade 
usually a process like the one that they've been engaged in over the last seven week is about finding a smoking gun 
this process began with the smoking gun and the farther the democrat travel from it — eight witness this coming week 
— the more they risk imply that it wasn't enough 
but for curious behavior republican have them easily beat and their conduct during the impeach inquiry is the culmination and apotheosis of their conduct since trump wrap up the republican presidential nomination an utter sellout of principle and a pure embrace of fiction to pacify an emotional infant and keep him from spit up on them 
during wednesday's hearing republican again suggest — while maintain straight face — that trump's foremost concern was corruption in ukraine 
steve castor the republicans' chief counsel also gave one of the president's most convenient and thus favorite conspiracy theory a fresh whirl posit that perhaps america intelligence official had it all wrong and ukraine not russia hack democratic email in 2016 and otherwise interfere in the election 
how would this make trump's demand that ukraine smear joe biden in return for million of dollar of alreadyauthorize aid ok 
it wouldn't — but what a juicy distraction 
and what a perfect gateway for castor's attempt to get taylor to testify that trump legitimate believe that ukraine were in castor's words out to get him 
try to follow along 
not only do incompetence equal innocence but also paranoia is exculpatory 
same go for the relative dastard of a deed which become innocuous if it's not maximal obnoxious 
that's my takeaway from when castor refer to rudy giuliani's shenanigan ask taylor this irregular channel of diplomacy it's not as outlandish as it could be — is that correct 
clarence darrow move over 
another genius of jurisprudence demand space in the history books 
all that wednesday's hearing lack was lindsey graham 
yes i know he serve in the senate and the hearing took place in the house 
but he's the standardbearer for trumpcoddl contortion the reign king of the kind of contradiction that were on display 
presage jordan's approach at the hearing graham a week and a half ago shrug off the impeach inquiry by calling trump's policy toward ukraine so incoherent that the president and his minion seem to be incapable of form a quid pro quo 
he said at one point that he'd be open to any evidence that back up such a quid pro quo but then more recently he announce that he wouldn't and couldn't be bother to follow the testimony because he'd already made up his mind 
as billy bin of reason magazine noted graham has bemoan the democrats' lack of transparency only to shield his eyes once the curtain was lift 
maybe graham will storm the hearing room yet an effigy of hunter biden in tow 
that would match the dignity of what we've seen from republican so far 
did i just get yang 
by bari weiss jan 30 2020 it was new year's eve and i had decided to spend it with andrew yang 
a selfdescribe asia man who's good at math mr yang had raise an impressive 165 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 for his presidential campaign 
despite being newly flush the campaign didn't hold its shindig in a napa valley wine cave or at gramercy tavern but in a florescentlit room above a bar in nashua nh 
the party look like nothing so much as a high school dance if you had ban the bully 
there was a modest buffet of meatball spanakopita ritz crackers and cheddar cheese 
the dj a boom with trousers that badly need hem could have been your chemistry teacher bouncing to cardi b 
now a few days away from the iowa caucus mr yang has outlast more than a dozen candidate including three senator and two governor 
he came in first among democrat in the iowa youth straw poll on tuesday 
next week he'll be back on the debate stage 
he remains a very long shot national poll have him consistent in the second tier right next to amy klobuchar 
still conventional wisdom would say that andrew yang should be nowhere this close to the america presidency 
i went to new hampshire because i want to understand how a politics rookie with what seem like little go for him beyond a signature proposal of free money and relentless cheerful online fan had gotten this far 
what do the url candidate's campaign look like irl 
that night the yang gang as the candidate's fan proud call themselves was a happy crowd of game asia former goth girl burning man enthusiast scifi geek student code and stone 
when mr yang drop a lord of the ring joke — it's like the eye of sauron is close in 
he said of his momentum in the race — they erupt in laughter 
hardcore yang voter are not cool 
and that is exactly their and his appeal 
among the partygoer on new year's eve were jackie and dave farrell former bernie sander supporter who own a deli in caldwell nj mr farrell wore a handmade knit beanie stitch with the words yang math vote and 2020 ms farrell had a pink yang gang baseball hat over her blue hair and a copy of the candidate's best seller the war on normal people in her purse 
they fell in love inside an online role play game call hobowar 
it's hard to imagine anyone at a joe biden event with that kind of meetcute 
he actually sold me a guild ms farrell told me 
it's sort of like a gang 
like a yang gang 
talk to anyone in the yang gang for a few minutes and they'll inevitable tell you how they got yang 
the story almost always begin with a younger person telling an old person to google andrew yang 
which is exactly what happen with the farrell 
in august a 23yearold employee in the deli approach ms farrell to ask whom she was support 
i was like 'bernie i guess 
i support him in 2016' she recall 
and he go 'why haven't you google andrew yang yet 
so she did 
i literally stay up till 4 am that night watch video 
have you ever been the target of a twitter mob 
it's about as pleasant as a brazil wax in slow motion 
the one thing that bring a small measure of comfort when you are in the digital cross hair is the following assertion the internet is not real life 
it is true at least for the time being that a horde of pixel cannot transform itself into a horde of people 
but the lie that there is a bright line between the online world and the real one has been well and truly debunk 
just ask any middleschool girl shame for an instagram post or any adult fire because of a bad tweet or any democrat hope to oust donald trump and become the 46th president of the united states 
bernie sander may be fuel by his zealous fan on social media but of all the democrat running for president the web means the most to andrew yang 
without it his candidacy simply wouldn't exist 
it's a classic underdog story a politics unknown ignore by the mainstream media sidestep the pundit who had considered him a punchline 
in the early days there weren't many people in cable news clamor to have me on their show he told me over bubble tea on a recent afternoon in his manhattan campaign headquarters 
and so you seek out people who can reach lot of america 
those people were the one with podcast 
what launch us was sam harris said mr yang of his june 2018 appearance on mr harris's show making sense 
it put him on the map i was invite to speak at the wing ding in iowa — a major democratic fundraise event — because one of the people there was a sam harris fan 
mr harris introduce him to joe rogan a mixed martial arts color commentator who host one of the most popular podcast in the country 
disclosure i've also appear on his show 
joe rogan was the game change mr yang said 
we raise ten of thousand of dollar a day for awhile there and a million buck in a week 
but it isn't simply that mr yang clever use new platform to his advantage 
sure the podcast gave him a big boost but lot of politician have use new media to expand their reach franklin roosevelt commandeer the radio team obama master the email blast president trump tear up twitter 
mr yang's outsize success show that the people who insist that rachel maddow has more influence over the america electorate than mr rogan are lie to themselves about where cultural power in america is actually located 
what mr yang understand is that the old rule no long apply — and that flout those rule is an energize strategy 
but while donald trump burn the whole house down andrew yang is dunk on the system with a big smile 
that's how he get onstage at a democratic debate points out the ridiculous of the artifice — we're up here with makeup on our face and our rehearse attack lines play role in this reality tv show — and walk away with one of the most talkedabout moments of the night despite have had the least talk time 
his appeal is a powerful reminder that the animate politics conflict of our era may not be left versus right but establishment versus insurgent 
the yang campaign pride itself on the heterodoxy of its supporter 
i poll 18 percent among college republican mr yang told me 
i've got a higher appeal among independent libertarian and even some disaffected trump voter than joe biden by the numbers than bernie sander by the numbers 
one of his campaign slogan is not left 
not right 
forward 
the writer wesley yang has suggest that the inbetween nature of asianamerican — the way they are often regard neither as white nor as people of color — allow them to say and do things that white liberal are now afraid to say and do which is to stand up for certain fundamental value 
when you consider mr yang's position on some of the touchiest aspect of the culture war and imagine his view coming out of the mouth of a michael bennet or a pete buttigieg you can easily see the truth of this insight 
for instance he's glad that america has become less of a monoculture 
when he was a kid he say his own effort to be america included things like join the wrestle team he was terrible at the sport 
but he add i think there's a middle ground where you can't just say america is nothing and everybody run off and do your own thing 
it's important he said to have a common cultural context and even — and this will be very controversial — a common language of expression 
i spoke to some of his many asianamerican supporter and this resonate with them 
michael chen a 19yearold drexel student at one of the new hampshire town hall event said he appreciate that mr yang whose immigrant father grew up in a house with a dirt floor on a peanut farm is not running on his identity you can be asianamerican you can be black america you can be latinoamerican but the common denominator is america 
that's who he is 
mr chen was there with his dad jack 
the elder mr chen call himself a yang junkie but insist being asia has little to do with it 
what animate him is the practicality of mr yang's solution 
mr yang believe in talk to people he disagree with 
in april he appear on the ben shapiro show a nogo zone for those who buy into the new politics of contamination — that to sit next to a conservative like mr shapiro is to tacit endorse his idea 
thinking that i'm go to catch idea from someone seem ludicrous to me he said 
soon after the comedian shane gilli was hire by saturday night live it was reveal that he had use racial slur on podcast including describe mr yang with an antisemitic and racist epithet 
mr yang tweet that he didn't think mr gilli should be fire writing we would benefit from being more forgiving rather than punitive 
the show didn't follow mr yang's advice 
i ask mr yang who ran one of the top test prep program in the country before it was bought by kaplan about his view on affirmative action 
is harvard do to asia in the 21st century what it did to jew in the 20th 
harvard's gonna harvard he said 
he told me that he himself was reject from the school — he wound up at brown — though he was ample qualified 
but if you have any kind of perspective he said you realize that my life and my humanity depend on more than whether some institution decide to stamp my hand 
argue for higher representation of an already overrepresente group — at least according to population standard — would not be my first bone to pick he said 
instead he ask why harvard a university with a 40 billion endowment is opening location in shanghai but not ohio or michigan 
the real question he said is are you try to advance our society or are you try to advance global moneyed interests 
on new year's eve it occur to me that despite living in new york which pride itself on being the most cosmopolitan city in the world i had not been in a room with such a politics diverse group of people since donald trump was elect president 
if there is a typical yang voter it is a former bernie sander supporter who feel that mr yang understand the challenge of the 21st century better than a 78yearold socialist without a single app on his phone 
mr yang support mr sander in 2016 before vote for hillary clinton in the general election i'm procivilize he said 
he understand why young voter are drawn to mr sander 
if you're a young person you look up and say 'what have i experienced from this capitalist system' corporate abuse crash bailout greed record level of college debt 
but he insist the best actor to improve people's lives is not our government it's us 
bernie's saying 'let's stick it to the billionaire and all will be well' he said 
i'm saying 'we need to rewrite the code we need to rewrite the software' at a campaign stop in manchester nh i spoke with sunny payne a 23yearold yang supporter who'd come in from bangor me and use the pronoun they 
while i think bernie sander is an amazing person they said he's has had the exact same policy stance for literally decade 
amber mccabe and martin raucher both 29 are also former sander supporter 
they drove 25 hour from st petersburg fla 
they made sure not to cut anyone off on the highway ms mccabe said because there's a yang bumper sticker on their car and we have to represent 
mr raucher is a disabled veteran and ms mccabe is an artist they met through their passion spin fire 
it wasn't possible to twirl lit torch inside the party room so ms mccabe had fashion the next best thing a handmade lightup yang sign 
with yang i'm all about the idea the policy she said above all his proposal for a universal basic income of 1000 a month 
i need an oil change said mr raucher when i ask how they'd spend it 
and my roof is leak 
just across the dance floor were elasa and russell peterson two former trump voter who change their registration — and move states — to support mr yang's candidacy 
everyone i know is the brokefolk vote said mr peterson 
they are among them 
until recently they work at a north carolina olive garden 
i got to where i hate breadstick said ms 
peterson 
donald trump stand up there and say 'hey we got to build the wall because the immigrant are coming over here and they're steal our jobs' and you know what 
because we're all broke we're all like 'it's immigrant 
yeah 
let's build the wall' mr peterson said 
but then you hear andrew yang talk and he's like 'you know what 
it's not immigrant 
it's automation' you go into walmart you don't see immigrant 
you see selfserve checkout 
it's like a light bulb go off 
like 'wow this make sense' it made so much sense that they move in with ms peterson's sister in vermont 10 minutes from the new hampshire border so they could volunteer fulltime for the campaign and promote him on their youtube channel 
everybody in our family has been yang 
and they were all trump mr peterson said 
at a town hall event attend by some 300 people on new year's day the first question — so onbrand i almost assume it was a plant — was about the metric system so mr make america think hard can we count on president yang to support the blessing of the metric system 
the crowd laugh 
amazing mr yang came back with a thoughtful answer about how the metric system is safe not least because it is more accurate for microdose baby medicine 
to hear andrew yang talk is to understand why it is possible for people like the peterson to support him unlike the president he never demon other america 
the difference between us are pretty trivial compare to the things we share in common 
and that's a fundamental message of the campaign ablebody special needs white black old young rural urban we're all go to get run over by this automation freight train he said 
we need to human up and stop focus on relatively trivial distinction 
the villain is not donald trump but a market rig for big tech and against normal america 
in mr yang's frame of the 2016 election mrs clinton lost not because of the electoral college or russia bot but because she fundamentally misunderstood the crisis facing america 
donald trump said he was go to make america great again 
and what did hillary clinton say in response 
america is already great mr yang said 
that message did not work because the pain in our country is real 
in other words donald trump is the wrong answer to the right question 
mr yang believe he is the right one 
at each one of the four campaign stop i went to he ask the crowd why president trump won 
the audience call out answer the media 
russia 
rac 
hillary 
facebook 
twitter 
james comey 
no said mr yang 
it's because we blasted away four million manufacture job through automation in states like ohio michigan pennsylvania missouri and iowa 
what happen to manufacture is coming to retail restaurant and even account and the law mr yang insist 
while mr sander suggest a federal government job guarantee and joe biden suggest turning coal miner into code mr yang say that work as we have known it is over 
if we don't change anything i ask him where will be 50 years from now 
bestcase scenario 
we will see inequality at a staggering scale that right now most america would find unthinkable 
and in the worst case 
the collapse of the government in its current form politics break up and societal dysfunction that result in mass riot and violence 
it's impressive that for the most part his good humor soften the bleak message he is convey 
it's a vision of the future — one dispute as hysterical by many observer — that make president trump's america carnage address look almost rosy by comparison 
i caught up with sunny payne this week 
hearing mr yang in person lit the fire under me they said as they drove around anderson sc after a day spent doorknock for him 
they'd just spent a week in iowa before realize that i want to spread the message to black voter and community of color and i realize the best place for me to do that was in south carolina 
they said they kept hearing the same story from voter i can't care about climate change because i need to put food on the table 
i have three job 
i barely sleep 
to these people sunny payne said 1000 a month would be lifechang 
that's the reason that the comedian dave chappelle has endorse mr yang 
the wealth disparity between me and my neighbor is immense it's heartbreaking said mr chappelle who lives in ohio but appear alongside mr yang on the campaign trail this week 
if you know a third of the people up the street can't buy groceries then you start to feel an imperative concern he said 
this is without irony or a punch line i'm just telling you — this guy's got some great idea you should check it out 
so have i been yang 
i don't know if a universal basic income is the best solution to the problem of inequality 
i'm not particularly passionate about lower the vote age to 16 or require police officer to get purple belt in jujitsu 
i worry about whether someone with zero foreign policy experience can be the commander in chief 
but as bernie sander sell class rage joe biden promise normalcy and elizabeth warren push a social progressiv so perfectly doctrinaire it seem tailor for five kid at oberlin andrew yang's iconoclasm and optimism are refreshing 
if get yang means that i believe that this curious campaign is a cause for that rarest thing in current america politics — hope — and that mr yang is model how to harness the populist energy that otherwise threaten to tear us apart then count me yanggang 
america's public restroom are kind of great now by farhad manjoo dec 11 2019 in the past few years something amazing has been quiet happening across the land 
public restroom in america — long a flash point of exclusion by race gender class and ability — have gotten much much better 
thanks to an increasingly effective campaign by a range of activist america's public bathroom are now cleaner more plentiful more private and more accessible and inclusive than ever 
in many place they're even great 
this is a story about identity politics advocacy design and architecture 
it is also a story still in motion with progress yet to unfold and many people still shut out 
there is still much controversy surrounding our bathroom who get to use them and how 
but it's important to recognize progress as it's happening 
and if you travel across america now it's undeniable that how we go keeps get better 
how do i know 
at the risk of tmi i happen to be an expert on bathroom 
twenty years ago when i was a senior in college i was diagnose with a condition call achalasia a rare sometimes genetic swallow disorder that i was actually quite familiar with because when i was a kid my mother had it too 
it began as a blind burning bolt of pain in the middle of my chest after eat 
imagine heartburn after you've eaten something spicy but amp up to 11 as if the thing you'd eaten was a chain saw douse in ghost pepper 
the pain would abate after a few minutes but it would come back again and again usually after i'd eaten a big meal 
then it began to hurt during big meal then during every meal and soon anytime i'd try to swallow anything 
for many people the condition is curable through surgery but for me that longago flash of pain turn out to be only the beginning of an allconsume chronic and often embarrass disability 
over the last two decade though i've undergone dozen of invasion procedure and test taken a panoply of pill and had various parts of my digestive system remove or surgical rebuilt my symptom have only gotten more intense and more — how to put this delicate 
— expansive 
swallow food is now an arduous enough task that i have to get much of my nutrition through liquid as kanye once rap i drink a boost for breakfast an ensure for dessert 
but it's no long just eat that's a pain it's what happen after too 
from the nave to the chop my swallow problem has spawn a grossout comedy's worth of gi 
complication 
the ugly upshot is this at least once every day and sometimes many times i have to run to the restroom on a moment's notice and what happen to me there is best experienced alone in blissful unembarrass solitude 
i tell you all this in order to establish my bona fide i know public bathroom 
in my travels over the years i have assemble in my head a veritable michelin guide of private peaceful place to go 
so trust me when i tell you that in the last few years better public bathroom have start to pop up everywhere 
again and again in big city and small in red states and blue in airport hotel shop mall theater stadium offices and a range of other public venue i've been save by a bounty of better loo 
more restroom are now explicit inclusive and accessible design for people who are physically disabled are gender nonconform are travel with children or are otherwise in need of special accommodation 
for instance paruresi and parcopresi phobia that inhibit people from urinate or defecate in public restroom are real debilitate conditions that affect ten of million of people 
one innovation that has been of particular use to me is the lock singleoccupance allgender restroom 
a decade ago in most public place it was nigh impossible to find a private place to do your business 
today these oneperson stalls are a rising trend across the country especially at airport and other large public facilities 
in some place they're label all gender restroom in other they're call family bathroom in yet other sign welcome everyone with broad language like all person may use this restroom 
whatever you call them they're a haven in a world marked by chaos and disorder 
over the last few years when nature call sudden and panic set in i've had the fortune of finding a clean private place at among other location the guggenheim in new york the getty center in los angeles the mall of america a dozen airport at least and so so many starbuck 
of course things still aren't perfect 
i am a member of a racial minority but i'm a cisgender person of means and social privilege 
it's likely that a lot of people still find it hard to find clean private restroom in much of the land 
still the restroom situation in america is much better than it use to be and i've notice so much better than in many other parts of the world 
on a trip to britain and france with my kid last year i was surprise at how difficult it was to find a clean private bathroom when there was one you often had to pay to use it 
i've seen some very nice bathroom in dubai but only in place that cater to the wealthy 
in south africa and india 
forget about it 
america has less and less to be proud of these days our life expectancy are fall our infrastructure is crumble and our politics are in the toilet 
but look at our toilet 
while there's no official metric on this sort of thing in my estimation america toilet are now likely among the top in the world 
japan's loo are said to be very nice if we can't be no 
1 it's possible we're at least you know no 
2 
if it's true that our toilet are get better it's worth ask why 
in a word activist 
in the last few years a range of advocate fight on behalf of transgender people the disabled homeless people and other have mount a variety of legal and public advocacy campaign aim at making bathroom more accessible 
these have sometimes spark backlash and controversy like the 2016 law in north carolina that roll back genderinclusive restroom 
at the supreme court this fall justice considering a case about gay and transgender rights couldn't stop themselves from considering everything through the lens of the loo 
despite the politics controversy on the ground in facilities all over the country the moral arc of the bathroom is bend toward inclusion 
at starbuck after a viral incident last year in which two black men who had ask to use the restroom were arrest at a philadelphia location the restroom are now open to everyone even people who haven't purchase anything 
city are now spend money to create more public restroom 
and early this year stall an organization of designer and activist who push for restroomrelate social justice mount a successful campaign to get the international plumbing code — which set standard for bathroom — to adopt new language support allgender restroom 
inclusive design has been a hot new term among architect and product designer the idea broad is that when you create product and space that are accommodating of a broad range of human capacity they end up being much more useful to everyone in unexpected ways 
advocate of inclusive design point to some canonical example sidewalk ramp were put in place for people with wheelchair but they turn out to be handy for parent with stroller too 
some of the technology in the smartphone's touchscreen was invent as a way to help people with disability like carpal tunnel syndrome 
typewriter and keyboard were first create to help the blind 
restroom are following a similar path 
it's not just obviously disabled and gendernonconform people who need a private more accessible restroom 
everyone now and again can do with a nice place to go to the bathroom 
in america at long last we're get that 
thank you social justice warrior 
elizabeth warren throw down the gauntlet by elisabeth rosenthal nov 4 2019 lay the table for the next democratic debate elizabeth warren has issue a plan that explain how she would fund what she call medicare for all 
she had studious avoid saying whether it would raise tax for the middle class and in her proposal she say repeatedly it will not 
it will instead be finance by a mix of wealth tax employer transfer of money they current spend on health care and reduction of the many inefficient in our current byzantine system — among other initiative 
but now all the candidate need to tell us more of those detail about their health care strategy 
it's time for the candidate to stop talk slogan and start talk sense — or dollar and cent — so that voter can know what they mean and choose among them 
medicare for all medicare for all who want it a public option improve the afford care act — those are 30000foot concept that depend on the detail could work or not and be popular or not 
the candidate including ms warren also need to say more about what they'll do right now in one poll 40 percent of america said they had skip a recommend test or treatment and 32 percent said they had skip a medicine because of cost 
supporter of medicare for all want to tie their future to the popularity of the medicare program 
but ms warren and bernie sander are offering up america a supercharged version of the current government insurance for those over 65 
it promise to eliminate copayment for prescription drug 
under current medicare many patient contribute thousand of dollar annual 
it include dental and longterm care — a huge expense that is conspicuous missing from current medicare 
that ambition would make a health care plan vastly more expensive 
the national health system of britain and canada both single payer system like the medicare for all proposal do not offer comprehensive longterm care coverage 
canada's doesn't include coverage for prescription drug out of the hospital 
is the finance ms warren propose go to be adequate to support the expand goal 
economist disagree 
but in release her proposal she has thrown down the gauntlet before the other candidate — who support medicare for all who want it or some other type of public option — to be a whole lot clear about what they mean 
joe biden kamala harris pete buttigieg et al 
do your public option — a government insurance policy that anyone may buy — resemble mr sanders's enhance medicare or current medicare or medicaid which is far more bare bone 
voter need to know 
there's another obvious reason the candidate have been so close lip on specifics to calculate how to pay for any of the plan the candidate have to say how they intend to bring down price — for hospital stays drug procedure device doctors' visit surgery 
america often pay two to 10 times what patient pay for these item in other develop country 
those price will have to come down to make any plan viable without break the bank 
to really assess any plan we'll need that kind of information 
ms warren has courageous step into that fraught territory with numbers that have very likely sent shock wave through the health care industry 
for example to make her finance proposal work she suggest pay most hospital on average 110 percent of current medicare rate 
she suggest america should pay no more for drug than 110 percent of the average international market price 
that may be eminently reasonable but is it achieve 
when montana negotiate rate directly with hospital for its state employee it settled on a deal in which the state agree to pay an average of 234 percent of medicare rate 
and it still save money 
setting lower price is go to bring out strong opposition 
remember patient or taxpayer savings mean loss of income for one of america's most profitable industry whose lobbyist spent more than half a billion dollar last year and which is flush with dark money to distribute in congress 
to get the aca 
pass president barack obama gave up on a number of pricelowere idea to get buyin from the health care industry and its friends in congress 
these included jettison the idea of a public option and allow medicare to negotiate drug price 
the republican — whose plan have been largely proclamation of better cheap health care without any strategy — will be quick to label any of the democratic plan as a government takeover of health care or socialism 
remember patient or taxpayer savings mean loss of income for the united states' most robust sector in the postrecession economy 
in many postmanufacture city like pittsburgh and cleveland a single hospital system is the biggest employer 
in boston hospital and hospital corporation make up the top six employer 
minnesota and massachusetts have done well with drug and device manufacture 
and let's not start on insurer whose lucrative health business would largely disappear 
any plan to rein in the united states' bloated 35 trillion health care system will be slow go require not just a footnote blueprint but also the tame of many oppose forces 
it took years for canada to move from a marketbase system to government run health 
it endure lengthy debate and doctors' strike 
ms warren call her proposal a longterm plan 
but voter want to know how we get from here to anywhere else 
in poll their top health care issue is afford — emphasis on now 
they need concrete proposal as well as longterm vision 
in the next debate how about talk about hr 
3 a bill in congress to curb prescription drug price 
that plan would allow the health and human service secretary to negotiate a maximum price that could be charged to medicare for insulin and some of the most expensive medicine in the united states base on the price paid for those drug in other country 
days before the last democratic debate the congressional budget office said it would save 345 billion over a sixyear period 202329 
if the bill were to move to the senate how would the frontrunner vote 
what do they have to say about that 
four key things you should know about health care by ezekiel j emanuel and victor r fuch sept 12 2019 health care so far perhaps the biggest issue in the democratic primary is also the most complicated issue facing government and the public 
unfortunately the debate is fill with persistent misconception from the role insurance company profit play in health care costs to who is actually pay for workers' health coverage 
clarify four fundamental health care fallacy could make it easy for voter to square some of the democratic proposal — and their critique — with reality fallacy no 
1 employer pay for employees' health insurance 
employer write check that cover most health insurance premium for employee and their dependent 
but as the princeton health economist uwe reinhardt once explain employersponsore insurance is like a pickpocket taking money out of your wallet at a bar and buy you a drink 
you appreciate the cocktail until you realize you paid for it yourself 
with health coverage employer write the check to the insurer but employee bear the cost of the premium — the entire premium not just the portion list as their contribution on their pay stub 
the premium money that go to the insurance company is cash that employer would otherwise deposit in employees' account like the rest of their salary 
the fallacy is in thinking an employer's contribution come out of profit 
in fact higher health insurance premium mean lower wages for worker 
since 1999 health insurance premium have increase 147 percent and employer profit have increase 148 percent 
but in that time average wages have hardly move increase just 7 percent 
clearly workers' wages not corporate profit have been pay for higher health insurance premium 
health care costs are one — though not the only — reason wages have stagnate over the last few decade 
with health insurance costs rising fast than growth in the economy more labor costs go to benefit like health insurance and less to takehome pay 
yet the belief that employee don't pay for their own health insurance is widespread 
one reason is that individual cannot be sure what cause their wages to change or remain stagnant for decade 
another reason is that employer want america to believe that they pay for their workers' health insurance 
still another reason is that there are those who profit from the employmentbase system drug company device manufacturer specialty physician and highincome individual 
they all want you to believe company are being magnanimous in give you insurance 
who else benefit from the belief in this fallacy 
opponent of national health insurance 
fallacy no 
2 medicare for all is unaffordable 
the key to evaluate the cost of medicare for all is to distinguish between increase spend on health care and shift expenditure from private insurance to the federal government 
true medicare for all would increase federal health care spend 
but that is not the same as increase total health care spend which was over 35 trillion last year 
instead medicare for all would move money from one column private health insurance spend to another federal health spend it do not automatic increase total costs 
a recent study by the mercatu center at george mason university — a freemarket center generally hostile to government program — estimate that for the 10 years between 2022 and 2031 the total national health costs for senator bernie sanders's medicare for all plan would actually be 501 trillion 
that would be 2 trillion less than if we let the system operate as it current do 
however mercatu research doubt that the sanders's plan would ultimately save trillion because they believe congress would have to increase medicare rate paid to hospital and physician to get the legislation enact 
they may be right — or wrong 
but that is a different argument — a prediction about the politics of enact law — than that medicare for all would inherently increase total health care spend 
we have our doubt about medicare for all 
but unaffordable is not a reason to oppose it 
whether it's our current arrangement or a future medicare for all the per capita cost of our health care system already far exceed that of any other industrialize country — including those with singlepayer system 
when you hear a health care price tag in the trillion know that the existing system has already brought us there 
fallacy no 
3 insurance companies' profit drive health care costs 
in the second democratic presidential debate senator bernie sander declared that the health care industry make 100 billion in profit 
he once rail against the insurance company anthem for deny a claim while note that it report fourthquarter profit for 2017 had increase by 234 percent to 12 billion 
many america believe that profit have no place in health care 
they see forprofit health insurance like buy and sell kidney and liver for transplant as what the nobel prize winner alvin roth term a repugnant industry — something that should not be exchange in the market 
that is an important moral stand but it make no difference to the claim that eliminate forprofit insurer will reduce high health care costs 
the fact is we could eliminate those profit and it would hardly matter to the cost of health care 
you would not notice it in your premium 
for the eight largest forprofit health insurance company in 2016 their cumulative revenue amount to nearly 4522 billion and profit were 221 billion for a profit margin of about 5 percent 
by contrast technology company bank and major drug company generally make more than 20 percent profit 
true 221 billion is a lot of money — but it is 06 percent of health spend 
and last year alone health care costs increase over 130 billion — six times insurance company profit 
health care spend would not be significant cheap if all insurance companies' profit were zero 
there are far more savings to be had in other effort — by cutting unnecessary patient service for example or by making physician and hospital more efficient — to deliver the same care at a lower cost 
fallacy no 
4 price transparency can bring down health care costs 
hospital will be require to publish price that reflect what people pay for service said president trump when he sign his executive order on health care price transparency 
price will come down by numbers that you wouldn't believe 
the cost of health care will go way way down 
there is no doubt that price for medical procedure can range widely even within the same city or state 
for instance mri of the spine can vary threefold in massachusetts and mammogram fivefold in san francisco 
conservative argue that inform patient of price for test and treatment will induce them to shop for lowercost service saving them insurer and the country money 
in theory the beauty of price transparency is that neither the government nor insurer impose cost control the invisible hand of the market do it all 
yet demonstration of price transparency have been try many times in many place and in reality it has not reduce the cost of care 
one recent study by harvard medical school research involved hundred of thousand of employee and use a website telling them what they would pay outofpocket if they chose particular physician and hospital 
the result no savings 
a followup study use another set of employer and another price transparency tool found the same result no savings 
since 2007 new hampshire has had a state website nh health cost that allow patient to select a medical procedure insurer and zip code and then get a list of price for the procedure from various provider 
the most promising study of nh health cost suggest a few million dollar in savings per year 
that works out to be about 5 per new hampshire resident 
the fact is price transparency will not make health care costs go way way down 
health insurance insulate the patient from price 
over 80 percent of the cost of medical care is paid by private and public insurance 
patient have little incentive to seek out the cheapest provider 
when price website exist few patient use them 
even in the most favorable study when offer a price transparency tool only 12 percent of patient took advantage of it usually it's less than 4 percent of patient 
furthermore price consideration are useful for choose only about 40 percent of procedure — routine service like colonoscopy mri 
scan and laboratory test 
most of the expensive service — think heart catheter cancer chemotherapy and organ transplant — are not the kind of thing you decide base on price 
finally in health care america usually put relationship ahead of money 
once patient find a physician they trust and a hospital they like they tend to stick with them even if there is a lowercost alternative nearby 
america health care is complex and any simplistic solution is likely to be base on a fallacy 
but that doesn't mean there is nothing we can do 
there are solution — they just don't make for bumper sticker phrase like medicare for all or eliminate forprofit insurer or price transparency 
george soro mark zuckerberg should not be in control of facebook by george soro jan 31 2020 at a dinner last week in davo switzerland i was ask if i thought facebook was behave more responsibly today than it did during the 2016 presidential election 
not at all i answer 
facebook help trump to get elect and i am afraid that it will do the same in 2020 
i explain that there is a longstanding law — section 230 of the communications decency act — that protect social media platform from legal liability for defame and similar claim 
facebook can post deliberate mislead or false statement by candidate for public office and other and take no responsibility for them 
i went on to say that there appear to be an informal mutual assistance operation or agreement develop between trump and facebook in which facebook will help president trump to get reelecte and mr trump will in turn defend facebook against attack from regulator and the media 
this is just plain wrong a facebook spokesman told business insider 
i disagree 
i believe that mr trump and facebook's chief executive mark zuckerberg realize that their interests are align — the president's in winning election mr zuckerberg's in making money 
let's look at the evidence in 2016 facebook provided the trump campaign with embed staff who help to optimize its advertising program 
hillary clinton's campaign was also approach but it decline to embed a facebook team in her campaign's operation 
brad parscale the digital director of mr trump's 2016 campaign and now his campaign manager for 2020 said that facebook help mr trump and gave him the edge 
this seem to have marked the beginning of a special relationship 
more recently direct contact between the two men has raise serious question 
mr zuckerberg met with mr trump in the oval office on sept 19 2019 
we don't know what was said 
but from an interview on the sideline at the world economic forum on jan 22 we do know what mr trump said about the meeting mr zuckerberg told me that i'm no 
1 in the world in facebook 
mr trump apparently had no problem with facebook's decision not to factcheck politics ads 
i'd rather have him just do whatever he is go to do mr trump said of mr zuckerberg 
he's done a hell of a job when you think of it 
the president's 2016 campaign mount a robust datacentric communications effort and has continue to build on that program over the past few years use facebook as a key part of their strategy 
facebook's decision not to require factcheck for politics candidates' advertising in 2020 has flung open the door for false manipulate extreme and incendiary statement 
such content is reward with prime placement and promotion if it meet facebookdesigne algorithm standard for popularity and engagement 
what's more facebook's design tend to obscure the source of inflammatory and false content and fail to adequate punish those who spread false information 
nor do the company effectively warn those who are expose to lie 
i express my fear that with facebook's help mr trump will win the 2020 election 
the recent hire of a rightw figure to help manage its news tab has reinforce those fear 
in my comment in davo i also pointed out that facebook has been use to cause worse damage in other country than the united states 
in burma for example military personnel use facebook to help incite the public against the rohingya who were target in a military assault of incredible cruelty including murder rape and the burning of entire village around 700000 rohingya flee to bangladesh 
the international court of justice in the hague is current deliberate whether these atrocity qualify as genocide 
but within the last year facebook has introduce new features on its mobile app that actually intensify the fire of incendiary politics attack — making them easy and quick to propagate 
the system is costfree to the poster and revenuegenerate for facebook 
good for facebook bad for democracy 
the responsible approach is selfevident 
facebook is a publisher not just a neutral moderator or platform 
it should be held accountable for the content that appear on its site 
speak at a cocktail party in davo on jan 22 facebook's chief operate officer sheryl sandberg repeated the worn silicon valley clich� that facebook is try to make the world a better place 
but facebook should be judge by what it do not what it say 
i repeat and reaffirm my accusation against facebook under the leadership of mr zuckerberg and ms sandberg 
they follow only one guide principle maximize profit irrespective of the consequence 
one way or another they should not be left in control of facebook 
give joe biden his due by frank bruni dec 20 2019 pete buttigieg and elizabeth warren are the shiny object 
joe biden just may be the keepsake that endure 
the other two went at it on thursday night quarrel over the meaning and morality of a wine cave in an exchange that distill the democratic primary's broad tension between pragmatism and purity compromise and idealism 
biden was careful not to be drawn too far into it and during other stretch of the debate stood back 
why wouldn't he 
for all the worry because he sometimes stutter for all the concern because he occasional sputter for all his corny locution malarkey and reflexive conversation filler here's the deal the former vice president has almost consistent maintain a lead over his democratic rival in national poll since he announce his candidacy last april 
he has recently gain ground in iowa the state that vote first meaning that he may avoid what had been look like a candidacyimperile embarrassment there 
he has survive salvo from critic and mess of his own that were supposed to halt or at least hobble him the attention to his crossingtheline physical with women the flipflop about public fund of abortion the backandforth with kamala harris about bus the moment at the fifth democratic primary debate when he seem to forget either that she was in the senate or that she was black 
all of that supposedly made him look weak 
but none of that appreciable weaken him 
and at the latest debate he perform better than before — which may not be saying a lot but is saying something 
he still can't speak in a straight line instead zigg and zagg if he were a car his tire would constant scrape the curb and his hubcap would probably pop off 
but they stay on this time around 
biden 77 seem more relax and confident and he radiate his trademark warmth 
it's difficult not to like him 
and it's time to give him his due 
so many of us haven't and i'm as guilty as anyone 
in past column i urge him not to run — cite his unsuccessful previous presidential bid his age his eccentricity and his outright flaw — and doubt his ability to go the distance 
i join other pundit and politics analyst in treat biden's frontrunner status as fiction or inevitable fleeting and as the bequest of simple name recognition 
we decree that other contender — harris for an instant warren and buttigieg for long even bernie sander of late — had momentum 
biden had vestigial good will which we regard as a less flashy and flimsy commodity 
when we examine biden we saw warning sign 
look at that light schedule 
check out those anemic fundraise numbers 
sure many democratic voter deem him the most elect alternative at a juncture when snatch back the white house matter infinite more to them than any romance with a figure fresher and more inspire than he is 
but would they stick 
and could he last 
so far so good — or rather so biden which in thursday night's debate meant a quizzical reference to winston churchill some endearing loose banter with sander and an overarch aura of sheer goodnatured 
when one of the moderator tim alberta of politico brought up the subject of age biden said look i'm running because i've been around 
all my experience 
with experience hopefully come judgment and a little bit of wisdom 
alberta noted that if biden won the presidency he'd be 82 at the end of his first term 
are you willing to commit tonight to running for a second term 
no i'm not willing to commit one way or another biden said without pause to supportive laughter from the audience 
here's the deal 
i'm not even elect one term yet and let's see where we are 
but it's a nice thought 
it was a nice answer 
moderator gave him ample opportunity to stumble challenging him for example on the obama administration's failure to close guant�namo bay and its exaggeration of progress in the war in afghanistan 
he had answer at the ready and exhibit zero discomfort 
while he was evasive about a few topic he was emphatic about his disagreement with sander and warren on medicare for all 
and he leapt into the fray to explain that he find that plan exorbitant and farfetched 
i'm the only guy that's not interrupt he said 
all right i'm go to interrupt now 
this from a man who at a previous debate cut himself off even before moderator did 
i maintain serious reservation about him 
thirtysix years in the senate and eight in the vice presidency add up not just to enormous experience but also to a sprawl record that's a gold mine for detractor 
he undeniable lack the vigor he once possessed 
and president trump's cynical airing of question about his past dealings with ukraine — and about the lucrative position that his son hunter had on the board of the natural gas company burisma — remains a potential liability for biden who still hasn't found and deliver the perfect rebuttal 
but journalist may not have the right antenna for how this is play out 
when biden admonish a man in iowa who credulous parrot trump's line of attack many politics analyst pronounced him imprudent thinskinn and unattractive defensive 
but many voter surely saw him as authentic relate — a loving father and decent person disgust with the nasty coming his way 
there's an upside to trade a safe conventional politics script for something raw 
trump demonstrate that in 2016 
and on thursday night biden reasserte the fundamental generous of spirit that separate him from trump and is like a tall cold glass of water to america thirsty for decency 
i refuse to accept the notion as some on this stage do that we can never never get to a place where we have cooperation again he said making a pitch for bipartisanship 
if that's the case we are dead as a country 
we need to be able to reach a consensus 
and if anyone has reason to be angry with the republican and not want to cooperate it's me — the way they've attack me my son and my family 
he got fresh reason during the debate when sarah huckabee sander the former white house press secretary sent out a tweet that ridicule his stutter 
she delete it — and apologize — after he ask her where her empathy had gone a question i assume was rhetorical 
it die on the altar of trump where too many other republican sacrifice their principles too 
biden glow in comparison 
he almost looks shiny 
gone with the windsor by maureen dowd jan 11 2020 i never had much use for the queen 
maybe it's the ireland in me 
as winston churchill said we've always found the ireland a bit odd 
they refuse to be english 
or maybe it's the america in me 
we did go to an awful lot of trouble to break away from that corgiandginlove racket 244 years ago 
at some visceral level though america must regret being torn away from the royal family 
how else to explain our enduring fascination with dynasty 
have spent my career covering four dysfunctional politics dynasty i rebel more than ever at the idea that biology entitle you to authority 
the ghost of diana gone rogue animate the fracture fairy tale of meghan and harry and their intemperate attempt to upend century of starchy rule and break away from the firm 
princess di's dangerous tango with the tabloid left harry with no taste to play that game again especially with streak of rac against markle add to the mix 
he recently confessed that every click or flash of a camera brought memory of his mother's death racing back into his mind 
i cover diana's first trip as the princess of wales to america in 1985 
she seem happy then in that year before charles resume his relationship with camilla parker bowl 
she and the prince share amuse eye contact wink and tease remark 
nance reagan plan an evening of candlelit dance at the white house worthy of a 24yearold cinderella in a midnight blue velvet gown 
mrs reagan arrange for the marine band to play night fever as john travolta spun a euphoric diana around the floor 
she's a great little mover he said afterward 
i wonder how prince charles would deal with a young wife with so much star power absorbing so much attention 
we were all mesmerize when she tuck her chin down in that shy pose and cast that modest yet saucy look up at us 
the answer was he did not deal with it well 
twelve years later when the unimaginable tragedy hit the royal ice cube were furious at the expectation that they should emote for the woman who had public rip the monarchy as a bloodless soulless gang and christen herself the prisoner of wales 
the firm was out of its depth then and it is again now 
how can the queen and prince philip and prince charles possibly understand the desire of meghan and harry to rebrand as a goopish lifestyle enterprise 
the news that they have applied to trademark hundred of item from sock to hoody under the sussex royal logo make walli simpson's exile in the bahamas spent matching the color on the wall to her face powder seem positively monastic 
can you really call yourself financially independent when all you're do is cash in on the royal name 
given the state of the world and the implosion of the britain empire — with scot once more contemplate an off ramp ireland unity in play australia on fire and boris johnson trick the queen into suspend parliament in a brexit ploy — it is hard to feel sorry for the duchess of sussex complain that her diamond are heavy 
the pathos for markle trap in a designer cage go only so far 
it's easy for royal to come to north america where they are lavish embrace as celebrity without all those pesky restriction about class and role 
see the crown episode about a wild imbibe princess margaret charming lbj 
still i think meghan markle should have wield her woke where it is most need — in buckingham palace 
she could have channel the obama who did a magnificent job of rising above racist taunt and working within the institution to imprint a new image of racial possibility in america 
markle had already successful brought a refreshing dose of semiradic chic to the royal family 
her visit to a mosque that house londoner displace by the grenfell tower fire led to her putt out a 2018 cookbook the proceeds of which went to the victim 
at its best the monarchy has been able to lift up people as it did during the blitz in world war ii 
i saw that ability to alchemize emotion and opinion when i cover the queen on her visit to ireland in 2011 the first by a britain monarch in a century 
it was impossible not to be impress watch her speak gaelic and offering regret about how britain had made ireland suffer bowing her head at the scene of bloody sunday and the garden of remembrance the sacred ground for slain ireland patriot 
the ireland start out skeptical but by the end of her visit many were calling her betty on twitter 
the queen of england hold out the idea that she and her family should have some sort of vestigial moral authority 
but with the prince andrew imbroglio in the seraglio of jeffrey epstein and with harry's run for the hollywood hill it is clear that many in her family are not interested in moral authority 
the collapse of the authority of the britain monarchy mirror the collapse of authority generally scar by years of scandal about clergymen abuse children athlete beating up girlfriend and university official accept bribe 
and yet even if the royals' role in the culture is now akin to the kardashian it wasn't cool for meghan and harry to pants the 93yearold queen defy her instruction dump their megxit plan on instagram and intensify the sad split between the brother 
if ever there was a time for some dry gin 
… what's the rush to give up real influence to be an instagram influence 
besides who unfollow their own grandmother 
good for meghan and harry by the editorial board jan 9 2020 and they live happily ever after affirm the story we tell our children about a beautiful commoner marry prince charming 
just make sure your kid don't see thursday's headline in the london daily 
civil war as harry meg quit the royal scream the sun 
queen's fury as harry and meghan say we quit blare the daily mail in a royal bombshell special issue 
they didn't even tell the queen lament the daily mirror 
any other news from the drum of war in iran to passage at last of a brexit bill in parliament was swept away for megxit as the tabloid prompt call the decision by prince harry and his wife meghan to step back from the ribboncutt kindergartenvisite and foreigntravele duty they've been assign as their royal highness the duke and duchess of sussex 
they will try they said in a statement post on instagram wednesday to become financially independent and to balance their lives between britain and north america 
how that will work is hard to predict 
no one has ever resigned from the firm as the britain call the royal clan though some have been exile or fire — most notably edward viii who had to renounce the throne and leave britain to marry an america divorc�e and most recently prince andrew queen elizabeth ii's second son over his connection to the sex offender jeffrey epstein 
true to the intense attention the duke and duchess of sussex have attract since their marriage in may 2018 the press was quick fill with story about their finances and prospects and about how the queen the prince's grandmother would handle the defection 
a few articles actually show sympathy for a couple trap in a gilded cage that expose them to constant scrutiny — and in the duchess's case virulent rac 
sarcasm and exaggeration come easily when writing about royal and the story of prince harry the rambunctious second son of prince charles and diana princess of wales reach across the atlantic to marry an america actress was custommade for the tabloid — and yes for serious papers like this one 
their wedding at windsor castle and the birth of an adorable son archie a year later was grand copy a morality tale of a change world a fairy tale update with diverse millennial 
but as the children's story fail to warn unsuspect youngster being royal isn't all about living happily and certainly not ever after 
almost from the outset a parallel line of nasty story spread in the tabloid about meghan's difficulty with her america family and purport rift among the royal family 
instead of adopt the britain tradition of a stiff upper lip in the face of adversity as queen elizabeth has so admirable done throughout her long and crisisriddle reign prince harry and meghan proclaim that they did not intend to play by the old rule 
the prince who lost his mother to a horrific car chase through paris spoke openly about his emotional struggle the duchess made no secret of the difficulty of her new role 
not many people have ask if i'm ok she told one interview 
in october the couple struck back file a lawsuit against the mail on sunday over the publication of a private letter from meghan to her father 
in a statement explain the suit prince harry assail the tabloid and the suffering they cause his wife 
for these select media this is a game and one that we have been unwill to play from the start he wrote 
i have been a silent witness to her private suffering for too long 
to stand back and do nothing would be contrary to everything we believe in 
given this background the couple's decision to withdraw from the firm should not come as a surprise though it appear to be just that to the queen and the heir apparent prince charles 
rear in the tradition of monarchy as the symbol and mainstay of the nation they have stoical carry on in their duty even as their world and their family has been batter by the wind of change discontent and scandal as dramatize in the netflix series the crown 
evidently they expect the duke and duchess of sussex to do just that and to rear children who would as well 
but the real value of the royal family has never been in cutting ribbon and prove endless fodder for the tabloid it has been in the continue saga of fairy tale kings and queens coming to terms with the world 
in this story prince harry and meghan should not be lament as defect from the old order but celebrated as the hero of the next installment as modern royal renounce some level of privilege to seek their fortune in the real world 
