nytSnowballStemmed.txt

a grinch steal a bank and fire an angel by nichola kristof feb 1 2020 to understand how some compani have lost their soul consid what happen after us bank stif a custom befor christma 
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 mani hour in a branch offic over two day tri to get access to the money so he could buy present for his 9yearold daughter and 13yearold son 
on christma eve eugenio found himself park at a gas station in clackama ore a portland suburb both his fuel gaug and his bank balanc on empti 
a bank employe had told him that money would soon show up in his account — perhap a ruse to get him out of the branch offic 
for hour eugenio then tri his debit card at the gas pump so he could buy a few gallon and get home to his wife and children 
i was strand he told me 
i could have walk home but it would have been five mile in the cold 
that’ when eugenio found an angel 
he telephon the bank’ tollfre number and spoke with emili jame a senior offic at a call center in portland 
she spent an hour on the phone with eugenio tri to get some money releas so he could at least get home 
she soon realiz that he had been misl and that money wouldn’t reach his account ani time soon 
feel bad for a custom stuck on christma eve jame offer to drive over from her call center and person hand him 20 
no no no eugenio told her 
he couldn’t impos 
but she suggest she could use her break and she receiv permiss from a supervisor to drive 20 minut to eugenio 
she later recal that when she arriv she wish him merri christma and hand him 20 of her own money 
twenti dollar wouldn’t break me she explain to me and it would enabl him to get home to his famili 
when us bank found out that it had such a generous employe what did it do 
it fire her 
she broke the rule put herself and the bank at unnecessari risk us bank said in a statement 
the compani bar call center worker from meet custom so it dismiss both her and the manag who had approv her trip 
the manag abigail gilbert told me that james’ account was essenti correct 
jame had work at the bank sinc 2017 and had receiv numer commend and award that i examin but the bank paid her no sever 
she is singl and use her last paycheck to buy sack of food for her two dog domino and harley quinn 
she is now reduc to sell blood plasma at 25 a visit 
i won’t let myself be homeless she told me 
eugenio is horrifi at what happen 
i was lie to and treat like dirt by the bank eugenio said and he can’t understand whi the bank axe the one employe who was help 
i felt realli bad he told me 
how could she get fire 
us bank’ vision statement boast our employe are empow to do the right thing 
so i tri to ask the company’ ceo andrew cecer whi the bank fire an employe who with permiss rescu a frustrat custom on christma eve 
cecer wouldn’t return my call 
david palombi a bank spokesman told me that an intern investig had conclud that jame misl her manag to get permiss that jame could have found other way to get money to eugenio that the 20 came from the manag which gilbert confirm to me and that jame previous had disciplinari issu 
i found the bank’ investig a whitewash and it explan to be incoher meanspirit and contradict by a seri of intern bank messag that i review 
the bottom line is this cecer who was paid 141 million in 2018 presid over a compani that has smear a muchdecor employe who help a custom and as a result surviv by sell blood plasma 
i suggest cecer apolog reinstat jame and promot her he might also show contrit by sell his own blood plasma and donat the proceed to a chariti of james’ choos 
when young american say in poll that they react more posit to social than to capit it’ becaus of the hypocrisi of institut like us bank 
i’v often note that compani have enorm capac to help their communiti 
but too often they act like american tobacco compani which kill more peopl than stalin did or pharma compani peddl opioid or mckinsey compani advis a busi to get more patient on higher dose of opioid or boe mock regul 
that’ one reason to seek stronger privatesector labor union at least union and corpor can then provid some check on each other 
one bit of reassur some chief execut do seem more enlighten than cecer 
after the oregonian wrote two excel articl about jame other compani reach out to her say that she’ the kind of care person they want to attract 
no job offer yet she told me but there are a coupl of possibl i’m realli excit by 
brexit is here 
sort of by the editori board jan 31 2020 final after 1317 day of confus rancor and endless vote in parliament it was time for brexit 
on wednesday teari member of the european parliament join hand and sang auld lang syne a clock project onto 10 down street count down the minut union jack line the mall befor buckingham palac 
a new dawn for europ leader of the european union wrote in a joint articl 
this is the moment when the dawn break came prime minist bori johnson’ echo from across the newli rais divid line 
it was left to the dispassion bbc to cut short the batho brexit is far from ‘done’ the beeb cold said befor list the mani travail still to come most notabl the negoti that now begin with the eu 
on the detail of britain’ futur relationship with the contin 
mr johnson has promis not to seek an extens of the dec 31 deadlin which he could though a less complex trade deal between the eu 
and canada took seven year to finish 
to discourag other member from exit the eu 
is not like to cut britain much slack on eu 
standard and rule in their trade 
britain will now also reach across the atlant to what presid trump has held out as a veri big trade deal bigger than we’v ever had with the uk which mr johnson has tout as a benefit of quit the eu 
that too could prove a disappoint 
a former british ambassador to washington kim darroch — who resign in juli after his derogatori comment about mr trump leak out — was among those who note in interview that mr trump is not given to generous trade concess least of all in an elect year 
in the same european parliament session at which ursula von der leyen the presid of the eu 
commiss promis depart british deleg we will alway love you and we will never be far aileen mcleod of the scottish nation parti spoke of scotland’ anger over be drag out of the union and ask that the member leav a light on for scotland where brexit has fuel demand for a new referendum on independ 
still the fact was that after 47 year in the eu britain was offici out and there was no go back at least not in the forese futur 
for mani briton the long and bitter debat had been less about econom and polit than about ident 
those who fought to leav the eu 
fought for what they saw as lost sovereignti often ting with a sens of lost empir those who fought to stay saw the union as postimperi britain’ place in the futur join with the rest of europ in valu standard and secur 
in the end after near three year of uncertainti and bitter voter elect mr johnson out of exhaust to get it over with not becaus they had reach agreement 
headlin reflect the divid 
probrexit tabloid join in gleeful celebr our time has come proclaim the sun offer a free giant brexit poster yes we did it 
cheer the daili express in what it describ as a histor edit free and independ onc more after 47 year declar the daili mail over a photograph of the white cliff of dover 
those same cliff featur on the cover of the guardian a strong advoc of stay in the eu over a crumbl sand castl surmount by a tini british flag 
the headlin small island 
tri to reconcil these diverg worldview will be the main task of come year as mr johnson appear to recogn when he declar in a speech to the nation friday even our job as the govern my job is to bring this countri togeth now and take us forward 
… this is not an end but a begin 
for the moment what forward meant remain unclear 
for at least the come year not much would chang in econom trade and practic term but mani potenti battl loom over the shape of the futur relationship with europ america and the rest of the world 
perhap in paraphras winston churchil on whether the moment was an end or a begin mr johnson would have done better to use his predecessor’ entir quot that one about a militari campaign 78 year ago now this is not the end 
it is not even the begin of the end 
but it is perhap the end of the begin 
china didn’t want us to know 
now it own file are do the talk 
by adrian zenz nov 24 2019 no more deni no more dodg 
the chines communist parti can no longer hide it relentless campaign of mass intern against the ethnic minor in the northwestern region of xinjiang or claim that the effort is an innocu educ program 
what was alreadi wide known vast report and confirm by firsthand account has now been prove beyond doubt by the government’ own record — gigabyt of file ream of report thousand of spreadsheet — some of them classifi and high confidenti 
last weekend the new york time disclos and analyz the content of a trove of leak intern chines govern document that outlin specif polici for how to repress xinjiang’ predomin muslim minor — and reveal that presid xi jinp himself set out the foundat for them 
this sunday the content of two more set of document — all of which i have review — are be disclos 
among the first batch also leak is a confidenti telegram sign by zhu hailun xinjiang’ deputi parti secretari which detail how local author should manag and oper the vocat skill train center — a euphem for the intern camp 
all translat here are mine 
the second set of document a larg cach of file and spreadsheet from local govern reveal the intern campaign’ devast econom and social impact on the famili and communiti it target 
the telegram — date nov 5 2017 and address to local polit and legal affair bureaus — is mark extrem urgent and bear the secondhighest level of secreci within china’ classifieddocu scheme 
it reveal the extent of the secur and surveil measur taken around the camp part to shield the camp from extern scrutini 
the messag a direct note that the work conduct there is strict confidenti and high sensit in natur 
even staff at the camp are forbidden from aggreg detaine figur 
the authorities’ attempt to enforc absolut secreci is confirm by anoth document date novemb 2018 this one from a local govern file in hotan counti 
it chide offici for not protect secret relat to the intern campaign well enough 
it stipul that no person is under ani circumst permit to dissemin inform about detent or reeduc via telephon smartphon or the internet and that offici are strict forbidden from receiv relat media interview or make unauthor disclosur about the intern campaign 
that the chines author so deliber sought to shield from extern scrutini inform about oper at the xinjiang camp suggest that they are onli too awar of how incrimin their polici and practic are 
i was also abl to obtain a massiv cach of local govern file from within xinjiang 
among the most reveal document are thousand of detail spreadsheet with the name identif number and address of ten of thousand of peopl most uighur and mani of them in detent prison or reeduc camp 
in yarkand a counti of about 800000 peopl in southwestern xinjiang 96 percent of the popul is uighur 
six offici spreadsheet about six villag date 2018 show that on averag near 16 percent of the rural adult popul was either intern or in prison 
in two villag in kosherik township — which the document describ as heavili pollut by extremist ideolog — near 60 percent of all household had one person or more intern 
in addit to the extraordinari scale of the intern campaign the file reveal it devast impact well beyond the camp — deep into the communiti and famili of xinjiang 
the spreadsheet show that the govern has primarili target middleag men most often the head of the household and main wageearn 
beijing’ occasion tour of it socal model camp often featur attract young women 
in realiti peopl between 30 and 59 were especi like to be intern accord to the spreadsheet 
the policy’ socioeconom fallout is dire — and local govern are keep a meticul record of it 
one spreadsheet from 2017 for one town in yarkand counti which list household with low incom that might qualifi for welfar includ a young famili with five children between the age of three and 14 
the father had been imprison the mother place in a reeduc camp and the children in effect orphan 
in anoth hard unusu case a household’ two workingag parent were detain leav elder grandpar — includ a grandmoth describ as serious ill — to care for two toddler 
in a column with the header reason for poverti the relev spreadsheet offer this explan lack labor forc and financ 
the toddlers’ father isn’t schedul to be releas until 2030 
anoth spreadsheet from septemb 2018 show list of loan default in pilal township akto counti 
in 80 percent of the case where the reason for default was list as intern most of the borrow fund were shown to still be in the bank 
a particular depress exampl come from a villag in yarkand counti 
a uighur farmer and head of a famili of five was intern in 2017 
in octob 2016 he had receiv a loan of 40000 renminbi near 5700 to purchas agricultur machineri 
the equip went unus dure his detent — no other famili member knew how to oper it — and the loan could not be repaid as schedul 
the govern direct the famili to rent out the equip and send it oldest child a son to work 
the famili was then offici mark as have been povertyallevi by benefit from polici 
in june 2018 after his releas the farmer appli for financi assist so he could repay the loan and relat interest 
in januari 2019 he start to work in the yarkand counti textil industri park earn just 800 rmb about 113 a month 
by then the son age 20 had somehow becom disabl and was list on govern form as unabl to work 
thank to these new document disclosur we now have hard evid — and the government’ own evid — that in addit to implement a vast intern program in xinjiang the chines communist parti is deliber break up famili and forc them into poverti and a form of indentur labor 
for all it effort at secreci the chines govern can no longer hide the extent and the reach of it campaign of repress in xinjiang 
some import element are still unknown 
the total intern figur remain a wellguard secret 
base on the new evid i have revis my own estim i think that between 900000 and 18 million peopl have been detain in xinjiang sinc the spring of 2017 
also miss from the offici document that have surfac so far are precis record of how the detaine are treat and how exact the process of reeduc work 
about those thing howev we have wit account 
the confidenti telegram and local file do not mention the use of physic violenc — but for one notabl except 
the telegram state that peopl who resist brainwash must be singl out for assaultstyl reeduc 
yet anoth sinist understat and it suggest that forc and tortur may in fact be wide use 
in a way though we alreadi know all that we realli need to know 
the document that have been disclos these past few week reveal the stagger scale of the repress in xinjiang and it ruinous effect on the region’ ethnic communiti well beyond the camp themselv 
consid this offici statist show that the combin net popul growth rate of hotan and kashgar two of the largest uighur region drop by about 84 percent between 2015 and 2018 
the chines communist parti set out it claim to transform through educ ethnic minor in xinjiang 
in fact it is rip apart entir communiti and subjug them on a coloss scale 
and this at the direct of presid xi himself 
china’ new civil religion by ian johnson dec 21 2019 beij — in the northern suburb of this citi is a small templ to a chines folk deiti lord guan a famous warrior deifi more than a millennium ago 
renov five year ago at the government’ expens the templ is use by a group of retire who run pilgrimag to a holi mountain schoolchildren who come to learn tradit cultur and a taoist priest who preach to wealthi urbanit about the tradit valu of ancient china 
perch atop a hillock overlook the sprawl capit the templ is a microcosm of a new civil religion take shape in china — an effort by the chines communist parti to satisfi chines people’ search for moral guidelin by supplement the larg irrelev ideolog of communism with a curat version of the past 
this new stateguid religios is the flip side of the government’ harsh polici toward islam and christian 
offici believ these two global faith are hard to control becaus of their foreign tie and they have use negoti or forc — diplomaci with the vatican arrest of promin protest intern camp for muslim — to tri to bring these religion to heel 
yet beijing’ recent turn to tradit may be even more signific 
even though islam and christian are world religion in china they remain minor with the number of their combin adher amount to less than 10 percent of the popul 
most chines believ in an amalgam of buddhism taoism confucian and other tradit valu and idea that still reson deepli 
for this silent major of hundr of million of peopl the government’ newfound support for thing like the templ to lord guan is welcom — a feel that the chines communist parti hope will bolster it legitimaci especi given the irrelev today of it found idea 
the benefit of it move to embrac the past may seem obvious but the shift mark a radic departur not just for a parti offici commit to atheism but also from how reform over the past centuri have imagin a modern prosper china 
from the 19th centuri onward china’ elit argu that the country’ tradit and faith were a major reason for it declin 
reform in 1898 call for templ to be convert into school 
while the nationalist parti under chiang kaishek approv of four religion — buddhism taoism sometim call daoism christian and islam — it larg consid tradit chines belief to be superstit and advoc the destruct of templ 
scholar estim that by the middl of the 20th centuri half of the templ that exist in china at the end of the 19th centuri had been destroy 
an 1851 survey of the old citi of beij list 866 templ today i count just 18 
at the end of the 19th centuri most villag had at least one templ and mani had half a dozen vast section of the chines countrysid now have no templ at all 
when the communist took power in 1949 they like the nationalist offici recogn four religion — but then prompt began persecut them 
tradit faith came under especi harsh treatment with the govern ban bedrock tradit practic from worship ancestor and local deiti to follow the advic of geomanc master and spirit medium 
the three decad of reform that start in the late 1970s loosen control over societi allow the reviv of all religion and mani tradit that had been proscrib 
despit period crackdown church and mosqu but also templ were rebuilt and clergi train 
although all faith were suppos to remain under parti control religi feel boom with the number of believ in china top 500 million by 2010 
xi jinping’ rise to power in late 2012 mark a new era the third in the histori of the chines communist party’ religi polici 
instead of the destruct of the mao year and the relat laissezfair approach of the reform period the state has embark on a form of high curat reviv 
one part of it approach rest on a deep suspicion of christian and islam 
the party’ polici toward islam has been the most draconian 
some believ especi uighur in the northwestern provinc of xinjiang have been subject to a polici of forc secular 
this has includ send hundr of thousand of muslim to reeduc camp compel restaur to serv pork and alcohol and forbid fast dure ramadan 
the polici toward christian is more nuanc 
last year beij struck a deal with the vatican to joint appoint cathol bishop 
the vatican seem to hope to revers the declin in the number of cathol in china 
but for beij the measur was a way to tighten control over the cathol clergi — and by extens the church itself 
protestant pose an especi vex problem for the parti 
it is arguabl china’ fastestgrow religion with an estim 60 million or more adher today compar with one million in 1949 includ some 20 to 30 million who are thought to worship in unregist or underground protest church 
but the faith lack a unifi structur that would allow for negoti 
and so the govern has fire a few shot across the bow close sever of the country’ bestknown underground church 
in mani way howev the xi administration’ embrac of tradit faith is more radic 
sinc take offic the presid has met with buddhist leader and his govern has allow taoism to flourish 
the state recent issu a landmark plan to improv social more the first such program sinc 2001 
the plan stem from a widespread feel that china’ relentless drive to get ahead econom has creat a spiritu vacuum and sometim justifi break rule and trampl civil 
mani peopl do not trust one anoth 
the government’ blueprint for handl this moral crisi call for endors certain tradit belief 
the epic paper — it run to 10000 chines charact and would be signific longer translat into english — doesn’t mention communist china’ found father mao zedong or his successor and their ideolog focus instead on mr xi and his effort to fix social problem like money worship and hedon 
it doe invok communist slogan such as core socialist valu but in contrast to the previous such document from 2001 — which made onli pass refer to chines tradit — it call the past a rich sourc of moral 
the plan order parti offici to promot ancient and worthi sage as well as to deepli expound tradit concept such as ren’ai benevol zhengyi righteous and jianyi zhengwei stand up brave for the truth 
this effort is not an attempt to replac communism with confucian 
yet it is fair to say that for the first time sinc china’ imperi order collaps in 1911 a central govern is embrac the idea that made up the politicalreligi order that ran china for much of the past 2500 year 
whi 
not onli to address china’ moral vacuum but also as a populist measur 
the countri is enter a more uncertain era of slower growth and rise inequ and beij is drape itself in the mantl of tradit to broaden it appeal 
in do so the govern seem to be assum that tradit chines valu and belief are easier to control than foreign religion and that support them will outweigh the cost of suppress islam and christian 
but i have my doubt 
dure a visit this fall to the lord guan templ i saw a dozen or so peopl most in their 30s and 40s read work by wang yangm a philosoph born in the late 15th centuri 
on the face of it this was in line with govern polici the parti has embrac wang for exemplifi an incorrupt spirit and match word with deed 
but after read a passag of wang’ work the men and women sat around a big wooden tabl wield brush to write out over and over again his most famous phrase zhi xing he yi knowledg and action are one 
this knowledg accord to wang come from an inner light a conscienc — one that no govern no matter how power can control 
china where state pomp come with real feel by ian johnson oct 3 2019 beij — attend china’ nation day celebr over the year has been a bit like listen to differ take of a song with the compos hone the theme and jettison the raw bit until the piec sound just right 
that’ how i felt at tuesday’ celebr on tiananmen squar held to observ the 70th anniversari of the found of the people’ republ of china 
i’v attend two other ceremoni like this befor — for the 35th anniversari in 1984 and the 50th in 1999 — and i knew the basic drill there would be a big militari parad follow by float celebr the government’ accomplish 
but this show felt bigger and brassier than either of those as if the compos had decid to use everi instrument in the orchestra and cast subtleti asid 
it was slick and sleek but also overpow and at time bombast 
when i receiv my invit govern offici told me that i was lucki to attend becaus it was such a great honor 
i nod polit but onli realli understood what they meant when i arriv at tiananmen squar on tuesday at 6 am we media type were just a few hundr in a sea of loyal member of the chines communist parti ccp 
and for mani of them it must have felt like one of the biggest event of their live 
it would be easi to write these peopl off as extra 
and 20 year ago the last time i was at such an event the peopl in attend were main high train perform who held aloft placard that spell out differ messag north korea–styl 
but tuesday’ crowd was differ 
it was made up of univers professor scientist administr bureaucrat and peopl who had made some sort of contribut to the state 
they weren’t prop but excit particip who expect to rememb this day 
i notic that right away when i walk past a rais platform cover with artifici grass that surround a big televis screen 
peopl were crouch down next to the platform and neat arrang their letter of invit paradepictur id and program almost all in the same fashion like sacrament on a church altar 
then they would snap a pictur aim their camera so that china’ nation symbol the gate of heaven peac appear in the background 
these were photo design to be boast about on social media guess where i was today 
yes at tiananmen squar 
yes at the ceremoni 
and here is proof 
if these were their sacrament and this ceremoni was their ritual what then was their belief 
that would probabl be the messag broadcast on the giant screen that surround us 
befor the parad began those screen show archiv footag of the past 70 year present a stori about how china had been poor and beaten down by outsid power until the communist parti save the countri 
the mao era wasn’t portray as foreign journalist and academ often depict it — a seri of violent campaign against imagin enemi of the state and the worst famin in record histori — but as a period of pioneer glori when china secur it border for the first time in a centuri built a heavi industri base and set the stage for it econom takeoff 
rais on this ideolog the attende seem visibl move when soldier carri the nation flag goosestep from the monument to the people’ hero at the center of the squar down to the enorm flagpol 
i was unnerv by the background barrag of artilleri and the amplifi sound of the boot strike the pavement — it felt like an invas of giant — but mani peopl around me stood solemn 
this wasn’t stagemanag some look bore other gaze around kid play 
but mani more look earnest just like american do when they stand up hand on heart for the nation anthem at a sport event 
and i don’t think it was just for show that peopl jump out of their seat at one of the earli high point of the ceremoni when presid xi jinp appear stand in an opentop limousin drive out of the gate of heaven peac 
the moment was pure theater with mr xi in a dark tradit suit appear frame by the vermilion wall of the imperi forbidden citi as he set off to inspect the troop 
peopl also ooh and aah at anoth signatur moment that owe much to peke opera 
when mr xi pass the soldier their head swivel as if on socket their eye bulg as they follow the nation’ most import person 
it was a show of the arm forces’ unswerv allegi to the ccp’s leader and the audienc need no encourag to cheer 
realiz that some of these emot are genuin is import becaus we can’t understand china if we think the parti onli rule through the authoritarian method that report understand focus on 
on my social media feed which includ disgruntl intellectu but also workingclass practition of folk religion it’ clear that mani buy into the nation stori creat by the ccp 
invent tradit is noth new nor uniqu to china 
but here these construct can sometim feel uneasi becaus mani of them are import — from soldiers’ dress uniform that seem decad out of date gold braid enorm epaulet row of medal to soundtracklik music worthi of john william fanfar kettl drum plenti of brass 
i might be nostalg but the mood 35 year ago felt a bit differ 
i was a student then and a group of us was buss down to tiananmen squar for the ceremoni 
we then mill around for most of the day 
there was also an orchestr event but secur was minim and you could still stand right next to the perform as they march or danc past 
some student even jump into the parad and held up a banner greet the paramount leader deng xiaop 
china today is more serious about be a superpow 
when the spontan enthusiasm flag on tuesday cheerlead made sure the flag kept wave 
and secur was so tight that it border on paranoia neighborhood park around town implement airportstyl secur to even enter 
but that too was part of the spectacl the messag and the vision — of a focus and disciplin state led by the chines communist parti that can put on a spectacl few countri can match 
coronavirus and the panic epidem by ian johnson jan 30 2020 beij — the absurd of the situat hit me on wednesday when i was come home from a local bar at 8 pm 
i had ridden my bike a few hour earlier to a park for a walk and then to meet a friend — my first human contact in five day exclud the cashier at the groceri store 
but the side gate i’d use to leav the enorm communistera compound was now chain shut 
what 
a notic in chines said it was lock to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus 
so i head toward the north entranc 
that one is for pedestrian and has two barrier set slight apart just wide enough to get through on foot 
that’ ok i thought i can squeez by with my bike and be home in a few minut 
i rode around the block but when i got to the gate i had to slam on the brake 
someon had taken a dozen rideshar bike lash them togeth with wire and pile them in between the barrier 
then for good measur they’d fasten the heap to the post with more wire make it into some sort of postmodern commentari on our hypermobil societi 
laugh i rode on to the main entranc 
it has a car entranc with a big gate and on either side walkway for pedestrian 
one of those was also pile high with rideshar bike sacrif for the nation good the other was protect by two secur guard i’d never seen befor 
they block my way 
what do you want 
one of them ask 
to go home 
i live here 
have you been to wuhan recent 
i just rode back 
i’m exhaust 
the humor was beyond their pay grade 
is anyon in your home from wuhan or has been there recent 
i need to stop fool around 
no i haven’t been there in four year 
i live alon 
no fever 
i feel fine 
they silent let me through 
this felt like the height of foolish whi would the gate be open dure the day but lock down at night 
do virus oper like vampir 
that’ when i realiz the guards’ effort was just part of a borglik lockdown that the state had put into place with the alacr of offici in full cya 
mode 
the next day i was clean my apart no one could enter beij anymor so my one luxuri an houraweek hous cleaner was stuck in her villag even though the main phase of the lunar new year holiday was over 
there was a knock on my door 
it was the good peopl from the apart manag offic mrs luo and her assist 
oh mr zhang nice to see you mrs luo the hennahair manag of leas renew said address me by my chines name 
is there anyon from wuhan in your apart 
no 
still not 
ok 
take a look at this pleas 
she hand me a sheet from the local communist parti district committe list dos and don’t to follow dure the outbreak 
do seek help 
do listen to the local govern 
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 associ with peopl who’v recent arriv from the infect area around the megac of wuhan 
on the back was a list of all the communist parti street committe and their phone number 
final after five year of live in this neighborhood and countless fail effort to regist my complaint about illeg construct at night i had some phone number 
i file the sheet for futur use 
the german languag has as usual a hyperspecif word for this phenomenon aktionismus liter action or action for action’ sake 
what i was wit was aktionismus in the face of a problem that requir a sensit respons involv public trust 
but sinc the chines govern cannot elicit either of those thing i was see the compensatori flailingaround of a state with no other option 
instead of have an adult convers with the popul about the virus and put in place reason polici that have been use effect elsewher the chines state has gone into full lockdown mode 
this demonstr one of those truism from polit scienc authoritarian govern are like peopl who don’t have ani finger but do possess two thumb 
they can take forc action but can’t finetun the lever of govern 
actual i’m not be fair 
when the chines communist parti has time it can come up with and use sophist polici — wit it coopt of tradit faith to fill a spiritu vacuum in societi 
but when face with a crisi the parti can’t seem to avoid grand gestur build hospit from scratch in two week lock down ten of million of peopl ban million more from travel to big citi and so on 
in some way a moment like this one is a technocrat’ dream when western health care expert say that this sort of lockdown won’t work they basic mean it’ never been tri on this scale with this kind of ubereffici govern 
now that it’ be tri not just in beij but also across the countri the effect are kind of thrill to watch 
apart compound like mine are be fumig 
with what 
who care 
peopl are walk around with loudspeak blare out warn against the virus 
villag are close their gate as if bandit were on the prowl 
and go to a restaur or a bar is almost an act of treason or at best foolish selfish 
the most interest question is whi the parti feel the need to carri on like this 
i think it know the peopl don’t trust it in these case and assum there has been a coverup 
henc one of the most popular figur in the crisi zhong nanshan the hero of the 20023 sar outbreak now 83 who is back in action treat patient and warn citizen about the need for hygien 
he has been adopt as the incorrupt offici — a familiar trope in chines histori the confucian offici who stand tall despit pressur to bend 
and so we read endless profil of dr zhong in chines social media discuss his famili background upbring success and apolit pursuit of sciencebas truth 
the clear implic is that he is that rare offici capabl of such principl conduct 
behind all this lie the feel that most other peopl in the parti can’t quit be trust 
this has been reinforc over the past few day by report that at least eight peopl who were detain in wuhan in earli januari on charg of spread rumor are in fact medic doctor not fearmong ne’erdowel 
this startl fact is now leak out in onlin report that are sometim but not alway be block 
at some point the govern will have to admit to a partial coverup 
consid the under distrust it’ hard for the govern to say what mani epidemiologist are say this outbreak is serious but not catastroph 
becaus if the state level with the peopl it would also have to admit that there is no need for this degre of social control 
some 259 peopl were report to have die as of saturday even in a countri of near 14 billion and there is no indic that we are at the start of a hollywood disasterstyl movi 
the government’ inabl to formul a measur respons will turn this outbreak into a direct successor of the sar epidem 
that hard was a huge public health disast — fewer than 800 death — yet it has taken on a legendari reput as a catastroph of unimagin proport one that should never be allow to recur 
but of cours a new outbreak has occur 
doe this mean that the state will suffer 
i don’t think so 
for despit their mistrust of the system peopl over all are go along with the lockdown 
in privat convers and on chat room they say it’ imposs not to take drastic action in a countri as big as china 
in this sens the popul has absorb the government’ narrat of chines except run china requir a strong hand and these measur as absurd as they seem are proof that the govern is do a good job — and portend that the parti will come out of this as alway triumphant 
coronavirus spread and the world pay for china’ dictatorship by nichola kristof jan 29 2020 china’ leader sometim seem 10 feet tall presid over a polit and econom juggernaut that has found univers at a rate of one a week and that recent use more cement in three year than the unit state did in the entir 20th centuri 
presid trump has hail china’ presid xi jinp as a brilliant leader and michael bloomberg say xi is not a dictat 
but we’r now see the danger of xi’ authoritarian model for china and the world 
the first known coronavirus infect in the citi of wuhan present symptom begin on dec 1 and by late decemb there was alarm in wuhan’ medic circl 
that would have been the moment for the author to act decis 
and act decis they did — not against the virus but against whistleblow who were tri to call attent to the public health threat 
a doctor who told a wechat group about the virus was disciplin by the communist parti and forc to admit wrongdo 
the polic report give educ and critic to eight frontlin doctor for rumormong about the epidem instead of punish these doctor xi should have listen to them 
china inform the world health organ of the virus on dec 31 but kept it own citizen in the dark as other countri report infect even as china pretend that it had confin the outbreak to wuhan chines joke grim about a patriot virus that onli struck foreign 
wuhan’ mayor said he wasn’t author to discuss the virus until late this month 
in that time peopl travel to and from wuhan and didn’t take precaut 
the govern final order a lockdown on jan 23 that effect quarantin peopl in wuhan 
but by then accord to the mayor five million peopl had alreadi fled the citi 
part becaus the govern cover up the epidem in the earli stage hospit were not abl to gather suppli and there are now major shortag of test kit mask and protect gear 
some doctor were reduc to make goggl out of plastic folder 
one reason for the earli coverup is that xi’ china has systemat gut institut like journal social media nongovernment organ the legal profess and other that might provid account 
these institut were never veri robust in china but on and off they were toler until xi came along 
i conduct a seri of experi on chines blog over the year begin in 2003 and was sometim surpris by what i could get away with — but no longer 
xi has drag china backward in term of civil societi crush almost everi wisp of freedom and oversight 
for the same reason that xi’ increas authoritarian china bungl the coronavirus outbreak it also mishandl a swine fever virus that sinc 2018 has devast china’ hog industri and kill almost onequart of the world’ pig 
dictat often make poor decis becaus they don’t get accur inform when you squelch independ voic you end up get just flatteri and optim from those around you 
senior chines offici have told me that they are routin lie to on trip to meet local offici and must dispatch their driver and secretari to assess the truth and gaug the real mood 
for this or other reason xi has made a seri of mistak 
he mishandl and inflam the polit crisi in hong kong he inadvert assur the reelect of his nemesi as presid of taiwan and he has presid over worsen relat with the unit state and mani other countri 
the coronavirus has alreadi reach the xinjiang region in the far west of china and one risk is that it will spread in the intern camp where china is confin about one million muslim with poor sanit and limit health care 
virus are challeng for ani countri and it’ onli fair to note that china doe a better job protect it peopl from measl than the us doe 
it’ a credit to china’ system that a babi born in beij today has a longer life expect than a babi born in washington dc more broad the unit state which has sever impoverish counti with lower life expect than cambodia or bangladesh is in no posit to lectur anyon about health 
but with a dose of humil let’ get over ani misplac admir some american have for xi’ authoritarian model 
the chines social contract has been that citizen will not get ballot but will live steadili better live yet china’ economi is now as weak as it has been in three decad — and the coronavirus will sap growth further 
xi is not live up to his end of the bargain and this is seen in the anger emerg on chines social media despit the best effort of censor 
i don’t know if xi is in polit troubl for his misrul but he should be 
he’ a preen dictat and with this outbreak some citizen are pay a price 
cuomo’ bad medicin on medicaid by the editori board jan 31 2020 for year new york state has oper one of the most generous medicaid program in the countri a point of pride in a state with a long tradit of invest in the social safeti net 
the program provid health care and other servic to more than six million peopl larg lowincom new yorker and the cost are share between the state and feder govern 
but proflig spend has sent cost spiral in recent year 
the medicaid program has becom a drive forc behind a 61 billion hole in new york’ budget next year and a brew polit battl over what to do about it 
though medicaid cost are rise across the unit state in new york — among the country’ largest program and long one of it most expens — spend has surg 
from 2015 to 2019 annual spend grew by an averag of 6 percent accord to a report last year by the empir center for public polici a conserv nonprofit research organ 
that’ rough doubl the rate of growth in the previous sever year even as enrol remain flat 
health care and budget expert have said a varieti of factor are behind the trend includ an increas in demand for person care program that provid nonmed servic to disabl new yorker a minimumwag increas and financi assist that the state has provid to struggl hospit 
new york’ share of it 75 billion annual medicaid bill is now about 30 billion and grow impos an increas unten burden on state and local budget 
the feder govern pay the rest 
the good news is that gov 
andrew cuomo who is in charg of administ the feder program has move to rein in cost 
the bad news is that he has said local will have to pay for increas in local medicaid spend abov 3 percent 
that’ unfair and unrealist 
local govern in new york alreadi pay more mandat medicaid cost than local govern in ani other state a dynam that’ been in place sinc the program began in the 1960s 
that’ not unusu in new york where albani reli on new york city’ tax base to fund the bulk of state servic from educ to commut rail 
in 2018 local govern in new york sent 76 billion to albani for the program accord to a 2018 report from the citizen budget commiss 
in fulton counti in upstat new york for instanc the local medicaid bill for 2016 amount to more than 15 percent of the counti budget 
in new york citi the annual medicaid tab is rough 5 billion or near 5 percent of the city’ budget 
if the spend increas continu and the state forc local govern to pay for them the de blasio administr estim the citi would owe an addit 11 billion next year 
the state say the figur would be much lower 
mr cuomo has call on local govern to reduc cost 
that’ fine new york citi and counti across the state which overse enrol should work to root out ani fraud or abus and ensur that those who sign up for the program are elig and truli in need 
they are the ontheground administr 
we respond to them mr cuomo said in a phone call wednesday 
realli though local govern have limit say over how the program is run 
most of that respons rest with the state 
when it come to reduc medicaid cost that’ where the focus should remain 
the most promis effort so far is mr cuomo’ medicaid redesign team a work group assign to find 25 billion in save this year preserv benefit while slash wast 
the governor use a similar task forc to success carri out costsav medicaid reform near a decad ago aid by the afford care act 
the new group will be led by the same two men michael dowl the presid and ceo 
of northwel health and by denni rivera the former head of 1199 seiu the powerhous health care union 
they are set to make their recommend ahead of the april 1 budget deadlin 
it will be up to mr cuomo to ensur the public good is top of mind 
the redesign group should issu a thorough report present it find to the public and the legislatur 
right now it’ not clear they plan to do so and that’ a problem 
while not perfect the approach is far better than simpli fork over more and more taxpay dollar and stick local govern with an evergrow tab as the state has been do 
to get new york’ medicaid program back on track the group will need to take a hard look at spend on nonmed servic like cook and bath for homebound new yorker 
accord to the empir center new york’ medicaid spend on such person servic was the highest in the countri 
that may be becaus of a program that has expand in recent year in which medicaid pay nonmed provid like famili member to care for client 
in 2016 person spend in new york account for 40 percent of nation medicaid spend for the categori overal up from 23 percent in 2011 the empir center said 
complic matter is a polit dynam friend to the health care industri 
in 2018 for exampl the greater new york hospit associ gave more than 1 million in polit contribut to the state’ democrat parti 
not long afterward the state increas medicaid reimburs rate for the first time sinc 2008 cost the state an estim 140 million per year 
mr cuomo has deni that donat influenc his polici decis and cuomo administr offici said at the time that the increas was necessari and simpli long overdu 
health care expert disagre and say hospit revenu had alreadi been on the rise 
new york’ medicaid bill is out of control 
the first order of busi is to understand more about whi and to be honest with the public about what need to be done about it 
democrats’ baffl 2020 mess by frank bruni dec 7 2019 kamala harri fold her tent and on that patch of ground mani flimsi theori bloom 
disappoint democrat grous that you obvious had to be rich to compet in the 2020 race — becaus she was gone while two billionair remain — and point to the potenti allwhit undivers lineup at the party’ next debat as proof that the qualifi criteria put too much of a premium on fundrais 
but harri had made the cut for that debat 
and she enter the presidenti sweepstak with a higher net worth 6 million accord to forb than berni sander 25 million ami klobuchar 2 million or pete buttigieg 100000 who are still in the hunt and are among the six contend slate to be spar onstag on dec 19 
what’ more sander and anoth of the six elizabeth warren have rais bucket of money without court plutocrat 
mani democrat blame the media for harris’ demis 
they have a point inasmuch as some news organ never had the kind of romanc with her that they did with buttigieg and beto o’rourk two white men 
i note as much in a column last may point to o’rourke’ placement on the cover of vaniti fair and buttigieg’ on the cover of time 
but the media fell quick out of love with o’rourk and is pick buttigieg apart for his lack of support among africanamerican and his past employ as a mckinsey consult 
and harri was hard ignor her initi campaign ralli in oakland calif in januari was cover live in it entireti on msnbc and cnn 
that same month rachel maddow of msnbc told her in a facetofac interview i think there is a good chanc that you are go to win the nomin 
and after the democrat debat in june when harri stir confront joe biden about his past opposit to feder mandat buse to integr school she receiv a bonanza of media attent and raptur review 
i get that this democrat primari isn’t play out as anyon predict or in remot accord with the party’ imag of itself and with it prioriti 
none of the top four candid — biden warren buttigieg and sander — is a person of color three of them are 70 or older and the billionair tom steyer and mike bloomberg are dip into their person fortun in their effort to gain ground 
for a parti that celebr divers pitch itself to underdog and pride itself on be futuremind and youthori that’ a freaki baffl turn of event 
but some of the conclus be drawn and complaint be rais don’t fulli hold water 
take the fear about the nomin be purchas 
without question run for offic is too expens 
that dynam can definit favor candid with lucrat connect 
and candid are forc — unless they’r steyer or bloomberg — to devot ludicr and possibl corrupt sum of time to polit panhandl 
but at least at present neither steyer nor bloomberg is exact barrel toward victori 
and while cori booker drew a connect between harris’ departur and a process warp by wealth the link is tenuous 
booker whose campaign press on despit his failur to qualifi for the decemb debat said of harris’ withdraw voter did not determin her destini 
actual they kind of did 
they’r the one who are or aren’t excit enough about a candidaci to donat money and keep it aliv 
they’r the one respond to pollster and by flag their prefer determin which candid take on the air of plausibl that often generat the next round of donat 
i keep see on twitter and facebook lament about harris’ fate from democrat who chose to support candid other than her 
well she couldn’t succeed on general ambient good will 
i also keep see and hear statement along the line that the parti should be asham of the way thing are turn out that the parti fail 
while an offici parti entiti the democrat nation committe inde set criteria for the debat — which had to have some criteria — there’ otherwis no committe of elder or secret cabal that decre which candid prosper and which don’t 
besid which as eric levitz observ in new york magazin harri boast the enthusiast support of hillary’ donor network and support warm relat with obamaworld and the sympathi of a broad rang of democrat lawmak in the nation’ largest state and beyond 
levitz ad that when harri end her campaign on tuesday she trail onli biden in the websit fivethirtyeight’ talli of import endors that booker has more such endors than sander who is far ahead of him and that klobuchar has more than buttigieg whom she distant trail 
so if the parti is fellow democrat politician of note it’ hard drive the direct of this contest 
we in the media aren’t drive it either though there’ constant carp along those line 
we’v alway been fundament respons bestow coverag base on establish interest and we’r more respons than ever in this digit age of sophist realtim measur of precis what our audienc doe and doesn’t turn to 
we give you a tide of warren in part becaus you thrill to the earlier trickl 
we serv you oodl of buttigieg becaus we’v notic your appetit for it 
anoth question assess of this primari is that elect is crowd out candid who don’t fit some safe profil 
yes mani democrat voter tell pollster that choos the candid most like to beat trump is their top concern 
yes there’ evid that such an impuls is lead some voter away from candid of color 
but if elect emphat rule the day wouldn’t at least one of the three current or former governor alreadi gone from the race — john hickenloop of colorado steve bullock of montana and jay insle of washington — have fare better 
governor are frequent tout as the best candid and they account for four of the past seven presid 
if elect rule the day would biden’ stiffest competit be come from a 78yearold democrat socialist who recent had a heart attack and just place first in a california poll a 70yearold former ivi leagu law professor whom trump delight in call pocahonta and the 37yearold gay mayor of a small indiana citi 
there’ a lot to this primari that’ more complic than meet the eye a lot that explod assumpt 
accord to the poll so far voter aren’t drawn to candid whose demograph profil overlap with their 
biden’ support from black democrat in a nation quinnipiac poll late last month was more than eight time what harris’ or booker’ was 