may they live happily ever after 
how much of harvard's 40 billion endowment is invest in fossil fuel 
by devi lockwood jan 29 2020 in my senior year at harvard i was invite to a dinner in honor of the writer margaret atwood the recipient of the 2014 harvard arts medal 
on my way out the door i linger shrug on my coat took a deep breath and walk up to the university's president at the time drew gilpin faust 
we had met twice once during her office hour and at an ice cream social 
please divest from fossil fuel i said hope to catch her off guard 
the president at first seemingly happy to see me rearrange her face 
her shoulder crept up toward her ear 
you student don't understand investment she said 
then she walk out of the room 
i have benefit immeasurable from harvard's investment in me 
but recognize where some of harvard's 40 billion endowment is invest was a cause of grow unease for me and some of my classmate 
student at other campus were similarly concerned about the endowment of their school 
figure out exactly how much of harvard's endowment is invest in oil gas and coal company is a nearimpossible task 
harvard is require to disclose only direct investment in which the university own shares of a specific company 
harvard say its direct investment amount to 394 million as of may 2019 or roughly 1 percent of the endowment total 
divest harvard a student group determined that of that approximate amount 56 million was invest in company that produce or own reserve of oil natural gas and coal and large electric utility power by natural gas and coal 
harvard doesn't comment on its individual investment 
but in 2015 the south pole group a carbon finance consultant in zurich analyze 989 million of harvard's then 364 billion endowment at the request of divest harvard and 350org 
base on those investment the group estimate that the overall endowment was responsible for annual emission of 11 million ton of carbon dioxide roughly equivalent to the annual emission from delaware 
it's easy to get bog down in the numbers but the exact amount of harvard's fossil fuel investment or the emission it is responsible for isn't all that important 
as the world face a climate crisis any amount of investment in company that extract or burn fossil fuel is too much especially by one of the world's leading university 
lawrence bacow the university's current president explain in the harvard gazette last fall that rather than divest the university believe that engaging with industry to confront the challenge of climate change is ultimately a sound and more effective approach for our university 
but many student have not been content with that approach 
as part of a divest campaign in may 2014 an undergraduate brett roche was arrest by harvard university police for block an entrance to massachusetts hall where president faust and member of the administration had their offices 
in april 2015 during harvard heat week student faculty alumni and community member blockade president faust's office once more 
last november at the harvardyale football game climate change protest storm the field at half time delay the game for roughly an hour 
to date 532 faculty member have sign a petition in favor of divest from fossil fuel 
the result 
nothing has happen 
other campus have had more luck 
after pressure from student group stanford announce in 2014 that it would not make direct investment in public trade company whose principal business is coal mining 
the university of maine follow suit in 2015 divest all direct holding from coal company 
in 2017 columbia university announce divest from producer of coal burn to generate electricity 
other school have taken additional steps divest not only from coal producer but also from oil and gas company 
these include sterling college in 2013 the university of hawaii university of dayton syracuse university and the rhode island school of design in 2015 and the university of oregon in 2016 
the university of california system announce last september that it would divest 13 billion of its 83 billion endowment and 70 billion of pension from fossil fuel producer 
recognize that student activism hasn't work on its own two harvard college alumni from the class of 2018 danielle strasburger and nath�n goldberg start thinking about the harvard board of overseer election 
last year they found harvard forward an alumnirun organization that aim to elect five recently graduate candidate to the board 
the board of overseer mostly advise the university on strategic decision though it do have the power to consent to the election of member to the harvard corporation 
the average age of the five candidate is 28 — the same number of years that on average have pass since the current overseer were harvard student 
their platform include complete and swift divest of all university asset from fossil fuel 
the board is compose of 30 harvard alumni who sit for sixyear terms 
each year in april five new member are vote in by alumni 
a nomination committee of the harvard alumni association generally choose eight candidate who will be add to the slate 
there's another way in though — though a petition process 
to qualify each candidate needs 2936 sign nomination form equivalent to 1 percent of eligible voter living harvard alumni with the exception of current professor administrator and staff 
the first test will come on feb 1 the deadline to qualify for the ballot 
when we spoke last week ms strasburger estimate that between 2300 and 2400 nomination form had already been sign in favor of each candidate 
they are nearly there 
this is not just about harvard 
and it's also not just about whether you think divest is a strategy that is worth pursue or whether it has an impact 
rather harvard forward is a model for building power by young people — of break the logjam within large institution and making change happen 
this approach is not new 
from 1985 to 1991 harvard and radcliffe alumniae against apartheid campaign for harvard to divest its stock in company operate in south africa 
the organization use the same nominatebypetition system to elect four member to the board including archbishop desmond tutu who state that he would return his honorary degree unless harvard divest entire from south africa 
by the 1980s harvard did 
younger alumni realize then that they need a seat at the decision making table to create change 
that is exactly what harvard forward is seek 
on jan 15 harvard global network night over 100 volunteer for harvard forward — many of them alumni from the 1960s '70s and '80s — attend 50 alumni event in 20 states and 20 country with petition in hand 
that night alone they gather over 1000 signature 
alumni can submit petition to nominate the younger slate of candidate until the deadline on saturday at 5 pm harvard forward has volunteer in 35 city to collect form at signature party this week 
a lot of people want to know how they can make an impact when it come to climate ms strasburger told me 
if you have a chance to influence a 40 billion endowment that's a pretty big deal 
how to avoid the coronaviru 
wash your hand by elisabeth rosenthal jan 28 2020 america are watch with alarm as a new coronaviru spread in china and case pop up in the united states 
they are barrage with information about what kind of mask are best to prevent viral spread 
student are hand out mask in seattle 
mask have run out in brazo county tex 
hang on 
i've work as an emergency room physician 
and as a new york times correspondent in china i cover the sar outbreak in 2002 and 2003 during which a novel coronaviru first detect in guangdong sicken more than 8000 people and kill more than 800 
my two children attend elementary school in beije throughout the outbreak 
here are my main takeaway from that experience for ordinary people on the ground 1 
wash your hand frequent 
2 
don't go to the office when you are sick 
don't send your kid to school or day care when they are ill either 
notice i didn't say anything about mask 
have a mask with you as a precaution make sense if you are in the midst of an outbreak as i was when out report in the field during those month 
but wearing it constant is another matter 
i don a mask when visiting hospital where sar patient had been house 
i wore it in the market where wild animal that were the suspect source of the outbreak were being butcher blood droplet flying 
i wore it in crowded enclose space that i couldn't avoid like airplane and train as i traveled to city involved in the outbreak like guangzhou and hong kong 
you never know if the guy cough and sneeze two row ahead of you is ill or just has an allergy 
but outdoors infection don't spread well through the air 
those photo of people walking down street in china wearing mask are dramatic but uninformed 
and remember if a mask has perchance intercept virus that would have otherwise end up in your body then the mask is contaminate 
so in theory to be protect maybe you should use a new one for each outing 
the simple mask are better than nothing but not all that effective since they don't seal well 
for anyone tempt to go out and buy the gold standard n95 respirator note that they are uncomfortable 
breathing is more work 
it's hard to talk to people 
on one long flight at the height of the outbreak on which my few fellow passenger were mostly epidemiologist try to solve the sar puzzle many of us including me wore our mask for the first couple of hour on the flight 
then the food and beverage cart came 
though virus spread through droplet in the air a big worry to me was always transmission via what doctor call fomite infect item 
a virus get on a surface — a shoe or a doorknob or a tissue for example 
you touch the surface and then next touch your face or rub your nose 
it's a great way to acquire illness 
so after walking in the animal market i remove my shoe careful and did not take them into the hotel room 
and of course i wash my hand immediately 
remember by all indication sar which kill about 10 percent of those infect was a deadly virus than the new coronaviru circulate now 
so keep things in perspective 
face with sar many foreigner chose to leave beije or at least to send their children back to the united states 
our family stay kid included 
we want them with us and didn't want them to miss school especially during what would be their final year in china 
but equally important in making the decision was that the risk of get sar on an airplane or in the airport seem greater than being smart and careful while stay put in beije 
and we were i stop taking my kid to indoor playground or crowded mall or delicious but dense packed neighborhood beije restaurant 
out of an abundance of caution we cancel a family vacation to cambodia — though my fear was less about catching sar on the flight than that one of the kid would have a fever from an ear infection upon our return at a border screening and would be stuck in a prolonged quarantine in china 
we instead took a vacation within china where we carry mask with us but didn't use them except on a short domestic flight 
in time during the sar outbreak the government shut down theater and school in beije as it is do now in many china city because these virus are more easily transmit in such crowded place 
but there was also a lot of irrational behavior enter a village on the way to a hike near the great wall our car was stop by local who had set up a roadblock to check the temperature of all passenger 
they use an oral thermometer that was only minimal clean after each use 
what a great way to spread a virus 
the international school of beije where my children were student was one of the few in the capital — perhaps the only one — that stay open throughout the sar outbreak though the class were empty since so many kid had departed to their home country 
it was a studied but brave move since a parent at the school had gotten sar at the very beginning of the outbreak on a flight back from hong kong 
she recover fine but it was close to home and family were scared 
the school institute a bunch of simple precautionary policy a stern note to parent remind them not to send a child to school who was sick and warning them that student would be screen for fever with ear thermometer at the school door 
there was no share of food at lunch 
the teacher led the kid in frequent hand washing throughout the day at classroom sink while singing a prolonged hand washing song to ensure they did more than a cursory pass under the faucet with water only 
if a family left beije and came back the child would have to stay at home for an extend period before return to class to make sure they hadn't caught sar elsewhere 
with those precaution in place i observe something of a public health miracle not only did no child get sar but it seem no student was sick with anything at all for month on end 
no stomach bug 
no common cold 
attendance was more or less perfect 
the world health organization declared the sar outbreak contained in july 2003 
but oh that those habit persist 
the best firstline defense against sar or the new coronaviru or most any virus at all are the one that grandma and common sense taught us after all 
inconvenient murder by bari weiss two years ago a 27yearold man name kobili traor� walk into the paris apartment of a 65yearold kindergarten teacher name sarah halimi 
mr traor� beat ms halimi and stab her 
according to witness he call her a demon and a dirty jew 
he shout allahu akbar then threw ms halimi's batter body out of her thirdstory apartment window 
this is what mr traor� told prosecutor i felt persecute 
when i saw the torah and a chandelier in her home i felt oppress 
i saw her face transform 
one would think that this would be an openandshut hate crime 
it was the coldbloode murder of a woman in her own home for the sin of being a jew 
but france prosecutor decided to drop murder charge against mr traor� because he … had smoke cannabis 
if france's betrayal of sarah halimi is shocking to you perhaps you haven't been pay much attention to what by now can be describe as a moral calamity sweeping the west of which her story is only the clearest example 
a crisis i hasten to add that's perhaps less known because it has been largely overlook by the mainstream press 
the most generous read of this enormous blind spot is that the story is not always straightforward there have been some laudable steps to fight back 
on tuesday for example the france parliament formal adopt the international holocaust remembrance alliance's definition of antisemit when it pass a motion declare antizion a form of jewhatre 
yet on the same day more than 100 jewish gravestone were found spraypainte with swastika in a cemetery near strasbourg — a potent reminder that government are only as good as the culture and the people uphold them 
so allow me to put it plainly we are suffering from a widespread social health epidemic and it is rooted in the cheapen of jewish blood 
if hatred of jew can be justified as a misunderstanding or ignore as a mistake or play down as a slip of the tongue or wave away as just antizion you can all but guarantee it will be 
yet beneath the fingerpoint and the victimblame and the accusation of panic lob against a people that know a little something about persecution there is the same old bigotry — the hatred of jew that has presage the death of so many seemingly civilize society 
a hatred that still after century exert its powerful allure during periods of politics and economic unrest when the angry the confuse the shortchange and the scared look for simple explanation and a scapegoat 
and even those who seek to uplift the marginal can't seem to find their voice when it come to jew facing antisemit 
take a look at some of the event around the thanksgiving holiday incident that have kept jew all over the world glue to their phone and which have driven some to update their and their children's passport 
start with britain 
last friday night a rabbi who had just left a synagogue was beaten on the street by teenager scream kill the jew 
these nowregular occurrence come as there's a decent chance that the labour leader jeremy corbyn will become the next prime minister — give antisemite the imprimatur of a major western government 
mr corbyn's long history of slur against jew and israel his warm words about his friends in hezbollah and his worldview which find far more to admire in country like russia and venezuela than england itself are well document 
to choose just the latest headline the bbc he said on iran state television is bias toward saying that israel has a right to exist 
my favorite remains his remark that britain zionist who have live in this country for a very long time probably all their lives don't understand english irony 
the fish rot from the head and so it has with labour 
according to britain's chief rabbi ephraim mirvi there are 130 case of outstanding complaint of antisemit against labour party member 
ninetythree percent of britain jew say they won't vote for labour 
fortyseven percent say they will seriously consider emigrate if labour win 
and yet the latest polling show labour rally 
other issue jew are told are more important than their own safety 
sometimes their fear are dismiss as hysteria 
the socialist filmmaker ken loach has call it a witch hunt 
the powerful union leader len mccluskey has accused the jewish community of intransigent hostility 
when rabbi mirvi took the extraordinary step of weigh in on the election insist that the very soul of our nation is at stake he was accused variously of bad faith of taking focus away from the real threat of rightw bigotry and of actually stoke antisemit himself 
jewish voice for labour the party's pet jewish front group has codify all of these gaslight tactics in a document that helpful lay out the strategy for how other politics group and movements with a will to power can shut down jewish concern about organized systemic antisemit 
over in italy the town of schio decided against establish a holocaust memorial — the subtle brass stumble stone call stolpersteine that dot the street of europe city where survivor of hitler's genocide still stroll — on the grounds that 14 stone in a city of 40000 would prove too divisive 
let the victim rest in peace said alberto bertoldo a local politician 
the memorial he said would risk generate new hatred and division 
while in schio the holocaust prove a divisive moral issue in montreal it was a plan trip to israel 
jordyn wright is a jewish sophomore who sit on the board of the students' society of mcgill university 
over winter break she is plan like hundred of other north america jewish college student to go to israel with hillel 
as a result of that trip the student government vote to call for her resignation 
never mind that the trip included time with palestinian in the west bank 
never mind that another student government leader is also go apparently because that student is not a jew no resignation was require 
i toggle over the weekend between ms wright's chill account of the history of antijewish discrimination at her school and the washington post which had publish a frothy profile of valerie plame the former cia 
officer who is now running for congress as a democrat in new mexico 
there we learn that ms plame looks astounding good at 56 as if the highaltitude desert air has preserve her skin since the day she arrive here 12 years ago 
yet nowhere in the long article do the reader learn that two years ago ms plame tweet an essay call america jew are driving america's war by a man famous for his antijewish conspiracy thinking on a website that flirt with holocaust denial 
she also share an article that link israel to the sept 11 attack 
it somehow didn't merit mention 
elsewhere in the democratic party linda sarsour the activist who was remove from her leadership position in the women's march thanks to her history of antisemitic scandal and who now serve as a surrogate for the presidential candidate bernie sander gave a talk on friday to a group call america muslim for palestine 
the part of her talk that circulate online focus on the apparent hypocrisy of progressive zionist how ms sarsour ask about people who are the no 
1 target of white supremacist can they claim to oppose white supremacy when they support a state like israel that is built on supremacy that is built on the idea that jew are supreme to everybody else 
lest you think this is just antizion consider that the sander surrogate was speak at a conference that print the following sentence in its program zionism has come in like a disease to destroy the purity of al qud 
al qud is the arabic name for jerusalem 
should i tell you about a christian fundamentalist show on trunew host by a man name rick wiles 
trunew was grant an interview by donald trump jr and its representative was call on by president trump at a news conference 
last week on his show mr wiles claim that jew are behind the impeach proceedings against the president 
a jew coup he call it that would replace mr trump with a jewish cabal 
should i tell you about the swastika found at sixth i a synagogue and a hub of jewish cultural and intellectual life in washington 
or the one paint in red on a statue of the great yiddish writer sholem aleichem in ukraine 
or that on monday morning in crown heights brooklyn a jewish subway rider report that another woman yell slur and threaten to throw her onto the track 
and that the following day also in crown heights three teenager hurl rocks at a jewish elementary school bus break a window 
there is a theme here 
the theme is that jewhatre is surge and yet jewish victimhood do not command attention or inspire popular outrage 
that unless jew are murder by neonazi the one group everyone of conscience recognize as evil jews' inconvenient murder their beating their discrimination the single out of their state for demon will be explain away 
when you look at each of these incident perhaps it is possible still to pretend that these are random burst of bigotry perpetrate by hooligan lacking any real organization or power behind them 
but mr corbyn's electoral prospects in britain tell a different far more distressing story — that a person with some of the same impulse as those hooligan can stand within spit distance of the office of prime minister 
this is what happen when a culture decide that jewish lives are stumble stone 
instead of a generation culture war let's fight the rich by farhad manjoo nov 6 2019 generation are pretty bogus 
the label we use to casual slice up society — boom millennial gen x gen z — are a nearly useless way of thinking about politics culture or business in america 
the very idea that ten of million of people across different class and races and geography might hold similar view on a range of subject just because they happen to be born during the same 20year span of america history — the whole thing sound a bit too much like astrology doesn't it 
in fact demographer whose profession came up with these label constant stress the limitation and complication of generation analysis 
generation can be useful for observing broadscale change in attitude over long periods of time but they break down into clich�s and stereotype when they are use to make specific observations about the world 
marketer and much of the media tend to be quite careless in how we wield generation label 
we invest these category with too much meaning often ascribe to generation ideology what is more likely a product of age wealth and a variety of other factor 
consider for instance the absurd parade of story about how millennial are killing various industry from golf to wedding ring 
they collective paint young people as being somehow philosophical deficient as consumer rather than simply not very wealthy 
of course i would dismiss generation i'm a gen xer and our whole thing is reject label 
on the other hand i might be a boom because lately i've been nursing a crazy conspiracy theory about generation analysis i think it's a plot by the man to keep us from change the world 
focus on generation difference distract the masses from go after more salient difference in society — especially the power held by the wealthy whatever their age 
all of this explain why i'm not really ok 
with ok boom the latest rally cry in the permanent war between the young and the old 
as taylor lorenz report in the times last week ok boom is a meme start by teenager to shred old people who express a broad range of antiquated idea about the world 
the grammar snoot in me — and my copy editor — would prefer the meme render as ok boom with periods and a comma but of course that's not how teenager write 
at first glance the phrase — which since lorenz's report has been coopte and repeated into cringe ubiqu by just about every other generation — is the perfect response to your racist grandpa on facebook and your liberal uncle on wall street who is very worried about medicare for all 
it's knowing cutting dismiss and almost impossible to graceful recover from ok boom and you're done 
at the risk of sound like a patronize old i'll concede that ok boom means well and i don't begrudge teenager their anger 
they are certainly right that over several generation and across politics ideology the holder of politics and economic power in america total screw things up for the future 
boom leader and their forebear underinvested in longterm infrastructure and safety nets and economic and environmental rule 
they overindulge in war and tax cut and systemic deregulation 
they long overlook racial and gender bias sexual harassment and just about every other form of systemic discrimination 
they brought the country and the world to the sorry place we're in now 
yet it's a mistake to blame all boom for the sin of the most powerful among them 
as a taunt ok boom overlook the vast difference within the postwar generation — there are rich boom and poor boom farleft boom and farright one boom who are fight for right and those who are hopeless stuck in yesteryear 
ok boom also let other generation off the hook neglect the fact that millennial keep gain greater economic and politics power and that some of them are start to act and sound like archetype boom 
teenager themselves seem to recognize this — boom is state of mind lorenz write of how the young think of the term 
on the phone she pointed to further evidence of the flexible of boom as a taunt 
on twitter she note pete buttigieg the youngest of the 2020 democratic candidate is frequent dismiss as radiate big boom energy 
even though he's a millennial there's something about his rhetorical style that feel antiquated 
and buttigieg's boomerish only underline the hollow of the whole idea of generation stereotype 
it suggest a more profitable politics path for young people instead of cancel an entire generation why not set your sight on a small more specific group one that bear more direct complicity in america's widen dystopia 
not to go full chapo trap house on you but yes i'm talk about the wealthy 
instead of ok boom how about ok billionaire 
i've been preoccupied with billionaire for much of the year 
in february i argue that we should abolish billionaire and wannabe billionaire because they exert outsize control over america's resources 
insofar as they highlight the unforgivable ways that wealthy people have rig the politics system billionaire are both a convenient and an appropriate politics target of the moment 
on just about any important issue of the day from climate change to mass incarcerate to defeat donald trump meaningful politics change will come about only through crossgenerational coordination — it will require concerned people of all age to band together to alter the status quo 
one reason this is difficult in america is we've been condition to think that people who are much old or younger than we are might be completely alien being every millennial is an avocadoeate virtue signaler who won't listen to oppose view all boom are white affluent selfish racist who can't recognize their privilege and the two side will never see eye to eye on anything 
but that is plainly false 
last month representative alexandria ocasiocortez who's 30 endorse 78yearold bernie sander for president — not despite his age but because sanders's decade of work on progressive cause was a sign of his fidelity to the movement 
in the summer ocasiocortez met greta thunberg the teenage climate activist who has scold old people for ignore the issue 
among other things the pair discuss how age was simply a mindset 
you can be much old and still part of a youth movement if you refuse to do things just because that's the way they've always been done ocasiocortez told thunberg 
this is the sort of coalition we need to build a better future — not gen z fight boom but a coalition of 16yearolds and 30yearolds and 78yearolds join together to demolish the rich who run the world today 
the stakes are too great we can't afford to have any generation sit this one out 
are there limit to the rights revolution 
by thomas b edsall dec 18 2019 if you're a democratic strategist what do you do to reconcile the moral power of your party's argument about the inherent dignity and civil rights of every america with the reality of an electorate that has not caught up with where the party has gone and is slightly — or more than slightly — averse to it 
how do you decide whether what is right is also what is wise 
as recently as 2004 propose state constitutional amendment ban samesex marriage particularly one in ohio may have cost the democrat the presidency so how do you handle president trump's calculate assault on transgender rights 
you can't tell people oh just wait for your rights they'll be coming soon — that has never work for anyone — so i decided to ask philosopher ethicist transgender activist and other how the party should respond to trump's provocation 
the issue of politics strategy raise by the transgender rights movement have split liberal into two camp one urge caution against moving too far in front of public opinion the other calling for all out support of transgender men and women 
on one side are democrat for whom the first priority is a strategy to defeat donald trump in november and who see some policy sought by transgender rights activist as potential alienate the moderate voter they believe are necessary to a democratic victory 
on the other side are those who are equally hungry to see the president defeat but who hold a deep allegiance to the ethical and moral principles of freedom and equality including for the lesbian gay bisexual transgender community 
without these principles they believe the democratic party will not only lose vote but also its core reason for being 
president trump ever the opportunist has been aggressive moving since his inaugurate to attack the rights of transgender men and women — seeing a hot button or third rail issue he think he can deploy to his advantage as he attempt to carve up the democratic opposition 
i ask scholar who specialize in the study of moral dilemma about the ethical and strategic choice trump's current offensive against transgender rights forces on the liberal coalition 
there is evidence that the democratic response to trump's onslaught is split 
peter singe a professor of bioethic at the centre for human value at princeton has been describe as arguable the most famous and influential modern philosopher 
he is unequivocal committed to a liberal worldview 
the failure of people in the rich nation to make any significant sacrifice in order to assist people who are die from povertyrelate cause is ethically indefensible he wrote in achieve the best outcome a 2002 essay it is not simply the absence of charity let alone of moral saintly it is wrong and one cannot claim to be a morally decent person unless one is do far more than the typical comfortablyoff person do 
singe is specifically sympathetic to the difficulty facing transgender men and women writing in 2012 people who cross gender boundary suffer clear discrimination 
weigh the tactical option facing democrat singe was nonetheless forceful in his response to my emaile inquiry as a consequentialist i don't believe that the party is obligate to support discriminate against group regardless of the consequence 
after all the reelection of trump and republican control of congress would be a greater disaster than the rejection of the legitimate claim of transgender people to express themselves as they wish 
most important singe continue the reelection of trump would mean another four years in which the us do little or nothing to reduce its greenhouse gas emission which make it difficult for other leader to take the strong stand that is need and that could bring about change that are catastrophe for hundred of million or even billion of people 
the harm that a second trump term would produce singe argue put the transgender issue you mention in perspective 
we may believe that people should be able to use whichever bathroom they choose but standing up for that isn't sufficient reason to risk the future of our planet not to mention the many other ways that a trumprepublican victory would be bad 
taking a different position amie l thomasson professor of intellectual and moral philosophy at dartmouth wrote by email i think that however much democrat may want to win we must not lose sight of our moral compass — especially in times like this 
the commitment to protect the rights equality and wellbeing of everyone — not just those with power wealth or privilege — is absolutely central 
this commitment is not subject to compromise the democratic party thomasson argue would lose its soul to lose those commitment 
what we need most in this country is an honest moral conversation — and that means not replace moral consideration with strategic calculation or bury them to meet shortterm goal 
moral commitment thomasson continue are not things that should be sacrifice in hope of avoid rightw attack or hope to maximize a calculation of expect vote 
it do of course leave democrat with a job to do of making clear that it is moral rights human rights that are at stake here of making clear why recognize transgender rights is not a threat and of working through the detail of policy proposal regarding the impact on health care etc 
in fact mara keisl the executive director of the national center for transgender equality do not expect democratic presidential candidate to support every priority set by her organization 
in a phone interview keisl said that her organization's first priority is that the candidate show they are compassionate people who care about marginal people 
she said that if a democrat win the presidency we will have a policy agenda of maybe 200 item but her group would not expect full support on every one of them 
the center has been interview democratic candidate and so far all of them have shown that they think about tran people in a compassionate way 
that's a lot she said and a sharp contrast to trump 
i ask grace lavery a professor of english at berkeley — who describe her work in transfeminist study as focus on the belief that transition works that it is truly possible to change sex — a series of question including how do you think democrat should deal with some of the more complex issue raise by the transgender rights movement 
she reply the same way that anyone else should by discuss them openly and ensure that tran people's account of our own experience are being heard 
tran people lavery continue need access to health care we need equitable treatment by a criminal justice system and we need equal protection under existing civil rightstitle ix legislation 
given which we don't tend to care what cis people think about what trans means 
the basic issue lavery argue is about safeguard the civil rights of a minority of people at a moment in history when we are being single out for prejudicial treatment 
there are no real policy issue to address other than prejudice and squeamish 
robin dembroff a professor of philosophy at yale who use the pronoun theythem wrote me that democratic candidate should treat the trump campaign's focus on transgender issue as a divisive tool for stoke fear distract from economic health care and climate issue and dismantle already tenuous women's rights 
dembroff argue that recent threat to reproductive rights lgbtq workplace protection and transgender health care and facility access within the us are part of this global movement to maintain the gender status quo 
trump has clearly calculate that opposition to transgender rights will win him more vote than it will lose him and he has translate that decision into action throughout the executive branch rescind a wide range of protransgender regulation while issue harsh new one 
while some of his decision have been temporary block by the court his intentions are clear 
trump has barred transgender individual from serving in the military 
he has withdrawn an obama administration regulation grant transgender student the right to use bathroom corresponding to their gender identity 
he has expand a conscience rule that protect doctor and other health care worker who on religious grounds decline to provide care and who refuse to refer patient to personnel who will provide it 
the administration has also propose the eliminate of obamaera rule ban discrimination against transgender medical patient by eliminate provisions that define discrimination on the basis of sex to include gender identity 
for over five decade start with the passage of the civil rights act of 1964 the democratic party has assume the broad role of politics home to the rights revolution for africanamerican latino women gay and now transgender men and women 
the general election will test whether the democratic nominee is willing — in the face of trump's inflammatory foray against transgender rights — to bear the potential costs of fight for private health care coverage of gender transition surgery including for those in the armed service in prison or on medicaid participation in women's athletic competition for transgender women and nondiscriminatory access to public facilities including bathroom in school library and public space 
for david leege a professor emeritus of politics science at notre dame the issue of transgender rights now pose a possibly insoluble dilemma for democrat — something trump fully intend to exploit 
leege wrote me i think it is an area whose discourse is so new that a politics feasible solution has not yet present itself 
if we can't yet deal with toilet where the answer are simple — unisex toilet compartment with locks on door — how can we deal with large public financial outlay for sexchange surgery 
leege said he can foresee politicians' appeal to relative deprivation 
'we're go to spend taxpayers' dollar for their sexchange surgery when there is not enough to pay for my cancer drugs' 
as an example of the complexity of transgender rights leege cite the question raise by the issue of whether transgender women should be able to enter women's sports competition should she be forced to compete with men in running event or basketball rather than against women 
what is fair to other women 
to the transgender woman 
are rights in conflict 
is kindness violate 
we don't walk around with label specify level of male and female hormone 
and we have thought of gender in binary terms for so long that it is hard to think that hormone could resemble bellshape curve 
there are clear philosophical difference over democrats' obligation to the transgender community 
these difference translate in turn to sharp dissimilar strategy for how democrat should address transgender issue 
bruce cain a politics scientist at stanford worry that democrat risk not only mobilize trump supporter but also lose vote from their own constituent 
transgender rights cain write could indeed become a powerful wedge issue for president trump especially if the democrat across the board take the strongest protransgender rights stance 
cain noted that stand in favor of use public money to pay for sexual transition or allow transgender access to public facilities will certainly fire up the conservative republican base but he continue i would worry especially about the reaction in the black and latino community and among old moderate whites 
the key to the 2020 election in cain's view is winning back states behind the blue wall and the swing states keeping the focus on trump and away from bold issue that might lose vote in the swing area 
in contrast to cain seana shiffrin a professor of philosophy law and social justice at ucla argue that the democrat should take a matter of fact approach about these issue with the tone that they are pretty straightforward 
they shouldn't handwr or talk about it as a difficult matter in shiffrin's view showing strength and conviction here is also a strategic approach 
she provided more specific example of how democrat could frame transgender issue democrat are in favor of health care for all and so they are in favor of what transgender people require to function and flourish just as they are in favor of the health care that any other member of society needs to function and flourish 
we all have different health needs 
some of the health needs of transgender people have been neglect and the costs they have suffer as a result are rather shocking 
in the case of bathroom shiffrin argue that the issue should be placed in the large context of protect people from violence the people in true danger of violence in restroom are transgender people who do not conform to gender expectations 
force transgender women to use men's rooms will subject them to potential violence 
ergo we should allow people to choose the restroom that best fit their identity and comfort level 
nance bauer a professor of philosophy and a dean of academic affair for arts and science at tuft argue in favor of orient strategy toward younger voter my view is that the only way that democrat can win is if they embrace progressiv not just because it's on the side of justice equality fair compassion and decency but also because it's the only politics strategy that will bring younger voter to the poll in significant numbers 
i think that trump is monstrous and deep fear his reelection 
but the best way to get rid of him is to build coalition of decent people and get out the vote 
judith butler a professor of comparative literature at berkeley whose books include gender trouble feminism and the subversion of identity made a straightforward case for full support of transgender policy priority we are seek to win the election in order to restore faith in democracy which include a commitment to equality and freedom 
we do not seek to win for the sake of winning but in order to preserve principles such as equality embody in civil rights protection 
the right to health care and to social recognition and protection from discrimination should be regard as the fundamental rights of tran people in society 
if we deny those rights including the right to have access to medical care we deny those rights and treat tran people different from other minority under the law 
william galston a senior fellow at brook and former deputy assistant to president bill clinton for domestic policy make a different argument in favor of more increment change the task of decent politician in a democracy is to move their country as far toward justice and fair as the current state of public opinion will permit while do what they can to improve the chance that public opinion will continue to shift in the right direction 
this task require judgment base on a solid understanding of public opinion and of the fact on the ground 
this is not an easy task especially for a politics party that support challenge to the traditional hierarchy 
galston went on as an elect official or aspirant for elective office there is nothing dishonorable about define one's policy aspiration at any given point in response to what the public is prepared to endorse or at least permit at that time 
the higher the stakes in the election the more defensible this practice become 
if as many people believe the 2020 election implicate not only policy dispute but also the future of liberal constitutional democracy in the united states then it would be justified to subordinate any policy issue to the overriding goal of protect our constitutional order 
transgender rights pose a classic pushpull problem for the contemporary democratic party in support the expansion of rights to previous discriminatedagainst constituency how far ahead of public opinion should the party go 
the difficulty is only made more challenging by the fact that the pressure in primary is to move to the left while the pressure in the general election is to move to the center 
by a number of measure the country has become marked more liberal over the past half century especially on social and cultural issue — even as the process has been slow often painstaking slow the pace more evolutionary than abrupt — as the public become acclimate to change 
would democrat be wise to recognize this pace of change as they head into a define election 
or should they attempt to enlarge their base by embrace an elemental argument about what the party stand for 
this is an election in which turnout will be crucial 
can democrat spur the legion who are focus on the environment climate change immigrate and women's rights as well as transgender rights 
can they expand the arena of concern 
the stakes could not be higher 
is pete buttigieg just too young to be president 
by frank bruni dec 14 2019 finland just elect the world's youngest prime minister sanna marin who's 34 
time magazine name greta thunberg 16 its youngestever person of the year 
even before i could mention their name to pete buttigieg who's vie to become the youngest america president he brought them up 
he also brought up jacinda ardern the prime minister of new zealand who was 37 when she took office and emmanuel macron who became the president of france at 39 
that's how old buttigieg now 37 would be at his inaugurate 
you're seeing a generation of leader around the world emerge and it feel like the kind of thing that the us would be on the forefront of just because we're a country that value a look to the future he told me in an interview on thursday morning 
i think it's our style 
this country was found by 20somethings he add refer to the fact that aaron burr alexander hamilton and james madison for example were in their 20s on july 4 1776 
thomas jefferson was 33 
john hancock was 39 
donald trump is 73 meaning that he has more than a halfcentury of life lesson on some of them 
how do that show 
well an hour before i connected with buttigieg the president saw fit to tweet that time's choice of thunberg a sweden climatechange activist was so ridiculous and that she should work on her anger management problem 
facing imminent impeach he start a twitter spat with a teenage girl 
trump is the most extreme example of the fact that while wisdom and age may be related they're very much not the same thing buttigieg said 
still 
age isn't irrelevant 
america is much much big than finland and much much more complicated than it was during the revolutionary war 
in a country so powerful at such a perilous time is buttigieg simply too young and too green to lead the way 
it's the question that hover over a presidential campaign whose success has stun the politics world 
it predate concern about his work as a consultant with mckinsey or his trouble building support among africanamerican 
it suggest an intensity of ambition and a presumptuous that make his detractor bristle 
and even now after firstplace finish in some recent poll of democrat in iowa and new hampshire he's pressed about whether someone with his short r�sum� cap by two terms as the mayor of a city of just 100000 people could possibly be up to the presidency and pass muster with enough america to get elect 
he told me that voter and journalist ask him about his age more often than they do about his sexual orientation 
if elect he'd be the first openly gay president 
so we spent most of a nearly hourlong car ride between campaign stop in the new york city area talk about it 
he concede that the long you're alive the more you learn and that there are lesson and life passage still in the offing for him 
he'd like to be a parent but if he succeed on his current quest he'd become the leader of the free world first 
a lot of things in my life have been out of sequence he said 
i was a mayor before i got married 
i was a war veteran before i had dated 
he was refer to his seven month in afghanistan and recognize that while he has been precocious ahead of the game in many regards he was behind in other 
it was only four years ago at 33 that he finally had a serious romantic relationship — with the man chasten who is now his husband 
age has play out in surprising ways in the democratic primary 
while buttigieg is unusually young the other three candidate group with him at the head of the pack — joe biden 77 elizabeth warren 70 and bernie sander 78 — are unusually old 
sander had a heart attack in october and biden's energy has visibly dim to a point where some of his aide and supporter have sought to reassure voter by whisper about the possibility that he'd want to serve just one term 
the oldest candidate sander is by far the most popular among the youngest democratic voter get the support of 52 percent of those between the age of 18 and 34 in a national quinnipiac poll release on tuesday 
buttigieg got just 2 percent of that group in contrast with 12 percent of democratic voter between 35 and 49 12 percent of those between 50 and 64 and 11 percent of those 65 and old 
he attribute that to younger voters' attraction to sanders's less pragmatic more ideology pure vision 
it's certainly not because buttigieg hasn't court them 
in this ok 
boom moment of younger americans' disgust with the income inequality social injustice and climate change that old america have bequeath them he has claim a generation perspective that separate him from his rival for the democratic nomination 
he note that he was still in high school when the columbine massacre happen that he had just start college when the 911 terrorist attack occur and that he'll be living with america's failure long than his old rival will 
he also make the case that people of biden's warren's and sanders's age have had their chance to fix things 
shouldn't someone with an arguable fresher outlook — someone from outside washington — take a turn 
with that reasoning he frames politics vulnerable as politics virtue 
you know the stat about three of the last four president emerge from the summer of 1946 
he ask refer to trump's birth in june 1946 george w bush's in july of that year and bill clinton's in august 
it means that one generation has been in charge for a very long time 
but his youth is in some ways a bind that put me in mind of the even greater predicament for female candidate 
they're expect to show that they're as tough as men but then that tough is describe as bossy shrill 
buttigieg has to muster extra poise extra confidence lest any deficit be interpret as immature 
but then that poise and confidence in the context of his age are interpret as arrogance 
his detractor constant tell me that he's cocky — or robot 
one of the things i get is 'why aren't you more passionate' he said 
i'm very passionate 
but i'm also very discipline 
if i weren't it would be hard to be taken seriously 
is he maybe too discipline 
too contained 
wonder if he'd yet confront the responsibility of helping to care for a sick parent i ask about his own parent and learned only then that his father die last january 
while i'd kept reasonably close tab on buttigieg's candidacy this was something that he hadn't mention enough that i'd heard it 
and he said relatively little about it during our chat 
the constitution decree that a house member must be at least 25 a senator at least 30 a president at least 35 
no america president has been under 40 and only two took office before the age of 45 teddy roosevelt who was 42 and john f kennedy who was 43 
shouldn't and doesn't that give buttigieg pause 
of course you have those moments he acknowledge 
we're talk about a role of unbelievable importance and complexity and challenge 
and yet every person who's done it has been a mortal a human being — and of course so much depend not just on the individual but on how you build a team 
the audacity of propose to do it at a young age is nowhere near the audacity of propose to do it at all he said 
so age become like a detail 
he repeated something that he has said score if not hundred of times on the campaign trail as mayor of south bend ind for the past eight years he has had a kind of executive experience that someone who has serve in congress for that long or long hasn't 
besides he said experience isn't the only font of wisdom 
education matter 
intuition too 
he come armed with historical example beyond the founder of people who made remarkable contribution early on 
i'm not go to compare myself to martin luther king he said but he's certainly an example of somebody who had a huge impact mainly in his 30s 
king die at 39 
buttigieg noted that stephen biko one of the most prominent antiapartheid activist in south africa in the 1970s die at 30 
trump has mocking refer to buttigieg as alfred e neuman the gaptoothe bigeare boyish mascot for mad magazine 
he did so at a rally in pennsylvania on tuesday ask his audience can you believe he's do well 
i dream about him trump add 
it's true 
buttigieg's response 
i don't want to be anywhere near that guy's dream he told me 
it's a good answer 
maybe he'd match up well against trump 
i'm not sure and how i wish i were because the likeliest trump slay is the democratic nominee i want and america needs 
both substantive and in terms of elect buttigieg would be better off if he were old with higher position under his belt but then all of the leading democrat have worry shortcoming 
his youth is a concern 
it shouldn't be a dealbreaker 
jar kushner fail up again by frank bruni nov 26 2019 jar kushner just got a promotion 
another one 
at least i think we can call it that and it's a delicious perfect assignment 
the pallid princele is now responsible for speeding construction of the border wall 
in other words a makebelieve fix will oversee a fairytale fix 
josh dawsey and nick miroff of the washington post broke the news and when i read it i realize that i hadn't heard much about jar — or for that matter ivanka — in a good long while 
they're front and center when the administration is announce some ostensible sensible initiative or claim a pittance of progress 
but when its corruption is being expose and the drizzle of subpoena become a downpour they vanish cuddle for warmth under the gilded umbrella of their hallucinatory virtue 
we can pretty much chart the weather of the administration by the relative visibility of donald jr so loud and hirsute and jar so smoothcheeke and mute 
donald jr thrive when it's nastiest stomp gleeful through the muck 
jar come out only if his suit won't get dirty or his hair wet 
during the impeach inquiry we've seen a lot of donald jr that's partly because he has been hawking his new book copy of which the republican national committee spent nearly 100000 on 
but it's also because he's such a ready eager conduit for his father's wrath with a talent for exaggeration and misdirect that's clearly chromosome 
jar kushner just got a promotion 
another one 
at least i think we can call it that and it's a delicious perfect assignment 
the pallid princele is now responsible for speeding construction of the border wall 
in other words a makebelieve fix will oversee a fairytale fix 
josh dawsey and nick miroff of the washington post broke the news and when i read it i realize that i hadn't heard much about jar — or for that matter ivanka — in a good long while 
they're front and center when the administration is announce some ostensible sensible initiative or claim a pittance of progress 
but when its corruption is being expose and the drizzle of subpoena become a downpour they vanish cuddle for warmth under the gilded umbrella of their hallucinatory virtue 
we can pretty much chart the weather of the administration by the relative visibility of donald jr so loud and hirsute and jar so smoothcheeke and mute 
donald jr thrive when it's nastiest stomp gleeful through the muck 
jar come out only if his suit won't get dirty or his hair wet 
during the impeach inquiry we've seen a lot of donald jr that's partly because he has been hawking his new book copy of which the republican national committee spent nearly 100000 on 
but it's also because he's such a ready eager conduit for his father's wrath with a talent for exaggeration and misdirect that's clearly chromosome 
jar and ivanka have been strategic scarce though ivanka did flutter into view in a fashion when president trump boast two week ago that she had create 14 million job since the inaugurate 
fourteen million and go up 
he clarify lest anyone get the misimpression that she thought her work was done 
never 
on behalf of the america people ivanka is tireless 
there's no rest for the weary and there's even less of it for those who live at the crossroads of selfinfatuation and delusion 
in an interview last month on fox business ivanka said that she and dad were fight every day for the america worker and that she was determined to drive hard every single day to make an impact 
your time and service — our time here — is finite she muse and while i'd love to believe that she was prophesy her and her father's imminent evict from the white house i think she was refer in her deep spiritual way to the span of a human life 
it's sand through an hourglass 
as ivanka serve us she never forget the sand 
democrat believe that the trump administration's void of ethics will sour america voter on the president 
but those voter are likely to abandon him for the administration's vacuum of competence — for his nonsensical managerial style capture in his magical thinking about jar 
he task jar with reinvent the federal government 
unless constant rash fire unfill job and shakedown of foreign government constitute reinvention this remains on jared's infinite todo list 
the president put jar in charge of broker a durable peace between israel and palestinian 
insert punch line here 
he follow jared's counsel that faith be placed in saudi arabia and its crown prince mohammed bin salman 
we know how that work out 
the president somehow look at that track record and decided that the dynamo he should entrust with his central campaign promise — a secure barrier between the united states and mexico — was … jar 
and so we have the trillionth gorgeous example of his investment in fiction 
nearly three years into trump's presidency the border wall barely exist 
subtract the upgrade of fencing and such that was already there and trump has by some recent estimate construct few than 25 mile of actually new barrier 
the southwestern border is nearly 2000 mile long 
but jar is on the case 
according to the post he convene biweekly meeting in the west wing where he question an array of government official about progress and explain the president's wish 
huh 
those wish are hardly cryptic and how complicated can this questioning be 
already the post report there's grumbling that jar is just an annoyance 
that belittle his symbolic significance 
many journalist including me have try to settle on the perfect mascot for the trump administration 
there are choice galore 
the greedy vainglorious scott pruitt who did his best to decimate the environmental protection agency fit the bill but he's long gone 
mike pompeo embody the faustian arc of so many of the president's aide and ally from principledriven dismissal of trump during the 2016 campaign to reputationtorch submission when he dangle a ticket to the big time 
but for naked opportunism and situation scruple jared's my guy 
remember how he and ivanka were go to contain the president's ego blunt his cruelty whisper sweet moderation in his ear 
that was then 
now he's devote himself to an exorbitant unnecessary monument to trump's nativ and xenophobia 
there's an upside though 
with jar in the saddle this horse won't go far 
jeff bezos' phone hack should terrify everyone by charlie warzel jan 24 2020 if the saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman wants to chat on whatsapp polite decline 
that's the lesson from a series of report this week base off a forensic examination of jeff bezos' communications with the crown prince 
the investigate — conduct at mr bezos' request by fti consulting — found that his phone had most likely been attack in 2018 after he received a whatsapp message from the prince's personal account 
while my colleague in the times newsroom have piece together detail of the investigate there's still a great deal unknown 
and cybersecur expert have serious question about fti's report which according to cyberscoop “has not impress the information security community 
still the story seem to have everything from lighthearte embarrassing earnest text “divorced guy meme and world leader who awkward sign their text message with their full name to the deep problematic issue of revenge porn and steal of private nude photo 
though it's a gilded example of digital theft there's something trouble and relate about it all 
billionaire they're just like us 
or maybe not 
look at one way the attack on mr bezos' phone could be seen as yet more proof of what my colleague kara swish call “the death of privacy 
if the richest man in the world — the man who sell listen device use in million of home and whose server create the internet's infrastructure — can be hack what hope is there for us mere mortal 
turn out there's some 
yes your personal privacy and security are constant under threat 
and yes you should be try to safeguard against malware phish and bulk data collection 
but the bezo attack is an example of extremely target surveillance the potential expensive and risky kind that is aim at highvalue target like executive government official celebrity and billionaire 
and as it turn out many of those with the most to lose are woeful inept at safeguard their privacy 
not long after the bezo news broke this week i spoke to christopher pierson who found blackcloak a cybersecur company for highnetworth and highprofile individual — executive celebrity and billionaire 
according to mr pierson few people take their digital lives as seriously as they should 
“the majority of client we onboard come on in some kind of hack state he told me 
“their computer are compromise or their login credentials are available on dark web 
their home camera system are accessible to people on internet or their entire home and appliance are vulnerable and view by person remotely 