he and sander do exponenti better among latino than juliã¡n castro doe 
sander not buttigieg has the advantag among democrat under the age of 35 
and mani gay democrat have reject buttigieg as inadequ progress and even insuffici gay 
so if ident group elect media bias and person wealth aren’t the secret to success what are 
i think we’r learn yet again that there’ no tidi trusti formula 
but broad name recognit among engag voter — which biden sander and to a lesser extent warren all had at the outset — is an enorm asset 
so are a sale pitch and brand like buttigieg’ that are distinct from ani other contender’ 
final there’ polit acumen 
there’ raw talent 
the last democrat presid barack obama had plenti of it 
the next democrat presid will too 
devin nune is daniell steel by frank bruni nov 15 2019 i came to your hous with a gun 
at least imagin i did 
i tie you to a chair took a step back and repeat fire 
but my arm twitch everi bullet miss 
meanwhil you slip your knot and fled 
by the reason of repres jim jordan i did absolut noth wrong 
you’r aliv 
not a drop of blood on you 
an unconsumm crime is no crime at all or so jordan one of the republican party’ more rococo philosoph argu on wednesday in defens of presid trump 
ukrain got it militari aid trump did not get his investig of the biden 
to jordan that’ proof of innoc 
to a normal person that’ proof of incompet which doesn’t exoner the presid but should definit reassur us 
trump’ an autocrat all right but the silver line is that he’ an inept one 
all strongmen should be this weak 
and all of us should have the mental limber and ethic elast that jordan and his troup possess 
they’r the cirqu du soleil of c’est la vie 
i’v never seen anyth like the republican effort to defend trump which chart the frontier of creativ explor the outer limit of audac mutat like the monster in the alien movi and restor my faith in american ingenu 
my faith in washington too 
i long fear that polit had stop attract the country’ top talent but some of our finest storytel are work in the unit state capitol 
john grisham has noth on jordan 
daniell steel can’t hold a candl to devin nune 
nune was among the first republican to pipe up on day 1 of the impeach inquiry’ public hear held by the hous intellig committe and it wasn’t just his narrat ambit that mesmer me 
it was his bold descent into his thesaurus a sort of semant spelunk 
the hear he said mark the piti final and spectacular implos of the russia hoax 
they amount to a scorchedearth war against presid trump that was horrif onesid and preposter 
this lowrent ukrainian sequel had alreadi involv a closeddoor audit process in a cultlik atmospher in the basement of the capitol 
cultlik no less 
that’ a more fit descript of republicans’ obeis to the presid and launder of his wrongdo but then one hallmark of trump and his sycoph is the project of their own flaw onto their adversari 
nunes’ best bit on wednesday and then again on friday was his portray of trump’ democrat detractor as amateur pornograph intent on find nude pictur of the presid 
i’m fair confid that no one is intent on find nude photograph of the presid 
but at this point it wouldn’t surpris me if trump himself tweet one out 
would that be ani crazier than what he did on friday as mari yovanovitch the former ambassador to ukrain testifi 
there she was a pain stoic state depart amalgam of erin brockovich and norma rae and trump use his twitter account to call her an intern wreck ball singlehand respons for the mess that is mogadishu 
one of her post befor ukrain was somalia 
this accomplish noth in the way of silenc her but rais the prospect of wit intimid be ad to ani articl of impeach 
clear the republican respons to this impeach inquiri isn’t some eleg strategi 
it’ an epic snit 
it leitmotif is hypocrisi 
nune open friday’ hear by lament all the import govern busi that was on hold becaus democrat prefer to tortur trump 
i somehow miss his plea that lawmak keep their eye on the ball and devot themselv to practic problemsolv when the presid stir up one cultur war after anoth just to chang the topic of a given news cycl or hear a ralli audience’ roar 
but along come the impeach inquiri and sudden hous republican are stymi steward of levelhead govern 
they’r dismiss wednesday’ and friday’ hear held in public as pure theater 
but they complain about the closeddoor testimoni beforehand 
they’r shrug off the account of william taylor georg kent and other as hearsay 
but the white hous has decre that such firsthand wit as mick mulvaney not cooper 
one moment mulvaney public acknowledg the shakedown of ukraine’ presid insist that it’ how foreign polici is done and tell the media to get over it 
the next he tell the media that they’r reprehens fabulist for report exact what he said 
one moment republican complet ignor trump’ infam juli 25 phone call and claim that there’ no direct evid of his bulli and — yes nanci pelosi is right — his briberi 
the next they acknowledg the call sigh over trump’ behavior but say that it’ hard impeach 
in fair that’ onli slight more confus to me than the democrats’ perspect on the call a definit piec of evid that they may be inadvert downgrad 
usual a process like the one that they’v been engag in over the last seven week is about find a smoke gun 
this process began with the smoke gun and the farther the democrat travel from it — eight wit this come week 
— the more they risk impli that it wasn’t enough 
but for curious behavior republican have them easili beat and their conduct dure the impeach inquiri is the culmin and apotheosi of their conduct sinc trump wrap up the republican presidenti nomin an utter sellout of principl and a pure embrac of fiction to pacifi an emot infant and keep him from spit up on them 
dure wednesday’ hear republican again suggest — while maintain straight face — that trump’ foremost concern was corrupt in ukrain 
steve castor the republicans’ chief counsel also gave one of the president’ most conveni and thus favorit conspiraci theori a fresh whirl posit that perhap american intellig offici had it all wrong and ukrain not russia hack democrat email in 2016 and otherwis interf in the elect 
how would this make trump’ demand that ukrainian smear joe biden in return for million of dollar of alreadyauthor aid ok 
it wouldn’t — but what a juici distract 
and what a perfect gateway for castor’ attempt to get taylor to testifi that trump legitim believ that ukrainian were in castor’ word out to get him 
tri to follow along 
not onli doe incompet equal innoc but also paranoia is exculpatori 
same goe for the relat dastardli of a deed which becom innocu if it’ not maxim obnoxi 
that’ my takeaway from when castor refer to rudi giuliani’ shenanigan ask taylor this irregular channel of diplomaci it’ not as outlandish as it could be — is that correct 
clarenc darrow move over 
anoth genius of jurisprud demand space in the histori book 
all that wednesday’ hear lack was lindsey graham 
yes i know he serv in the senat and the hear took place in the hous 
but he’ the standardbear for trumpcoddl contortion the reign king of the kind of contradict that were on display 
presag jordan’ approach at the hear graham a week and a half ago shrug off the impeach inquiri by call trump’ polici toward ukrain so incoher that the presid and his minion seem to be incap of form a quid pro quo 
he said at one point that he’d be open to ani evid that back up such a quid pro quo but then more recent he announc that he wouldn’t and couldn’t be bother to follow the testimoni becaus he’d alreadi made up his mind 
as billi binion of reason magazin note graham has bemoan the democrats’ lack of transpar onli to shield his eye onc the curtain was lift 
mayb graham will storm the hear room yet an effigi of hunter biden in tow 
that would match the digniti of what we’v seen from republican so far 
did i just get yang 
by bari weiss jan 30 2020 it was new year’ eve and i had decid to spend it with andrew yang 
a selfdescrib asian man who’ good at math mr yang had rais an impress 165 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 for his presidenti campaign 
despit be newli flush the campaign didn’t hold it shindig in a napa valley wine cave or at gramerci tavern but in a florescentlit room abov a bar in nashua nh 
the parti look like noth so much as a high school danc if you had ban the bulli 
there was a modest buffet of meatbal spanakopita ritz cracker and cheddar chees 
the dj a boomer with trouser that bad need hem could have been your chemistri teacher bounc to cardi b 
now a few day away from the iowa caucus mr yang has outlast more than a dozen candid includ three senat 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 debat stage 
he remain a veri long shot nation poll have him consist in the second tier right next to ami klobuchar 
still convent wisdom would say that andrew yang should be nowher this close to the american presid 
i went to new hampshir becaus i want to understand how a polit rooki with what seem like littl go for him beyond a signatur propos of free money and relentless cheer onlin fan had gotten this far 
what doe the url candidate’ campaign look like irl 
that night the yang gang as the candidate’ fan proud call themselv was a happi crowd of gamer asian former goth girl burn man enthusiast scifi geek student coder and stoner 
when mr yang drop a lord of the ring joke — it’ like the eye of sauron is close in 
he said of his momentum in the race — they erupt in laughter 
hardcor yang voter are not cool 
and that is exact their and his appeal 
among the partygo on new year’ eve were jacki and dave farrel former berni sander support who own a deli in caldwel nj mr farrel wore a handmad knit beani stitch with the word yang math vote and 2020 ms farrel had a pink yang gang basebal hat over her blue hair and a copi of the candidate’ best seller the war on normal peopl in her purs 
they fell in love insid an onlin role play game call hobowar 
it’ hard to imagin anyon at a joe biden event with that kind of meetcut 
he actual sold me a guild ms farrel told me 
it’ sort of like a gang 
like a yang gang 
talk to anyon in the yang gang for a few minut and they’ll inevit tell you how they got yang 
the stori almost alway begin with a younger person tell an older person to googl andrew yang 
which is exact what happen with the farrel 
in august a 23yearold employe in the deli approach ms farrel to ask whom she was support 
i was like ‘berni i guess 
i support him in 2016’ she recal 
and he goe ‘whi haven’t you googl andrew yang yet 
so she did 
i liter stay up till 4 am that night watch video 
have you ever been the target of a twitter mob 
it’ about as pleasant as a brazilian wax in slow motion 
the one thing that bring a small measur of comfort when you are in the digit cross hair is the follow assert the internet is not real life 
it is true at least for the time be that a hord of pixel cannot transform itself into a hord of peopl 
but the lie that there is a bright line between the onlin world and the real one has been well and truli debunk 
just ask ani middleschool girl shame for an instagram post or ani adult fire becaus of a bad tweet or ani democrat hope to oust donald trump and becom the 46th presid of the unit state 
berni sander may be fuel by his zealous fan on social media but of all the democrat run for presid the web mean the most to andrew yang 
without it his candidaci simpli wouldn’t exist 
it’ a classic underdog stori a polit unknown ignor by the mainstream media sidestep the pundit who had consid him a punchlin 
in the earli day there weren’t mani peopl in cabl news clamor to have me on their show he told me over bubbl tea on a recent afternoon in his manhattan campaign headquart 
and so you seek out peopl who can reach lot of american 
those peopl were the one with podcast 
what launch us was sam harri said mr yang of his june 2018 appear on mr harris’ show make sens 
it put him on the map i was invit to speak at the wing ding in iowa — a major democrat fundrais event — becaus one of the peopl there was a sam harri fan 
mr harri introduc him to joe rogan a mix martial art color comment who host one of the most popular podcast in the countri 
disclosur i’v also appear on his show 
joe rogan was the game changer mr yang said 
we rais ten of thousand of dollar a day for awhil there and a million buck in a week 
but it isn’t simpli that mr yang clever use new platform to his advantag 
sure the podcast gave him a big boost but lot of politician have use new media to expand their reach franklin roosevelt command the radio team obama master the email blast presid trump tear up twitter 
mr yang’ outsiz success show that the peopl who insist that rachel maddow has more influenc over the american elector than mr rogan are lie to themselv about where cultur power in america is actual locat 
what mr yang understand is that the old rule no longer appli — and that flout those rule is an energ strategi 
but while donald trump burn the whole hous down andrew yang is dunk on the system with a big smile 
that’ how he get onstag at a democrat debat point out the ridicul of the artific — we’r up here with makeup on our face and our rehears attack line play role in this realiti tv show — and walk away with one of the most talkedabout moment of the night despit have had the least talk time 
his appeal is a power remind that the anim polit conflict of our era may not be left versus right but establish versus insurg 
the yang campaign pride itself on the heterodoxi of it support 
i poll 18 percent among colleg republican mr yang told me 
i’v got a higher appeal among independ libertarian and even some disaffect trump voter than joe biden by the number than berni sander by the number 
one of his campaign slogan is not left 
not right 
forward 
the writer wesley yang has suggest that the inbetween natur of asianamerican — the way they are often regard neither as white nor as peopl of color — allow them to say and do thing that white liber are now afraid to say and do which is to stand up for certain fundament valu 
when you consid mr yang’ posit on some of the touchiest aspect of the cultur war and imagin his view come out of the mouth of a michael bennet or a pete buttigieg you can easili see the truth of this insight 
for instanc he’ glad that america has becom less of a monocultur 
when he was a kid he say his own effort to be american includ thing like join the wrestl team he was terribl at the sport 
but he ad i think there’ a middl ground where you can’t just say america is noth and everybodi run off and do your own thing 
it’ import he said to have a common cultur context and even — and this will be veri controversi — a common languag of express 
i spoke to some of his mani asianamerican support and this reson with them 
michael chen a 19yearold drexel student at one of the new hampshir town hall event said he appreci that mr yang whose immigr father grew up in a hous with a dirt floor on a peanut farm is not run on his ident you can be asianamerican you can be black american you can be latinoamerican but the common denomin is american 
that’ who he is 
mr chen was there with his dad jack 
the elder mr chen call himself a yang junki but insist be asian has littl to do with it 
what anim him is the practic of mr yang’ solut 
mr yang believ in talk to peopl he disagre with 
in april he appear on the ben shapiro show a nogo zone for those who buy into the new polit of contamin — that to sit next to a conserv like mr shapiro is to tacit endors his idea 
think that i’m go to catch idea from someon seem ludicr 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 includ describ mr yang with an antisemit and racist epithet 
mr yang tweet that he didn’t think mr gilli should be fire write we would benefit from be more forgiv rather than punit 
the show didn’t follow mr yang’ advic 
i ask mr yang who ran one of the top test prep program in the countri befor it was bought by kaplan about his view on affirm action 
is harvard do to asian in the 21st centuri what it did to jew in the 20th 
harvard’ gonna harvard he said 
he told me that he himself was reject from the school — he wound up at brown — though he was ampli qualifi 
but if you have ani kind of perspect he said you realiz that my life and my human depend on more than whether some institut decid to stamp my hand 
argu for higher represent of an alreadi overrepres group — at least accord to popul standard — would not be my first bone to pick he said 
instead he ask whi harvard a univers with a 40 billion endow is open locat in shanghai but not ohio or michigan 
the real question he said is are you tri to advanc our societi or are you tri to advanc global money interest 
on new year’ eve it occur to me that despit live in new york which pride itself on be the most cosmopolitan citi in the world i had not been in a room with such a polit divers group of peopl sinc donald trump was elect presid 
if there is a typic yang voter it is a former berni sander support who feel that mr yang understand the challeng of the 21st centuri better than a 78yearold socialist without a singl app on his phone 
mr yang support mr sander in 2016 befor vote for hillari clinton in the general elect i’m procivil he said 
he understand whi young voter are drawn to mr sander 
if you’r a young person you look up and say ‘what have i experienc from this capitalist system’ corpor abus crash bailout greed record level of colleg debt 
but he insist the best actor to improv people’ live is not our govern it’ us 
bernie’ say ‘let’ stick it to the billionair and all will be well’ he said 
i’m say ‘we need to rewrit the code we need to rewrit the software’ at a campaign stop in manchest nh i spoke with sunni payn a 23yearold yang support who’d come in from bangor me and use the pronoun they 
while i think berni sander is an amaz person they said he’ has had the exact same polici stanc for liter decad 
amber mccabe and martin raucher both 29 are also former sander support 
they drove 25 hour from st petersburg fla 
they made sure not to cut anyon off on the highway ms mccabe said becaus there’ a yang bumper sticker on their car and we have to repres 
mr raucher is a disabl veteran and ms mccabe is an artist they met through their passion spin fire 
it wasn’t possibl to twirl lit torch insid the parti room so ms mccabe had fashion the next best thing a handmad lightup yang sign 
with yang i’m all about the idea the polici she said abov all his propos for a univers basic incom of 1000 a month 
i need an oil chang said mr raucher when i ask how they’d spend it 
and my roof is leak 
just across the danc floor were elasa and russel peterson two former trump voter who chang their registr — and move state — to support mr yang’ candidaci 
everyon i know is the brokefolk vote said mr peterson 
they are among them 
until recent they work at a north carolina oliv 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 becaus the immigr are come over here and they’r steal our jobs’ and you know what 
becaus we’r all broke we’r all like ‘it’ immigr 
yeah 
let’ build the wall’ mr peterson said 
but then you hear andrew yang talk and he’ like ‘you know what 
it’ not immigr 
it’ automation’ you go into walmart you don’t see immigr 
you see selfserv checkout 
it’ like a light bulb goe off 
like ‘wow this make sense’ it made so much sens that they move in with ms peterson’ sister in vermont 10 minut from the new hampshir border so they could volunt fulltim for the campaign and promot him on their youtub channel 
everybodi in our famili has been yang 
and they were all trumper mr peterson said 
at a town hall event attend by some 300 peopl on new year’ day the first question — so onbrand i almost assum it was a plant — was about the metric system so mr make american think harder can we count on presid yang to support the bless of the metric system 
the crowd laugh 
amaz mr yang came back with a thought answer about how the metric system is safer not least becaus it is more accur for microdos babi medicin 
to hear andrew yang talk is to understand whi it is possibl for peopl like the peterson to support him unlik the presid he never demon other american 
the differ between us are pretti trivial compar to the thing we share in common 
and that’ a fundament messag of the campaign ablebodi special need white black old young rural urban we’r all go to get run over by this autom freight train he said 
we need to human up and stop focus on relat trivial distinct 
the villain is not donald trump but a market rig for big tech and against normal american 
in mr yang’ frame of the 2016 elect mrs clinton lost not becaus of the elector colleg or russian bot but becaus she fundament misunderstood the crisi face america 
donald trump said he was go to make america great again 
and what did hillari clinton say in respons 
america is alreadi great mr yang said 
that messag did not work becaus the pain in our countri is real 
in other word donald trump is the wrong answer to the right question 
mr yang believ he is the right one 
at each one of the four campaign stop i went to he ask the crowd whi presid trump won 
the audienc call out answer the media 
russia 
racism 
hillari 
facebook 
twitter 
jame comey 
no said mr yang 
it’ becaus we blast away four million manufactur job through autom in state like ohio michigan pennsylvania missouri and iowa 
what happen to manufactur is come to retail restaur and even account and the law mr yang insist 
while mr sander suggest a feder govern job guarante and joe biden suggest turn coal miner into coder mr yang say that work as we have known it is over 
if we don’t chang anyth i ask him where will be 50 year from now 
bestcas scenario 
we will see inequ at a stagger scale that right now most american would find unthink 
and in the worst case 
the collaps of the govern in it current form polit break up and societ dysfunct that result in mass riot and violenc 
it’ impress that for the most part his good humor soften the bleak messag he is convey 
it’ a vision of the futur — one disput as hyster by mani observ — that make presid trump’ american carnag address look almost rosi by comparison 
i caught up with sunni payn this week 
hear 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 befor realiz that i want to spread the messag to black voter and communiti of color and i realiz the best place for me to do that was in south carolina 
they said they kept hear the same stori from voter i can’t care about climat chang becaus i need to put food on the tabl 
i have three job 
i bare sleep 
to these peopl sunni payn said 1000 a month would be lifechang 
that’ the reason that the comedian dave chappell has endors mr yang 
the wealth dispar between me and my neighbor is immens it’ heartbreak said mr chappell who live in ohio but appear alongsid mr yang on the campaign trail this week 
if you know a third of the peopl up the street can’t buy groceri then you start to feel an imper concern he said 
this is without ironi or a punch line i’m just tell you — this guy’ got some great idea you should check it out 
so have i been yang 
i don’t know if a univers basic incom is the best solut to the problem of inequ 
i’m not particular passion about lower the vote age to 16 or requir polic offic to get purpl belt in jujitsu 
i worri about whether someon with zero foreign polici experi can be the command in chief 
but as berni sander sell class rage joe biden promis normalci and elizabeth warren push a social progressiv so perfect doctrinair it seem tailor for five kid at oberlin andrew yang’ iconoclasm and optim are refresh 
if get yang mean that i believ that this curious campaign is a caus for that rarest thing in current american polit — hope — and that mr yang is model how to har the populist energi that otherwis threaten to tear us apart then count me yanggang 
america’ public restroom are kind of great now by farhad manjoo dec 11 2019 in the past few year someth amaz has been quiet happen across the land 
public restroom in america — long a flash point of exclus by race gender class and abil — have gotten much much better 
thank to an increas effect campaign by a rang of activist america’ public bathroom are now cleaner more plenti more privat and more access and inclus than ever 
in mani place they’r even great 
this is a stori about ident polit advocaci design and architectur 
it is also a stori still in motion with progress yet to unfold and mani peopl still shut out 
there is still much controversi surround our bathroom who get to use them and how 
but it’ import to recogn progress as it’ happen 
and if you travel across america now it’ undeni that how we go keep get better 
how do i know 
at the risk of tmi i happen to be an expert on bathroom 
twenti year ago when i was a senior in colleg i was diagnos with a condit call achalasia a rare sometim genet swallow disord that i was actual quit familiar with becaus when i was a kid my mother had it too 
it began as a blind burn bolt of pain in the middl of my chest after eat 
imagin heartburn after you’v eaten someth spici but amp up to 11 as if the thing you’d eaten was a chain saw dous in ghost pepper 
the pain would abat after a few minut but it would come back again and again usual after i’d eaten a big meal 
then it began to hurt dure big meal then dure everi meal and soon anytim i’d tri to swallow anyth 
for mani peopl the condit is curabl through surgeri but for me that longago flash of pain turn out to be onli the begin of an allconsum chronic and often embarrass disabl 
over the last two decad though i’v undergon dozen of invas procedur and test taken a panopli of pill and had various part of my digest system remov or surgic rebuilt my symptom have onli gotten more intens and more — how to put this delic 
— expans 
swallow food is now an arduous enough task that i have to get much of my nutrit through liquid as kany onc rap i drink a boost for breakfast an ensur for dessert 
but it’ no longer just eat that’ a pain it’ what happen after too 
from the nave to the chop my swallow problem has spawn a grossout comedy’ worth of gi 
complic 
the ugli upshot is this at least onc everi day and sometim mani time i have to run to the restroom on a moment’ notic and what happen to me there is best experienc alon in bliss unembarrass solitud 
i tell you all this in order to establish my bona fide i know public bathroom 
in my travel over the year i have assembl in my head a verit michelin guid of privat peac place to go 
so trust me when i tell you that in the last few year better public bathroom have start to pop up everywher 
again and again in big citi and small in red state and blue in airport hotel shop mall theater stadium offic and a rang of other public venu i’v been save by a bounti of better loo 
more restroom are now explicit inclus and access design for peopl who are physic disabl are gender nonconform are travel with children or are otherwis in need of special accommod 
for instanc paruresi and parcopresi phobia that inhibit peopl from urin or defec in public restroom are real debilit condit that affect ten of million of peopl 
one innov that has been of particular use to me is the lockabl singleoccup allgend restroom 
a decad ago in most public place it was nigh imposs to find a privat place to do your busi 
today these oneperson stall are a rise trend across the countri especi at airport and other larg public facil 
in some place they’r label all gender restroom in other they’r call famili bathroom in yet other sign welcom everyon with broad languag like all person may use this restroom 
whatev you call them they’r a haven in a world mark by chao and disord 
over the last few year when natur call sudden and panic set in i’v had the fortun of find a clean privat place at among other locat the guggenheim in new york the getti center in los angel the mall of america a dozen airport at least and so so mani starbuck 
of cours thing still aren’t perfect 
i am a member of a racial minor but i’m a cisgend person of mean and social privileg 
it’ like that a lot of peopl still find it hard to find clean privat restroom in much of the land 
still the restroom situat in america is much better than it use to be and i’v notic so much better than in mani other part of the world 
on a trip to britain and franc with my kid last year i was surpris at how difficult it was to find a clean privat bathroom when there was one you often had to pay to use it 
i’v seen some veri nice bathroom in dubai but onli in place that cater to the wealthi 
in south africa and india 
forget about it 
america has less and less to be proud of these day our life expect are fall our infrastructur is crumbl and our polit are in the toilet 
but look at our toilet 
while there’ no offici metric on this sort of thing in my estim american toilet are now like among the top in the world 
japan’ loo are said to be veri nice if we can’t be no 
1 it’ possibl we’r at least you know no 
2 
if it’ true that our toilet are get better it’ worth ask whi 
in a word activist 
in the last few year a rang of advoc fight on behalf of transgend peopl the disabl homeless peopl and other have mount a varieti of legal and public advocaci campaign aim at make bathroom more access 
these have sometim spark backlash and controversi like the 2016 law in north carolina that roll back genderinclus restroom 
at the suprem court this fall justic consid a case about gay and transgend right couldn’t stop themselv from consid everyth through the len of the loo 
despit the polit controversi on the ground in facil all over the countri the moral arc of the bathroom is bend toward inclus 
at starbuck after a viral incid last year in which two black men who had ask to use the restroom were arrest at a philadelphia locat the restroom are now open to everyon even peopl who haven’t purchas anyth 
citi are now spend money to creat more public restroom 
and earlier this year stall an organ of design and activist who push for restroomrel social justic mount a success campaign to get the intern plumb code — which set standard for bathroom — to adopt new languag support allgend restroom 
inclus design has been a hot new term among architect and product design the idea broad is that when you creat product and space that are accommod of a broad rang of human capac they end up be much more use to everyon in unexpect way 
advoc of inclus design point to some canon exampl sidewalk ramp were put in place for peopl with wheelchair but they turn out to be handi for parent with stroller too 
some of the technolog in the smartphone’ touchscreen was invent as a way to help peopl with disabl like carpal tunnel syndrom 
typewrit and keyboard were first creat to help the blind 
restroom are follow a similar path 
it’ not just obvious disabl and gendernonconform peopl who need a privat more access restroom 
everyon now and again can do with a nicer place to go to the bathroom 
in america at long last we’r get that 
thank you social justic warrior 
elizabeth warren throw down the gauntlet by elisabeth rosenth nov 4 2019 lay the tabl for the next democrat debat elizabeth warren has issu a plan that explain how she would fund what she call medicar for all 
she had studious avoid say whether it would rais tax for the middl class and in her propos she say repeat it will not 
it will instead be financ by a mix of wealth tax employ transfer of money they current spend on health care and reduct of the mani ineffici in our current byzantin system — among other initi 
but now all the candid need to tell us more of those detail about their health care strategi 
it’ time for the candid to stop talk slogan and start talk sens — or dollar and cent — so that voter can know what they mean and choos among them 
medicar for all medicar for all who want it a public option improv the afford care act — those are 30000foot concept that depend on the detail could work or not and be popular or not 
the candid includ ms warren also need to say more about what they’ll do right now in one poll 40 percent of american said they had skip a recommend test or treatment and 32 percent said they had skip a medicin becaus of cost 
support of medicar for all want to tie their futur to the popular of the medicar program 
but ms warren and berni sander are offer up american a supercharg version of the current govern insur for those over 65 
it promis to elimin copay for prescript drug 
under current medicar mani patient contribut thousand of dollar annual 
it includ dental and longterm care — a huge expens that is conspicu miss from current medicar 
that ambit would make a health care plan vast more expens 
the nation health system of britain and canada both singl payer system like the medicar for all propos do not offer comprehens longterm care coverag 
canada’ doesn’t includ coverag for prescript drug out of the hospit 
is the financ ms warren propos go to be adequ to support the expand goal 
economist disagre 
but in releas her propos she has thrown down the gauntlet befor the other candid — who support medicar for all who want it or some other type of public option — to be a whole lot clearer about what they mean 
joe biden kamala harri pete buttigieg et al 
doe your public option — a govern insur polici that anyon may buy — resembl mr sanders’ enhanc medicar or current medicar or medicaid which is far more bare bone 
voter need to know 
there’ anoth obvious reason the candid have been so close lip on specif to calcul how to pay for ani of the plan the candid have to say how they intend to bring down price — for hospit stay drug procedur devic doctors’ visit surgeri 
american often pay two to 10 time what patient pay for these item in other develop countri 
those price will have to come down to make ani plan viabl without break the bank 
to realli assess ani plan we’ll need that kind of inform 
ms warren has courag step into that fraught territori with number that have veri like sent shock wave through the health care industri 
for exampl to make her financ propos work she suggest pay most hospit on averag 110 percent of current medicar rate 
she suggest american should pay no more for drug than 110 percent of the averag intern market price 
that may be emin reason but is it achiev 
when montana negoti rate direct with hospit for it state employe it settl on a deal in which the state agre to pay an averag of 234 percent of medicar rate 
and it still save money 
set lower price is go to bring out strong opposit 
rememb patient or taxpay save mean loss of incom for one of america’ most profit industri whose lobbyist spent more than half a billion dollar last year and which is flush with dark money to distribut in congress 
to get the aca 
pass presid barack obama gave up on a number of pricelow idea to get buyin from the health care industri and it friend in congress 
these includ jettison the idea of a public option and allow medicar to negoti drug price 
the republican — whose plan have been larg proclam of better cheaper health care without ani strategi — will be quick to label ani of the democrat plan as a govern takeov of health care or social 
rememb patient or taxpay save mean loss of incom for the unit states’ most robust sector in the postrecess economi 
in mani postmanufactur citi like pittsburgh and cleveland a singl hospit system is the biggest employ 
in boston hospit and hospit corpor make up the top six employ 
minnesota and massachusett have done well with drug and devic manufactur 
and let’ not start on insur whose lucrat health busi would larg disappear 
ani plan to rein in the unit states’ bloat 35 trillion health care system will be slow go requir not just a footnot blueprint but also the tame of mani oppos forc 
it took year for canada to move from a marketbas system to govern run health 
it endur lengthi debat and doctors’ strike 
ms warren call her propos a longterm plan 
but voter want to know how we get from here to anywher els 
in poll their top health care issu is afford — emphasi on now 
they need concret propos as well as longterm vision 
in the next debat how about talk about hr 
3 a bill in congress to curb prescript drug price 
that plan would allow the health and human servic secretari to negoti a maximum price that could be charg to medicar for insulin and some of the most expens medicin in the unit state base on the price paid for those drug in other countri 
day befor the last democrat debat the congression budget offic said it would save 345 billion over a sixyear period 202329 
if the bill were to move to the senat how would the frontrunn vote 
what do they have to say about that 
four key thing you should know about health care by ezekiel j emanuel and victor r fuch sept 12 2019 health care so far perhap the biggest issu in the democrat primari is also the most complic issu face govern and the public 
unfortun the debat is fill with persist misconcept from the role insur compani profit play in health care cost to who is actual pay for workers’ health coverag 
clarifi four fundament health care fallaci could make it easier for voter to squar some of the democrat propos — and their critiqu — with realiti fallaci no 
1 employ pay for employees’ health insur 
employ write check that cover most health insur premium for employe and their depend 
but as the princeton health economist uwe reinhardt onc explain employersponsor insur is like a pickpocket take money out of your wallet at a bar and buy you a drink 
you appreci the cocktail until you realiz you paid for it yourself 
with health coverag employ write the check to the insur but employe bear the cost of the premium — the entir premium not just the portion list as their contribut on their pay stub 
the premium money that goe to the insur compani is cash that employ would otherwis deposit in employees’ account like the rest of their salari 
the fallaci is in think an employer’ contribut come out of profit 
in fact higher health insur premium mean lower wage for worker 
sinc 1999 health insur premium have increas 147 percent and employ profit have increas 148 percent 
but in that time averag wage have hard move increas just 7 percent 
clear workers’ wage not corpor profit have been pay for higher health insur premium 
health care cost are one — though not the onli — reason wage have stagnat over the last few decad 
with health insur cost rise faster than growth in the economi more labor cost go to benefit like health insur and less to takehom pay 
yet the belief that employe don’t pay for their own health insur is widespread 
one reason is that individu cannot be sure what caus their wage to chang or remain stagnant for decad 
anoth reason is that employ want american to believ that they pay for their workers’ health insur 
still anoth reason is that there are those who profit from the employmentbas system drug compani devic manufactur specialti physician and highincom individu 
they all want you to believ compani are be magnanim in give you insur 
who els benefit from the belief in this fallaci 
oppon of nation health insur 
fallaci no 
2 medicar for all is unafford 
the key to evalu the cost of medicar for all is to distinguish between increas spend on health care and shift expenditur from privat insur to the feder govern 
true medicar for all would increas feder health care spend 
but that is not the same as increas total health care spend which was over 35 trillion last year 
instead medicar for all would move money from one column privat health insur spend to anoth feder health spend it doe not automat increas total cost 
a recent studi by the mercatus center at georg mason univers — a freemarket center general hostil to govern program — estim that for the 10 year between 2022 and 2031 the total nation health cost for senat berni sanders’ medicar for all plan would actual be 501 trillion 
that would be 2 trillion less than if we let the system oper as it current doe 
howev mercatus research doubt that the sanders’ plan would ultim save trillion becaus they believ congress would have to increas medicar rate paid to hospit and physician to get the legisl enact 
they may be right — or wrong 
but that is a differ argument — a predict about the polit of enact law — than that medicar for all would inher increas total health care spend 
we have our doubt about medicar for all 
but unafford is not a reason to oppos it 
whether it’ our current arrang or a futur medicar for all the per capita cost of our health care system alreadi far exceed that of ani other industri countri — includ those with singlepay system 
when you hear a health care price tag in the trillion know that the exist system has alreadi brought us there 
fallaci no 
3 insur companies’ profit drive health care cost 
in the second democrat presidenti debat senat berni sander declar that the health care industri make 100 billion in profit 
he onc rail against the insur compani anthem for deni a claim while note that it report fourthquart profit for 2017 had increas by 234 percent to 12 billion 
mani american believ that profit have no place in health care 
they see forprofit health insur like buy and sell kidney and liver for transplant as what the nobel prize winner alvin roth term a repugn industri — someth that should not be exchang in the market 
that is an import moral stand but it make no differ to the claim that elimin forprofit insur will reduc high health care cost 
the fact is we could elimin those profit and it would hard matter to the cost of health care 
you would not notic it in your premium 
for the eight largest forprofit health insur compani in 2016 their cumul revenu amount to near 4522 billion and profit were 221 billion for a profit margin of about 5 percent 
by contrast technolog compani bank and major drug compani general 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 alon health care cost increas over 130 billion — six time insur compani profit 
health care spend would not be signific cheaper if all insur companies’ profit were zero 
there are far more save to be had in other effort — by cut unnecessari patient servic for exampl or by make physician and hospit more effici — to deliv the same care at a lower cost 
fallaci no 
4 price transpar can bring down health care cost 
hospit will be requir to publish price that reflect what peopl pay for servic said presid trump when he sign his execut order on health care price transpar 
price will come down by number that you wouldn’t believ 
the cost of health care will go way way down 
there is no doubt that price for medic procedur can rang wide even within the same citi or state 
for instanc mris of the spine can vari threefold in massachusett and mammogram fivefold in san francisco 
conserv argu that inform patient of price for test and treatment will induc them to shop for lowercost servic save them insur and the countri money 
in theori the beauti of price transpar is that neither the govern nor insur impos cost control the invis hand of the market doe it all 
yet demonstr of price transpar have been tri mani time in mani place and in realiti it has not reduc the cost of care 
one recent studi by harvard medic school research involv hundr of thousand of employe and use a websit tell them what they would pay outofpocket if they chose particular physician and hospit 
the result no save 
a followup studi use anoth set of employ and anoth price transpar tool found the same result no save 
sinc 2007 new hampshir has had a state websit nh health cost that allow patient to select a medic procedur insur and zip code and then get a list of price for the procedur from various provid 
the most promis studi of nh health cost suggest a few million dollar in save per year 
that work out to be about 5 per new hampshir resid 
the fact is price transpar will not make health care cost go way way down 
health insur insul the patient from price 
over 80 percent of the cost of medic care is paid by privat and public insur 
patient have littl incent to seek out the cheapest provid 
when price websit exist few patient use them 
even in the most favor studi when offer a price transpar tool onli 12 percent of patient took advantag of it usual it’ less than 4 percent of patient 
furthermor price consider are use for choos onli about 40 percent of procedur — routin servic like colonoscopi mri 
scan and laboratori test 
most of the expens servic — think heart catheter cancer chemotherapi and organ transplant — are not the kind of thing you decid base on price 
final in health care american usual put relationship ahead of money 
onc patient find a physician they trust and a hospit they like they tend to stick with them even if there is a lowercost altern nearbi 
american health care is complex and ani simplist solut is like to be base on a fallaci 
but that doesn’t mean there is noth we can do 
there are solut — they just don’t make for bumper sticker phrase like medicar for all or elimin forprofit insur or price transpar 
georg soro mark zuckerberg should not be in control of facebook by georg soro jan 31 2020 at a dinner last week in davo switzerland i was ask if i thought facebook was behav more respons today than it did dure the 2016 presidenti elect 
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 longstand law — section 230 of the communic decenc act — that protect social media platform from legal liabil for defam and similar claim 
facebook can post deliber mislead or fals statement by candid for public offic and other and take no respons for them 
i went on to say that there appear to be an inform mutual assist oper or agreement develop between trump and facebook in which facebook will help presid trump to get reelect and mr trump will in turn defend facebook against attack from regul and the media 
this is just plain wrong a facebook spokesman told busi insid 
i disagre 
i believ that mr trump and facebook’ chief execut mark zuckerberg realiz that their interest are align — the president’ in win elect mr zuckerberg’ in make money 
let’ look at the evid in 2016 facebook provid the trump campaign with embed staff who help to optim it advertis program 
hillari clinton’ campaign was also approach but it declin to emb a facebook team in her campaign’ oper 
brad parscal the digit director of mr trump’ 2016 campaign and now his campaign manag for 2020 said that facebook help mr trump and gave him the edg 
this seem to have mark the begin of a special relationship 
more recent direct contact between the two men has rais serious question 
mr zuckerberg met with mr trump in the oval offic on sept 19 2019 
we don’t know what was said 
but from an interview on the sidelin at the world econom forum on jan 22 we do know what mr trump said about the meet mr zuckerberg told me that i’m no 
1 in the world in facebook 
mr trump appar had no problem with facebook’ decis not to factcheck polit ad 
i’d rather have him just do whatev he is go to do mr trump said of mr zuckerberg 
he’ done a hell of a job when you think of it 
the president’ 2016 campaign mount a robust datacentr communic effort and has continu to build on that program over the past few year use facebook as a key part of their strategi 
facebook’ decis not to requir factcheck for polit candidates’ advertis in 2020 has flung open the door for fals manipul extrem and incendiari statement 
such content is reward with prime placement and promot if it meet facebookdesign algorithm standard for popular and engag 
what’ more facebook’ design tend to obscur the sourc of inflammatori and fals content and fail to adequ punish those who spread fals inform 
nor doe the compani effect warn those who are expos to lie 
i express my fear that with facebook’ help mr trump will win the 2020 elect 
the recent hire of a rightw figur to help manag it news tab has reinforc those fear 
in my comment in davo i also point out that facebook has been use to caus wors damag in other countri than the unit state 
in myanmar for exampl militari personnel use facebook to help incit the public against the rohingya who were target in a militari assault of incred cruelti includ murder rape and the burn of entir villag around 700000 rohingya fled to bangladesh 
the intern court of justic in the hagu is current deliber whether these atroc qualifi as genocid 
but within the last year facebook has introduc new featur on it mobil app that actual intensifi the fire of incendiari polit attack — make them easier and quicker to propag 
the system is costfre to the poster and revenuegener for facebook 
good for facebook bad for democraci 
the respons approach is selfevid 
facebook is a publish not just a neutral moder or platform 
it should be held account for the content that appear on it site 
speak at a cocktail parti in davo on jan 22 facebook’ chief oper offic sheryl sandberg repeat the worn silicon valley clich㩠that facebook is tri to make the world a better place 
but facebook should be judg by what it doe not what it say 
i repeat and reaffirm my accus against facebook under the leadership of mr zuckerberg and ms sandberg 
they follow onli one guid principl maxim profit irrespect of the consequ 
one way or anoth 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 shini object 
joe biden just may be the keepsak that endur 
the other two went at it on thursday night quarrel over the mean and moral of a wine cave in an exchang that distil the democrat primary’ broader tension between pragmat and puriti compromis and ideal 
biden was care not to be drawn too far into it and dure other stretch of the debat stood back 
whi wouldn’t he 
for all the worri becaus he sometim stutter for all the concern becaus he occasion sputter for all his corni locut malarkey and reflex convers filler here’ the deal the former vice presid has almost consist maintain a lead over his democrat rival in nation poll sinc he announc his candidaci last april 
he has recent gain ground in iowa the state that vote first mean that he may avoid what had been look like a candidacyimperil embarrass there 
he has surviv salvo from critic and mess of his own that were suppos to halt or at least hobbl him the attent to his crossingthelin physic with women the flipflop about public fund of abort the backandforth with kamala harri about buse the moment at the fifth democrat primari debat when he seem to forget either that she was in the senat or that she was black 
all of that suppos made him look weak 
but none of that appreci weaken him 
and at the latest debat he perform better than befor — which may not be say a lot but is say someth 
he still can’t speak in a straight line instead zig and zag if he were a car his tire would constant scrape the curb and his hubcap would probabl pop off 
but they stay on this time around 
biden 77 seem more relax and confid and he radiat his trademark warmth 
it’ difficult not to like him 
and it’ time to give him his due 
so mani of us haven’t and i’m as guilti as anyon 
in past column i urg him not to run — cite his unsuccess previous presidenti bid his age his eccentr and his outright flaw — and doubt his abil to go the distanc 
i join other pundit and polit analyst in treat biden’ frontrunn status as fictiv or inevit fleet and as the bequest of simpl name recognit 
we decre that other contend — harri for an instant warren and buttigieg for longer even berni sander of late — had momentum 
biden had vestigi good will which we regard as a less flashi and flimsier commod 
when we examin biden we saw warn sign 
look at that light schedul 