mr pierson suggest that's in part because highvalue target choose to focus on physical security over digital and invest in private bodyguard camera system and protection like kidnap insurance 
how bad is it 
“we see password in little black books on desk by the machine and in file on the computer 
we see password that are the same everywhere 
we absolutely do not see good use of dual factor authenticate on email health care and financial account 
i'd say we see less than 1 percent of highnetworth individual use dual factor 
mr pierson said blackcloak has found more than 82 percent of its clients' current password on the dark web when it ran an initial search 
“in the case of highnetworth individual the same compromise password is frequent use by 20 to 40 different account — some of those are personal some are in the office 
what mr pierson describe is lowhang fruit — the kind of security flaw that can quick be fixed with a little knowledge and attention to detail 
even then he said it take time for the true nature of clients' vulnerable to sink in 
“they're shock when we give them their password and tell them where we found it but it doesn't hit as hard as when we tell them their entire home automation system has been potential online and view for three or five or eight years he said 
when it come to a bezosstyle breach — potential at the hand of a nationstate's intelligence service — highprofile target would most likely be even less prepared 
as mr bezos' lengthy investigate into the 2018 attack show it's difficult to get straight answer even when you have the money and resources to run full forensic 
of course it's not just wealth that turn somebody into a person of interest for hack 
journalist government employee worker at energy company and utility could all be target for someone 
those who work for financial company airline hospital university hollywood studio and tech business are all potential at risk 
you can take steps to secure yourself from corporate data collection by use privacy setting on your phone 
and to protect yourself from cyberattack there are helpful guide you can use that have been vet by security professional 
for most of us the attack against mr bezo isn't the death of privacy but a reminder of the risk of living a connected life 
it should be a moment to think as critical about what you do online as you might in the real world 
invest in a password manager 
turn on dual factor authenticate 
be skeptical of any communication that looks out of place 
for the ultrarich and influential the bezo hack should be a terrify revelation 
as the former state department employee and whistleblower john napier tye told me last autumn “for someone who's truly a highvalue target there is no way to safe use a digital device 
the stakes are astronomical high 
not just personally as mr bezo found but professional 
company secret matter of national security access to critical infrastructure and the safety of employee could all be compromise by lax security at the top 
the internet has long been thought of as a truly democratic tool flatten and democratize the ability to publish and communicate 
it's also the great privacy equalize 
money can buy a lot of things 
but on a dangerous internet full of exploit flaw code shady actor and absentminde human total foolproof security is not one of them 
joe biden is strong than you think by david brook jan 23 2020 it was yet another epic failure of politics punditry 
go back to the early month of joe biden's presidential campaign and read what the consultant and commentator were saying about him his support is just name recognition he'll fade 
he's too old 
he's running a zombie campaign 
the party has move left and he's out of touch 
he vote for the crime bill 
almost everybody was bearish on joe 
but now look where we are week from actual vote 
if the poll are to be believe biden will win iowa he'll come in second in new hampshire he will easily win nevada he will dominate in south carolina 
he's now tie for the lead in california and he's way ahead in texas 
i don't know if he'll win the nomination both he and bernie sander look strong but this is not where a lot of people six month ago thought we'd be 
it's the 947th consecutive sign that we in the coastal chatter class have not cure our insularity problem 
it's the 947th case in which we see that every second you spend on twitter detract from your knowledge of america politics and that the only cure to this insularity disease is constant travel and interview close attention to state and local data and raw abject humility about the fact that the attitude and academic degree that you think make you clever are actually the attitude and academic degree that separate you from the real texture of america life 
biden didn't just luck into this 
he and his team grasp six truth understand the year you are running in 
sander and elizabeth warren are running the same basic campaign they would have run in 2012 or 2016 
biden's campaign is completely focus on the central problem of 2020 that donald trump is a steam hot mess in the middle of national life 
biden has fixate his campaign on the trump problem and fight for the soul of america 
nearly twice as many democrat say it's more important to beat trump than to have a candidate with whom they agree on all issue 
understand your party's core challenge 
all around the world party on the left are lose because they have lost touch with the working class 
these party think they can reconnect with that class by swinging even further left 
but jeremy corbyn in britain and bernie sander here are a doctoral student's idea of a workingclass candidate not an actual working person's idea of one 
biden has criticize his own party for lose touch with this class 
he emerge from it is focus his attention on it and is winning support from it 
moderate are still powerful 
the democratic party is moving left but about half of democrat still say they are moderate or conservative 
no candidate has ever won a nomination without strong support from these voter while collegetown candidate — howard dean gary hart — tend to falter 
in every presidential general election that democrat have won since 1988 they carry moderate by more than 12 percentage points 
in every race they have lost they fail to do that 
biden kept his moderate credentials when many other candidate saw aoc 
on twitter and decided to move left 
many democrat resent their own elite 
there is a quiet tension between democrat who wield cultural power and those who don't 
the former are active on social media and clobber the latter — people who say or write the wrong thing 
the nonelite tend to feel judge and look down on by the selfappointe savior class 
politics correct has become the phrase people use to define those who use cultural power to enforce ideology conformity 
seventy percent of democrat who are not on social media say politics correct is a big problem 
these are people silent but vehement react against this social reign of terror 
biden communicate affection not judgment acceptance not expulsion 
have a better theory of social change 
sander and warren imagine they can rally movements of progressive supermajor to transform america politics 
the reality is that if they are elect we'll be stuck with the same 42 percentto42 percent stagnant politics war we have now 
biden start with the understanding that we are a close divide nation 
he understand the elemental fact that if you want to pass law you have to go through congress 
as damon link pointed out recently in the week biden's argument is that a centerleft congressional coalition is the best we can do under present circumstances 
that's a more realistic theory of change 
a beloved legislator like biden is more likely to transform the politics landscape than a downtheline progressive 
connection 
connection 
connection 
many candidate pound the podium and lecture at their rally 
it's the big leader onstage and the passionate mass of follower down below 
nobody make an individual connection as well as biden 
in a time when people feel exhaust isolated and alienate a candidate who seem normal and emotionally relate is go to have a lot of appeal 
the ironic fact is that the candidate who can be vulnerable has a surprising power 
john bolton get the last laugh by frank bruni jan 28 2020 president trump's reaction to the leak of incriminate detail in john bolton's forthcoming book shock me 
not the part where the president said that bolton was making up a ukraine quid pro quo in the service of the bestseller list — that he was lie for lucre 
trump see that transaction everywhere he looks because he see it first and foremost in the mirror 
no i was surprise that the president didn't dispute knowing bolton or at least didn't say that he was so slightly acquaint with his own former national security adviser that he couldn't pick him — chinchillabushy mustache and all — out of a lineup 
that's trump's favorite ploy 
ask michael cohen anthony scaramucci prince andrew stormy daniels gordon sondland lev parna 
fall into disrepute cross trump or claim to have the goods on him and you're wipe clean from his memory no matter the existence of contradictory forensic 
ivanka beware 
you're one bad manicure away from paternal amnesia 
bolton is the impeach star of the week whether he wind up testify or not and i can't shake the feeling that he plot all of this out keeping his head down during the hearing in the house letting it be known only afterward that he'd be willing to testify in the senate the revelation this week — simultaneous with assertion by trump's defense team that there were no firsthand witness to the president's wrongdoing — that his book indeed address ukraine and fully back up the charge in the articles of impeach 
bolton has always been vain brilliant and ruthless and this is the timeline that a vain brilliant and ruthless operator would cinch 
i'm not personally acquaint with the sound of his laughter but i'm certain i hear it 
when trump came down that escalator in june 2015 the law of politics gravity were suspend and bolton's emergence as a darling of democrat is the latest example 
he was so far to the right and such a ferocious hawk that president george w bush bypass the senate to sneak him in as ambassador to the united nation 
he later feather a nest at fox news also known as the trump administration applicant pool 
and at a time when most selfrespect foreignpolicy maven had conclude that trump was toxic bolton open his lip wide to the poison sign on to become the president's third national security adviser 
of course the president is now on his fourth 
trump can't dismiss bolton's account of event as partisan 
bolton's conservative credentials prove otherwise 
trump can't bellow deep state not when he handpick bolton at a stage of his presidency when he'd already become sensitive to that supposedly pernicious force 
all trump can do is command his republican minion in the senate to fall in line 
sadly most of them will 
don't be impress by the possibility that now — and i stress only now — some senate republican may press for witness including bolton in the trial 
this isn't a stirring of conscience 
it's a cloak of humiliate 
if they ignore bolton their stillunshaken commitment to acquit trump become even more naked 
besides hearing from witness wouldn't erase republican senators' awful behavior to this point in the trial all the ugly gloat from the likes of lindsey graham that adam schiff's undeniable eloquence was for naught marsha blackburn's pathological exuberant attack on the integrity of lt col alexander vindman martha mcsally's disgraceful snip at a perfectly polite television reporter liberal hack she spew and then her cynical use of that trumpian outburst to raise money for her reelection campaign 
this is sycophant at its most shameful 
scratch that superlative i was forget mike pompeo 
according to the times's scoop about bolton's book he write that pompeo too was aware of the ukraine pressure campaign — the same pompeo who did nothing to stop the vilification of marie yovanovitch the same pompeo who promote the debunk conspiracy theory that ukraine interfere in the 2016 election the same pompeo who once warn that trump would be an authoritarian president who ignore our constitution and then when trump gave him a really neat job decided that a little authoritarian never hurt anyone 
of late he seem to be have a meltdown 
i attribute it to his realization that his reputation and belief in his own rectitude won't survive trump 
he's assess the bargain he made and understanding how completely his ambition eclipse his integrity 
it's hell when you're reveal to yourself 
bolton meanwhile is probably feeling pretty content 
he know how badly the trump presidency will be judge and has position himself on the right side of history — this time around 
maybe bitter brought him here maybe ego maybe this quaint old thing call patriotism 
he survive trump 
i'd read that book 
let us all now weep for donald trump by frank bruni jan 21 2020 donald trump obviously relish the role of bully 
but his greatest talent by far lie in play the victim 
he's a victim of adam schiff 
a victim of nance pelosi 
a victim of all democrat really and of his own seedy henchmen michael cohen lev parna and of the deep state and of the fake news media and of the entire establishment whatever that is 
he's a victim of so many forces so many times over that even martyr doesn't do justice to his lot which is what you get when you multiply job in the old testament by mel gibson in braveheart and add the protagonist of unbroken 
no president has ever been treat so badly 
i'm not being sarcastic 
i'm taking dictation he has made this exact claim — repeatedly 
his victimhood is front and center in his defense against the articles of impeach and in the legal papers file by his lawyer on monday as his trial in the senate move forward 
the lawyer write of a process rig against trump 
they portray his democratic accuse as unhinge tormentor too consume with his destruction to see how unimpeachable he has really behave 
the 171page document is so soggy with trumpian selfp it weep 
it's so bloated with trumpian hyperbole it waddle 
on just one of those page his lawyer recount how democrat exercise shameful hypocrisy as they concoct an unheardof procedure and held those infamous secret hearing in a basement bunker while journalist happily fed the public a false narrative and the poor president was deny any rights whatsoever 
this is the bodice rip of politics sob story 
it's a harlequin harangue 
it expand on — and continue in the precise spirit of — a preliminary legal brief that his lawyer file last weekend 
the scream of a wound animal was how two legal expert who contribute to the atlantic assess that argument 
they could as easily have been describe the rest of trump's presidency the whole of his politics career and much of his life 
he's always right and yet always wrong 
he demand that we marvel at his invincible even as we tremble at his degrade 
he can vanquish any enemy — and his enemy are legion 
— but look at how he's pushed around 
trump take a textbook oxymoron and give it presidential form 
behold at the resolute desk a jumbo shrimp 
this go all the way back to his childhood michael d'antonio the author of the truth about trump told me 
d'antonio said that at the militarytheme boarding school that trump attend he was known for complain to superior about unfair treatment 
it's a strategy for him 
he believe and has said that whine is a way to get what you want 
timothy o'brien who wrote the trump biography trumpnation recall that in the 1980s when trump fail to get the support that he want from mayor ed koch for an enormous development in manhattan he threw himself a pity party railing that the system and local government were conspire against him 
trump similarly fashion himself as a beleaguer hero battle dark forces when he bought into the fledgling united states football league and sought to make it competitive with the national football league 
goad by trump the usfl 
file an antitrust suit against the nfl 
the suit was a bust the nfl 
was ordered to pay 3 in damages 
but that didn't throw him off his game which he upsize for his presidential campaign 
as the conservative columnist rich lowry noted in august 2015 by trump's own account he's the baddest smartest thing go except if you ask him a challenging question in which case he kicks and scream and demand to know how anyone could treat him so unfair 
lowry crown trump the most fabulous whiner in all of america politics 
the cnn anchor chri cuomo subsequent ask trump about lowry's words 
i am the most fabulous whiner trump concede 
i keep whine and whine until i win 
he whine operate as november 2016 approach and it seem that he'd lose to hillary clinton 
the election is go to be rig he pout ever the victim 
then he beat clinton — and still whine insist without proof that she'd done better in the popular vote because of million of illegal ballot 
woe is he the object of a witch hunt regarding russia assistance to his campaign the butt of a hoax about improper pressure on ukraine the commander in chief of armed forces that the whole world take advantage of 
in a key passage of the new book a very stable genius by the washington post reporter carol leonnig and philip ruck trump rant at top military brass about what he perceive as america's exploit by south korea and by nato ally bark you're a bunch of dope and baby 
it's disgust 
it's also part of his politics genius 
he has turn himself into a symbol of americans' victimize telling frustrate voter who crave easy answer that they're being pushed around by foreigner and dupe by the condescend custodian of a dysfunctional system 
he's their proxy suffering on their behalf and in that way he collapse the distance between a billionaire with multiple golf resort and displace factory worker struggle to hold on to their one and only home 
but while it's a fact that they've been dealt a bad hand it's a farce that he has 
his fortune began with money from dad 
he has stiff creditor evade tax attach his name to a bogus diploma mill skim money from a fraudulent philanthropy run afoul of campaign finance law signal receptive to russia interference in the 2016 election and try to obstruct the investigate of that — all without any commensurate punishment 
thanks to republican in the senate he's poised to evade punishment again 
we should all be such victim 
mayor pete's gay reckoning by frank bruni feb 1 2020 ankeny iowa — you can listen to long stretch of pete buttigieg's remark and hear little or no reference to the trailblaze nature of his campaign 
you can almost forget 
but as he wrap up a rally here on thursday night with the clock ticking down fast to the iowa caucus he made soar stirring mention of it 
you remember 
iowa has a remarkable knack for making history he told hundred of supporter note that he'd initially visit the state to support barack obama during the democratic primary in 2008 when obama's iowa victory set him on his way 
you change america's — and the world's — expectations for what was possible 
then he allude to iowa's legalize of gay marriage in 2009 six years before that happen national and how it gave him hope that he might someday be a happily married man 
the crowd roar 
i had one foot out the door — it had been a long long day — and i stop in my track 
as a gay man and an america i felt a surge of pride 
it's doordie time for buttigieg whose poll numbers recently have been moving in the wrong direction 
he probably needs to finish first or a very strong second on monday to preserve any shot to be his party's 2020 nominee 
he needs neither to claim an enormous accomplishment 
win or lose buttigieg is the first openly gay america to become a serious presidential candidate one who landed on the cover of prominent magazine was fawn over on the mostwatche television talk show raise exponential more money than any of the governor in the race outpace beto o'rourke outpoll kamala harris caught president trump's attention qualified for all of the democratic debate and more than held his own in each of them 
win or lose he's an example an education and a hell of a story 
that narrative is about youth — he just turn 38 — and the power of hyperarticulate in an era of presidential crude 
but it's also about sexual orientation which has and hasn't factor into his pitch in surprising ways 
he has grapple on the national politics stage with question that all lgbtq 
people ask so that his candidacy is a metaphor for our lives to what extent am i define by my sexual orientation or gender identity 
what do and doesn't it tell you about me 
buttigieg's answer have disappointed some lgbtq 
people — and were bound to given the expectations placed on any politician who is blessed and cursed to become a symbol 
female candidate have had experience similar to his candidate of color too 
these pioneer are exhort to open door closed to the group they represent but to represent those group first and foremost and that's tough 
check with obama 
or hillary clinton 
or now buttigieg 
he has weather complaint even derision from lgbtq 
progressive many of whom say he's not gay enough his manner and mannerism too straitlaced his policy preoccupation too moderate his success infuriating reflective of how readily and well he assimilate into heterosexual america 
gay seem to be mayor pete's worst critic was the headline of a column in the washington blade an lgbtq 
publication 
that sadden me 
as i've written before part of what so many gay people have fought so hard for is the recognition that we don't fit into tidy box otherwise known as stereotype — not sartorial not ideology 
absolutely disagree with buttigieg's opposition to medicare for all if you have a different view but don't suggest that he should support it because he's gay 
yawn at all those perfectly pressed white dress shirt that he wear but don't cast them as a betrayal 
and don't say that by discuss his own christianity he's consort with the enemy 
yes religion has been use cruel against lgbtq 
people 
but one of the most profound dimensions of buttigieg's candidacy is how he has turn that around for instance assert that his marriage to his husband chasten has brought him close to god 
that's the thing that i wish the mike pence of the world would understand he said in a speech last year refer to the vice president's antigay record 
that if you have a problem with who i am your problem is not with me 
your quarrel sir is with my creator 
buttigieg has campaign frequent with his husband embrace him onstage and has mention his marriage in debate 
and he doesn't shy away from question about his sexual orientation which he didn't public acknowledge until the age of 33 shortly before his election to a second term as mayor of south bend ind 
but he doesn't volunteer lengthy ruminate about its impact on how he see the world or showcase it in any other way 
it's there if you look and listen for it 
but sometimes you have to look and listen hard 
none of the voter at his rally in iowa brought it up when i ask them what drew them to buttigieg 
they mostly rave about his intelligence 
were there any particular obstacle he might face in a general election 
his youth said louann cool 62 of le grand iowa 
it was the same answer — his youth or his inexperience — that other gave 
no one mention his being openly gay 
being gay and an emblem of progress hasn't given buttigieg any special traction with younger democrat who respond much less favorable to him than old democrat do 
it hasn't establish any solidarity with other minority though he reach for such a connection when state a commitment to racial justice during the democrats' november debate 
while i do not have the experience of ever have been discriminate against because of the color of my skin i do have the experience of sometimes feeling like a stranger in my own country turning on the news and seeing my own rights come up for debate he said 
wearing this wedding ring in a way that couldn't have happen two election ago let me know just how deep my obligation is to help those whose rights are on the line every day even if they are nothing like me in their experience 
those remark didn't have the effect he intended 
some africanamerican accused him of equate very different kind of discrimination and poll show that his support from black democrat remains abysmal 
when they appraise buttigieg they notice a whole lot beyond his sexual orientation including worrisome friction between him and some black resident of south bend and a path of extraordinary privilege harvard a rhodes scholarship a job with mckinsey that brought him to this point 
what do buttigieg's being gay tell you 
that he has trepidation and caution in him — he stay in the closet all those years — but that he has courage too enough to pursue the presidency despite the inevitable spotlight on him as a novelty 
what doesn't his being gay tell you 
his musical taste for one 
the last time i had a long talk with him was in middecember and he had just met the performer lizzo who was a fellow guest on cbs this morning 
she's an icon for outsider brim with delicious attitude and i assume he'd be thrill 
but i'm not sure he really do thrill and he confessed to being more a dave matthews band fan 
in any case he said i usually have a kind of celebrity blind 
a gay man who doesn't twinkle at the stars around him 
yep our creator make us in all shape and stripe 
thank you mayor pete for taking that message out on the trail 
no team trump the coronaviru isn't good for america by paul krugman jan 30 2020 how frightened should you be about the coronaviru 
i'm no epidemiologist but what i've seen looks pretty scary 
it doesn't help that the trump administration as part of its general war against science and expertise has seriously reduce america's capacity to respond if we do face a dangerous pandemic 
it also looks quite possible that the virus will inflict a lot of economic damage — even if it doesn't kill you it might kill your job 
and one special source of concern is that top official in the trump administration are talk nonsense about the economic threat 
so about that economic threat many people are drawing parallel between the coronaviru and the 20023 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome or sar which also originate in china 
like the current outbreak sar led to the imposition of economically disrupt quarantine which appear to have had a significant if temporary adverse effect on china's economy and a modest negative impact on the world economy as a whole 
we still don't know whether the coronaviru is more or less dangerous than sar 
what we do know is that the global economic implication of a pandemic in china are likely to be much more severe now than they were then for the simple reason that china is a vastly big player than it use to be 
in 2002 china was still in the early stage of its great economic surge it account for only around 8 percent of global manufacture value add far less than the shares of the us japan and europe 
today however china is the workshop of the world account for more than a quarter of global manufacture 
now you might think that this imply an upside to china's trouble that disrupt china's vast manufacture sector would offer opportunity to producer in other country including the united states 
that is you might think this if you knew nothing about 21stcentury economics 
sure enough wilbur ross the commerce secretary appear on fox business on thursday morning to declare that he didn't want to talk about a victory lap but that the coronaviru will help to accelerate the return of job to north america 
by saying this he demonstrate a couple of things 1 why gail collins's reader vote him trump's worst cabinet member and 2 why trump's trade war has been such a failure 
what ross and his colleague apparently still don't understand — although some of them may be get an inkling — is that modern manufacture isn't like manufacture a couple of generation ago when different countries' industrial sector were engaged in fairly straightforward headtohead competition 
these days we live in a world of global value chain in which much of what any given nation import consist not of consumer goods but of intermediate goods that it use as part of its own production process 
in such a world anything that disrupt import — whether it's tariff or a virus — raise production costs and as a result if anything hurt manufacture 
indeed a recent study by the federal reserve found that trump's tariff which were concentrated on intermediate goods have reduce not increase manufacture output and employment 
sure enough while overall economic growth in 2019 was decent not great manufacture is in a recession 
and the uncertainty create by the trade war may explain why business investment is down despite a huge cut in corporate tax 
as i said some of trump's people seem to have gotten an inkling here 
last week the white house basically admitted that tariff on steel and aluminum have done more harm than good hurt industry that use these material 
but the administration's answer isn't a reconsider of its policy — it is to impose more tariff on a wide range of product 
which bring me back to the coronaviru 
let's leave aside the public health issue — although the trump administration has clearly left us much less prepared than we had been to deal with these issue if they become serious — and focus on the economics 
what we can say is that if the virus seriously disrupt china production its impact on the us economy will be like an extreme version of trump's trade war except without any compensation in the form of tariff revenue 
and the two things we know about the trade war are that it has been an economic bust and that trump's official still appear clueless about why it has been a bust 
bear in mind that so far trump has been remarkably lucky 
aside from hurricane maria — which he mishandle and in which thousand of america die — he has face essentially no crisis domestic or foreign that weren't of his own making 
and he has surround himself with the gang that couldn't think straight which raise severe doubt about how well he would handle a crisis that he didn't create himself 
if wilbur ross's bonehead remark on thursday are any indication — and i fear they are — the trump administration is even less prepared to deal with the economic fallout from a possible pandemic than it is to deal with the public health crisis 
be afraid 
notorious djt 
on trial by maureen dowd jan 25 2020 republican know very well who they are 
that's why it was such a juicy moment when hakeem jeffry the congressman from brooklyn and democratic impeach manager quote a lyric by fellow btown native son biggie smalls to rebut jay sekulow when the president's lawyer disingenuous wonder “why are we here 
refer to the democrats' crystalclear case that donald trump abuse his power and corrupt the highest office in the land jeffry proclaim “and if you don't know now you know 
i went to the press gallery one afternoon to check out the tableau vivant 
the visitors' gallery was only half full and there was none of the passion and titillate that infuse the clinton impeach which also oddly enough revolve around a power disparity between two people 
one democratic senate staff mourn the apathy 
“our phone aren't ring he told me 
“nobody care 
it's the saddest thing ever 
one side of the room seem to be smirk 
mitch mcconnell is resort to his merrick garland playbook 
he'll let the democrat make all their noble points but it's kabuki 
republican have perfect the dark art of “there's nothing to see here just keep moving 
mcconnell long ago choreographe the end with democrat lose the argument and the acquit scoundrel triumphant sweeping into the capitol to make his state of the union address 
at night tipsy republican staff treat senate office building as a pub crawl roam the hall with celebratory bottle of wine 
some republican were pay attention at the trial — or want to be seen pay attention 
susan collins was glue to the proceedings as was the senator to her left in a magmacolore shawl lisa murkowski 
republican like collins who are vulnerable in 2020 have to be alert and figure out how to find their way out of the hearing without do more politics harm 
a trump confidant told cbs news that republican senator were warn “vote against the president and your head will be on a pike 
seat at the back of the class mitt romney look dutiful and the thought must have cross his mind that's he's in a position to inflict payback on trump for calling him “a pompous ass and trick him into an interview for secretary of state only to humiliate him 
revenge is a dish best serve with milk 
but more senator on the republican side were telegraph boredom 
lindsey graham yawn and rearrange his yellow pencil and went on walkabout later telling reporter “about the fourth time you tell me the same thing is twice too much 
he cleave to his lapdog role saying preposterous of trump “what he wants to do is get to the truth 
tom cotton play with the fidget spinner richard burr had hand out to all the republican 
marsha blackburn and other left to trash the proceedings on fox news 
the senator in the democratic presidential race could not have been happy to be stuck there either 
bernie sander accustomed to making like leonard bernstein at big rally and upset he's not in iowa to relish his surge had a hard time keeping his hand still moving them restless silent clap and finally holding them together on his chest over his blue sweater 
but head on both side did snap to attention whenever that unholy jangle selfimpeach peal so inescapable in the last three years rang out in the hallow chamber 
trump's voice was impossible to ignore when the house impeach manager play incriminate video clip of the human fidget spinner himself sometimes howling over the blade of his chopper on the south lawn 
so many people in this very room had try and fail or are now try to vanquish the guy 
romney cruz rubio graham klobuchar sander bennet book gillibrand warren harris 
trump had savage all his fellow republican and yet here they were listen to an unend recitation of his crime and coming out to be his praetorian guard 
adam schiff try to warn the former nemese turn defend of trump that if the president is not remove he could turn on them the way he had turn on marie yovanovitch and joe biden use the power of the presidency to cheat lie and smear 
now rudy's buddy lev parna say he has forked over to congressional democrat a 2018 recording of trump personally order yovanovitch to be fire 
“the next time it just may be you schiff told the republican senator 
“do you think he wouldn't ask you to be investigate 
do you think for a moment that he wouldn't 
schiff also remind republican that trump had invert their dogma embrace the evil empire and authoritarian and trust crazy rudy's conspiracy theory over his own intelligence service 
“you don't realize how important character is in the highest office in the land until you don't have it schiff said 
but the more impressive the democrats' case is the more depress the reality become 
they want to convince themselves that character matter 
but many america knew they were vote for a thug 
they want a thug who would bust up washington and they got one 
the democrat are rely on fact but the republican are rely on fox 
and if you don't know now you know 
of all trump's defense this is the lamest by frank bruni jan 25 2020 once the senate conclude its trial of president trump it should go into recess 
until next january 
the house too 
lawmaker shouldn't pass legislation consider nomination or make any important decision whatsoever this is an election year and the voter will soon weigh in on the direction of america 
the nation's business should await that judgment lest member of congress contradict it 
a ludicrous proposal 
indeed 
but it's in line with — and an extrapolate of — a favorite argument against trump's conviction and removal from office 
his republican supporter say that lawmaker shouldn't speak for voter on such a crucial issue 
to preempt the verdict at the ballot box they say is to subvert the people's will 
nice try 
lawmaker are elect specifically to speak for voter on crucial issue 
that's the system 
that's their job 
america government doesn't operate by daily hourly or issuebyissue poll at least not overt 
congress doesn't have exponential more power one week after election day than it do one year later though it may indeed have more politics currency 
and lawmaker shouldn't defer to their constituent at every turn 
those constituent expect them over the course of their legislative terms to use their judgment as betterinforme proxy for the people they represent 
so do the constitution which create america as a representative democracy not a direct one 
our lawmaker are supposed to lead as well as follow to be responsive to public sentiment but not mesmerize or paralyze by it 
that's even true when the stakes are huge than when they're small 
republican have decided to sing a different tune 
if it sound familiar that's because they turn to the same music when the supreme court justice antonin scalia die president barack obama nominate merrick garland to replace him and the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell declared that a presidential election about eight month in the offing prevent the senate from taking any action 
it was a song not of principle but of politics convenience 
the same hold true now 
give the people back their power the house minority leader kevin mccarthy implore a few month ago argue against impeach itself 
refer to the president's transgress and the november 2020 election mcconnell said the america people if they think this is a very significant episode can take it into account 
senator lindsey graham chime in i really do believe that the best person — group of people — to pick a president are the voter not a bunch of partisan politician 
pat cipollone one of the president's lawyer add no one ever thought that it would be a good idea for our country — for our children for our grandchildren — to try to remove a president from a ballot to deny the america people the right to vote 
no one 
really 
how about the frame of the constitution who establish the impeach process to do essentially that and decline to add any asterisk about the next election's imminence 
if the frame thought impeach in an election year was a bad idea they could have set things up different noted jill lepore a harvard history professor and the author of the 2018 book these truth a history of the united states 
they could have institute a mechanism for an interim election for instance lepore told me 
they did not 
they could have said 'except not in an election year' they did not 
you want there to be no impeach allow in an election year ever 
you have to get a constitutional amendment ratify 
and that would never happen because it would be license for a president to do anything he or she want fearless if it sync with the calendar just so 
the frame in fact want a government that wasn't too sensitive to voter — that mediate voters' whim and prejudice through representative presumable taking a long cooler view 
senators' sixyear terms reflect that 
as alison lacroix a university of chicago professor who teach constitutional law and america history told me the senate is supposed to have a little more deliberative power and maybe be a little less beholden to the people 
when senator say they should kick an issue back to the people they're arguable violate the spirit of the chamber 
lacroix made another excellent point what's happening to trump isn't muscle voter out of the process but rather taking into account what voter recently did 
you only get an impeach vote when people have change their mind she said refer to their opinion about a sitting president 
the vote come from the house and we know from things like the midterm election that some amount of people have change their mind 
another party has gain control of the house 
that has to be telling us something 
grant that switch in the house majority wasn't a referendum on trump's interaction with ukraine which were the grounds for his impeach and hadn't yet come to light 
but they were absolutely a referendum in part on his behavior and character 
lawmaker who are now assess and acting on the worst of that behavior and character are hardly turning a deaf ear to voter 
if republican leader were really so invest in a government that didn't diverge from voters' desire more of them would be questioning the electoral college 
because of it the country has a president trump who received about three million few vote than his opponent 
because of it george w bush won the 2000 presidential election despite being the choice of few america than al gore 
but both trump and bush are republican 
so it's fine if the system and voter sentiment aren't perfectly align 
similarly republican — democrat too — are fond of tar opponent by saying that they're too beholden to poll 
the implication is that elect official should have the courage of their own conviction and not outsource their judgment to constituent 
saying that only voter should decide trump's fate is precisely such outsourc 
and election day is essentially the biggest poll of all 
there's an additional profound important wrinkle in the case of trump's impeach and trial 
they stem specifically from action he took to corrupt the next presidential election by get a foreign government to smear a potential rival 
to give those action a pass is to greenlight more of the same or worse meaning that voters' verdict on trump's behavior might be fatally taint not a clean expression of popular will but a product of well cheat 
the election can't be the remedy when the election is what's at issue 
but mccarthy mcconnell and other republican are determined to spare their party the humiliate of trump's removal and to protect themselves from his wrath and his base's fury if he isn't save 
so they reach for whatever argument they can 
some are more plausible than other 
the assertion that an election next november forbid honor this january is a joke and the frame would have laugh at it 
bernie's angry bro by bret stephen jan 31 2020 barbara boxer mince no words when it come to describe the people usually known as the bernie bro — a subset of bernie sander supporter who hope to take over the democratic party and remake it in their image 
there is so much negative energy it's so angry say the former fourterm democratic senator from california 
you can be angry about the unfair in the world 
but this become a personal deepseate anger at anyone who doesn't say exactly what you want to hear 
i ran into boxer early this week and got to talk about a superb report in the times by my colleague matt flegenheimer rebecca r ruiz and nellie bowl bernie sander and his internet army 
the piece brief mention a 2016 incident in which boxer went to nevada to try to unify the party after hillary clinton defeat bernie sander in the state's caucus 
boxer was an early clinton supporter 
but she's also a liberal lioness and felt sure she could mollify the crowd 
i thought i could get the boo down she recall 
i said 'why are you boo 
i'm bernie's friend 
when you boo me you're boo bernie' things only got worse 
the heckle got loud 
someone picked up a chair as if to throw it 
security whisper in my ear you've got to get off the stage boxer said 
when i left my heart was pounding 
i'd never had that before 
boxer's story is one of the mild one the times tell about the internet troll whose goal seem to have less to do with building sander up than with hound and humiliate anyone who stand in their man's way 
when mr sanders's supporter swarm someone online they often find multiple access points to that person's life compile what can amount to investigate dossier the times report 
more commonly there is a barrage of jab and threat sometimes frame as joke 
if the target is a woman and it often is these insult can veer toward her physical appearance 
do this mean sander himself support this kind of behavior 
no and occasional he try to disavow it 
but not very hard last year he hire as a top aide and speechwriter david sirota accurate describe by the atlantic as his twitter attack dog 
nor do it mean that anything like a majority of sanders's supporter support the nasty carry out in his name 
yet no other democratic candidate has so many venomous follower — no biden brother or warren sister to return fire with fire 
the only real analog in us politics today to the bernie nasty are the trump nasty 
they resemble each other in ways neither side care to admit 
the most obvious resemblance is the adulation they bestow on their respective champion whom they treat less as normal politician than as savior who deserve uncritical and uncompromising support 
surrender to a leader is not a means to an end but a fulfillment the philosopher ere hoffer observe in the true believer a book that remains as relevant in our populist era as it was in the totalitarian one 
whither they are led is of secondary importance 
since it's the usual destiny of savior to be persecute before they're exalted the response of their follower often is to persecute back 
but persecute whom 
in the demonology of most mass movements there is usually a near enemy and a far one and the near enemy must be dealt with first and hardest 
to this day hardcore trump supporter reserve their deepest spite for republican nevertrump holdout human scum according to the president 
just so with the bernie bro who see more moderate democrat not as kindred spirits or potential convert but as sellout even traitor — the proverbial enemy within 
partly this is about the normal competition for power in which the show of ideology purity is treat as evidence of moral superior 
but it also go to the heart of what the bernie bro are really about 
as they see it ordinary civility isn't a virtue 
it's a ruse by which those with power manipulate and marginal those without 
democrat like joe biden who play by the rule of civility and bipartisanship aren't just fall prey to the insidious manipulation 
they are perpetrate and legitimize it 
no wonder nearly half of sanders's supporter won't commit to or are unsure about vote for the democratic nominee in the event it isn't bernie according to a recent poll 
why bother vote for oligarchy lite 
if there is a silver lining here it's that the world has long experience with this brand of zealotry 
bernie sander may not be one of his own awful bro and may condemn their worst excesses 
but there's no reason to think they'll lose their influence should he win the white house — just as trump's presidency has embolden and empower many of his own worst follower 
is this the democratic party the democrat want 
they will cast their first vote for president on monday evening at the party caucus in iowa 
now is the moment for second thought 
only you can prevent dystopia by farhad manjoo jan 1 2020 the new year is here and online the forecast call for several season of hell 
tech giant and the media have scarcely figured out all that went wrong during the last presidential election — viral misinform statesponsore propaganda bot aplenty all of us cleave into our own tribal reality bubble — yet here we go again headlong into another experiment in digital mediate democracy 
i'll be honest with you i'm terrify 
i spend a lot of my time look for edify ways of interact with technology 
in the last year i've told you to meditate to keep a digital journal to chat with people on the phone and to never tweet 
still i enter the new decade with a feeling of overwhelming dread 
there's a good chance the internet will help break the world this year and i'm not confident we have the tool to stop it 
unless that is we are all really careful 
as smokey bear might say of our smolder online discourse only you can prevent dystopia 
and so here are a few tip for improve the digital world in 2020 
viral is a red flag 
suspect it 
if i were king of the internet i would impose an ironclad rule no one is allow to share any piece of content without wait a day to think it over 
viral was once the delightful miracle of a network age you'd see a funny video go around get caught up in the collective wonder and hilarity and forward it on to your 100 closest pal 
at its memeify best participate in this sort of viral feast felt like a boon to collective social bond 
remember kid that one glorious day we were all talk about the crazy dress 
what times what times 
but the dress notwithstanding in the 2010s viral got too easy and then it grew sour venal and dishonest 
nobody's count but by my unscientific estimate almost everything that became instantly popular online in the last decade turn out to be problematic in one way or another 
that photo of the shark wash onto a freeway by a hurricane 
fake 
the culturewardefine outrage your aunt just post to facebook 
debunk of course 
the sudden popular influence 
a milkshake duck running from his past 
social network and even government are look into ways to curb viral misinform but this fight will define our age 
the root of the problem is that human are weak gullible dolt every day many of us even people who should know better — folks with fancy job and blue check mark next to our handle — keep fall for online hoax 
viral hijack our better instinct and because so many of the internet's business model benefit from instant popularity there's a great deal of money and power riding on our failing 
there is only one longterm fix that a critical number of us alter how we approach viral content 
let's all conscious embark on a mindset shift 
in 2020 question anything that everyone's talk about especially if it fit all your prior or there's some kind of ad money involved 
hint there's always ad money involved 
if you can't stop share at least slow your roll 
the stakes are enormous there's no room for error 
strive to be better please 
resist the easy dunk 
in the 2010s twitter became the center of the politics universe 
in some ways this was for the better — twitter is a haven for righteous activism against the global powers that be — but most times it was for the worse 
twitter is a daily toxic nightmare of reflexive egotism and groupthink that will prompt you to question your priority not to mention your sanity 
which is why if you're on twitter and can't muster the will to never tweet you should at least consider it your duty in 2020 to resist the network's worst impulse for your sake and all of ours too 
what's twitter's most damage sin 
i say it's the tooeasy mock joke — what's known in the jargon as the quotetweet dunk 
here are two canonical example this scurrilous maneuver works like so you spot an easily ridicule tweet by a member of some rival social or politics tribe 
like a 1990s fourth grade with phase set to mode 
you add a pithy rejoinder that's sure to please your side 
it's best if you elide context depth or any intention of dialogue just straightup make fun of the person 
then mash on the retweet button to broadcast your supposedly clever jape 
the mechanism is part of the problem — when you quotetweet someone on twitter the service show off your remark to your own follower while leave the original poster's follower in the dark 
another twitter feature the reply let follower of both user see a response 
if twitter is a cocktail party the quotetweet dunk is the equivalent of overhear a guy across the room say something ridiculous then inviting the whole room to point and giggle at the idiot over there 
the imbalance discourage any possibility of meaningful conversation and reduce all of politics discourse to empty shallow quippery 
the thing about the quotetweet dunk is that it can feel incredible intoxicate in the heat of some whitehot politics moment it's always tempt to shoot the fish in the barrel and watch the likes roll in 
i swore off dunk years ago but i still find myself aping michael jordan now and again 
twitter could instantly improve itself by remove quotetweet as a feature 
failing that take the oath with me if the joke's too obvious to resist let it go 
find a wellmoderate corner of the internet 
it can sometimes seem as if all the internet is deep fake and culture war trump tweet and influence scam 
it's not of course 
the internet still abound in lovely wholesome niche — the fantasy sports circle the youtube and instagram community devoted to any kind of craft the many subreddit where stranger come together to help one another out of real problem in life 
what distinguish the productive online community from the disturb one 
often it's something simple content moderation 
the best place online are bound by clear wellenforce community guidelines for participation 
twitter and facebook are toxic because there are few rule and few penalty for flout them 
a reddit community like rrelationship meanwhile is a haven of incredible empathetic discussion because its host spend a lot of effort police the discussion toward productive dialogue 
this get at the plain truth of the internet a better digital world take work 
it's work all of us should do 
pete ain't it by farhad manjoo dec 18 2019 a funny debate has been roile the online left do young liberal hate pete buttigieg too little or too much 
in the past few month buttigieg the presidential candidate and young mayor of tiny south bend ind has enjoy a steady unlikely rise in early state poll 
but with success has come a backlash and then a backlash to the backlash 
on paper buttigieg tick a lot of presidentialcandidate box you can't write about mayor pete without mention he's a rhodes scholar he's a veteran and he has an articulate cooltempere decency reminiscent of barack obama 
and yet the mayor has drawn the ire of the pluggedin progressive left 
there's something curious about the disdain note derek thompson in the atlantic 
in a field of many other milquetoast moderate — including the frontrunner joe biden — why has mayor pete been single out for special skewer by young radical 
i am not so young but i am one of those crazy radical who have been concerned about the intractable domination of our society by a small band of wealthy interests 
so i'll tell you why i don't like buttigieg 
it's not because i think he'd be an especially bad president 
like biden the mayor seem to possess the baseline capacity to run america in a way that isn't an embarrassment or a disgrace which would certainly be a step up from the current administration 
he has also articulated some interesting policy idea and he has manage to win a lot of heart online — a talent of a sort in an election measured in cheesy viral hit 
yet every time i hear him speak i get the sense that he's try too hard to please everyone and that — in a way that recall some of obama's worst tendency toward misguided centr — he'll end up pleasing no one in the process 
ultimately i worry buttigieg will easily lose to trump because he is ill suit to make the simplest and most powerful argument against the current administration's apparent economic success 
that argument go like this though the economic stat look pretty good the trump boom is a mirage and a moral disgrace 
today's seemingly rosy climate is the culmination of a politics economy that consistent rewards the already wealthy at the expense of everyone else 
the only way to reverse the trend toward inequality is to reform the way america do business 
a politician who push for these reform needs courage because the forces array against structural change are powerful 
but while mayor pete has outline several progressivesound idea for overhaul americans' economic lives — including a call for universal health care that will still include a hefty role for private corporation an idea for lower student debt but not making college free a promise to strengthen regulation against monopoly but a reluctance to break up big tech — he lack authenticity 
rather than fundamental reform many of his proposal end up sound like opportunistic incremental as if he wants to be seen to be do something without really do much at all for fear of arouse the forces array against reform 
even biden who has built his brand on commonman folks seem more believable and he has explicit promise billionaire that nothing much will change for them 
my fear about mayor pete's easy way with the wealthy were confirmed this week when he convene a group of bigmoney donor on a tour through silicon valley 
i wasn't surprise that he has prove so attractive to the tech set 
with his slick easy optimism mayor pete remind me of so many techy who promise big disrupt change while refuse to accept the full costs of achieve their idealism 
for them there's always an easy slapdash costfree revolution just use the right hashtag on instagram and you too can spark regime change in the arab world 
i suspect we'll need a bold candidate to take on trump and corporate control 
the mayor from mckinsey is the wrong man to make the case 
the democrat who meet trump in 2020 will face a big challenge counter the idea that trump's economic policy are working at least according to the traditional way we measure this stuff 
the america economy we are told is resplendent and aglow 
thanks to a tax cut that swell corporate coffers and a frenzy of deregulation that unleash longterm danger in exchange for shortterm profit the hit just keep coming we're now in the longest expansion in history with little sign of abate 
job growth regularly defy naysayer 
the stock market seem to set a record more often than people stream mariah carey christmas hit 
on cnbc the other day the anchor jim cramer reflect the mood of wall street said these are the best numbers of our lives 
for the president the politics argument here is straightforward 
like bill clinton in 1996 or ronald reagan in 1984 trump is plan to point to an economy do its best george costanza we're back baby we're back 
every week on twitter trump chefkisse new economic stat as if he'd personally assemble the national dish 
that's one way to put it 
here's another way this economy is stupid 
as my colleague david leonhardt write headline economic stat are increasingly divorce from more substantive metric on america wellbeing 
this is a country in which prosperity rains on the rich while hundred of thousand of people go bankrupt every year for get sick 
this is a country in which it is not unusual to encounter developingworld misery alongside the most obscene collection of wealth ever record 
there's a lot of job growth but a lot of the job are lowwage hightoil job 
it's a country in which every nearly every economic sector trend toward monopoly and oligarchy and in which regulator let company call the shot — see the faa 
and boeing or the ftc 
and google 
elizabeth warren and bernie sander have turn these dismal reality into the central pillar of their campaign 
both are calling for policy that fundamentally overhaul corporate control of the economy 
as their detractor note it's unlikely that they will be able to achieve many of those goal in our polarize politics climate 
but what matter to me is that they are making the case 
they have articulated both farreach structural policy goal and politics strategy that mesh with the spirit of those goal 
not only are they calling for fundamental change that will alter vast sector of the economy they are also committed to undoing the influence of corporation and the wealthy in their own path to the white house underscore their commitment to their goal 
i don't see how mayor pete can make a similarly compel case 
i don't see how he can take on trump's economy without at least attempt to fight the ceo who champion the corporate cashgrab that made it so hot 
and i don't see how he can take on those ceo while holding fundraiser in napa valley wine cave 
mayor pete seem like a lovely man 
that's the problem 
he'll get eaten alive by the corporate machine that now runs the world 
pompeo call me a 'liar' that's not what bother me 
by mary louise kelly jan 28 2020 ask journalist why they do the job they do and you'll hear a range of answer 
here's mine not every day but on the best one we get to put question to powerful people and hold them to account 
this is both a privilege and a responsibility 
january has been an interesting month on this front 
i've had the opportunity to put question one on one to the top diplomat of both the united states and iran in their respective capitals 
iran's foreign minister javad zarif spoke to me on jan 7 in tehran 
secretary of state mike pompeo spoke to me last friday in washington 
each man represent a nation in conflict with the other speak with them i wonder what path either could see out of the situation 
in both case i was allot 10 minutes for question 
it turn out you can cover a lot of ground in 10 minutes 
when mr zarif sat down with me on the sideline of a big think tank conference focus on security in the persian gulf it was just four days after an america drone strike had kill maj gen qassim suleimani 
we start there 
how might iran retaliate for general suleimani's death 
the united states has committed a grave error mr zarif told me 
and it will pay for that grave error 
i do not know whether at that moment he was aware that just hour later iran would unleash missile on iraq military bases where america troops are house 
we move on to whether he would travel to new york later that week to attend security council meeting at the united nation 
no he told me because mike pompeo decided i was too dangerous for the united states 
the united states had deny mr zarif a visa in what some have brand a violate of the 1947 united nation headquarters agreement which generally require the united states to grant access to the united nation for foreign diplomat 
next i ask whether we were witness the death of the 2015 nuclear deal 
mr zarif insist no — even as he acknowledge that iran was suspend compliance with centrifuge limit 
the foreign minister and i end with a tense exchange on what is an uncomfortable question for him the status of united states citizen imprison in iran and whether future prisoner exchange were off the table 
we had propose a universal exchange of all prisoner and we were do that in good faith mr zarif said 
but are those channel still open 
no he concede saying those talks are certainly suspend now 
my interview with secretary pompeo came two week and three days later in the east hall of the treaty room on the seventh floor of the state department 
by then an uneasy pause had taken hold the united states and iran appear for the moment to have step back from the brink of war 
i kick off with a question on diplomacy 
is there any serious initiative underway to reopen diplomacy with iran 
we've been engaged in deep diplomatic effort since the first day of the trump administration mr pompeo reply underline america effort to build a coalition to counter and contain iran 
but in terms of america engagement with iran i went on are there any plan for talks 
the diplomatic effort on this front has been vigorous robust and enormously successful mr pompeo said change the subject back to engaging america ally to put pressure on iran 
another question i was curious to hear secretary pompeo answer was how the trump administration plan to prevent iran from building nuclear weapon should it decide to do so given that iran is close to a nuclear weapon capability than when president trump took office 
here's the relevant portion of the interview kelly how do you stop iran from get a nuclear weapon 
pompeo we'll stop them 
kelly how 
sanction 
pompeo we'll stop them 
he did not offer specifics 
nor did he elaborate when pressed on how to square his resolve with what mr zarif had just told me — that all limit on iran's centrifuge program have been suspend 
yeah mr pompeo said 
he's bluster 
do you have evidence that he's bluster 
he did not directly answer 
in fair i could hardly expect him to telegraph what intelligence the united states may possess on the iran regime's nuclear ambition 
i write about all this now to refocu attention on the substance of the interview which has been overshadow by mr pompeo's subsequent swear at me calling me a liar and challenging me to find ukraine on an unmarked map 
for the record i did 
that's not the point 
the point is that recently the risk of miscalculate — of two old adversary misread each other and accidental escalate into armed confrontation — has felt very real 
it occur to me that swap insult through interview with journalist such as me might terrifying be as close as the top diplomat of the united states and iran came to communicate this month 
there is a reason that freedom of the press is enshrine in the constitution 
there is a reason it matter that people in position of power — people charged with steer the foreign policy of entire nation — be held to account 
the stakes are too high for their impulse and decision not to be examine in as thoughtful and rigorous an interview as is possible 
journalist don't sit down with senior government official in the service of score politics points 
we do it in the service of ask tough question on behalf of our fellow citizen 
and then share the answer — or lack thereof — with the world 
requiem for a dream by roger cohen jan 31 2020 i have cover many story that marked me over the past 40 years in war zone and outside them but none that has affected me as personally as britain's exit from the europe union 
brexit day now upon us feel like the end of hope a moral collapse a selfamputation that will make the country where i grew up poor in every sense 
poor material of course but above all poor in its shrivel soul divorce from its neighborhood internal fracture small mean more insular more alone no long a protagonist in the great miracle of the postwar years — europe's journey toward borderless peace and union 
britain in a fit of delude jingoism has opt for little 
the fiasco was capture this week when that pompous and pitiful britain nationalist nigel farage wave a miniature union jack in the europe parliament as he bid farewell and was cut off by the vicepresident of the parliament mairead mcguin 
put your flag away you're leave and take them with you she said 
farage look like a sheepish schoolboy caught break rule 
he blush 
an ireland woman from a country uplift by europe union membership reprimand the new breed of littleengland male as he exit history in pursuit of an illusion the symbolism was perfect 
hip hip hooray 
farage's flagwave brexit party cohort chant 
save me please for i shall weep 
speak of symbolism the fact that president trump has been a fulsome supporter of this folly is apt 
an ahistoric amoral america leader cheering on a britain abdicate sum up the end of an era 
the world was rebuilt after 1945 on something of more substance than britishamerican lie and bloviation it took resolve 
the torch has pass 
to whom exactly is unclear perhaps to a country slow to contain a plague 
that is a problem 
brexit belong to this era in one quintessential way 
it is an act of the imagination inspired by an imaginary past carry along by misdirect grievance borne aloft by an imaginary future 
the age of impunity is also the age of illusion turbocharge by social media 
inequality poor infrastructure low investment inadequate school are real britain problem but the takebackyourcountry transference of blame for them onto brussels bureaucrat prove that the imagination now overwhelm reality 
truth withers 
the mob roar 
this too is a problem 
yes britain was undefeated in world war ii and help liberate europe 
but it could do so only with its ally and it was precisely to secure what it is now turning its back on a free europe offering its people the simple joy and hope which make life worth living 
those are churchill's words in 1946 in a speech that also contained this phrase we must build a kind of united states of europe 
unbowed britain was once consequential britain no long 
i use the word abdicate advisedly 
europe needs the great tradition of britain liberalism at a moment when hungary and poland have veer toward nationalism and across the continent xenophobic hatred is resurgent 
it is perverse for britain to try to look away 
europe is part of britain 
visit the great norman monastery in england and tell me this is not so 
the britain dead who lie in the continent's soil have given their lives for its liberty tell the same story of interlace fate from a different perspective 
to be so orphan is painful 
the 47 years of britain membership cover the entire arc of my adult life 
europa was our dream 
i cover anwar sadat the egypt president speak to the europe parliament about hope and peace in 1981 eight month before his assassinate 
so much for dream 
yet they persist for otherwise life is unlivable 
i wander from brussels to rome to paris to berlin to london and everywhere i live i experienced some iterate of europe's beauty as a physical thing as a cultural bond and as a transform idea 
the sensation was most acute in germany where the idea of the union was the most effective escape from postwar shame and the rubble of 1945 a form of atone 
but it was ubiquitous the guarantor of our deliverance and the symbol of our capacity to reinvent the world and even make it better 
every europe country through the goal of ever close union change itself 
they grew rich no small thing 
but they also reframe their selfimage 
italy and spain left mussolini and franco behind to become stable prosperous democracy 
france found its tortuous way to truth after the humiliate and predation of vichy and discover a europe avenue to express once more its universal message of human rights found on human dignity 
central europe country stabilize their escape from the deaden soviet imperium to which yalta had confine them 
britain cease equate europe with scourge like intellectual rabies and garlic as it had in my childhood 
hyde park became a babble of europe tongue 
the britain economy surge 
britain had given up its colonies and found a new identity in association with europe or so it seem flickering 
then i live in sarajevo covering the bosnia war and i saw in inert body torn by shrapnel and in history revive as galvanize myth of might and conquest the horror from which the europe union had save my generation 
it had laid bad history to rest 
that was enough to be forever a europe patriot 
but not enough for the britain a quartercentury later 
in the words of my friend ed vulliamy who also cover that war britain has become a country that boards cheap flight for stag outing to piss all over krakow 
hip hip hooray 
when i live in berlin i would cross the nearby polish border and never fail to marvel that where million had perish decade early a nonexistent frontier trace its invisible line across field of wheat 
i would pass from the germany world to the lands of the slav and nobody ask me who i was what papers i bore or what was my intent 
if germanpolish reconciliation has been possible anything is possible my only solace at this moment 
a bunch of flagwave fantasist at the wrong end of actuarial table have rob britain youth of the europe they embrace 
they will be look on as 450 million europe across the way forge their fate 
their automatic right to live and work anywhere from lisbon to stockholm will be lost 
i've lost a limb more than a limb my heart 
europe help britain grow big and more open and more prosperous 
now it will shrink 
another suffering friend patrick wintour the diplomatic editor of the guardian sent me these lines of auden in the nightmare of the dark all the dogs of europe bark and the living nation wait each sequester in its hate intellectual disgrace stare from every human face and the sea of pity lie lock and frozen in each eye 
a better epitaph for the abort story of britain in europe and the tragedy of a disoriente nation's willful infliction of enduring selfharm is impossible to imagine 
senate republican are bath in shame by frank bruni jan 18 2020 the impeach trial of donald john trump began on thursday when john robert the chief justice of the supreme court direct all of the senator to stand and raise their right hand 
ever since i can't get two question out of my head 
the first how in god's name — and it was in god's name — can the republican who have already decided to acquit president trump take a solemn oath to administer impartial justice 
they're partial to the core unabashed so as their united march toward a foregone conclusion show 
a mindmeld this ironclad isn't a reflection of fact 
it's a triumph of factional 
the majority of the party's senator have said outright or clearly signal that they have no intention of finding the president guilty and remove him from office 
yap lap dogs like lindsey graham and obedient manservant like mitch mcconnell have gone further mock the whole impeach process 
so the oath they took how do that work 
did they cross the finger on their left hand 
do they reason that america politics has reach a nadir of such fundamental hypocrisy and overweening partisanship that no one regards that pledge as anything but window dressing 
certainly they're telling themselves that their own politics survival hinge on obsequious to a president with a talent for retribution matter more than honor 
over the three years of the trump presidency they've become expert at that calculation 
my second question is really a subset corollary or anagram of the first how can marco rubio ted cruz and martha mcsal stand to look at themselves in the mirror 
i'm single out these three somewhat random but also because they've traveled particularly selfmortifye journey away from selfrespect 
at a news conference on thursday afternoon chuck schumer the leader of the senate's democratic minority said that when the chief justice walk into the chamber early that day i saw member on both side of the aisle visibly gulp 
schumer attribute that to the palpable weight of history 
but for many of them it probably had more to do with their aware that they were about to sell out again this time in circumstances that would be remember long into the future 
democrat too have made up their mind and that would be equally upset but for the mountain of actual evidence on which their judgment rest 
you can erase all the testimony in the house by gordon sondland david holmes alexander vindman fiona hill and other 
you can delete mick mulvaney's admission at a white house news conference of a quid pro quo 
you can discount lev parnas's ongoing aria of atone 
still you have the transcript of sort of trump's perfect phone call with the president of ukraine in which it's clear to any sane reader with a semblance of common sense that he's try to trade america aid for the smear of joe biden 
if there were nothing to this why would trump stonewall congress to the extent that he has 
that's not how the innocent act 
when witness after witness tell a version of the same story providing pieces of a puzzle that fit snug together you can reach a conclusion about the whole of it 
that's call logic 
and if the actual case against trump were weak why would republican keep redirect attention to democrats' motivation — to how much they despise the president 
that's call distraction 
mcsal practiced it on thursday when in a moment of breathtaking hostility she answer a reasonable question from manu raju of cnn about whether any new evidence should be present during the senate trial by snarl liberal hack 
she's terrify 
her state arizona is increasingly purple 
she lost her 2018 race for the senate and end up in the chamber only by appointment following john mccain's death 
she has to run again this year against mark kelly the former astronaut who's a popular figure 
she's vulnerable and standing with trump is almost as much of a gamble as standing up to him would be 
but she once did stand up to him 
she use to have guts 
before go into politics she blaze trail as an air force pilot and even sue the secretary of defense when she detect discrimination against women 
during her successful campaign for the house in 2016 she pointed didn't endorse trump and just as pointed spoke out against the behavior that he cop to — no brag about — in that infamous access hollywood tape 
mcsal had a moral compass then 
now she just has a hunger to hold onto her suite of offices in the capitol 
she has wager that emulate trump is her best bet 
at the conclusion of this pathetic excuse for a trial she'll vote to acquit him — impartial of course 
she'll be join by cruz and rubio who are special target of my disappointment because they were once special target of trump's ugly 
they know it firsthand and well 
they campaign against him for the republican presidential nomination in 2016 when he didn't just criticize them but vicious belittle and even savage them 
he conspiracytheorize a role for cruz's father in john f kennedy's assassinate 
a pathological liar cruz call trump 
but now that trump is president and his base has become the most impassioned constituency in the party cruz is his biggest cheerleader and a ready mouthpiece for all of those lie 
he has swap thought of 2016 for thought of 2024 when there's another opportunity to reach for the white house and trump's loyalist will come in handy 
he'll have to muscle aside javanka and don jr but that's a pickle for another day 
first step acquittal 
rubio has long fashion himself a foreignpolicy maven and took a hard line when it came to russia 
so you might think that the trump presidency would be especially gall to him 
you might also think that trump's bully of ukraine — which left the country more vulnerable to russia aggression — would be some sort of break point 
but he's a republican member of congress in 2020 which means he's a sycophantic shell of his former self 
and have bitten his tongue about trump's global misadventure he'll now abet more of the same by helping trump stay in office 
there are so many other republican senator to marvel at 
mitt romney what was the point of dive back into public life if you're go to prop up a president whose fraudulence you once gave a whole long speech about 
lamar alexander you venerate howard baker a fellow tennessean who once held your senate seat and put principle above partisanship by standing up to president nixon 
why not do the same and stand up to president trump 
susan collins i can't imagine the exhaustion of your role as politics wild card scrutinize to a faretheewell 
but come on 
if you're go to pride yourself on autonomy you need to exercise it when it matter most 
it's not fun to be any of you right now with mcconnell above you and maga hell below you poised to make your life a misery if you stray 
but no one forced you into public service 
when you enter the senate you took an oath and you took another one on thursday 
i have a third question maybe just a reword of the first and second doesn't that nag at you even a little 
'sesame street' is opening up to syria refugee by alex carp jan 31 2020 in its 50 years on television sesame street has present an expansive idea of the challenge of childhood offering lesson on divorce rac grieve and autism — as well as help with the alphabet and accept friends who are a bit tall and more birdlike 
next week a new version of the show will begin airing for an audience that less than a decade ago didn't exist children displace by the war in syria and their neighbor in the community where many of the refugee have flee or sought asylum 
at this point there are lot of 7yearolds who were born as refugee from syria and remain far from permanent resettle a staff member on the project said recently 
that's not change soon 
since the start of the conflict in 2011 nearly seven of every 10 resident of syria have been forced from their home 
more than 11 million have flee to unfamiliar parts of syria or to the country across its border with only around 150000 permanent resettle 
they are now the largest displace population in the world 
and displacement in the middle east and elsewhere last long than ever before once refugee are displace for at least five years as is the case for most syria refugee the president of the international rescue committee david miliband said at a senate hearing last year they're likely to stay displace for more than two decade 
sesame street began as an experiment in television and became a global model for earlychildhood education 
its new project launch with the irc 
and educator in syria iraq jordan and lebanon is an effort to rethink humanitarian aid 
aid is good at keeping people alive mr miliband has argue 
but it doesn't give them the tool to thrive 
it has traditional been direct to immediate needs — nutrition security shelter — but displacement that can last for decade presents a very different kind of problem 
parent often carry the trauma of forced migration with them in unexpected ways and a childhood of makeshift housing isolation from an extend community of familiar face and few safe place to play can affect not only children's behavior and learning skill but also brain development gene expression and the ability to build the fundamental tool of resilient 
it can be very hard to moderate or to cope said sherrie westin sesame workshop's president of social impact and philanthropy 
preliminary research conduct in jordan and lebanon found that displace children have trouble finding the language to express their emotion 
they describe what they feel only very broad sad happy scared 
the show will focus on identify and manage emotion and will be couple with thousand of outreach worker go to clinic community center home and other gathering space in the four country where they will meet with children parent and caregiver to provide support and extend many lesson of the series 
today less than 2 percent of humanitarian aid worldwide is target at education and just a tiny fraction of that go to early education ms westin said 
we're talk about a generationscale intervention 
just as america sesame street teach count and the alphabet before deep literacy and numeracy the new series call ahlan simsim or welcome sesame will start with the basics 
we want this first season to dive into identify different emotion like frustration and anger nervous and lonely fear scott cameron an executive producer at sesame workshop said 
but we also have to make that entertaining 
and we have to do that without in the case of fear terrify the kid 
to do that mr cameron and his colleague built on technique develop throughout the program's years on the air 
we thought a lot about the icon 'sesame' character who've been useful for curriculum goal in the past he said 
we need some kind of comedy foil but we don't want to do negative model — we don't want villain 
oscar the grouch for example was develop in the very early stage of 'sesame' as a way to represent difference and a kind of mutual respect mr cameron explain 
he's grumpy and he think smelly fish are great 
but he can help model different perspective 
oscar and grove and cookie monster are all monster — meaning they're not humanoid like bert and ernie — so they're a little bit remove from human mr cameron explain 
you get a little more leeway that way 
ahlan simsim which will air in arabic and kurdish has two main character 
both were built at jim henson's creature shop in queens where row of desk are cover with halfconstructe muppet and old one midrepair 
muppet big than a desk — mr snuffleupagu for example — might lean against a wall 
jordan pioneer production company base in jordan collaborate with sesame workshop to develop the character write script and shoot the episode 
when producer from sesame made a series of visit to the creature shop last year to discuss muppet design and look at prototype zaid baqaeen and khale haddad of jordan pioneer the show's head writer and an executive producer join from amman via video chat 
jordan pioneer pitch us a boy and a girl character that were roughly the same age and we love that mr cameron said 
two new friends who go on adventure together 
for name they suggest basma and jad 
basma means smile and jad has a bunch of meaning but connote somebody who's kind of generous but a little bit button up 
very earnest 
mr baqaeen add completely different but they complement each other 
basma is dynamic adventurous gogogo 
she's kind of impatient when she's excited about an idea or a challenge that she wants to take on 
jad we think of him as the planner meticulous 
he's a painter and he likes to paint plan in midair viewer will learn that his brush once belong to his grandfather who is absent from the show 
what basma should look like came relatively easily — a purple nonhumanoid girl like elmo is a boy but not necessarily a human boy mr cameron explain 
skew pigtail oval face no bracelets or jewelry 
and no clothing which can bring in local connotation that interfere with a character's identity 
it can also be hard to adjust bert and ernie have been stuck in striped shirt since 1969 
jad was tricky 
the team pass around some early sketch 
we drag a whole bunch of our monster muppet out said rollie krewson a master builder at the creature shop 
she and jason weber the creature shop's new york creative supervise and an expert fabric painter and dye call them anything muppet — on occasion they sit in for firefighter or police officer in the background of a scene or once for elmo's grandmother 
we had one in a drawer that sound like what they were describe just characterwise mr weber said 
it has this beautiful roundish head and the mouth is straight across but when you change the angle to make eye contact with the viewer you can start to see a friendly open smile just underneath 
ms krewson adjust the design to communicate jad's introversion and express the challenge he sometimes has letting his feelings out 
he can also look very contemplative she said 
he's got a very loose jaw 
i can push it way forward and i can pull his chin back so he can look perplexed and sad more internal 
mr weber add he has what we call a very good smile curve 
small touch link the character visually 
jad's nose is purple like basma's and basma's nose is jad's golden yellow 
the pair is join by ma'zooza a goat sidekick who provide comic relief mostly by eat everything in sight 
she's a baby learning how to walk and climb and she's voracious in the tradition of cookie monster mr cameron said 
cookie has trouble with selfregulation selfcontrol 
and ma'zooza allow basma and jad who are almost 6 to have a younger friend that they can nurture so they're not always the one being nurture 
she also has these long floppy ear which are adorable 
ms westin said that with basma and jad one has left his home become best friends with someone from somewhere else 
you can see where that create opportunity for children to relate to those story and feel less alone 
most refugee family live in host community and neighborhood and the benefit of mass media is that we know we can reach not only displace syria children but we can reach them side by side with their new neighbor 
before shoot could begin basma jad and ma'zooza were bag packed in box and ship to amman 
sesame estimate that the project through television mobile phone home visit preschool and the effort of educator across the region will reach as many as nine million children — what they expect to be the largest earlychildhood intervention in the history of humanitarian response 
to measure its effectiveness with parent caregiver and on tv childhood development specialist will design and conduct study during the project's first five years 
their work will double the amount of research available on the experience of childhood in humanitarian crisis 
we're go to share what works and what doesn't work and not just to help us achieve the outcome we're setting out to achieve here ms westin said 
it will be one of the first project of its scale to think about how fuller lives might be live within the consequence of the conflict and within longterm crisis elsewhere 
we want this project to be a model for humanitarian response not just in the middle east ms westin add but for refugee children wherever they may be 
starr chamber the sequel by maureen dowd jan 18 2020 can a woman be president of the united states 
hell yes 
i've cover the men who run the world my whole life 
and there have been a lot of screwup from vietnam to watergate to afghanistan to iraq to push the economy off a cliff 
there has also been plenty of creepy behavior culminate in the news that donald trump ken starr and alan dershowitz have join together in a pervy hypocrite cabal to argue that trump did not smirch the constitution 
so please elizabeth warren and amy klobuchar stop whingee about sexism and just show how you could wield power like a boss 
ibid nance pelosi 
when steve bannon call pelosi a total assassin according to the hot new book a very stable genius by washington post writer phil ruck and carol leonnig he meant it as the highest compliment 
you won't find pelosi keen about gender she's too busy taking care of business 
hillary clinton did not lose because she was a woman 
she face sexism of course just as barack obama face rac 
she lost because she ran an entitle joyless noseinthe air campaign and because she didn't emulate her husband's ethos of campaign 'til the last dog die and the last bowling alley close and always make it about the voter 
she lost because she and her campaign manager robby mook didn't listen to bill clinton the world's leading expert on the white male rural vote when he warn them that there was trouble and offer to help out 
donald trump operate from the id which is fitting because he represent a lastgasp primal scream from workingclass america threaten by the change transform the country 
women are now a majority of the work force and whites are heading toward a minority status 
hollywood cannot cling to its benighted — and selfdefeate — desire to stay a white male club forever despite the fact that women have always made up half the audience 
trump's ascent do not make it hard for women to ascend — just the opposite 
look at the throng of women who were outrage enough about trump to march and run and get elect in 2018 
once a woman electrify democrat the way jfk bill clinton and obama did — and the way trump do his base — she will win 
trump is once more do his part to energize women voter 
on friday we learned that the president will get help from starr and dershowitz for the impeach trial in the senate 
the starr chamber was a shameful period of america history with the prissy puritan independent counsel hound and virtually jail monica lewinsky and produce hundred of page of pant bodiceripp prose that read more like bad erotica than a federal report rife with lurid passage about breast stain and genitalia 
like the rev 
arthur dimmesdale and other pharisaic holy roller before him the prosecutor who read the bible and sang hymn when he jog became fixate on sex in an unhealthy warp way 
even trump was appall 
starr's a freak the bloviate builder told me back in 1999 
i bet he's got something in his closet 
in other interview he call starr a lunatic a disaster and off his rocker and express sympathy for hillary have to stand by her man when he was being lambaste by this crazy ken starr who is a total wacko 
starr who once clutch his pearl over bill clinton's sexual high jinks is now go to bat for president access hollywood 
after play an avenge javert about foreplay in the oval starr will now do his utmost to prove that a real abuse of power undermine congress and america foreign policy is piffle 
in 2007 he defend jeffrey epstein 
by 2016 starr was being oust as president of baptist baylor university for failing to protect women and look the other way when football player were accused and sometimes convict of sexual assault 
in other words he's a complete partisan hack who doesn't give a damn about sexual assault 
and then there's dershowitz whose past client have included such sterling fellow as epstein clau von b�low oj 
simpson and harvey weinstein 
how did he miss ted bundy 
still dershowitz has put himself on the side of an impressive pantheon of villainy in the realm of violence against girl and women 
virginia giuffre prince andrew's accuse has also claim that she was offer as a teenager to dershowitz for sex — a contention that dershowitz has deny in a countersuit 
on fox news dershowitz has made the case that it is pelosi who put herself above the law by delay the delivery of the articles of impeach 
good luck with that one 
the government accountable office a nonpartisan government watchdog a few days ago deem that trump's slimy ukraine gambit violate a law 
yet dershowitz will somehow argue that it doesn't represent high crime and misdemeanor 
he tweet that he's nonpartisan because he oppose bill's impeach and vote for hillary even as he join up with bill's persecute 
dershowitz said that he is participate to defend the integrity of the constitution 
that assertion may fly in foxworld 
but in the real world it's ridiculous 
you can bet that trump and his buddy will continue to turn out the women's vote 
steve job was right smartphone and tablet kill the pc 
by farhad manjoo nov 13 2019 i got an ipad pro recently and i've fallen madly in love with it 
this was unexpected 
i've had ipad before but like a lot of people i hadn't found them to be very useful 
tablet were good for surf the web and watch netflix but they've always been dogged by the charge that you couldn't get a lot of work done on them 
apple's latest ipad are different 
not only can you get work done on them in many ways they're productivity dream machine 
today's ipad are power by customdesigne process that are fast than the chip on some of the mac apple make and the ipad's separate sold keyboard is better and more durable than the accursed fallingapart mess of a keyboard that apple is shipping on its muchmaligne current line of laptop 
apple unveil a new 16inch macbook with a revamp keyboard on wednesday good news for the many apple lovers who've been grumbling about the company's lackluster slate of recent mac 
but i think the ipad is already beginning to eclipse the traditional personal computer 
in the four month i've had this latest model the ipad pro has eaten into the time i spend on my phone and my oldschool laptop and desktop 
among other things i now research and write just about every column use an ipad i still compose many first draft by speak into my headphone but i'm an odd duck 
i thought i had gotten out of the gadgetreviewe business for good last year 
since the smartphone had gobble up everything from camera to music player to portable game system i declared the whole field of gadgetry dead 
but just when i thought i was out they pull me back in 
the history of the ipad is a story about consolidate focus and the power of scale in the tech business 
it's a story about how thorough one company apple has dominate the entire hardware business this decade 
and it is also really a story about the only thing that matter in tech in the 2010s — the smartphone — and the way that one device became the gravitation center of the entire tech business shape every market in the industry and much of the nontech world beyond it 
the ipad has always been freight with great expectations 
although the ipad was unveil in 2010 three years after the iphone development of the ipad predate development of the phone and steve job apple's cofounder always seem to have his heart in the tablet 
in one of his last interview before his death in 2011 job declared the ipad to be the future of compute 
pcs are go to be like truck he told the journalist kara swish and walt mossberg — meaning the traditional mac and window machine would still be around but like big rig they'd be use by a small set of power user for a dwindle set of specific highpower task 
the car of the tech industry as job saw it would be phone and tablet 
for a while he was only partially right 
the ipad sold well at launch but after a few years it hit some hurdle 
after jobs's death apple left the ipad to languish and did something similar with the mac 
meanwhile something amazing happen with the iphone and the many androidbase copycat phone it inspired 
in the 2010s smartphone became more popular more powerful and more profitable than anyone in the tech industry thought possible 
within a few years their sales and usage eclipse that of pcs and for much of the decade they were the fountain of most new consumer innovation across the technology industry 
smartphone made uber and instagram and snapchat and tiktok possible 
smartphone camera began to surpass standalone camera turning much of culture and society into a memesoake playground where visual media matter more than text 
the smartphone also alter the business dynamics of the tech industry 
when the iphone came out apple was just one of many successful hardware company in the world 
but the smartphone decimate a host of phone brand remember nokia 
motorola 
and as smartphone gain more power they began making life impossible for a slate of hardware startup from gopro to jawbone 
on the strength of the iphone apple began capture a greater and greater slice of the tech hardware business although it didn't sell a majority of unit its commitment to the high end of the market allow it to make the bulk of profit 
in the last quarter of 2017 according to one estimate apple made 86 percent of profit in the smartphone industry 
apple's dominance came despite the fact that the company made some big mistake and was late to many big innovation 
samsung not apple invent hugescreen phone 
apple's mac line was plague by delay and dead end including a 2013 redesign of the mac pro that look like a trash can and prove just as useful 
and on the ipad for many years apple just seem to fall asleep 
the ipad's stylus and keyboardforward design 
microsoft did it first on the surface 
yet none of this matter 
because of its hold on the smartphone business and a very sticky software ecosystem that user found hard to leave apple has been able to incorporate many innovation pioneer elsewhere and sell its customer on a series of peripheral billiondollar business including the apple watch and airpod 
and ultimately it's the ecosystem that explain why i can't stop raving about the ipad 
when it came out the big knock on the ipad was that it was just a big phone today that's what i love about it — like the watch or airpod the ipad feel intuitive and natural to me because it works just like the device i use most often my phone 
like a phone in most scenario i find the ipad to be fast more portable and easy to use and maintain than any traditional pc 
i've ever own 
the ipad's limited screen space and emphasis on fullscreen app also make for few distraction than on a traditional personal computer 
the ipad like my phone let me log in to my bank use my face the mac in 2019 doesn't even have a touch screen 
the ipad still can't do everything a laptop can and i still have to log in to a real computer sometimes 
i had a long chat recently with dan seifert the deputy editor of the verge who use an ipad every day on the subway but often find the device infuriate 
for someone like me who's been use a desktop operate system for a long time there's a lot of builtin convention that i'm use to that can be frustrate seifert said 
in particular the ipad doesn't work with antiquated work flow that are built for pcs 
say you need to log into your company's bespoke publishing system or expense program 
it's possible those won't work on your ipad — at least not yet — because they were built for much old device 
but seifert agree with me that many of these use are a special case 
he still use pcs because often in jobs's parlance he needs a truck 
most people however don't need truck and few of us will need them in the future 
seifert isn't teaching his kid how to use desktop operate system like the mac or window and neither am i 
it took long than he expect but steve job was right 
over the past decade for most people in most use case phone kill the pc 
to get work done now you just use a big phone — which apple happen to call an ipad 
tech lose a prophet 
just when it needs one 
by kara swish jan 29 2020 it's nothing but noise all the time 
we get hammer every second from an incessant sousaphone of tweet and from the righteous rage machine that scream at us in this digitize 247365 communications world that we have built 
what you might not know is that we have long had a name for what start this all disrupt innovation 
the concept was pioneer by clay christensen a highprofile and wellregarde harvard professor of management who die of cancer last week at 67 
professor christensen's remarkable legacy grew out of a seminal book he publish in 1997 the innovator's dilemma 
the book cover esoteric industry like the disk drive market and excavate to analyze and illustrate the power of disrupt technology 
his idea exploded through the thennascent internet scene and throughout silicon valley 
i recall reading an early copy and thinking that it was a manifesto that the tech world would embrace — and that professor christensen was tech's prophet 
the intel founder and chief executive andy grove was a fan 
so was the apple legend steve job 
both men were doubtless attract to the idea that startup made up of outsider could find ways to create new market and new value — and disrupt and overwhelm establish company 
in the face of disrupt old company could do almost nothing 
it wasn't that they couldn't see the new threat of startup but that they were stuck on serving their current business and they fail to change their product and service out of fear of cutting into profit 
professor christensen's formula was elegant first disrupt product are simple and cheap they generally promise lower margin not greater profit 
second disrupt technology typically are first commercialize in emerge or insignificant market 
and third leading firms' most profitable customer generally don't want and indeed initially can't use product base on disrupt technology 
it was that simple 
professor christensen's book came out a year before google was found seven years before facebook eight years before youtube and 11 years before uber 
each of these company knowingly or unknowing would follow his map 
while professor christensen would go on to write a sequel and many more books on adjacent topic ripe for disrupt like education disrupt class in 2008 and health care innovator's prescription in 2009 it was his initial idea that was devastating insightful 
i use the term devastate because though no fault of professor christensen's disrupt innovation took a turn for the worse in tech 
silicon valley fail to marry disrupt with a concept of corporate responsibility and growth at all costs became its motto 
the more measured approach that professor christensen taught was ignore 
thus in tech the idea was more like destructive innovation which to me was distill in facebook's famous sign that was once plastered all over the wall at its headquarters move fast and break things 
i have always wonder why the company chose those words 
i have no problem with move fast which professor christensen would not have quibble with since being nimble was a core competent that he tout 
it was the word break that stuck in my head like a bad migraine 
why use a violent and thoughtless word like break and not one more hopeful like change or transform or invent 
and if break was to be the choice what would happen after the break 
would there be fix 
could there be any fix after the break 
break sound painful 
and back to today's subject professor christensen never talk about that 
in fact professor christensen's approach was quite the opposite 
he learned in 2010 that he had lymphoma then he had a stroke 
within two years he publish the book that i like best titled how will you measure your life 
it is at turn spiritual and sometimes selfhelpy taking professor christensen's management thinking and apply it to how to live a life 
this book should be newly relevant as tech is casting about for its next act we've been talk about the negative impact of tech's disrupt innovation for a while now 
techy measure everything — and so professor christensen's bracing prescription are perhaps perfect as the tech industry seek redemption 
for example he wrote it's easy to hold your principles 100 percent of the time than it is to hold them 98 percent of the time 
and in fact how you allocate your own resources can make your life turn out to be exactly as you hope or very different from what you intend 
and most of all decide what you stand for 
and then stand for it all the time 
perhaps the tech industry do not deserve the kind and good advice that professor christensen impart but it should take it anyway 
that way while he rest in peace it could give us some too 
that beloved hospital 
it's driving up health care costs by elisabeth rosenthal sept 1 2019 as voter fume about the high cost of health care politician have been target two welldeserve villain pharmaceutical company whose price have risen more than inflation and insurer who pay their executive million in salary while raise premium and deduct 
but while the democratic presidential candidate have devoted copious airtime to debate health care many of the country's leading health policy expert have wonder why they have given a total pass to arguable a primary culprit behind runaway medical inflation america's hospital 
data show that hospital are by far the biggest cost in our 35 trillion health care system where spend is grow fast than gross domestic product inflation and wage growth 
spend on hospital represent 44 percent of personal expenses for the private insured according to rand 
a report this year from research at yale and other university found that hospital price increase a whopping 42 percent from 2007 to 2014 for inpatient care and 25 percent for outpatient care compare with 18 percent and 6 percent for physician 
so why have politician on both the left and right let hospital off scotfree 
because a web of tie bind politician to the health care system 
every senator virtually every congressman and every mayor of every large city has a powerful hospital system in his or her district 
and those hospital are as politics untouchable as soybean grower in iowa or oil producer in texas 
as hospital and hospital system have consolidate they have become the biggest employer in numerous city and states 
they have replace manufacture as the hometown industry in a number of rustbelt city including cleveland and pittsburgh 
can kamala harris ignore the request of sutter health kaiser permanente ucla 
or any of the big health care system in california 
can elizabeth warren ignore the needs of partner healthcare boston's behemoth 
bernie sander may be somewhat different on this front because vermont doesn't have any national rank hospital 
beyond that hospital are often beloved by constituent 
it's easy to get voter rile up about a drug maker in silicon valley or an insurer in hartford 
it's much risky to try to direct their venom at the place where their children were born that employ their parent as nurse doctor and orderly that sponsor local little league team that was associate with their catholic church 
and of course there's election money 
hospital trade group medical center and their employee are major politics donor contribute to whichever party hold power — and often to the outofpower party as well 
in 2018 pac associate with the greater new york hospital association and individual link to it gave 45 million to the democrats' senate majority pac and 1 million to their house majority pac 
its chief lobbyist personally gave nearly a quarter of a million dollar to dozen of campaign last year 
senator sander has call on his competitor for the democratic nomination to follow his lead and reject contribution from pharma and insurance 
can any candidate do the same for hospital 
the campaign committee of all 10 candidate participate in the upcoming democratic debate have plentiful donation link to the hospital and health care industry according to open secret 
but the symbiosis between hospital and politician operate most insidious in the subtle fuel of each other's interests 
zack cooper a health economist at yale and his colleague look at this life cycle of influence by analyze how member of congress vote for a medicare provision that allow hospital to apply to have their government payment increase 
hospital in district of member who vote yea got more money than hospital whose representative vote nay to the collective tune of 100 million 
they use that money to hire more staff and increase payroll 
they also spent million lobby to extend the program 
member who vote yea in turn received a 25 percent increase in total campaign contribution and a 65 percent increase in contribution from individual working in the health care industry in their home states 
it was a winwin for both side 
to defend their high price medical center assert that they couldn't afford to operate on medicare payment which are generally lower than what private insurer pay 
but the argument isn't convincing 
the cost of a hospital stay in the united states average 5220 a day in 2015 — and could be as high as over 17000 compare with 765 in australia 
in a rand study publish early this year research calculate that hospital treat patient with private health insurance were paid overall 24 times the medicare rate in 2017 and nearly three times the rate for outpatient care 
if the plan had paid according to medicare's formula their spend would be reduce by over half 
most economist think hospital could do just fine with far less than they get today from private insurance 
while on paper many hospital operate on the thinnest of margin that is in part a choice result from extravagance 
it would be unseemly for these nonprofit medical center to make barrel of money 
so when their operation generate huge surplus — as many big medical center do — they plow the money back into the system 
they build another cancer clinic increase ceo 
pay buy the newest scanner whether it is need or not or install spa and zen garden 
some rural hospital are genuine struggle 
but many america hospital have been spend capital like water said kevin schulman a physicianeconomist at stanford 
the high cost of hospital today he said is often a function of the cost of new infrastructure or poor management decision 
medicare is supposed to pay the cost of an efficient hospital he said 
if they've made bad decision why should we keep pay for that 
if hospital were paid less via regulation or genuine competition they would look different and they'd make different purchase decision about technology 
but would that matter to medical result 
compare with their europe counterpart some america hospital resemble sevenstar hotel 
and yet on average the united states doesn't have better outcome than other wealthy nation 
by some measure — such as life expectancy and infant mortality — it score worse than average 
as attorney general in california kamala harris in 2012 initiate an antitrust investigate into hospitals' high charge 
but as a senator and presidential candidate she has been largely silent on the issue — as have all the other candidate 
as uwe reinhardt the revere princeton health economist who die in 2017 told me if you want to save money you have to pay less 
that means taking on hospital price 
so fine go after drug maker and insurer 
and for good measure attack the device maker who profit from huge markup and the pharmacy benefit manager — the middlemen who negotiate drug price down for insurer then keep the difference for themselves 
but with congress return to washington in the coming days and a new democratic debate less than two week away our elect official need to address the elephant in the room and tell us how they plan to rein in hospital excesses 
beware the pandemic panic by farhad manjoo jan 29 2020 coronaviru is start to freak me out — not the illness itself but the ampedup illconsidere way our frightened world might respond to it 
yes the novel virus appear to be spread quick at the outbreak's epicenter in the china province of hubei but after a late start the china government is now imposing unprecedented measure to contain it 
as the world health organization declared last week it remains too early to call the outbreak a global public health emergency 
so far the wuhan coronaviru is not much more frighten than the outbreak of other recent coronaviruse like sar in 2003 or mer in 2012 each of which kill few than a thousand people around the world 
the new virus's death toll has just exceed 130 for context according to the cdc about 15 million america have been sicken by the seasonal flu so far in the 20192020 flu season and 8200 have die from it 
the flu kill between 300000 and 650000 people around the world annual 
what worry me more than the new disease is that fear of a vague and terrify new illness might spiral into panic and that it might be use to justify unnecessary severe limit on movement and on civil liberties especially of racial and religious minority around the world 
i also worry that the online world may give rise to dangerous skepticism and that in the event of an actual pandemic a large number of people may delay treatment or refuse vaccine because they don't believe the science or are suspicious of the government 
i predict that the next major outbreak — whether of a highly fatal strain of influenza or something else — will not be due to a lack of preventive technology warn heidi larson the director of the vaccine confidence project in a 2018 article in the journal nature 
instead emotional contagion digital enable could erode trust in vaccine so much as to render them moot 
social media she add should be recognize as a global publichealth threat 
tech giant have been racing to tamp down conspiracy theory and hoax about the wuhan virus but i worry that their effort won't be very successful because society seem to have no good answer to the kind of emotional contagion dr larson describe 
it's not just that many people get their news from a medium given to rumor exaggeration and wild misinform especially on issue about health or science — see the persistence of antivaxer or climatechange denier 
there is also a grow partisan divide over how america interpret scientific expertise and health policy leave decision about public health vulnerable to the kind of partisan squabble you hear on cable news every night 
i also worry about the hairtrigger state of geopolitics 
from donald trump to xi jinp to boris johnson strongmen with authoritarian tendency run many of the world's most powerful government 
it is worth remember that disease or the fear of disease can bring out the worst in humanity — pandemic often feed scapegoat jew were widely blame for the black death create a fertile field for demagogue 
when you put all these factor together you've got a dangerous recipe for global repression 
already china's response appear to be driven by politics consideration more than epidemiologic one 
the government has impose a travel lockdown on more than 35 million people which expert say is a quarantine of unprecedented size and scale yet it may not even turn out to be very effective 
expert say that quarantine work best during the earliest stage of an outbreak but that they can also backfire cause medical shortage corrode trust in health official and push some people to look to evade care to escape any restriction on their rights 
china took week to mount a fullscale response to the virus 
according to wuhan's mayor five million people left the city before restriction were impose suggest the country is effectively lock the barn door after the horse has run off 
they're do it because people who are in politics leadership always think that if you do something dramatic and visible that you'll gain popular support lawrence o gostin a professor of global health law at georgetown university told the washington post 
they couldn't have any sound public health advice 
we should keep this sense of caution in mind in case america politician begin push for travel ban overbroad quarantine or other measure that might not be support by the science 
you might wonder what the great harm is — if the government needs to temporary limit people's movements or prevent some people from enter the country shouldn't it take those measure in the face of dangerous illness 
perhaps but given the checker history of quarantine — throughout history they have been use to persecute the marginal — lawmaker and the media should rigorous examine the bases for any such restriction 
we should especially make sure any restriction impose are indeed temporary and adhere to the science — something we don't always do 
consider that 30 years after the aids outbreak men who have sex with men are still restricted from donate blood in the united states long after the scientific basis for such a ban has pass 
so far president trump has offer a measured response to the virus 
we have it total under control he said this week 
but online misinform about the scale of the virus is already trend 
it is not as you might have read on twitter thermonuclear pandemic level bad 
so are racist meme blame china people and china culture for the virus 
i fear that the conditions are ripe for a situation similar to what occur in the summer of 2014 when an outbreak of ebola overran west africa 
after the obama administration scramble to bring home two america health worker who had become infect with the disease in liberia trump went on a monthslong twitter tirade about ebola 
the future president favored extreme isolationism seeing no benefit to america help in africa 
people that go to far away place to help out are greatbut must suffer the consequence 
he wrote — ultimately spark a grow partisan movement against the government's response to the virus 
today trump runs an administration that is hemorrhage scientific expertise and his politics agenda is rife with effort to target immigrant minority and the poor 
in 2016 a terrorist attack prompt trump to propose ban muslim from the country when he won the white house he institute a version of that ban 
i fear that panic about a foreign virus offer society another chance to target marginal people 
so let's keep our fear in check panic will hurt us far more than it'll help 
the america health care industry is killing people by farhad manjoo dec 4 2019 won't you spare a thought for america's medical debt collector 
and while you're at it will you say a prayer for the nation's health care bill manager 
let's also consider the kindly economically productive citizen in swing states whose job it is to jail pregnant women and the parent of cancer patient for failing to pay their radiology bill 
put yourself in the entrepreneur shoe of the friendly hospital administrator who has found a lucrative new revenue stream file thousand of lawsuit to garnish sick people's wages 
and who can forget the lawyer 
and the lobbyist 
oh aren't they all have a ball in america's health care thunderdome 
like the two lobbyist who were just caught draft newspaper editorial for state representative in montana and ohio decry their party's push toward a governmentcontroll health care industry 
it's clear why these lobbyist might prefer the converse status quo a government control by the health care industry 
if we move to a singlepayer system how would lobbyist put food on the table and who would write lawmakers' oped essay 
welcome to the bizarre new argument against medicare for all it's go to cost us job 
lot of job 
good middleclass whitecollar job in america's heartland where democrat need to win big to defeat donald trump 
the argument is specious and morally suspect 
last week health research report that america life expectancy is decline for the first time in half a century and some of the leading cause have to do with the ruinous health care system 
even if it is the case that reform america health care might eliminate some job it would seem to be a good trade for the likely benefit more people might gain access to afford health care and get to keep living 
but i worry that the job argument might sway moderate politician centrist pundit and much of the establishment because it play on one of the major fault lines of health reform that in fix the system so that more people benefit those who now enjoy a privileged slice of america health care might end up worse off than they are today 
as a matter of ethics and equality this should be ok 
stick with a system that is the source of so much death debt and financial ruin just because you like your doctor or your insurance company or your medicalbill job is not really a defensible position 
on the other hand in america i've got mine and i don't want to lose it is always pretty good politics 
the job argument go like this there's a lot of fat in the america health care industry and any effort to transform it into a simple system in which everyone is cover would necessarily eliminate layer of bureaucracy and likely reduce overhead costs 
every year america collective pay about 500 billion in administrative costs for health care — that is for things like bill and insurance overhead not for actual medical care 
these costs are significant higher than in most other wealthy country 
one study on health care data from 1999 show that each america paid about 1059 per year just in overhead costs for health care in canada the per capita cost was 307 
those figures are likely much higher today 
wouldn't lower overhead costs be an obviously positive outcome 
ah but there's the rub all this overspend create a lot of employment — and moving toward a more efficient and equitable health care system will inevitable mean get rid of many administrative job 
one study suggest that about 18 million job would be render unnecessary if america adopt a public health care finance system 
so what if some of these job involve debt collection claim denial aggressive legal action or are otherwise punitive cruel or simply morally indefensible in a society that can clearly afford to provide highqual health care to everyone 
job are job folks as joe biden might say 
indeed that's exactly what biden's presidential campaign is saying about the medicare for all plan that senator elizabeth warren and bernie sander are propose they will not only cost 160 million america their private health coverage and force tax increase on the middle class but it would also kill almost two million job a biden campaign official warn recently 
note the word kill in the statement 
that word might better describe not what could happen to job under medicare for all but what the health care industry is do to many america today 
last week the medical journal jama publish a comprehensive study examine the cause of a remarkably grim statistic about our national wellbeing 
from 1959 to 2010 life expectancy in the united states and in other wealthy country around the world climb 
then in 2014 america life expectancy began to fall while it continue to rise elsewhere 
what cause the america decline 
research identify a number of potential factor including tobacco use obese and psychological stress but two of the leading cause can be pin directly on the peculiarity and dysfunction of america health care 
the first is the opioid epidemic whose rise can be trace to the release in 1996 of the prescription pain drug oxycontin 
in the public narrative much of the blame for the epidemic has been cast on the sackler family whose firm purdue pharma create oxycontin and pushed for its widespread use 
but research has shown that the sackler exploit aberrant incentive in america health care 
purdue court doctor patient group and insurer to convince the medical establishment that oxycontin was a novel type of opioid that was less addictive and less prone to abuse 
the company had little scientific evidence to make that claim but much of the health care industry bought into it and oxycontin prescription soar 
the rush to prescribe opioid was fuel by business incentive create by the health care industry — for purdue for many doctor and for insurance company treat widespread conditions like back pain with pill rather than physical therapy was simply better for the bottom line 
opioid addiction isn't the only factor contribute to rising america mortality rate 
the problem is more pervasive have to do with an overall lack of quality health care 
the jama report points out that death rate have climb most for middleage adult who — unlike retire and many children — are not usually cover by governmentrun health care service and thus have less access to afford health care 
the research write that country with higher life expectancy outperform the united states in providing universal access to health care and in remove costs as a barrier to care 
in america by contrast cost is a key barrier 
a study publish last year in the america journal of medicine found that of the nearly 10 million america given diagnose of cancer between 2000 and 2012 42 percent were forced to drain all of their asset in order to pay for care 
the politics of medicare for all are perilous 
understand so if you're one of the million of america who love your doctor and your insurance company or who works in the health care field i can see why you would be fearful of wholesale change 
but it's wise to remember that it's not just your own health and happiness that count 
the health care industry is failing much of the country 
many of your fellow citizen are literally die early because of its failure 
i got mine 
is not a good enough argument to maintain the dismal status quo 
the app on my phone are stalk me by farhad manjoo jan 22 2020 there is much about the future that keeps me up at night — ai 