check out those anem fundrais number 
sure mani democrat voter deem him the most elect altern at a junctur when snatch back the white hous matter infinit more to them than ani romanc with a figur fresher and more inspir than he is 
but would they stick 
and could he last 
so far so good — or rather so biden which in thursday night’ debat meant a quizzic refer to winston churchil some endear loos banter with sander and an overarch aura of sheer goodnatured 
when one of the moder tim alberta of politico brought up the subject of age biden said look i’m run becaus i’v been around 
all my experi 
with experi hope come judgment and a littl bit of wisdom 
alberta note that if biden won the presid he’d be 82 at the end of his first term 
are you will to commit tonight to run for a second term 
no i’m not will to commit one way or anoth biden said without paus to support laughter from the audienc 
here’ the deal 
i’m not even elect one term yet and let’ see where we are 
but it’ a nice thought 
it was a nice answer 
moder gave him ampl opportun to stumbl challeng him for exampl on the obama administration’ failur to close guantã¡namo bay and it exagger of progress in the war in afghanistan 
he had answer at the readi and exhibit zero discomfort 
while he was evas about a few topic he was emphat about his disagr with sander and warren on medicar for all 
and he leapt into the fray to explain that he find that plan exorbit and farfetch 
i’m the onli guy that’ not interrupt he said 
all right i’m go to interrupt now 
this from a man who at a previous debat cut himself off even befor moder did 
i maintain serious reserv about him 
thirtysix year in the senat and eight in the vice presid add up not just to enorm experi but also to a sprawl record that’ a gold mine for detractor 
he undeni lack the vigor he onc possess 
and presid trump’ cynic air of question about his past deal with ukrain — and about the lucrat posit that his son hunter had on the board of the natur gas compani burisma — remain a potenti liabil for biden who still hasn’t found and deliv the perfect rebutt 
but journalist may not have the right antenna for how this is play out 
when biden admonish a man in iowa who credul parrot trump’ line of attack mani polit analyst pronounc him imprud thinskin and unattract defens 
but mani voter sure saw him as authent relat — a love father and decent person disgust with the nasti come his way 
there’ an upsid to trade a safe convent polit script for someth rawer 
trump demonstr that in 2016 
and on thursday night biden reassert the fundament generos of spirit that separ him from trump and is like a tall cold glass of water to american thirsti for decenc 
i refus to accept the notion as some on this stage do that we can never never get to a place where we have cooper again he said make a pitch for bipartisanship 
if that’ the case we are dead as a countri 
we need to be abl to reach a consensus 
and if anyon has reason to be angri with the republican and not want to cooper it’ me — the way they’v attack me my son and my famili 
he got fresh reason dure the debat when sarah huckabe sander the former white hous press secretari sent out a tweet that ridicul his stutter 
she delet it — and apolog — after he ask her where her empathi had gone a question i assum was rhetor 
it die on the altar of trump where too mani other republican sacrif their principl too 
biden glow in comparison 
he almost look shini 
gone with the windsor by maureen dowd jan 11 2020 i never had much use for the queen 
mayb it’ the irish in me 
as winston churchil said we’v alway found the irish a bit odd 
they refus to be english 
or mayb it’ the american in me 
we did go to an aw lot of troubl to break away from that corgiandginlov racket 244 year ago 
at some viscer level though america must regret be torn away from the royal famili 
how els to explain our endur fascin with dynasti 
have spent my career cover four dysfunct polit dynasti i rebel more than ever at the idea that biolog entitl you to author 
the ghost of diana gone rogu anim the fractur fairi tale of meghan and harri and their intemper attempt to upend centuri of starchi rule and break away from the firm 
princess di’ danger tango with the tabloid left harri with no tast to play that game again especi with streak of racism against markl ad to the mix 
he recent confess that everi click or flash of a camera brought memori of his mother’ death race back into his mind 
i cover diana’ first trip as the princess of wale to america in 1985 
she seem happi then in that year befor charl resum his relationship with camilla parker bowl 
she and the princ share amus eye contact wink and teas remark 
nanci reagan plan an even of candlelit danc at the white hous worthi of a 24yearold cinderella in a midnight blue velvet gown 
mrs reagan arrang for the marin band to play night fever as john travolta spun a euphor diana around the floor 
she’ a great littl mover he said afterward 
i wonder how princ charl would deal with a young wife with so much star power absorb so much attent 
we were all mesmer when she tuck her chin down in that shi pose and cast that modest yet sauci look up at us 
the answer was he did not deal with it well 
twelv year later when the unimagin tragedi hit the royal ice cube were furious at the expect that they should emot for the woman who had public rip the monarchi as a bloodless soulless gang and christen herself the prison of wale 
the firm was out of it depth then and it is again now 
how can the queen and princ philip and princ charl possibl understand the desir of meghan and harri to rebrand as a goopish lifestyl enterpris 
the news that they have appli to trademark hundr of item from sock to hoodi under the sussex royal logo make walli simpson’ exil in the bahama spent match the color on the wall to her face powder seem posit monast 
can you realli call yourself financi independ when all you’r do is cash in on the royal name 
given the state of the world and the implos of the british empir — with scot onc more contempl an off ramp irish uniti in play australia on fire and bori johnson trick the queen into suspend parliament in a brexit ploy — it is hard to feel sorri for the duchess of sussex complain that her diamond are heavi 
the patho for markl trap in a design cage goe onli so far 
it’ easi for royal to come to north america where they are lavish embrac as celebr without all those peski restrict about class and role 
see the crown episod about a wild imbib princess margaret charm lbj 
still i think meghan markl should have wield her woke where it is most need — in buckingham palac 
she could have channel the obama who did a magnific job of rise abov racist taunt and work within the institut to imprint a new imag of racial possibl in america 
markl had alreadi success brought a refresh dose of semirad chic to the royal famili 
her visit to a mosqu that hous london displac by the grenfel tower fire led to her put out a 2018 cookbook the proceed of which went to the victim 
at it best the monarchi has been abl to lift up peopl as it did dure the blitz in world war ii 
i saw that abil to alchem emot and opinion when i cover the queen on her visit to ireland in 2011 the first by a british monarch in a centuri 
it was imposs not to be impress watch her speak gaelic and offer regret about how britain had made ireland suffer bow her head at the scene of bloodi sunday and the garden of remembr the sacr ground for slain irish patriot 
the irish start out skeptic but by the end of her visit mani were call her betti on twitter 
the queen of england hold out the idea that she and her famili should have some sort of vestigi moral author 
but with the princ andrew imbroglio in the seraglio of jeffrey epstein and with harry’ run for the hollywood hill it is clear that mani in her famili are not interest in moral author 
the collaps of the author of the british monarchi mirror the collaps of author general scar by year of scandal about clergymen abus children athlet beat up girlfriend and univers offici accept bribe 
and yet even if the royals’ role in the cultur is now akin to the kardashian it wasn’t cool for meghan and harri to pant the 93yearold queen defi her instruct dump their megxit plan on instagram and intensifi the sad split between the brother 
if ever there was a time for some dri gin 
… what’ the rush to give up real influenc to be an instagram influenc 
besid who unfollow their own grandmoth 
good for meghan and harri by the editori board jan 9 2020 and they live happili ever after affirm the stori we tell our children about a beauti common marri princ charm 
just make sure your kid don’t see thursday’ headlin in the london daili 
civil war as harri meg quit the royal scream the sun 
queen’ furi as harri and meghan say we quit blare the daili mail in a royal bombshel special issu 
they didn’t even tell the queen lament the daili mirror 
ani other news from the drum of war in iran to passag at last of a brexit bill in parliament was swept away for megxit as the tabloid prompt call the decis by princ harri and his wife meghan to step back from the ribboncut kindergartenvisit and foreigntravel duti they’v been assign as their royal high the duke and duchess of sussex 
they will tri they said in a statement post on instagram wednesday to becom financi independ and to balanc their live between britain and north america 
how that will work is hard to predict 
no one has ever resign from the firm as the british call the royal clan though some have been exil or fire — most notabl edward viii who had to renounc the throne and leav britain to marri an american divorc㩠and most recent princ andrew queen elizabeth ii’ second son over his connect to the sex offend jeffrey epstein 
true to the intens attent the duke and duchess of sussex have attract sinc their marriag in may 2018 the press was quick fill with stori about their financ and prospect and about how the queen the prince’ grandmoth would handl the defect 
a few articl actual show sympathi for a coupl trap in a gild cage that expos them to constant scrutini — and in the duchess’ case virul racism 
sarcasm and exagger come easili when write about royal and the stori of princ harri the rambuncti second son of princ charl and diana princess of wale reach across the atlant to marri an american actress was custommad for the tabloid — and yes for serious paper like this one 
their wed at windsor castl and the birth of an ador son archi a year later was grand copi a moral tale of a chang world a fairi tale updat with divers millenni 
but as the children’ stori fail to warn unsuspect youngster be royal isn’t all about live happili and certain not ever after 
almost from the outset a parallel line of nasti stori spread in the tabloid about meghan’ difficulti with her american famili and purport rift among the royal famili 
instead of adopt the british tradit of a stiff upper lip in the face of advers as queen elizabeth has so admir done throughout her long and crisisriddl reign princ harri and meghan proclaim that they did not intend to play by the old rule 
the princ who lost his mother to a horrif car chase through pari spoke open about his emot struggl the duchess made no secret of the difficulti of her new role 
not mani peopl have ask if i’m ok she told one interview 
in octob the coupl struck back file a lawsuit against the mail on sunday over the public of a privat letter from meghan to her father 
in a statement explain the suit princ harri assail the tabloid and the suffer they caus his wife 
for these select media this is a game and one that we have been unwil to play from the start he wrote 
i have been a silent wit to her privat suffer for too long 
to stand back and do noth would be contrari to everyth we believ in 
given this background the couple’ decis to withdraw from the firm should not come as a surpris though it appear to be just that to the queen and the heir appar princ charl 
rear in the tradit of monarchi as the symbol and mainstay of the nation they have stoical carri on in their duti even as their world and their famili has been batter by the wind of chang discont and scandal as dramat in the netflix seri the crown 
evid they expect the duke and duchess of sussex to do just that and to rear children who would as well 
but the real valu of the royal famili has never been in cut ribbon and prove endless fodder for the tabloid it has been in the continu saga of fairi tale king and queen come to term with the world 
in this stori princ harri and meghan should not be lament as defector from the old order but celebr as the hero of the next instal as modern royal renounc some level of privileg to seek their fortun in the real world 
may they live happili ever after 
how much of harvard’ 40 billion endow is invest in fossil fuel 
by devi lockwood jan 29 2020 in my senior year at harvard i was invit to a dinner in honor of the writer margaret atwood the recipi of the 2014 harvard art medal 
on my way out the door i linger shrug on my coat took a deep breath and walk up to the university’ presid at the time drew gilpin faust 
we had met twice onc dure her offic hour and at an ice cream social 
pleas divest from fossil fuel i said hope to catch her off guard 
the presid at first seem happi to see me rearrang her face 
her shoulder crept up toward her ear 
you student don’t understand invest she said 
then she walk out of the room 
i have benefit immeasur from harvard’ invest in me 
but recogn where some of harvard’ 40 billion endow is invest was a caus of grow uneas for me and some of my classmat 
student at other campus were similar concern about the endow of their school 
figur out exact how much of harvard’ endow is invest in oil gas and coal compani is a nearimposs task 
harvard is requir to disclos onli direct invest in which the univers own share of a specif compani 
harvard say it direct invest amount to 394 million as of may 2019 or rough 1 percent of the endow total 
divest harvard a student group determin that of that approxim amount 56 million was invest in compani that produc or own reserv of oil natur gas and coal and larg electr util power by natur gas and coal 
harvard doesn’t comment on it individu invest 
but in 2015 the south pole group a carbon financ consult in zurich analyz 989 million of harvard’ then 364 billion endow at the request of divest harvard and 350org 
base on those invest the group estim that the overal endow was respons for annual emiss of 11 million ton of carbon dioxid rough equival to the annual emiss from delawar 
it’ easi to get bog down in the number but the exact amount of harvard’ fossil fuel invest or the emiss it is respons for isn’t all that import 
as the world face a climat crisi ani amount of invest in compani that extract or burn fossil fuel is too much especi by one of the world’ lead univers 
lawrenc bacow the university’ current presid explain in the harvard gazett last fall that rather than divest the univers believ that engag with industri to confront the challeng of climat chang is ultim a sounder and more effect approach for our univers 
but mani student have not been content with that approach 
as part of a divest campaign in may 2014 an undergradu brett roch was arrest by harvard univers polic for block an entranc to massachusett hall where presid faust and member of the administr had their offic 
in april 2015 dure harvard heat week student faculti alumni and communiti member blockad presid faust’ offic onc more 
last novemb at the harvardyal footbal game climat chang protest storm the field at half time delay the game for rough an hour 
to date 532 faculti member have sign a petit in favor of divest from fossil fuel 
the result 
noth has happen 
other campus have had more luck 
after pressur from student group stanford announc in 2014 that it would not make direct invest in public trade compani whose princip busi is coal mine 
the univers of main follow suit in 2015 divest all direct hold from coal compani 
in 2017 columbia univers announc divest from produc of coal burn to generat electr 
other school have taken addit step divest not onli from coal produc but also from oil and gas compani 
these includ sterl colleg in 2013 the univers of hawaii univers of dayton syracus univers and the rhode island school of design in 2015 and the univers of oregon in 2016 
the univers of california system announc last septemb that it would divest 13 billion of it 83 billion endow and 70 billion of pension from fossil fuel produc 
recogn that student activ hasn’t work on it own two harvard colleg alumni from the class of 2018 daniell strasburg and nathã¡n goldberg start think about the harvard board of overs elect 
last year they found harvard forward an alumnirun organ that aim to elect five recent graduat candid to the board 
the board of overs most advis the univers on strateg decis though it doe have the power to consent to the elect of member to the harvard corpor 
the averag age of the five candid is 28 — the same number of year that on averag have pass sinc the current overs were harvard student 
their platform includ complet and swift divest of all univers asset from fossil fuel 
the board is compos of 30 harvard alumni who sit for sixyear term 
each year in april five new member are vote in by alumni 
a nomin committe of the harvard alumni associ general choos eight candid who will be ad to the slate 
there’ anoth way in though — though a petit process 
to qualifi each candid need 2936 sign nomin form equival to 1 percent of elig voter live harvard alumni with the except of current professor administr and staff 
the first test will come on feb 1 the deadlin to qualifi for the ballot 
when we spoke last week ms strasburg estim that between 2300 and 2400 nomin form had alreadi been sign in favor of each candid 
they are near there 
this is not just about harvard 
and it’ also not just about whether you think divest is a strategi that is worth pursu or whether it has an impact 
rather harvard forward is a model for build power by young peopl — of break the logjam within larg institut and make chang happen 
this approach is not new 
from 1985 to 1991 harvard and radcliff alumnia against apartheid campaign for harvard to divest it stock in compani oper in south africa 
the organ use the same nominatebypetit system to elect four member to the board includ archbishop desmond tutu who state that he would return his honorari degre unless harvard divest entir from south africa 
by the 1980s harvard did 
younger alumni realiz then that they need a seat at the decis make tabl to creat chang 
that is exact what harvard forward is seek 
on jan 15 harvard global network night over 100 volunt for harvard forward — mani of them alumni from the 1960s ’70s and ’80s — attend 50 alumni event in 20 state and 20 countri with petit in hand 
that night alon they gather over 1000 signatur 
alumni can submit petit to nomin the younger slate of candid until the deadlin on saturday at 5 pm harvard forward has volunt in 35 citi to collect form at signatur parti this week 
a lot of peopl want to know how they can make an impact when it come to climat ms strasburg told me 
if you have a chanc to influenc a 40 billion endow that’ a pretti big deal 
how to avoid the coronavirus 
wash your hand by elisabeth rosenth jan 28 2020 american are watch with alarm as a new coronavirus spread in china and case pop up in the unit state 
they are barrag with inform about what kind of mask are best to prevent viral spread 
student are hand out mask in seattl 
mask have run out in brazo counti tex 
hang on 
i’v work as an emerg room physician 
and as a new york time correspond in china i cover the sar outbreak in 2002 and 2003 dure which a novel coronavirus first detect in guangdong sicken more than 8000 peopl and kill more than 800 
my two children attend elementari school in beij throughout the outbreak 
here are my main takeaway from that experi for ordinari peopl on the ground 1 
wash your hand frequent 
2 
don’t go to the offic when you are sick 
don’t send your kid to school or day care when they are ill either 
notic i didn’t say anyth about mask 
have a mask with you as a precaut make sens if you are in the midst of an outbreak as i was when out report in the field dure those month 
but wear it constant is anoth matter 
i don a mask when visit hospit where sar patient had been hous 
i wore it in the market where wild anim that were the suspect sourc of the outbreak were be butcher blood droplet fli 
i wore it in crowd enclos space that i couldn’t avoid like airplan and train as i travel to citi involv in the outbreak like guangzhou and hong kong 
you never know if the guy cough and sneez two row ahead of you is ill or just has an allergi 
but outdoor infect don’t spread well through the air 
those photo of peopl walk down street in china wear mask are dramat but uninform 
and rememb if a mask has perchanc intercept virus that would have otherwis end up in your bodi then the mask is contamin 
so in theori to be protect mayb you should use a new one for each outing 
the simpl mask are better than noth but not all that effect sinc they don’t seal well 
for anyon tempt to go out and buy the gold standard n95 respir note that they are uncomfort 
breath is more work 
it’ hard to talk to peopl 
on one long flight at the height of the outbreak on which my few fellow passeng were most epidemiologist tri to solv the sar puzzl mani of us includ me wore our mask for the first coupl of hour on the flight 
then the food and beverag cart came 
though virus spread through droplet in the air a bigger worri to me was alway transmiss via what doctor call fomit infect item 
a virus get on a surfac — a shoe or a doorknob or a tissu for exampl 
you touch the surfac and then next touch your face or rub your nose 
it’ a great way to acquir ill 
so after walk in the anim market i remov my shoe care and did not take them into the hotel room 
and of cours i wash my hand immedi 
rememb by all indic sar which kill about 10 percent of those infect was a deadlier virus than the new coronavirus circul now 
so keep thing in perspect 
face with sar mani foreign chose to leav beij or at least to send their children back to the unit state 
our famili stay kid includ 
we want them with us and didn’t want them to miss school especi dure what would be their final year in china 
but equal import in make the decis was that the risk of get sar on an airplan or in the airport seem greater than be smart and care while stay put in beij 
and we were i stop take my kid to indoor playground or crowd mall or delici but dens pack neighborhood beij restaur 
out of an abund of caution we cancel a famili vacat to cambodia — though my fear was less about catch sar on the flight than that one of the kid would have a fever from an ear infect upon our return at a border screen and would be stuck in a prolong quarantin in china 
we instead took a vacat within china where we carri mask with us but didn’t use them except on a short domest flight 
in time dure the sar outbreak the govern shut down theater and school in beij as it is do now in mani chines citi becaus these virus are more easili transmit in such crowd place 
but there was also a lot of irrat behavior enter a villag 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 temperatur of all passeng 
they use an oral thermomet that was onli minim clean after each use 
what a great way to spread a virus 
the intern school of beij where my children were student was one of the few in the capit — perhap the onli one — that stay open throughout the sar outbreak though the class were emptier sinc so mani kid had depart to their home countri 
it was a studi but brave move sinc a parent at the school had gotten sar at the veri begin of the outbreak on a flight back from hong kong 
she recov fine but it was close to home and famili were scare 
the school institut a bunch of simpl precautionari polici a stern note to parent remind them not to send a child to school who was sick and warn them that student would be screen for fever with ear thermomet at the school door 
there was no share of food at lunch 
the teacher led the kid in frequent hand wash throughout the day at classroom sink while sing a prolong hand wash song to ensur they did more than a cursori pass under the faucet with water onli 
if a famili left beij and came back the child would have to stay at home for an extend period befor return to class to make sure they hadn’t caught sar elsewher 
with those precaut in place i observ someth of a public health miracl not onli did no child get sar but it seem no student was sick with anyth at all for month on end 
no stomach bug 
no common cold 
attend was more or less perfect 
the world health organ declar the sar outbreak contain in juli 2003 
but oh that those habit persist 
the best firstlin defens against sar or the new coronavirus or most ani virus at all are the one that grandma and common sens taught us after all 
inconveni murder by bari weiss two year ago a 27yearold man name kobili traorã© walk into the pari apart of a 65yearold kindergarten teacher name sarah halimi 
mr traorã© beat ms halimi and stab her 
accord to wit he call her a demon and a dirti jew 
he shout allahu akbar then threw ms halimi’ batter bodi out of her thirdstori apart window 
this is what mr traorã© told prosecutor i felt persecut 
when i saw the torah and a chandeli 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 coldblood murder of a woman in her own home for the sin of be a jew 
but french prosecutor decid to drop murder charg against mr traor㩠becaus he … had smoke cannabi 
if france’ betray of sarah halimi is shock to you perhap you haven’t been pay much attent to what by now can be describ as a moral calam sweep the west of which her stori is onli the clearest exampl 
a crisi i hasten to add that’ perhap less known becaus it has been larg overlook by the mainstream press 
the most generous read of this enorm blind spot is that the stori is not alway straightforward there have been some laudabl step to fight back 
on tuesday for exampl the french parliament formal adopt the intern holocaust remembr alliance’ definit of antisemit when it pass a motion declar antizion a form of jewhatr 
yet on the same day more than 100 jewish graveston were found spraypaint with swastika in a cemeteri near strasbourg — a potent remind that govern are onli as good as the cultur and the peopl uphold them 
so allow me to put it plain we are suffer from a widespread social health epidem and it is root in the cheapen of jewish blood 
if hatr of jew can be justifi as a misunderstand or ignor as a mistak or play down as a slip of the tongu or wave away as just antizion you can all but guarante it will be 
yet beneath the fingerpoint and the victimblam and the accus of panic lob against a peopl that know a littl someth about persecut there is the same old bigotri — the hatr of jew that has presag the death of so mani seem civil societi 
a hatr that still after centuri exert it power allur dure period of polit and econom unrest when the angri the confus the shortchang and the scare look for simpl explan and a scapegoat 
and even those who seek to uplift the margin can’t seem to find their voic when it come to jew face antisemit 
take a look at some of the event around the thanksgiv holiday incid that have kept jew all over the world glu to their phone and which have driven some to updat their and their children’ passport 
start with britain 
last friday night a rabbi who had just left a synagogu was beaten on the street by teenag scream kill the jew 
these nowregular occurr come as there’ a decent chanc that the labour leader jeremi corbyn will becom the next prime minist — give antisemit the imprimatur of a major western govern 
mr corbyn’ long histori of slur against jew and israel his warm word about his friend in hezbollah and his worldview which find far more to admir in countri like russia and venezuela than england itself are well document 
to choos just the latest headlin the bbc he said on iranian state televis is bias toward say that israel has a right to exist 
my favorit remain his remark that british zionist who have live in this countri for a veri long time probabl all their live don’t understand english ironi 
the fish rot from the head and so it has with labour 
accord to britain’ chief rabbi ephraim mirvi there are 130 case of outstand complaint of antisemit against labour parti member 
ninetythre percent of british jew say they won’t vote for labour 
fortyseven percent say they will serious consid emigr if labour win 
and yet the latest poll show labour ralli 
other issu jew are told are more import than their own safeti 
sometim their fear are dismiss as hysteria 
the socialist filmmak ken loach has call it a witch hunt 
the power union leader len mccluskey has accus the jewish communiti of intransig hostil 
when rabbi mirvi took the extraordinari step of weigh in on the elect insist that the veri soul of our nation is at stake he was accus various of bad faith of take focus away from the real threat of rightw bigotri and of actual stoke antisemit himself 
jewish voic for labour the party’ pet jewish front group has codifi all of these gaslight tactic in a document that help lay out the strategi for how other polit group and movement with a will to power can shut down jewish concern about organ system antisemit 
over in itali the town of schio decid against establish a holocaust memori — the subtl brass stumbl stone call stolperstein that dot the street of european citi where survivor of hitler’ genocid still stroll — on the ground that 14 stone in a citi of 40000 would prove too divis 
let the victim rest in peac said alberto bertoldo a local politician 
the memori he said would risk generat new hatr and divis 
while in schio the holocaust prove a divis moral issu in montreal it was a plan trip to israel 
jordyn wright is a jewish sophomor who sit on the board of the students’ societi of mcgill univers 
over winter break she is plan like hundr of other north american jewish colleg student to go to israel with hillel 
as a result of that trip the student govern vote to call for her resign 
never mind that the trip includ time with palestinian in the west bank 
never mind that anoth student govern leader is also go appar becaus that student is not a jew no resign was requir 
i toggl over the weekend between ms wright’ chill account of the histori of antijewish discrimin at her school and the washington post which had publish a frothi profil of valeri plame the former cia 
offic who is now run for congress as a democrat in new mexico 
there we learn that ms plame look astound good at 56 as if the highaltitud desert air has preserv her skin sinc the day she arriv here 12 year ago 
yet nowher in the long articl doe the reader learn that two year ago ms plame tweet an essay call american jew are drive america’ war by a man famous for his antijewish conspiraci think on a websit that flirt with holocaust denial 
she also share an articl that link israel to the sept 11 attack 
it somehow didn’t merit mention 
elsewher in the democrat parti linda sarsour the activist who was remov from her leadership posit in the women’ march thank to her histori of antisemit scandal and who now serv as a surrog for the presidenti candid berni sander gave a talk on friday to a group call american muslim for palestin 
the part of her talk that circul onlin focus on the appar hypocrisi of progress zionist how ms sarsour ask about peopl who are the no 
1 target of white supremacist can they claim to oppos white supremaci when they support a state like israel that is built on supremaci that is built on the idea that jew are suprem to everybodi els 
lest you think this is just antizion consid that the sander surrog was speak at a confer that print the follow sentenc in it program zionism has come in like a diseas to destroy the puriti of al qud 
al qud is the arab name for jerusalem 
should i tell you about a christian fundamentalist show on trunew host by a man name rick wile 
trunew was grant an interview by donald trump jr and it repres was call on by presid trump at a news confer 
last week on his show mr wile claim that jew are behind the impeach proceed against the presid 
a jew coup he call it that would replac mr trump with a jewish cabal 
should i tell you about the swastika found at sixth i a synagogu and a hub of jewish cultur and intellectu life in washington 
or the one paint in red on a statu of the great yiddish writer sholem aleichem in ukrain 
or that on monday morn in crown height brooklyn a jewish subway rider report that anoth woman yell slur and threaten to throw her onto the track 
and that the follow day also in crown height three teenag hurl rock at a jewish elementari school bus break a window 
there is a theme here 
the theme is that jewhatr is surg and yet jewish victimhood doe not command attent or inspir popular outrag 
that unless jew are murder by neonazi the one group everyon of conscienc recogn as evil jews’ inconveni murder their beat their discrimin the singl out of their state for demon will be explain away 
when you look at each of these incid perhap it is possibl still to pretend that these are random burst of bigotri perpetr by hooligan lack ani real organ or power behind them 
but mr corbyn’ elector prospect in britain tell a differ far more distress stori — that a person with some of the same impuls as those hooligan can stand within spit distanc of the offic of prime minist 
this is what happen when a cultur decid that jewish live are stumbl stone 
instead of a generat cultur war let’ fight the rich by farhad manjoo nov 6 2019 generat are pretti bogus 
the label we use to casual slice up societi — boomer millenni gen x gen z — are a near useless way of think about polit cultur or busi in america 
the veri idea that ten of million of peopl across differ class and race and geographi might hold similar view on a rang of subject just becaus they happen to be born dure the same 20year span of american histori — the whole thing sound a bit too much like astrolog doesn’t it 
in fact demograph whose profess came up with these label constant stress the limit and complic of generat analysi 
generat can be use for observ broadscal chang in attitud over long period of time but they break down into clichã© and stereotyp when they are use to make specif observ about the world 
market and much of the media tend to be quit careless in how we wield generat label 
we invest these categori with too much mean often ascrib to generat ideolog what is more like a product of age wealth and a varieti of other factor 
consid for instanc the absurd parad of stori about how millenni are kill various industri from golf to wed ring 
they collect paint young peopl as be somehow philosoph defici as consum rather than simpli not veri wealthi 
of cours i would dismiss generat i’m a gen xer and our whole thing is reject label 
on the other hand i might be a boomer becaus late i’v been nurs a crazi conspiraci theori about generat analysi i think it’ a plot by the man to keep us from chang the world 
focus on generat differ distract the mass from go after more salient differ in societi — especi the power held by the wealthi whatev their age 
all of this explain whi i’m not realli ok 
with ok boomer the latest ralli cri in the perman war between the young and the old 
as taylor lorenz report in the time last week ok boomer is a meme start by teenag to shred older peopl who express a broad rang of antiqu idea about the world 
the grammar snoot in me — and my copi editor — would prefer the meme render as ok boomer with period and a comma but of cours that’ not how teenag write 
at first glanc the phrase — which sinc lorenz’ report has been coopt and repeat into cring ubiqu by just about everi other generat — is the perfect respons to your racist grandpa on facebook and your liber uncl on wall street who is veri worri about medicar for all 
it’ know cut dismiss and almost imposs to grace recov from ok boomer and you’r done 
at the risk of sound like a patron old i’ll conced that ok boomer mean well and i don’t begrudg teenag their anger 
they are certain right that over sever generat and across polit ideolog the holder of polit and econom power in america total screw thing up for the futur 
boomer leader and their forebear underinvest in longterm infrastructur and safeti net and econom and environment rule 
they overindulg in war and tax cut and system deregul 
they long overlook racial and gender bias sexual harass and just about everi other form of system discrimin 
they brought the countri and the world to the sorri place we’r in now 
yet it’ a mistak to blame all boomer for the sin of the most power among them 
as a taunt ok boomer overlook the vast differ within the postwar generat — there are rich boomer and poor boomer farleft boomer and farright one boomer who are fight for right and those who are hopeless stuck in yesteryear 
ok boomer also let other generat off the hook neglect the fact that millenni keep gain greater econom and polit power and that some of them are start to act and sound like archetyp boomer 
teenag themselv seem to recogn this — boomer is state of mind lorenz write of how the young think of the term 
on the phone she point to further evid of the flexibl of boomer as a taunt 
on twitter she note pete buttigieg the youngest of the 2020 democrat candid is frequent dismiss as radiat big boomer energi 
even though he’ a millenni there’ someth about his rhetor style that feel antiqu 
and buttigieg’ boomerish onli underlin the hollow of the whole idea of generat stereotyp 
it suggest a more profit polit path for young peopl instead of cancel an entir generat whi not set your sight on a smaller more specif group one that bear more direct complic in america’ widen dystopia 
not to go full chapo trap hous on you but yes i’m talk about the wealthi 
instead of ok boomer how about ok billionair 
i’v been preoccupi with billionair for much of the year 
in februari i argu that we should abolish billionair and wannab billionair becaus they exert outsiz control over america’ resourc 
insofar as they highlight the unforgiv way that wealthi peopl have rig the polit system billionair are both a conveni and an appropri polit target of the moment 
on just about ani import issu of the day from climat chang to mass incarcer to defeat donald trump meaning polit chang will come about onli through crossgener coordin — it will requir concern peopl of all age to band togeth to alter the status quo 
one reason this is difficult in america is we’v been condit to think that peopl who are much older or younger than we are might be complet alien be everi millenni is an avocado virtu signal who won’t listen to oppos view all boomer are white affluent selfish racist who can’t recogn their privileg and the two side will never see eye to eye on anyth 
but that is plain fals 
last month repres alexandria ocasiocortez who’ 30 endors 78yearold berni sander for presid — not despit his age but becaus sanders’ decad of work on progress caus was a sign of his fidel to the movement 
in the summer ocasiocortez met greta thunberg the teenag climat activist who has scold older peopl for ignor the issu 
among other thing the pair discuss how age was simpli a mindset 
you can be much older and still part of a youth movement if you refus to do thing just becaus that’ the way they’v alway been done ocasiocortez told thunberg 
this is the sort of coalit we need to build a better futur — not gen z fight boomer but a coalit of 16yearold and 30yearold and 78yearold join togeth to demolish the rich who run the world today 
the stake are too great we can’t afford to have ani generat sit this one out 
are there limit to the right revolut 
by thoma b edsal dec 18 2019 if you’r a democrat strategist what do you do to reconcil the moral power of your party’ argument about the inher digniti and civil right of everi american with the realiti of an elector that has not caught up with where the parti has gone and is slight — or more than slight — avers to it 
how do you decid whether what is right is also what is wise 
as recent as 2004 propos state constitut amend ban samesex marriag particular one in ohio may have cost the democrat the presid so how do you handl presid trump’ calcul assault on transgend right 
you can’t tell peopl oh just wait for your right they’ll be come soon — that has never work for anyon — so i decid to ask philosoph ethicist transgend activist and other how the parti should respond to trump’ provoc 
the issu of polit strategi rais by the transgend right movement have split liber into two camp one urg caution against move too far in front of public opinion the other call for all out support of transgend men and women 
on one side are democrat for whom the first prioriti is a strategi to defeat donald trump in novemb and who see some polici sought by transgend right activist as potenti alien the moder voter they believ are necessari to a democrat victori 
on the other side are those who are equal hungri to see the presid defeat but who hold a deep allegi to the ethic and moral principl of freedom and equal includ for the lesbian gay bisexu transgend communiti 
without these principl they believ the democrat parti will not onli lose vote but also it core reason for be 
presid trump ever the opportunist has been aggress move sinc his inaugur to attack the right of transgend men and women — see a hot button or third rail issu he think he can deploy to his advantag as he attempt to carv up the democrat opposit 
i ask scholar who special in the studi of moral dilemma about the ethic and strateg choic trump’ current offens against transgend right forc on the liber coalit 
there is evid that the democrat respons to trump’ onslaught is split 
peter singer a professor of bioethic at the centr for human valu at princeton has been describ as arguabl the most famous and influenti modern philosoph 
he is unequivoc commit to a liber worldview 
the failur of peopl in the rich nation to make ani signific sacrific in order to assist peopl who are die from povertyrel caus is ethic indefens he wrote in achiev the best outcom a 2002 essay it is not simpli the absenc of chariti let alon of moral saintli it is wrong and one cannot claim to be a moral decent person unless one is do far more than the typic comfortablyoff person doe 
singer is specif sympathet to the difficulti face transgend men and women write in 2012 peopl who cross gender boundari suffer clear discrimin 
weigh the tactic option face democrat singer was nonetheless forc in his respons to my email inquiri as a consequentialist i don’t believ that the parti is oblig to support discrimin against group regardless of the consequ 
after all the reelect of trump and republican control of congress would be a greater disast than the reject of the legitim claim of transgend peopl to express themselv as they wish 
most import singer continu the reelect of trump would mean anoth four year in which the us doe littl or noth to reduc it greenhous gas emiss which make it difficult for other leader to take the strong stand that is need and that could bring about chang that are catastroph for hundr of million or even billion of peopl 
the harm that a second trump term would produc singer argu put the transgend issu you mention in perspect 
we may believ that peopl should be abl to use whichev bathroom they choos but stand up for that isn’t suffici reason to risk the futur of our planet not to mention the mani other way that a trumprepublican victori would be bad 
take a differ posit ami l thomasson professor of intellectu and moral philosophi at dartmouth wrote by email i think that howev much democrat may want to win we must not lose sight of our moral compass — especi in time like this 
the commit to protect the right equal and wellb of everyon — not just those with power wealth or privileg — is absolut central 
this commit is not subject to compromis the democrat parti thomasson argu would lose it soul to lose those commit 
what we need most in this countri is an honest moral convers — and that mean not replac moral consider with strateg calcul or buri them to meet shortterm goal 
moral commit thomasson continu are not thing that should be sacrif in hope of avoid rightw attack or hope to maxim a calcul of expect vote 
it doe of cours leav democrat with a job to do of make clear that it is moral right human right that are at stake here of make clear whi recogn transgend right is not a threat and of work through the detail of polici propos regard the impact on health care etc 
in fact mara keisl the execut director of the nation center for transgend equal doe not expect democrat presidenti candid to support everi prioriti set by her organ 
in a phone interview keisl said that her organization’ first prioriti is that the candid show they are compassion peopl who care about margin peopl 
she said that if a democrat win the presid we will have a polici agenda of mayb 200 item but her group would not expect full support on everi one of them 
the center has been interview democrat candid and so far all of them have shown that they think about tran peopl in a compassion way 
that’ a lot she said and a sharp contrast to trump 
i ask grace laveri a professor of english at berkeley — who describ her work in transfeminist studi as focus on the belief that transit work that it is truli possibl to chang sex — a seri of question includ how do you think democrat should deal with some of the more complex issu rais by the transgend right movement 
she repli the same way that anyon els should by discuss them open and ensur that tran people’ account of our own experi are be heard 
tran peopl laveri continu need access to health care we need equit treatment by a crimin justic system and we need equal protect under exist civil rightstitl ix legisl 
given which we don’t tend to care what cis peopl think about what trans mean 
the basic issu laveri argu is about safeguard the civil right of a minor of peopl at a moment in histori when we are be singl out for prejudici treatment 
there are no real polici issu to address other than prejudic and squeamish 
robin dembroff a professor of philosophi at yale who use the pronoun theythem wrote me that democrat candid should treat the trump campaign’ focus on transgend issu as a divis tool for stoke fear distract from econom health care and climat issu and dismantl alreadi tenuous women’ right 
dembroff argu that recent threat to reproduct right lgbtq workplac protect and transgend health care and facil access within the us are part of this global movement to maintain the gender status quo 
trump has clear calcul that opposit to transgend right will win him more vote than it will lose him and he has translat that decis into action throughout the execut branch rescind a wide rang of protransgend regul while issu harsh new one 
while some of his decis have been temporarili block by the court his intent are clear 
trump has bar transgend individu from serv in the militari 
he has withdrawn an obama administr regul grant transgend student the right to use bathroom correspond to their gender ident 
he has expand a conscienc rule that protect doctor and other health care worker who on religi ground declin to provid care and who refus to refer patient to personnel who will provid it 
the administr has also propos the elimin of obamaera rule ban discrimin against transgend medic patient by elimin provis that defin discrimin on the basi of sex to includ gender ident 
for over five decad start with the passag of the civil right act of 1964 the democrat parti has assum the broad role of polit home to the right revolut for africanamerican latino women gay and now transgend men and women 
the general elect will test whether the democrat nomine is will — in the face of trump’ inflammatori foray against transgend right — to bear the potenti cost of fight for privat health care coverag of gender transit surgeri includ for those in the arm servic in prison or on medicaid particip in women’ athlet competit for transgend women and nondiscriminatori access to public facil includ bathroom in school librari and public space 
for david leeg a professor emeritus of polit scienc at notr dame the issu of transgend right now pose a possibl insolubl dilemma for democrat — someth trump fulli intend to exploit 
leeg wrote me i think it is an area whose discours is so new that a polit feasibl solut has not yet present itself 
if we can’t yet deal with toilet where the answer are simpl — unisex toilet compart with lock on door — how can we deal with larg public financi outlay for sexchang surgeri 
leeg said he can forese politicians’ appeal to relat depriv 
‘we’r go to spend taxpayers’ dollar for their sexchang surgeri when there is not enough to pay for my cancer drugs’ 
as an exampl of the complex of transgend right leeg cite the question rais by the issu of whether transgend women should be abl to enter women’ sport competit should she be forc to compet with men in run event or basketbal rather than against women 
what is fair to other women 
to the transgend woman 
are right in conflict 
is kind violat 
we don’t walk around with label specifi level of male and femal hormon 
and we have thought of gender in binari term for so long that it is hard to think that hormon could resembl bellshap curv 
there are clear philosoph differ over democrats’ oblig to the transgend communiti 
these differ translat in turn to sharpli dissimilar strategi for how democrat should address transgend issu 
bruce cain a polit scientist at stanford worri that democrat risk not onli mobil trump support but also lose vote from their own constitu 
transgend right cain write could inde becom a power wedg issu for presid trump especi if the democrat across the board take the strongest protransgend right stanc 
cain note that stand in favor of use public money to pay for sexual transit or allow transgend access to public facil will certain fire up the conserv republican base but he continu i would worri especi about the reaction in the black and latino communiti and among older moder white 
the key to the 2020 elect in cain’ view is win back state behind the blue wall and the swing state keep the focus on trump and away from bolder issu that might lose vote in the swing area 
in contrast to cain seana shiffrin a professor of philosophi law and social justic at ucla argu that the democrat should take a matter of fact approach about these issu with the tone that they are pretti straightforward 
they shouldn’t handwr or talk about it as a difficult matter in shiffrin’ view show strength and convict here is also a strateg approach 
she provid more specif exampl of how democrat could frame transgend issu democrat are in favor of health care for all and so they are in favor of what transgend peopl requir to function and flourish just as they are in favor of the health care that ani other member of societi need to function and flourish 
we all have differ health need 
some of the health need of transgend peopl have been neglect and the cost they have suffer as a result are rather shock 
in the case of bathroom shiffrin argu that the issu should be place in the larger context of protect peopl from violenc the peopl in true danger of violenc in restroom are transgend peopl who do not conform to gender expect 