weaponry undetectable viral deepfake indefatigable and infinite wise robot oped columnist — but in the last few years one technological threat has blip my fear radar much fast than other 
that fear 
ubiquitous surveillance 
i am no long sure that human civilization can undo or evade living under constant extravagant detailed physical and even psychic surveillance as a species we are not do nearly enough to avoid always being watch or otherwise digital record 
your location your purchase video and audio from within your home and office your online search and every digital wandering biometric track of your face and other body parts your heart rate and other vital sign your every communication recording and perhaps your deepest thought or idlest dream — in the future if not already much of this data and more will be collected and analyze by some combination of government and corporation among them a handful of megacompany whose powers nearly match those of government 
why am i so pessimist 
over the last year as part of times opinion's privacy project i've participate in experiment in which my device were close monitor in order to determine the kind of data that was being collected about me 
the experiment have given me new insight into the psychology underpin surveillance i've realize how blind we are to the kind of insight tech company are gain about us through our gadget 
our blind not only keeps us glue to privacyinvade tech — it also means that we've fail to create a politics culture that is in any way up to the task of limiting surveillance 
that's why across the species whether under america or europe democracy or china authoritarian few of our cultural or politics institution are even much try to tamp down the surveillance state 
in china the government is building a frighten surveillance dragnet in broad daylight stitch together facial recognition fingerprint and other database into an allseee eye aim to close watch more than a billion citizen 
yet the united states and other supposedly libertylove western democracy have not rule out such a future 
just consider the odd politics surrounding privacy invasion 
donald trump and his supporter repeatedly argue that the fbi 
is corrupt and untrustworthy 
yet like barack obama before him trump and the justice department are push apple to create a backdoor into the data on encrypte iphone — they want the untrustworthy fbi 
and any local cop to be able to see everything inside anyone's phone 
apple merciful is resist just as it did the request of barack obama's justice department to create a loophole in iphone security — but the fact that both obama and trump agree on the need for break iphone encryption suggest how thorough politics leader across a wide spectrum have neglect privacy as a fundamental value worthy of protection 
indeed because of a dearth of law protect our privacy — and almost no highprofile politics discussion about the stakes at hand — america are sleepwalk into a future nearly as frighten as the one the china are construct 
i choose the word sleepwalk deliberate because when it come to digital privacy a lot of us prefer the comfortable bliss of ignorance 
as a result much of the surveillance engine operate underground — just beyond where many of us dare to look 
in recent month my colleague at the times and other media outlet have publish a series of shatter investigate into modern digital surveillance 
among other revelation advertising company and data broker are keeping insane close tab on smartphones' location data track user so precisely that their database could arguable compromise national security or politics liberty 
there are few meaningful check on scan for people use facial recognition genetic profile or other biometric data 
track technology have become cheap and widely available — for less than 100 my colleague were able to identify people walking by surveillance camera in bryant park in manhattan 
this past weekend the times's kashmir hill report on a company call clearview ai that has create a tool that could end your ability to walk down the street anonymous 
by scrape pictures from facebook youtube and other website to create a huge database of face the company let cop identify people just by snap a photo 
it's shazam for face not very different from the kind of facial recognition tool we worry the authority may be use in china — and even though hundred of police department may have access to it almost no one outside the company understand how it works 
the clearview ai story suggest another reason to worry that our march into surveillance has become inexorable each new privacyinvade technology build on a previous one allow for scary outcome from new integrate and collection of data that few user might have anticipate 
i was recently confront by this sort of cascade with my own smartphone track data 
late last year with the help of stuart thompson an opinion editor i set up my phone to monitor how certain app were track me 
i focus on app that require me to grant them access to my physical location — among them app to find cheap gas coupon and nearby retail discount and to otherwise help me navigate and find deal as i wander about the world 
the upshot as the locationtrack app follow me i was able to capture the ping they sent to online server — essentially recording their spy 
i sent the data to stuart and his team who interpret and map the ping the app had collected about me 
their picture shock me the app had follow me far more close capture much more data and far more often than i had imagine when i'd said yes to their track 
look at this map which follow the ping collected by the app on one sunday afternoon last year on the map you can see the app are essentially stalk me 
they see me drive out one morning to the gas station then to the produce store then to safeway later on i pass by a music school stop at a restaurant then whole food 
but location was only one part of the data the company had about me because geography data is often combine with other personal information — including a mobile advertising id that can help merge what you see and do online with where you go in the real world — the story these company can tell about me is actually far more detailed than i can tell about myself 
like a lot of people i've long justified my apathy about privacy through innocence i'm a standup guy — what do i have to hide 
but look at the god'seyeview that a few coupon app can glean about me i can no long pretend i've got nothing to worry about 
sure i'm not a criminal — but do i want anyone to learn everything about me 
and more to the point is it wise for us to let any entity learn everything about everyone 
because those are the stakes 
the remain uncertainty about the surveillance state is not whether we will submit to it — only how readily and completely and how thorough it will warp our society 
will we allow the government and corporation unrestricted access to every bit of data we ever generate or will we decide that some kind of collection like the encrypte data on your phone should be forever off limit even when a judge has issue a warrant for it 
in the future will there be room for any true secret — will society allow any unrecorded thought or communication to evade detection and commercial analysis 
and if there can be no more secret how will we account for what we lose 
how completely will living under surveillance numb creativity and silence radical thought 
can human agency survive the possibility that some company will know more about all of us than any of us can ever know about ourselves 
i'm worried we'll soon be forced to find out 
the bernie sander fallacy by david brook jan 16 2020 this is a golden age for they 
this is the belief that there is some malevolent elite they out there and they are destroy life for the rest of us 
there is donald trump's culturewar they the coastal cultural elite hate genuine america undermine our value and opening our border 
and there is bernie sanders's classwar they the billionaire have rig the economy to benefit themselves and impoverish everyone else 
each of these story take a genuine tension in society and blow it up into an allexplaine cartoon in which one part of america is try to destroy the other part 
the gop 
has been swallow by trump's culture war and many democrat seem to be rush to join sanders's class war 
these democrat are do this even though it's politics suicide 
classwar progressiv always lose to culturewar conservatism because swing voter in the midwest care more about their value — gun patriotism ending abortion masculinity whatever — than they do about proletarian class consciousness 
democrat are do this even though the sander classwar story is wrong 
sander start with a truth worker need more bargain power as they negotiate wages with their employer 
but then he blow this up into an allexplaine ideology capitalism is a system of exploit in which capitalist power completely dominate worker power 
this ideology crash against the fact 
in the first place over the past few years wages for worker toward the bottom of the income stream have been rising fast than wages for those toward the top 
if the boss have the worker by the throat how can this be happening 
second wages are still generally determined by skill and productivity 
for example edward lazear of stanford university find that between 1989 and 2017 productivity in mostly highskill industry rose by roughly 34 percent and wages in those industry rose by 26 percent 
productivity in industry with mostly lessskill worker rose by 20 percent while wages grew by 24 percent 
as michael strain of the america enterprise institute put it capitalism is do what it's supposed to do 
it's rewarding productivity with pay and some people and company are more productive 
if you improve worker bargain power that may help a bit but over the long run people can't earn what they don't produce 
third and most important most of the increase in earnings inequality has happen between company not within them 
as john van reenen of mit 
has found all over the world superstar business are racing ahead of their competitor 
as those company grow more productive they earn more profit per employee and pay their worker more 
company that can't match that productivity don't and their worker lag behind 
a recent brook institutionchumir foundation report also note that there is a grow productivity gap between superstar company and everybody else 
whether it is in tech retail manufacture utility or service productivity growth at the leading company in each industry has remain very strong 
those productive business are capture large and large market shares 
but productivity is not grow fast among the lagging company 
worker in those business suffer 
today's successful boss are do what they should be do increase productivity grow their business and offering great service 
a side effect of their efficiency is they spend a small share of their revenue on labor even while raise their workers' wages 
in a global informationage economy the rewards for being best are huge 
thus the core problem is not capitalist exploit their worker it's the rise of productivity inequality 
it's the company and individual who don't have the skill to take advantage of new technology 
the real solution therefore is not class war to hammer successful business 
it's to boost and expand productivity for everybody else 
that's done the oldfashione way — by have better school and better vocational training by have more open competitive market by create incentive to expand investment by making sure superstar business don't use lobbyist to lock in their advantage 
i understand if you want to stick to an usversusthem politics ideology 
it's emotionally satisfying to base your politics ideology on blame people you dislike 
in fact i strong recommend michael lind's new book the new class war which is the best version of usthem 
lind make a lot of vague generalization about the managerial elite which he blame for our problem 
but at least he's interesting and provocative 
at least he understand that a politics plausible they is economically left and social right — combine the culture war and class war into a tidy narrative 
but if you want to deal with our real problem stop the usthem warfare and start dealing with productivity inequality 
successful executive are do what's best for their company gathering as much talent as they can 
this isn't evil 
it's not exploit 
the job of public policy is to make it easy for everybody to do what successful people are do 
productivity is the key to national prosperity 
every time we increase productivity for one person we all thrive a little more together 
the flaw humanity of silicon valley by charlie warzel jan 28 2020 every week bring a fresh hell in the tech world 
as news of the latest scandal pile up over week month and eventually years narrative switch 
friendly tech company become big tech 
the narrative is flatten 
the tech giant become monolithic and their employee become caricature — often of villain 
the truth is always messy more interesting and more human 
it is a central tension animate anna wiener's excellent memoir uncanny valley 
the book trace ms wiener's navigate the tech world as a startup employee in the mid 2010s — what might be thought of as the last years before silicon valley's fall from darling status 
ms wiener said she was drawn into the tech world by its propulsive quality 
graduate into a recession and spend her early 20s in publishing tech offer opportunity job the seductive feeling of create something and of course the money was good 
but what make uncanny valley so valuable is the way it humanize the tech industry without letting it off the hook 
the book allow us to see the way that flaw technology is made and market not by villain but by blind spot uncritical thinking and army of ambivalent people coming into work each day try their best — all while sometimes unwitting lay the foundation of the surveillance economy 
from a privacy standpoint uncanny valley is helpful in understanding what it's like being on the other end of the torrent of information that stream from our device each minute 
early on ms wiener recount working for a successful data analytic company and the gold rush toward big data note that not everyone knew what they need from big data but everyone knew that they need it 
when confront with the mass of information her company collected ms wiener describe feeling uncomfortable with the god mode view that grant employee full access to user data 
this was a privileged vantage point from which to observe the tech industry and we try not to talk about it she write 
this she note become a pattern 
when edward snowden blew the whistle on the national security agency's prism program in 2013 employee at her own data company never discuss the news 
what she describe is a familiar dissociate for anyone who spend time interrogate tech company on their privacy policy 
her company simply didn't consider itself part of the surveillance economy we weren't thinking about our role in facilitate and normalize the creation of unregulated private held database on human behavior 
we were just allow product manager to run better ab test 
we were just helping developer make better app 
it was all so simple people love our product and leverage it to improve their own product so that people would love them too 
there was nothing nefarious about it 
besides if we didn't do it someone else would 
we were far from the only thirdparty analytic tool on the market 
the sole moral quandary in our space that we acknowledge outright was the question of whether or not to sell data to advertise 
this was something we did not do and we were righteous about it 
we were just a neutral platform a conduit 
if anyone raise concern about the information our user were collect or the potential for abuse of our product the solution manager would try to bring us back to earth by remind us that we weren't data broker 
we did not build crossplatform profile 
we didn't involve third party 
user might not know they were being track but that was between them and our customer company 
they were in other words just do their job 
ms wiener frequent returns to this reticence to question the product the end goal of the technology and the silicon valley ethos as a whole 
at her next job working on the terms of service team for a large open source code platform she reveal how the evolution of the internet pushed her and her coworker into becoming reluctant content moderator 
soon it became her team's job to fashion a balance between preserve free speech on her platform and protect it from troll and neonazi we want to tread lightly core participant in the opensource software community were sensitive to corporate oversight and we didn't want to undercut anyone's technoutopian by becoming an overreach arm of the companystate 
we want to be on the side of human rights free speech and free expression creativity and equality 
at the same time it was an international platform and who among us could have articulated a coherent stance on international human rights 
as a journalist who has cover content moderation issue for the better part of a decade the perspective is somewhat clarify 
decision that feel ad hoc or made by one or two people in the belly of a large company often are 
what looks from the outside like a conspiracy or nefarious technoauthoritarian is often just confusion cause by poor management poor communication and dizzy growth 
most of the company did not seem aware of how common it was for our tool to be abuse ms wiener write of her group of de facto moderator 
they did not even seem to know that our team exist 
it wasn't their fault — we were easy to miss 
there were four of us for the platform's nine million user 
in this instance uncanny valley show how the internet can thrust ordinary people into extraordinary position of power — usually without qualifications or a howto guide 
this is not to say that the book excuse any of the industry's reckless behavior 
like a good travel writer ms wiener position herself as an insideroutsider participate in something big than myself and still feeling apart from it 
and she is sufficient critical of her and her peers' participation in the industry 
she write that she would wonder whether the nsa 
whistleblower had been the first moral test for my generation of entrepreneur and tech worker and we had blown it she write at one point near the end of the memoir 
ms wiener's memoir come at a point where the backlash against silicon valley is strong enough to have earn its own name 
narrative have harden and aggrieved tech employee are adopt a bunker mentality 
as ranjan roy of the newsletter margin wrote recently of facebook the rank and file are seeing that they are the villain and will increasingly become so 
as so much of the report show the increase scrutiny and criticism of the techlash is important and almost all is warrant 
big tech has amass wild unregulated power that has grown unchecked 
still it's easy to get conspiratorial and to fall comfortable into black and white notions of good versus evil 
uncanny valley is a reminder that the reality is far more muddle but no less damning 
our dystopia isn't just the product of mustachetwirl billionaire drunk with power and fuel by greed — though it is that too sometimes 
it's also the result of uncritical thinking blind spot cause by an overwhelming white male work force and a pathological reluctance to ask the big question where is this all go 
what am i building 
what i'm reading facebook will now show you exactly how it stalk you — even when you're not use facebook 
ring doorbell app packed with thirdparty track 
leak document expose the secretive market for your web browse data 
40 group have call for a us moratorium on facial recognition technology the future of america politics by david brook jan 30 2020 men and women are primarily motivate by selfinterest 
no other partial truth has done as much damage as this one 
if you base your politics and social system on the idea that the autonomous selfintereste individual is the basic unit of society then you will wind up with an individualistic culture that widen the maneuver room between people but shred the relationship and community between people 
you will wind up with a capitalism in which superstar performer get concentrated in superstar city and everybody else get left behind 
in a system base purely on competitive individual selfinterest those who are advantage get to race out further ahead year by year 
the sense of common community and equal dignity is annihilate 
this is the flaw of unrestrained liberalism what the radical call neoliberal or late capitalism 
and they are not entire wrong 
populist on the right and the left look at this current reality and they come to a swift conclusion the game is rig 
liberalism is a con 
then they come to a different conclusion 
the essential logic of society is not actually individual seek their selfinterest 
it's group struggle for power 
society is an arena where certain group crush other group 
on the trumpian right it's the coastal cultural elite try to crush and delegitimize the white christian patriot of the heartland 
on the cultural left it's the whole michel foucault legacy 
language is a tool the oppressor class use to permanent marginal the oppress 
on the economic left it's the bernie sander class war 
the greedy capitalist class rig the system and immiserate the working class 
the populist narrative differ but all have the same underlying structure 
we're lock in a lifeordeath struggle of oppressor vs oppress group 
it's us versus them — the good people here and the bad people there 
the problem in society didn't just happen they were conscious engineer by the evil other who must be broken 
our very existence is at stake 
if the anthropology of unrestrained liberalism is the autonomous individual making his own way the anthropology of populism is warrior ant in a ruthless tribal war 
these are very different view of human nature but they have something in common both narrative make us miserable 
in one life is isolation inequality and the feeling of being invisible 
in the other it's malice fear and constant war 
and that's because both of these politics tendency are wrong about human nature 
they create society that pulverize who we are and are made to be 
human being didn't evolve into the world's dominant species because we are more autonomous 
we didn't do it because we're more vicious in tooth and claw 
we thrive as a species because we are better at cooperation 
we evolve complex social network in our brains to make us better at bond teaching and collaborate 
we don't cooperate only to get things we want individually 
often we collaborate to build share environment we can enjoy together 
often we pick a challenge just so we can have the joy of collaborate 
relationship are end to themselves 
thus the best future for america politics is not base on individual competition or group war 
it's base on this narrative we are an incredible diverse society that got good at collaboration because we had to 
the best future politics put collaborate pluralism weave at the center 
that means first elect leader who are master at cooperation 
no offense but if you're support donald trump or bernie sander this year collaboration skill are not high on your list of priority 
second it means infuse cooperative weaver value into all of our organization 
there's a fantastic community organization in baltimore call thread that has a few core competent that shape its culture 
we'd be in much better shape if every organization in america live out these value show all the way up 
be fully present honest and vulnerable in all interaction 
recognize your own value 
push through discomfort to connect deep with other 
learn from all voice 
most of our challenge are complex 
it take every perspective to see an issue whole 
assume people have the best of intentions and active focus on the value they bring 
be intentional about being with those different from you 
treat relationship as wealth 
human bonds are the chief resource of your organization 
recognize the inherent value of each person and meet each person where she or he is 
fail forward 
life is iterate 
your vision is not always the answer but rather a step in a creative learning process 
set up feedback mechanism that support change and personal growth 
dogma won't get you to the solution 
open and adjust will 
the third task of weaver politics is reform institution so they encourage collaboration 
some of our institution like congress have been completely subsume by tribal warfare 
other institution as yuval levin write in his book a time to build are no long formative place where we learn and serve they have become platform individual use to broadcast their supreme selves 
still other institution have become dehumanize 
our school hospital prison and welfare system don't embed people in thick relationship 
they treat them as unit to be process and shove out the door 
still other institution cease to exist 
why do we still not have a national service program 
america has an enormous task of institution reform ahead of it just as it did in the progressive era 
the fourth and final task of this kind of politics is transform policy that directly address our most serious divide 
for example reparations are a way to acknowledge the wrong inflict on africanamerican and to begin to heal that breach 
congressman ro khanna has a proposal that would show rural america that everyone has a place in the new economy 
he would fund research and technology hub throughout the country — a land grant college system for the 21st century 
the politics of weave grow out of the acknowledgment that there is no dominant majority in america 
there is no moderate center 
your group will never pulverize and eliminate your oppose group 
there's no choice but to set up better collaborate system across difference 
this is not a problem it's an adventure 
yes human being are partly selfish and selfintereste 
but we are also supreme social and collaborate 
this is the part we have to work on now 
the meaning and melodrama of an italianamerican christmas by frank bruni dec 24 2019 grandma bruni live in a workingclass neighborhood in a twofami home that i'd struggle to describe — it was that ordinary that humble 
but it was known for block in every direction at least around this time of year and not because she went wild with multicolore lights or put one of those sleighplussanta monstrosity on the roof the way some christmas exhibitionist did 
no it was famous because it was where jesus was born 
and born 
and born 
year after year decade upon decade in a ritual as reliable as the sunrise and equally comfort 
president came and president went 
the economy roar the economy whimper 
friends move away favorite television show went dark 
but i could count on baby jesus in all his plasterofpari glory 
grandma you see had this beloved cr�che but it wasn't the kind of miniature tableau that enable the entire sprawl cast of the nativity to fit on an end table or a bureau 
hers took up a significant patch of her front lawn in white plain ny and its centerpiece was a big wood shack the pieces of which were haul every year from a backyard shed and hammer together so that mary and joseph would have somewhere dry to hang out from the end of november until the big day 
they and their entourage were more than half lifesize 
it was as if grandma had invite a large party of anachronistic dress dwarf to camp out in her yard for the holiday season 
but for most of december something was missing baby jesus who was perhaps threequarter lifesize 
he would stay missing — metaphorical in utero though technical in a bottom drawer of grandma's bedroom dresser — until the midnight moment when christmas eve became christmas day 
grandma held to this schedule as if historical accuracy depend on it and white plain occupy the same time zone as bethlehem of millennium ago 
at 1158 pm on dec 24 she'd dim the lights 
she'd put on a record of silent night 
and she'd fetch baby jesus from that drawer where he lay swaddle in her finest white linen 
gently cradle him in her arms she'd walk slow through the living room out the front door and over to the shack 
then she'd place him in a manger between mary and joseph 
and she'd cry because the moment was an emotional one and she'd somber inform us this christmas just might be her last 
her talent for pasta was surpass only by her gift for melodrama 
religion play a small part in her midwifery than you'd think 
grandma was nominal and notional roman catholic and saw the church as the proper even necessary setting in which to mark the milestone of a life birth marriage death 
but that was as much about continuity — about a predictable rhythm with reliable ornament — as it was about creed 
jesus was a character in a commonly adopt narrative a lyric in a widely sung song 
he was a totem 
above all he was a tradition and the nativity scene in front of her house went hand in hand with a christmas eve menu of seven fish in accordance with italianamerican convention and with the rule that gift opening start with the youngest of the clan and proceed upward in accordance with age 
do things the right way ground her 
it was her center of gravity 
she die some three decade ago and i've no idea what happen to that cr�che 
but i know what happen to the family who found it both bonkers and beautiful extravagant and essential 
in the manner of modern america we scattered — pull in this direction by work in that direction by adventure our commitment metastasize our free time shrivel 
we do better than most at forging moments together but they're less and less predictable 
where i could once tell you without hesitation how i'd spent the previous two three or four christmas eve — with grandma and baby jesus — i now have to strain to remember 
last year in a peculiar mood i went alone to las vega 
the year before that 
i'm honestly not sure 
that sadden me in ways that it would regardless of what's happening in this seethe country and this fractious world but current event intensify my appreciation for customs now lost for touchstone that have crumble 
we're at one of those juncture where so little can be taken for grant so much is up for grab 
the worthiest of value come under fire 
the sturdiest of institution buckle 
i'm sure i'm not alone in finding that holiday matter more as do the familiar script and cherish prop with which they're celebrated 
they're assertion of normalcy amid change and loss 
the solace is in the detail 
grandma understood this 
she had a wisdom as ancient as the birth of baby jesus 
the meaningless of the org domain by sam wineburg and nadav ziv dec 5 2019 are today's high school student the one we call digital native able to separate fact from fiction 
not according to a survey we release last month in which 3446 high school student across the country evaluate the trustworthy of different website 
one such site was co2scienceorg a climatechange skeptic group that claim to disseminate factual report and sound commentary 
student could go anywhere on the web to investigate the site 
a quick search uncover the group's past tie to the fossil fuel industry 
but 96 percent of student never uncover this industry connection 
too often students' evaluate stall at three letters this page is a reliable source to obtain information from one wrote you see in the url that it end in org as oppose to com 
the kid are wrong 
dotorg symbolize neither quality nor trustworthy 
it's a marketing tool that rely on a widespread but false association with credibility 
kid aren't the only one misinform 
a 2012 international study found that nearly half of america and large percentage in france brazil and india believe that an organization must meet some criteria before it could register under org 
the dotorg domain is control by the public interest registry which was sold last month to ethos capital a private equity firm 
the three letters are market as a powerful signal that your site serve a greater good — rather than just a bottom line 
it's a claim that leads people to make error about whom and what to trust 
unlike dotgov or dotedu which are closed to the general public dotorg is an open domain 
anyone can register a dotorg without passing a character test 
even commercial site can be dotorg 
craigslist — among the world's largest ad site — is craigslistorg 
there are over 10 million dotorg each of which pay roughly 10 per year to register 
all you have to do to get one is fill out an online form and provide payment 
registration fee generate 92 million in revenue for the public interest registry in 2018 alone 
in theory these revenue could grow much large soon — in june the internet corporation for assign name and numbers the supervisory body that regulate the internet's domain name system agree to lift price cap on dotorg 
still andy shea a spokesperson for the public interest registry say it plan to keep the price for dotorg low with increase of no more than 10 percent on average a year 
in the public interest registry's latest marketing blitz they unveil a logo paint in deep royal blue a shade they say evoke feelings of trust security and reliability 
they tell new customer to expect an increase in donation and trust for donor when they become part of the domain of trust 
noteworthy nonprofit civic organization and religious group have embrace the domain — and so have a host of bad actor 
all reap the benefit of dotorg's association with credibility 
educational institution unwitting shape misperception around dotorg 
many college and university including harvard and northwestern steer student in the wrong direction 
they equate dotorg with nonprofit group and issue no warning of the danger lurk beneath the domain's positive aura 
dotorg is the favored designation of astroturf site group that masquerade as grass roots effort but are back by corporate and politics interests 
one of these is the employment policy institute which claim to sponsor nonpartisan research 
it was actually found and run by the head of a public relations firm that represent the restaurant industry 
another dotorg america for prosperity foundation say it address major social problem through broadbase grass roots outreach 
in reality it was found by the billionaire koch brother and many of its grass roots activist are paid 
there's an even big risk to equate dotorg site with dogooder 
dozen of neonazi antilgbt antimuslim and antiimmigrant group bear the dotorg seal 
a random sample of a hundred organization designate as hate group by the southern poverty law center found that 49 percent carry the dotorg domain 
typically the domain name system is not an appropriate tool to address website content question and speech issue said shea the public interest registry spokesperson 
that said if a site on a org domain engage in specific threat of violence we would not hesitate to take action on it under our antiabuse policy 
a 2019 united nation survey show that citizen the world over have lost trust in the internet 
restore it will take herculean effort 
the group that control the internet's domain system could lead the way by being honest about what these initial do and don't represent 
the public interest registry and ethos capital could channel some of the million earn from the dotorg mirage to fund initiative that educate the public on the domain's shortcoming 
they can start by add a bright red asterisk to their royal blue logo dotorg imply nothing about an organization's intent 
buyer beware 
the next decade will be just as bad by farhad manjoo nov 20 2019 we will remember the 2010s as a grifter's paradise 
these were the years when our collective sense of objective reality total fell apart and when politics business technology culture and even ordinary life fell fully under the sway of a new breed of swindle huckster influence troll and hack 
scam and fakery were not just ascendant this decade — they were often the dominant story line 
it was a time of life come at you fast and milkshake duck 
the primary feeling of the 2010s was one of punchdrunken disorientate of always have the rug pull out from under you 
and this was the big lesson of the 2010s almost nothing is as it seem 
doubt everything 
trust no one 
not that this idea works very well doubt everything may be a workable plan for individual survival in a fracture media universe dominate by algorithm and digital media of dubious authenticity but pervasive doubt could just as well bring on civilization ruin 
get through modern life seem to require adopt a corrosive view of society that make a hash of our fundamental idea about the value of cooperation and trust among our fellow human 
we're bring on a deathspiral of distrust — and i fear that in the 2020s and beyond grifter peddle alternative fact may come to suffocate us all 
the most obvious example of the huckster's rise was of course donald trump 
when trump announce his bid for the presidency in 2015 much of the politics and media establishment including many leading republican thought the idea of a selfdeale conspiracy theorize reality tv star winning the white house was a pretty funny joke 
few of them understood trump's effectiveness at hack the news landscape to command our attention completely 
few of them could have guess that rather than the establishment foil trump his slippery style and overwhelming blizzard of lie would so fully alter politics and media culture that by the end of the decade member of the gop 
would be embrace and echo his conspiracy theory as a way to forestall his removal from office 
while conspiracy thinking took full flower on the right it began to bloom on the left too 
trump's election was follow by the rise of antitrump online influence who came to dominate news and activism 
these were the resistance grifter — michael avenatti the brother ed and brian krassenstein the nearly selfparodic louise mensch — who peddle a selfserv brand of breathless antitrump heavy pepper with call to buy their books and other merch 
a specter of foreign disinformation led to widespread suspicion and it became a handy defense for grifter to dismiss opposition as bot or russia shill 
the grift wasn't limited to politics 
the tech industry welcome huckster with open arms 
look at wework uber and therano — once highflye startup that promise to change the world in big ways and small each unmask for peddle false prospects unreal tech or hiding systemic corruption and abuse 
facebook and other social media service were not just a haven of statesponsore disinformation with dodgy easily game stat social media increasingly came to provide a false view of the world 
facebook admitted a series of error overstate advertising metric 
youtube's stat were shown to be lousy with fake view twitter's were overwhelm by fake follower and amazon was full of fake luxury goods 
scam pervade new technology and old one 
the spectacular rise in the price of bitcoin in 2017 was later found to be the product of market manipulation 
and according to a report by the telecommunications firm first ore about 29 percent of all voice call placed in 2018 were scam robocall one estimate put the volume of spam call at billion per month 
why are we being overrun by scam 
society's signal for judge reputation and trustworthy haven't caught up with the change tech 
even though we know better we reflexive mistake instagram for reality — online influence is seen as a proxy for realworld authenticity and so we are constant fall under the sway of people who've found ways to game the digital realm 
on your phone the fyre festival looks irresistible 
we are also too easily blind by wealth or marker for wealth 
anna sorokin the russia immigrant convict this year of con new york society into thinking she was a germany heiress name anna delvey defraud hotel and bank of hundred of thousand of dollar by pretend to be rich 
she'd hand out 100 bill to anyone and everyone 
for a stretch of time in new york no small amount of the cash in circulation was coming from anna delvey jessica pressler wrote 
you could argue that my take on the end of truth is too gloomy 
consider the clarify power of metoo — how in the case of harvey weinstein jeffrey epstein bill cosby and other oncepowerful men we witness the power of fact and objective clear eye investigate to alter the brutal power structure that had long held victim in silence 
you might also argue that collective we're get better at spot huckster and fraud 
the resistance grifter had a good run but we found them out 
less than a year from now if not soon trump too may hit the end of his run 
but i'm skeptical that these things signal some reason for optimism 
our information system has slip its moorings and as a result lie and scheme and fraud has simply become too effective a life strategy 
as i argue in march when the celebrity college admission scandal broke we're seeing the uberize of corruption — bend the rule is becoming routine and pervasive a pushbutton cheat code for modern life 
it's not a big leap from trust no one to swindle everyone 
happy new decade i guess 
the perverse servile of bill barr by frank bruni dec 10 2019 donald trump famously said that he could shoot somebody in the middle of fifth avenue and not lose any voter 
i don't know about that 
but i'm confident that he wouldn't lose bill barr 
execution privilege barr would probably call it 
he'd release a statement or hold a news conference to say that trump had a spastic trigger finger or was trigger by adam schiff or was set up by those dastard ukraine who are never up to any good 
such is the magnitude of barr's servile the dogged of his deference 
he's the president's moral launder 
trump do evil and barr wash him clean 
as attorney general he's supposed to be the nation's lawyer 
but he has bought into the autocrat delusion that trump equal america that national interest and presidential prerogative are inextricable intertwine 
so he's trump's advocate come hell or high crime as surely as pat cipollone or rudy giuliani is 
on monday showing fresh contempt for the people who work under him in the justice department barr renounce a determination by the department's inspector general that the fbi's investigate into the trump campaign's tie to russia was legitimate and that antitrump bias was not its animate force 
he did this instantly 
and then on tuesday did it again with even less subtlety and more sanctimony 
it was a travesty he said of the investigate and he was speak not just of the sloppy and haste of some of the fbi's action with which the inspector general also took issue 
he was dismiss the whole effort as rotten 
it was an eerie echo of his effort last spring when he sought to neuter robert mueller's finding about the trump campaign's open to russia help and the president's attempt to obstruct justice 
give barr points for consistency 
he has bought fully into the idea that the zeal of trump's detractor matter more than the presidents' abuse of power 
but what of the constitution 
what of common decency 
barr isn't concerning himself with those 
to do so would call into question the honor of serving in this administration the compliment of holding the job that trump gave him 
and he wants that compliment 
that pedestal 
he prefer to see himself as a holy warrior than as an unholy dupe 
to appreciate his perspective you must travel back two month to the university of notre dame where he deliver a speech that garner some headline but not nearly enough of them 
you should read it 
you should savor its grandiose — it has reference to the dawn of homo sapien the twilight of the judeochristian order edmund burke james madison — so that you can understand his current overreach born of his certainty that he know better than the rest of the body politic and is call to heal us 
you should note his remarks' obsession with morality and you should try not to laugh the same way you stifle chuckle when you're remind that mike pompeo is a putative worshipful christian and you try to square that with how he abet the persecution of marie yovanovitch leaves his state department charge twist in the wind and genuflect before a false prophet 
in trump he trust 
you should dwell on the part of barr's jeremiad where he say that men are subject to powerful passion and appetite and if unrestrained are capable of ruthless riding roughshod over their neighbor and the community 
ruthless 
roughshod 
that's trump in an alliterative nutshell but barr seem to be perverse oblivious to that 
he was making a case for trump's presidency 
the wonder of this wretched moment has never been the existence and stench of a bad egg in the oval office 
that's hardly strange given how ably shameless serve ambition 
the wonder is how many other bad egg the current president has assemble or hatch 
the wonder is this fluffy funky omelet of unscrupulous 
all these supposedly godly men — barr pompeo mike pence ben carson rick perry and more — cluster around such a demonstrable godless one 
they rationalize that trump's indulgence of certain religious faction absolve him of his sin 
barr is the principal agent of that absolution 
he's also a paragon of hypocrisy telling pete williams of nbc news that the fbi 
investigate of trump's campaign was an ominous abuse of government power for partisan aim 
that description better suit the conduct for which trump is about to be impeach 
i don't know how barr kept a straight face 
actually i do 
since betroth himself to trump he has had ample practice 
in the notre dame speech without any palpable sense of irony he urge a moral renaissance and deliver this priceless line no society can exist without some means for restrain individual rapacity 
i agree 
in our society impeach is one of those means 
the law is another 
and if barr could dig out his conscience from under all those layer of ego he'd see that the rapacious individual in direst need of restraint is the one he's letting roam free 
the politics of exhaustion by david brook dec 12 2019 there are two power bloc driving politics today 
first there's the proletariat 
these are the workingclass voter who go to trump rally in the us and power brexit and boris johnson's campaign in the uk 
they see their best world recede and they want a tough guy to bring it back 
second there is the precariat 
these are the young and educated voter caught in the gig economy who see no career security ahead 
they want leader like bernie sander and jeremy corbyn who will promise envelop policy — free college free internet free child care — to give them some sense of safety 
these two group are different in some ways 
when the proletarian attack their enemy they do so from a position of perceive social inferior so their attack are resentful and brutal 
when the precariat attack it do so from a position of perceive moral superior so its attack are fill with ridicule mockery and scorn 
but the movements do have parallel 
both are driven by a fear of the future and of each other 
both have a tendency to embrace catastrophe apocalyptic vision of the ruin around us 
dystopia has become the opiate of the activist class 
haunt by economic insecure they will tolerate any sin in their leader — rac antisemit dishonesty — so long as that person is willing to fight and be on their side 
they both support massive unrealistic policy proposal because they reject the idea that politics is simply the muddle way we settle difference with people we disagree with 
these two power bloc are driving the debate and setting the agenda 
but there's another group of people who have become the most interesting part of the electorate both here and in britain 
it's the exhaust 75 percent people who are define not by any common ideology but by an affect state — they are simply worn out by the endless war between these two army 
exhaustion has become an independent force in modern politics 
many people are vote for whatever candidate will exhaust them less 
thursday's britain election was define by the fact that most voter were simply ground down by johnson and corbyn 
the economist call the election britain's nightmare before christmas 
writing in the guardian rafael behr observe we live with the undertow of sad and dread 
we are brace for that feeling like seeing callous hand rummage in a private drawer where a delicate tangle identity is store and pull at the thread 
it feel like exile 
people in the exhaust camp are tired of have politics thrust in their face every hour 
as ryan street of the america enterprise institute has found young people who are lonely at least once in a while are more than seven times more likely to be active in politics than those who are social active 
those who are exhaust have other things to do 
they want to restore politics to its rightful place and find meaning attachment entertainment and morality in something else besides twitter war and election campaign 
years and years of exhaustion have also made these people weary cynical and disgust 
exhaustion as always induce a sort of pessimism a feeling that we are living in terrible times a sort of weary of the soul 
as peter stockland of the think tank cardu put it the combine effect of fear and exhaustion is produce a cynicism so deep and murky and toxic that it verge on the sin of bearing false witness against reality 
but the chief feature of the voter in the exhaust group is timid 
they do not get energy from conflict the way say trump do 
their instinct is to keep their head down and just get through this crazy 
on campus 10 percent of student are able to intimidate the other 90 percent who don't want to say the wrong thing and get cancel 
in congress the trumpian are able to intimidate the member who realize what a problem he is 
the people in the two big power bloc are not good at winning the war against each other but they are really good at intimidate the moderate on their own side 
in this way those in the exhaust camp perpetuate their own misery 
they complain about the terrible choice each election cycle but never organize enough or become imaginative enough to offer something they themselves might want 
in britain they've mostly taken money out of politics but they still had an election even worse and more polarize than our own 
in the end if johnson as expect win easily it will be in part because exhaust voter will have swung to trumpjohnson nationalist demagogy since the only alternative is a corbynsander class war 
in the states voter still have a chance to turn the emotional page to elect a person who display that you can be a progressive or you can be a conservative without turning politics into perpetual war 
pete buttigieg is rising and joe biden's support is resilient precisely because they are not exhaust 
the interesting question is whether in the heat of battle the exhaust voter can get over their fatigue cynicism and timid and take their own side in a fight 
a ridiculous optimistic history of the next decade by david brook jan 2 2020 look back at the 2020s from our vantage point in 2030 the first great event was the complete destruction of donald trump's republican party 
as the former republican consultant mike murphy had notice there were roughly 300 state and federal election during the trump years and republican did horrible in most of them 
the 2020 vote was a continuation of that trend 
trump's landslide defeat left him humiliate and the republican lost their senate majority 
trump cry fraud and try to whip up his follower but they turn their back 
he went from idol to scapegoat in an instant 
it seem they could forgive him everything but lose 
many temporary retreat from politics life the way evangelical christian did after the ignominy of the scope trial 
president joe biden face an interesting dynamic in his party 
the politics power was with moderate 
the intellectual power was with the left 
people of color whose view were largely more moderate became the crucial swing faction 
as president biden resist the interest group that want him to address health care first 
instead he did child and earnedincome tax credit infrastructure expand early childhood education expand prison reform and so on — what some writer call reparations by any other name 
he gave regulatory czar elizabeth warren a special portfolio to take on big tech 
the major event of the decade were cultural not politics 
the trump era had witness a crisis of connection at the bottom of society and a crisis of authority at the top 
social repair was the top order of the day once a new president took office 
the first whiff of the cultural restoration was the accountable club that spread across the nation's campus 
college student realize that america stink at accountable 
either there is no accountable wall street after the financial crisis or people have their lives destroy for a problematic tweet 
the accountable club bore the motto truth and mercy 
student want to restore a culture in which fact matter 
they were also searching for a way to judge other in a graduate and humane manner allow for repentance forgiveness and restoration 
marshall mcluhan once remark that moral indignation is a technique use to endow an idiot with dignity 
sudden indignation the keystone emotion of the trump years was lame 
empathy made a comeback 
the second cultural trend of the decade was the rise of the urban church 
suburban megachurch attendance fell because the pastor had disgrace themselves under trump 
but sudden there was a surge in church plant in place like brooklyn washington dc chicago and san francisco as highly educated people found home for their spiritual longing 
the church were liturgical highly charismatic bethel music and highly universalistic and intellectual richard rohr 
their politics were an odd mix — prolgbtq prolife active on climate change proanimal rights one of the signature moral cause of the decade 
the religious left gain on the religious right 
at the same time the racial justice conversation went intimate 
america is involved in a multigenerational process of truth and reconciliation 
in the teens the truthtell had generally revolve around historic event — slavery lynch redline 
in the 2020s a series of writer artist and director gave us vivid description of the subtlety of contemporary black life 
the profusion of video stream network allow a new generation of artist to take audience inside the psychological lives of people of color 
these artist realize that structural change would happen when people learned to see one another whole 
the most important cultural change came to be known as the civic renaissance 
during the first two decade of the century hundred of thousand of new civic organization came into being — heal politics divide fight homeless promote social mobility and weave community 
but these organization were small 
they did not grow into the big national chapterbase structure that had repair america's social fabric a century early — the ymca the rotary the boy scout 
by the 2020s philanthropist and community builder realize the only way to change culture and weave the social fabric was by create an aflcio 
of civil society with big national voice and large decentralize national organization so that people across america had easy and practical pathway to get involved in community revival 
in the 2010s it seem like the liberal order was crack up 
in the 2020s that feeling vanish 
the decline of the china economy delegitimize the authoritarian model 
it turn out you can't run a central control economy without a lot of waste corruption and riot police 
meanwhile the america politics system began to work better 
the gop 
reemerge under josh hawley and marco rubio as a better version of a workingclass party — social right economically left 
democrat remain dominant through the decade 
their party's biggest accomplishment was in foreign affair — the repair of america's alliance and the restoration of global america leadership 
america were more collaborate in the 2020s 
and the new york met won the world series every single year 
the shaky future of org domain by josephine wolff jan 27 2020 online commerce and forprofit activity have largely shaped the internet over the past 25 years but a few important corner of the internet have remain staunch nonprofit retain some of the internet's early charm and resistance to commercial interests 
one of those corner is the org toplevel domain the goto domain for nonprofit and nongovernmental organization look to establish an afford and reputable online presence 
domain name for website like nytimescom or unorg or tuftsedu are the key real estate of the internet 
without a domain it is next to impossible to have an online presence there are now more than 350 million domain name register worldwide 
those domain name are sold to customer by registrar like godaddy which partner with registry like verisign which manage the com toplevel domain or all the domain name ending in com 
domain name are big business — there's a lot of money at stake when divvy them up among all the registrar and registry 
at the top of the domain name hierarchy sit the internet corporation for assign name and numbers a nonprofit that designate which registry control which toplevel domain and help resolve dispute around domain ownership 
icann has a unique governance structure it is run by a board of director that incorporate feedback from different advisory committee compose of government official industry representative and civil society member 
it is a model that icann refer to as multistakeholder governance base on the premise that all user of the internet deserve a say in how it is run 
since 2002 domain ending in org have been purchase through an agency call the public interest registry which is own by the internet society a wellregarde nonprofit working to expand access to the internet across the world 
but in november the internet society announce it was plan to sell the public interest registry — along with control of all the org domain — for 11 billion to a recently form private equity company call ethos capital with close tie to former leader of the internet governance community 
the propose sale has spark outrage from many people at prominent internet nonprofit including the wikimedia foundation and the electronic frontier foundation and rightly so 
one worry is that ethos in an attempt to make the org toplevel domain as profitable as possible will rapid raise price for its customer 
for years a 2013 contract cap the cost of an org domain at 825 with an allow increase of no more than 10 percent a year — a restriction that kept org domain afford 
today a org domain costs 993 a year 
but in june 2019 icann approve a new contract with the public interest registry eliminate the price cap even though thousand of people voice opposition to that decision during a period of public comment 
ethos has said it will continue to raise price for org domain by no more than 10 percent per year but it's not clear how those promise will be enforce or by whom and the timing of the sale — following immediately on the eliminate of the price cap — has contribute to some of the skepticism surrounding the deal 
another fear is that ethos will cave to pressure from foreign government about which organization should and should not be allow to own org domain 
current org is an open domain so anyone is allow to register a org domain and there are more than 10 million of them register worldwide 
but the public internet registry has the authority to suspend domain name for illegal activity and one of the concern raise in a public letter oppose the sale is the potential for government to target ngo by accuse them of illegal activity and pressure the public internet registry to take down their domain 
just last month for instance the china government sanction five united statesheadquartere ngo for their involve in the protest in hong kong all five of those ngo have org domain 
there are other reason to be worried about the sale 
the circumstances of the deal between ethos and the internet society seem at odds with the multistakeholder model of cooperative transparent governance that the internet community has work so hard to develop 
beyond just threaten the integrity of the org toplevel domain the sale of the public interest registry without any further community involve or oversight from icann threaten the integrity of that governance model and the public's trust that the organization responsible for running the internet have their best interests at heart 
icann has the ability to block the deal as well as to question the involved party about how they would manage the org domain and protect customer but in a statement to the financial times icann said it do not have authority over the propose acquisition a claim that is patently false 
icann itself in a blog post last month acknowledge that pir must obtain icann's prior approval before any transaction that would result in a change of control of the registry operator and pledge to take its responsibility in evaluate this propose transaction very seriously 
but while icann say it has ask pir for more information about the sale it has told the public very little about those inquiry or the ensue response and it has not solicit any public comment on the transaction 
icann's reasoning seem to be that since the sale do not threaten the security reliability or stability of the org domain it is not its place to intervene 
but icann regularly make decision about domain ownership that are unrelated to issue of security and stability — just last year for instance it grant amazon ownership of the amazon toplevel domain over the objection of several south america country 
that decision resolve a sevenyearlong dispute date to 2011 when icann decided to open up more toplevel domain beyond the standard one like com org and gov 
icann received nearly 2000 application in 2012 for new toplevel domain like google love microsoft and wine and for each application the applicant had to pay icann 185000 in addition to ongoing fee for maintain the domain 
this brought a massive influx of cash for icann that help fund its subsequent international expansion and the process of sever its final tie with the united states government in 2016 
the point of sever those tie was to engender greater international trust in icann and by extension the system of global internet governance that it oversee 
but instead icann seem at risk of being capture by commercial interests — a risk that first became apparent with the lucrative 2012 expansion of the toplevel domain that benefit no one besides icann 
odds are that seven years later you've still never interact with a website ending in one of those domain and if you have it was probably only a means of deliver spam or malware to your computer 
today icann is in a very delicate position because it derive its authority not from a contract with the united states but instead from its ability to balance the interests of all its various stakeholder from government official to civil society group and forprofit company and maintain credibility with the worldwide community 