forc transgend women to use men’ room will subject them to potenti violenc 
ergo we should allow peopl to choos the restroom that best fit their ident and comfort level 
nanci bauer a professor of philosophi and a dean of academ affair for art and scienc at tuft argu in favor of orient strategi toward younger voter my view is that the onli way that democrat can win is if they embrac progressiv not just becaus it’ on the side of justic equal fair compass and decenc but also becaus it’ the onli polit strategi that will bring younger voter to the poll in signific number 
i think that trump is monstrous and deepli fear his reelect 
but the best way to get rid of him is to build coalit of decent peopl and get out the vote 
judith butler a professor of compar literatur at berkeley whose book includ gender troubl femin and the subvers of ident made a straightforward case for full support of transgend polici prioriti we are seek to win the elect in order to restor faith in democraci which includ a commit to equal and freedom 
we do not seek to win for the sake of win but in order to preserv principl such as equal embodi in civil right protect 
the right to health care and to social recognit and protect from discrimin should be regard as the fundament right of tran peopl in societi 
if we deni those right includ the right to have access to medic care we deni those right and treat tran peopl differ from other minor under the law 
william galston a senior fellow at brook and former deputi assist to presid bill clinton for domest polici make a differ argument in favor of more increment chang the task of decent politician in a democraci is to move their countri as far toward justic and fair as the current state of public opinion will permit while do what they can to improv the chanc that public opinion will continu to shift in the right direct 
this task requir judgment base on a solid understand of public opinion and of the fact on the ground 
this is not an easi task especi for a polit parti that support challeng to the tradit hierarchi 
galston went on as an elect offici or aspir for elect offic there is noth dishonor about defin one’ polici aspir at ani given point in respons to what the public is prepar to endors or at least permit at that time 
the higher the stake in the elect the more defens this practic becom 
if as mani peopl believ the 2020 elect implic not onli polici disput but also the futur of liber constitut democraci in the unit state then it would be justifi to subordin ani polici issu to the overrid goal of protect our constitut order 
transgend right pose a classic pushpul problem for the contemporari democrat parti in support the expans of right to previous discriminatedagainst constitu how far ahead of public opinion should the parti go 
the difficulti is onli made more challeng by the fact that the pressur in primari is to move to the left while the pressur in the general elect is to move to the center 
by a number of measur the countri has becom mark more liber over the past half centuri especi on social and cultur issu — even as the process has been slow often painstak slow the pace more evolutionari than abrupt — as the public becom acclim to chang 
would democrat be wise to recogn this pace of chang as they head into a defin elect 
or should they attempt to enlarg their base by embrac an element argument about what the parti stand for 
this is an elect in which turnout will be crucial 
can democrat spur the legion who are focus on the environ climat chang immigr and women’ right as well as transgend right 
can they expand the arena of concern 
the stake could not be higher 
is pete buttigieg just too young to be presid 
by frank bruni dec 14 2019 finland just elect the world’ youngest prime minist sanna marin who’ 34 
time magazin name greta thunberg 16 it youngestev person of the year 
even befor i could mention their name to pete buttigieg who’ vy to becom the youngest american presid he brought them up 
he also brought up jacinda ardern the prime minist of new zealand who was 37 when she took offic and emmanuel macron who becam the presid of franc at 39 
that’ how old buttigieg now 37 would be at his inaugur 
you’r see a generat of leader around the world emerg and it feel like the kind of thing that the us would be on the forefront of just becaus we’r a countri that valu a look to the futur he told me in an interview on thursday morn 
i think it’ our style 
this countri was found by 20someth he ad refer to the fact that aaron burr alexand hamilton and jame madison for exampl were in their 20s on juli 4 1776 
thoma jefferson was 33 
john hancock was 39 
donald trump is 73 mean that he has more than a halfcenturi of life lesson on some of them 
how doe that show 
well an hour befor i connect with buttigieg the presid saw fit to tweet that time’ choic of thunberg a swedish climatechang activist was so ridicul and that she should work on her anger manag problem 
face immin impeach he start a twitter spat with a teenag girl 
trump is the most extrem exampl of the fact that while wisdom and age may be relat they’r veri much not the same thing buttigieg said 
still 
age isn’t irrelev 
america is much much bigger than finland and much much more complic than it was dure the revolutionari war 
in a countri so power at such a peril time is buttigieg simpli too young and too green to lead the way 
it’ the question that hover over a presidenti campaign whose success has stun the polit world 
it predat concern about his work as a consult with mckinsey or his troubl build support among africanamerican 
it suggest an intens of ambit and a presumptu that make his detractor bristl 
and even now after firstplac finish in some recent poll of democrat in iowa and new hampshir he’ press about whether someon with his short rã©sumã© cap by two term as the mayor of a citi of just 100000 peopl could possibl be up to the presid and pass muster with enough american to get elect 
he told me that voter and journalist ask him about his age more often than they do about his sexual orient 
if elect he’d be the first open gay presid 
so we spent most of a near hourlong car ride between campaign stop in the new york citi area talk about it 
he conced that the longer you’r aliv the more you learn and that there are lesson and life passag still in the of for him 
he’d like to be a parent but if he succeed on his current quest he’d becom the leader of the free world first 
a lot of thing in my life have been out of sequenc he said 
i was a mayor befor i got marri 
i was a war veteran befor i had date 
he was refer to his seven month in afghanistan and recogn that while he has been precoci ahead of the game in mani regard he was behind in other 
it was onli four year ago at 33 that he final had a serious romant relationship — with the man chasten who is now his husband 
age has play out in surpris way in the democrat primari 
while buttigieg is unusu young the other three candid group with him at the head of the pack — joe biden 77 elizabeth warren 70 and berni sander 78 — are unusu old 
sander had a heart attack in octob and biden’ energi has visibl dim to a point where some of his aid and support have sought to reassur voter by whisper about the possibl that he’d want to serv just one term 
the oldest candid sander is by far the most popular among the youngest democrat voter get the support of 52 percent of those between the age of 18 and 34 in a nation quinnipiac poll releas on tuesday 
buttigieg got just 2 percent of that group in contrast with 12 percent of democrat voter between 35 and 49 12 percent of those between 50 and 64 and 11 percent of those 65 and older 
he attribut that to younger voters’ attract to sanders’ less pragmat more ideolog pure vision 
it’ certain not becaus buttigieg hasn’t court them 
in this ok 
boomer moment of younger americans’ disgust with the incom inequ social injustic and climat chang that older american have bequeath them he has claim a generat perspect that separ him from his rival for the democrat nomin 
he note that he was still in high school when the columbin massacr happen that he had just start colleg when the 911 terrorist attack occur and that he’ll be live with america’ failur longer than his older rival will 
he also make the case that peopl of biden’ warren’ and sanders’ age have had their chanc to fix thing 
shouldn’t someon with an arguabl fresher outlook — someon from outsid washington — take a turn 
with that reason he frame polit vulner as polit virtu 
you know the stat about three of the last four presid emerg from the summer of 1946 
he ask refer to trump’ birth in june 1946 georg w bush’ in juli of that year and bill clinton’ in august 
it mean that one generat has been in charg for a veri long time 
but his youth is in some way a bind that put me in mind of the even greater predica for femal candid 
they’r expect to show that they’r as tough as men but then that tough is describ as bossi shrill 
buttigieg has to muster extra pois extra confid lest ani deficit be interpret as immatur 
but then that pois and confid in the context of his age are interpret as arrog 
his detractor constant tell me that he’ cocki — or robot 
one of the thing i get is ‘whi aren’t you more passionate’ he said 
i’m veri passion 
but i’m also veri disciplin 
if i weren’t it would be harder to be taken serious 
is he mayb too disciplin 
too contain 
wonder if he’d yet confront the respons of help to care for a sick parent i ask about his own parent and learn onli then that his father die last januari 
while i’d kept reason close tab on buttigieg’ candidaci this was someth that he hadn’t mention enough that i’d heard it 
and he said relat littl about it dure our chat 
the constitut decre that a hous member must be at least 25 a senat at least 30 a presid at least 35 
no american presid has been under 40 and onli two took offic befor the age of 45 teddi roosevelt who was 42 and john f kennedi who was 43 
shouldn’t and doesn’t that give buttigieg paus 
of cours you have those moment he acknowledg 
we’r talk about a role of unbeliev import and complex and challeng 
and yet everi person who’ done it has been a mortal a human be — and of cours so much depend not just on the individu but on how you build a team 
the audac of propos to do it at a young age is nowher near the audac of propos to do it at all he said 
so age becom like a detail 
he repeat someth that he has said score if not hundr of time on the campaign trail as mayor of south bend ind for the past eight year he has had a kind of execut experi that someon who has serv in congress for that long or longer hasn’t 
besid he said experi isn’t the onli font of wisdom 
educ matter 
intuit too 
he come arm with histor exampl beyond the founder of peopl who made remark contribut earli on 
i’m not go to compar myself to martin luther king he said but he’ certain an exampl of somebodi who had a huge impact main in his 30s 
king die at 39 
buttigieg note that stephen biko one of the most promin antiapartheid activist in south africa in the 1970s die at 30 
trump has mock refer to buttigieg as alfr e neuman the gaptooth bigear boyish mascot for mad magazin 
he did so at a ralli in pennsylvania on tuesday ask his audienc can you believ he’ do well 
i dream about him trump ad 
it’ true 
buttigieg’ respons 
i don’t want to be anywher near that guy’ dream he told me 
it’ a good answer 
mayb he’d match up well against trump 
i’m not sure and how i wish i were becaus the likeliest trump slayer is the democrat nomine i want and america need 
both substant and in term of elect buttigieg would be better off if he were older with higher posit under his belt but then all of the lead democrat have worri shortcom 
his youth is a concern 
it shouldn’t be a dealbreak 
jare kushner fail up again by frank bruni nov 26 2019 jare kushner just got a promot 
anoth one 
at least i think we can call it that and it’ a delici perfect assign 
the pallid princel is now respons for speed construct of the border wall 
in other word a makebeliev fixer will overse a fairytal fix 
josh dawsey and nick miroff of the washington post broke the news and when i read it i realiz that i hadn’t heard much about jare — or for that matter ivanka — in a good long while 
they’r front and center when the administr is announc some ostens sensibl initi or claim a pittanc of progress 
but when it corrupt is be expos and the drizzl of subpoena becom a downpour they vanish cuddl for warmth under the gild umbrella of their hallucinatori virtu 
we can pretti much chart the weather of the administr by the relat visibl of donald jr so loud and hirsut and jare so smoothcheek and mute 
donald jr thrive when it’ nastiest stomp gleefulli through the muck 
jare come out onli if his suit won’t get dirti or his hair wet 
dure the impeach inquiri we’v seen a lot of donald jr that’ part becaus he has been hawk his new book copi of which the republican nation committe spent near 100000 on 
but it’ also becaus he’ such a readi eager conduit for his father’ wrath with a talent for exagger and misdirect that’ clear chromosom 
jare kushner just got a promot 
anoth one 
at least i think we can call it that and it’ a delici perfect assign 
the pallid princel is now respons for speed construct of the border wall 
in other word a makebeliev fixer will overse a fairytal fix 
josh dawsey and nick miroff of the washington post broke the news and when i read it i realiz that i hadn’t heard much about jare — or for that matter ivanka — in a good long while 
they’r front and center when the administr is announc some ostens sensibl initi or claim a pittanc of progress 
but when it corrupt is be expos and the drizzl of subpoena becom a downpour they vanish cuddl for warmth under the gild umbrella of their hallucinatori virtu 
we can pretti much chart the weather of the administr by the relat visibl of donald jr so loud and hirsut and jare so smoothcheek and mute 
donald jr thrive when it’ nastiest stomp gleefulli through the muck 
jare come out onli if his suit won’t get dirti or his hair wet 
dure the impeach inquiri we’v seen a lot of donald jr that’ part becaus he has been hawk his new book copi of which the republican nation committe spent near 100000 on 
but it’ also becaus he’ such a readi eager conduit for his father’ wrath with a talent for exagger and misdirect that’ clear chromosom 
jare and ivanka have been strateg scarc though ivanka did flutter into view in a fashion when presid trump boast two week ago that she had creat 14 million job sinc the inaugur 
fourteen million and go up 
he clarifi lest anyon get the misimpress that she thought her work was done 
never 
on behalf of the american peopl ivanka is tireless 
there’ no rest for the weari and there’ even less of it for those who live at the crossroad of selfinfatu and delus 
in an interview last month on fox busi ivanka said that she and dad were fight everi day for the american worker and that she was determin to drive hard everi singl day to make an impact 
your time and servic — our time here — is finit she muse and while i’d love to believ that she was prophesi her and her father’ immin evict from the white hous i think she was refer in her deepli spiritu way to the span of a human life 
it’ sand through an hourglass 
as ivanka serv us she never forget the sand 
democrat believ that the trump administration’ void of ethic will sour american voter on the presid 
but those voter are likeli to abandon him for the administration’ vacuum of compet — for his nonsens manageri style captur in his magic think about jare 
he task jare with reinvent the feder govern 
unless constant rash fire unfil job and shakedown of foreign govern constitut reinvent this remain on jared’ infinit todo list 
the presid put jare in charg of broker a durabl peac between isra and palestinian 
insert punch line here 
he follow jared’ counsel that faith be place in saudi arabia and it crown princ moham bin salman 
we know how that work out 
the presid somehow look at that track record and decid that the dynamo he should entrust with his central campaign promis — a secur barrier between the unit state and mexico — was … jare 
and so we have the trillionth gorgeous exampl of his invest in fiction 
near three year into trump’ presid the border wall bare exist 
subtract the upgrad of fenc and such that was alreadi there and trump has by some recent estim construct fewer than 25 mile of actual new barrier 
the southwestern border is near 2000 mile long 
but jare is on the case 
accord to the post he conven biweek meet in the west wing where he question an array of govern offici about progress and explain the president’ wish 
huh 
those wish are hard cryptic and how complic can this question be 
alreadi the post report there’ grumbl that jare is just an annoy 
that belittl his symbol signific 
mani journalist includ me have tri to settl on the perfect mascot for the trump administr 
there are choic galor 
the greedi vainglori scott pruitt who did his best to decim the environment protect agenc fit the bill but he’ long gone 
mike pompeo embodi the faustian arc of so mani of the president’ aid and alli from principledriven dismiss of trump dure the 2016 campaign to reputationtorch submiss when he dangl a ticket to the big time 
but for nake opportun and situat scrupl jared’ my guy 
rememb how he and ivanka were go to contain the president’ ego blunt his cruelti whisper sweet moder in his ear 
that was then 
now he’ devot himself to an exorbit unnecessari monument to trump’ nativ and xenophobia 
there’ an upsid though 
with jare in the saddl this hors won’t go far 
jeff bezos’ phone hack should terrifi everyon by charli warzel jan 24 2020 if the saudi crown princ moham bin salman want to chat on whatsapp polit declin 
that’ the lesson from a seri of report this week base off a forens examin of jeff bezos’ communic with the crown princ 
the investig — conduct at mr bezos’ request by fti consult — found that his phone had most like been attack in 2018 after he receiv a whatsapp messag from the prince’ person account 
while my colleagu in the time newsroom have piec togeth detail of the investig there’ still a great deal unknown 
and cybersecur expert have serious question about fti’ report which accord to cyberscoop “has not impress the inform secur communiti 
still the stori seem to have everyth from lightheart embarrass earnest text “divorc guy meme and world leader who awkward sign their text messag with their full name to the deepli problemat issu of reveng porn and steal of privat nude photo 
though it’ a gild exampl of digit theft there’ someth troubl and relat about it all 
billionair they’r just like us 
or mayb not 
look at one way the attack on mr bezos’ phone could be seen as yet more proof of what my colleagu kara swisher call “the death of privaci 
if the richest man in the world — the man who sell listen devic use in million of home and whose server creat the internet’ infrastructur — can be hack what hope is there for us mere mortal 
turn out there’ some 
yes your person privaci and secur are constant under threat 
and yes you should be tri to safeguard against malwar phish and bulk data collect 
but the bezo attack is an exampl of extrem target surveil the potenti expens and riski kind that is aim at highvalu target like execut govern offici celebr and billionair 
and as it turn out mani of those with the most to lose are woefulli inept at safeguard their privaci 
not long after the bezo news broke this week i spoke to christoph pierson who found blackcloak a cybersecur compani for highnetworth and highprofil individu — execut celebr and billionair 
accord to mr pierson few peopl take their digit live as serious as they should 
“the major of client we onboard come on in some kind of hack state he told me 
“their comput are compromis or their login credenti are avail on dark web 
their home camera system are access to peopl on internet or their entir home and applianc are vulner and viewabl by person remot 
mr pierson suggest that’ in part becaus highvalu target choos to focus on physic secur over digit and invest in privat bodyguard camera system and protect like kidnap insur 
how bad is it 
“we see password in littl black book on desk by the machin and in file on the comput 
we see password that are the same everywher 
we absolut do not see good use of dual factor authent on email health care and financi account 
i’d say we see less than 1 percent of highnetworth individu use dual factor 
mr pierson said blackcloak has found more than 82 percent of it clients’ current password on the dark web when it ran an initi search 
“in the case of highnetworth individu the same compromis password is frequent use by 20 to 40 differ account — some of those are person some are in the offic 
what mr pierson describ is lowhang fruit — the kind of secur flaw that can quick be fix with a littl knowledg and attent to detail 
even then he said it take time for the true natur of clients’ vulner to sink in 
“they’r 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 entir home autom system has been potenti onlin and viewabl for three or five or eight year he said 
when it come to a bezosstyl breach — potenti at the hand of a nationstate’ intellig servic — highprofil target would most like be even less prepar 
as mr bezos’ lengthi investig into the 2018 attack show it’ difficult to get straight answer even when you have the money and resourc to run full forens 
of cours it’ not just wealth that turn somebodi into a person of interest for hacker 
journalist govern employe worker at energi compani and util could all be target for someon 
those who work for financi compani airlin hospit univers hollywood studio and tech busi are all potenti at risk 
you can take step to secur yourself from corpor data collect by use privaci set on your phone 
and to protect yourself from cyberattack there are help guid you can use that have been vet by secur profession 
for most of us the attack against mr bezo isn’t the death of privaci but a remind of the risk of live a connect life 
it should be a moment to think as critic about what you do onlin as you might in the real world 
invest in a password manag 
turn on dual factor authent 
be skeptic of ani communic that look out of place 
for the ultrarich and influenti the bezo hack should be a terrifi revel 
as the former state depart employe and whistleblow john napier tye told me last autumn “for someon who’ truli a highvalu target there is no way to safe use a digit devic 
the stake are astronom high 
not just person as mr bezo found but profession 
compani secret matter of nation secur access to critic infrastructur and the safeti of employe could all be compromis by lax secur at the top 
the internet has long been thought of as a truli democrat tool flatten and democrat the abil to publish and communic 
it’ also the great privaci equal 
money can buy a lot of thing 
but on a danger internet full of exploit flaw code shadi actor and absentmind human total foolproof secur is not one of them 
joe biden is stronger than you think by david brook jan 23 2020 it was yet anoth epic failur of polit punditri 
go back to the earli month of joe biden’ presidenti campaign and read what the consult and comment were say about him his support is just name recognit he’ll fade 
he’ too old 
he’ run a zombi campaign 
the parti has move left and he’ out of touch 
he vote for the crime bill 
almost everybodi was bearish on joe 
but now look where we are week from actual vote 
if the poll are to be believ biden will win iowa he’ll come in second in new hampshir he will easili win nevada he will domin in south carolina 
he’ now tie for the lead in california and he’ way ahead in texa 
i don’t know if he’ll win the nomin both he and berni sander look strong but this is not where a lot of peopl six month ago thought we’d be 
it’ the 947th consecut sign that we in the coastal chatter class have not cure our insular problem 
it’ the 947th case in which we see that everi second you spend on twitter detract from your knowledg of american polit and that the onli cure to this insular diseas is constant travel and interview close attent to state and local data and raw abject humil about the fact that the attitud and academ degre that you think make you clever are actual the attitud and academ degre that separ you from the real textur of american life 
biden didn’t just luck into this 
he and his team grasp six truth understand the year you are run in 
sander and elizabeth warren are run the same basic campaign they would have run in 2012 or 2016 
biden’ campaign is complet focus on the central problem of 2020 that donald trump is a steam hot mess in the middl of nation life 
biden has fixat his campaign on the trump problem and fight for the soul of america 
near twice as mani democrat say it’ more import to beat trump than to have a candid with whom they agre on all issu 
understand your party’ core challeng 
all around the world parti on the left are lose becaus they have lost touch with the work class 
these parti think they can reconnect with that class by swing even further left 
but jeremi corbyn in britain and berni sander here are a doctor student’ idea of a workingclass candid not an actual work person’ idea of one 
biden has critic his own parti for lose touch with this class 
he emerg from it is focus his attent on it and is win support from it 
moder are still power 
the democrat parti is move left but about half of democrat still say they are moder or conserv 
no candid has ever won a nomin without strong support from these voter while collegetown candid — howard dean gari hart — tend to falter 
in everi presidenti general elect that democrat have won sinc 1988 they carri moder by more than 12 percentag point 
in everi race they have lost they fail to do that 
biden kept his moder credenti when mani other candid saw aoc 
on twitter and decid to move left 
mani democrat resent their own elit 
there is a quiet tension between democrat who wield cultur power and those who don’t 
the former are activ on social media and clobber the latter — peopl who say or write the wrong thing 
the nonelit tend to feel judg and look down on by the selfappoint savior class 
polit correct has becom the phrase peopl use to defin those who use cultur power to enforc ideolog conform 
seventi percent of democrat who are not on social media say polit correct is a big problem 
these are peopl silent but vehement react against this social reign of terror 
biden communic affect not judgment accept not expuls 
have a better theori of social chang 
sander and warren imagin they can ralli movement of progress supermajor to transform american polit 
the realiti is that if they are elect we’ll be stuck with the same 42 percentto42 percent stagnant polit war we have now 
biden start with the understand that we are a close divid nation 
he understand the element fact that if you want to pass law you have to go through congress 
as damon linker point out recent in the week biden’ argument is that a centerleft congression coalit is the best we can do under present circumst 
that’ a more realist theori of chang 
a belov legisl like biden is more like to transform the polit landscap than a downthelin progress 
connect 
connect 
connect 
mani candid pound the podium and lectur at their ralli 
it’ the big leader onstag and the passion mass of follow down below 
nobodi make an individu connect as well as biden 
in a time when peopl feel exhaust isol and alien a candid who seem normal and emot relat is go to have a lot of appeal 
the iron fact is that the candid who can be vulner has a surpris power 
john bolton get the last laugh by frank bruni jan 28 2020 presid trump’ reaction to the leak of incrimin detail in john bolton’ forthcom book shock me 
not the part where the presid said that bolton was make up a ukrain quid pro quo in the servic of the bestsel list — that he was lie for lucr 
trump see that transact everywher he look becaus he see it first and foremost in the mirror 
no i was surpris that the presid didn’t disput know bolton or at least didn’t say that he was so slight acquaint with his own former nation secur advis that he couldn’t pick him — chinchillabushi mustach and all — out of a lineup 
that’ trump’ favorit ploy 
ask michael cohen anthoni scaramucci princ andrew stormi daniel gordon sondland lev parna 
fall into disreput cross trump or claim to have the good on him and you’r wipe clean from his memori no matter the exist of contradictori forens 
ivanka bewar 
you’r one bad manicur away from patern amnesia 
bolton is the impeach star of the week whether he wind up testifi or not and i can’t shake the feel that he plot all of this out keep his head down dure the hear in the hous let it be known onli afterward that he’d be will to testifi in the senat the revel this week — simultan with assert by trump’ defens team that there were no firsthand wit to the president’ wrongdo — that his book inde address ukrain and fulli back up the charg in the articl of impeach 
bolton has alway been vain brilliant and ruthless and this is the timelin that a vain brilliant and ruthless oper would cinch 
i’m not person acquaint with the sound of his laughter but i’m certain i hear it 
when trump came down that escal in june 2015 the law of polit graviti were suspend and bolton’ emerg as a darl of democrat is the latest exampl 
he was so far to the right and such a feroci hawk that presid georg w bush bypass the senat to sneak him in as ambassador to the unit nation 
he later feather a nest at fox news also known as the trump administr applic pool 
and at a time when most selfrespect foreignpolici maven had conclud that trump was toxic bolton open his lip wide to the poison sign on to becom the president’ third nation secur advis 
of cours the presid is now on his fourth 
trump can’t dismiss bolton’ account of event as partisan 
bolton’ conserv credenti prove otherwis 
trump can’t bellow deep state not when he handpick bolton at a stage of his presid when he’d alreadi becom sensit to that suppos pernici forc 
all trump can do is command his republican minion in the senat to fall in line 
sad most of them will 
don’t be impress by the possibl that now — and i stress onli now — some senat republican may press for wit includ bolton in the trial 
this isn’t a stir of conscienc 
it’ a cloak of humili 
if they ignor bolton their stillunshaken commit to acquit trump becom even more nake 
besid hear from wit wouldn’t eras republican senators’ aw behavior to this point in the trial all the ugli gloat from the like of lindsey graham that adam schiff’ undeni eloqu was for naught marsha blackburn’ patholog exuber attack on the integr of lt col alexand vindman martha mcsally’ disgrac snipe at a perfect polit televis report liber hack she spew and then her cynic use of that trumpian outburst to rais money for her reelect campaign 
this is sycoph at it most shame 
scratch that superl i was forget mike pompeo 
accord to the times’ scoop about bolton’ book he write that pompeo too was awar of the ukrain pressur campaign — the same pompeo who did noth to stop the vilif of mari yovanovitch the same pompeo who promot the debunk conspiraci theori that ukrain interf in the 2016 elect the same pompeo who onc warn that trump would be an authoritarian presid who ignor our constitut and then when trump gave him a realli neat job decid that a littl authoritarian never hurt anyon 
of late he seem to be have a meltdown 
i attribut it to his realize that his reput and belief in his own rectitud won’t surviv trump 
he’ assess the bargain he made and understand how complet his ambit eclips his integr 
it’ hell when you’r reveal to yourself 
bolton meanwhil is probabl feel pretti content 
he know how bad the trump presid will be judg and has posit himself on the right side of histori — this time around 
mayb bitter brought him here mayb ego mayb this quaint old thing call patriot 
he surviv trump 
i’d read that book 
let us all now weep for donald trump by frank bruni jan 21 2020 donald trump obvious relish the role of bulli 
but his greatest talent by far lie in play the victim 
he’ a victim of adam schiff 
a victim of nanci pelosi 
a victim of all democrat realli and of his own seedi henchmen michael cohen lev parna and of the deep state and of the fake news media and of the entir establish whatev that is 
he’ a victim of so mani forc so mani time over that even martyr doesn’t do justic to his lot which is what you get when you multipli job in the old testament by mel gibson in braveheart and add the protagonist of unbroken 
no presid has ever been treat so bad 
i’m not be sarcast 
i’m take dictat he has made this exact claim — repeat 
his victimhood is front and center in his defens against the articl of impeach and in the legal paper file by his lawyer on monday as his trial in the senat move forward 
the lawyer write of a process rig against trump 
they portray his democrat accus as unhing tormentor too consum with his destruct to see how unimpeach he has realli behav 
the 171page document is so soggi with trumpian selfpiti it weep 
it’ so bloat with trumpian hyperbol it waddl 
on just one of those page his lawyer recount how democrat exercis shame hypocrisi as they concoct an unheardof procedur and held those infam secret hear in a basement bunker while journalist happili fed the public a fals narrat and the poor presid was deni ani right whatsoev 
this is the bodic ripper of polit sob stori 
it’ a harlequin harangu 
it expand on — and continu in the precis spirit of — a preliminari legal brief that his lawyer file last weekend 
the scream of a wound anim was how two legal expert who contribut to the atlant assess that argument 
they could as easili have been describ the rest of trump’ presid the whole of his polit career and much of his life 
he’ alway right and yet alway wrong 
he demand that we marvel at his invinc even as we trembl at his degrad 
he can vanquish ani enemi — and his enemi are legion 
— but look at how he’ push around 
trump take a textbook oxymoron and give it presidenti form 
behold at the resolut desk a jumbo shrimp 
this goe 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 militarythem board school that trump attend he was known for complain to superior about unfair treatment 
it’ a strategi for him 
he believ and has said that whine is a way to get what you want 
timothi o’brien who wrote the trump biographi trumpnat recal that in the 1980s when trump fail to get the support that he want from mayor ed koch for an enorm develop in manhattan he threw himself a piti parti rail that the system and local govern were conspir against him 
trump similar fashion himself as a beleagu hero battl dark forc when he bought into the fledgl unit state footbal leagu and sought to make it competit with the nation footbal leagu 
goad by trump the usfl 
file an antitrust suit against the nfl 
the suit was a bust the nfl 
was order to pay 3 in damag 
but that didn’t throw him off his game which he upsiz for his presidenti campaign 
as the conserv columnist rich lowri note in august 2015 by trump’ own account he’ the baddest smartest thing go except if you ask him a challeng question in which case he kick and scream and demand to know how anyon could treat him so unfair 
lowri crown trump the most fabul whiner in all of american polit 
the cnn anchor chris cuomo subsequ ask trump about lowry’ word 
i am the most fabul whiner trump conced 
i keep whine and whine until i win 
he whine operat as novemb 2016 approach and it seem that he’d lose to hillari clinton 
the elect 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 becaus of million of illeg ballot 
woe is he the object of a witch hunt regard russian assist to his campaign the butt of a hoax about improp pressur on ukrain the command in chief of arm forc that the whole world take advantag of 
in a key passag of the new book a veri stabl genius by the washington post report carol leonnig and philip rucker trump rant at top militari brass about what he perceiv as america’ exploit by south korea and by nato alli bark you’r a bunch of dope and babi 
it’ disgust 
it’ also part of his polit genius 
he has turn himself into a symbol of americans’ victim tell frustrat voter who crave easi answer that they’r be push around by foreign and dupe by the condescend custodian of a dysfunct system 
he’ their proxi suffer on their behalf and in that way he collaps the distanc between a billionair with multipl golf resort and displac factori worker struggl to hold on to their one and onli home 
but while it’ a fact that they’v been dealt a bad hand it’ a farc that he has 
his fortun began with money from dad 
he has stif creditor evad tax attach his name to a bogus diploma mill skim money from a fraudul philanthropi run afoul of campaign financ law signal recept to russian interfer in the 2016 elect and tri to obstruct the investig of that — all without ani commensur punish 
thank to republican in the senat he’ pois to evad punish again 
we should all be such victim 
mayor pete’ gay reckon by frank bruni feb 1 2020 ankeni iowa — you can listen to long stretch of pete buttigieg’ remark and hear littl or no refer to the trailblaz natur of his campaign 
you can almost forget 
but as he wrap up a ralli here on thursday night with the clock tick down fast to the iowa caucus he made soar stir mention of it 
you rememb 
iowa has a remark knack for make histori he told hundr of support note that he’d initi visit the state to support barack obama dure the democrat primari in 2008 when obama’ iowa victori set him on his way 
you chang america’ — and the world’ — expect for what was possibl 
then he allud to iowa’ legal of gay marriag in 2009 six year befor that happen nation and how it gave him hope that he might someday be a happili marri 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 american i felt a surg of pride 
it’ doordi time for buttigieg whose poll number recent have been move in the wrong direct 
he probabl need to finish first or a veri strong second on monday to preserv ani shot to be his party’ 2020 nomine 
he need neither to claim an enorm accomplish 
win or lose buttigieg is the first open gay american to becom a serious presidenti candid one who land on the cover of promin magazin was fawn over on the mostwatch televis talk show rais exponenti more money than ani of the governor in the race outpac beto o’rourk outpol kamala harri caught presid trump’ attent qualifi for all of the democrat debat and more than held his own in each of them 
win or lose he’ an exampl an educ and a hell of a stori 
that narrat is about youth — he just turn 38 — and the power of hyperarticul in an era of presidenti crude 
but it’ also about sexual orient which has and hasn’t factor into his pitch in surpris way 
he has grappl on the nation polit stage with question that all lgbtq 
peopl ask so that his candidaci is a metaphor for our live to what extent am i defin by my sexual orient or gender ident 
what doe and doesn’t it tell you about me 
buttigieg’ answer have disappoint some lgbtq 
peopl — and were bound to given the expect place on ani politician who is bless and curs to becom a symbol 
femal candid have had experi similar to his candid of color too 
these pioneer are exhort to open door close to the group they repres but to repres those group first and foremost and that’ tough 
check with obama 
or hillari clinton 
or now buttigieg 
he has weather complaint even deris from lgbtq 
progress mani of whom say he’ not gay enough his manner and manner too straitlac his polici preoccup too moder his success infuri reflect of how readili and well he assimil into heterosexu america 
gay seem to be mayor pete’ worst critic was the headlin of a column in the washington blade an lgbtq 
public 
that sadden me 
as i’v written befor part of what so mani gay peopl have fought so hard for is the recognit that we don’t fit into tidi box otherwis known as stereotyp — not sartori not ideolog 
absolut disagre with buttigieg’ opposit to medicar for all if you have a differ view but don’t suggest that he should support it becaus he’ gay 
yawn at all those perfect press white dress shirt that he wear but don’t cast them as a betray 
and don’t say that by discuss his own christian he’ consort with the enemi 
yes religion has been use cruelli against lgbtq 
peopl 
but one of the most profound dimens of buttigieg’ candidaci is how he has turn that around for instanc assert that his marriag to his husband chasten has brought him closer to god 
that’ the thing that i wish the mike penc of the world would understand he said in a speech last year refer to the vice president’ 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 embrac him onstag and has mention his marriag in debat 
and he doesn’t shi away from question about his sexual orient which he didn’t public acknowledg until the age of 33 short befor his elect to a second term as mayor of south bend ind 
but he doesn’t volunt lengthi rumin about it impact on how he see the world or showcas it in ani other way 
it’ there if you look and listen for it 
but sometim you have to look and listen hard 
none of the voter at his ralli in iowa brought it up when i ask them what drew them to buttigieg 
they most rave about his intellig 
were there ani particular obstacl he might face in a general elect 
his youth said louann cool 62 of le grand iowa 
it was the same answer — his youth or his inexperi — that other gave 
no one mention his be open gay 
be gay and an emblem of progress hasn’t given buttigieg ani special traction with younger democrat who respond much less favor to him than older democrat do 
it hasn’t establish ani solidar with other minor though he reach for such a connect when state a commit to racial justic dure the democrats’ novemb debat 
while i do not have the experi of ever have been discrimin against becaus of the color of my skin i do have the experi of sometim feel like a stranger in my own countri turn on the news and see my own right come up for debat he said 
wear this wed ring in a way that couldn’t have happen two elect ago let me know just how deep my oblig is to help those whose right are on the line everi day even if they are noth like me in their experi 
those remark didn’t have the effect he intend 
some africanamerican accus him of equat veri differ kind of discrimin and poll show that his support from black democrat remain abysm 
when they apprais buttigieg they notic a whole lot beyond his sexual orient includ worrisom friction between him and some black resid of south bend and a path of extraordinari privileg harvard a rhode scholarship a job with mckinsey that brought him to this point 
what doe buttigieg’ be gay tell you 
that he has trepid and caution in him — he stay in the closet all those year — but that he has courag too enough to pursu the presid despit the inevit spotlight on him as a novelti 
what doesn’t his be gay tell you 
his music tast for one 
the last time i had a long talk with him was in middecemb and he had just met the perform lizzo who was a fellow guest on cbs this morn 
she’ an icon for outsid brim with delici attitud and i assum he’d be thrill 
but i’m not sure he realli doe thrill and he confess to be more a dave matthew band fan 
in ani case he said i usual have a kind of celebr blind 
a gay man who doesn’t twinkl at the star around him 
yep our creator make us in all shape and stripe 
thank you mayor pete for take that messag out on the trail 
no team trump the coronavirus isn’t good for america by paul krugman jan 30 2020 how frighten should you be about the coronavirus 
i’m no epidemiologist but what i’v seen look pretti scari 
it doesn’t help that the trump administr as part of it general war against scienc and expertis has serious reduc america’ capac to respond if we do face a danger pandem 
it also look quit possibl that the virus will inflict a lot of econom damag — even if it doesn’t kill you it might kill your job 
and one special sourc of concern is that top offici in the trump administr are talk nonsens about the econom threat 
so about that econom threat mani peopl are draw parallel between the coronavirus and the 20023 outbreak of sever acut respiratori syndrom or sar which also origin in china 
like the current outbreak sar led to the imposit of econom disrupt quarantin which appear to have had a signific if temporari advers effect on china’ economi and a modest negat impact on the world economi as a whole 
we still don’t know whether the coronavirus is more or less danger than sar 
what we do know is that the global econom implic of a pandem in china are like to be much more sever now than they were then for the simpl reason that china is a vast bigger player than it use to be 
in 2002 china was still in the earli stage of it great econom surg it account for onli around 8 percent of global manufactur valu ad far less than the share of the us japan and europ 
today howev china is the workshop of the world account for more than a quarter of global manufactur 
now you might think that this impli an upsid to china’ troubl that disrupt china’ vast manufactur sector would offer opportun to produc in other countri includ the unit state 
that is you might think this if you knew noth about 21stcenturi econom 
sure enough wilbur ross the commerc secretari appear on fox busi on thursday morn to declar that he didn’t want to talk about a victori lap but that the coronavirus will help to acceler the return of job to north america 
by say this he demonstr a coupl of thing 1 whi gail collins’ reader vote him trump’ worst cabinet member and 2 whi trump’ trade war has been such a failur 
what ross and his colleagu appar still don’t understand — although some of them may be get an inkl — is that modern manufactur isn’t like manufactur a coupl of generat ago when differ countries’ industri sector were engag in fair straightforward headtohead competit 
these day we live in a world of global valu chain in which much of what ani given nation import consist not of consum good but of intermedi good that it use as part of it own product process 
in such a world anyth that disrupt import — whether it’ tariff or a virus — rais product cost and as a result if anyth hurt manufactur 
inde a recent studi by the feder reserv found that trump’ tariff which were concentr on intermedi good have reduc not increas manufactur output and employ 
sure enough while overal econom growth in 2019 was decent not great manufactur is in a recess 
and the uncertainti creat by the trade war may explain whi busi invest is down despit a huge cut in corpor tax 
as i said some of trump’ peopl seem to have gotten an inkl here 
last week the white hous basic admit that tariff on steel and aluminum have done more harm than good hurt industri that use these materi 
but the administration’ answer isn’t a reconsider of it polici — it is to impos more tariff on a wider rang of product 
which bring me back to the coronavirus 
let’ leav asid the public health issu — although the trump administr has clear left us much less prepar than we had been to deal with these issu if they becom serious — and focus on the econom 
what we can say is that if the virus serious disrupt chines product it impact on the us economi will be like an extrem version of trump’ trade war except without ani compens in the form of tariff revenu 
and the two thing we know about the trade war are that it has been an econom bust and that trump’ offici still appear clueless about whi it has been a bust 
bear in mind that so far trump has been remark lucki 
asid from hurrican maria — which he mishandl and in which thousand of american die — he has face essenti no crise domest or foreign that weren’t of his own make 
and he has surround himself with the gang that couldn’t think straight which rais sever doubt about how well he would handl a crisi that he didn’t creat himself 
if wilbur ross’ bonehead remark on thursday are ani indic — and i fear they are — the trump administr is even less prepar to deal with the econom fallout from a possibl pandem than it is to deal with the public health crisi 
be afraid 
notori djt 
on trial by maureen dowd jan 25 2020 republican know veri well who they are 
that’ whi it was such a juici moment when hakeem jeffri the congressman from brooklyn and democrat impeach manag quot a lyric by fellow btown nativ son biggi small to rebut jay sekulow when the president’ lawyer disingenu wonder “whi are we here 
refer to the democrats’ crystalclear case that donald trump abus his power and corrupt the highest offic in the land jeffri proclaim “and if you don’t know now you know 
i went to the press galleri one afternoon to check out the tableau vivant 
the visitors’ galleri was onli half full and there was none of the passion and titil that infus the clinton impeach which also odd enough revolv around a power dispar between two peopl 
one democrat senat staffer mourn the apathi 
“our phone aren’t ring he told me 
“nobodi care 
it’ the saddest thing ever 
one side of the room seem to be smirk 
mitch mcconnel is resort to his merrick garland playbook 
he’ll let the democrat make all their nobl point but it’ kabuki 
republican have perfect the dark art of “there’ noth to see here just keep move 
mcconnel long ago choreograph the end with democrat lose the argument and the acquit scoundrel triumphant sweep into the capitol to make his state of the union address 
at night tipsi republican staffer treat senat offic build as a pub crawl roam the hall with celebratori bottl of wine 
some republican were pay attent at the trial — or want to be seen pay attent 
susan collin was glu to the proceed as was the senat to her left in a magmacolor shawl lisa murkowski 
republican like collin who are vulner in 2020 have to be alert and figur out how to find their way out of the hear without do more polit harm 
a trump confid told cbs news that republican senat were warn “vote against the presid and your head will be on a pike 
seat at the back of the class mitt romney look duti and the thought must have cross his mind that’ he’ in a posit to inflict payback on trump for call him “a pompous ass and trick him into an interview for secretari of state onli to humili him 
reveng is a dish best serv with milk 
but more senat on the republican side were telegraph boredom 
lindsey graham yawn and rearrang his yellow pencil and went on walkabout later tell report “about the fourth time you tell me the same thing is twice too much 
he cleav to his lapdog role say preposter of trump “what he want 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 proceed on fox news 
the senat in the democrat presidenti race could not have been happi to be stuck there either 
berni sander accustom to make like leonard bernstein at big ralli and upset he’ not in iowa to relish his surg had a hard time keep his hand still move them restless silent clap and final hold them togeth on his chest over his blue sweater 
but head on both side did snap to attent whenev that unholi jang selfimpeach peal so inescap in the last three year rang out in the hallow chamber 
trump’ voic was imposs to ignor when the hous impeach manag play incrimin video clip of the human fidget spinner himself sometim howl over the blade of his chopper on the south lawn 
so mani peopl in this veri room had tri and fail or are now tri to vanquish the guy 
romney cruz rubio graham klobuchar sander bennet booker gillibrand warren harri 
trump had savag all his fellow republican and yet here they were listen to an unend recit of his crime and come out to be his praetorian guard 
adam schiff tri to warn the former nemes turn defend of trump that if the presid is not remov he could turn on them the way he had turn on mari yovanovitch and joe biden use the power of the presid to cheat lie and smear 
now rudy’ buddi lev parna say he has fork over to congression democrat a 2018 record of trump person order yovanovitch to be fire 
“the next time it just may be you schiff told the republican senat 
“do you think he wouldn’t ask you to be investig 
do you think for a moment that he wouldn’t 
schiff also remind republican that trump had invert their dogma embrac the evil empir and authoritarian and trust crazi rudy’ conspiraci theori over his own intellig servic 
“you don’t realiz how import charact is in the highest offic in the land until you don’t have it schiff said 
but the more impress the democrats’ case is the more depress the realiti becom 
they want to convinc themselv that charact matter 
but mani american knew they were vote for a thug 
they want a thug who would bust up washington and they got one 
the democrat are reli on fact but the republican are reli on fox 
and if you don’t know now you know 
of all trump’ defens this is the lamest by frank bruni jan 25 2020 onc the senat conclud it trial of presid trump it should go into recess 
until next januari 
the hous too 
lawmak shouldn’t pass legisl consid nomin or make ani import decis whatsoev this is an elect year and the voter will soon weigh in on the direct of america 
the nation’ busi should await that judgment lest member of congress contradict it 
a ludicr propos 
inde 
but it’ in line with — and an extrapol of — a favorit argument against trump’ convict and remov from offic 
his republican support say that lawmak shouldn’t speak for voter on such a crucial issu 
to preempt the verdict at the ballot box they say is to subvert the people’ will 
nice tri 
lawmak are elect specif to speak for voter on crucial issu 
that’ the system 
that’ their job 
american govern doesn’t oper by daili hour or issuebyissu poll at least not overt 
congress doesn’t have exponenti more power one week after elect day than it doe one year later though it may inde have more polit currenc 
and lawmak shouldn’t defer to their constitu at everi turn 
those constitu expect them over the cours of their legisl term to use their judgment as betterinform proxi for the peopl they repres 
so doe the constitut which creat america as a repres democraci not a direct one 
our lawmak are suppos to lead as well as follow to be respons to public sentiment but not mesmer or paralyz by it 
that’ even truer when the stake are huge than when they’r small 
republican have decid to sing a differ tune 
if it sound familiar that’ becaus they turn to the same music when the suprem court justic antonin scalia die presid barack obama nomin merrick garland to replac him and the senat major leader mitch mcconnel declar that a presidenti elect about eight month in the of prevent the senat from take ani action 
it was a song not of principl but of polit conveni 
the same hold true now 
give the peopl back their power the hous minor leader kevin mccarthi implor a few month ago argu against impeach itself 
refer to the president’ transgress and the novemb 2020 elect mcconnel said the american peopl if they think this is a veri signific episod can take it into account 
senat lindsey graham chime in i realli do believ that the best person — group of peopl — to pick a presid are the voter not a bunch of partisan politician 
pat cipollon one of the president’ lawyer ad no one ever thought that it would be a good idea for our countri — for our children for our grandchildren — to tri to remov a presid from a ballot to deni the american peopl the right to vote 
no one 
realli 
how about the framer of the constitut who establish the impeach process to do essenti that and declin to add ani asterisk about the next election’ immin 
if the framer thought impeach in an elect year was a bad idea they could have set thing up differ note jill lepor a harvard histori professor and the author of the 2018 book these truth a histori of the unit state 
they could have institut a mechan for an interim elect for instanc lepor told me 
they did not 
they could have said ‘except not in an elect year’ they did not 
you want there to be no impeach allow in an elect year ever 
you have to get a constitut amend ratifi 
and that would never happen becaus it would be licens for a presid to do anyth he or she want fearless if it sync with the calendar just so 
the framer in fact want a govern that wasn’t too sensit to voter — that mediat voters’ whim and prejudic through repres presum take a longer cooler view 
senators’ sixyear term reflect that 
as alison lacroix a univers of chicago professor who teach constitut law and american histori told me the senat is suppos to have a littl more delib power and mayb be a littl less beholden to the peopl 
when senat say they should kick an issu back to the peopl they’r arguabl violat the spirit of the chamber 
lacroix made anoth excel point what’ happen to trump isn’t muscl voter out of the process but rather take into account what voter recent did 
you onli get an impeach vote when peopl have chang their mind she said refer to their opinion about a sit presid 
the vote come from the hous and we know from thing like the midterm elect that some amount of peopl have chang their mind 
anoth parti has gain control of the hous 
that has to be tell us someth 
grant that switch in the hous major wasn’t a referendum on trump’ interact with ukrain which were the ground for his impeach and hadn’t yet come to light 
but they were absolut a referendum in part on his behavior and charact 
lawmak who are now assess and act on the worst of that behavior and charact are hard turn a deaf ear to voter 
if republican leader were realli so invest in a govern that didn’t diverg from voters’ desir more of them would be question the elector colleg 
becaus of it the countri has a presid trump who receiv about three million fewer vote than his oppon 
becaus of it georg w bush won the 2000 presidenti elect despit be the choic of fewer american than al gore 
but both trump and bush are republican 
so it’ fine if the system and voter sentiment aren’t perfect align 
similar republican — democrat too — are fond of tar oppon by say that they’r too beholden to poll 
the implic is that elect offici should have the courag of their own convict and not outsourc their judgment to constitu 
say that onli voter should decid trump’ fate is precis such outsourc 
and elect day is essenti the biggest poll of all 
there’ an addit profound import wrinkl in the case of trump’ impeach and trial 
they stem specif from action he took to corrupt the next presidenti elect by get a foreign govern to smear a potenti rival 
to give those action a pass is to greenlight more of the same or wors mean that voters’ verdict on trump’ behavior might be fatal taint not a clean express of popular will but a product of well cheat 
the elect can’t be the remedi when the elect is what’ at issu 
but mccarthi mcconnel and other republican are determin to spare their parti the humili of trump’ remov and to protect themselv from his wrath and his base’ furi if he isn’t save 
so they reach for whatev argument they can 
some are more plausibl than other 
the assert that an elect next novemb forbid honor this januari is a joke and the framer would have laugh at it 
bernie’ angri bros by bret stephen jan 31 2020 barbara boxer minc no word when it come to describ the peopl usual known as the berni bros — a subset of berni sander support who hope to take over the democrat parti and remak it in their imag 
there is so much negat energi it’ so angri say the former fourterm democrat senat from california 
you can be angri about the unfair in the world 
but this becom a person deepseat anger at anyon who doesn’t say exact what you want to hear 
i ran into boxer earlier this week and got to talk about a superb report in the time by my colleagu matt flegenheim rebecca r ruiz and nelli bowl berni sander and his internet armi 
the piec briefli mention a 2016 incid in which boxer went to nevada to tri to unifi the parti after hillari clinton defeat berni sander in the state’ caucus 
boxer was an earli clinton support 
but she’ also a liber lioness and felt sure she could mollifi the crowd 
i thought i could get the boo down she recal 
i said ‘whi are you boo 
i’m bernie’ friend 
when you boo me you’r boo bernie’ thing onli got wors 
the heckl got louder 
someon pick up a chair as if to throw it 
secur whisper in my ear you’v got to get off the stage boxer said 
when i left my heart was pound 
i’d never had that befor 
boxer’ stori is one of the milder one the time tell about the internet troll whose goal seem to have less to do with build sander up than with hound and humili anyon who stand in their man’ way 
when mr sanders’ support swarm someon onlin they often find multipl access point to that person’ life compil what can amount to investig dossier the time report 
more common there is a barrag of jab and threat sometim frame as joke 
if the target is a woman and it often is these insult can veer toward her physic appear 
doe this mean sander himself support this kind of behavior 
no and occasion he tri to disavow it 
but not veri hard last year he hire as a top aid and speechwrit david sirota accur describ by the atlant as his twitter attack dog 
nor doe it mean that anyth like a major of sanders’ support support the nasti carri out in his name 
yet no other democrat candid has so mani venom follow — no biden brother or warren sister to return fire with fire 
the onli real analog in us polit today to the berni nasti are the trump nasti 
they resembl each other in way neither side care to admit 
the most obvious resembl is the adul they bestow on their respect champion whom they treat less as normal politician than as savior who deserv uncrit and uncompromis support 
surrend to a leader is not a mean to an end but a fulfil the philosoph eric hoffer observ in the true believ a book that remain as relev in our populist era as it was in the totalitarian one 
whither they are led is of secondari import 
sinc it’ the usual destini of savior to be persecut befor they’r exalt the respons of their follow often is to persecut back 
but persecut whom 
in the demonolog of most mass movement there is usual a near enemi and a far one and the near enemi must be dealt with first and hardest 
to this day hardcor trump support reserv their deepest spite for republican nevertrump holdout human scum accord to the presid 
just so with the berni bros who see more moder democrat not as kindr spirit or potenti convert but as sellout even traitor — the proverbi enemi within 
part this is about the normal competit for power in which the show of ideolog puriti is treat as evid of moral superior 
but it also goe to the heart of what the berni bros are realli about 
as they see it ordinari civil isn’t a virtu 
it’ a ruse by which those with power manipul and margin those without 
democrat like joe biden who play by the rule of civil and bipartisanship aren’t just fall prey to the insidi manipul 
they are perpetr and legitim it 
no wonder near half of sanders’ support won’t commit to or are unsur about vote for the democrat nomine in the event it isn’t berni accord to a recent poll 
whi bother vote for oligarchi lite 
if there is a silver line here it’ that the world has long experi with this brand of zealotri 
berni sander may not be one of his own aw bros and may condemn their worst excess 
but there’ no reason to think they’ll lose their influenc should he win the white hous — just as trump’ presid has embolden and empow mani of his own worst follow 
is this the democrat parti the democrat want 
they will cast their first vote for presid on monday even at the parti caucus in iowa 
now is the moment for second thought 
onli you can prevent dystopia by farhad manjoo jan 1 2020 the new year is here and onlin the forecast call for sever season of hell 
tech giant and the media have scarc figur out all that went wrong dure the last presidenti elect — viral misinform statesponsor propaganda bot aplenti all of us cleav into our own tribal realiti bubbl — yet here we go again headlong into anoth experi in digit mediat democraci 
i’ll be honest with you i’m terrifi 
i spend a lot of my time look for edifi way of interact with technolog 
in the last year i’v told you to medit to keep a digit journal to chat with peopl on the phone and to never tweet 
still i enter the new decad with a feel of overwhelm dread 
there’ a good chanc the internet will help break the world this year and i’m not confid we have the tool to stop it 
unless that is we are all realli care 
as smokey bear might say of our smolder onlin discours onli you can prevent dystopia 
and so here are a few tip for improv the digit world in 2020 
viral is a red flag 
suspect it 
if i were king of the internet i would impos an ironclad rule no one is allow to share ani piec of content without wait a day to think it over 
viral was onc the delight miracl of a network age you’d see a funni video go around get caught up in the collect wonder and hilar and forward it on to your 100 closest pal 
at it memeifi best particip in this sort of viral feast felt like a boon to collect social bond 
rememb kid that one glorious day we were all talk about the crazi dress 
what time what time 
but the dress notwithstand in the 2010s viral got too easi and then it grew sour venal and dishonest 
nobody’ count but by my unscientif estim almost everyth that becam instant popular onlin in the last decad turn out to be problemat in one way or anoth 
that photo of the shark wash onto a freeway by a hurrican 
fake 
the culturewardefin outrag your aunt just post to facebook 
debunk of cours 
the sudden popular influenc 
a milkshak duck run from his past 
social network and even govern are look into way to curb viral misinform but this fight will defin our age 
the root of the problem is that human are weak gullibl dolt everi day mani of us even peopl who should know better — folk with fanci job and blue check mark next to our handl — keep fall for onlin hoax 
viral hijack our better instinct and becaus so mani of the internet’ busi model benefit from instant popular there’ a great deal of money and power ride on our fail 
there is onli one longterm fix that a critic number of us alter how we approach viral content 
let’ all conscious embark on a mindset shift 
in 2020 question anyth that everyone’ talk about especi if it fit all your prior or there’ some kind of ad money involv 
hint there’ alway ad money involv 
if you can’t stop share at least slow your roll 
the stake are enorm there’ no room for error 
strive to be better pleas 
resist the easi dunk 
in the 2010s twitter becam the center of the polit univers 
in some way this was for the better — twitter is a haven for righteous activ against the global power that be — but most time it was for the wors 
twitter is a daili toxic nightmar of reflex egot and groupthink that will prompt you to question your prioriti not to mention your saniti 
which is whi if you’r on twitter and can’t muster the will to never tweet you should at least consid it your duti in 2020 to resist the network’ worst impuls for your sake and all of our too 
what’ twitter’ most damag sin 
i say it’ the tooeasi mock joke — what’ known in the jargon as the quotetweet dunk 
here are two canon exampl this scurril maneuv work like so you spot an easili ridicul tweet by a member of some rival social or polit tribe 
like a 1990s fourth grader with phaser set to mode 
you add a pithi rejoind that’ sure to pleas your side 
it’ best if you elid context depth or ani intent of dialogu just straightup make fun of the person 
then mash on the retweet button to broadcast your suppos clever jape 
the mechan is part of the problem — when you quotetweet someon on twitter the servic show off your remark to your own follow while leav the origin poster’ follow in the dark 
anoth twitter featur the repli let follow of both user see a respons 
if twitter is a cocktail parti the quotetweet dunk is the equival of overhear a guy across the room say someth ridicul then invit the whole room to point and giggl at the idiot over there 
the imbal discourag ani possibl of meaning convers and reduc all of polit discours to empti shallow quipperi 
the thing about the quotetweet dunk is that it can feel incred intox in the heat of some whitehot polit moment it’ alway tempt to shoot the fish in the barrel and watch the like roll in 
i swore off dunk year ago but i still find myself ape michael jordan now and again 
twitter could instant improv itself by remov quotetweet as a featur 
fail that take the oath with me if the joke’ too obvious to resist let it go 
find a wellmoder corner of the internet 
it can sometim seem as if all the internet is deep fake and cultur war trump tweet and influenc scam 
it’ not of cours 
the internet still abound in love wholesom nich — the fantasi sport circl the youtub and instagram communiti devot to ani kind of craft the mani subreddit where stranger come togeth to help one anoth out of real problem in life 
what distinguish the product onlin communiti from the disturb one 
often it’ someth simpl content moder 
the best place onlin are bound by clear wellenforc communiti guidelin for particip 
twitter and facebook are toxic becaus there are few rule and few penalti for flout them 
a reddit communiti like rrelationship meanwhil is a haven of incred empathet discuss becaus it host spend a lot of effort polic the discuss toward product dialogu 
this get at the plain truth of the internet a better digit world take work 
it’ work all of us should do 
pete ain’t it by farhad manjoo dec 18 2019 a funni debat has been roil the onlin left do young liber hate pete buttigieg too littl or too much 
in the past few month buttigieg the presidenti candid and young mayor of tini south bend ind has enjoy a steadi unlik rise in earli state poll 
but with success has come a backlash and then a backlash to the backlash 
on paper buttigieg tick a lot of presidentialcandid box you can’t write about mayor pete without mention he’ a rhode scholar he’ a veteran and he has an articul cooltemp decenc reminisc of barack obama 
and yet the mayor has drawn the ire of the pluggedin progress left 
there’ someth curious about the disdain note derek thompson in the atlant 
in a field of mani other milquetoast moder — includ the frontrunn joe biden — whi has mayor pete been singl out for special skewer by young radic 
i am not so young but i am one of those crazi radic who have been concern about the intract domin of our societi by a small band of wealthi interest 
so i’ll tell you whi i don’t like buttigieg 
it’ not becaus i think he’d be an especi bad presid 
like biden the mayor seem to possess the baselin capac to run america in a way that isn’t an embarrass or a disgrac which would certain be a step up from the current administr 
he has also articul some interest polici idea and he has manag to win a lot of heart onlin — a talent of a sort in an elect measur in cheesi viral hit 
yet everi time i hear him speak i get the sens that he’ tri too hard to pleas everyon and that — in a way that recal some of obama’ worst tendenc toward misguid centrism — he’ll end up pleas no one in the process 
ultim i worri buttigieg will easili lose to trump becaus he is ill suit to make the simplest and most power argument against the current administration’ appar econom success 
that argument goe like this though the econom stat look pretti good the trump boom is a mirag and a moral disgrac 
today’ seem rosi climat is the culmin of a polit economi that consist reward the alreadi wealthi at the expens of everyon els 
the onli way to revers the trend toward inequ is to reform the way america doe busi 
a politician who push for these reform need courag becaus the forc array against structur chang are power 
but while mayor pete has outlin sever progressivesound idea for overhaul americans’ econom live — includ a call for univers health care that will still includ a hefti role for privat corpor an idea for lower student debt but not make colleg free a promis to strengthen regul against monopoli but a reluct to break up big tech — he lack authent 
rather than fundament reform mani of his propos end up sound like opportunist increment as if he want to be seen to be do someth without realli do much at all for fear of arous the forc array against reform 
even biden who has built his brand on commonman folksism seem more believ and he has explicit promis billionair that noth much will chang for them 
my fear about mayor pete’ easi way with the wealthi were confirm this week when he conven a group of bigmoney donor on a tour through silicon valley 
i wasn’t surpris that he has prove so attract to the tech set 
with his slick easi optim mayor pete remind me of so mani techi who promis big disrupt chang while refus to accept the full cost of achiev their ideal 
for them there’ alway an easi slapdash costfre revolut just use the right hashtag on instagram and you too can spark regim chang in the arab world 
i suspect we’ll need a bolder candid to take on trumpism and corpor control 
the mayor from mckinsey is the wrong man to make the case 
the democrat who meet trump in 2020 will face a big challeng counter the idea that trump’ econom polici are work at least accord to the tradit way we measur this stuff 
the american economi we are told is resplend and aglow 
thank to a tax cut that swell corpor coffer and a frenzi of deregul that unleash longterm danger in exchang for shortterm profit the hit just keep come we’r now in the longest expans in histori with littl sign of abat 
job growth regular defi naysay 
the stock market seem to set a record more often than peopl stream mariah carey christma hit 
on cnbc the other day the anchor jim cramer reflect the mood of wall street said these are the best number of our live 
for the presid the polit argument here is straightforward 
like bill clinton in 1996 or ronald reagan in 1984 trump is plan to point to an economi do it best georg costanza we’r back babi we’r back 
everi week on twitter trump chefkiss new econom stat as if he’d person assembl the nation dish 
that’ one way to put it 
here’ anoth way this economi is stupid 
as my colleagu david leonhardt write headlin econom stat are increas divorc from more substant metric on american wellb 
this is a countri in which prosper rain on the rich while hundr of thousand of peopl go bankrupt everi year for get sick 
this is a countri in which it is not unusu to encount developingworld miseri alongsid the most obscen collect of wealth ever record 
there’ a lot of job growth but a lot of the job are lowwag hightoil job 
it’ a countri in which everi near everi econom sector trend toward monopoli and oligarchi and in which regul let compani call the shot — see the faa 
and boe or the ftc 
and googl 
elizabeth warren and berni sander have turn these dismal realiti into the central pillar of their campaign 
both are call for polici that fundament overhaul corpor control of the economi 
as their detractor note it’ unlik that they will be abl to achiev mani of those goal in our polar polit climat 
but what matter to me is that they are make the case 
they have articul both farreach structur polici goal and polit strategi that mesh with the spirit of those goal 
not onli are they call for fundament chang that will alter vast sector of the economi they are also commit to undo the influenc of corpor and the wealthi in their own path to the white hous underscor their commit to their goal 
i don’t see how mayor pete can make a similar compel case 
i don’t see how he can take on trump’ economi without at least attempt to fight the ceo who champion the corpor cashgrab that made it so hot 
and i don’t see how he can take on those ceo while hold fundrais in napa valley wine cave 
mayor pete seem like a love man 
that’ the problem 
he’ll get eaten aliv by the corpor machin that now run the world 
pompeo call me a ‘liar’ that’ not what bother me 
by mari louis kelli jan 28 2020 ask journalist whi they do the job they do and you’ll hear a rang of answer 
here’ mine not everi day but on the best one we get to put question to power peopl and hold them to account 
this is both a privileg and a respons 
januari has been an interest month on this front 
i’v had the opportun to put question one on one to the top diplomat of both the unit state and iran in their respect capit 
iran’ foreign minist javad zarif spoke to me on jan 7 in tehran 
secretari of state mike pompeo spoke to me last friday in washington 
each man repres a nation in conflict with the other speak with them i wonder what path either could see out of the situat 
in both case i was allot 10 minut for question 
it turn out you can cover a lot of ground in 10 minut 
when mr zarif sat down with me on the sidelin of a big think tank confer focus on secur in the persian gulf it was just four day after an american drone strike had kill maj gen qassim suleimani 
we start there 
how might iran retali for general suleimani’ death 
the unit state has commit 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 awar that just hour later iran would unleash missil on iraqi militari base where american troop are hous 
we move on to whether he would travel to new york later that week to attend secur council meet at the unit nation 
no he told me becaus mike pompeo decid i was too danger for the unit state 
the unit state had deni mr zarif a visa in what some have brand a violat of the 1947 unit nation headquart agreement which general requir the unit state to grant access to the unit nation for foreign diplomat 
next i ask whether we were wit the death of the 2015 nuclear deal 
mr zarif insist no — even as he acknowledg that iran was suspend complianc with centrifug limit 
the foreign minist and i end with a tens exchang on what is an uncomfort question for him the status of unit state citizen imprison in iran and whether futur prison exchang were off the tabl 
we had propos a univers exchang of all prison and we were do that in good faith mr zarif said 
but are those channel still open 
no he conced say those talk are certain suspend now 
my interview with secretari pompeo came two week and three day later in the east hall of the treati room on the seventh floor of the state depart 
by then an uneasi paus had taken hold the unit state and iran appear for the moment to have step back from the brink of war 
i kick off with a question on diplomaci 
is there ani serious initi underway to reopen diplomaci with iran 
we’v been engag in deep diplomat effort sinc the first day of the trump administr mr pompeo repli underlin american effort to build a coalit to counter and contain iran 
but in term of american engag with iran i went on are there ani plan for talk 
the diplomat effort on this front has been vigor robust and enorm success mr pompeo said chang the subject back to engag american alli to put pressur on iran 
anoth question i was curious to hear secretari pompeo answer was how the trump administr plan to prevent iran from build nuclear weapon should it decid to do so given that iran is closer to a nuclear weapon capabl than when presid trump took offic 
here’ the relev portion of the interview kelli how do you stop iran from get a nuclear weapon 
pompeo we’ll stop them 
kelli how 
sanction 
pompeo we’ll stop them 
he did not offer specif 
nor did he elabor when press on how to squar his resolv with what mr zarif had just told me — that all limit on iran’ centrifug program have been suspend 
yeah mr pompeo said 
he’ bluster 
do you have evid that he’ bluster 
he did not direct answer 
in fair i could hard expect him to telegraph what intellig the unit state may possess on the iranian regime’ nuclear ambit 
i write about all this now to refocus attent on the substanc of the interview which has been overshadow by mr pompeo’ subsequ swear at me call me a liar and challeng me to find ukrain on an unmark map 
for the record i did 
that’ not the point 
the point is that recent the risk of miscalcul — of two old adversari misread each other and accident escal into arm confront — has felt veri real 
it occur to me that swap insult through interview with journalist such as me might terrifi be as close as the top diplomat of the unit state and iran came to communic this month 
there is a reason that freedom of the press is enshrin in the constitut 
there is a reason it matter that peopl in posit of power — peopl charg with steer the foreign polici of entir nation — be held to account 
the stake are too high for their impuls and decis not to be examin in as thought and rigor an interview as is possibl 
journalist don’t sit down with senior govern offici in the servic of score polit point 
we do it in the servic 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 mani stori that mark me over the past 40 year in war zone and outsid them but none that has affect me as person as britain’ exit from the european union 
brexit day now upon us feel like the end of hope a moral collaps a selfamput that will make the countri where i grew up poorer in everi sens 
poorer materi of cours but abov all poorer in it shrivel soul divorc from it neighborhood intern fractur smaller meaner more insular more alon no longer a protagonist in the great miracl of the postwar year — europe’ journey toward borderless peac and union 
britain in a fit of delud jingoism has opt for littl 
the fiasco was captur this week when that pompous and piti british nationalist nigel farag wave a miniatur union jack in the european parliament as he bid farewel and was cut off by the vicepresid of the parliament mairead mcguin 
put your flag away you’r leav and take them with you she said 
farag look like a sheepish schoolboy caught break rule 
he blush 
an irish woman from a countri uplift by european union membership reprimand the new breed of littleengland male as he exit histori in pursuit of an illus the symbol was perfect 
hip hip hooray 
farage’ flagwav brexit parti cohort chant 
save me pleas for i shall weep 
speak of symbol the fact that presid trump has been a fulsom support of this folli is apt 
an ahistor amor american leader cheer on a british abdic sum up the end of an era 
the world was rebuilt after 1945 on someth of more substanc than britishamerican lie and bloviat it took resolv 
the torch has pass 
to whom exact is unclear perhap to a countri slow to contain a plagu 
that is a problem 
brexit belong to this era in one quintessenti way 
it is an act of the imagin inspir by an imaginari past carri along by misdirect grievanc born aloft by an imaginari futur 
the age of impun is also the age of illus turbocharg by social media 
inequ poor infrastructur low invest inadequ school are real british problem but the takebackyourcountri transfer of blame for them onto brussel bureaucrat prove that the imagin now overwhelm realiti 
truth wither 
the mob roar 
this too is a problem 
yes britain was undef in world war ii and help liber europ 
but it could do so onli with it alli and it was precis to secur what it is now turn it back on a free europ offer it peopl the simpl joy and hope which make life worth live 
those are churchill’ word in 1946 in a speech that also contain this phrase we must build a kind of unit state of europ 
unbow britain was onc consequenti britain no longer 
i use the word abdic advis 
europ need the great tradit of british liber at a moment when hungari and poland have veer toward nation and across the contin xenophob hatr is resurg 
it is pervers for britain to tri to look away 
europ is part of britain 
visit the great norman monasteri in england and tell me this is not so 
the british dead who lie in the continent’ soil have given their live for it liberti tell the same stori of interlac fate from a differ perspect 
to be so orphan is pain 
the 47 year of british membership cover the entir arc of my adult life 
europa was our dream 
i cover anwar sadat the egyptian presid speak to the european parliament about hope and peac in 1981 eight month befor his assassin 
so much for dream 
yet they persist for otherwis life is unliv 
i wander from brussel to rome to pari to berlin to london and everywher i live i experienc some iter of europe’ beauti as a physic thing as a cultur bond and as a transform idea 
the sensat was most acut in germani where the idea of the union was the most effect escap from postwar shame and the rubbl of 1945 a form of aton 
but it was ubiquit the guarantor of our deliver and the symbol of our capac to reinvent the world and even make it better 
everi european countri through the goal of ever closer union chang itself 
they grew richer no small thing 
but they also refram their selfimag 
itali and spain left mussolini and franco behind to becom stabl prosper democraci 
franc found it tortuous way to truth after the humili and predat of vichi and discov a european avenu to express onc more it univers messag of human right found on human digniti 
central european countri stabil their escap from the deaden soviet imperium to which yalta had confin them 
britain ceas equat europ with scourg like intellectu rabi and garlic as it had in my childhood 
hyde park becam a babbl of european tongu 
the british economi surg 
britain had given up it coloni and found a new ident in associ with europ or so it seem flicker 
then i live in sarajevo cover the bosnian war and i saw in inert bodi torn by shrapnel and in histori reviv as galvan myth of might and conquest the horror from which the european union had save my generat 
it had laid bad histori to rest 
that was enough to be forev a european patriot 
but not enough for the british a quartercenturi later 
in the word of my friend ed vulliami who also cover that war britain has becom a countri that board cheap flight for stag outing to piss all over krakow 
hip hip hooray 
when i live in berlin i would cross the nearbi polish border and never fail to marvel that where million had perish decad earlier a nonexist frontier trace it invis line across field of wheat 
i would pass from the german world to the land of the slav and nobodi ask me who i was what paper i bore or what was my intent 
if germanpolish reconcili has been possibl anyth is possibl my onli solac at this moment 
a bunch of flagwav fantasist at the wrong end of actuari tabl have rob british youth of the europ they embrac 
they will be look on as 450 million european across the way forg their fate 
their automat right to live and work anywher from lisbon to stockholm will be lost 
i’v lost a limb more than a limb my heart 
europ help britain grow bigger and more open and more prosper 
now it will shrink 
anoth suffer friend patrick wintour the diplomat editor of the guardian sent me these line of auden in the nightmar of the dark all the dog of europ bark and the live nation wait each sequest in it hate intellectu disgrac stare from everi human face and the sea of piti lie lock and frozen in each eye 
a better epitaph for the abort stori of britain in europ and the tragedi of a disori nation’ will inflict of endur selfharm is imposs to imagin 
senat 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 justic of the suprem court direct all of the senat to stand and rais their right hand 
ever sinc i can’t get two question out of my head 
the first how in god’ name — and it was in god’ name — can the republican who have alreadi decid to acquit presid trump take a solemn oath to administ imparti justic 
they’r partial to the core unabash so as their unit march toward a foregon conclus show 
a mindmeld this ironclad isn’t a reflect of fact 
it’ a triumph of faction 
the major of the party’ senat have said outright or clear signal that they have no intent of find the presid guilti and remov him from offic 
yap lap dog like lindsey graham and obedi manserv like mitch mcconnel have gone further mock the whole impeach process 
so the oath they took how doe that work 
did they cross the finger on their left hand 
do they reason that american polit has reach a nadir of such fundament hypocrisi and overween partisanship that no one regard that pledg as anyth but window dress 
certain they’r tell themselv that their own polit surviv hing on obsequi to a presid with a talent for retribut matter more than honor 
over the three year of the trump presid they’v becom expert at that calcul 
my second question is realli a subset corollari or anagram of the first how can marco rubio ted cruz and martha mcsalli stand to look at themselv in the mirror 
i’m singl out these three somewhat random but also becaus they’v travel particular selfmortifi journey away from selfrespect 
at a news confer on thursday afternoon chuck schumer the leader of the senate’ democrat minor said that when the chief justic walk into the chamber earlier that day i saw member on both side of the aisl visibl gulp 
schumer attribut that to the palpabl weight of histori 
but for mani of them it probabl had more to do with their awar that they were about to sell out again this time in circumst that would be rememb long into the futur 
democrat too have made up their mind and that would be equal upset but for the mountain of actual evid on which their judgment rest 
you can eras all the testimoni in the hous by gordon sondland david holm alexand vindman fiona hill and other 
you can delet mick mulvaney’ admiss at a white hous news confer of a quid pro quo 
you can discount lev parnas’ ongo aria of aton 
still you have the transcript of sort of trump’ perfect phone call with the presid of ukrain in which it’ clear to ani sane reader with a semblanc of common sens that he’ tri to trade american aid for the smear of joe biden 
if there were noth to this whi would trump stonewal congress to the extent that he has 
that’ not how the innoc act 
when wit after wit tell a version of the same stori provid piec of a puzzl that fit snug togeth you can reach a conclus about the whole of it 
that’ call logic 
and if the actual case against trump were weak whi would republican keep redirect attent to democrats’ motiv — to how much they despis the presid 
that’ call distract 
mcsalli practic it on thursday when in a moment of breathtak hostil she answer a reason question from manu raju of cnn about whether ani new evid should be present dure the senat trial by snarl liber hack 
she’ terrifi 
her state arizona is increas purpl 
she lost her 2018 race for the senat and end up in the chamber onli by appoint follow john mccain’ death 
she has to run again this year against mark kelli the former astronaut who’ a popular figur 
she’ vulner and stand with trump is almost as much of a gambl as stand up to him would be 
but she onc did stand up to him 
she use to have gut 
befor go into polit she blaze trail as an air forc pilot and even su the secretari of defens when she detect discrimin against women 
dure her success campaign for the hous in 2016 she point didn’t endors trump and just as point spoke out against the behavior that he cop to — no brag about — in that infam access hollywood tape 
mcsalli had a moral compass then 
now she just has a hunger to hold onto her suit of offic in the capitol 
she has wager that emul trump is her best bet 
at the conclus of this pathet excus for a trial she’ll vote to acquit him — imparti of cours 
she’ll be join by cruz and rubio who are special target of my disappoint becaus they were onc special target of trump’ ugli 
they know it firsthand and well 
they campaign against him for the republican presidenti nomin in 2016 when he didn’t just critic them but vicious belittl and even savag them 
he conspiracytheor a role for cruz’ father in john f kennedy’ assassin 
a patholog liar cruz call trump 
but now that trump is presid and his base has becom the most impass constitu in the parti cruz is his biggest cheerlead and a readi mouthpiec for all of those lie 
he has swap thought of 2016 for thought of 2024 when there’ anoth opportun to reach for the white hous and trump’ loyalist will come in handi 
he’ll have to muscl asid javanka and don jr but that’ a pickl for anoth day 
first step acquitt 
rubio has long fashion himself a foreignpolici maven and took a hard line when it came to russia 
so you might think that the trump presid would be especi gall to him 
you might also think that trump’ bulli of ukrain — which left the countri more vulner to russian aggress — would be some sort of break point 
but he’ a republican member of congress in 2020 which mean he’ a sycophant shell of his former self 
and have bitten his tongu about trump’ global misadventur he’ll now abet more of the same by help trump stay in offic 
there are so mani other republican senat to marvel at 
mitt romney what was the point of dive back into public life if you’r go to prop up a presid whose fraudul you onc gave a whole long speech about 
lamar alexand you vener howard baker a fellow tennessean who onc held your senat seat and put principl abov partisanship by stand up to presid nixon 
whi not do the same and stand up to presid trump 
susan collin i can’t imagin the exhaust of your role as polit wild card scrutin to a faretheewel 
but come on 
if you’r go to pride yourself on autonomi you need to exercis it when it matter most 
it’ not fun to be ani of you right now with mcconnel abov you and maga hellion below you pois to make your life a miseri if you stray 
but no one forc you into public servic 
when you enter the senat you took an oath and you took anoth one on thursday 
i have a third question mayb just a reword of the first and second doesn’t that nag at you even a littl 
‘sesam street’ is open up to syrian refuge by alex carp jan 31 2020 in it 50 year on televis sesam street has present an expans idea of the challeng of childhood offer lesson on divorc racism griev and autism — as well as help with the alphabet and accept friend who are a bit taller and more birdlik 
next week a new version of the show will begin air for an audienc that less than a decad ago didn’t exist children displac by the war in syria and their neighbor in the communiti where mani of the refuge have fled or sought asylum 
at this point there are lot of 7yearold who were born as refuge from syria and remain far from perman resettl a staff member on the project said recent 
that’ not chang soon 
sinc the start of the conflict in 2011 near seven of everi 10 resid of syria have been forc from their home 
more than 11 million have fled to unfamiliar part of syria or to the countri across it border with onli around 150000 perman resettl 
they are now the largest displac popul in the world 
and displac in the middl east and elsewher last longer than ever befor onc refuge are displac for at least five year as is the case for most syrian refuge the presid of the intern rescu committe david miliband said at a senat hear last year they’r like to stay displac for more than two decad 
sesam street began as an experi in televis and becam a global model for earlychildhood educ 
it new project launch with the irc 
and educ in syria iraq jordan and lebanon is an effort to rethink humanitarian aid 
aid is good at keep peopl aliv mr miliband has argu 
but it doesn’t give them the tool to thrive 
it has tradit been direct to immedi need — nutrit secur shelter — but displac that can last for decad present a veri differ kind of problem 
parent often carri the trauma of forc migrat with them in unexpect way and a childhood of makeshift hous isol from an extend communiti of familiar face and few safe place to play can affect not onli children’ behavior and learn skill but also brain develop gene express and the abil to build the fundament tool of resili 
it can be veri hard to moder or to cope said sherri westin sesam workshop’ presid of social impact and philanthropi 
preliminari research conduct in jordan and lebanon found that displac children have troubl find the languag to express their emot 
they describ what they feel onli veri broad sad happi scare 
the show will focus on identifi and manag emot and will be coupl with thousand of outreach worker go to clinic communiti center home and other gather space in the four countri where they will meet with children parent and caregiv to provid support and extend mani lesson of the seri 
today less than 2 percent of humanitarian aid worldwid is target at educ and just a tini fraction of that goe to earli educ ms westin said 
we’r talk about a generationscal intervent 
just as american sesam street teach count and the alphabet befor deeper literaci and numeraci the new seri call ahlan simsim or welcom sesam will start with the basic 
we want this first season to dive into identifi differ emot like frustrat and anger nervous and loneli fear scott cameron an execut produc at sesam workshop said 
but we also have to make that entertain 
and we have to do that without in the case of fear terrifi the kid 
to do that mr cameron and his colleagu built on techniqu develop throughout the program’ year on the air 
we thought a lot about the icon ‘sesame’ charact who’v been use for curriculum goal in the past he said 
we need some kind of comed foil but we don’t want to do negat model — we don’t want villain 
oscar the grouch for exampl was develop in the veri earli stage of ‘sesame’ as a way to repres differ and a kind of mutual respect mr cameron explain 
he’ grumpi and he think smelli fish are great 
but he can help model differ perspect 
oscar and grover and cooki monster are all monster — mean they’r not humanoid like bert and erni — so they’r a littl bit remov from human mr cameron explain 
you get a littl more leeway that way 
ahlan simsim which will air in arab and kurdish has two main charact 
both were built at jim henson’ creatur shop in queen where row of desk are cover with halfconstruct muppet and older one midrepair 
muppet bigger than a desk — mr snuffleupagus for exampl — might lean against a wall 
jordan pioneer product compani base in jordan collabor with sesam workshop to develop the charact write script and shoot the episod 
when produc from sesam made a seri of visit to the creatur shop last year to discuss muppet design and look at prototyp zaid baqaeen and khale haddad of jordan pioneer the show’ head writer and an execut produc join from amman via video chat 
jordan pioneer pitch us a boy and a girl charact that were rough the same age and we love that mr cameron said 
two new friend who go on adventur togeth 
for name they suggest basma and jad 
basma mean smile and jad has a bunch of mean but connot somebodi who’ kind of generous but a littl bit button up 
veri earnest 
mr baqaeen ad complet differ but they complement each other 
basma is dynam adventur gogogo 
she’ kind of impati when she’ excit about an idea or a challeng that she want to take on 
jad we think of him as the planner meticul 
he’ a painter and he like to paint plan in midair viewer will learn that his brush onc belong to his grandfath who is absent from the show 
what basma should look like came relat easili — a purpl nonhumanoid girl like elmo is a boy but not necessarili a human boy mr cameron explain 
skew pigtail oval face no bracelet or jewelri 
and no cloth which can bring in local connot that interfer with a character’ ident 
it can also be hard to adjust bert and erni have been stuck in stripe shirt sinc 1969 
jad was trickier 
the team pass around some earli sketch 
we drag a whole bunch of our monster muppet out said rolli krewson a master builder at the creatur shop 
she and jason weber the creatur shop’ new york creativ supervisor and an expert fabric painter and dyer call them anyth muppet — on occas they sit in for firefight or polic offic in the background of a scene or onc for elmo’ grandmoth 
we had one in a drawer that sound like what they were describ just characterwis mr weber said 
it has this beauti roundish head and the mouth is straight across but when you chang the angl to make eye contact with the viewer you can start to see a friend open smile just underneath 
ms krewson adjust the design to communic jad’ introvers and express the challeng he sometim has let his feel out 
he can also look veri contempl she said 
he’ got a veri loos jaw 
i can push it way forward and i can pull his chin back so he can look perplex and sad more intern 
mr weber ad he has what we call a veri good smile curv 
smaller touch link the charact visual 
jad’ nose is purpl like basma’ and basma’ nose is jad’ golden yellow 
the pair is join by ma’zooza a goat sidekick who provid comic relief most by eat everyth in sight 
she’ a babi learn how to walk and climb and she’ voraci in the tradit of cooki monster mr cameron said 
cooki has troubl with selfregul selfcontrol 
and ma’zooza allow basma and jad who are almost 6 to have a younger friend that they can nurtur so they’r not alway the one be nurtur 
she also has these long floppi ear which are ador 
ms westin said that with basma and jad one has left his home becom best friend with someon from somewher els 
you can see where that creat opportun for children to relat to those stori and feel less alon 
most refuge famili live in host communiti and neighborhood and the benefit of mass media is that we know we can reach not onli displac syrian children but we can reach them side by side with their new neighbor 
befor shoot could begin basma jad and ma’zooza were bag pack in box and ship to amman 
sesam estim that the project through televis mobil phone home visit preschool and the effort of educ across the region will reach as mani as nine million children — what they expect to be the largest earlychildhood intervent in the histori of humanitarian respons 
to measur it effect with parent caregiv and on tv childhood develop specialist will design and conduct studi dure the project’ first five year 
their work will doubl the amount of research avail on the experi of childhood in humanitarian crisi 
we’r go to share what work and what doesn’t work and not just to help us achiev the outcom we’r set out to achiev here ms westin said 
it will be one of the first project of it scale to think about how fuller live might be live within the consequ of the conflict and within longterm crise elsewher 
we want this project to be a model for humanitarian respons not just in the middl east ms westin ad but for refuge children wherev they may be 
starr chamber the sequel by maureen dowd jan 18 2020 can a woman be presid of the unit state 
hell yes 
i’v cover the men who run the world my whole life 
and there have been a lot of screwup from vietnam to waterg to afghanistan to iraq to push the economi off a cliff 
there has also been plenti of creepi behavior culmin in the news that donald trump ken starr and alan dershowitz have join togeth in a pervi hypocrit cabal to argu that trump did not smirch the constitut 
so pleas elizabeth warren and ami klobuchar stop whing about sexism and just show how you could wield power like a boss 
ibid nanci pelosi 
when steve bannon call pelosi a total assassin accord to the hot new book a veri stabl genius by washington post writer phil rucker and carol leonnig he meant it as the highest compliment 