it's easy to see why it is not eager to jump into the fray and interfere with or even question the ethos deal for fear of drawing criticism 
but the real risk to icann is in failing to protect the remain corner of the internet preserve for public good and letting its forprofit stakeholder become the dominant voice in its decisionmake process 
just as icann's former relationship with the united states government prove problematic for it in try to sustain a credible role in global governance activity so will a tooclose relationship with the forprofit sector at the expense of individual internet user 
icann should public investigate this sale so that all of its stakeholder can see exactly which safeguard will be put in place to protect org customer 
and if those safeguard are not sufficient or enforce if they meet with widespread disapproval and dissatisfaction from org customer and registrar then icann should make good on its promise to provide consensusbase multistakeholder governance and if necessary block the deal from go through 
icann cannot and should not be hiding from controversial domain dispute 
it is the only entity with authority over these decision and its willing to exercise that power will ultimately be good not just for the internet and internet user but also for icann itself 
the sidney award by david brook dec 19 2019 i've been give out the sidney award initially call the hooky for longform essay since 2004 in honor of the late great philosopher sidney hook 
this year there were more phenomenal articles than ever before many more than i can list 
the topic they tackle were also more downbeat than ever before 
it's been that kind of year 
several of the people who sent me their own lists of favorite suggest candace vogler's essay a spiritual autobiography in comment 
it's unlike any essay you've ever read 
vogler suffer a childhood of unimaginable sexual abuse and neglect 
i was afraid to be alone 
i was afraid of the other children in school 
i was afraid of the other children in the neighborhood 
i fear that an evil thing had attach itself to me and could injure anyone who got close to me 
her life took a series of improbable turn berkeley feminism quaker a range of gay friends in society high and low family disrupt bar fight an afrobrazilian spiritual practice call umbanda 
from jesus she learned that not all men are toxic 
she is now an esteem philosopher at the university of chicago 
you can't summarize this essay because it's so hard to encapsulate this life's twist and turn 
i enjoy a kind of peace now that i could not have imagine before 
i am the luckiest person i know vogler write reflect on the arrival of many graces into her life 
i've cotaught with her a couple of times she's an amazing teacher and had no idea of the back story that she carry around — a reminder that many people we meet carry back story that are simply mindboggl 
in when the culture war come for the kid in the atlantic george packer describe what happen when the ferocious competitive meritocratic culture of the new york educated class collide with the ferocious social justice warrior of the new york educated class 
packer trace his own family's perilous adventure through a few brooklyn school and write a piece that capture the zeitgeist of our age 
his son's public school coerce parent into opt out of standardize test and made the bathroom gender neutral leading female student to hold their bladder all day rather than go to the bathroom with boys 
it taught the oppression of every outgroup but never the history of the america found 
it's not the school's decision themselves that are so remarkable but the atmosphere of pc 
religious zealotry that surround them and the anguish of progressive parent who have to send their precious children into the maw of ideology reeducate camp that in theory they agree with 
in the unthinkable has happen in vulture jayson greene describe what happen when a brick fell from an eighthfloor windowsill and hit his daughter in the head 
it's a father's wrench and beautiful minutebyminute account of the next few days 
at one point he and his wife are in the hospital absorbing the doctor's prognosis we know greta is go to die all of us although we haven't allow the thought into our conscious mind yet 
none of us is ready for it to maraud through our subconscious killing and burning everything it see 
but we hear bang at the gate 
we glance around us realize this is the last we'll ever see of the world as we've known it 
whatever come next will raze everything to the ground 
you will read it and cry and hug your children tight 
i've always given sidney to individual essay but this year it seem right to give one to an entire issue of a magazine the december issue of the atlantic titled how to stop a civil war 
that issue felt like a civic act 
i'd particularly recommend yoni appelbaum's essay how america end which capture the politics moment we are in 
america is undergo a demography revolution with the dominant white majority becoming a minority 
we're also at a moment when hyperpartisan fear that lose an election will be more catastrophe than lose our democracy 
such people are willing to destroy democratic norm to stay in power look around you 
appelbaum also argue that the key to the country's future is building a healthy centerright 
as someone who's work on this problem for 25 years i say good luck with that 
i'd also recommend caitlin flanagan's the dishonesty of the abortion debate from that issue 
flanagan do something that should be more common she take the most vivid argument from each side of a controversy and she jam them into one essay 
the most vivid argument of the prochoice side is the backalley and other dangerous abortion that result when you make the procedure illegal and the women who die as a result 
flanagan take you there 
the most vivid argument of the prolife side is the sonogram and the grow evidence that cognitive life begin soon than we thought 
these image flanagan write are proof that what grow within a pregnant woman's body is a human being living and unfold according to a timetable that has exist as long as we have 
obviously it would take a profound act of violence to remove him from his quiet world and destroy him 
there's a reason this debate is so hard 
on a lighter note sports illustrate had an essay by emma baccellieri call mud maker the man behind mlb's essential secret sauce 
in 1920 the cleveland indian shortstop ray chapman was kill when a pitch hit him in the head 
baseball need a way to help pitcher have greater control of their pitch 
the solution was to coat the balls with a thin layer of mud thus improve their grip 
jim bintliff is the man who collect that mud with shovel and bucket from a secret spot along the delaware river 
his mud now coat roughly 240000 balls per season 
the story is about bintliff who cultivate the mud as if it were fine wine 
i know the mud 
i'm the only one on the planet who do he say 
in the day the dinosaur die in the new yorker douglas preston describe what happen when an asteroid struck the earth 66 million years ago the most significant event in the history of our planet 
twentyfive trillion metric ton of debris were thrown up into the atmosphere 
the energy release was more powerful than a billion hiroshima bomb 
a mountain rose up higher than mount everest 
fire consume 70 percent of the world's forest and kill 999999 percent of all living organism 
preston's tale get more astound from there 
in magic eraser juice in hazlitt elizabeth rosen describe what it's like to be an emt 
in the age of the opioid epidemic 
the piece is gripping throughout but especially when she's describe how people who have overdose are brought back to life when she administer narcan 
some are overcome with grief that they have fallen so low 
other are nonchalant oh i've od'd a bunch of times 
i hope everybody has read richard powers's phenomenal novel the overstory about how tree communicate and a lot more 
robert macfarlane's essay the understory in emergence magazine is even more astound explain how tree communicate underground 
one of the ways they do it is through hyphae which are superfine thread that fungi send out through the soil to create an interconnecte social network 
a single teaspoonful of soil can hold up to seven mile of hyphae 
i found the america scholar essay how i learned to talk by emily fox gordon a pure delight 
when she was a young woman gordon found a psychoanalyst leslie farber who didn't try to force epiphany and breakthrough aha 
moments 
he didn't treat therapy as work 
he saw it as an occasion for friendship and beautiful talk 
this kind of talk gordon write is playful and gratuitous 
though it often contain elements of argument and analysis its first aim is not to solve problem 
in the case of farber's practice any therapeutic benefit lay in the talk itself the selfforgett human connection that can lift a person out of desperate isolation and remind him that in the future such reprieve will continue to be possible 
gordon's narrative voice is lovely and wise 
farber is someone we would all like to have known — and can through this essay 
the final sidney winner is a bit of a cheat 
cop diary by edward conlon was first publish in the new yorker in 1997 and was reposte this year by the sun 
it's certainly the most realistic description of police work that i have read 
i take prisoner conlon write and to exercise that authority is to invoke a profound social trust 
each time a surgeon undertake the responsibility of cutting open a human being it should be awesome and new no matter how necessary the operation no matter how routine 
a police officer who take away someone's freedom bear a burden of at least equal gravity 
let me tell you it's a pleasure sometimes 
when i read these essay at the end of the year i feel like i've been given gift and a deep appreciation of the reality around us 
when i spend the rest of the year following impeach on twitter not so much 
a lot of people help me find great essay each year but i'm especially grateful to robert cottrell who runs one of my favorite spot on the web the browse con friedersdorf whose the best in journalism newsletter is a weekly dose of intellectual nutrition and robert atwan who runs the best america essay series at houghton mifflin 
all three are generous with their time and erudite 
full disclosure my wife is editor in chief of comment where the vogler essay appear 
the three crucial flaw in trump's 'peace vision' by micah goodman jan 29 2020 president trump's “ultimate deal for israelipalestinian peace isn't ultimate and it isn't quite a deal 
release on tuesday the plan — or “peace vision as it's call in its official document — has three flaw 
none are fatal 
first the dissonance between its pretension and its timing it purport to change history but coming just one month before israel's election it serve petty politics 
second there is a mismatch between the plan's state aim and the actor who are meant to put it into place it seek to bring peace between israel and the palestinian but the palestinian are not full partner in its implement 
third and the biggest problem the plan doesn't meet the palestinians' minimum conditions 
can anyone imagine that the palestinian who have previous reject plan that offer them nearly 100 percent of the west bank might be happy with just 70 percent 
the peace plan in other words will not bring peace 
but these three flaw should not distract us from the big opportunity the plan presents it clever redivide even temporary the territory in dispute 
this division can rearrange the conflict 
if put in place the plan would create a palestinian state with almost full sovereignty on some 70 percent of the west bank while fully address israel's security needs 
the conflict would not end but it would be functional different 
the israelipalestinian conflict is a conflict between occupier and the occupy 
but after the plan it would become a conflict between two separate politics entity — and that's an entire new paradigm 
this should be the plan's big ambition instead of seek to end the battle it should fundamentally redraw the battle lines 
the problem with the “ultimate deal is the mismatch between the plan and its state aim 
as a peace plan it's laughable 
but sometimes all that's need to fix a problem is to rethink the purpose of the solution 
and here we can stop pretend that the united states plan will end the conflict and admit that it might be better at transform its character 
and with more modest goal it might enjoy better success 
to turn the trump administration's proposal from a bad plan to end the conflict into a good plan to transform the conflict all reference to ending the conflict should be remove 
the palestinian cannot be expect to recognize israel as a jewish state formal renounce the right of return or sign a document announce an “end to claim 
what would israel gain from a plan to reconfigure the conflict 
plenty 
most israel are trap between two national aspiration 
on the one hand they don't want to rule over the palestinian people but on the other they don't want to live under the threat of rocket from a palestinian state 
the tension between these two impulse has paralyze israel's ability to address the conflict 
a plan to reconfigure the conflict would dramatic reduce israel's control over the palestinian and do so without putt israel in danger 
in other words for israel the trump plan would smash the zerosum game between security and ending the occupation 
israel would be able to greatly reduce their rule over the palestinian without being any more threaten by them 
and what do the palestinian stand to gain from a plan to reconfigure the conflict 
also plenty 
the palestinian too are trap 
on the one hand they want an independent state of their own but on the other most of them want the palestinian refugee to “return — that is to be relocate to israel 
moreover a large section of palestinian society is unwill to recognize nonmuslim sovereignty over any part of the holy land 
reconcile with israel would be a religious concession and relinquish the “right of return would be a national concession 
for many palestinian those two concession would mean renounce their most sacred belief which form a part of palestinian identity 
for many years the various peace plan propose to the palestinian expect them to forgo these two axiom 
but the palestinian have always refuse a deal in which they would have to relinquish core elements of their national identity as the price for independence 
a plan to rearrange the conflict would give the palestinian a state without expect them to pay for it by renounce their demand for a right of return and thereby concede a plank of their national identity 
under the plan the new palestinian state will not be completely sovereign but it will be mostly sovereign and the elements of the occupation that immiserate palestinian in their daytoday lives — namely restriction on movement construction and economic growth — will be swept away 
in other words any plan would need to drop the pretense of realize either side's perfect deal 
this plan begin to do that 
under it the palestinian could dramatic enhance their sovereignty without concede their aspiration and israel should control far few palestinian without concede its security 
neither side will give up on what is truly important to it and both will reduce what is truly painful 
it won't be peace 
it won't be a new middle east 
but it will be progress 
conflict between neighbor are not only healthy than conflict between occupier and the occupy — they are also more likely to support negotiation 
talks in the future would be between two sovereign states 
in other words reconfigure the conflict will create new opportunity to continue shrink it 
it's time to stop devote our energy and politics capital to ending the conflict in a single “ultimate deal and start focus on a much more modest mission — transform its nature 
instead of reject the plan — we should think again about what it can and should realistic achieve 
that's the way to break through the deadlock minimize suffering and forge a new reality 
the white house motto watch your back by michelle cottle nov 14 2019 there's no honor among thief nor apparently among anxious politics hack who bound themselves to a president with a penchant for subordinate the national interest to his own 
onceeager presidential enable have turn on one another with feral abandon as the fact of what mr trump's flunky were do in ukraine have become clear and the impeach investigate move into its public phase 
john bolton the former national security adviser appear to be spoil for a fight 
he has a deal worth around 2 million to write a book about his time in the administration which he left on notsofriend terms in september 
in a private speech last week mr bolton offer a harsh assessment of the president's foreignpolicy chop and suggest that mr trump's policy toward turkey has been driven by personal and business interests according to nbc news 
mr bolton's lawyer told impeach investigate that mr bolton has information about many relevant meeting and conversation concerning ukraine that he might be willing to share if the court give him the goahead 
mr bolton is await the outcome of a lawsuit brought by his former deputy charles kupperman ask the court to decide whether a congressional subpoena outweigh the president's order to ignore it 
mick mulvaney the acting white house chief of staff try to glom onto mr kupperman's lawsuit but mr bolton was have none of it 
on monday a lawyer who represent both him and mr kupperman ask a judge to deny mr mulvaney's request cite among other objection that mr mulvaney may have waive any immune from testify when he acknowledge in a news conference last month that mr trump had sought a quid pro quo from ukraine in exchange for military aid and said that people need to get over it 
mr mulvaney who subsequent insist he hadn't said what he said was a key player in the pressure campaign to have ukraine announce an investigate of former vice president joe biden while mr bolton reportedly said he want nothing to do with the drug deal mr mulvaney was cooking up with gordon sondland the ambassador to the europe union 
surprise by the blowback mr mulvaney drop his court request and now say he will abide by the president's edict not to cooperate 
even so he has been clash with pat cipollone the white house counsel over what each see as the other's mishandle of the president's impeach defense 
mr mulvaney also face danger from house republican look for someone to blame other than mr trump for the ukraine mess 
he is among the most promising scapegoat according to the washington post along with the president's lawyer rudy giuliani and mr sondland two of the principal player 
but mr mulvaney has imply to people that he know too much to be fire 
mr giuliani now under criminal investigate over his ukraine dealings is facing newly reveal accusation from his associate lev parna 
mr parna say mr giuliani direct him to help pressure ukraine official to investigate mr trump's politics rival 
for his part mr giuliani is contemplate start an impeachmenttheme podcast which should terrify everyone concerned 
the president meanwhile is said to want to fire not only mr mulvaney but also the inspector general of the intelligence community michael atkinson who alert congress to the whistleblower complaint kick off the impeach inquiry 
more public mr trump has been berate republican lawmaker for suggest that his behavior toward ukraine was anything other than perfect — as he has taken to rant on twitter 
while secretary of state mike pompeo isn't under attack from his peer — yet — there are warning flag 
last month his former senior adviser michael mckinley told investigate that mr pompeo ignore his plea to protect marie yovanovitch the former ambassador to ukraine who became the target of a giuliani smear campaign that contribute to her oust from kiev — plea that the secretary claim never to have heard 
who know where this could lead 
even white house player not directly tie to impeach are get in on the action 
peddle her new memoir nikki haley the former ambassador to the united nation has been accuse former secretary of state rex tillerson and former white house chief of staff john kelly of have sought her aid in undermine the president's policy aim during their time in the administration 
for his part mr kelly say he warn the president before being pushed out that if he were replace by a yes man mr trump would end up being impeach 
look at you mick 
then there's anonymous the senior administration official who publish a september 2018 oped in the times who is out with a new tellall book painting an unflattere picture of the president and charge the white house quite simply is broken 
to be fair with so many people have been pull — willing or otherwise — into mr trump's ukraine scheme it can be hard for the lackey to keep their story straight and avoid incriminate even themselves 
for instance mr sondland originally told impeach investigate that he had no knowledge of a quid pro quo involve ukraine 
less than three week later he amend his testimony to say that he did recall telling ukraine official that they were unlikely to receive their promise military aid until they public announce the investigate sought by mr trump 
this recover memory brought mr sondland's testimony more into line with that of other witness 
all this should serve as a warning for the president's many apologist 
as the impeach inquiry grind on the circular fire squad is likely to grow still large — and potential armed with highercaliber ammunition 
the wisdom your body know by david brook nov 28 2019 this has been a golden age for brain research 
we now have amazing brain scan that show which network in the brain ramp up during different activity 
but this emphasis on the brain has subtle fed the illusion that thinking happen only from the neck up 
it's fed the illusion that the advanced parts of our thinking are the rational parts up top that try to control the more primitive parts down below 
so it's interesting how many scientist are now focus on the thinking that happen not in your brain but in your gut 
you have neuron spread through your innards and there's increase attention on the vagu nerve which emerge from the brain stem and wander across the heart lung kidney and gut 
the vagu nerve is one of the pathway through which the body and brain talk to each other in an unconscious conversation 
much of this conversation is about how we are relate to other 
human thinking is not primarily about individual calculation but about social engagement and cooperation 
one of the leader in this field is stephen w porge of indiana university 
when you enter a new situation porge argue your body react 
your heart rate may go up 
your blood pressure may change 
signal go up to the brain which record the autonomy state you are in 
maybe you walk into a social situation that feel welcome 
green light 
your brain and body get prepared for a friendly conversation 
but maybe the person in front of you feel threaten 
yellow light 
you go into fightorflight mode 
your body instantly change 
your ear for example adjust to hear high and low frequency — a scream or a growl — rather than midrange frequency human speech 
or maybe the threat feel like a matter of life and death 
red light 
your brain and body begin to shut down 
according to porges's polyvagal theory the concept of safety is fundamental to our mental state 
people who have experienced trauma have body that are highly reactive to perceive threat 
they don't like public place with loud noise 
they live in fightorflight mode stress and anxious 
or if they feel trap and constrained they go numb 
their voice and tone go flat 
physical reaction shape our way of seeing and being 
lisa feldman barrett of northeastern university also argue that a main purpose of the brain is to read the body and to regulate what she call the body budget 
you may see a bully on the playground 
your brain then predict your next action and speed your heart rate and breathing to deal with it 
you experience these change as emotion — oh this is fear or oh this is anger — because your brain has create an emotion concept to make those physical change meaningful 
you might think that in everyday life the things you see and hear influence what you feel but it's mostly the other way around what you feel alter your sight and hearing barrett write in how emotion are made 
when we're really young we know few emotion concept 
young children say mommy i hate you 
when they mean i don't like this because they haven't learned their culture's concept for hatred vs bad 
but as we get old we learn more emotional granular 
the emotionally wise person can create distinct experience of disappointment anger spite resentment grouchy and aggravation whereas for a less emotionally wise person those are all synonym for i feel bad 
a wise person may know the foreign words that express emotion we can't name in english tocka russia roughly for spiritual anguish or litost czech roughly for misery combine with the hunger for revenge 
people with high emotional granular respond flexible to life have better mental health outcome and drink less 
if bodily reaction can drive people apart they can also heal 
martha g welch of columbia university points to the importance of loving physical touch especially in the first 1000 minutes of life to lay down marker of emotional stability 
under the old brainon paradigm welch argue we told people to selfregulate their emotion through conscious selftalk 
but real emotional help come through coregulation 
when a mother and a child physically hold each other their bodily autonomy states harmonize connect on a metabolic level 
together they move from separate distress to mutual calm 
welch has create something call the welch emotional connection screen which measure the emotional connection between mother and preterm baby 
by encourage this kind of deep visceral connection through 18 month her therapy can mitigate the effects of autism 
when you step back and see the brain and body thinking together the old distinction between reason and emotion doesn't seem to make sense 
your very perception of the world is shaped by the prediction your brain is making about your physical autonomy states 
you also see how important it is to teach emotional granular something our culture pay almost no attention to 
you also see that we're not separate brains cool observing each other 
we're physical viscera deep interact with each other 
the important communication is happening at a much deep level 
trump has made us all stupid by david brook donald trump is impulsedriven ignorant narcissistic and intellectual dishonest 
so you'd think that those of us in the antitrump camp would go out of our way to show we're not like him — that we are judicious informed mature and reasonable 
but the event of the past week have shown that the antitrump echo chamber is becoming a mirror image of trump himself — overwrought uncalibrated and incapable of have an intelligent conversation about any complex policy problem 
for example there's a complex policy problem at the heart of this week's iran episode 
iran is not powerful because it has a strong economy or military 
it is powerful because it sponsor militia across the middle east destabilize regime and spread genocide and sectarian cleanse 
over the past few years those militia orchestrate by qassim suleimani have felt free to operate more in the open with greater destructive effect 
we're not go to go in and destroy the militia 
so how can we keep them in check so they don't destabilize the region 
that's the hard problem — one that stymie past administration 
in the middle east and wherever there are protract conflict nation have a way to address this problem 
they use violence as a form of communication 
a nation try to maintain order will assassinate a terrorism leader or destroy a terrorism facility 
the attack say hey we know we're in a longterm conflict but let's not let it get out of hand 
that's not in either of our interests 
the attack is a way to seize control of the escalate process and set a boundary marker 
these sort of operation have risk and rewards 
a risk is that it won't cease the escalate just accelerate it 
the radical on the other side will get enrage and take to the street 
their leader will have to appease that rage 
a reward is that maybe you do halt the escalate 
the other side implicit say message received 
we'll do some facesave things to appease the street but we don't want this to get out of hand either 
another reward is that you've manage to eliminate an effective terrorist like suleimani 
talent doesn't grow on tree 
the decision to undertake this sort of operation is a matter of weigh risk and reward 
and after the suleimani killing you saw america security professional talk in the language of balance risk and reward 
stanley mcchrystal a retired general and michael mullen a retired admiral thought it was worth the risk 
susan rice a former national security adviser thought it wasn't 
but in the antitrump echo chamber that's not how most people were thinking 
led by bernie sander and elizabeth warren they avoid the hard complex problem of how to set boundary around militia 
instead they pontificate on the easy question not actually on the table should we have a massive invasion of iran 
a great cry went up from the echo chamber 
we're on the brink of war 
trump is leading us to more endless war in the middle east 
we're on the precipice of total chaos 
this was not the calibrate language of risk and reward 
it was fearstoke apocalyptic language 
by being so overwrought and exaggerate the echo chamber drown out any practical conversation about how to stabilize the middle east so we could have another righteous chorus of donald trump is a monster 
this is trump's ultimate victory 
every argument on every topic is now all about him 
hate trump together has become the ultimate bond attentiongrabb and profitmaximize mechanism for those of us in antitrump world 
so you get a series of exaggerate fervor — the mueller report 
impeach 
the steele dossier 
— that lead ultimately nowhere 
most of this week's argument about the middle east wasn't really about the middle east 
it was all narcissistic about ourselves 
democrat defend terrorist 
republican are warmonger 
actual iran are just bit player in our imperialistic soap opera the passive recipient of our great or perfidy 
the world is more complicated than this cartoon 
love or hate him trump has use military force less than any other president since jimmy carter 
when it come to foreign policy he is not like recent republican 
he is as my colleague ross douthat put it a jacksonian figure wanting to get america out of foreign entanglement while lob a few longdistance attack to ensure the crazy foreigner stick to killing one another and not us 
and this is the final paradox 
for all the sturm und drang that surround trump populist republican and democrat are gravitate toward the same foreign policy we're in the middle of a clash of civilization the middle east is so screw up we should just get out we're too stupidineffectiveracistimperialistic to do any good there anyway 
we fight vicious about trump but underneath a populist leftright curtain is descend around america separate us from the mideast china even europe 
the real highrisk move is the one both party are making together that if we ignore the world it will ignore us 
it won't 
maybe once the inflammatory one is finally gone from the scene we can have an intelligent conversation about that 
trump's contempt for true professional by frank bruni nov 12 2019 the impeach inquiry and the event that led to it tell many story 
one obviously is about the abuse of power 
another illuminate the foul mash of mendacity and paranoia at the core of donald trump 
but this week as several longtime civil servant testify at the inquiry's first public hearing a third narrative demand notice because it explain the entire tragedy of the trump administration the large scandal the lesser disgrace and the current moment of reckoning 
that story is the collision of a president who has absolutely no regard for professionalism and those who try to embody it the battle between an arrogant unscrupulous yahoo and his humble principled opposite 
right now the opposite have the microphone 
i mean william taylor america's top diplomat in ukraine who is telling the first impeach witness to testify on live television 
stephanie grisham the white house's peerless nasty press secretary has sought to discredit taylor's account of the pressure on ukraine's new president by saying that he belong to a cabal of radical unelected bureaucrat 
hardly 
he's a west point graduate and vietnam veteran with a halfcentury career that's devoid of obvious partisanship and entire about the public good 
he took the ukraine post despite profound qualm because he felt he owe his country his expertise 
he's a creature of duty and discipline and earnest accrue knowledge — all precious commodity that are worthless in trump's eyes 
in other words he's a true professional and it was as such that he recoil from what trump rudy giuliani and the wretched rest of them were up to 
marie yovanovitch the former ambassador to ukraine has a diplomatic r�sum� that's three decade long and include three ambassadorship an unusual feat 
the fault that giuliani and trump found in her was her respect for correct procedure her resistance to corrupt politics and her reluctance to tweet out dopey praise for the president 
they quibble with her professionalism which had no place in their scheme 
trump's disregard — no contempt — for professionalism is in some ways an anagram of his aversion to norm to tradition to simple courtesy 
or at least these attitude exist as a venn diagram with enormous overlap 
they're hostile to any set of value that place personal glory below other ideal 
but trump's war on professionalism and professional is also its own distinct theme in his business career which is rife with cheat and his politics life which is grease with lie 
go back to his initial staff of senior post and recall how shoddy the vet process was 
also notice two prominent class of recruit people who had profound questionable preparation for the job that he nonetheless gave them ben carson betsy devo stephen miller javanka and genuine professional who wager that their skill would be critical necessary — and thus highly value — and that trump would surely rise to the establish code and expect conduct of his office 
now look at how many of those professional james matti hr 
mcmaster gary cohn dan coat are gone 
and tell me whether trump has ever had the epiphany that the presidency is in fact a profession 
a crisis of professionalism define his administration in which backstabb is the new gladhand fire are cruel exit are ugly the turnover is jawdropp the number of unfill position is mindboggl and many official have title that are preface with acting — a modifier with multiple meaning in this case 
trump sly market his antiprofessional as antielit and a rejection of staid cautious thinking 
but it's really his way of excuse his ignorance costume his incompetence and greenlight his hooligan 
he reject professionalism because it temper selfpromotion and forbid such grandiose claim as his insistence that he know more about the islam state than any military general 
i alone can fix it he boast at the republican convention in 2016 
i'm the only one that matter he said the following year when dismiss any concern about job vacancy 
a true professional would have trouble utter those words 
they roll easily off a true huckster's tongue 
professionalism involve credentials benchmark all sort of yardstick by which a person can be judge sometimes unkindly 
trump wants only affirm 
and professionalism is a realitybase enterprise 
trump prefer fiction the ukraine call was perfect 
read the transcript because it exonerate him 
his critic are partisan hack 
he's the target of an interminable witch hunt 
but robert mueller was no more hunting witch than bill taylor is an agent of the deep state 
in fact mueller stand out as a consummate professional so much so that he politics neuter himself and deep state is trump's deep cynical pejorative for season professional 
it's the professional who keep push back at him whether at the federal reserve the birmingham ala office of the national weather service or the state department which is where taylor yovanovitch and this week's other impeach witness george kent work 
michael mcfaul a former united states ambassador to russia wrote about taylor and yovanovitch recently in an essay for the new york review of books titled the deep dedicated state observing both always have struck me as firstrate government servant singularly focus on advance america national interests 
both have serve republican and democratic president and even after decade of interact with them both i could not guess how either of them vote 
he characterize them as accidental hero who aren't likely to seek the limelight 
they are extremely well train competent and highly regard professional he summarize 
that's why they bucked trump 
and that's why he can't bear them 
trump's digital advantage is freak out democratic strategist by thomas b edsall jan 29 2020 in a blog post publish in november a year before the 2020 election brian burch the president of catholicvoteorg a social conservative advocacy group announce that in wisconsin alone his organization had identify 199241 catholic who've been to church at least 3 times in the last 90 days 
nearly half of these religiously observant parishioner burch wrote 91373 massattend catholic — are not even register to vote 
catholicvoteorg is look for potential trump voter within this large untapped reservoir — republicanleane white catholic who could bolster trump's numbers in a battleground state 
burch whose organization oppose abortion and gay marriage made his plan clear we are already building the largest catholic voter mobilization program ever 
and no that's not an exaggeration 
our plan span at least 7 states and grow and include million of catholic voter 
how did catholic vote come up with these particular church attendance numbers for 199241 catholic 
with geofenc a technology that create a virtual geography boundary enabling software to trigger a response when a cellphone enter or leaves a particular area — a church for example or a stadium a school or an entire town 
geofenc is just one of the new tool of digital campaign a largely unregulated field of politics combat in which voter have little or no idea of how they are being manipulate in which traditional disclosure requirement are inoperative and key actor are anonymous 
it is a weapon of choice 
once an area is geofence commercial data company can acquire the mobile phone id numbers of those within the boundary 
this is how the national catholic reporter describe the process in an article early this month politics minded geofencer capture data from the cellphone of churchgoer and then purchase ads target those device 
that data can be match against other easily obtain database including voter profile which give marketer identify information such as name address and voter registration status 
such information can be a gold mine 
burch describe what catholicvoteorg initiate in the 2018 election 
we create ad campaign target to mobile device that have been inside of catholic church burch explain 
what's more we told catholic in missouri the truth about thensenator claire mccaskill — that she was proabortion was unwill to protect the little sister of the poor and oppose catholic judicial nominee because of their religious belief 
and she lost 
if you attend an evangelical or a catholic church a women's rights march or a politics rally of any kind especially in a seriously contest state the odds are that your cellphone id number home address partisan affiliation and the identify information of the people around you will be provided by geofenc marketer to campaign lobbyist and other interest group 
with increase speed digital technology is transform politics constant providing novel ways to target specific individual to get the unregistered register to turn out marginal voter to persuade the undecided and to suppress support for the opposition 
democrat and republican agree that the trump campaign is far ahead of the democratic party in the use of this technology capitalize on its substantial investment during the 2016 election and benefit from an uninterrupted hightech drive since then 
republican have a big advantage this time ben nuckel a democratic media consultant said in a phone interview 
they not only have all the data from 2016 but they have been building this operation into a nonstop juggernaut 
the new technology nuckel continue allow campaign to deliver a broad narrative over the top on television and other media while underneath in digital you are deliver ads that are tailor to those voter that you need to influence and persuade the most 
the explosion of digital technology has create the opportunity for politics operative to run what amount to dark campaign conduct below the radar of both voter aware and government oversight 
in some case the technology is very simple the anonymous transmission of negative image of candidate by individual to facebook group 
this activity is neither report to the federal election commission nor link to official campaign 
steven livingston a professor of media and public affair and director of the institute for data democracy and politics at george washington university has been track this sub rosa electioneering in the current election cycle 
he found that supporter of two candidate trump and bernie sander are the primary practitioner 
the washington post and the new york times have both report on the activity of sander supporter but livingston noted in an email our evidence suggest that trump supporter use automate promotion or cross posting four times as much as sander supporter 
livingston describe these digital shadow campaign as analogous to and perhaps an actual digital manifestation of 'dark money' influence campaign 
in addition he continue overwhelming these page and group do not have ownership declaration or facebook verify 
we simply do not know what other digital property might be operate by common source with the group 
there is money being spent but we don't know the source 
it is unaccountable spend 
livingston provided some of the kind of negative message and image promote by anonymous protrump activist 
here is one and here is one made by a sander enthusiast expert in the explosive grow field of politics digital technology have develop an innovate terminology to describe what they do — a lexicon that is virtually incomprehensible to ordinary voter 
this language provide an inkling of the extraordinarily arcane universe politics has enter geofenc mass personalize dark pattern identity resolution technology dynamic prospect geotargete strategy location analytic geobehavioural segment politics data cloud automatic content recognition dynamic creative optimize 
geofenc and other emerge digital technology derive from microtargete marketing initiative that use consumer and other demography data to identify the interests of specific voter or very small group of likeminde individual to influence their thought or action 
microtargete first had a significant impact on america politics in state level campaign work by alec gage a republican and his firm targetpoint in 2002 
now politics operative are exploit commercial technique to correlate microtargete data with the identification numbers of cellphone 
this allow campaign to mobilize persuade and turn out — or to suppress turnout among — key voter 
in 2016 trump spent far more than hillary clinton on digital campaign and since then his campaign under the direction of brad parscale has continue far outpace its democratic rival 
in a paper publish this month the digital commercialize of us politics — 2020 and beyond kathryn montgomery a professor of communications at america university and jeff chester executive director of the center for digital democracy describe the difference between the 2016 trump and clinton campaign whereas 31 percent of donald trump's total campaign expenditure were for digital media only 6 percent of hillary clinton's expenditure were for digital 
moreover whereas almost 50 percent of mr trump's media expenditure were for digital only 8 percent of secretary clinton's media expenditure were for digital 
so although secretary clinton outspent mr trump by 75 million on media it is quite possible that mr trump's heavy reliance on digital media allow for a more efficient and target ad campaign that escape the eye 
parscale who is now manage trump's 2020 campaign claim in a 2018 tweet that the trump campaign tech operation was 100 times to 200 times more effective than the clinton campaign's add realdonaldtrump was a perfect candidate for facebook 
on monday parscale boast on the conservative website townhall that trump rally are providing a gold mine of data for the 2020 election out of more than 20000 identify voter who came to a recent trump rally in milwaukee wisconsin 579 percent did not have a history of vote for republican 
remarkably 4413 attendee didn't even vote in the last election — a clear indication that president trump is energize america who were previous not engaged in politics 
similar finding are coming out of other rally according to parscale nearly 22 percent of identify supporter at president trump's rally in toledo ohio were democrat and another 21 percent were independent 
an astound 15 percent of identify voter who saw the president speak in battle creek michigan has not vote in any of the last four election 
in hershey pennsylvania just over 20 percent of identify voter at the rally were democrat and 18 percent were nonwhite 
in the current election cycle montgomery and chester write further growth and expansion of the big data digital marketplace is reshape electoral politics in the us introduce both candidate and issue campaign to a system of sophisticated software application and datatargete tool that are rooted in the goal value and strategy for influence consumer behavior 
technology use for identity resolution they write enable marketer — and politics group — to target and 'reach real people' with greater precision than ever before 
marketer are helping perfect a system that leverage and integrate increasingly in realtime consumer profile data with online behavior to capture more granular profile of individual including where they go and what they do 
the author go on to warn that all of these development are taking place moreover within a regulatory structure that is weak and largely ineffectual 
tara mcgowan executive director of the recently create prodemocratic group acronym which plan to spend 75 million on digital and other media reply to my question by email there's no digital dark magic being deploy by brad parscale and the trump campaign 
they just have near unlimited resources and are spend them wise to reach their voter where they are — online and especially on platform like facebook 
the greatest advantage mcgowan continue that the trump campaign has over democrat heading into 2020 is time 
democrat may not settle on a general election nominee until late spring or summer 
that give the trump campaign much more time to talk to voter and define the democrat in place where it count 
in addition to acronym prodemocratic group like priority usa america bridge america vote and a host of other are working together prepared to spend more than 300 million to counter the trump effort 
in addition the campaign of mike bloomberg bernie sander and tom steyer are all spend huge amount of money on digital strategy focus on facebook google and other social media 
still there are concern that much of the democratic spend will have limited value in the general election insofar as it is go toward states that will not be 2020 battleground including for example alabama arkansas california massachusetts oklahoma tennessee utah and vermont on tuesday march 3 better known as super tuesday 
in addition whoever become the democratic nominee will not be able to share his or her data with the independent prodemocratic group according to federal regulation 
apple google and most other major internet player have adopt privacy policy that would appear to significant constrain the ability of data management firm to obtain detailed household information consumer spend and partisan leaning of smartphone user 
but it turn out that there are ways to get around the rule 
serge egelman a research director at berkeley's international computer science institute and a coauthor of the paper 50 ways to leak your data an exploration of apps' circumvent of the android permission system reply to my email most user are likely of the impression that app will only collect the personal data that they're ask about in the 'permissions dialogues' that they encounter ie popup notification ask if it's ok 
for an app to access certain data such as location address book contact photo etc 
these unsuspect user were mistaken 
we discover that there are back channel through which the same data is available without have to present the user with a permission dialogue 
what do this mean for politics 
we know that many of these entity are data broker and analytic company that are in the business of use this type of data to profile mobile device user and then sell these profile to various entity including politics campaign 
the data generally provide information about individual users' daytoday activity and preference where they shop what they do for fun what other app they use for how long and what they do in those app where they live where they work with whom they associate 
this data he add enable campaign to list individual attendee at politics rally to identify politics leaning base on online and offline preference where you live work shop play etc 
and to segment ads base on infer psychographic trait ie exactly what cambridge analytica did but instead of personalize politics ads on facebook user get personalize ads in potential all of their mobile app 
egelman noted that from the user's perspective there's literally no way of prevent it from happening or even knowing when it's happening 
the expectation that app user should be able to figure this all out and manage it is absolutely ludicrous 
a prodemocratic strategist who is helping coordinate the independent effort to defeat trump — and who insist on anonymity to protect his job — describe what he believe is the current state of play in the role of digital technology in large overall strategy there's no question that as a technical matter the republican and the koch are spend much more and have better data than democratsprogressive 
but they also have a much more difficult product to sell trump 
if marco rubio were president in this thrive economy he continue 2020 would not be a competitive election and the democrat might not have claim the house in 2018 
crucial the strategist said trump has two relevant advantage derive from the asymmetry between the flow of republican and democratic information 
first when trump say something fox repeat it 
when a democrat say something the new york times and the rest of the msm knock it down if it's false or debatable 
in other words a huge swath of trumpsupportive media do not perform factbase journalism 
in addition the democratic strategist said trump benefit enormously because of the right's align network of media property ie sinclair facebook property youtube influence and botssock puppet 
this kind of amplify network barely exist for democratsprogressive 
while study show that digital ads have at most a slight persuasive effect he noted the real goal of paid advertising is for the content to become organic social media 
for example a trump ad saying that he's brought back manufacture job would persuade almost no one 
but when local news or your neighbor start repeating that it become more credible and persuasive 
that's what they're after 
to sum up their content is advantage because it reach their target audience without friction from the media that audience trust and is quick and reliable repeated by other voice they trust in their world 
what's the bottom line 
finally there's the question of the size of the value of trump's datadigital advantage 
big enough to enable him to win the popular vote 
almost certainly not 
big enough to win wisconsin 
frightening so 
trump wants law and order front and center by thomas b edsall jan 8 2020 unexpected the 2020 presidential campaign is drill down on petty crime and homeless 
donald trump and his republican ally are revive lawandorder theme similar to those use effectively by richard nixon and spiro agnew in the late 1960s and early 1970s to demon racial minority 
to this end republican seek to discredit liberalize law enforce initiative adopt by a new breed of democratic prosecutor 
these democratic district attorney — in city county and suburbs from philadelphia orlando chicago and st louis to contra costa county calif suffolk county mass and durham county nc — are pursue policy intended to decriminalize vagrancy and eliminate cash bail and they are aggressive pursue charge in case of shoot by police officer 
they are play a key role in a hotly politicize movement to curb mass incarcerate and to roll back what has become known as the carceral state 
the decarceration movement is back by a wide array of organization tight align with the progressive wing of the democratic party the real justice pac black lives matter the brennan center for justice the aclu justice democrat moveonorg and brand new congress 
michael waldman president of the brennan center and adureh onyekwere a senior research and program associate there along with inimai chettiar and priya raghavan describe the goal of the movement in a may 2019 essay ending mass incarcerate idea from today's leader mass incarcerate is the civil rights crisis of our time 
the racial disparity pervasive in our justice system compound at every juncture africa america are more likely to be stop by police arrest detain before trial and given harsh sentence than whites 
how do we achieve change the author ask 
the solution they envisage range broad from eliminate prison for lowerlevel crime to incentive states to decarcerate from ending bail to abolish private prison from reform housing and employment law to change the public perception of the justice system and cultivate respect for all lives 
at the same time as this movement has been gain momentum it has provided ammunition for a powerful counterattack from president trump his attorney general william barr and other lawandorder republican 
the result is that the 2020 election is expand the 50yearold culture war into new territory as democrat — often under pressure from younger voter — seek to extend broad rights to those who have been previous stigmatize or marginal now moving beyond protection for minority women and gay to provide more freedom to criminal defendant the homeless the mental ill and unknown numbers of men and women imprison through prosecutor misconduct judicial error or other form of systemic failure 
republican in turn are bet that the democratic presidential candidate have move substantially farther to the left on issue of crime and punishment than the vote public 
leading democratic presidential candidate for their part are not shy away from the challenge endorse in whole or in part the decarceration and decriminalize agenda 
even joe biden one of the more moderate 2020 candidate argue at the september democratic presidential debate that we should be talk about rehabilitate 
nobody should be in jail for a nonviolent crime and that nobody should be in jail for a drug problem 
we build more rehabilitate center not prison 
once a strong supporter of the death penalty biden now call for its eliminate note on his website over 160 individual who've been sentence to death in this country since 1973 have later been exonerate 
because we cannot ensure we get death penalty case right every time biden will work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level 
while many of the democratic presidential candidate have effectively join the decarceration movement the same unity cannot be found among house and senate democrat 
at this level the movement is one more source of conflict between the alexandria ocasiocortez wing and the many member of the house and senate who must fight for reelection in more moderate district and states including those that cast majority for trump in 2016 
laurence tribe a professor of constitutional law at harvard describe the thinking underpin progressive democratic policy broaden the rights of the homeless 
in an email tribe wrote the supposed rights of those who are upset or psychological threaten by the homeless the deinstitutionalize or other similarly situated are what i would call secondorder rights rights that a polity cannot fairly treat as have as strong a claim to protection as trumps that override utilitarian claim as is true of genuine rights 
put another way tribe continue my right not to be upset by your appearance or life choice cannot occupy the same plane as your right to live your life as you opt to or are compel to live it if we are to have a viable social and legal system 
one needn't be a libertarian to recognize that there is a difference in kind between someone's genuine right to be free of another's physical intrusion or displacement and someone's ersatz right to be free of another's merely offend or upset behavior or circumstances 
in this view according to tribe rights of the first or primary sort can be universally recognize rights of the second sort must be subordinate if social life is to be tolerable 
trump for his part clearly reject tribe's distinction between first versus second order or genuine versus ersatz rights 
for trump the people who come into contact with the homeless have first order rights 
in a july 1 2019 interview with fox's tucker carlson trump declared you can't have what's happening — where police officer are get sick just by walking the beat 
i mean they're get actually very sick where people are get sick where the people living there living in hell too 
trump went on we cannot ruin our city 
and you have people that work in those city 
they work in office building and to get into the building they have to walk through a scene that nobody would have believe possible three years ago 
and this is the liberal establishment 
this is what i'm fight 
republican are respond to the initiative of progressive prosecutor with a vengeance 
in a fiery speech on aug 12 at the grand lodge fraternal order of police's conference in new orleans barr warn that progressive prosecutor in city across the nation are demoralize to law enforce and dangerous to public safety 
this threat barr continue come from the emergence in some of our large city of district attorney that style themselves as 'social justice' reform who spend their time undercut the police letting criminal off the hook and refuse to enforce the law 
these prosecutor barr declared have been announce their refusal to enforce broad swathe of the criminal law 
most disturb is that some are refuse to prosecute case of resist police 
some are refuse to prosecute various theft case or drug case even where the suspect is involved in distribution 
and when they do deign to charge a criminal suspect they are frequent seek sentence that are pathetic lenient 
so these city are head back to the days of revolving door justice 
the result will be predictable 
more crime more victim 
three days later william m mcswain the trumpappointe united states attorney for the eastern district of pennsylvania call a news conference to explicit attack the philadelphia district attorney larry krasner 
krasner was elect in 2017 on a platform promising to end mass incarcerate stop prosecute insufficient and insignificant case review past conviction free the wrongful convict stop cash bail imprison treat addiction as a medical problem not a crime 
to mcswain these policy are heretic there is a new culture of disrespect for law enforce in this city that is promote and champion by district attorney larry krasner — and i am fed up with it 
it start with chant at the da's victory party — chant of f the police and no good cop in a racist system 
there are mcswain argue plenty of criminal law in this city — but what we don't have is robust enforce by the district attorney 
instead we have diversionary program for gun offense the routine downgrade of charge for violent crime and entire section of the criminal code that are ignore 
most recently president trump at a rally on dec 10 in hershey pa told the crowd you have the worst district attorney refer to the philadelphia da roughly 95 mile east 
i've been hearing about this guy he let killer out almost immediately 
you better get yourself a new prosecutor 
turning the decarceration movement into a 2020 campaign issue fit into trump's goto strategy of inflame divisive conflict especially those involve dispute rights — particularly those benefit minority — in order to activate racial resentment to mobilize his core voter and to goad swing voter into lining up against the democratic party 
while trump's strategy was successful in 2016 it is by no means clear that this strategy will work as well in 2020 
a february 2019 paper evaluate the impact of eliminate prosecutor request for cash bail by aur�lie ouss professor of criminology at the university of pennsylvania and megan stevenson a law professor at george mason examine the consequence of philadelphia's nocashbail policy 
contrary to fear that the eliminate of cash bail would decrease accountable and increase failuretoappear in court the author detect no change in failuretoappear in court or in recidiv suggest that reduction in the use of monetary bail can be made without significant adverse consequence 
at the same time however the violent crime rate in philadelphia has increase by 5 percent from 2018 to 2019 according to the city's police department 
while homicide and rape both decline by 5 and 9 percent respectively robbery without a gun increase 11 percent aggravate assault with a gun by 13 percent and assault without a gun by 3 percent 
there is no evidence that the partial eliminate of cash bail cause the increase in violent crime 
in fact in 2018 the first full year when the policy were in effect crime drop 5 percent 
in some other city that have elect to reduce the use of cash bail crime has gone down 
in boston crime drop 5 percent from 2018 to 2019 the first full year in office for rachel rollin the suffolk county district attorney 