you won’t find pelosi keen about gender she’ too busi take care of busi 
hillari clinton did not lose becaus she was a woman 
she face sexism of cours just as barack obama face racism 
she lost becaus she ran an entitl joyless noseinth air campaign and becaus she didn’t emul her husband’ etho of campaign ’til the last dog die and the last bowl alley close and alway make it about the voter 
she lost becaus she and her campaign manag robbi mook didn’t listen to bill clinton the world’ lead expert on the white male rural vote when he warn them that there was troubl and offer to help out 
donald trump oper from the id which is fit becaus he repres a lastgasp primal scream from workingclass american threaten by the chang transform the countri 
women are now a major of the work forc and white are head toward a minor status 
hollywood cannot cling to it benight — and selfdef — desir to stay a white male club forev despit the fact that women have alway made up half the audienc 
trump’ ascent doe not make it harder for women to ascend — just the opposit 
look at the throng of women who were outrag enough about trump to march and run and get elect in 2018 
onc a woman electrifi democrat the way jfk bill clinton and obama did — and the way trump doe his base — she will win 
trump is onc more do his part to energ women voter 
on friday we learn that the presid will get help from starr and dershowitz for the impeach trial in the senat 
the starr chamber was a shame period of american histori with the prissi puritan independ counsel hound and virtual jail monica lewinski and produc hundr of page of pant bodicerip prose that read more like bad erotica than a feder report rife with lurid passag about breast stain and genitalia 
like the rev 
arthur dimmesdal and other pharisa holi roller befor him the prosecutor who read the bibl and sang hymn when he jog becam fixat on sex in an unhealthi warp way 
even trump was appal 
starr’ a freak the bloviat builder told me back in 1999 
i bet he’ got someth in his closet 
in other interview he call starr a lunat a disast and off his rocker and express sympathi for hillari have to stand by her man when he was be lambast by this crazi ken starr who is a total wacko 
starr who onc clutch his pearl over bill clinton’ sexual high jink is now go to bat for presid access hollywood 
after play an aveng javert about foreplay in the oval starr will now do his utmost to prove that a real abus of power undermin congress and american foreign polici is piffl 
in 2007 he defend jeffrey epstein 
by 2016 starr was be oust as presid of baptist baylor univers for fail to protect women and look the other way when footbal player were accus and sometim convict of sexual assault 
in other word he’ a complet partisan hack who doesn’t give a damn about sexual assault 
and then there’ dershowitz whose past client have includ such sterl fellow as epstein claus von bã¼low oj 
simpson and harvey weinstein 
how did he miss ted bundi 
still dershowitz has put himself on the side of an impress pantheon of villaini in the realm of violenc against girl and women 
virginia giuffr princ andrew’ accus has also claim that she was offer as a teenag to dershowitz for sex — a content that dershowitz has deni in a countersuit 
on fox news dershowitz has made the case that it is pelosi who put herself abov the law by delay the deliveri of the articl of impeach 
good luck with that one 
the govern account offic a nonpartisan govern watchdog a few day ago deem that trump’ slimi ukrain gambit violat a law 
yet dershowitz will somehow argu that it doesn’t repres high crime and misdemeanor 
he tweet that he’ nonpartisan becaus he oppos bill’ impeach and vote for hillari even as he join up with bill’ persecutor 
dershowitz said that he is particip to defend the integr of the constitut 
that assert may fli in foxworld 
but in the real world it’ ridicul 
you can bet that trump and his buddi will continu to turn out the women’ vote 
steve job was right smartphon and tablet kill the pc 
by farhad manjoo nov 13 2019 i got an ipad pro recent and i’v fallen mad in love with it 
this was unexpect 
i’v had ipad befor but like a lot of peopl i hadn’t found them to be veri use 
tablet were good for surf the web and watch netflix but they’v alway been dog by the charg that you couldn’t get a lot of work done on them 
apple’ latest ipad are differ 
not onli can you get work done on them in mani way they’r product dream machin 
today’ ipad are power by customdesign processor that are faster than the chip on some of the mac appl make and the ipad’ separ sold keyboard is better and more durabl than the accurs fallingapart mess of a keyboard that appl is ship on it muchmalign current line of laptop 
appl unveil a new 16inch macbook with a revamp keyboard on wednesday good news for the mani appl lover who’v been grumbl about the company’ lacklust slate of recent mac 
but i think the ipad is alreadi begin to eclips the tradit person comput 
in the four month i’v 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 thing i now research and write just about everi column use an ipad i still compos mani first draft by speak into my headphon but i’m an odd duck 
i thought i had gotten out of the gadgetreview busi for good last year 
sinc the smartphon had gobbl up everyth from camera to music player to portabl game system i declar the whole field of gadgetri dead 
but just when i thought i was out they pull me back in 
the histori of the ipad is a stori about consolid focus and the power of scale in the tech busi 
it’ a stori about how thorough one compani appl has domin the entir hardwar busi this decad 
and it is also realli a stori about the onli thing that matter in tech in the 2010s — the smartphon — and the way that one devic becam the gravit center of the entir tech busi shape everi market in the industri and much of the nontech world beyond it 
the ipad has alway been freight with great expect 
although the ipad was unveil in 2010 three year after the iphon develop of the ipad predat develop of the phone and steve job apple’ cofound alway seem to have his heart in the tablet 
in one of his last interview befor his death in 2011 job declar the ipad to be the futur of comput 
pcs are go to be like truck he told the journalist kara swisher and walt mossberg — mean the tradit mac and window machin would still be around but like big rig they’d be use by a small set of power user for a dwindl set of specif highpow task 
the car of the tech industri as job saw it would be phone and tablet 
for a while he was onli partial right 
the ipad sold well at launch but after a few year it hit some hurdl 
after jobs’ death appl left the ipad to languish and did someth similar with the mac 
meanwhil someth amaz happen with the iphon and the mani androidbas copycat phone it inspir 
in the 2010s smartphon becam more popular more power and more profit than anyon in the tech industri thought possibl 
within a few year their sale and usag eclips that of pcs and for much of the decad they were the fountain of most new consum innov across the technolog industri 
smartphon made uber and instagram and snapchat and tiktok possibl 
smartphon camera began to surpass standalon camera turn much of cultur and societi into a memesoak playground where visual media matter more than text 
the smartphon also alter the busi dynam of the tech industri 
when the iphon came out appl was just one of mani success hardwar compani in the world 
but the smartphon decim a host of phone brand rememb nokia 
motorola 
and as smartphon gain more power they began make life imposs for a slate of hardwar startup from gopro to jawbon 
on the strength of the iphon appl began captur a greater and greater slice of the tech hardwar busi although it didn’t sell a major of unit it commit to the high end of the market allow it to make the bulk of profit 
in the last quarter of 2017 accord to one estim appl made 86 percent of profit in the smartphon industri 
apple’ domin came despit the fact that the compani made some big mistak and was late to mani big innov 
samsung not appl invent hugescreen phone 
apple’ mac line was plagu by delay and dead end includ a 2013 redesign of the mac pro that look like a trash can and prove just as use 
and on the ipad for mani year appl just seem to fall asleep 
the ipad’ stylus and keyboardforward design 
microsoft did it first on the surfac 
yet none of this matter 
becaus of it hold on the smartphon busi and a veri sticki softwar ecosystem that user found hard to leav appl has been abl to incorpor mani innov pioneer elsewher and sell it custom on a seri of peripher billiondollar busi includ the appl watch and airpod 
and ultim it’ the ecosystem that explain whi i can’t stop rave about the ipad 
when it came out the big knock on the ipad was that it was just a big phone today that’ what i love about it — like the watch or airpod the ipad feel intuit and natur to me becaus it work just like the devic i use most often my phone 
like a phone in most scenario i find the ipad to be faster more portabl and easier to use and maintain than ani tradit pc 
i’v ever own 
the ipad’ limit screen space and emphasi on fullscreen app also make for fewer distract than on a tradit person comput 
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 everyth a laptop can and i still have to log in to a real comput sometim 
i had a long chat recent with dan seifert the deputi editor of the verg who use an ipad everi day on the subway but often find the devic infuri 
for someon like me who’ been use a desktop oper system for a long time there’ a lot of builtin convent that i’m use to that can be frustrat seifert said 
in particular the ipad doesn’t work with antiqu work flow that are built for pcs 
say you need to log into your company’ bespok publish system or expens program 
it’ possibl those won’t work on your ipad — at least not yet — becaus they were built for much older devic 
but seifert agre with me that mani of these use are a special case 
he still use pcs becaus often in jobs’ parlanc he need a truck 
most peopl howev don’t need truck and few of us will need them in the futur 
seifert isn’t teach his kid how to use desktop oper system like the mac or window and neither am i 
it took longer than he expect but steve job was right 
over the past decad for most peopl in most use case phone kill the pc 
to get work done now you just use a big phone — which appl happen to call an ipad 
tech lose a prophet 
just when it need one 
by kara swisher jan 29 2020 it’ noth but nois all the time 
we get hammer everi second from an incess sousaphon of tweet and from the righteous rage machin that scream at us in this digit 247365 communic world that we have built 
what you might not know is that we have long had a name for what start this all disrupt innov 
the concept was pioneer by clay christensen a highprofil and wellregard harvard professor of manag who die of cancer last week at 67 
professor christensen’ remark legaci grew out of a semin book he publish in 1997 the innovator’ dilemma 
the book cover esoter industri like the disk drive market and excav to analyz and illustr the power of disrupt technolog 
his idea explod through the thennasc internet scene and throughout silicon valley 
i recal read an earli copi and think that it was a manifesto that the tech world would embrac — and that professor christensen was tech’ prophet 
the intel founder and chief execut andi grove was a fan 
so was the appl legend steve job 
both men were doubtless attract to the idea that startup made up of outsid could find way to creat new market and new valu — and disrupt and overwhelm establish compani 
in the face of disrupt older compani could do almost noth 
it wasn’t that they couldn’t see the new threat of startup but that they were stuck on serv their current busi and they fail to chang their product and servic out of fear of cut into profit 
professor christensen’ formula was eleg first disrupt product are simpler and cheaper they general promis lower margin not greater profit 
second disrupt technolog typic are first commerci in emerg or insignific market 
and third lead firms’ most profit custom general don’t want and inde initi can’t use product base on disrupt technolog 
it was that simpl 
professor christensen’ book came out a year befor googl was found seven year befor facebook eight year befor youtub and 11 year befor uber 
each of these compani know or unknow would follow his map 
while professor christensen would go on to write a sequel and mani more book on adjac topic ripe for disrupt like educ disrupt class in 2008 and health care innovator’ prescript in 2009 it was his initi idea that was devast insight 
i use the term devast becaus though no fault of professor christensen’ disrupt innov took a turn for the wors in tech 
silicon valley fail to marri disrupt with a concept of corpor respons and growth at all cost becam it motto 
the more measur approach that professor christensen taught was ignor 
thus in tech the idea was more like destruct innov which to me was distil in facebook’ famous sign that was onc plaster all over the wall at it headquart move fast and break thing 
i have alway wonder whi the compani chose those word 
i have no problem with move fast which professor christensen would not have quibbl with sinc be nimbl was a core compet that he tout 
it was the word break that stuck in my head like a bad migrain 
whi use a violent and thoughtless word like break and not one more hope like chang or transform or invent 
and if break was to be the choic what would happen after the break 
would there be fix 
could there be ani fix after the break 
break sound pain 
and back to today’ subject professor christensen never talk about that 
in fact professor christensen’ approach was quit the opposit 
he learn in 2010 that he had lymphoma then he had a stroke 
within two year he publish the book that i like best titl how will you measur your life 
it is at turn spiritu and sometim selfhelpi take professor christensen’ manag think and appli it to how to live a life 
this book should be newli relev as tech is cast about for it next act we’v been talk about the negat impact of tech’ disrupt innov for a while now 
techi measur everyth — and so professor christensen’ brace prescript are perhap perfect as the tech industri seek redempt 
for exampl he wrote it’ easier to hold your principl 100 percent of the time than it is to hold them 98 percent of the time 
and in fact how you alloc your own resourc can make your life turn out to be exact as you hope or veri differ from what you intend 
and most of all decid what you stand for 
and then stand for it all the time 
perhap the tech industri doe not deserv the kind and good advic that professor christensen impart but it should take it anyway 
that way while he rest in peac it could give us some too 
that belov hospit 
it’ drive up health care cost by elisabeth rosenth sept 1 2019 as voter fume about the high cost of health care politician have been target two welldeserv villain pharmaceut compani whose price have risen more than inflat and insur who pay their execut million in salari while rais premium and deduct 
but while the democrat presidenti candid have devot copious airtim to debat health care mani of the country’ lead health polici expert have wonder whi they have given a total pass to arguabl a primari culprit behind runaway medic inflat america’ hospit 
data show that hospit are by far the biggest cost in our 35 trillion health care system where spend is grow faster than gross domest product inflat and wage growth 
spend on hospit repres 44 percent of person expens for the privat insur accord to rand 
a report this year from research at yale and other univers found that hospit price increas a whop 42 percent from 2007 to 2014 for inpati care and 25 percent for outpati care compar with 18 percent and 6 percent for physician 
so whi have politician on both the left and right let hospit off scotfre 
becaus a web of tie bind politician to the health care system 
everi senat virtual everi congressman and everi mayor of everi larg citi has a power hospit system in his or her district 
and those hospit are as polit untouch as soybean grower in iowa or oil produc in texa 
as hospit and hospit system have consolid they have becom the biggest employ in numer citi and state 
they have replac manufactur as the hometown industri in a number of rustbelt citi includ cleveland and pittsburgh 
can kamala harri ignor the request of sutter health kaiser permanent ucla 
or ani of the big health care system in california 
can elizabeth warren ignor the need of partner healthcar boston’ behemoth 
berni sander may be somewhat differ on this front becaus vermont doesn’t have ani nation rank hospit 
beyond that hospit are often belov by constitu 
it’ easi to get voter rile up about a drug maker in silicon valley or an insur in hartford 
it’ much riskier to tri to direct their venom at the place where their children were born that employ their parent as nurs doctor and order that sponsor local littl leagu team that was associ with their cathol church 
and of cours there’ elect money 
hospit trade group medic center and their employe are major polit donor contribut to whichev parti hold power — and often to the outofpow parti as well 
in 2018 pac associ with the greater new york hospit associ and individu link to it gave 45 million to the democrats’ senat major pac and 1 million to their hous major pac 
it chief lobbyist person gave near a quarter of a million dollar to dozen of campaign last year 
senat sander has call on his competitor for the democrat nomin to follow his lead and reject contribut from pharma and insur 
can ani candid do the same for hospit 
the campaign committe of all 10 candid particip in the upcom democrat debat have plenti donat link to the hospit and health care industri accord to open secret 
but the symbiosi between hospit and politician oper most insidi in the subtl fuel of each other’ interest 
zack cooper a health economist at yale and his colleagu look at this life cycl of influenc by analyz how member of congress vote for a medicar provis that allow hospit to appli to have their govern payment increas 
hospit in district of member who vote yea got more money than hospit whose repres vote nay to the collect tune of 100 million 
they use that money to hire more staff and increas payrol 
they also spent million lobbi to extend the program 
member who vote yea in turn receiv a 25 percent increas in total campaign contribut and a 65 percent increas in contribut from individu work in the health care industri in their home state 
it was a winwin for both side 
to defend their high price medic center assert that they couldn’t afford to oper on medicar payment which are general lower than what privat insur pay 
but the argument isn’t convinc 
the cost of a hospit stay in the unit state averag 5220 a day in 2015 — and could be as high as over 17000 compar with 765 in australia 
in a rand studi publish earlier this year research calcul that hospit treat patient with privat health insur were paid overal 24 time the medicar rate in 2017 and near three time the rate for outpati care 
if the plan had paid accord to medicare’ formula their spend would be reduc by over half 
most economist think hospit could do just fine with far less than they get today from privat insur 
while on paper mani hospit oper on the thinnest of margin that is in part a choic result from extravag 
it would be unseem for these nonprofit medic center to make barrel of money 
so when their oper generat huge surplus — as mani big medic center do — they plow the money back into the system 
they build anoth cancer clinic increas ceo 
pay buy the newest scanner whether it is need or not or instal spas and zen garden 
some rural hospit are genuin struggl 
but mani american hospit have been spend capit like water said kevin schulman a physicianeconomist at stanford 
the high cost of hospit today he said is often a function of the cost of new infrastructur or poor manag decis 
medicar is suppos to pay the cost of an effici hospit he said 
if they’v made bad decis whi should we keep pay for that 
if hospit were paid less via regul or genuin competit they would look differ and they’d make differ purchas decis about technolog 
but would that matter to medic result 
compar with their european counterpart some american hospit resembl sevenstar hotel 
and yet on averag the unit state doesn’t have better outcom than other wealthi nation 
by some measur — such as life expect and infant mortal — it score wors than averag 
as attorney general in california kamala harri in 2012 initi an antitrust investig into hospitals’ high charg 
but as a senat and presidenti candid she has been larg silent on the issu — as have all the other candid 
as uwe reinhardt the rever princeton health economist who die in 2017 told me if you want to save money you have to pay less 
that mean take on hospit price 
so fine go after drug maker and insur 
and for good measur attack the devic maker who profit from huge markup and the pharmaci benefit manag — the middlemen who negoti drug price down for insur then keep the differ for themselv 
but with congress return to washington in the come day and a new democrat debat less than two week away our elect offici need to address the eleph in the room and tell us how they plan to rein in hospit excess 
bewar the pandem panic by farhad manjoo jan 29 2020 coronavirus is start to freak me out — not the ill itself but the ampedup illconsid way our frighten world might respond to it 
yes the novel virus appear to be spread quick at the outbreak’ epicent in the chines provinc of hubei but after a late start the chines govern is now impos unpreced measur to contain it 
as the world health organ declar last week it remain too earli to call the outbreak a global public health emerg 
so far the wuhan coronavirus is not much more frighten than the outbreak of other recent coronavirus like sar in 2003 or mer in 2012 each of which kill fewer than a thousand peopl around the world 
the new virus’ death toll has just exceed 130 for context accord to the cdc about 15 million american have been sicken by the season flu so far in the 20192020 flu season and 8200 have die from it 
the flu kill between 300000 and 650000 peopl around the world annual 
what worri me more than the new diseas is that fear of a vagu and terrifi new ill might spiral into panic and that it might be use to justifi unnecessarili sever limit on movement and on civil liberti especi of racial and religi minor around the world 
i also worri that the onlin world may give rise to danger skeptic and that in the event of an actual pandem a larg number of peopl may delay treatment or refus vaccin becaus they don’t believ the scienc or are suspici of the govern 
i predict that the next major outbreak — whether of a high fatal strain of influenza or someth els — will not be due to a lack of prevent technolog warn heidi larson the director of the vaccin confid project in a 2018 articl in the journal natur 
instead emot contagion digit enabl could erod trust in vaccin so much as to render them moot 
social media she ad should be recogn as a global publichealth threat 
tech giant have been race to tamp down conspiraci theori and hoax about the wuhan virus but i worri that their effort won’t be veri success becaus societi seem to have no good answer to the kind of emot contagion dr larson describ 
it’ not just that mani peopl get their news from a medium given to rumor exagger and wild misinform especi on issu about health or scienc — see the persist of antivax or climatechang denier 
there is also a grow partisan divid over how american interpret scientif expertis and health polici leav decis about public health vulner to the kind of partisan squabbl you hear on cabl news everi night 
i also worri about the hairtrigg state of geopolit 
from donald trump to xi jinp to bori johnson strongmen with authoritarian tendenc run mani of the world’ most power govern 
it is worth rememb that diseas or the fear of diseas can bring out the worst in human — pandem often feed scapego jew were wide blame for the black death creat a fertil field for demagogu 
when you put all these factor togeth you’v got a danger recip for global repress 
alreadi china’ respons appear to be driven by polit consider more than epidemiolog one 
the govern has impos a travel lockdown on more than 35 million peopl which expert say is a quarantin of unpreced size and scale yet it may not even turn out to be veri effect 
expert say that quarantin work best dure the earliest stage of an outbreak but that they can also backfir caus medic shortag corrod trust in health offici and push some peopl to look to evad care to escap ani restrict on their right 
china took week to mount a fullscal respons to the virus 
accord to wuhan’ mayor five million peopl left the citi befor restrict were impos suggest the countri is effect lock the barn door after the hors has run off 
they’r do it becaus peopl who are in polit leadership alway think that if you do someth dramat and visibl that you’ll gain popular support lawrenc o gostin a professor of global health law at georgetown univers told the washington post 
they couldn’t have ani sound public health advic 
we should keep this sens of caution in mind in case american politician begin push for travel ban overbroad quarantin or other measur that might not be support by the scienc 
you might wonder what the great harm is — if the govern need to temporarili limit people’ movement or prevent some peopl from enter the countri shouldn’t it take those measur in the face of danger ill 
perhap but given the checker histori of quarantin — throughout histori they have been use to persecut the margin — lawmak and the media should rigor examin the base for ani such restrict 
we should especi make sure ani restrict impos are inde temporari and adher to the scienc — someth we don’t alway do 
consid that 30 year after the aid outbreak men who have sex with men are still restrict from donat blood in the unit state long after the scientif basi for such a ban has pass 
so far presid trump has offer a measur respons to the virus 
we have it total under control he said this week 
but onlin misinform about the scale of the virus is alreadi trend 
it is not as you might have read on twitter thermonuclear pandem level bad 
so are racist meme blame chines peopl and chines cultur for the virus 
i fear that the condit are ripe for a situat similar to what occur in the summer of 2014 when an outbreak of ebola overran west africa 
after the obama administr scrambl to bring home two american health worker who had becom infect with the diseas in liberia trump went on a monthslong twitter tirad about ebola 
the futur presid favor extrem isolation see no benefit to american help in africa 
peopl that go to far away place to help out are greatbut must suffer the consequ 
he wrote — ultim spark a grow partisan movement against the government’ respons to the virus 
today trump run an administr that is hemorrhag scientif expertis and his polit agenda is rife with effort to target immigr minor and the poor 
in 2016 a terrorist attack prompt trump to propos ban muslim from the countri when he won the white hous he institut a version of that ban 
i fear that panic about a foreign virus offer societi anoth chanc to target margin peopl 
so let’ keep our fear in check panic will hurt us far more than it’ll help 
the american health care industri is kill peopl by farhad manjoo dec 4 2019 won’t you spare a thought for america’ medic debt collector 
and while you’r at it will you say a prayer for the nation’ health care bill manag 
let’ also consid the kind econom product citizen in swing state whose job it is to jail pregnant women and the parent of cancer patient for fail to pay their radiolog bill 
put yourself in the entrepreneuri shoe of the friend hospit administr who has found a lucrat new revenu stream file thousand of lawsuit to garnish sick people’ wage 
and who can forget the lawyer 
and the lobbyist 
oh aren’t they all have a ball in america’ health care thunderdom 
like the two lobbyist who were just caught draft newspap editori for state repres in montana and ohio decri their party’ push toward a governmentcontrol health care industri 
it’ clear whi these lobbyist might prefer the convers status quo a govern control by the health care industri 
if we move to a singlepay system how would lobbyist put food on the tabl and who would write lawmakers’ ope essay 
welcom to the bizarr new argument against medicar for all it’ go to cost us job 
lot of job 
good middleclass whitecollar job in america’ heartland where democrat need to win big to defeat donald trump 
the argument is specious and moral suspect 
last week health research report that american life expect is declin for the first time in half a centuri and some of the lead caus have to do with the ruinous health care system 
even if it is the case that reform american health care might elimin some job it would seem to be a good trade for the like benefit more peopl might gain access to afford health care and get to keep live 
but i worri that the job argument might sway moder politician centrist pundit and much of the establish becaus it play on one of the major fault line of health reform that in fix the system so that more peopl benefit those who now enjoy a privileg slice of american health care might end up wors off than they are today 
as a matter of ethic and equal this should be ok 
stick with a system that is the sourc of so much death debt and financi ruin just becaus you like your doctor or your insur compani or your medicalbil job is not realli a defens posit 
on the other hand in america i’v got mine and i don’t want to lose it is alway pretti good polit 
the job argument goe like this there’ a lot of fat in the american health care industri and ani effort to transform it into a simpler system in which everyon is cover would necessarili elimin layer of bureaucraci and like reduc overhead cost 
everi year american collect pay about 500 billion in administr cost for health care — that is for thing like bill and insur overhead not for actual medic care 
these cost are signific higher than in most other wealthi countri 
one studi on health care data from 1999 show that each american paid about 1059 per year just in overhead cost for health care in canada the per capita cost was 307 
those figur are like much higher today 
wouldn’t lower overhead cost be an obvious posit outcom 
ah but there’ the rub all this overspend creat a lot of employ — and move toward a more effici and equit health care system will inevit mean get rid of mani administr job 
one studi suggest that about 18 million job would be render unnecessari if america adopt a public health care financ system 
so what if some of these job involv debt collect claim denial aggress legal action or are otherwis punit cruel or simpli moral indefens in a societi that can clear afford to provid highqual health care to everyon 
job are job folk as joe biden might say 
inde that’ exact what biden’ presidenti campaign is say about the medicar for all plan that senat elizabeth warren and berni sander are propos they will not onli cost 160 million american their privat health coverag and forc tax increas on the middl class but it would also kill almost two million job a biden campaign offici warn recent 
note the word kill in the statement 
that word might better describ not what could happen to job under medicar for all but what the health care industri is do to mani american today 
last week the medic journal jama publish a comprehens studi examin the caus of a remark grim statist about our nation wellb 
from 1959 to 2010 life expect in the unit state and in other wealthi countri around the world climb 
then in 2014 american life expect began to fall while it continu to rise elsewher 
what caus the american declin 
research identifi a number of potenti factor includ tobacco use obes and psycholog stress but two of the lead caus can be pin direct on the peculiar and dysfunct of american health care 
the first is the opioid epidem whose rise can be trace to the releas in 1996 of the prescript pain drug oxycontin 
in the public narrat much of the blame for the epidem has been cast on the sackler famili whose firm purdu pharma creat oxycontin and push for it widespread use 
but research has shown that the sackler exploit aberr incent in american health care 
purdu court doctor patient group and insur to convinc the medic establish that oxycontin was a novel type of opioid that was less addict and less prone to abus 
the compani had littl scientif evid to make that claim but much of the health care industri bought into it and oxycontin prescript soar 
the rush to prescrib opioid was fuel by busi incent creat by the health care industri — for purdu for mani doctor and for insur compani treat widespread condit like back pain with pill rather than physic therapi was simpli better for the bottom line 
opioid addict isn’t the onli factor contribut to rise american mortal rate 
the problem is more pervas have to do with an overal lack of qualiti health care 
the jama report point out that death rate have climb most for middleag adult who — unlik retire and mani children — are not usual cover by governmentrun health care servic and thus have less access to afford health care 
the research write that countri with higher life expect outperform the unit state in provid univers access to health care and in remov cost as a barrier to care 
in america by contrast cost is a key barrier 
a studi publish last year in the american journal of medicin found that of the near 10 million american given diagnos of cancer between 2000 and 2012 42 percent were forc to drain all of their asset in order to pay for care 
the polit of medicar for all are peril 
understand so if you’r one of the million of american who love your doctor and your insur compani or who work in the health care field i can see whi you would be fear of wholesal chang 
but it’ wise to rememb that it’ not just your own health and happi that count 
the health care industri is fail much of the countri 
mani of your fellow citizen are liter die earli becaus of it failur 
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 futur that keep me up at night — ai 
weaponri undetect viral deepfak indefatig and infinit wise robot ope columnist — but in the last few year one technolog threat has blip my fear radar much faster than other 
that fear 
ubiquit surveil 
i am no longer sure that human civil can undo or evad live under constant extravag detail physic and even psychic surveil as a speci we are not do near enough to avoid alway be watch or otherwis digit record 
your locat your purchas video and audio from within your home and offic your onlin search and everi digit wander biometr track of your face and other bodi part your heart rate and other vital sign your everi communic record and perhap your deepest thought or idlest dream — in the futur if not alreadi much of this data and more will be collect and analyz by some combin of govern and corpor among them a hand of megacompani whose power near match those of govern 
whi am i so pessimist 
over the last year as part of time opinion’ privaci project i’v particip in experi in which my devic were close monitor in order to determin the kind of data that was be collect about me 
the experi have given me new insight into the psycholog underpin surveil i’v realiz how blind we are to the kind of insight tech compani are gain about us through our gadget 
our blind not onli keep us glu to privacyinvad tech — it also mean that we’v fail to creat a polit cultur that is in ani way up to the task of limit surveil 
that’ whi across the speci whether under american or european democraci or chines authoritarian few of our cultur or polit institut are even much tri to tamp down the surveil state 
in china the govern is build a frighten surveil dragnet in broad daylight stitch togeth facial recognit fingerprint and other databas into an allse eye aim to close watch more than a billion citizen 
yet the unit state and other suppos libertylov western democraci have not rule out such a futur 
just consid the odd polit surround privaci invas 
donald trump and his support repeat argu that the fbi 
is corrupt and untrustworthi 
yet like barack obama befor him trump and the justic depart are push appl to creat a backdoor into the data on encrypt iphon — they want the untrustworthi fbi 
and ani local cop to be abl to see everyth insid anyone’ phone 
appl merci is resist just as it did the request of barack obama’ justic depart to creat a loophol in iphon secur — but the fact that both obama and trump agre on the need for break iphon encrypt suggest how thorough polit leader across a wide spectrum have neglect privaci as a fundament valu worthi of protect 
inde becaus of a dearth of law protect our privaci — and almost no highprofil polit discuss about the stake at hand — american are sleepwalk into a futur near as frighten as the one the chines are construct 
i choos the word sleepwalk deliber becaus when it come to digit privaci a lot of us prefer the comfort bliss of ignor 
as a result much of the surveil engin oper underground — just beyond where mani of us dare to look 
in recent month my colleagu at the time and other media outlet have publish a seri of shatter investig into modern digit surveil 
among other revel advertis compani and data broker are keep insan close tab on smartphones’ locat data track user so precis that their databas could arguabl compromis nation secur or polit liberti 
there are few meaning check on scan for peopl use facial recognit genet profil or other biometr data 
track technolog have becom cheap and wide avail — for less than 100 my colleagu were abl to identifi peopl walk by surveil camera in bryant park in manhattan 
this past weekend the times’ kashmir hill report on a compani call clearview ai that has creat a tool that could end your abil to walk down the street anonym 
by scrape pictur from facebook youtub and other websit to creat a huge databas of face the compani let cop identifi peopl just by snap a photo 
it’ shazam for face not veri differ from the kind of facial recognit tool we worri the author may be use in china — and even though hundr of polic depart may have access to it almost no one outsid the compani understand how it work 
the clearview ai stori suggest anoth reason to worri that our march into surveil has becom inexor each new privacyinvad technolog build on a previous one allow for scari outcom from new integr and collect of data that few user might have anticip 
i was recent confront by this sort of cascad with my own smartphon 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 requir me to grant them access to my physic locat — among them app to find cheap gas coupon and nearbi retail discount and to otherwis help me navig and find deal as i wander about the world 
the upshot as the locationtrack app follow me i was abl to captur the ping they sent to onlin server — essenti record their spi 
i sent the data to stuart and his team who interpret and map the ping the app had collect about me 
their pictur shock me the app had follow me far more close captur much more data and far more often than i had imagin when i’d said yes to their track 
look at this map which follow the ping collect by the app on one sunday afternoon last year on the map you can see the app are essenti stalk me 
they see me drive out one morn to the gas station then to the produc store then to safeway later on i pass by a music school stop at a restaur then whole food 
but locat was onli one part of the data the compani had about me becaus geograph data is often combin with other person inform — includ a mobil advertis id that can help merg what you see and do onlin with where you go in the real world — the stori these compani can tell about me is actual far more detail than i can tell about myself 
like a lot of peopl i’v long justifi my apathi about privaci through innoc 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 longer pretend i’v got noth to worri about 
sure i’m not a crimin — but do i want anyon to learn everyth about me 
and more to the point is it wise for us to let ani entiti learn everyth about everyon 
becaus those are the stake 
the remain uncertainti about the surveil state is not whether we will submit to it — onli how readili and complet and how thorough it will warp our societi 
will we allow the govern and corpor unrestrict access to everi bit of data we ever generat or will we decid that some kind of collect like the encrypt data on your phone should be forev off limit even when a judg has issu a warrant for it 
in the futur will there be room for ani true secret — will societi allow ani unrecord thought or communic to evad detect and commerci analysi 
and if there can be no more secret how will we account for what we lose 
how complet will live under surveil numb creativ and silenc radic thought 
can human agenc surviv the possibl that some compani will know more about all of us than ani of us can ever know about ourselv 
i’m worri we’ll soon be forc to find out 
the berni sander fallaci by david brook jan 16 2020 this is a golden age for theyism 
this is the belief that there is some malevol elit they out there and they are destroy life for the rest of us 
there is donald trump’ culturewar theyism the coastal cultur elit hate genuin american undermin our valu and open our border 
and there is berni sanders’ classwar theyism the billionair have rig the economi to benefit themselv and impoverish everyon els 
each of these stori take a genuin tension in societi and blow it up into an allexplain cartoon in which one part of america is tri to destroy the other part 
the gop 
has been swallow by trump’ cultur war and mani democrat seem to be rush to join sanders’ class war 
these democrat are do this even though it’ polit suicid 
classwar progressiv alway lose to culturewar conservat becaus swing voter in the midwest care more about their valu — gun patriot end abort masculin whatev — than they do about proletarian class conscious 
democrat are do this even though the sander classwar stori is wrong 
sander start with a truth worker need more bargain power as they negoti wage with their employ 
but then he blow this up into an allexplain ideolog capit is a system of exploit in which capitalist power complet domin worker power 
this ideolog crash against the fact 
in the first place over the past few year wage for worker toward the bottom of the incom stream have been rise faster than wage for those toward the top 
if the boss have the worker by the throat how can this be happen 
second wage are still general determin by skill and product 
for exampl edward lazear of stanford univers find that between 1989 and 2017 product in most highskil industri rose by rough 34 percent and wage in those industri rose by 26 percent 
product in industri with most lessskil worker rose by 20 percent while wage grew by 24 percent 
as michael strain of the american enterpris institut put it capit is do what it’ suppos to do 
it’ reward product with pay and some peopl and compani are more product 
if you improv worker bargain power that may help a bit but over the long run peopl can’t earn what they don’t produc 
third and most import most of the increas in earn inequ has happen between compani not within them 
as john van reenen of mit 
has found all over the world superstar busi are race ahead of their competitor 
as those compani grow more product they earn more profit per employe and pay their worker more 
compani that can’t match that product don’t and their worker lag behind 
a recent brook institutionchumir foundat report also note that there is a grow product gap between superstar compani and everybodi els 
whether it is in tech retail manufactur util or servic product growth at the lead compani in each industri has remain veri strong 
those product busi are captur larger and larger market share 
but product is not grow fast among the lag compani 
worker in those busi suffer 
today’ success boss are do what they should be do increas product grow their busi and offer great servic 
a side effect of their effici is they spend a smaller share of their revenu on labor even while rais their workers’ wage 
in a global informationag economi the reward for be best are huge 
thus the core problem is not capitalist exploit their worker it’ the rise of product inequ 
it’ the compani and individu who don’t have the skill to take advantag of new technolog 
the real solut therefor is not class war to hammer success busi 
it’ to boost and expand product for everybodi els 
that’ done the oldfashion way — by have better school and better vocat train by have more open competit market by creat incent to expand invest by make sure superstar busi don’t use lobbyist to lock in their advantag 
i understand if you want to stick to an usversusthem polit ideolog 
it’ emot satisfi to base your polit ideolog on blame peopl you dislik 
in fact i strong recommend michael lind’ new book the new class war which is the best version of usthem 
lind make a lot of vagu general about the manageri elit which he blame for our problem 
but at least he’ interest and provoc 
at least he understand that a polit plausibl theyism is econom left and social right — combin the cultur war and class war into a tidi narrat 
but if you want to deal with our real problem stop the usthem warfar and start deal with product inequ 
success execut are do what’ best for their compani gather as much talent as they can 
this isn’t evil 
it’ not exploit 
the job of public polici is to make it easier for everybodi to do what success peopl are do 
product is the key to nation prosper 
everi time we increas product for one person we all thrive a littl more togeth 
the flaw human of silicon valley by charli warzel jan 28 2020 everi week bring a fresh hell in the tech world 
as news of the latest scandal pile up over week month and eventu year narrat switch 
friend tech compani becom big tech 
the narrat is flatten 
the tech giant becom monolith and their employe becom caricatur — often of villain 
the truth is alway messier more interest and more human 
it is a central tension anim anna wiener’ excel memoir uncanni valley 
the book trace ms wiener’ navig the tech world as a startup employe in the mid 2010s — what might be thought of as the last year befor silicon valley’ fall from darl status 
ms wiener said she was drawn into the tech world by it propuls qualiti 
graduat into a recess and spend her earli 20s in publish tech offer opportun job the seduct feel of creat someth and of cours the money was good 
but what make uncanni valley so valuabl is the way it human the tech industri without let it off the hook 
the book allow us to see the way that flaw technolog is made and market not by villain but by blind spot uncrit think and armi of ambival peopl come into work each day tri their best — all while sometim unwit lay the foundat of the surveil economi 
from a privaci standpoint uncanni valley is help in understand what it’ like be on the other end of the torrent of inform that stream from our devic each minut 
earli on ms wiener recount work for a success data analyt compani and the gold rush toward big data note that not everyon knew what they need from big data but everyon knew that they need it 
when confront with the mass of inform her compani collect ms wiener describ feel uncomfort with the god mode view that grant employe full access to user data 
this was a privileg vantag point from which to observ the tech industri and we tri not to talk about it she write 
this she note becom a pattern 
when edward snowden blew the whistl on the nation secur agency’ prism program in 2013 employe at her own data compani never discuss the news 
what she describ is a familiar dissoci for anyon who spend time interrog tech compani on their privaci polici 
her compani simpli didn’t consid itself part of the surveil economi we weren’t think about our role in facilit and normal the creation of unregul privat held databas on human behavior 
we were just allow product manag to run better ab test 
we were just help develop make better app 
it was all so simpl peopl love our product and leverag it to improv their own product so that peopl would love them too 
there was noth nefari about it 
besid if we didn’t do it someon els would 
we were far from the onli thirdparti analyt tool on the market 
the sole moral quandari in our space that we acknowledg outright was the question of whether or not to sell data to advertis 
this was someth we did not do and we were righteous about it 
we were just a neutral platform a conduit 
if anyon rais concern about the inform our user were collect or the potenti for abus of our product the solut manag would tri to bring us back to earth by remind us that we weren’t data broker 
we did not build crossplatform profil 
we didn’t involv third parti 
user might not know they were be track but that was between them and our custom compani 
they were in other word just do their job 
ms wiener frequent return to this retic to question the product the end goal of the technolog and the silicon valley etho as a whole 
at her next job work on the term of servic team for a larg open sourc code platform she reveal how the evolut of the internet push her and her cowork into becom reluct content moder 
soon it becam her team’ job to fashion a balanc between preserv free speech on her platform and protect it from troll and neonazi we want to tread light core particip in the opensourc softwar communiti were sensit to corpor oversight and we didn’t want to undercut anyone’ technoutopian by becom an overreach arm of the companyst 
we want to be on the side of human right free speech and free express creativ and equal 
at the same time it was an intern platform and who among us could have articul a coher stanc on intern human right 
as a journalist who has cover content moder issu for the better part of a decad the perspect is somewhat clarifi 
decis that feel ad hoc or made by one or two peopl in the belli of a larg compani often are 
what look from the outsid like a conspiraci or nefari technoauthoritarian is often just confus caus by poor manag poor communic and dizzi growth 
most of the compani did not seem awar of how common it was for our tool to be abus ms wiener write of her group of de facto moder 
they did not even seem to know that our team exist 
it wasn’t their fault — we were easi to miss 
there were four of us for the platform’ nine million user 
in this instanc uncanni valley show how the internet can thrust ordinari peopl into extraordinari posit of power — usual without qualif or a howto guid 
this is not to say that the book excus ani of the industry’ reckless behavior 
like a good travel writer ms wiener posit herself as an insideroutsid particip in someth bigger than myself and still feel apart from it 
and she is suffici critic of her and her peers’ particip in the industri 
she write that she would wonder whether the nsa 
whistleblow had been the first moral test for my generat of entrepreneur and tech worker and we had blown it she write at one point near the end of the memoir 
ms wiener’ memoir come at a point where the backlash against silicon valley is strong enough to have earn it own name 
narrat have harden and aggriev tech employe are adopt a bunker mental 
as ranjan roy of the newslett margin wrote recent of facebook the rank and file are see that they are the villain and will increas becom so 
as so much of the report show the increas scrutini and critic of the techlash is import and almost all is warrant 
big tech has amass wild unregul power that has grown uncheck 
still it’ easi to get conspiratori and to fall comfort into black and white notion of good versus evil 
uncanni valley is a remind that the realiti is far more muddl but no less damn 
our dystopia isn’t just the product of mustachetwirl billionair drunk with power and fuel by greed — though it is that too sometim 
it’ also the result of uncrit think blind spot caus by an overwhelm white male work forc and a patholog reluct to ask the bigger question where is this all go 
what am i build 
what i’m read facebook will now show you exact how it stalk you — even when you’r not use facebook 
ring doorbel app pack with thirdparti tracker 
leak document expos the secret market for your web brows data 
40 group have call for a us moratorium on facial recognit technolog the futur of american polit by david brook jan 30 2020 men and women are primarili motiv by selfinterest 
no other partial truth has done as much damag as this one 
if you base your polit and social system on the idea that the autonom selfinterest individu is the basic unit of societi then you will wind up with an individualist cultur that widen the maneuv room between peopl but shred the relationship and communiti between peopl 
you will wind up with a capit in which superstar perform get concentr in superstar citi and everybodi els get left behind 
in a system base pure on competit individu selfinterest those who are advantag get to race out further ahead year by year 
the sens of common communiti and equal digniti is annihil 
this is the flaw of unrestrain liber what the radic call neoliber or late capit 
and they are not entir wrong 
populist on the right and the left look at this current realiti and they come to a swift conclus the game is rig 
liber is a con 
then they come to a differ conclus 
the essenti logic of societi is not actual individu seek their selfinterest 
it’ group struggl for power 
societi is an arena where certain group crush other group 
on the trumpian right it’ the coastal cultur elit tri to crush and delegitim the white christian patriot of the heartland 
on the cultur left it’ the whole michel foucault legaci 
languag is a tool the oppressor class use to perman margin the oppress 
on the econom left it’ the berni sander class war 
the greedi capitalist class rig the system and immiser the work class 
the populist narrat differ but all have the same under structur 
we’r lock in a lifeordeath struggl of oppressor vs oppress group 
it’ us versus them — the good peopl here and the bad peopl there 
the problem in societi didn’t just happen they were conscious engin by the evil other who must be broken 
our veri exist is at stake 
if the anthropolog of unrestrain liber is the autonom individu make his own way the anthropolog of popul is warrior ant in a ruthless tribal war 
these are veri differ view of human natur but they have someth in common both narrat make us miser 
in one life is isol inequ and the feel of be invis 
in the other it’ malic fear and constant war 
and that’ becaus both of these polit tendenc are wrong about human natur 
they creat societi that pulver who we are and are made to be 
human be didn’t evolv into the world’ domin speci becaus we are more autonom 
we didn’t do it becaus we’r more vicious in tooth and claw 
we thrive as a speci becaus we are better at cooper 
we evolv complex social network in our brain to make us better at bond teach and collabor 
we don’t cooper onli to get thing we want individu 
often we collabor to build share environ we can enjoy togeth 
often we pick a challeng just so we can have the joy of collabor 
relationship are end to themselv 
thus the best futur for american polit is not base on individu competit or group war 
it’ base on this narrat we are an incred divers societi that got good at collabor becaus we had to 
the best futur polit put collabor plural weav at the center 
that mean first elect leader who are master at cooper 
no offens but if you’r support donald trump or berni sander this year collabor skill are not high on your list of prioriti 
second it mean infus cooper weaver valu into all of our organ 
there’ a fantast communiti organ in baltimor call thread that has a few core compet that shape it cultur 
we’d be in much better shape if everi organ in america live out these valu show all the way up 
be fulli present honest and vulner in all interact 
recogn your own valu 
push through discomfort to connect deepli with other 
learn from all voic 
most of our challeng are complex 
it take everi perspect to see an issu whole 
assum peopl have the best of intent and activ focus on the valu they bring 
be intent about be with those differ from you 
treat relationship as wealth 
human bond are the chief resourc of your organ 
recogn the inher valu of each person and meet each person where she or he is 
fail forward 
life is iter 
your vision is not alway the answer but rather a step in a creativ learn process 
set up feedback mechan that support chang and person growth 
dogma won’t get you to the solut 
open and adjust will 
the third task of weaver polit is reform institut so they encourag collabor 
some of our institut like congress have been complet subsum by tribal warfar 
other institut as yuval levin write in his book a time to build are no longer format place where we learn and serv they have becom platform individu use to broadcast their suprem selv 
still other institut have becom dehuman 
our school hospit prison and welfar system don’t emb peopl in thick relationship 
they treat them as unit to be process and shove out the door 
still other institut ceas to exist 
whi do we still not have a nation servic program 
america has an enorm task of institut reform ahead of it just as it did in the progress era 
the fourth and final task of this kind of polit is transform polici that direct address our most serious divid 
for exampl repar are a way to acknowledg the wrong inflict on africanamerican and to begin to heal that breach 
congressman ro khanna has a propos that would show rural america that everyon has a place in the new economi 
he would fund research and technolog hub throughout the countri — a land grant colleg system for the 21st centuri 
the polit of weav grow out of the acknowledg that there is no domin major in america 
there is no moder center 
your group will never pulver and elimin your oppos group 
there’ no choic but to set up better collabor system across differ 
this is not a problem it’ an adventur 
yes human be are part selfish and selfinterest 
but we are also suprem social and collabor 
this is the part we have to work on now 
the mean and melodrama of an italianamerican christma by frank bruni dec 24 2019 grandma bruni live in a workingclass neighborhood in a twofamili home that i’d struggl to describ — it was that ordinari that humbl 
but it was known for block in everi direct at least around this time of year and not becaus she went wild with multicolor light or put one of those sleighplussanta monstros on the roof the way some christma exhibitionist did 
no it was famous becaus it was where jesus was born 
and born 
and born 
year after year decad upon decad in a ritual as reliabl as the sunris and equal comfort 
presid came and presid went 
the economi roar the economi whimper 
friend move away favorit televis show went dark 
but i could count on babi jesus in all his plasterofpari glori 
grandma you see had this belov crã¨che but it wasn’t the kind of miniatur tableau that enabl the entir sprawl cast of the nativ to fit on an end tabl or a bureau 
her took up a signific patch of her front lawn in white plain ny and it centerpiec was a big wood shack the piec of which were haul everi year from a backyard shed and hammer togeth so that mari and joseph would have somewher dri to hang out from the end of novemb until the big day 
they and their entourag were more than half lifes 
it was as if grandma had invit a larg parti of anachronist dress dwarf to camp out in her yard for the holiday season 
but for most of decemb someth was miss babi jesus who was perhap threequart lifes 
he would stay miss — metaphor in utero though technic in a bottom drawer of grandma’ bedroom dresser — until the midnight moment when christma eve becam christma day 
grandma held to this schedul as if histor accuraci depend on it and white plain occupi the same time zone as bethlehem of millennium ago 
at 1158 pm on dec 24 she’d dim the light 
she’d put on a record of silent night 
and she’d fetch babi jesus from that drawer where he lay swaddl in her finest white linen 
gentl cradl him in her arm she’d walk slowli through the live room out the front door and over to the shack 
then she’d place him in a manger between mari and joseph 
and she’d cri becaus the moment was an emot one and she’d somber inform us this christma just might be her last 
her talent for pasta was surpass onli by her gift for melodrama 
religion play a smaller part in her midwiferi than you’d think 
grandma was nomin and notion roman cathol and saw the church as the proper even necessari set in which to mark the mileston of a life birth marriag death 
but that was as much about continu — about a predict rhythm with reliabl ornament — as it was about creed 
jesus was a charact in a common adopt narrat a lyric in a wide sung song 
he was a totem 
abov all he was a tradit and the nativ scene in front of her hous went hand in hand with a christma eve menu of seven fish in accord with italianamerican convent and with the rule that gift open start with the youngest of the clan and proceed upward in accord with age 
do thing the right way ground her 
it was her center of graviti 
she die some three decad ago and i’v no idea what happen to that crã¨che 
but i know what happen to the famili who found it both bonker and beauti extravag and essenti 
in the manner of modern america we scatter — pull in this direct by work in that direct by adventur our commit metastas our free time shrivel 
we do better than most at forg moment togeth but they’r less and less predict 
where i could onc tell you without hesit how i’d spent the previous two three or four christma eve — with grandma and babi jesus — i now have to strain to rememb 
last year in a peculiar mood i went alon to las vega 
the year befor that 
i’m honest not sure 
that sadden me in way that it would regardless of what’ happen in this seeth countri and this fractious world but current event intensifi my appreci for custom now lost for touchston that have crumbl 
we’r at one of those junctur where so littl can be taken for grant so much is up for grab 
the worthiest of valu come under fire 
the sturdiest of institut buckl 
i’m sure i’m not alon in find that holiday matter more as do the familiar script and cherish prop with which they’r celebr 
they’r assert of normalci amid chang and loss 
the solac is in the detail 
grandma understood this 
she had a wisdom as ancient as the birth of babi jesus 
the meaningless of the org domain by sam wineburg and nadav ziv dec 5 2019 are today’ high school student the one we call digit nativ abl to separ fact from fiction 
not accord to a survey we releas last month in which 3446 high school student across the countri evalu the trustworthi of differ websit 
one such site was co2scienceorg a climatechang skeptic group that claim to dissemin factual report and sound commentari 
student could go anywher on the web to investig the site 
a quick search uncov the group’ past tie to the fossil fuel industri 
but 96 percent of student never uncov this industri connect 
too often students’ evalu stall at three letter this page is a reliabl sourc to obtain inform from one wrote you see in the url that it end in org as oppos to com 
the kid are wrong 
dotorg symbol neither qualiti nor trustworthi 
it’ a market tool that reli on a widespread but fals associ with credibl 
kid aren’t the onli one misinform 
a 2012 intern studi found that near half of american and larger percentag in franc brazil and india believ that an organ must meet some criteria befor it could regist under org 
the dotorg domain is control by the public interest registri which was sold last month to etho capit a privat equiti firm 
the three letter are market as a power signal that your site serv a greater good — rather than just a bottom line 
it’ a claim that lead peopl to make error about whom and what to trust 
unlik dotgov or dotedu which are close to the general public dotorg is an open domain 
anyon can regist a dotorg without pass a charact test 
even commerci site can be dotorg 
craigslist — among the world’ largest ad site — is craigslistorg 
there are over 10 million dotorg each of which pay rough 10 per year to regist 
all you have to do to get one is fill out an onlin form and provid payment 
registr fee generat 92 million in revenu for the public interest registri in 2018 alon 
in theori these revenu could grow much larger soon — in june the internet corpor for assign name and number the supervisori bodi that regul the internet’ domain name system agre to lift price cap on dotorg 
still andi shea a spokesperson for the public interest registri say it plan to keep the price for dotorg low with increas of no more than 10 percent on averag a year 
in the public interest registry’ latest market blitz they unveil a logo paint in deep royal blue a shade they say evok feel of trust secur and reliabl 
they tell new custom to expect an increas in donat and trust for donor when they becom part of the domain of trust 
noteworthi nonprofit civic organ and religi group have embrac the domain — and so have a host of bad actor 
all reap the benefit of dotorg’ associ with credibl 
educ institut unwit shape mispercept around dotorg 
mani colleg and univers includ harvard and northwestern steer student in the wrong direct 
they equat dotorg with nonprofit group and issu no warn of the danger lurk beneath the domain’ posit aura 
dotorg is the favor design of astroturf site group that masquerad as grass root effort but are back by corpor and polit interest 
one of these is the employ polici institut which claim to sponsor nonpartisan research 
it was actual found and run by the head of a public relat firm that repres the restaur industri 
anoth dotorg american for prosper foundat say it address major social problem through broadbas grass root outreach 
in realiti it was found by the billionair koch brother and mani of it grass root activist are paid 
there’ an even bigger risk to equat dotorg site with dogood 
dozen of neonazi antilgbt antimuslim and antiimmigr group bear the dotorg seal 
a random sampl of a hundr organ design as hate group by the southern poverti law center found that 49 percent carri the dotorg domain 
typic the domain name system is not an appropri tool to address websit content question and speech issu said shea the public interest registri spokesperson 
that said if a site on a org domain engag in specif threat of violenc we would not hesit to take action on it under our antiabus polici 
a 2019 unit nation survey show that citizen the world over have lost trust in the internet 
restor it will take herculean effort 
the group that control the internet’ domain system could lead the way by be honest about what these initi do and don’t repres 
the public interest registri and etho capit could channel some of the million earn from the dotorg mirag to fund initi that educ the public on the domain’ shortcom 
they can start by ad a bright red asterisk to their royal blue logo dotorg impli noth about an organization’ intent 
buyer bewar 
the next decad will be just as bad by farhad manjoo nov 20 2019 we will rememb the 2010s as a grifter’ paradis 
these were the year when our collect sens of object realiti total fell apart and when polit busi technolog cultur and even ordinari life fell fulli under the sway of a new breed of swindler huckster influenc troll and hacker 
scam and fakeri were not just ascend this decad — they were often the domin stori line 
it was a time of life come at you fast and milkshak duck 
the primari feel of the 2010s was one of punchdrunken disorient of alway have the rug pull out from under you 
and this was the big lesson of the 2010s almost noth is as it seem 
doubt everyth 
trust no one 
not that this idea work veri well doubt everyth may be a workabl plan for individu surviv in a fractur media univers domin by algorithm and digit media of dubious authent but pervas doubt could just as well bring on civiliz ruin 
get through modern life seem to requir adopt a corros view of societi that make a hash of our fundament idea about the valu of cooper and trust among our fellow human 
we’r bring on a deathspir of distrust — and i fear that in the 2020s and beyond grifter peddl altern fact may come to suffoc us all 
the most obvious exampl of the huckster’ rise was of cours donald trump 
when trump announc his bid for the presid in 2015 much of the polit and media establish includ mani lead republican thought the idea of a selfdeal conspiraci theoriz realiti tv star win the white hous was a pretti funni joke 
few of them understood trump’ effect at hack the news landscap to command our attent complet 
few of them could have guess that rather than the establish foil trump his slipperi style and overwhelm blizzard of lie would so fulli alter polit and media cultur that by the end of the decad member of the gop 
would be embrac and echo his conspiraci theori as a way to forestal his remov from offic 
while conspiraci think took full flower on the right it began to bloom on the left too 
trump’ elect was follow by the rise of antitrump onlin influenc who came to domin news and activ 
these were the resist grifter — michael avenatti the brother ed and brian krassenstein the near selfparod louis mensch — who peddl a selfserv brand of breathless antitrump heavili pepper with call to buy their book and other merch 
a specter of foreign disinform led to widespread suspicion and it becam a handi defens for grifter to dismiss opposit as bot or russian shill 
the grift wasn’t limit to polit 
the tech industri welcom huckster with open arm 
look at wework uber and therano — onc highfli startup that promis to chang the world in big way and small each unmask for peddl fals prospect unreal tech or hide system corrupt and abus 
facebook and other social media servic were not just a haven of statesponsor disinform with dodgi easili game stat social media increas came to provid a fals view of the world 
facebook admit a seri of error overst advertis metric 
youtube’ stat were shown to be lousi with fake view twitter’ were overwhelm by fake follow and amazon was full of fake luxuri good 
scam pervad new technolog and old one 
the spectacular rise in the price of bitcoin in 2017 was later found to be the product of market manipul 
and accord to a report by the telecommun firm first orion about 29 percent of all voic call place in 2018 were scam robocal one estim put the volum of spam call at billion per month 
whi are we be overrun by scam 
society’ signal for judg reput and trustworthi haven’t caught up with the chang tech 
even though we know better we reflex mistak instagram for realiti — onlin influenc is seen as a proxi for realworld authent and so we are constant fall under the sway of peopl who’v found way to game the digit realm 
on your phone the fyre festiv look irresist 
we are also too easili blind by wealth or marker for wealth 
anna sorokin the russian immigr convict this year of con new york societi into think she was a german heiress name anna delvey defraud hotel and bank of hundr of thousand of dollar by pretend to be rich 
she’d hand out 100 bill to anyon and everyon 
for a stretch of time in new york no small amount of the cash in circul was come from anna delvey jessica pressler wrote 
you could argu that my take on the end of truth is too gloomi 
consid the clarifi power of metoo — how in the case of harvey weinstein jeffrey epstein bill cosbi and other oncepow men we wit the power of fact and object clear eye investig to alter the brutal power structur that had long held victim in silenc 
you might also argu that collect we’r get better at spot huckster and fraud 
the resist grifter had a good run but we found them out 
less than a year from now if not sooner trump too may hit the end of his run 
but i’m skeptic that these thing signal some reason for optim 
our inform system has slip it moor and as a result lie and scheme and fraud has simpli becom too effect a life strategi 
as i argu in march when the celebr colleg admiss scandal broke we’r see the uber of corrupt — bend the rule is becom routin and pervas a pushbutton cheat code for modern life 
it’ not a big leap from trust no one to swindl everyon 
happi new decad i guess 
the pervers servil of bill barr by frank bruni dec 10 2019 donald trump famous said that he could shoot somebodi in the middl of fifth avenu and not lose ani voter 
i don’t know about that 
but i’m confid that he wouldn’t lose bill barr 
execut privileg barr would probabl call it 
he’d releas a statement or hold a news confer to say that trump had a spastic trigger finger or was trigger by adam schiff or was set up by those dastard ukrainian who are never up to ani good 
such is the magnitud of barr’ servil the dogged of his defer 
he’ the president’ moral launder 
trump doe evil and barr wash him clean 
as attorney general he’ suppos to be the nation’ lawyer 
but he has bought into the autocrat delus that trump equal america that nation interest and presidenti prerog are inextric intertwin 
so he’ trump’ advoc come hell or high crime as sure as pat cipollon or rudi giuliani is 
on monday show fresh contempt for the peopl who work under him in the justic depart barr renounc a determin by the department’ inspector general that the fbi’ investig into the trump campaign’ tie to russia was legitim and that antitrump bias was not it anim forc 
he did this instant 
and then on tuesday did it again with even less subtleti and more sanctimoni 
it was a travesti he said of the investig and he was speak not just of the sloppi and hast of some of the fbi’ action with which the inspector general also took issu 
he was dismiss the whole effort as rotten 
it was an eeri echo of his effort last spring when he sought to neuter robert mueller’ find about the trump campaign’ open to russian help and the president’ attempt to obstruct justic 
give barr point for consist 
he has bought fulli into the idea that the zeal of trump’ detractor matter more than the presidents’ abus of power 
but what of the constitut 
what of common decenc 
barr isn’t concern himself with those 
to do so would call into question the honor of serv in this administr the compliment of hold the job that trump gave him 
and he want that compliment 
that pedest 
he prefer to see himself as a holi warrior than as an unholi dupe 
to appreci his perspect you must travel back two month to the univers of notr dame where he deliv a speech that garner some headlin but not near enough of them 
you should read it 
you should savor it grandios — it has refer to the dawn of homo sapien the twilight of the judeochristian order edmund burk jame madison — so that you can understand his current overreach born of his certainti that he know better than the rest of the bodi polit and is call to heal us 
you should note his remarks’ obsess with moral and you should tri not to laugh the same way you stifl chuckl when you’r remind that mike pompeo is a putat worship christian and you tri to squar that with how he abet the persecut of mari yovanovitch leav his state depart charg twist in the wind and genuflect befor a fals prophet 
in trump he trust 
you should dwell on the part of barr’ jeremiad where he say that men are subject to power passion and appetit and if unrestrain are capabl of ruthless ride roughshod over their neighbor and the communiti 
ruthless 
roughshod 
that’ trump in an allit nutshel but barr seem to be pervers oblivi to that 
he was make a case for trump’ presid 
the wonder of this wretch moment has never been the exist and stench of a bad egg in the oval offic 
that’ hard strang given how abli shameless serv ambit 
the wonder is how mani other bad egg the current presid has assembl or hatch 
the wonder is this fluffi funki omelet of unscrupul 
all these suppos god men — barr pompeo mike penc ben carson rick perri and more — cluster around such a demonstr godless one 
they ration that trump’ indulg of certain religi faction absolv him of his sin 
barr is the princip agent of that absolut 
he’ also a paragon of hypocrisi tell pete william of nbc news that the fbi 
investig of trump’ campaign was an omin abus of govern power for partisan aim 
that descript better suit the conduct for which trump is about to be impeach 
i don’t know how barr kept a straight face 
actual i do 
sinc betroth himself to trump he has had ampl practic 
in the notr dame speech without ani palpabl sens of ironi he urg a moral renaiss and deliv this priceless line no societi can exist without some mean for restrain individu rapac 
i agre 
in our societi impeach is one of those mean 
the law is anoth 
and if barr could dig out his conscienc from under all those layer of ego he’d see that the rapaci individu in direst need of restraint is the one he’ let roam free 
the polit of exhaust by david brook dec 12 2019 there are two power bloc drive polit today 
first there’ the proletariat 
these are the workingclass voter who go to trump ralli in the us and power brexit and bori johnson’ campaign in the uk 
they see their best world reced and they want a tough guy to bring it back 
second there is the precariat 
these are the young and educ voter caught in the gig economi who see no career secur ahead 
they want leader like berni sander and jeremi corbyn who will promis envelop polici — free colleg free internet free child care — to give them some sens of safeti 
these two group are differ in some way 
when the proletarian attack their enemi they do so from a posit of perceiv social inferior so their attack are resent and brutal 
when the precariat attack it doe so from a posit of perceiv moral superior so it attack are fill with ridicul mockeri and scorn 
but the movement do have parallel 
both are driven by a fear of the futur and of each other 
both have a tendenc to embrac catastroph apocalypt vision of the ruin around us 
dystopia has becom the opiat of the activist class 
haunt by econom insecur they will toler ani sin in their leader — racism antisemit dishonesti — so long as that person is will to fight and be on their side 
they both support massiv unrealist polici propos becaus they reject the idea that polit is simpli the muddl way we settl differ with peopl we disagre with 
these two power bloc are drive the debat and set the agenda 
but there’ anoth group of peopl who have becom the most interest part of the elector both here and in britain 
it’ the exhaust 75 percent peopl who are defin not by ani common ideolog but by an affect state — they are simpli worn out by the endless war between these two armi 
exhaust has becom an independ forc in modern polit 
mani peopl are vote for whatev candid will exhaust them less 
thursday’ british elect was defin by the fact that most voter were simpli ground down by johnson and corbyn 
the economist call the elect britain’ nightmar befor christma 
write in the guardian rafael behr observ we live with the undertow of sad and dread 
we are brace for that feel like see callous hand rummag in a privat drawer where a delic tangl ident is store and pull at the thread 
it feel like exil 
peopl in the exhaust camp are tire of have polit thrust in their face everi hour 
as ryan streeter of the american enterpris institut has found young peopl who are lone at least onc in a while are more than seven time more like to be activ in polit than those who are social activ 
those who are exhaust have other thing to do 
they want to restor polit to it right place and find mean attach entertain and moral in someth els besid twitter war and elect campaign 
year and year of exhaust have also made these peopl weari cynic and disgust 
exhaust as alway induc a sort of pessim a feel that we are live in terribl time a sort of weari of the soul 
as peter stockland of the think tank cardus put it the combin effect of fear and exhaust is produc a cynic so deep and murki and toxic that it verg on the sin of bear fals wit against realiti 
but the chief featur of the voter in the exhaust group is timid 
they do not get energi from conflict the way say trump doe 
their instinct is to keep their head down and just get through this crazi 
on campus 10 percent of student are abl to intimid the other 90 percent who don’t want to say the wrong thing and get cancel 
in congress the trumpian are abl to intimid the member who realiz what a problem he is 
the peopl in the two big power bloc are not good at win the war against each other but they are realli good at intimid the moder on their own side 
in this way those in the exhaust camp perpetu their own miseri 
they complain about the terribl choic each elect cycl but never organ enough or becom imagin enough to offer someth they themselv might want 
in britain they’v most taken money out of polit but they still had an elect even wors and more polar than our own 
in the end if johnson as expect win easili it will be in part becaus exhaust voter will have swung to trumpjohnson nationalist demagogi sinc the onli altern is a corbynsand class war 
in the state voter still have a chanc to turn the emot page to elect a person who display that you can be a progress or you can be a conserv without turn polit into perpetu war 
pete buttigieg is rise and joe biden’ support is resili precis becaus they are not exhaust 
the interest question is whether in the heat of battl the exhaust voter can get over their fatigu cynic and timid and take their own side in a fight 
a ridicul optimist histori of the next decad by david brook jan 2 2020 look back at the 2020s from our vantag point in 2030 the first great event was the complet destruct of donald trump’ republican parti 
as the former republican consult mike murphi had notic there were rough 300 state and feder elect dure the trump year and republican did horribl in most of them 
the 2020 vote was a continu of that trend 
trump’ landslid defeat left him humili and the republican lost their senat major 
trump cri fraud and tri to whip up his follow but they turn their back 
he went from idol to scapegoat in an instant 
it seem they could forgiv him everyth but lose 
mani temporarili retreat from polit life the way evangel christian did after the ignomini of the scope trial 
presid joe biden face an interest dynam in his parti 
the polit power was with moder 
the intellectu power was with the left 
peopl of color whose view were larg more moder becam the crucial swing faction 
as presid biden resist the interest group that want him to address health care first 
instead he did child and earnedincom tax credit infrastructur expand earli childhood educ expand prison reform and so on — what some writer call repar by ani other name 
he gave regulatori czar elizabeth warren a special portfolio to take on big tech 
the major event of the decad were cultur not polit 
the trump era had wit a crisi of connect at the bottom of societi and a crisi of author at the top 
social repair was the top order of the day onc a new presid took offic 
the first whiff of the cultur restor was the account club that spread across the nation’ campus 
colleg student realiz that america stink at account 
either there is no account wall street after the financi crisi or peopl have their live destroy for a problemat tweet 
the account club bore the motto truth and merci 
student want to restor a cultur in which fact matter 
they were also search for a way to judg other in a graduat and human manner allow for repent forgiv and restor 
marshal mcluhan onc remark that moral indign is a techniqu use to endow an idiot with digniti 
sudden indign the keyston emot of the trump year was lame 
empathi made a comeback 
the second cultur trend of the decad was the rise of the urban church 
suburban megachurch attend fell becaus the pastor had disgrac themselv under trump 
but sudden there was a surg in church plant in place like brooklyn washington dc chicago and san francisco as high educ peopl found home for their spiritu long 
the church were liturg high charismat bethel music and high universalist and intellectu richard rohr 
their polit were an odd mix — prolgbtq prolif activ on climat chang proanim right one of the signatur moral caus of the decad 
the religi left gain on the religi right 
at the same time the racial justic convers went intim 
america is involv in a multigener process of truth and reconcili 
in the teen the truthtel had general revolv around histor event — slaveri lynch redlin 
in the 2020s a seri of writer artist and director gave us vivid descript of the subtleti of contemporari black life 
the profus of video stream network allow a new generat of artist to take audienc insid the psycholog live of peopl of color 
these artist realiz that structur chang would happen when peopl learn to see one anoth whole 
the most import cultur chang came to be known as the civic renaiss 
dure the first two decad of the centuri hundr of thousand of new civic organ came into be — heal polit divid fight homeless promot social mobil and weav communiti 
but these organ were small 
they did not grow into the big nation chapterbas structur that had repair america’ social fabric a centuri earlier — the ymca the rotari the boy scout 
by the 2020s philanthropist and communiti builder realiz the onli way to chang cultur and weav the social fabric was by creat an aflcio 
of civil societi with big nation voic and larg decentr nation organ so that peopl across america had easi and practic pathway to get involv in communiti reviv 
in the 2010s it seem like the liber order was crack up 
in the 2020s that feel vanish 
the declin of the chines economi delegitim the authoritarian model 
it turn out you can’t run a central control economi without a lot of wast corrupt and riot polic 
meanwhil the american polit system began to work better 
the gop 
reemerg under josh hawley and marco rubio as a better version of a workingclass parti — social right econom left 
democrat remain domin through the decad 
their party’ biggest accomplish was in foreign affair — the repair of america’ allianc and the restor of global american leadership 
american were more collabor in the 2020s 
and the new york met won the world seri everi singl year 
the shaki futur of org domain by josephin wolff jan 27 2020 onlin commerc and forprofit activ have larg shape the internet over the past 25 year but a few import corner of the internet have remain staunch nonprofit retain some of the internet’ earli charm and resist to commerci interest 
one of those corner is the org toplevel domain the goto domain for nonprofit and nongovernment organ look to establish an afford and reput onlin presenc 
domain name for websit like nytimescom or unorg or tuftsedu are the key real estat of the internet 
without a domain it is next to imposs to have an onlin presenc there are now more than 350 million domain name regist worldwid 
those domain name are sold to custom by registrar like godaddi which partner with registri like verisign which manag the com toplevel domain or all the domain name end in com 
domain name are big busi — there’ a lot of money at stake when divvi them up among all the registrar and registri 
at the top of the domain name hierarchi sit the internet corpor for assign name and number a nonprofit that design which registri control which toplevel domain and help resolv disput around domain ownership 
icann has a uniqu govern structur it is run by a board of director that incorpor feedback from differ advisori committe compos of govern offici industri repres and civil societi member 
it is a model that icann refer to as multistakehold govern base on the premis that all user of the internet deserv a say in how it is run 
sinc 2002 domain end in org have been purchas through an agenc call the public interest registri which is own by the internet societi a wellregard nonprofit work to expand access to the internet across the world 
but in novemb the internet societi announc it was plan to sell the public interest registri — along with control of all the org domain — for 11 billion to a recent form privat equiti compani call etho capit with close tie to former leader of the internet govern communiti 
the propos sale has spark outrag from mani peopl at promin internet nonprofit includ the wikimedia foundat and the electron frontier foundat and right so 
one worri is that etho in an attempt to make the org toplevel domain as profit as possibl will rapid rais price for it custom 
for year a 2013 contract cap the cost of an org domain at 825 with an allow increas of no more than 10 percent a year — a restrict that kept org domain afford 
today a org domain cost 993 a year 
but in june 2019 icann approv a new contract with the public interest registri elimin the price cap even though thousand of peopl voic opposit to that decis dure a period of public comment 
etho has said it will continu to rais price for org domain by no more than 10 percent per year but it’ not clear how those promis will be enforc or by whom and the time of the sale — follow immedi on the elimin of the price cap — has contribut to some of the skeptic surround the deal 
anoth fear is that etho will cave to pressur from foreign govern about which organ should and should not be allow to own org domain 
current org is an open domain so anyon is allow to regist a org domain and there are more than 10 million of them regist worldwid 
but the public internet registri has the author to suspend domain name for illeg activ and one of the concern rais in a public letter oppos the sale is the potenti for govern to target ngos by accus them of illeg activ and pressur the public internet registri to take down their domain 
just last month for instanc the chines govern sanction five unit statesheadquart ngos for their involv in the protest in hong kong all five of those ngos have org domain 
there are other reason to be worri about the sale 
the circumst of the deal between etho and the internet societi seem at odd with the multistakehold model of cooper transpar govern that the internet communiti has work so hard to develop 
beyond just threaten the integr of the org toplevel domain the sale of the public interest registri without ani further communiti involv or oversight from icann threaten the integr of that govern model and the public’ trust that the organ respons for run the internet have their best interest at heart 
icann has the abil to block the deal as well as to question the involv parti about how they would manag the org domain and protect custom but in a statement to the financi time icann said it doe not have author over the propos acquisit a claim that is patent fals 
icann itself in a blog post last month acknowledg that pir must obtain icann’ prior approv befor ani transact that would result in a chang of control of the registri oper and pledg to take it respons in evalu this propos transact veri serious 
but while icann say it has ask pir for more inform about the sale it has told the public veri littl about those inquiri or the ensu respons and it has not solicit ani public comment on the transact 
icann’ reason seem to be that sinc the sale doe not threaten the secur reliabl or stabil of the org domain it is not it place to interven 
but icann regular make decis about domain ownership that are unrel to issu of secur and stabil — just last year for instanc it grant amazon ownership of the amazon toplevel domain over the object of sever south american countri 
that decis resolv a sevenyearlong disput date to 2011 when icann decid to open up more toplevel domain beyond the standard one like com org and gov 
icann receiv near 2000 applic in 2012 for new toplevel domain like googl love microsoft and wine and for each applic the applic had to pay icann 185000 in addit to ongo fee for maintain the domain 
this brought a massiv influx of cash for icann that help fund it subsequ intern expans and the process of sever it final tie with the unit state govern in 2016 
the point of sever those tie was to engend greater intern trust in icann and by extens the system of global internet govern that it overse 
but instead icann seem at risk of be captur by commerci interest — a risk that first becam appar with the lucrat 2012 expans of the toplevel domain that benefit no one besid icann 
odd are that seven year later you’v still never interact with a websit end in one of those domain and if you have it was probabl onli a mean of deliv spam or malwar to your comput 
today icann is in a veri delic posit becaus it deriv it author not from a contract with the unit state but instead from it abil to balanc the interest of all it various stakehold from govern offici to civil societi group and forprofit compani and maintain credibl with the worldwid communiti 
it’ easi to see whi it is not eager to jump into the fray and interfer with or even question the etho deal for fear of draw critic 
but the real risk to icann is in fail to protect the remain corner of the internet preserv for public good and let it forprofit stakehold becom the domin voic in it decisionmak process 
just as icann’ former relationship with the unit state govern prove problemat for it in tri to sustain a credibl role in global govern activ so will a tooclos relationship with the forprofit sector at the expens of individu internet user 
icann should public investig this sale so that all of it stakehold can see exact which safeguard will be put in place to protect org custom 
and if those safeguard are not suffici or enforc if they meet with widespread disapprov and dissatisfact from org custom and registrar then icann should make good on it promis to provid consensusbas multistakehold govern and if necessari block the deal from go through 
icann cannot and should not be hide from controversi domain disput 
it is the onli entiti with author over these decis and it willing to exercis that power will ultim 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’v been give out the sidney award initi call the hooki for longform essay sinc 2004 in honor of the late great philosoph sidney hook 
this year there were more phenomen articl than ever befor mani more than i can list 
the topic they tackl were also more downbeat than ever befor 
it’ been that kind of year 
sever of the peopl who sent me their own list of favorit suggest candac vogler’ essay a spiritu autobiographi in comment 
it’ unlik ani essay you’v ever read 
vogler suffer a childhood of unimagin sexual abus and neglect 
i was afraid to be alon 
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 injur anyon who got close to me 
her life took a seri of improb turn berkeley femin quaker a rang of gay friend in societi high and low famili disrupt bar fight an afrobrazilian spiritu practic call umbanda 
from jesus she learn that not all men are toxic 
she is now an esteem philosoph at the univers of chicago 
you can’t summar this essay becaus it’ so hard to encapsul this life’ twist and turn 
i enjoy a kind of peac now that i could not have imagin befor 
i am the luckiest person i know vogler write reflect on the arriv of mani grace into her life 
i’v cotaught with her a coupl of time she’ an amaz teacher and had no idea of the back stori that she carri around — a remind that mani peopl we meet carri back stori that are simpli mindboggl 
in when the cultur war come for the kid in the atlant georg packer describ what happen when the feroci competit meritocrat cultur of the new york educ class collid with the feroci social justic warrior of the new york educ class 
packer trace his own family’ peril adventur through a few brooklyn school and write a piec that captur the zeitgeist of our age 
his son’ public school coerc parent into opt out of standard test and made the bathroom gender neutral lead femal student to hold their bladder all day rather than go to the bathroom with boy 
it taught the oppress of everi outgroup but never the histori of the american found 
it’ not the school’ decis themselv that are so remark but the atmospher of pc 
religi zealotri that surround them and the anguish of progress parent who have to send their precious children into the maw of ideolog reeduc camp that in theori they agre with 
in the unthink has happen in vultur jayson green describ what happen when a brick fell from an eighthfloor windowsil and hit his daughter in the head 
it’ a father’ wrench and beauti minutebyminut account of the next few day 
at one point he and his wife are in the hospit absorb the doctor’ prognosi 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 readi for it to maraud through our subconsci kill and burn everyth it see 
but we hear bang at the gate 
we glanc around us realiz this is the last we’ll ever see of the world as we’v known it 
whatev come next will raze everyth to the ground 
you will read it and cri and hug your children tighter 
i’v alway given sidney to individu essay but this year it seem right to give one to an entir issu of a magazin the decemb issu of the atlant titl how to stop a civil war 
that issu felt like a civic act 
i’d particular recommend yoni appelbaum’ essay how america end which captur the polit moment we are in 
america is undergo a demograph revolut with the domin white major becom a minor 
we’r also at a moment when hyperpartisan fear that lose an elect will be more catastroph than lose our democraci 
such peopl are will to destroy democrat norm to stay in power look around you 
appelbaum also argu that the key to the country’ futur is build a healthi centerright 
as someon who’ work on this problem for 25 year i say good luck with that 
i’d also recommend caitlin flanagan’ the dishonesti of the abort debat from that issu 
flanagan doe someth that should be more common she take the most vivid argument from each side of a controversi and she jam them into one essay 
the most vivid argument of the prochoic side is the backalley and other danger abort that result when you make the procedur illeg and the women who die as a result 
flanagan take you there 
the most vivid argument of the prolif side is the sonogram and the grow evid that cognit life begin sooner than we thought 
these imag flanagan write are proof that what grow within a pregnant woman’ bodi is a human be live and unfold accord to a timet that has exist as long as we have 
obvious it would take a profound act of violenc to remov him from his quiet world and destroy him 
there’ a reason this debat is so hard 
on a lighter note sport illustr had an essay by emma baccellieri call mud maker the man behind mlb’s essenti secret sauc 
in 1920 the cleveland indian shortstop ray chapman was kill when a pitch hit him in the head 
basebal need a way to help pitcher have greater control of their pitch 
the solut was to coat the ball with a thin layer of mud thus improv their grip 
jim bintliff is the man who collect that mud with shovel and bucket from a secret spot along the delawar river 
his mud now coat rough 240000 ball per season 
the stori is about bintliff who cultiv the mud as if it were fine wine 
i know the mud 
i’m the onli one on the planet who doe he say 
in the day the dinosaur die in the new yorker dougla preston describ what happen when an asteroid struck the earth 66 million year ago the most signific event in the histori of our planet 
twentyf trillion metric ton of debri were thrown up into the atmospher 
the energi releas was more power than a billion hiroshima bomb 
a mountain rose up higher than mount everest 
fire consum 70 percent of the world’ forest and kill 999999 percent of all live organ 
preston’ tale get more astound from there 
in magic eras juic in hazlitt elizabeth rosen describ what it’ like to be an emt 
in the age of the opioid epidem 
the piec is grip throughout but especi when she’ describ how peopl who have overdos are brought back to life when she administ narcan 
some are overcom with grief that they have fallen so low 
other are nonchal oh i’v od’d a bunch of time 
i hope everybodi has read richard powers’ phenomen novel the overstori about how tree communic and a lot more 
robert macfarlane’ essay the understori in emerg magazin is even more astound explain how tree communic underground 
one of the way they do it is through hypha which are superfin thread that fungi send out through the soil to creat an interconnect social network 
a singl teaspoon of soil can hold up to seven mile of hypha 
i found the american scholar essay how i learn to talk by emili fox gordon a pure delight 
when she was a young woman gordon found a psychoanalyst lesli farber who didn’t tri to forc epiphani and breakthrough aha 
moment 
he didn’t treat therapi as work 
he saw it as an occas for friendship and beauti talk 
this kind of talk gordon write is play and gratuit 
though it often contain element of argument and analysi it first aim is not to solv problem 
in the case of farber’ practic ani therapeut benefit lay in the talk itself the selfforget human connect that can lift a person out of desper isol and remind him that in the futur such repriev will continu to be possibl 
gordon’ narrat voic is love and wise 
farber is someon we would all like to have known — and can through this essay 
the final sidney winner is a bit of a cheat 
cop diari by edward conlon was first publish in the new yorker in 1997 and was repost this year by the sun 
it’ certain the most realist descript of polic work that i have read 
i take prison conlon write and to exercis that author is to invok a profound social trust 
each time a surgeon undertak the respons of cut open a human be it should be awesom and new no matter how necessari the oper no matter how routin 
a polic offic who take away someone’ freedom bear a burden of at least equal graviti 
let me tell you it’ a pleasur sometim 
when i read these essay at the end of the year i feel like i’v been given gift and a deeper appreci of the realiti around us 
when i spend the rest of the year follow impeach on twitter not so much 
a lot of peopl help me find great essay each year but i’m especi grate to robert cottrel who run one of my favorit spot on the web the browser conor friedersdorf whose the best in journal newslett is a week dose of intellectu nutrit and robert atwan who run the best american essay seri at houghton mifflin 
all three are generous with their time and erudit 
full disclosur my wife is editor in chief of comment where the vogler essay appear 
the three crucial flaw in trump’ ‘peac vision’ by micah goodman jan 29 2020 presid trump’ “ultim deal for israelipalestinian peac isn’t ultim and it isn’t quit a deal 