rollin pledge that she would not prosecute such crime as larceny under 250 disorderly conduct disturb the peace receiving stolen property along with break and enter — where it is into a vacant property or where it is for the purpose of sleep or seek refuge from the cold and there is no actual damage to property break and enter wanton or malicious destruction of property drug possession with intent to distribute and a standalone resist arrest charge ie 
case where a person is charged with resist arrest and that is the only charge 
the approach to prosecution adopt by rollin and other directly contradict the broken window police strategy that was widely popular among both democrat and republican in the 1990s 
the economist describe the premise behind broken window law enforce this way in environment where disorderly behavior go unchecked — where prostitute visibly ply their trade or beggar accost passersby — more serious street crime flourish 
over the past four years many progressive democrat have turn sharp against the aggressive police that broken window enforce produce argue that it has contribute to excessive incarcerate that result in the disproportionate imprison of africanamerican and other minority 
at the presidential debate in september virtually every candidate voice strong opposition to mass incarcerate and support for the release or sentence reduction of those convict of nonviolent crime 
many of the crime progressive prosecutor are decline to press charge on are link to homeless vagrancy drug possession disorderly conduct break into vacant property and so forth — which from a strategic point of view enable trump and his ally to link homeless with progressive democratic law enforce policy 
on this issue one of trump's key ally is tucker carlson 
every night this week carlson is devote segment of his fox news show to homeless 
his show will reinforce the 2020 republican election theme that democrat are foster endemic social disorder 
on jan 3 carlson tweet drug 
homeless 
third world inequality 
san francisco's radical left wing government has turn their city into an america dystopia 
this week's series is the second time in less than a year that carlson has devoted five straight nights to homeless with footage of men and women inject themselves evidence of public defecate the vagrant mental ill and sidewalk in california line for block with tent 
the trump administration has been working for month to develop a new hardnose federal policy on homeless 
citylab and other publication report that the administration is expect to fund local police effort to remove public encampment and to put the homeless in federal shelter require strict adherence to rule of sobriety and nondisruptive behavior 
the white house is taking steps toward decisive new action on homeless buck policy favored by advocate in favor of an aggressive approach that center the role of law enforce citylab report on dec 17 2019 advocate say that they expect an executive order on homeless to assign new resources to police department to remove homeless encampment and even strip housing funds from city that choose to tolerate these encampment 
the trump campaign is gamble that democrat are outside the mainstream of public opinion on these issue while the leading democratic candidate are convinced that enough of the electorate has become sufficient skeptical of lawandorder strategy — and the accompany racial undertone and overtones — to produce a democratic victory on nov 3 2020 
over the past 50 years democratic strategy base on the presumption of increase liberalism among voter at large have rarely succeed 
perhaps 2020 will be different 
tucker carlson is not your new best friend by frank bruni jan 11 2020 sudden you're digging him 
at least a little bit 
i know i've seen the tweet read the commentary heard the chatter detect the barely suppress cheer hurrah for tucker carlson 
if only we had more brave principled republican like him 
right out of the gate he protest president trump's decision to kill qassim suleimani the iran military commander note that it didn't square with the president's determination not to get bog down in the middle east and warning of the possibility and horror of fullblown war 
your pulse quicken 
you perk up 
he sound that same alarm on his next show and the show after that 
every night at 8 pm he worried about the bellicose itch of our leader 
when all around him on fox news were play their usual role indeed his usual role as masseur for the president's tender ego he administer slap hard one the kind that leave angry red handprint 
ouch — and don't stop 
you rejoice 
it's one thing when democrat challenge what looks like a rush to war by a republican president 
it's another when typically fawn member of his own party do 
and while carlson was hardly alone in his rebellion — three house republican vote with democrat to check the president's warwage authority and over in the senate mike lee and rand paul raise a dissident ruckus — no one else had his ardor his articulateness his megaphone 
carlson to the rescue 
oh please 
the fascination with him is itself fascinating for many reason 
can you recall a modern president before trump whose mood and movements could be reflect and predict simply by watch one news organization and for that matter just a few of its offering 
in lieu of a normally function white house communications department or a press secretary who hold actual press briefing what a thought 
we have fox friends in the morning and carlson's and sean hannity's show in the evening 
they don't chronicle this presidency 
they shape it not just in terms of the volume of their applause for trump who crave the loudest possible clap but in terms of actual interaction 
carlson — like hann and another fox fixture lou dobbs — has in fact advise him behind the scene 
hence the rapt reaction to carlson's antiwar jeremiad 
they may well matter 
also those of us who regard trump as a menace can be so eager — too eager — to welcome newcomer to our shore that we overlook the pollute sea they sail to get there 
in a recent moment on the abc talk show the view that was awkward at best joy behar announce excited that the prominent white nationalist richard spencer had just disavow trump because of iran 
carlson mind you has not disavow trump 
in fact he perform semantic acrobatics to denounce america's military maneuver against iran without precisely blame trump 
those slap i mention landed more forceful on the administration in general than on the manchild at its apex who is in carlson's torture rendition a gullible marionette his strings pull by inveterate habitual warmonger 
if these profiteer elite would just let trump be trump and train his wrath on mexico instead of iran a great presidency would get its groove back 
during his tuesday show carlson perform politics jujitsu and held two of the president's principal democratic adversary responsible for exacerbate tension with iran 
refer to the washington establishment and single out nance pelosi and chuck schumer he said these are people who have been basically advocate for a kind of war against iran for an awfully long time 
it's infuriate he add 
it's because of schumer and pelosi and people like them that we got into iraq in the first place 
come again 
a republican president george w bush urge and oversaw the invasion of iraq and while schumer authorize it pelosi vote against it as did many more democrat than republican 
and carlson's portrait of trump as puppet contradict report from the times and other news organization that some pentagon official were stun when the president ordered the strike against suleimani a measure more extreme than other option present to him 
carlson remains true to carlson selective with fact slant with truth and — this is the most important part — committed to his vision of america as a land imperil by nefarious democrat and the darkskinn invade they would open the gate to if not for sentry like him and trump 
as matt gertz of media matter perceptive noted carlson's antiwar stance is not a break from his past support for trump or his channel of white nationalist trope but a direct a result of both 
gertz explain that in the mindset of carlson and many of his fan on the far right energy spent on mission in another hemisphere is energy not spent on our southern border 
it's no accident that in regard to the middle east he and spencer are on the same page 
following suleimani's death carlson ask his audience why are we continue to ignore the decline of our own country in favor of jump into another quagmire 
carlson is define not by a bold willing to check trump's excesses or ugliest impulse but by his indulgence — no his fervent encouragement — of those impulse as they pertain to rac and immigrate 
on those front carlson himself grow ever ugly as my colleague farhad manjoo and other have noted 
it's why many sponsor have defect from carlson's show 
carlson repeatedly use variation of the word invasion to characterize migrant from central america 
he insist that white supremacy is a fiction a hoax 
he has use language that buy into and promote replacement theory — a farright fixation on the idea that decline birthrate among whites will cause a nonwhite takeover — and recently castigate immigrant for litter along the potomac river 
just last month he gave precious time on his show to an obscure republican congressional candidate in north carolina pete d'abrosca who has warn white america that they're being replace by third world peasant 
d'abrosca has also brag of his support from the groyper army a farright group with more than a whiff of antisemit 
is carlson himself abet hatred of jew 
in a rare point of agreement some jew and white nationalist believe so point to an onair rant last month in which he bash a jewish billionaire paul singe by compare him unfavorable with henry ford who own a newspaper that ran a lengthy series allege a jewish plot to dominate the world 
the fox news host go full antisemite wrote tablet a jewish publication while mike enoch who rally with the neonazi in charlottesville va said on his podcast if you didn't catch the germany shepherd whistle where he praise henry ford and then went into a diatribe of a jewish financier you know i don't know what universe you're existing in 
so that's some of what carlson was up to just before he turn his attention to iran 
how warm and fuzzy are you feeling toward him now 
black briton know why meghan markle wants out by afua hirsch jan 9 2020 the britain press has succeed in its apparent project of hound meghan duchess of sussex out of britain 
the part it perhaps didn't bargain for however is the loss of prince harry — a much love royal and a key part of the family's global brand — along with her 
in a statement release this week the couple said they want to carve out a progressive new role within the royal family and would step back as 'senior' member and work to become financially independent 
the britain press react with surprise at the shock move abroad describe variously as seismic selfish rogue and an atrocious lapse of judgment 
if the media paid more attention to britain's community of color perhaps it would find the announcement far less surprising 
with a new prime minister whose track record include overt racist statement some of which would make even donald trump blush a brexit project link to native nationalism and a desire to rid britain of large numbers of immigrant and an ever thicken loom of imperial nostalgia many of us are also thinking about moving 
from the very first headline about her being almost straight outta compton and have exotic dna the racist treatment of meghan has been impossible to ignore 
princess michael of kent wore an overt racist brooch in the duchess's company 
a bbc host compare the couple's newborn baby to a chimpanzee 
then there was the sublime ludicrous suggestion that meghan's avocado consumption is responsible for mass murder while her charity cookbook was portray as somehow helping terrorist 
those who claim frequent attack against the duchess have nothing to do with her race have a hard time explain these attempt to link her with particularly racial form of crime — terrorism and gang activity — as well as the fact that she has been most venomous attack for acts that attract praise when other royal did them 
her decision to guestedit britain vogue for example was roundly condemn by large parts of the britain media in stark contrast to prince charles's twotime guest editorship of country life magazine prince harry's of a bbc program and kate middleton's at huffington post all of which were quiet praise at the time 
her treatment has prove what many of us have always known no matter how beautiful you are whom you marry what palace you occupy charity you support how faithful you are how much money you accumulate or what good deed you perform in this society rac will still follow you 
in britain's rigid class society there is still a deep correlation between privilege and race 
the relatively few people of color — and even few if you count only those who have africa heritage — who rise to prominence and prosperity in britain are often told we should be grateful or told to leave if we don't like it here 
the legacy of britain's history of empire — a global construct base on a doctrine of white supremacy — its pioneer role in the slave trade and ideology of rac that enable it and policy of recruit people from the caribbean and africa for lowpaid work and then discriminating against them in education and housing is with us today the scandal surrounding the wrongful deport of black britain people in recent years is still reverberate 
meghan's decision to join the family that is the symbolic heart of the establishment responsible for this trouble history was perplex to many black britain people as we wonder whether she fully appreciate the institution she had enter 
both she and harry appear to have gain crystal clear vision as to their reality 
it's no wonder the couple want to leave and — as the code statement that they want to raise their son archie with the space to focus on the next chapter seem to suggest — protect him from the bile to which they've been expose 
the britain press have attack the couple continuous now react with shock at this move 
but the clue have been there for some time for anyone willing to read them 
there was the decision not to give archie a title from birth — something that is expect among royal children of this rank but which meghan and harry appear to have chosen to avoid 
then there were the rumor last spring that they might relocate to a country in southern africa 
in recent month the couple have begun bypass official royal channel and communicate with the press directly — most notably when the duchess said in a television documentary that she found adjust to royal life hard and harry reveal that the tragic experience of the death of his mother diana princess of wales made him want to protect his wife and family 
all were sign that the couple would not abide by royal business as usual to the extent that even announce this decision to step down from their role as senior royal appear to have taken buckingham palace by surprise 
i am not at all surprise 
this was the bitter shadow of their sunny may 2018 wedding 
how many of us suspect — hope but doubt we were wrong — that what would really initiate meghan into her new role as a briton with africa heritage would be her experience of britain rac 
and ironically by taking matter into their own hand harry and meghan's act of leave — two finger up at the rac of the britain establishment — might be the most meaningful act of royal leadership i'm ever likely to see 
two death and my life by roger cohen jan 10 2020 samuel beckett when ask one beautiful spring morning whether such a day did not make him glad to be alive respond i wouldn't go as far as that 
life is a predicament death the elephant at the horizon that loom large as the years pass 
still life is what we have 
to give less than everything to it is dereliction 
in the end its wonder is unimaginable without the presence of death 
as the dew dispel the mist dissolve and the sap rise on a morning such as the one that did not quite win over beckett the force of life is unmistakable 
that is what put us here in the first place 
great soul resemble the elements in their immensity 
they absorb everything — pain injustice insult folly — and give back decency and kindness 
they are not born of a piece 
they come into being through unflinching confrontation with life's spear 
they reach quiet 
discipline is the backbone of gracious 
stoicism is the other face of wound 
in the most beautiful smile painful knowledge hover 
midwinter is not what prompt these reflection although when a freezing wind whip off the east river all thought turn to refuge 
no the death in quick succession of two friends was the catalyst 
they were old than me 
but they were not old enough and not so distant in age that their memento mori feel less than urgent 
sonny mehta who die last month at the age of 77 would caress the books he love 
for them he live 
he guide alfred a knopf through more than three decade of rapid change 
he was a complete publisher eclectic in his taste ferocious in his will guide by a mission to bring the finest books to knopf and publish them only once edit had hone them to irreproachable form 
yet he want to be remember above all as a reader 
i knew sonny for three decade 
he publish my last two books 
his civility never waver 
the twinkle in his eye never fade 
his friendship was constant 
whisky and a cigarette and the meander conversation that went with them were more his thing than the treadmill 
he was a beautiful man 
how so 
in his gentle that contained wisdom in his diffidence that contained enthusiasm in his discretion that contained curiosity 
you had to listen careful for he spoke soft to the clue he offer 
his long marriage to his wife gita brought to my mind in its respectful and vitality rilke's phrase about love as protect the solitude of the other 
a child of india brownskinn in what was when he start the white preserve of britain publishing once ask if he was perhaps seek a job in the stockroom mehta never stoop to unkind 
his writer knew they had come home 
he command the unswerving loyalty of the likes of michael ondaatje kazuo ishiguro germaine greer and julian barnes 
i feel that my heart has been rip out jon segal his longtime colleague at knopf told me 
when mehta's father a diplomat die in vienna mehta found in his desk a folder with every article ever publish about him 
the pride of his father who had never compliment his son was evident 
remote father vast subject 
hearing this story i understood more of my friend's elegant stoicism 
early in december ward just a journalist who turn to fiction a great washington post correspondent in vietnam who became a great novelist die at the age of 84 
like mehta he was a lover of scotch 
i had not seen much of just since we became friends in berlin 20 years ago but his death hit me hard 
i recall him saying to me back then i was useless for journalism after vietnam 
i knew i was not go to do any better work 
truth he decided must be pursue elsewhere 
many of the things that make you a good journalist have to be discard to make you a good writer he said 
in a novel every fact is a rock thrown in the hull and the boat sink a bit 
just probe the delusion of people and nation and the damage they suffer 
his prose was understate 
in a dangerous friend one character observe i have always believe that a mountainous ego result from an absence of conscience 
and that was before his needy seize the oval office 
as with mehta just's prod was subtle his smile contained sorrow his wisdom was hardearne his constant humor wry 
wound by a grenade blast in 1966 winch to safety by a chopper he later wrote as quote in his washington post obituary when you got there you said instinctive i made it 
and over and over again jesus christ 
i can hear my friend saying that stress on the christ 
life hang by a thread 
pay attention to its ephemeral gift 
of truman schockley dead at 19 in vietnam just wrote in 1967 smoking a lucky strike and staring off into the mountain schockley die with a sniper's bullet through the heart and stop breathing before the cigarette stop burning 
now there's a perfect sentence that might even have persuade beckett 
spring pass 
truth distill do not 
warren and klobuchar teach the boys a lesson by frank bruni jan 15 2020 would a female democratic nominee have a hard time beating donald trump than a male one 
i can't tell you because i don't have a crystal ball and because it's a stupid question its answer dependent on which female candidate you're talk about on how she runs her campaign on the twist and turn of the national conversation between now and november 
but i can tell you this either of the two women among the six candidate on the stage in des moines on tuesday night would give trump a serious run for his money 
both have earn the right to take him on 
both would be formidable president 
and both made clear with commanding performance how absurd it is that this country hasn't yet shatter the highest glass ceiling of all 
i'm focus on elizabeth warren and amy klobuchar because during the most electric stretch of this seventh debate of the democratic primary the focus was indeed on them — or rather on the idea that their party couldn't risk nominate one of them at a juncture when get rid of a republican incumbent has seldom if ever been so important 
you know the back story 
according to media report over recent days warren and bernie sander met 13 month ago to discuss their nascent presidential campaign and he told her he didn't believe a woman could win the 2020 election 
sander deny saying that 
he deny it again on tuesday night and warren decline to get into a backandforth about that conversation 
what she did instead was more effective — and certainly more stirring she drew a contrast between the two women and the four men who had made the cut for this debate which was the final one before the iowa caucus and had the fewest candidate so far 
that contrast was perfect and got better still when klobuchar chime in because what the two women said brilliant cast them not as trailblazer who had something extra to prove not as outsider who had finagle a way in not as underdog urge voter to take some extraordinary leap of faith not as highminde gamble 
they turn the stubborn sexist notion that their presence and presidential ambition were exotic on its head cite yardstick by which they were demonstrable superior to their male rival 
i think the best way to talk about who can win is by look at people's winning record warren a secondterm senator from massachusetts said 
look at the men on this stage 
collective they have lost 10 election 
she didn't name the men or the election but joe biden is the veteran of two previous miserably unsuccessful campaign for the presidency 
pete buttigieg lost bid to become the treasurer of indiana and the chairman of the democratic national committee 
in contrast warren noted the only people on this stage who have won every single election that they've been in are the women — amy and me 
and the only person who has beaten an incumbent republican any time in the past 30 years is me 
klobuchar a thirdterm senator from minnesota said you don't need to be male to win just as you don't need other quality pronounced necessary or optimum by some unnamed amorphous committee of pronounce 
you don't have to be the skinniest person in the room she said 
you don't have to be the loudest person 
you have to be competent 
and when you look at what i have done she add i have won every race every place every time 
i have won in the reddest of district 
i have won in the suburban area in the rural area 
that she add was why she had the most endorse of current iowa legislator and former iowa legislator in this race 
i don't mean to romanticize warren and klobuchar 
warren's boast about vanquish a republican incumbent 
that incumbent was scott brown whose victory in a special election in deep blue massachusetts was considered something of a freak occurrence to begin with 
and when klobuchar began to tick off the name of women recently elect to high post she sudden froze unable to remember who the governor of kansas was though she'd just said i'm very proud to know her 
her name is laura kelly 
i'm also not saying that warren or klobuchar would be the party's best bet 
i don't know who would be 
i'm just saying that on a night when the viable of women aim for the white house went from subtext to text these two women found words — not just in address that issue but also in talk about prescriptiondrug price climate change nuclear weapon and more — that expose the bigotry and shameful of doubt about female candidate 
otherwise the seventh debate was sleepy like many of the first six biden seem to be campaign for a third barack obama term and his sentence were less straight lines than knot 
they didn't build toward a conclusion so much as sag until they finally gave out 
warren said corruption every chance she got 
sander call for revolution and correct emphasize that many trade and foreignpolicy position that other democrat came around to he embrace from the start 
buttigieg pivot from the question at hand to a practiced soliloquy that almost always had something to do with turning the page and a new generation 
tom steyer insist that no one care about the environment as much as he did 
and klobuchar talk about so many different pieces of legislation with her name on them that you had this image of her racing around the capitol with an outstretched pen stopping all aide who pass by and scrawl her signature on any paper they were carry 
one new wrinkle was warren's clear and proud position of herself to sanders's right on trade and on health care 
she was making the case for herself as a progressive who would favor increment fix if those were the only available improvement and who could be a unify she suggest that sander lack that potential 
buttigieg meanwhile was more determined than ever to mention and reach out to voter of color from whom he enjoy little support 
but what most distinguished the debate was the way in which gender came to the fore 
there was a memorable moment when sander sought to correct warren on her 30year claim note that he'd defeat a republican in 1990 and she did some quick outloud arithmetic to determine that 1990 was well 30 years ago 
mansplaine met mathematics 
warren also said this since donald trump was elect women candidate have outperforme men candidate in competitive races 
and in 2018 we took back the house we took back statehouse because of women candidate and women voter 
back in the 1960s she add people ask 'could a catholic win' back in 2008 people ask if an africanamerican could win 
in both times the democratic party step up and said yes got behind their candidate and we change america 
that's who we are 
it was a selfserv edit of history sure and it put the most positive gloss possible on the nation's character 
but that didn't make it any less important 
or any less inspire 
we can't afford trump as our commander in chief by frank bruni jan 7 2020 we choose our president in happy times and sad amid bull and bear market when we're try to conserve what is and when we're itch to discover what might be 
we should always choose them as if we're on the brink of war because it's impossible to predict when we'll find ourselves there in petrify need of a strong stable leader we can trust 
donald trump was chosen in a fit of longbuild and largely warrant cynicism as a gamble and protest 
he hadn't demonstrate any particular strength only that he could perform a peculiar burlesque of it 
he show zilch in the way of honor but had a genius for stoke doubt that it still exist in politics at all 
his supporter thrill to a pledge of disrupt not a promise of safe harbor 
and here we are with an inexperienced impulsive and perpetual aggrieved commander in chief precisely when we can't afford one 
i hope i have him wrong 
i do 
i hope that some of his worst colors are an act that some of his rashest outburst are a strategy that instinct can be as useful as erudite and that in order the killing of maj gen qassim suleimani he has persuade iran to rethink rather than redouble its aggression 
but there are reason to be worried even terrify and they're rooted in his untraditional and sometimes irrational approach to the presidency — and in the wages of that 
i'm scared because all president are only as good as the counsel they seek and the counselor who provide it and trump has burn through so many top adviser and so much good will that he operate with a hollowedout staff of halfbake experience 
his second and current defense secretary mark esp lack the seasoning and stature of his first jim matti who resigned 13 month ago when trump reject his plea and vow to pull america troops out of syria 
that at least was the specific prompt for mattis's departure 
but matti also found the president to be of limited cognitive ability and of generally dubious character wrote jeffrey goldberg the editor in chief of the atlantic in a profile of matti last fall 
limited cognition 
dubious character 
those may not matter when you're choose the gilt for a golf resort or skyscraper 
they do when you're decide whether to put america lives on the line 
trump is on his fourth national security adviser robert o'brien whose r�sum� is thin for the job 
and throughout the trump administration there are relevant post unfill or occupy by official never confirmed by the senate 
we're estrange from some of our most important ally who are exhaust by trump's mood offend by his mockery of them and chill by his ignorance 
they have conclude that if he is america america is no long trustworthy 
as greg miller of the washington post recently observe the president has disparage us intelligence agency disrupt relationship with europe partner and dilute the power of the bully pulpit with thousand of falsehood 
all of that is coming home to roost 
it's impossible not to hear his justification for suleimani's killing through the filter of his past exaggeration and lie 
it will be equally difficult to have faith in the information that he dole out go forward 
and it's hard to make sense of this 
erratic in so many other ways trump was fairly consistent in oppose america military entanglement in the middle east to the point of scornful bash republican who got us into iraq and ignore recommendation for reprisal against iran before last week 
but in target suleimani he embrace a course that his predecessor in the oval office reject as too extreme 
according to the times's report pentagon official were stun 
is trump's spectacular turnabout a function of fresh development or a spasm of ego 
we're always yoke to a president's psyche — to george w bush's itch for separation from his father to barack obama's investment in his own unflappable 
trump's selfsooth pantomime of potency could strangle us 
and what of his reckless provocative tweet 
they're one thing when he's bait democrat quite another when he's thumb his nose at international law 
on twitter he threaten to bomb important cultural site in iran and later explain to reporter aboard air force one that if it and other country were go to engage in terrorism and torture hell why should we be any better 
here mr president is the reason because we aspire to value that are actually worth fight for 
and the day we take our cue from the likes of the taliban and the islam state is the day we should just junk the statue of liberty and retire the national anthem 
reshape america's image in 280character yowl and uppercase yelp trump told iran to be prepared for military attack of a disproportionate manner 
please god let richard nixon's madman theory of international relations — which held that an aura of reckless might cow adversary — have merit 
otherwise there's no telling where this mad man might drag us 
donald trump has not made a single public statement since order last thursday's operation that has not been either unhelpful or counterproductive noah rothman the associate editor of commentary wrote on monday 
rothman is conservative do not routine bash trump and defend suleimani's killing itself 
but in his essay titled a dangerous man in perilous times he noted that the best anyone can say about trump's spasmodic conduct is that it won't matter 
serious moments demand sober and rational mind at the helm and the president's behavior so far do not inspire confidence rothman add 
no it make you tremble 
we hate data collection 
that doesn't mean we can stop it 
by farhad manjoo nov 15 2019 we're being watch 
we know we're being watch and we don't think the watch have our best interests at heart 
they try to mollify us argue that we're being watch for our own good and that in fact we're the one in charge of the scale and scope of all the watch but deep down most of us are confuse and suspicious about this sudden state of affair 
why are they watch us so close 
what will they do with all they learn about us 
is there any hope of stopping them 
and do it even matter that we do not want to be watch — or is it of no consequence because they know we're trap and so do we 
the above may sound like the ravings of a wretch imprison in the panopticon but according to a survey of more than 4000 people conduct this summer by the pew research center it is the widespread sensibility of the day 
according to the survey america in 2019 feel adrift and powerless about living under the glare of digital surveillance 
twothird of america believe that surveillance is an inevitable consequence of modern existence — it is not possible to go through daily life they say without company and the government collect data about them 
more than 70 percent believe that most or all of what they do online is being track and nearly that many believe the same is true of what they do offline 
and more than 80 percent feel like they have very little or no control over the data being collected about them 
in some ways the numbers are unsurprise of course people who are being watch all the time feel that they're being watch all the time 
yet the survey also suggest a major failing on the part of corporation and the government to mitigate our concern about the tradeoff we're making for digital convenience 
in the past few years google facebook and other company that collect and keep gigantic trove of data about us have step up their effort to give us control over that data 
their primary argument is that user not the company are in charge of the whole game — we can affect what data is collected about us and how it's use 
that message doesn't seem to be get through 
large majority of america feel as we have little or no control over our search and purchase and browse history that our text and social media wandering are easily monitor and that even our physical location may be up for grab 
it get worse 
not only do we feel we have no control over our data but we're also sure there will be few consequence for misuse 
most america say they don't trust company to own up to mistake in the handle of our data or to suffer any serious punishment when things go wrong 
most of us say the companies' own privacy policy are meaningless 
not that this is a paranoid view 
if you consider recent history — say the fact that equifax was allow to stay in business after its gargantuan 2017 breach in which it fail at its one job collect and maintain americans' financial data — it stand to reason that punishment for wrongdoing will be light 
in july facebook was fine 5 billion by the federal trade commission for its role in the cambridge analytica privacy scandal — a fine that set a record but was of so little consequence to facebook's business that its stock price actually rose after the punishment was announce 
the pew survey show america are eager for more power over our data 
threequarter of respondent said there should be more regulation of what company can do with our data the view was share across the politics spectrum 
and america are wary of the fundamental tradeoff we're making for technology 
datahungry corporation insist that we're benefit from the surveillance state — and that our very acquiesce to the collection is a signal of our contentment 
in fact the vast majority of america say that the potential risk of data collection by company and the government outweigh the benefit 
but where do all this leave us 
ordinarily a finding of widespread discontent should spark a sense of optimism — if people hate the status quo so much and are beg for a new way forward won't the market or the government step in and give us something better 
but there is anothermore pessimist way to read this survey 
the tech company still enjoy enormous financial success and have seen little impact from increase scrutiny on their business 
this suggest none of it matter 
we hate the way things are but we've trade away our power to stop it and our worry won't change anything 
the prison is terrible 
we all know it 
enjoy your stay 
we made the coronaviru epidemic by david quammen jan 28 2020 the latest scary new virus that has capture the world's horrify attention cause a lockdown of 56 million people in china disrupt travel plan around the globe and spark a run on medical mask from wuhan hubei province to bryan texas is known provisional as ncov2019 
it's a clunky moniker for a lurid threat 
the name picked by the team of china scientist who isolated and identify the virus is short for novel coronaviru of 2019 
it reflect the fact that the virus was first recognize to have infect human late last year — in a seafood and liveanimal market in wuhan — and that it belong to the coronaviru family a notorious group 
the sar epidemic of 20023 which infect 8098 people worldwide killing 774 of them was cause by a coronaviru and so was the mer outbreak that began on the arabia peninsula in 2012 and still linger 2494 people infect and 858 death as of november 
despite the new virus's name though and as the people who christen it well know ncov2019 isn't as novel as you might think 
something very much like it was found several years ago in a cave in yunnan a province roughly a thousand mile southwest of wuhan by a team of perspicacious research who noted its existence with concern 
the fast spread of ncov2019 — more than 4500 confirmed case including at least 106 death as of tuesday morning and the figures will have risen by the time you read this — is startle but not unforeseeable 
that the virus emerge from a nonhuman animal probably a bat and possibly after passing through another creature may seem spooky yet it is utterly unsurprise to scientist who study these things 
one such scientist is zhengli shi of the wuhan institute of virology a senior author of the draft paper not yet peer review and so far available only in preprint that gave ncov2019 its identity and name 
it was ms shi and her collaborate who back in 2005 show that the sar pathogen was a bat virus that had spill over into people 
ms shi and colleague have been tracing coronaviruse in bats since then warning that some of them are unique suit to cause human pandemic 
in a 2017 paper they set out how after nearly five years of collect fecal sample from bats in the yunnan cave they had found coronaviruse in multiple individual of four different species of bats including one call the intermediate horseshoe bat because of the halfoval flap of skin protrude like a saucer around its nostril 
the genome of that virus ms shi and her colleague have now announce is 96 percent identical to the wuhan virus that has recently been found in human 
and those two constitute a pair distinct from all other known coronaviruse including the one that cause sar 
in this sense ncov2019 is novel — and possibly even more dangerous to human than the other coronaviruse 
i say possibly because so far not only do we not know how dangerous it is we can't know 
outbreak of new viral disease are like the steel balls in a pinball machine you can slap your flipper at them rock the machine on its leg and bonk the balls to the jittery ring but where they end up drop depend on 11 level of chance as well as on anything you do 
this is true with coronaviruse in particular they mutate often while they replicate and can evolve as quick as a nightmare ghoul 
peter daszak the president of ecohealth alliance a private research organization base in new york that focus on the connection between human and wildlife health is one of ms shi's longtime partner 
we've been raise the flag on these virus for 15 years he told me on friday with calm frustration 
ever since sar 
he was a coauthor of the 2005 batsandsar study and again of the 2017 paper about the multiple sarslike coronaviruse in the yunnan cave 
mr daszak told me that during that second study the field team took blood sample from a couple of thousand yunnanese people about 400 of whom live near the cave 
roughly 3 percent of them carry antibody against sarsrelate coronaviruse 
we don't know if they got sick 
we don't know if they were expose as children or adult mr daszak said 
but what it tell you is that these virus are making the jump repeatedly from bats to human 
in other words this wuhan emergency is no novel event 
it's part of a sequence of related contingency that stretch back into the past and will stretch forward into the future as long as current circumstances persist 
so when you're done worry about this outbreak worry about the next one 
or do something about the current circumstances 
current circumstances include a perilous trade in wildlife for food with supply chain stretch through asia africa and to a lesser extent the united states and elsewhere 
that trade has now been outlaw in china on a temporary basis but it was outlaw also during sar then allow to resume — with bats civet porcupine turtle bamboo rats many kind of bird and other animal pile together in market such as the one in wuhan 
current circumstances also include 76 billion hungry human some of them impoverish and desperate for protein some affluent and wasteful and empower to travel every which way by airplane 
these factor are unprecedented on planet earth we know from the fossil record by absence of evidence that no largebody animal has ever been nearly so abundant as human are now let alone so effective at arrogate resources 
and one consequence of that abundance that power and the consequent ecological disturbance is increase viral exchange — first from animal to human then from human to human sometimes on a pandemic scale 
we invade tropical forest and other wild landscape which harbor so many species of animal and plant — and within those creature so many unknown virus 
we cut the tree we kill the animal or cage them and send them to market 
we disrupt ecosystem and we shake virus loose from their natural host 
when that happen they need a new host 
often we are it 
the list of such virus emerge into human sound like a grim drumbeat machupo bolivia 1961 marburg germany 1967 ebola zaire and sudan 1976 hiv recognize in new york and california 1981 a form of hanta now known as sin nombre southwestern united states 1993 hendra australia 1994 bird flu hong kong 1997 nipah malaysia 1998 west nile new york 1999 sar china 20023 mer saudi arabia 2012 ebola again west africa 2014 
and that's just a selection 
now we have ncov2019 the latest thump on the drum 
current circumstances also include bureaucrat who lie and conceal bad news and elect official who brag to the crowd about cutting forest to create job in the timber industry and agriculture or about cutting budget for public health and research 
the distance from wuhan or the amazon to paris toronto or washington is short for some virus measured in hour given how well they can ride within airplane passenger 
and if you think fund pandemic preparedness is expensive wait until you see the final cost of ncov2019 
fortunately current circumstances also include brilliant dedicated scientist and outbreakresponse medical people — such as many at the wuhan institute of virology ecohealth alliance the united states center for disease control and prevention cdc 
the china cdc 
and numerous other institution 
these are the people who go into bat cave swamp and highsecur containment laboratory often risk their lives to bring out bat feces and blood and other precious evidence to study genomic sequence and answer the key question 
as the number of ncov2019 case has increase and the death toll along with it one metric the case fatality rate has remain rather steady so far at about or below 3 percent 
as of tuesday less than three out of 100 confirmed case had die 
that's relatively good luck — worse than for most strain of influenza better than for sar 
this good luck may not last 
nobody know where the pinball will go 
four days from today the number of case may be in the ten of thousand 
six month from today wuhan pneumonia may be recede into memory 
or not 
we are face with two mortal challenge in the short term and the long term 
short term we must do everything we can with intelligence calm and a full commitment of resources to contain and extinguish this ncov2019 outbreak before it become as it could a devastating global pandemic 
long term we must remember when the dust settle that ncov2019 was not a novel event or a misfortune that befell us 
it was — it is — part of a pattern of choice that we human are making 
we really must stop start war by farhad manjoo jan 9 2020 let us not go again to war 
let us not go to war because we cannot afford to win another war 
there would be no winning this war 
there is only lose at a cost that staggers every dimension on all side — in lives in money and in the squander opportunity to do anything better with our collective time and resources on this already beset planet 
i'm speak here of war with iran our current precipice 
but i issue the warning more generally too 
bookmark this page and pull it up as prophylaxis anytime the drum of war begin rattling anew war isn't just tragic 
it is increasingly dumb and pointless too 
war is becoming an outdated means of human conflict resolution 
technology is turning armed conflict into an endeavor increasingly dominate by what war scholar call asymmetric warfare — meaning that weak powers like iran can now marshal so much strength that they are no long very weak exacting a mighty cost of victory even to the world's preeminent global superpower 
then there is climate change which has ratchet up the opportunity cost of every conflict anytime we are fight each other we are abscond in the large and more important fight for the habitable of the planet 
you may debate whether any particular historical war work out well for its agitator 
but there should be no debate that many of america's recent war have end in misery for all 
our politician talk of war as a last resort but that is only to keep up appearances because the truth is too terrible to admit that our evermoreexpensive war machine a cost of nearly 740 billion in 2020 can buy us little peace 
rather than a last resort war now offer no resort 
war can no long be defend as the thing to do after everything else has fail 
war must instead be seen as failure itself 
i had thought the futility of war might be grasp by most america politician by now 
one of donald trump's rare bright spot as a candidate was his departure from the post911 bushcheney doctrine that double down on heedless america military intervention 
in his oftstate aversion to endless war trump's sentiment match the public's — a pew poll this summer show that most america including most military veteran now believe that our war in afghanistan and iraq have not been worth fight 
trump seem to be heed the public's caution back in the summer when he abrupt call off a strike against iran in retaliation for its shoot down an america surveillance drone 
but in killing iran's most important military leader maj gen qassim suleimani trump open the door to war 
now iran is retaliate and a cycle of escalate looks possible — even if for now trump is backing away from further conflict 
it's beginning to feel a lot like 2003 again with some of the same pundit and politician who were in favor of a war with iraq now repeating similar talk points about iran 
while note that he'd like to avoid war trump himself has suggest that war with iran would be a cakewalk it wouldn't last very long i can tell you that the president told fox business in june 
don't fall for it 
it's plain dishonesty how could anyone who has live through the quagmire of iraq and afghanistan think war with iran will be anything but long and brutal 
in those conflict america's overwhelming military might stumble on local culture geography ethnic and religious rivalry and most of all the determination of an entrenched committed foe that could melt in and out of the local population 
as vox's alex ward points out iran has almost three times as many people as iraq did when we invade in 2003 
it also has treacherous geography and it control a great many proxy forces across the middle east and even in likely sleeper cell in europe and latin america 
iran also possess a sophisticated cyberwar operation — it is believe to be behind recent hack into america bank and other target and to have spread disinformation and propaganda on social network around the world 
the united states would overwhelm iran in a conventional headon war but like china and russia iran has adopt a deep capacity to mount hybrid war — conflict that involve both conventional and unconventional means of war 
for example iran could expand its operation on oil tanker in the strait of hormuz dealing a costly rise in global energy price 
as ward conclude a usiran war would be a bloody hell during and after the fight 
this get to the immense folly at the heart of our military might 
though the united states spend more on the military than the next nine country combine we have not been able to purchase much peace through strength 
that's because our strength is clearly of a type and our years in iraq and afghanistan have made plain our vulnerable 
among other shortcoming our military is still buy mostly big old defense technology like aircraft carrier and bomber from the militaryindustrial complex even if many of these technology face obsolescence under a future of artificial intelligence unmann battlefield robot and other cyberweapon 
our country's effort at adopt artificial intelligence technology in the military might not be enough to counter our rival including russia and china 
the upshot is this the united states hold military supremacy over the world's waters and the airspace but our control is limited and contest 
the last two decade have made clear that even for america war is never simple 
we should fear it 
we should avoid it 
and we ought to look for more fruitful things to do with our money and our lives like making life on earth more livable not less 
what do it mean to have a serious drink problem 
by nance wartik jan 31 2020 one day in the fall of 2018 i woke up feeling wreck 
the night before i'd had beer with colleague and wound up bray loud to one of them about something she'd confide and what i thought she should do 
i wish i'd never told you this she finally blurt and i knew i'd betray a trust 
a few nights before i'd been more inept 
a group of us had held a memorial for a friend 
at a gathering later i'd had a martini with prosecco chaser then picked a senseless quarrel with our hostess a close friend as bereaved as i was 
now i sat there head pounding stomach roile 
it was another in a string of mornings when i'd woken wanting to smother myself with a pillow 
booze it didn't take much for me to feel the effects 
alcohol could make nights glittery and fun make me love all humankind 
it could also and unpredictable rouse demon that turn me into a wifely shrew spark bruising argument unleash embarrass faux pas 
this morning a new thought struck penetrating to the bone 
i can't do it anymore 
i quit 
although i'd grapple for decade with my relationship to alcohol i didn't consider myself an alcoholic 
in online quizze ask how many drink i typically had per day i could fairly accurate answer two very generous drink 
on the world health organization's audit quiz which test for drink problem i score eight of 40 points making me a medium drinker with a risky pattern 
but medium didn't sound too bad and the website said i could alter my drink without too much difficulty 
plus i had the vaunt female triumvirate husband kid respectable job 
friends when they weren't mad at me 
ok sometimes i overdid it 
but it was easy to imagine myself as your average funlove parisian oenophile 
and yet 
i was in my late teens when i discover what alcohol could do quash my inhibition kindle false intimacy provoke brilliant revelation that i soon forgot 
alcohol made me the outgoing person my unconfident self want to be let me talk to people i normally wouldn't have 
yes occasional i awoke to see a head on the adjoin pillow and felt a bolt of regret 
damn 
why did this guy seem cute last night 
but i'd call a friend guess what i did this time 
i'd ask turning discomfort into a hilarious anecdote 
or a friend would inform me of my revelry nance the bartender threw you out 
you couldn't stay on your stool 
alcohol was also medication 
i drank to quiet angst or because i was lonesome 
i drank it took years to realize because i had clinical depression 
eventually i treat the depression but kept drink 
alcohol was my stress reduce my reality fighter the confer of artificial joy 
life change in my 40s 
i married and with my husband adopt our beloved daughter now 17 
working from home i made dinner drink wine with a neighbor mom 
my morningafter headache were worsen though 
nights rather than reading or chat with my husband i'd crash 
i fear my drink was destroy brain cell 
i'd written about how alcohol is hard on women than men and that worried me too 
some years ago to prove i had control i cut down to five nights a week 
it was tough 
how could i not drink after a rough day 
i couldn't manage two consecutive sober nights 
achieve my two sober nights was always an exercise in militarylevel strategize 
but every sunday i felt virtuous 
an actual alcoholic couldn't skip any nights i thought 
but i could 
what do it mean to have a serious drink problem 
the answer is surprising vague 
alcoholism isn't an actual diagnosis 
in 1980 the america psychiatric association's authoritative diagnostic and statistic manual of mental disorder establish two different classification alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence 
in 2013 the dsm 
combine the category to create alcohol use disorder a spectrum range from mild to severe base not on how much someone drink but on how many of 11 behavior or psychological symptom a person has 
meanwhile the center for disease control and prevention has its own standard focus more on quantity of alcoholic consumption 
seven drink per week or few is considered safe for women 14 or few for men 
but guidelines fluctuate international according to a stanford university study from 2016 
in canada or france you can drink more weekly and be considered low risk 
moreover a recent study in the lancet conclude alcohol is so tough on health that there's no safe level 
in short if you wonder whether you drink too much sometimes it's best to trust your gut 
i don't know exactly what happen that fall morning as i sat in bed achy and humiliate 
as visceral as i've known anything i knew i was in trouble 
so what if i didn't swig a bottle of scotch daily 
i'd hit medium drinker rock bottom and it was enough 
despite the website saying i could change my drink without too much difficulty quit booze is one of the hardest things i've ever done 
i pine for it at restaurant i'd gaze at ruby goblet as if at a divine elixir 
after workout i'd crave a beer 
and what was the point of socialize sober 
eventually i had to try 
guzzle nonalcoholic beer — before i wise switch to seltzer — while chat with people savor complex pinot noir was initially daunt 
but astonishing my nonintoxicate brain still found what they said funny touching or interesting 
i didn't join aa though i don't rule it out 
i sought support from my husband daughter and friends — those i'd offend those surprise i even had a problem 
i devour others' story watch movies about alcoholic reading memoirs lurk in subreddit for people struggle to quit 
but what really kept me on the path was the remarkable difference between the drink and not drink me 
i hadn't grasp the degree to which a sense of shame had insidious undergirded my life 
now it was gone replace by an unaccustomed pride 
the long i abstain the better i felt in ways that spill into marriage work parent friendship 
recently someone unaware i'd quit told me i look years younger 
i'm more patient 
my headache are infrequent my energy up 
those result fit with a study publish in the canada medical association journal among the first focus on moderate drinkers' mental health 
research study cohort of people in hong kong and the united states found even safe drinker women in particular show improve wellbeing if they stop 
today i can label myself 
i had moderate alcohol use disorder a chronic relapse brain disease marked by loss of control over alcohol 
the national institute on alcoholism and alcohol abuse say 62 percent of america adult more than 15 million people are on the alcohol use disorder spectrum 
other research put the numbers higher 
i'd guess many like me drink modest enough that they don't believe they have a problem 
i feel lucky i quit before anything worse happen 
sobriety can still be a challenge 
if all go according to plan i'll never again experience the soft scrim that drops between me and reality as wine drain from my glass 
it seem sad until i remember that three times since quit i've try a celebratory drink 
most recently in peru i had one of the country's famous pisco sour 
it gave me a mild buzz and a hangover 
i haven't had a drop since 
these days i awaken clearheade 
i'm close than ever to being the mother wife relative and friend i want to be 
it feel good 
really good 
i get up the next morning 
i do it again 
what if it were obama on trial 
by nichola kristof jan 25 2020 what if it were president barack obama who was the subject of the senate impeach trial 
how would we feel then 
cass sunstein a professor at harvard law school suggest a question along those lines in his book impeach a citizen's guide 
it's one of several thought experiment that i suggest in order to step back from the hurlybur in the senate and interrogate our own principles and motivation 
the first approach as sunstein put it is this suppose that a president engage in certain action that seem to you very very bad 
suppose that you are tempt to think that he should be impeach 
you should immediately ask yourself would i think the same thing if i love the president's policy and thought that he was otherwise do a splendid job 
alternative if you oppose impeach and removal sunstein suggest you ask yourself would i think the same thing if i abhor the president's policy and thought that he was otherwise do a horrific job 
in practical terms this amount to what if it were obama who had been caught in this ukraine scandal 
my guess is that if it were obama republican would be demanding witness as they did in the 1999 trial of bill clinton 
given how aggressive republican member of congress pursue the benghazi event — multiple investigate eventually finding no evidence of wrongdoing by either obama or thensecretary of state hillary clinton — i'm confident that the gop 
would be insist that obama be remove with frequent chant of lock him up 
yet i suspect that many democrat would also switch side finding it easy to excuse misconduct by someone they admire — and seeing it as more important in that situation to preserve executive privilege and leave it to voter to decide the matter in the fall 
that's why we owe it to ourselves as a matter of intellectual honesty to think through how we would react if it were the other guy on trial 
progressive may be scoff that this exercise is unrealistic obama was meticulous in avoid scandal and ethical conflict 
he checked with the justice department before accept the nobel peace prize and for him a scandal was something like wearing a tan suit 
the ukraine mess would have been out of character for obama while it is entire in character for trump 
but republican will see this different 
the second thought experiment come from another distinguished lawyer neal katyal in his new book impeach the case against donald trump 
imagine if it had work katyal suggest 
imagine if our president had leverage his role as commander in chief to convince a foreign power to open an investigate into his politics opponent 
imagine if the president's rival lost the primary because news broke that he was under investigate 
imagine if that meant the president face a weak candidate in november 2020 — and won reelection as a result 
the foreign country could then blackmail our president by threaten to expose the corruption gain leverage over our foreign policy 
meanwhile the president might abuse presidential power in other ways in the belief that impunity was complete 
if all this eventually became public and truth do have a way of trickle out this would have devastating consequence for the legitimacy of america election 
this thought experiment perhaps isn't so farfetched 
we know now that trump's pressure on ukraine cause alarm in the white house and the intelligence community with national security adviser john bolton liken it to a drug deal 
yet for all that uproar it almost didn't become public 
it was only because of a whistleblower that the information began to emerge and the military aid to ukraine was release only after the white house became aware of the whistleblower and was being pressure by congress 
in short trump's plan almost succeed — and in any case he will get away with it in the sense that he is sure to be acquit by the senate 
when republican suggest that trump did nothing wrong what message do that impunity send to trump and to future president 
the third thought experiment is simple what if trump weren't president but was like almost any other person in america 
what if he were a high school vice principal who ensure that a police detective's son would be accept in advanced placement class — and then add i'd like you to do us a favor though 
the favor would be an investigate of the vice principal's exwife before their upcoming child custody hearing in hope of tilt the outcome in his favor 
in that situation the vice principal would be fire 
we all recognize that no school official or other person in a government bureaucracy should use public power for private benefit 
so a last query shouldn't we have as high a standard for the president of the united states as for a school vice principal 
what if trump gave alaska to putin 
by nichola kristof jan 22 2020 let's not dismiss the senate impeach trial as a kangaroo court 
that's an insult to kangaroo who lately have been suffering enough 
president trump and senate republican leader seem to be plan a rush sham trial with no witness and limited evidence 
this remind me of a trial i once monitor of a china journalist in beije the proceedings were held in a majestic court building with high ceiling plush courtroom crisp microphone and attentive security officer all overseen by solemn judge — everything a justice system might want except justice 
what's at stake in this trial is the basic idea that america's leader is accountable for misconduct 
without that concept we may have a grand senate chamber and eloquent speech but our democracy ring hollow 
without that principle of equality before the law our grand senate under mitch mcconnell simply become an america analogue of china's rubberstamp national people's congress 
mcconnell's grim determination to see no evidence and hear no witness is particularly hypocrite because in 1999 during the impeach trial of president bill clinton he did favor allow witness 
it's certainly not unusual to have a witness in an impeach trial he said then 
lindsey graham a member of the house and an impeach manager at the time was even more blunt 
if there's any doubt call witness he urge 
in every trial that there has ever been in the senate regarding impeach witness were call graham noted then 
by the count of house democrat the average number of witness is now 33 for each of the past impeach trial 
knowing that john bolton as national security adviser refer to the ukraine mess as a drug deal why would senator not want to clarify what he meant 
why risk covering up a coverup 
there are less strained argument that mcconnell and other could make against remove trump from office 
they could say that the president's conduct while improper did not rise to the level require removal 
instead trump and his defend are pursue a line of defense that would create an imperial unchecked presidency because it's not clear what would ever merit impeach and removal by their standard 
trump's team even suggest that abuse of power itself cannot be grounds for impeach calling it the house democrats' newly invent 'abuse of power' theory 
newly invent 
abuse of power was central to the discussion of impeach at the constitutional convention 
alexander hamilton said that impeach was the remedy for the abuse or violate of some public trust 
it was also the basis for articles of impeach approve by the house judiciary committee against both clinton and richard nixon the full house reject that article against clinton and nixon resigned before a full house vote 
frank o 
bowman iii a constitutional law scholar who is cite in the president's legal brief call that same brief a wellcrafte piece of sophistry 
trump and his supporter simply make assertion without regard to reality 
this is an echo in the impeach domain of the 16241 false or mislead statement trump made in his first three years in office by the count of the washington post 
for example trump's backer insist that impeach and conviction require a violate of a particular criminal statute even though most scholar agree that that is not the case 
indeed one early impeach was of a judge who preside while drunk which was not a violate of criminal law 
trump's lawyer argue that removal from office would amount to nullify an election and subvert the will of the america people 
under that reasoning despite the constitution a president could never be remove — and in that case a president is untouchable 
we all recognize that a president has the right to pardon criminal but suppose he pardon hack in exchange for investigate the biden 
or what if trump announce that he would pardon every republican bank robber 
or suppose trump fawn over vladimir putin to the point of return alaska to russia 
as it happen alaska isn't my example but that of alan dershowitz the president's lawyer 
assume putin decide to 'retake' alaska the way he 'retook' crimea dershowitz wrote in a 2018 book 
assume further that a president allow him to do it because he believe that russia has a legitimate claim to 'its' original territory 
even that would not merit impeach and removal by dershowitz's standard 
note to alaska senator lisa murkowski and dan sullivan your thought comrade 
do we really think that there should be no check on a rogue president as he hand alaska over to putin — or florida to spain while we're at it — or even as he pardon stream of republican bank robber 
must we tolerate an outof control ruler who engage in the words of the declaration of independence in a long train of abuse and usurp 
that's the kind of system that we rebel against in 1776 no 
what will you do when the culture war come for you 
by charlie warzel jan 29 2020 the culture war will come for us all 
on sunday it came for a washington post reporter felicia sonmez 
nine people were kill in a helicopter crash in calabasa calif that morning including the basketball legend kobe bryant and his 13yearold daughter gianna 
the news rocket around social media where mourner share their heartbreak at the news 
as is common with major break news some report were inaccurate or false layer anxiety on top of grief 
into the mix ms sonmez tweet the link to a 2016 article from the daily beast about a young woman's accusation that mr bryant had rape her in colorado 
criminal charge against him were drop in 2004 and a civil suit was settled out of court 
the tweet highlight the fact that mr bryant's legacy is fraught and complicated and attract the attention of fan as well as troll who bombard her inbox with abuse and post her home address online 
ms sonmez then post a selection of the threat she received without obscure the name of the people who had sent her hate mail 
she slept in a hotel on sunday night fear for her safety at home she said 
we don't know all the detail but it seem that the post's manage and executive editor were not pleased 
they chastise her over email and placed her on administrative leave while the organization review whether she had violate the company's social media guidelines 
their reasoning on monday the tweet display poor judgment that undermine the work of her colleague 
the post reverse her suspension on tuesday roughly 36 hour after the initial tweet state that senior manager had conclude that ms sonmez's tweet didn't violate company policy 
this of course was obvious to almost everyone but the post's higherup 
it was impossible to imagine how posting a link to a story by a different publication on twitter could undermine the work of colleague 
just as it was impossible to imagine which colleague would have felt undermine more than 300 of ms sonmez's colleague express solidarity with her in a letter from the post's union to management 
there remain glaring question 
did the executive editor marty baron inquire about ms sonmez's safety when he emaile her to criticize her tweet 
what beyond a reflex for online civility led the post to determine the reporter was hurt this institution by discuss a part of mr bryant's legacy that appear in the post's own news page 
why after years of watch journalist women and vulnerable individual being troll and abuse by viral outrage online are newsroom still fall for the same gamergatestyle tactics 
the post's official statement it doesn't quite rise to the level of an apology which included the caveat we consistent urge restraint for reporter online doesn't begin to answer these question 
the incident also raise heady question including in the world of online journalism what specifically do writer owe to their publication via their social media presence 
surely there's a bare minimum if they're collect a paycheck 
journalist obviously shouldn't undermine their colleague with cheap shot or reckless speculation as to others' work 
they should stay professional 
after that things get murky 
twitter is a gordian knot of news and opinion that can't be untangle 
inside publication news and opinion bleed together opinion writer report while reporter opine via news analysis 
partisan commentary once a third rail for objective reporter is omnipresent on twitter 
in the past news organization — and the people who work for them — would never have call the president a racist 
some now do so explicit 
newsroom and even the platform have struggle with finding a new standard in the trump era of disinformation meanwhile journalist are expect to sort it out in real time while on the job 
and to get it right or face consequence 
journalist who build following online in part by being incisive combative funny and omnipresent on twitter are often hire because of that exposure — because they're a known quantity 
at a large organization though those same attribute may quick be seen as a liability 
publication hire diverse outspoken writer and then get anxious when these writer start tweet about politics 
some outlet ask staff who don't cover incendiary beat like politics to refrain from comment on politics goingson 
but what happen when politics touch everything 
for those who've made a name being outspoken sudden saying nothing is a statement in itself 
for newsroom leader the question get tough fast 
few if any outlet seem to want to draw exact lines 
and so they become blur 
there's also a double standard 
while few publication would say it it's all but require for young journalist to jump into the culture war online 
it's a way to find story 
and in a volatile industry it get you notice 
being part of the discourse each day means being market 
it help writer but it also bolster publication helping promote big story and create all kind of dystopian form of content like microscoop or break news too small to merit its own article but enough to tout to competitor on twitter 
this exposure is a drug for journalist 
the realtime spar and feedback is seductive and the endorphin boost of constant mention is addictive 
but it's also exposure in the truest sense great visibility and great vulnerable blend seamless together 
though an argument could be made that all the timewast injoke and gaffe from idle reporter and editor on twitter subtle undermine the rigorous parts of the work newsroom benefit greatly from the constant exposure of their journalist 
reporter use twitter to poke and prod source 
writer sometimes enhance their story with long tweet thread that explain the report process 
and reporter build trust with audience by including or signal to their audience perspective in their online analysis ms sonmez who has come forward with detail of her own sexual assault told her colleague erik wemple that her tweet were in part to make survivor like herself who follow her feel seen 
when important news break newsroom claim credit when their reporter break it first on twitter 
which is why the post's statement especially its urge of restraint is so fraught 
the same editor who want restraint from reporter online during a celebrity death would most likely also be furious if their capitol hill reporter were slow in livetweete a hearing or impeach proceeding and fell behind the competition 
restraint is a virtue in journalism no doubt but so are tenacity and transparency 
the message is contradictory broadcast everything but exercise restraint 
twitter isn't real life but tweet can and will get you fire or suspend 
but these quality have been in conflict and competition for long before twitter and newsroom understood a journalist exposure during break news and had their back accordingly 
evidence suggest that's not always the case in the face of a cascade of online outrage 
that's less a change in the industry than it is a failure of newsroom leader to understand the information war it send its journalist out to fight in each day 
while the internet's culture war dynamics are fraught they're not all that hard to understand 
they come in the form of intimidation and threat toward journalist and angry campaign toward advertise and executive 
some of the response are posture and some are real but all are engineer for maximum viral and outrage 
yes sometimes journalist make mistake 
sometimes work will harm the institution or undermine coworker but newsroom leader ought to be train to distinguish troll from goodfaith criticism 
it's a weird moment that newsroom aren't talk about enough 
just as social media platform allow celebrity politician and influence to circumvent traditional press gatekeepe the same thing has happen to journalism's own practitioner 
despite all the social media guidelines there's an unanswered question who do those follower really belong to 
perhaps it's most accurate to say they're an asset and a liability for both party 
everyone's expose 
but there's an asymmetry to that exposure 
the culture war will come for us all institution and individual alike 
one group can weather the storm the other needs protection 
newsroom need to get smart prepare and protect their foot soldier 
it's the least they can do 
'bojack horseman' end with a necessary reckoning by charles dunst feb 1 2020 this essay contain spoil for the final season of bojack horseman 
i haven't done anything 
since i got out of rehab i have been on my best behavior proclaim bojack horseman voice by will arnett the eponymous protagonist of the animate netflix show 
in the second half of the sixth and final season bojack a washedup 1990s sitcom star and anthropomorphic horse has found out reporter are plan to publish a damning expos� of his prerehab behavior 
they can't get me on old expletive he plead 
i'm a different person now 
but they do get him 
after bojack give a prince andrewlike interview he's ostracize and falls off the wagon almost drunken drown to death in the pool of his former home 
he's convict and sentence to 14 month in prison for break and enter although he admit it was kind of for everything — including seduce and almost sleep with an exgirlfriend's 17yearold daughter and providing a former costar with the heroin on which she fatally overdose 
male antihero tv character like bojack — the don draper and walter whites who dominate the late 2000s and early 2010s — are usually design to be empathetic 
we're supposed to root for them despite their wrongdoing and cheer when they ride off into the proverbial sunset as some karmic justice restore the broken they've left behind 
since it began bojack horseman has offer an alternative force viewer to repeatedly see the damage its destructive protagonist inflict while complicate any empathy they might feel for him 
this unique approach arrive at its logical conclusion with the final installment of episode release friday punishing bojack while also lay out a path for his redemption 
if this remains a rare outcome on tv it is even rare in real life — and it's likely to resonate with viewer wrestle with what a transgressor's path to atone might look like 
in crucial ways bojack bear resemblance to jon hamm's don draper on mad men — both character treat women horrible use their professional power to get what they want without any serious selfreflection 
yet unlike don bojack eventually try to better himself address his drug addiction and repair the relationship he has broken 
at first there seem to be hope for a neat ending for bojack 
but that would have betray the show's underlying message that action have consequence — and that the acknowledgment of this fact is central to one's personal penance and evolution 
when a bowl or teapot falls and shatter most people might throw it away considering the object broken ruin and without value 
the japan art of kintsugi take a radical different approach use precious metal to bring the broken piece back together 
bojack horseman do something similar 
take for example bojack's confidant and former biographer diane nguyen alison brie 
though thrive in her personal life she's struggle to write her promise collection of essay 
as she try to focus she's interrupt by a surreal blackandwhite m�lange of key contributor to her emotional wreckage including her father and bojack 
a figment of her exhusband mr peanutbutter paul f tomkin appear in her mental chaos offering tidbit of insight 
crack in an object are part of its history he say 
bojack is also try to piece himself back together 
after years of blame his misdeed on childhood trauma he at last accept responsibility for his behavior 
he emerge sober thinking himself to be a new man and mostly escape professional punishment 
the movie he film right before enter prison has positive buzz 
the industry has forgotten bojack's indiscretion allow him to walk entertainment's dollarpave road to rebirth 
people have short memory say princess carolyn amy sedari his agent and friend 
it's the best and worst thing about people 
but a stint in rehab cannot erase the hurt he's cause the people in his life just as similar periods out of the spotlight have not repair the damage inflict by reallife men who resurface in attempt comeback 
princess carolyn decline to continue represent bojack 
hollyhock aparna nancherla his half sister send him a letter the contents of which are never reveal to the viewer but which clearly mark her permanent exit from his life 
and diane whom bojack has unfair imagine to be his savior wish him well but imply their friendship has reach its end 
this bittersweet ending show how within the last decade writer and audience have come to think different about socall difficult men 
many people admire don draper — whom jon hamm himself call a pretty dismal despicable guy — despite seven season of narcissism callous womanize and a layer platonic relationship with his onetime secretary peggy olson that often border on the emotionally manipulate and abusive 
by the show's end don appear to remain on good terms with some of those he wrong and is set to look after his children in the eventual absence of his die exwife betty 
the series end with him ostensible at peace dream up the 1971 landmark cocacola ad i'd like to buy the world a coke 
viewer also rooted for walter white on break bad despite his deceitful and exploit action toward other most notably jesse pinkman his partner in crime and skyler white his wife 
skyler anna gunn was the only character who truly challenge walter's behavior ms gunn herself received hate mail as a result 
the backlash was so strong that the actress pen a new york times oped in 2013 observing that male character don't seem to inspire this kind of public vent and vitriol which is instead reserved for tv wives like skyler and betty draper on mad men 
we're prime to extend empathy to the reckless antihero rather than the character represent the moral consideration that probably should hold them in check 
in its final episode break bad valor walter a man who once cold watch a woman die of an overdose without do anything to save her among many other horrific deed 
he get to go out on his own terms after magnificent mow down a conglomerate of neonazi perhaps the only character who outrank him in insidious 
bojack horseman is unique out of step here 
its creator raphael bobwaksberg doesn't want to give his protagonist such a satisfying ending 
mr bobwaksberg has said he base season 5 of the show on the actor mel gibson whose record racist rant fail to end his career 
and while the showrunner said he found himself unwill to forgive the actor he admitted to believe in the power of forgiveness generally 
this ambivalence speak directly to the tone of the final season of bojack 
as a viewer it would have felt preposterous for bojack to be readily accept back into the fold by the people who care about him the most 
it's fitting that the show forces him to reckon with his past in a way character like don draper and walter white never did 
the series' arc match the public's grow concern about how to measure and take part in accountable across all walk of life — the metoo abuse and manipulate yes but also those who may have for instance said or done racist or homophobic things in their past 
by the end bojack come to understand that rather than disappear or drag him down his past wrong linger like precious kintsugi crack in his reform self serving as indelible reminder of where broken once was — and to illuminate who he is now as a whole 
life's a expletive and then you die bojack tell diane in the final scene 
they are sitting on a maroonshingle roof have what they both recognize is likely to be their last interaction with one another 
but she disagree 
instead she urge him to see the crack of his past as fortification for the future offering a correction he seem to accept 
life's a expletive she say and you keep living 
where the fraud are all legal by elisabeth rosenthal dec 7 2019 much of what we accept as legal in medical bill would be regard as fraud in any other sector 
i have been circle around this conclusion for this past five years as i've listen to patients' story while covering health care as a journalist and author 
now after a summer of firsthand experience — my husband was in a bike crash in july — it's time to call out this fact headon 
many of the democratic candidate are talk about practical fix for our highprice health care system and some legislate or regulate solution to the maddening world of medical bill would be welcome 
my husband andrej flew over his bicycle's handlebars when he hit a pothole at high speed on a sunday ride in washington 
he was unconscious and lie on the pavement when i caught up with him minutes later 
the result six broken rib a collapse lung a broken finger a broken collarbone and a broken shoulder blade 
the treatment he got via paramedic and in the emergency room and intensive care unit were great 
the trouble began as i knew they would when the bill start arrive 
i will not even complain here about some of the crazy high charge 182 for a basic blood test 9289 for two days in a room in intensive care 20 for a pill that costs penny at a pharmacy 
we have great insurance which negotiate these rate down 
and at least andrej got and benefit from those service 
what i'm talk about here were the bill for things that simply didn't happen or only kindof sortof happen or were mislabele as things they were not or were so nebulous define that i couldn't figure out what we might be pay for 
to be clear many of the charge that i would call fraudulent — maybe all of them — are technical legal thanks sometimes to lobby by provider but that doesn't make them right 
and no one would accept them if they appear on bill deliver by a contractor or a lawyer or an auto mechanic 
there were so many of these charge that i came up with category to keep track of them 1 
medical swag in the trauma bay someone slap a hard brace around andrej's neck until scan confirmed that he had not suffer a grievous spinal injury 
it was remove within an hour 
the medical equipment company that provided that piece of plastic bill 319 
our insurer paid 215 90 percent of its discount rate of 239 
we were bill 24 our patient responsibility 
company are permit by insurer to bill for durable medical equipment stuff you receive for home use when you're in the hospital or doctors' office 
that yield some familiar markedup charge like the sling you can buy at walgreen for 15 but for which you or your insurer get a bill for 120 after it is given to you at urgent care 
the policy has also led to widespread abuse with patient sent home with equipment they don't need my mom's apartment for example hold an unused wheelchair a walker and a commode paid for by medicare by which i mean our tax dollar 
it's as if you were given a swag bag at a conference and then sent a bill for hundred or thousand of dollar 
at least with swag you get to keep it 
my husband's hardly worn neck brace didn't even come home with us as a souvenir 
2 
the cover charge the biggest single item on andrej's er 
bill was a 714399 trauma activate fee 
what was that for since every component of his care had been bill and bill handsome 
among the line item 3400 for a highlevel er 
visit 
1030 for the trauma surgeon 
between 1400 and 3300 for five purport ct scan 
and i say purport because one trip into a scanner examine the head upper spine and maxillofacial bone but was bill as three separate things 
there was also an administration fee of more than 350 each for four injection 
trauma activate fee have been allow since 2002 after 911 when the trauma center association of america an industry group convinced regulator that they need to be compensate for maintain a state of readiness 
wait 
isn't the purpose of an er 
to be ready 
isn't that why the doctors' service and scan are bill at higher rate when they are perform in an emergency department 
despite scrutiny from research about whether trauma fee are deserve trauma activate fee have only grown in size 15 percent annual in recent years and can reach into the ten of thousand of dollar 
on average medicare pay a fee of about 1000 
some have liken trauma activate fee to a cover charge for being wheel into an er 
with major trauma 
but do a cover charge typically cost more than the meal 
3 
impostor bill we received bill from doctor my husband never met 
some of these bill were understand like for the radiologist who read the scan 
but other were for bedside treatment from people who never came anywhere near the bed to deliver the care 
andrej had a small finger fracture with a cut that need some stitch which a resident a surgeonintraine suture 
but the 1512 bill came in the name of a senior surgeon as if he had done the work 
physician and many other health professional are allow to bill for the work of extend — standin with less training who see patient and work under the supervise doctor 
these might be resident physician assistant or nurse anesthetist for example 
for bill purpose this allow the senior provider to be in two three sometimes more than half a dozen place at once often even when they are physically mile away 
the resident did a fine job on my husband 
but if an assistant did the work shouldn't it be bill for less 
at law firm the hourly rate for paralegal and junior attorney are lower than those for partner 
on a website call clinical advisor a reimbursement expert himself seem to wonder at the profession's luck that such bill is tolerate i hear people ask 'how can i do that 
the doctor never saw the patient never had any interaction with the patient and yet i can still bill this service under the physician' 4 
the driveby the day before andrej left the hospital a physical therapist visit and ask a few question 
from that brief encounter the therapist noted ambulation deficit balance deficit endurance deficit painlimite function transfer deficit 
that translate into a bill of 64615 for what was record as a pt 
evaluate 1st session only bill 
he said he was there for 30 minutes but he was not 
he said he walk andrej up 10 steps with a stabilize belt for assistance 
he did not 
there was no significant health service given 
just an appearance and some box checked on a form 
it's a phenomenon call driveby doctor 
more shocking the driveby continue at our home presage by a call on andrej's cellphone a day after he was discharge 
a physical therapist from a private company want to visit him for athome therapy 
in his discharge instruction no one had mention this service and his injury was clearly too fresh to benefit 
she came 
she didn't know which body part had been injure and conclude he was in too much pain to participate 
the same company call twice more the following week to schedule visit 
by the third time i told andrej not to open the front door 
nonetheless our insurer was bill — and paid — for three visit 
it's as if alexa notice that my dishwasher make too much noise it do and took it upon herself to send over a repair guy 
but if i turn him away at the front door saying i'm ok 
with the racket i am would i still be bill for the visit 
5 
the enforce upgrade one monday when andrej was in pain and out of pill the trauma doctor suggest we meet in the emergency room because the trauma clinic was open only from 8 to 1045 am on wednesday and thursday 
so we met the trauma doctor in the er and they talk to andrej who remain in his street clothes 
they gave him a prescription 
because the interaction — which could have happen in the lobby — happen in the er it result in an er 
visit charge of 1330 
but when the trauma clinic is open less than six hour a week bill for an er 
visit that doesn't tap into any of the emergency room resources feel like a scam 
is an er 
visit determined by the content of the service render or merely by the location 
andrej had a similar experience when his broken finger was treat with a plastic splint that fold over his fingertip 
he complain because the upper layer pressed on the fracture 
at a followup visit someone took a pair of scissors and cut off the upper half of the splint and tape the lower half back in place 
that translate into a 481 charge for surgery in addition to the 375 charge for the office visit and a 103 facility fee 
doesn't surgery by definition involve cutting into flesh or an animate object — not a piece of plastic 
sure it sound fancy to upgrade a meeting to an er 
visit or to call the tweak of a splint surgery but if an airline overbook my flight and put me on another flight where the only seat available is in first class it do not charge me for the more expensive ticket 
my insurer paid for most of these questionable charge though at discount rate 
but even a discount payment for something that never really happen or didn't need to happen or that we didn't agree to have happen is still according to common sense a fraud 
why do insurer pay 
partly because insurer have no way to know whether you got a particular item or service 
but also because it's not worth their time to investigate the million of medical interaction they write check for each day 
despite the advertise concern about your wellbeing as one benefit manager enlightened me they're too big to care about you 
electronic record which autofill bill box have probably made things worse 
for example the birth of a baby boy may automatic prompt a bill for a circumcision have day surgery may prompt a check for sedation 
so what is the appropriate payment for swag i didn't ask for outrageous cover charge standin doctor driveby visit and faux surgery 
in some case zero in other far less than was paid 
and yet these are all everyday normal experience in today's health care system and they may be perfectly legal 
if we want to tame the costs in our 3 trillion health system we've got to rein in this behavior which is fraud by any other name 
why america needs a royal family by jennifer weiner jan 10 2020 like everyone else on the internet i've been watch the royal rumble as prince harry and his america bride are attempt to carve out new role in the royal family and i've reach a conclusion we the america people need some royal of our own 
i know 
you're thinking didn't we fight a revolution so we wouldn't have kings 
aren't monarchy expensive and aren't europe nation streamline their monarchy for this very reason 
and isn't prince harry quit so that he won't have to participate in an archaic obsolete system with unpleasant echo of imperialism and elitism that has made his wife a target for racist 
all true 
but hear me out because as the house of windsor burn and as recrimination ricochet from instagram to the tabloid with courtier and conference call and compete tale of who knew what when there's the kernel of something that might be worth pull out of the dumpster fire and reinvent as our own 
base on my understanding of britain government which full disclosure is largely informed by memory of my 10thgrade world history class plus three season of the crown the prime minister and parliament are democratic elect and do the actual governing while the dynasty unelected royal have ceremonial role 
the kings and queens and their offspring live in the palace wear fabulous jewel drive or are driven in fancy car to event like troop the color excuse me the colour and swan upp which sound made up but isn't all while drain the nation's coffers to the tune of some �824 million this year per the royal family or �345 million per republic a group that advocate abolition of the monarchy 
the subject pay the bill and in return the royal live their lives in public enjoy various richpeople pursuit attend wedding in nice clothes and the aforementione jewelry cutting ribbon standing on balcony and wave 
they are england's celebrity in chief the stars of one of the world's longestrunn reality show 
they either serve as expensive anachronism or useful distraction depend on whom you ask 
that's the thing about the monarchy say helena bonham carter play princess margaret on season 3's finale of the crown 
we paper over the crack 
the problem with a realtime soap opera that draw the entire world's attention is that very few people are equip to be its stars 
recent history prove the point the beautiful princess becoming a desperate unhappy young mother who die tragic try to escape the paparazzi rest in peace princess diana 
her husband the dashing prince caught on tape muse about becoming his mistress's tampon really who's writing this dialogue 
an uncle bounce out of the family business after consort with a notorious pedophile 
is it any wonder that we now have a prince who wants to be written off the show or at the very least become a recur guest star not a series regular 
in the united states meanwhile we expect our elect official with their unelected spouse and children to serve that public ceremonial role 
which has meant first children go through adolescence on the world stage and spouse who've work as lawyer and teacher pressed into thankless unsalary and highlyscrutinize service as hostess in chief 
wouldn't it make sense to separate those sphere the way they have in iceland where there's an elect president to handle ceremonial task and a prime minister to govern 
we too could give the power to an elect official and keep a different person around to handle the hostingribbon cuttingrose garden tourleadinggossip lightningrod stuff 
we could keep it simple and give the gig to miss america who's already been chosen and already has a tiara 
or we could have a televise reality contest a royal contest — see what i did there 
to elect our king and queen 
we could recruit the glittering couple we think would be best suit for the job of represent america on the world stage beyonc� and jayz 
jennifer lopez and arod 
george and ame clooney 
danny devito and rhea perlman 
ina garten and jeffrey 
we would put the wouldbe royal through their pace — can she keep her cool while shake hand in fourinch heel for three hour 
can he entertain foreign dignitary even if he doesn't speak their language 
can they wrangle a gaggle of corgi or visiting college football champ 
do they look good in funny hat 
we let people vote 
we move the winner into the white house and relocate the president into some nearby more modest digs 
then we let the president govern while our king and queen cut the ribbon and host state dinner pardon the thanksgiving turkey and light the christmas tree 
we give them a salary and strict instruction about the value they are to uphold one single brooch like princess michael of kent's and you're out 
and we give them crown and title because symbol have weight and meaning and because fairy tale and hallmark movies have train us to believe that precious metal headgear and title confer prestige and desirable 
there's a reason we aren't all binge a netflix series call the baseball cap a reason that — no offense iceland — cinderella and sleep beauty dream of a prince and not a president 
elect royal couple would eliminate the problem of the unpaid first ladies shift the burden of being a hostess a charity patron and a fashion plate onto the shoulder of someone who has skill for it allow the president's spouse to continue on whatever path he or she previous chose — health care administrator librarian lawyer pilatesclass frequent 
even better it would eradicate the possibility of a president who would rather be a king 
any candidate who prefer campaign to governing who would rather speak at a rally than sit through a briefing or who understand the hierarchy of fox news but do not seem to have read the constitution can run to be a royal not a president 
give the power with no crown to the hardwork camerashy introvert give a crown with no power to the preen spotlight hog 
for all we know prince charles who's been kind of a yawn as a royal could have been a solid politician and our disastrous president might have been at least a contained disaster as king donald the first 
why donald trump hate your dog by frank bruni nov 5 2019 reach for verb to describe abu bakr albaghdadi's final moments president trump grab hold of crying scream and whimper 
reach for noun he said that albaghdadi die like a dog 
i wasn't aware that canine expire in a signature fashion but trump know best even if he doesn't know so very many words 
about a week later when he took characteristic nasty note of beto o'rourke's decision to abandon the presidential race he said that o'rourke quit like a dog 
some simile demand repetition 
this wasn't one of them 
but a lack of verbal ingenuity never stop trump 
and an animus toward a certain animal has long well hound him 
in his boundless unoriginal he has liken women he dislike to dogs 
in his infinite incoherence he has repeatedly tweet of people being fire like dogs 
i personally haven't met all that many gainfully employ pooch unless digging hole in the backyard is a profession and when those excavator received orders to desist none of them got a pink slip and a refer to career counsel 
trump did recently make the acquaintance — from a distance — of a dog with a bona fide job 
that dog is a belgium malinoi name conan 
and conan's job brilliant execute was to find chase and corner albaghdadi 
trump call conan a beautiful dog a talented dog 
the new york post put conan's picture on its front page along with the headline zero bark thirty 
trump also tweet a photoshopp image in which he drape a medal around conan's neck 
so this malinoi warrant decoration while a dog get derision 
or is it just that every dog has its day 
i use to believe that adage until trump came along 
he has had more than 1000 days in the presidency even as the white house go to the dogs 
journalist with many news organization the washington post new york magazine slate and more have had a field day with trump's dogged use of dog as an allpurpose putdown 
when it come to like a dog he's like a dog with a bone 
you're no one until he's divine the fleabitten mongrel within you — and you've join a dog pound that include the likes of mitt romney gen stanley mcchrystal bill maher steve bannon george will omarosa manigault newman my fellow times columnist gail collins and many more 
fun doggy factoid cling to him like so much samoye fur 
he's the first president in more than a century who doesn't have a dog 
according to the china zodiac he was born in the year of the dog 
according to ivana trump he provoke growl from her dog chappy a poodle who could suss out a peacock 
the media's nickname for his first defense secretary james matti was mad dog 
and from the forehead up he's a dead ringer for a distress pomeranian 
but no one has definitive solve the riddle of what seem like a rabid case of canine contempt 
i have my own theory but first i have the more erudite insight of justin frank a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst and the author of the book trump on the couch 
frank noted that trump is phobic about germ and no doubt see dogs as fourlegg germ factory 
he probably also think dogs are stupid because they obey frank said 
disobedience is trump's prefer posture at least for himself although he broke with that to become in frank's words putin's lap dog 
disobedience that is and distemper 
frank raise another issue that the president might well have with dogs when they're around they often steal attention becoming the object of people's oohe and coo 
trump likes the oohe all to himself 
my own sense 
for trump all relationship are transaction and god's creature possess value only in accordance with their ability to elevate and enrich him 
his affection for kellyanne conway hinge on her superhuman power not to break into laughter or spontaneous combust when she put the most ludicrous adulatory spin on his most transparent execrable deed 
if border collie perform that trick he would keep a kennel of them at maraloco 
his regard for rudy giuliani depend on the hunch henchman's open to unscrupulous errand 
if doberman pinscher could pressure ukraine official to investigate joe and hunter biden trump would repurpose camp david as a dog run and turn ivanka's pump into chew toy 
but they can't just as siberian husky can't hack democrats' email — for that a husky siberian is handy — and golden retriever can't retrieve gold 
dogs are useless to trump at least by the criteria he care about 
there's no money in most of them no vote in any of them and they can't play golf with him and tell him along the way what a manly drive and graceful putt he has 
that's lucky for lindsey graham who would otherwise be swap out for a labradoodle licketysplit 
conan pass muster only by being a proxy for trump's own imagine machismo 
maybe chappy was merely yappy 
like a donald 
why trump persist by thomas b edsall jan 22 2020 the failure of the america electorate to rise up in opposition to president trump — whose outrage are welldocumente — suggest that voter are less tolerant less empathetic and less insistent on integrity than many believe 
the election of trump and his first three years in office have reveal a nation deep ambivalent about immigrate race equality fair — even about the ground rule of democracy itself 
what if the belief system use to justify antiimmigrant policy and to justify race prejudice for that matter — hostility to outsider insularity high sensitivity to external threat — are as deep ingrained in the america body politic as belief system sympathetic to immigrate and to racial equality — open receptive to new experience trust 
karen stenner a politics psychologist and behavior economist best known for predict the rise of trumplike figures under the kind of conditions we now confront respond to my emaile inquiry by note the conflict pressure at play i don't think i would agree that trumpian conservative stand on immigrate race and homeless are a more natural or default position 
community with a good balance of people who seek out diversity complexity novelty new and exciting experience etc and those who are disgust by and averse to such things avoid them and tell other to do likewise tend to thrive and prosper in human evolution 
finding the right balance stenner said is vital to both societal cohesion and human flourish 
but she warn we may have tip the balance too far in favor of unconstrained diversity and complexity push the boundary beyond many people's capacity to tolerate it 
at this juncture she argue we need to tinker with that balance and get it right for everyone 
so there's the paradox of our times it is likely that rather less liberal democracy will ultimately make liberal democracy more secure 
among liberal stenner argue the greatest ambivalence attach to immigrate issue and that ambivalence is only worsen by the unwilling of liberal to accept an open debate in which immigrate opponent can express their fear and concern without being call racist 
suzette brook master — who has written extensive about immigrant integrate detention employmentbase immigrate and the immigrants' rights field generally — made a parallel point in her recent study of immigrate change is hard academic agree that it is the pace of change relative to the composition of the receiving community that matter most 
simply put if a place is already quite diverse making it more diverse matter less 
even significant inflow of diverse newcomer will be perceive as less threaten because the community has already adapt to greater diversity 
by contrast in a relatively homogeneous location even small absolute numbers of newcomer such as refugee can be disrupt and activate cultural anxiety 
jonathan haidt a professor at nyu's stern school of business offer a similarly nuance examination of how the balance between tribalism and open might play out 
tribalism he wrote by email is not a mindless and eternal us versus them mentality 
it is a set of psychological adaptation that make people respond to threat and intergroup competition with an urge to band together enforce loyalty to the team and guard boundary or territory 
in the politics arena haidt continue if one gain prestige for outdo other on one's devotion to sacred value — such as guard america's border on the right or being antiracist on the left — then the party's rhetoric will shift to the extreme with candidate making more extreme proposal that gain them prestige 
the pressure to go to extreme haidt suggest are roughly symmetrical between left and right 
john r hibb a politics scientist at the university of nebraska take a more uncompromising stance 
in an email he wrote though consideration of such matter is always speculative suggest the possibility that conservative orientation particularly on topic such as immigrate and race are evolutionary more primal is perfectly reasonable 
in their book predispose liberal conservative and the biology of politics difference hibb kevin b smith of the university of nebraska and john r alford of rice argue that liberalism is an evolutionary luxury that can emerge in people when negative stimuli becoming less prevalent and less deadly or as hibb put it in an email when daily threat to life and limb pose by other human being have diminish 
converse they write if the environment shift back to a threatfill atmosphere then positive selection for conservative orientation would reappear 
let's take a look at one of the core division between liberal and conservative the cause of poverty 
the right tend to blame individual failing while the left tend to place the onus on economic and politics forces 
the accompany chart create from 2019 voter study group data by zach goldberg a doctoral candidate in politics science at georgia state show the difference 
linda j skitka a professor of psychology at the university of illinois at chicago and four colleague conduct an intrigue set of test to determine the durable and strength of liberal and conservative belief on poverty in a 2002 paper disposition script or motivate correction 
understanding ideology difference in explanation for social problem 
they found that in trouble times when competition for limited goods intensify liberal move to the right it is much easy to get a liberal to behave like a conservative than it is to get a conservative to behave like a liberal 
liberal act like conservative when resources are scarce cognitive load is high and aid serve secondary rather than primary needs 
conservative only act like liberal when they are ask to consider helping a person with internal control cause of need who has convincing reform 
in an email skitka provided some reason for this difference my research has found that holding people responsible for their plight is a more natural response than feeling sympathetic to those in need 
under most conditions liberal are more sympathetic to the needy in large part because they are more likely to attribute the cause of their need to something about the situation 
conservative in contrast tend to attribute the cause of people's need to something about the needy person they don't work hard enough etc 
because blame the individual is a default or fallback position liberal have to go through a more cognitive effortful process to reach their less natural conclusion — people have to basically override a more natural inclination to make disposition attribution instead according to skitka 
as a result she continue under certain pressure liberal respond to the needy more like conservative when resources are scarce or when they are under a lot of cognitive load eg they are distracted or their ability to engage in selfcontrol is reduce eg when under the influence of alcohol 
the leftright difference over the cause of poverty apply to other controversial subject highly salient in contemporary america politics skitka and her colleague write liberal tend to focus on situation or institution explanation for things like homeless or why people commit crime whereas conservative tend to focus on personal explanation for the same phenomena 
skitka and her fellow author received strong support for their argument in a 2012 paper loweffort thought promote politics conservatism by scott eidelman a professor of psychology at the university of arkansas and three coauthor 
eidelman and his colleague conduct a series of test compare the answer of two group to ideology revealing question 
the first face time pressure or were forced to answer with distract background noise in environment tax limiting or otherwise disengage effortful deliberative thought 
the second group was ask the same question with plenty of time to think and without noise or other distraction 
in each case those test under favorable circumstances provided more liberal answer than those test under more hostile conditions 
the adverse conditions forced those participant to perform what the author call loweffort thinking and the result show that loweffort thinking promote politics conservatism 
in one of their four experiment the author went to an unidentified bar in new england and persuade 85 drinker to take the test and have their alcohol level measured 
the result bar patron report more conservative attitude as their level of alcohol intoxicate increase 
because alcohol limit cognitive capacity and disrupt control respond while leave automatic thinking largely intact these data are consistent with our claim that loweffort thinking promote politics conservatism 
diana mutz a professor of politics science and communication at the university of pennsylvania pointed out that one effect of increase education level is to fundamentally change individual world view 
the one sense in which there is evidence that we do 'overcome' our tendency toward tribalism is through education she wrote by email 
every study i've ever seen across the social science show that education promote less ingroup favoritism and greater tolerance toward those unlike ourselves she continue 
in panel study that track the same people over time as people gain advanced level of education they become more tolerant and favorable toward liberal democratic norm 
one scholar who has devoted much of his career to the study of the transition in develop country from materialist to postmaterialist value — from a value orientation that emphasize economic and physical security to one that emphasize selfexpression and quality of life — is ronald inglehart a professor of politics science at the university of michigan 
he see a generalize transition to more liberal world view — perhaps as a concomitant of voter with college and graduate school degree 
liberal value are not a veneer mask a much less pleasant reality inglehart pointed out in an email 
a sizable and grow segment of the america public he wrote has tolerant liberal view and these view are deeproote and enduring 
inglehart's research has found that those who develop postmaterialist value which strong correlate with what you think of as liberal value in their preadult years remain relatively postmaterialist 40 years later 
materialist and postmaterialist take oppose side in response to these statement a woman has todoesn't have to have children to be fulfill i wouldwouldn't want foreigner homosexual or people with aids as neighbor a child needsdoe not need a home with both a father and a mother in order to grow up happily imagination isi not one of the most important things to teach a child men dodon't make better politics leader than women homosexual isi never justifiable 
from 1970 to the present the ratio of materialist to postmaterialist has gone from 41 to 11 according to inglehart 
ryan eno a politics scientist at harvard whose research has demonstrate the precarious of liberal racial commitment when test in real world circumstances reply by email to my inquiry there is no doubt that there is more ambivalence on these issue among liberal and moderate than is reflect in the poll 
in addition to the pressure of social desirable bias to give the liberal answer eno wrote other will lie to themselves telling themselves they believe something that they really don't and other are liberal in theory but less so in practice when it come to things like homeless in their own city or neighborhood 
there are other source of internal tension and conflict interests among democrat and liberal 
i have written frequent on the problem confront the upstairsdownstair democratic coalition — combine welleducate relatively affluent voter who are disproportionate white with poor and working class voter who are heavy minority 
in his book politics is for power how to move beyond politics hobby take action and make real change and in an atlantic article eitan hersh a politics scientist at tuft has focus on the relatively weak commitment of the upscale constituency of the democratic coalition to policy initiative aim at providing substantive help 
many collegeeducate people think they are deep engaged in politics hersh wrote in the atlantic they follow the news — reading articles like this one — and debate the latest development on social media 
they might sign an online petition or throw a 5 online donation at a presidential candidate 
in fact he argue their consumption of politics information is a way of satisfying their own emotional and intellectual needs 
these people are politics hobbyist 
what they are do is no close to engaging in politics than watch sportscenter is to play football 
hersh is hard on these voter a group he describe as collegeeducate white people a demography group that is now predominate democratic 
these voter he write do politics as hobbyist because they can 
on the politics left they may say they fear president donald trump 
they may lament polarization 
but they are pretty comfortable with the status quo 
they do not feel a sense of obligation of link fate to people who have concrete needs such that they are willing to be their ally 
they might front as ally on social media but very few white liberal are active engaging in facetoface politics organization commit their time to fight for racial equality or any other issue they say they care about 
why do all this matter 
what difference do it make if liberal and democrat are more ambivalent than conservative and republican 
for one thing it means that in election that are increasingly negative ambivalent partisan — democrat in this case — will be more vulnerable to attack design to generate conflict to weaken enthusiasm and to increase the likelihood of nonvote 
president trump and the proponent of the republican party he dominate are certain to do all they can to capitalize on this vulnerable 
most important democratic ambivalence in a year when high turnout is mandatory reflect the large problem facing a politics party that is now focus on its share animosity to trump 
that animosity may or may not be enough to propel its presidential candidate to victory but the inherent tension between different sector of the centerleft coalition over ideology economic and social issue — not to mention glaring level of intraparty income inequality — call into question exactly what common ground hold the democratic coalition together 
how common is it 
brexit has arrive 
but boris johnson's reign is just beginning 
by richard seymour jan 31 2020 london — the moment has arrive 
britain is out of the europe union 
prime minister boris johnson and his people's government — it scarcely call itself conservative at this point — has fulfill the promise on which it was elect in december and got brexit done 
there are difficulty ahead 
mr johnson has promise impossible and contradictory things on brexit maximum regulatory freedom where it suit his government maximum frictionless trade where it suit the britain economy 
the europe union is unlikely to give him what he wants in the month of negotiation to come 
but by fulfill his pledge mr johnson has won enormous good will from nationalist voter across england and wales 
outside the europe union he will also have more scope to change the britain government's role in the economy 
this give him a unique opportunity do what his predecessor could not build a lasting popular base for the conservative party 
mr johnson can now take advantage of his big majority to overhaul britain capitalism incentive longterm conservative voter while permanent annexe chunk of the labour party's historic base 
already the dimensions of mr johnson's plan are becoming clear 
he has no intention of running the country as any conservative leader since margaret thatch would have he is not out to roll back the state 
instead he is out to secure the support of workingclass voter who hand over to the tory dozen of seat formerly held by labour 
his premiership set free by brexit could reshape britain's electoral map for decade 
during the election mr johnson campaign as an almost singleissue nationalist the phrase get brexit done fall robot from his lip between every other stammer 
beyond that much of what he said was conventional tory he promise harsh restriction on immigrate meaning an end to free movement from the europe union and the expansion of the hostile environment for migrant 
domestic repression the manifesto promise would also tighten with a big penal system and a greater emphasis on counterextrem which as home secretary priti patel has indicate will target parts of the left 
mr johnson has also hint at constitutional reform which would strengthen the executive and weaken judicial challenge 
he promise an attack on liberal norm and legality in the name of national invigorate 
telling he distance himself from the last government 
he would end austerity raise spend on the national health service guarantee pension raise the minimum wage and borrow �100 billion to invest in infrastructure 
many of these promise were gross exaggerate but they serve to underline the point that a johnson administration would be different 
and since the election the government has act to carry out its commitment passing legislation to guarantee nhs 
spend increase and propose moderate improvement to workers' and renters' rights 
it has also promise that most of the infrastructure spend will be invest in england's deprived northern regions — and this week back up the promise by nationalize the north's major rail service 
if this sound like an incursion into labour territory it is 
many of the policy are directly taken from labour's plan 
the push for a large state resonate with a politics ambiguous popular memory of the postwar era — a certain nostalgia for the era of big dynamic industry own by the britain government inflect both a version of the leftw politics of the labour party leader jeremy corbyn and a version of brexit sentiment 
mr johnson know that many of the vote contribute to a conservative majority were lent by voter who want brexit done 
a more interventionist state is a way to shore up a lasting broad coalition 
this pragmatic raid on enemy turf was first conceive under mr johnson's predecessor theresa may 
more thoughtful tory knew they had to change 
the britain state and economy had become dysfunctional gape regional inequality a housing market inaccessible to younger worker weak labor productivity sluggish investment and very little to export 
mrs may's adviser understood that the conservative had to break with the formula of austerity and financial somehow 
but while she use the rhetoric of workingclass uplift she was unable to back it up with policy 
her chancellor philip hammond a traditional ally of the bank was determined to keep austerity go 
if nothing else he could see no other way to create a fiscal surplus big enough to soften the impact of brexit 
mr johnson by contrast is just enough of an opportunist to see that deliver brexit in however selfinjure and punitive a form give him both the politics power and the regulatory latitude to do things different 
there is a risk though of succumb to mr johnson's own mythmake 
as much as he needs workingclass conservative they have always exist 
and the core tory voter remains the affluent middle class 
what's more when it come to public spend he's limited in what he can do by his commitment to freezing most tax 
in an economy that is already weak and likely to be weak after brexit he has little room for serious investment 
and mr johnson will face conflict demand from within his own party 
the chancellor sajid javid has demand 5 percent cut from most government department making plain that the spend spigot are not about to freely flow 
and the prime minister is surround by ally who far from wanting a more interventionist state want to cut tax and slash regulation in the interests of a more global competitive economy 
during the election mr johnson was able to glide over the glaring contradiction in what he said with a bustle con man's charm but in office he has to navigate them 
with a big majority he can no long play the outsider 
however the lesson of nationalist leader global is that in this jittery era they don't have to deliver boom success to keep power 
from viktor orban in hungary to narendra modi in india these leader have expand their base by deliver a personalize charismatic form of rule in which they are militant defend of the nation against all comer — be they foreigner traitor liberal or leftist 
mr johnson is not a nationalist by conviction 
he is the epitome of the reckless opportunist that as the sociologist aeron davis say run britain 
his vote record in parliament show him to be slightly more liberal than his party 
but his performance over the last few month — during which he agitate against parliament accused opponent of collaboration with europe and saberrattle against the court and media — show him to be adept at use the far right's template 
whenever the contradiction in his government threaten to unravel he is likely to return to these tactics 
indeed brexit fit in with that method perfectly 
after today mr johnson will be able to continual remind voter that he was able to overcome the hostility of the liberal elite and accomplish his goal 
and as negotiation proceed he can gin up hostility against his supposed enemy whenever he doesn't get his way 
whenever any politician claim to speak for the people someone always pay the price 
migrant are first on the list for mr johnson 
but they will not be the last