releas on tuesday the plan — or “peac vision as it’ call in it offici document — has three flaw 
none are fatal 
first the disson between it pretens and it time it purport to chang histori but come just one month befor israel’ elect it serv petti polit 
second there is a mismatch between the plan’ state aim and the actor who are meant to put it into place it seek to bring peac between israel and the palestinian but the palestinian are not full partner in it implement 
third and the biggest problem the plan doesn’t meet the palestinians’ minimum condit 
can anyon imagin that the palestinian who have previous reject plan that offer them near 100 percent of the west bank might be happi with just 70 percent 
the peac plan in other word will not bring peac 
but these three flaw should not distract us from the big opportun the plan present it clever redivid even temporarili the territori in disput 
this divis can rearrang the conflict 
if put in place the plan would creat a palestinian state with almost full sovereignti on some 70 percent of the west bank while fulli address israel’ secur need 
the conflict would not end but it would be function differ 
the israelipalestinian conflict is a conflict between occupi and the occupi 
but after the plan it would becom a conflict between two separ polit entiti — and that’ an entir new paradigm 
this should be the plan’ big ambit instead of seek to end the battl it should fundament redraw the battl line 
the problem with the “ultim deal is the mismatch between the plan and it state aim 
as a peac plan it’ laughabl 
but sometim all that’ need to fix a problem is to rethink the purpos of the solut 
and here we can stop pretend that the unit state plan will end the conflict and admit that it might be better at transform it charact 
and with more modest goal it might enjoy better success 
to turn the trump administration’ propos from a bad plan to end the conflict into a good plan to transform the conflict all refer to end the conflict should be remov 
the palestinian cannot be expect to recogn israel as a jewish state formal renounc the right of return or sign a document announc an “end to claim 
what would israel gain from a plan to reconfigur the conflict 
plenti 
most isra are trap between two nation aspir 
on the one hand they don’t want to rule over the palestinian peopl but on the other they don’t want to live under the threat of rocket from a palestinian state 
the tension between these two impuls has paralyz israel’ abil to address the conflict 
a plan to reconfigur the conflict would dramat reduc israel’ control over the palestinian and do so without put israel in danger 
in other word for isra the trump plan would smash the zerosum game between secur and end the occup 
isra would be abl to great reduc their rule over the palestinian without be ani more threaten by them 
and what do the palestinian stand to gain from a plan to reconfigur the conflict 
also plenti 
the palestinian too are trap 
on the one hand they want an independ state of their own but on the other most of them want the palestinian refuge to “return — that is to be reloc to israel 
moreov a larg section of palestinian societi is unwil to recogn nonmuslim sovereignti over ani part of the holi land 
reconcil with israel would be a religi concess and relinquish the “right of return would be a nation concess 
for mani palestinian those two concess would mean renounc their most sacr belief which form a part of palestinian ident 
for mani year the various peac plan propos to the palestinian expect them to forgo these two axiom 
but the palestinian have alway refus a deal in which they would have to relinquish core element of their nation ident as the price for independ 
a plan to rearrang the conflict would give the palestinian a state without expect them to pay for it by renounc their demand for a right of return and therebi conced a plank of their nation ident 
under the plan the new palestinian state will not be complet sovereign but it will be most sovereign and the element of the occup that immiser palestinian in their daytoday live — name restrict on movement construct and econom growth — will be swept away 
in other word ani plan would need to drop the pretens of realiz either side’ perfect deal 
this plan begin to do that 
under it the palestinian could dramat enhanc their sovereignti without conced their aspir and israel should control far fewer palestinian without conced it secur 
neither side will give up on what is truli import to it and both will reduc what is truli pain 
it won’t be peac 
it won’t be a new middl east 
but it will be progress 
conflict between neighbor are not onli healthier than conflict between occupi and the occupi — they are also more like to support negoti 
talk in the futur would be between two sovereign state 
in other word reconfigur the conflict will creat new opportun to continu shrink it 
it’ time to stop devot our energi and polit capit to end the conflict in a singl “ultim deal and start focus on a much more modest mission — transform it natur 
instead of reject the plan — we should think again about what it can and should realist achiev 
that’ the way to break through the deadlock minim suffer and forg a new realiti 
the white hous motto watch your back by michell cottl nov 14 2019 there’ no honor among thiev nor appar among anxious polit hack who bound themselv to a presid with a penchant for subordin the nation interest to his own 
onceeag presidenti enabl have turn on one anoth with feral abandon as the fact of what mr trump’ flunki were do in ukrain have becom clear and the impeach investig move into it public phase 
john bolton the former nation secur advis appear to be spoil for a fight 
he has a deal worth around 2 million to write a book about his time in the administr which he left on notsofriend term in septemb 
in a privat speech last week mr bolton offer a harsh assess of the president’ foreignpolici chop and suggest that mr trump’ polici toward turkey has been driven by person and busi interest accord to nbc news 
mr bolton’ lawyer told impeach investig that mr bolton has inform about mani relev meet and convers concern ukrain that he might be will to share if the court give him the goahead 
mr bolton is await the outcom of a lawsuit brought by his former deputi charl kupperman ask the court to decid whether a congression subpoena outweigh the president’ order to ignor it 
mick mulvaney the act white hous chief of staff tri to glom onto mr kupperman’ lawsuit but mr bolton was have none of it 
on monday a lawyer who repres both him and mr kupperman ask a judg to deni mr mulvaney’ request cite among other object that mr mulvaney may have waiv ani immun from testifi when he acknowledg in a news confer last month that mr trump had sought a quid pro quo from ukrain in exchang for militari aid and said that peopl need to get over it 
mr mulvaney who subsequ insist he hadn’t said what he said was a key player in the pressur campaign to have ukrain announc an investig of former vice presid joe biden while mr bolton report said he want noth to do with the drug deal mr mulvaney was cook up with gordon sondland the ambassador to the european union 
surpris by the blowback mr mulvaney drop his court request and now say he will abid by the president’ edict not to cooper 
even so he has been clash with pat cipollon the white hous counsel over what each see as the other’ mishandl of the president’ impeach defens 
mr mulvaney also face danger from hous republican look for someon to blame other than mr trump for the ukrain mess 
he is among the most promis scapegoat accord to the washington post along with the president’ lawyer rudi giuliani and mr sondland two of the princip player 
but mr mulvaney has impli to peopl that he know too much to be fire 
mr giuliani now under crimin investig over his ukrain deal is face newli reveal accus from his associ lev parna 
mr parna say mr giuliani direct him to help pressur ukrainian offici to investig mr trump’ polit rival 
for his part mr giuliani is contempl start an impeachmentthem podcast which should terrifi everyon concern 
the presid meanwhil is said to want to fire not onli mr mulvaney but also the inspector general of the intellig communiti michael atkinson who alert congress to the whistleblow complaint kick off the impeach inquiri 
more public mr trump has been berat republican lawmak for suggest that his behavior toward ukrain was anyth other than perfect — as he has taken to rant on twitter 
while secretari of state mike pompeo isn’t under attack from his peer — yet — there are warn flag 
last month his former senior advis michael mckinley told investig that mr pompeo ignor his plea to protect mari yovanovitch the former ambassador to ukrain who becam the target of a giuliani smear campaign that contribut to her ouster from kiev — plea that the secretari claim never to have heard 
who know where this could lead 
even white hous player not direct tie to impeach are get in on the action 
peddl her new memoir nikki haley the former ambassador to the unit nation has been accus former secretari of state rex tillerson and former white hous chief of staff john kelli of have sought her aid in undermin the president’ polici aim dure their time in the administr 
for his part mr kelli say he warn the presid befor be push out that if he were replac by a yes man mr trump would end up be impeach 
look at you mick 
then there’ anonym the senior administr offici who publish a septemb 2018 ope in the time who is out with a new tellal book paint an unflatt pictur of the presid and charg the white hous quit simpli is broken 
to be fair with so mani peopl have been pull — will or otherwis — into mr trump’ ukrain scheme it can be hard for the lackey to keep their stori straight and avoid incrimin even themselv 
for instanc mr sondland origin told impeach investig that he had no knowledg of a quid pro quo involv ukrain 
less than three week later he amend his testimoni to say that he did recal tell ukrainian offici that they were unlik to receiv their promis militari aid until they public announc the investig sought by mr trump 
this recov memori brought mr sondland’ testimoni more into line with that of other wit 
all this should serv as a warn for the president’ mani apologist 
as the impeach inquiri grind on the circular fire squad is like to grow still larger — and potenti arm with highercalib ammunit 
the wisdom your bodi know by david brook nov 28 2019 this has been a golden age for brain research 
we now have amaz brain scan that show which network in the brain ramp up dure differ activ 
but this emphasi on the brain has subt fed the illus that think happen onli from the neck up 
it’ fed the illus that the advanc part of our think are the ration part up top that tri to control the more primit part down below 
so it’ interest how mani scientist are now focus on the think that happen not in your brain but in your gut 
you have neuron spread through your innard and there’ increas attent on the vagus nerv which emerg from the brain stem and wander across the heart lung kidney and gut 
the vagus nerv is one of the pathway through which the bodi and brain talk to each other in an unconsci convers 
much of this convers is about how we are relat to other 
human think is not primarili about individu calcul but about social engag and cooper 
one of the leader in this field is stephen w porg of indiana univers 
when you enter a new situat porg argu your bodi react 
your heart rate may go up 
your blood pressur may chang 
signal go up to the brain which record the autonom state you are in 
mayb you walk into a social situat that feel welcom 
green light 
your brain and bodi get prepar for a friend convers 
but mayb the person in front of you feel threaten 
yellow light 
you go into fightorflight mode 
your bodi instant chang 
your ear for exampl adjust to hear high and low frequenc — a scream or a growl — rather than midrang frequenc human speech 
or mayb the threat feel like a matter of life and death 
red light 
your brain and bodi begin to shut down 
accord to porges’ polyvag theori the concept of safeti is fundament to our mental state 
peopl who have experienc trauma have bodi that are high reactiv to perceiv threat 
they don’t like public place with loud nois 
they live in fightorflight mode stress and anxious 
or if they feel trap and constrain they go numb 
their voic and tone go flat 
physic reaction shape our way of see and be 
lisa feldman barrett of northeastern univers also argu that a main purpos of the brain is to read the bodi and to regul what she call the bodi budget 
you may see a bulli on the playground 
your brain then predict your next action and speed your heart rate and breath to deal with it 
you experi these chang as emot — oh this is fear or oh this is anger — becaus your brain has creat an emot concept to make those physic chang meaning 
you might think that in everyday life the thing you see and hear influenc what you feel but it’ most the other way around what you feel alter your sight and hear barrett write in how emot are made 
when we’r realli young we know few emot concept 
young children say mommi i hate you 
when they mean i don’t like this becaus they haven’t learn their culture’ concept for hatr vs bad 
but as we get older we learn more emot granular 
the emot wise person can creat distinct experi of disappoint anger spite resent grouchi and aggrav wherea for a less emot wise person those are all synonym for i feel bad 
a wise person may know the foreign word that express emot we can’t name in english tocka russian rough for spiritu anguish or litost czech rough for miseri combin with the hunger for reveng 
peopl with high emot granular respond flexibl to life have better mental health outcom and drink less 
if bodili reaction can drive peopl apart they can also heal 
martha g welch of columbia univers point to the import of love physic touch especi in the first 1000 minut of life to lay down marker of emot stabil 
under the old brainon paradigm welch argu we told peopl to selfregul their emot through conscious selftalk 
but real emot help come through coregul 
when a mother and a child physic hold each other their bodili autonom state harmon connect on a metabol level 
togeth they move from separ distress to mutual calm 
welch has creat someth call the welch emot connect screen which measur the emot connect between mother and preterm babi 
by encourag this kind of deep viscer connect through 18 month her therapi can mitig the effect of autism 
when you step back and see the brain and bodi think togeth the old distinct between reason and emot doesn’t seem to make sens 
your veri percept of the world is shape by the predict your brain is make about your physic autonom state 
you also see how import it is to teach emot granular someth our cultur pay almost no attent to 
you also see that we’r not separ brain coolli observ each other 
we’r physic viscera deepli interact with each other 
the import communic is happen at a much deeper level 
trump has made us all stupid by david brook donald trump is impulsedriven ignor narcissist and intellectu dishonest 
so you’d think that those of us in the antitrump camp would go out of our way to show we’r not like him — that we are judici inform matur and reason 
but the event of the past week have shown that the antitrump echo chamber is becom a mirror imag of trump himself — overwrought uncalibr and incap of have an intellig convers about ani complex polici problem 
for exampl there’ a complex polici problem at the heart of this week’ iran episod 
iran is not power becaus it has a strong economi or militari 
it is power becaus it sponsor militia across the middl east destabil regim and spread genocid and sectarian cleans 
over the past few year those militia orchestr by qassim suleimani have felt free to oper more in the open with greater destruct effect 
we’r not go to go in and destroy the militia 
so how can we keep them in check so they don’t destabil the region 
that’ the hard problem — one that stymi past administr 
in the middl east and wherev there are protract conflict nation have a way to address this problem 
they use violenc as a form of communic 
a nation tri to maintain order will assassin a terror leader or destroy a terror facil 
the attack say hey we know we’r in a longterm conflict but let’ not let it get out of hand 
that’ not in either of our interest 
the attack is a way to seiz control of the escal process and set a boundari marker 
these sort of oper have risk and reward 
a risk is that it won’t ceas the escal just acceler it 
the radic on the other side will get enrag and take to the street 
their leader will have to appeas that rage 
a reward is that mayb you do halt the escal 
the other side implicit say messag receiv 
we’ll do some facesav thing to appeas the street but we don’t want this to get out of hand either 
anoth reward is that you’v manag to elimin an effect terrorist like suleimani 
talent doesn’t grow on tree 
the decis to undertak this sort of oper is a matter of weigh risk and reward 
and after the suleimani kill you saw american secur profession talk in the languag of balanc risk and reward 
stanley mcchrystal a retir general and michael mullen a retir admir thought it was worth the risk 
susan rice a former nation secur advis thought it wasn’t 
but in the antitrump echo chamber that’ not how most peopl were think 
led by berni sander and elizabeth warren they avoid the hard complex problem of how to set boundari around militia 
instead they pontif on the easi question not actual on the tabl should we have a massiv invas of iran 
a great cri went up from the echo chamber 
we’r on the brink of war 
trump is lead us to more endless war in the middl east 
we’r on the precipic of total chao 
this was not the calibr languag of risk and reward 
it was fearstok apocalypt languag 
by be so overwrought and exagger the echo chamber drown out ani practic convers about how to stabil the middl east so we could have anoth righteous chorus of donald trump is a monster 
this is trump’ ultim victori 
everi argument on everi topic is now all about him 
hate trump togeth has becom the ultim bond attentiongrab and profitmaxim mechan for those of us in antitrump world 
so you get a seri of exagger fervor — the mueller report 
impeach 
the steel dossier 
— that lead ultim nowher 
most of this week’ argument about the middl east wasn’t realli about the middl east 
it was all narcissist about ourselv 
democrat defend terrorist 
republican are warmong 
actual iranian are just bit player in our imperialist soap opera the passiv recipi of our great or perfidi 
the world is more complic than this cartoon 
love or hate him trump has use militari forc less than ani other presid sinc jimmi carter 
when it come to foreign polici he is not like recent republican 
he is as my colleagu ross douthat put it a jacksonian figur want to get america out of foreign entangl while lob a few longdist attack to ensur the crazi foreign stick to kill one anoth and not us 
and this is the final paradox 
for all the sturm und drang that surround trump populist republican and democrat are gravit toward the same foreign polici we’r in the middl of a clash of civil the middl east is so screw up we should just get out we’r too stupidineffectiveracistimperialist to do ani good there anyway 
we fight vicious about trump but underneath a populist leftright curtain is descend around america separ us from the mideast china even europ 
the real highrisk move is the one both parti are make togeth that if we ignor the world it will ignor us 
it won’t 
mayb onc the inflammatori one is final gone from the scene we can have an intellig convers about that 
trump’ contempt for true profession by frank bruni nov 12 2019 the impeach inquiri and the event that led to it tell mani stori 
one obvious is about the abus of power 
anoth illumin the foul mash of mendac and paranoia at the core of donald trump 
but this week as sever longtim civil servant testifi at the inquiry’ first public hear a third narrat demand notic becaus it explain the entir tragedi of the trump administr the larger scandal the lesser disgrac and the current moment of reckon 
that stori is the collis of a presid who has absolut no regard for profession and those who tri to embodi it the battl between an arrog unscrupul yahoo and his humbl principl opposit 
right now the opposit have the microphon 
i mean william taylor america’ top diplomat in ukrain who is tell the first impeach wit to testifi on live televis 
stephani grisham the white house’ peerless nasti press secretari has sought to discredit taylor’ account of the pressur on ukraine’ new presid by say that he belong to a cabal of radic unelect bureaucrat 
hard 
he’ a west point graduat and vietnam veteran with a halfcenturi career that’ devoid of obvious partisanship and entir about the public good 
he took the ukrain post despit profound qualm becaus he felt he owe his countri his expertis 
he’ a creatur of duti and disciplin and earnest accru knowledg — all precious commod that are worthless in trump’ eye 
in other word he’ a true profession and it was as such that he recoil from what trump rudi giuliani and the wretch rest of them were up to 
mari yovanovitch the former ambassador to ukrain has a diplomat rã©sumã© that’ three decad long and includ three ambassadorship an unusu feat 
the fault that giuliani and trump found in her was her respect for correct procedur her resist to corrupt polit and her reluct to tweet out dopey prais for the presid 
they quibbl with her profession which had no place in their scheme 
trump’ disregard — no contempt — for profession is in some way an anagram of his avers to norm to tradit to simpl courtesi 
or at least these attitud exist as a venn diagram with enorm overlap 
they’r hostil to ani set of valu that place person glori below other ideal 
but trump’ war on profession and profession is also it own distinct theme in his busi career which is rife with cheat and his polit life which is greas with lie 
go back to his initi staf of senior post and recal how shoddi the vet process was 
also notic two promin class of recruit peopl who had profound question prepar for the job that he nonetheless gave them ben carson betsi devo stephen miller javanka and genuin profession who wager that their skill would be critic necessari — and thus high valu — and that trump would sure rise to the establish code and expect conduct of his offic 
now look at how mani of those profession jame matti hr 
mcmaster gari cohn dan coat are gone 
and tell me whether trump has ever had the epiphani that the presid is in fact a profess 
a crisi of profession defin his administr in which backstab is the new gladhand fire are cruel exit are ugli the turnov is jawdrop the number of unfil posit is mindboggl and mani offici have titl that are prefac with act — a modifi with multipl mean in this case 
trump slyli market his antiprofession as antielit and a reject of staid cautious think 
but it’ realli his way of excus his ignor costum his incompet and greenlight his hooligan 
he reject profession becaus it temper selfpromot and forbid such grandios claim as his insist that he know more about the islam state than ani militari general 
i alon can fix it he boast at the republican convent in 2016 
i’m the onli one that matter he said the follow year when dismiss ani concern about job vacanc 
a true profession would have troubl utter those word 
they roll easili off a true huckster’ tongu 
profession involv credenti benchmark all sort of yardstick by which a person can be judg sometim unkind 
trump want onli affirm 
and profession is a realitybas enterpris 
trump prefer fiction the ukrain call was perfect 
read the transcript becaus it exoner him 
his critic are partisan hack 
he’ the target of an intermin witch hunt 
but robert mueller was no more hunt witch than bill taylor is an agent of the deep state 
in fact mueller stand out as a consumm profession so much so that he polit neuter himself and deep state is trump’ deepli cynic pejor for season profession 
it’ the profession who keep push back at him whether at the feder reserv the birmingham ala offic of the nation weather servic or the state depart which is where taylor yovanovitch and this week’ other impeach wit georg kent work 
michael mcfaul a former unit state ambassador to russia wrote about taylor and yovanovitch recent in an essay for the new york review of book titl the deepli dedic state observ both alway have struck me as firstrat govern servant singular focus on advanc american nation interest 
both have serv republican and democrat presid and even after decad of interact with them both i could not guess how either of them vote 
he character them as accident hero who aren’t like to seek the limelight 
they are extrem well train compet and high regard profession he summar 
that’ whi they buck trump 
and that’ whi he can’t bear them 
trump’ digit advantag is freak out democrat strategist by thoma b edsal jan 29 2020 in a blog post publish in novemb a year befor the 2020 elect brian burch the presid of catholicvoteorg a social conserv advocaci group announc that in wisconsin alon his organ had identifi 199241 cathol who’v been to church at least 3 time in the last 90 day 
near half of these religi observ parishion burch wrote 91373 massattend cathol — are not even regist to vote 
catholicvoteorg is look for potenti trump voter within this larg untap reservoir — republicanlean white cathol who could bolster trump’ number in a battleground state 
burch whose organ oppos abort and gay marriag made his plan clear we are alreadi build the largest cathol voter mobil program ever 
and no that’ not an exagger 
our plan span at least 7 state and grow and includ million of cathol voter 
how did cathol vote come up with these particular church attend number for 199241 cathol 
with geofenc a technolog that creat a virtual geograph boundari enabl softwar to trigger a respons when a cellphon enter or leav a particular area — a church for exampl or a stadium a school or an entir town 
geofenc is just one of the new tool of digit campaign a larg unregul field of polit combat in which voter have littl or no idea of how they are be manipul in which tradit disclosur requir are inop and key actor are anonym 
it is a weapon of choic 
onc an area is geofenc commerci data compani can acquir the mobil phone id number of those within the boundari 
this is how the nation cathol report describ the process in an articl earlier this month polit mind geofenc captur data from the cellphon of churchgoer and then purchas ad target those devic 
that data can be match against other easili obtain databas includ voter profil which give market identifi inform such as name address and voter registr status 
such inform can be a gold mine 
burch describ what catholicvoteorg initi in the 2018 elect 
we creat ad campaign target to mobil devic that have been insid of cathol church burch explain 
what’ more we told cathol in missouri the truth about thensen clair mccaskil — that she was proabort was unwil to protect the littl sister of the poor and oppos cathol judici nomine becaus of their religi belief 
and she lost 
if you attend an evangel or a cathol church a women’ right march or a polit ralli of ani kind especi in a serious contest state the odd are that your cellphon id number home address partisan affili and the identifi inform of the peopl around you will be provid by geofenc market to campaign lobbyist and other interest group 
with increas speed digit technolog is transform polit constant provid novel way to target specif individu to get the unregist regist to turn out margin voter to persuad the undecid and to suppress support for the opposit 
democrat and republican agre that the trump campaign is far ahead of the democrat parti in the use of this technolog capit on it substanti invest dure the 2016 elect and benefit from an uninterrupt hightech drive sinc then 
republican have a big advantag this time ben nuckel a democrat media consult said in a phone interview 
they not onli have all the data from 2016 but they have been build this oper into a nonstop juggernaut 
the new technolog nuckel continu allow campaign to deliv a broader narrat over the top on televis and other media while underneath in digit you are deliv ad that are tailor to those voter that you need to influenc and persuad the most 
the explos of digit technolog has creat the opportun for polit oper to run what amount to dark campaign conduct below the radar of both voter awar and govern oversight 
in some case the technolog is veri simpl the anonym transmiss of negat imag of candid by individu to facebook group 
this activ is neither report to the feder elect commiss nor link to offici campaign 
steven livingston a professor of media and public affair and director of the institut for data democraci and polit at georg washington univers has been track this sub rosa election in the current elect cycl 
he found that support of two candid trump and berni sander are the primari practition 
the washington post and the new york time have both report on the activ of sander support but livingston note in an email our evid suggest that trump support use autom promot or cross post four time as much as sander support 
livingston describ these digit shadow campaign as analog to and perhap an actual digit manifest of ‘dark money’ influenc campaign 
in addit he continu overwhelm these page and group do not have ownership declar or facebook verif 
we simpli do not know what other digit properti might be oper by common sourc with the group 
there is money be spent but we don’t know the sourc 
it is unaccount spend 
livingston provid some of the kind of negat messag and imag promot by anonym protrump activist 
here is one and here is one made by a sander enthusiast expert in the explos grow field of polit digit technolog have develop an innov terminolog to describ what they do — a lexicon that is virtual incomprehens to ordinari voter 
this languag provid an inkl of the extraordinarili arcan univers polit has enter geofenc mass person dark pattern ident resolut technolog dynam prospect geotarget strategi locat analyt geobehaviour segment polit data cloud automat content recognit dynam creativ optim 
geofenc and other emerg digit technolog deriv from microtarget market initi that use consum and other demograph data to identifi the interest of specif voter or veri small group of likemind individu to influenc their thought or action 
microtarget first had a signific impact on american polit in state level campaign work by alec gage a republican and his firm targetpoint in 2002 
now polit oper are exploit commerci techniqu to correl microtarget data with the identif number of cellphon 
this allow campaign to mobil persuad and turn out — or to suppress turnout among — key voter 
in 2016 trump spent far more than hillari clinton on digit campaign and sinc then his campaign under the direct of brad parscal has continu far outpac it democrat rival 
in a paper publish this month the digit commerci of us polit — 2020 and beyond kathryn montgomeri a professor of communic at american univers and jeff chester execut director of the center for digit democraci describ the differ between the 2016 trump and clinton campaign wherea 31 percent of donald trump’ total campaign expenditur were for digit media onli 6 percent of hillari clinton’ expenditur were for digit 
moreov wherea almost 50 percent of mr trump’ media expenditur were for digit onli 8 percent of secretari clinton’ media expenditur were for digit 
so although secretari clinton outspent mr trump by 75 million on media it is quit possibl that mr trump’ heavi relianc on digit media allow for a more effici and target ad campaign that escap the eye 
parscal who is now manag trump’ 2020 campaign claim in a 2018 tweet that the trump campaign tech oper was 100 time to 200 time more effect than the clinton campaign’ ad realdonaldtrump was a perfect candid for facebook 
on monday parscal boast on the conserv websit townhal that trump ralli are provid a gold mine of data for the 2020 elect out of more than 20000 identifi voter who came to a recent trump ralli in milwauke wisconsin 579 percent did not have a histori of vote for republican 
remark 4413 attende didn’t even vote in the last elect — a clear indic that presid trump is energ american who were previous not engag in polit 
similar find are come out of other ralli accord to parscal near 22 percent of identifi support at presid trump’ ralli in toledo ohio were democrat and anoth 21 percent were independ 
an astound 15 percent of identifi voter who saw the presid speak in battl creek michigan has not vote in ani of the last four elect 
in hershey pennsylvania just over 20 percent of identifi voter at the ralli were democrat and 18 percent were nonwhit 
in the current elect cycl montgomeri and chester write further growth and expans of the big data digit marketplac is reshap elector polit in the us introduc both candid and issu campaign to a system of sophist softwar applic and datatarget tool that are root in the goal valu and strategi for influenc consum behavior 
technolog use for ident resolut they write enabl market — and polit group — to target and ‘reach real people’ with greater precis than ever befor 
market are help perfect a system that leverag and integr increas in realtim consum profil data with onlin behavior to captur more granular profil of individu includ where they go and what they do 
the author go on to warn that all of these develop are take place moreov within a regulatori structur that is weak and larg ineffectu 
tara mcgowan execut director of the recent creat prodemocrat group acronym which plan to spend 75 million on digit and other media repli to my question by email there’ no digit dark magic be deploy by brad parscal and the trump campaign 
they just have near unlimit resourc and are spend them wise to reach their voter where they are — onlin and especi on platform like facebook 
the greatest advantag mcgowan continu that the trump campaign has over democrat head into 2020 is time 
democrat may not settl on a general elect nomine until late spring or summer 
that give the trump campaign much more time to talk to voter and defin the democrat in place where it count 
in addit to acronym prodemocrat group like prioriti usa american bridg america vote and a host of other are work togeth prepar to spend more than 300 million to counter the trump effort 
in addit the campaign of mike bloomberg berni sander and tom steyer are all spend huge amount of money on digit strategi focus on facebook googl and other social media 
still there are concern that much of the democrat spend will have limit valu in the general elect insofar as it is go toward state that will not be 2020 battleground includ for exampl alabama arkansa california massachusett oklahoma tennesse utah and vermont on tuesday march 3 better known as super tuesday 
in addit whoever becom the democrat nomine will not be abl to share his or her data with the independ prodemocrat group accord to feder regul 
appl googl and most other major internet player have adopt privaci polici that would appear to signific constrain the abil of data manag firm to obtain detail household inform consum spend and partisan lean of smartphon user 
but it turn out that there are way to get around the rule 
serg egelman a research director at berkeley’ intern comput scienc institut and a coauthor of the paper 50 way to leak your data an explor of apps’ circumvent of the android permiss system repli to my email most user are like of the impress that app will onli collect the person data that they’r ask about in the ‘permiss dialogues’ that they encount ie popup notif ask if it’ ok 
for an app to access certain data such as locat address book contact photo etc 
these unsuspect user were mistaken 
we discov that there are back channel through which the same data is avail without have to present the user with a permiss dialogu 
what doe this mean for polit 
we know that mani of these entiti are data broker and analyt compani that are in the busi of use this type of data to profil mobil devic user and then sell these profil to various entiti includ polit campaign 
the data general provid inform about individu users’ daytoday activ and prefer 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 associ 
this data he ad enabl campaign to list individu attende at polit ralli to identifi polit lean base on onlin and offlin prefer where you live work shop play etc 
and to segment ad base on infer psychograph trait ie exact what cambridg analytica did but instead of person polit ad on facebook user get person ad in potenti all of their mobil app 
egelman note that from the user’ perspect there’ liter no way of prevent it from happen or even know when it’ happen 
the expect that app user should be abl to figur this all out and manag it is absolut ludicr 
a prodemocrat strategist who is help coordin the independ effort to defeat trump — and who insist on anonym to protect his job — describ what he believ is the current state of play in the role of digit technolog in larger overal strategi there’ no question that as a technic matter the republican and the koch are spend much more and have better data than democratsprogress 
but they also have a much more difficult product to sell trump 
if marco rubio were presid in this thrive economi he continu 2020 would not be a competit elect and the democrat might not have claim the hous in 2018 
crucial the strategist said trump has two relev advantag deriv from the asymmetri between the flow of republican and democrat inform 
first when trump say someth fox repeat it 
when a democrat say someth the new york time and the rest of the msm knock it down if it’ fals or debat 
in other word a huge swath of trumpsupport media doe not perform factbas journal 
in addit the democrat strategist said trump benefit enorm becaus of the right’ align network of media properti ie sinclair facebook properti youtub influenc and botssock puppet 
this kind of amplif network bare exist for democratsprogress 
while studi show that digit ad have at most a slight persuas effect he note the real goal of paid advertis is for the content to becom organ social media 
for exampl a trump ad say that he’ brought back manufactur job would persuad almost no one 
but when local news or your neighbor start repeat that it becom more credibl and persuas 
that’ what they’r after 
to sum up their content is advantag becaus it reach their target audienc without friction from the media that audienc trust and is quick and reliabl repeat by other voic they trust in their world 
what’ the bottom line 
final there’ the question of the size of the valu of trump’ datadigit advantag 
big enough to enabl him to win the popular vote 
almost certain not 
big enough to win wisconsin 
frighten so 
trump want law and order front and center by thoma b edsal jan 8 2020 unexpect the 2020 presidenti campaign is drill down on petti crime and homeless 
donald trump and his republican alli are reviv lawandord theme similar to those use effect by richard nixon and spiro agnew in the late 1960s and earli 1970s to demon racial minor 
to this end republican seek to discredit liber law enforc initi adopt by a new breed of democrat prosecutor 
these democrat district attorney — in citi counti and suburb from philadelphia orlando chicago and st loui to contra costa counti calif suffolk counti mass and durham counti nc — are pursu polici intend to decrimin vagranc and elimin cash bail and they are aggress pursu charg in case of shoot by polic offic 
they are play a key role in a hot politic movement to curb mass incarcer and to roll back what has becom known as the carcer state 
the decarcer movement is back by a wide array of organ tight align with the progress wing of the democrat parti the real justic pac black live matter the brennan center for justic the aclu justic democrat moveonorg and brand new congress 
michael waldman presid of the brennan center and adureh onyekwer a senior research and program associ there along with inimai chettiar and priya raghavan describ the goal of the movement in a may 2019 essay end mass incarcer idea from today’ leader mass incarcer is the civil right crisi of our time 
the racial dispar pervas in our justic system compound at everi junctur african american are more like to be stop by polic arrest detain befor trial and given harsher sentenc than white 
how do we achiev chang the author ask 
the solut they envisag rang broad from elimin prison for lowerlevel crime to incentiv state to decarcer from end bail to abolish privat prison from reform hous and employ law to chang the public percept of the justic system and cultiv respect for all live 
at the same time as this movement has been gain momentum it has provid ammunit for a power counterattack from presid trump his attorney general william barr and other lawandord republican 
the result is that the 2020 elect is expand the 50yearold cultur war into new territori as democrat — often under pressur from younger voter — seek to extend broader right to those who have been previous stigmat or margin now move beyond protect for minor women and gay to provid more freedom to crimin defend the homeless the mental ill and unknown number of men and women imprison through prosecutori misconduct judici error or other form of system failur 
republican in turn are bet that the democrat presidenti candid have move substanti farther to the left on issu of crime and punish than the vote public 
lead democrat presidenti candid for their part are not shi away from the challeng endors in whole or in part the decarcer and decrimin agenda 
even joe biden one of the more moder 2020 candid argu at the septemb democrat presidenti debat that we should be talk about rehabilit 
nobodi should be in jail for a nonviol crime and that nobodi should be in jail for a drug problem 
we build more rehabilit center not prison 
onc a strong support of the death penalti biden now call for it elimin note on his websit over 160 individu who’v been sentenc to death in this countri sinc 1973 have later been exoner 
becaus we cannot ensur we get death penalti case right everi time biden will work to pass legisl to elimin the death penalti at the feder level 
while mani of the democrat presidenti candid have effect join the decarcer movement the same uniti cannot be found among hous and senat democrat 
at this level the movement is one more sourc of conflict between the alexandria ocasiocortez wing and the mani member of the hous and senat who must fight for reelect in more moder district and state includ those that cast major for trump in 2016 
laurenc tribe a professor of constitut law at harvard describ the think underpin progress democrat polici broaden the right of the homeless 
in an email tribe wrote the suppos right of those who are upset or psycholog threaten by the homeless the deinstitution or other similar situat are what i would call secondord right right that a politi cannot fair treat as have as strong a claim to protect as trump that overrid utilitarian claim as is true of genuin right 
put anoth way tribe continu my right not to be upset by your appear or life choic cannot occupi 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 viabl social and legal system 
one needn’t be a libertarian to recogn that there is a differ in kind between someone’ genuin right to be free of another’ physic intrus or displac and someone’ ersatz right to be free of another’ mere offend or upset behavior or circumst 
in this view accord to tribe right of the first or primari sort can be univers recogn right of the second sort must be subordin if social life is to be toler 
trump for his part clear reject tribe’ distinct between first versus second order or genuin versus ersatz right 
for trump the peopl who come into contact with the homeless have first order right 
in a juli 1 2019 interview with fox’ tucker carlson trump declar you can’t have what’ happen — where polic offic are get sick just by walk the beat 
i mean they’r get actual veri sick where peopl are get sick where the peopl live there live in hell too 
trump went on we cannot ruin our citi 
and you have peopl that work in those citi 
they work in offic build and to get into the build they have to walk through a scene that nobodi would have believ possibl three year ago 
and this is the liber establish 
this is what i’m fight 
republican are respond to the initi of progress prosecutor with a vengeanc 
in a fieri speech on aug 12 at the grand lodg fratern order of police’ confer in new orlean barr warn that progress prosecutor in citi across the nation are demor to law enforc and danger to public safeti 
this threat barr continu come from the emerg in some of our larg citi of district attorney that style themselv as ‘social justice’ reform who spend their time undercut the polic let crimin off the hook and refus to enforc the law 
these prosecutor barr declar have been announc their refus to enforc broad swath of the crimin law 
most disturb is that some are refus to prosecut case of resist polic 
some are refus to prosecut various theft case or drug case even where the suspect is involv in distribut 
and when they do deign to charg a crimin suspect they are frequent seek sentenc that are pathet lenient 
so these citi are head back to the day of revolv door justic 
the result will be predict 
more crime more victim 
three day later william m mcswain the trumpappoint unit state attorney for the eastern district of pennsylvania call a news confer to explicit attack the philadelphia district attorney larri krasner 
krasner was elect in 2017 on a platform promis to end mass incarcer stop prosecut insuffici and insignific case review past convict free the wrong convict stop cash bail imprison treat addict as a medic problem not a crime 
to mcswain these polici are heret there is a new cultur of disrespect for law enforc in this citi that is promot and champion by district attorney larri krasner — and i am fed up with it 
it start with chant at the da’ victori parti — chant of f the polic and no good cop in a racist system 
there are mcswain argu plenti of crimin law in this citi — but what we don’t have is robust enforc by the district attorney 
instead we have diversionari program for gun offens the routin downgrad of charg for violent crime and entir section of the crimin code that are ignor 
most recent presid trump at a ralli on dec 10 in hershey pa told the crowd you have the worst district attorney refer to the philadelphia da rough 95 mile east 
i’v been hear about this guy he let killer out almost immedi 
you better get yourself a new prosecutor 
turn the decarcer movement into a 2020 campaign issu fit into trump’ goto strategi of inflam divis conflict especi those involv disput right — particular those benefit minor — in order to activ racial resent to mobil his core voter and to goad swing voter into line up against the democrat parti 
while trump’ strategi was success in 2016 it is by no mean clear that this strategi will work as well in 2020 
a februari 2019 paper evalu the impact of elimin prosecutori request for cash bail by aurã©li ouss professor of criminolog at the univers of pennsylvania and megan stevenson a law professor at georg mason examin the consequ of philadelphia’ nocashbail polici 
contrari to fear that the elimin of cash bail would decreas account and increas failuretoappear in court the author detect no chang in failuretoappear in court or in recidiv suggest that reduct in the use of monetari bail can be made without signific advers consequ 
at the same time howev the violent crime rate in philadelphia has increas by 5 percent from 2018 to 2019 accord to the city’ polic depart 
while homicid and rape both declin by 5 and 9 percent respect robberi without a gun increas 11 percent aggrav assault with a gun by 13 percent and assault without a gun by 3 percent 
there is no evid that the partial elimin of cash bail caus the increas in violent crime 
in fact in 2018 the first full year when the polici were in effect crime drop 5 percent 
in some other citi that have elect to reduc the use of cash bail crime has gone down 
in boston crime drop 5 percent from 2018 to 2019 the first full year in offic for rachel rollin the suffolk counti district attorney 
rollin pledg that she would not prosecut such crime as larceni under 250 disord conduct disturb the peac receiv stolen properti along with break and enter — where it is into a vacant properti or where it is for the purpos of sleep or seek refug from the cold and there is no actual damag to properti break and enter wanton or malici destruct of properti drug possess with intent to distribut and a standalon resist arrest charg ie 
case where a person is charg with resist arrest and that is the onli charg 
the approach to prosecut adopt by rollin and other direct contradict the broken window polic strategi that was wide popular among both democrat and republican in the 1990s 
the economist describ the premis behind broken window law enforc this way in environ where disord behavior goe uncheck — where prostitut visibl pli their trade or beggar accost passersbi — more serious street crime flourish 
over the past four year mani progress democrat have turn sharpli against the aggress polic that broken window enforc produc argu that it has contribut to excess incarcer that result in the disproportion imprison of africanamerican and other minor 
at the presidenti debat in septemb virtual everi candid voic strong opposit to mass incarcer and support for the releas or sentenc reduct of those convict of nonviol crime 
mani of the crime progress prosecutor are declin to press charg on are link to homeless vagranc drug possess disord conduct break into vacant properti and so forth — which from a strateg point of view enabl trump and his alli to link homeless with progress democrat law enforc polici 
on this issu one of trump’ key alli is tucker carlson 
everi night this week carlson is devot segment of his fox news show to homeless 
his show will reinforc the 2020 republican elect theme that democrat are foster endem social disord 
on jan 3 carlson tweet drug 
homeless 
third world inequ 
san francisco’ radic left wing govern has turn their citi into an american dystopia 
this week’ seri is the second time in less than a year that carlson has devot five straight night to homeless with footag of men and women inject themselv evid of public defec the vagrant mental ill and sidewalk in california line for block with tent 
the trump administr has been work for month to develop a new hardnos feder polici on homeless 
citylab and other public report that the administr is expect to fund local polic effort to remov public encamp and to put the homeless in feder shelter requir strict adher to rule of sobrieti and nondisrupt behavior 
the white hous is take step toward decis new action on homeless buck polici favor by advoc in favor of an aggress approach that center the role of law enforc citylab report on dec 17 2019 advoc say that they expect an execut order on homeless to assign new resourc to polic depart to remov homeless encamp and even strip hous fund from citi that choos to toler these encamp 
the trump campaign is gambl that democrat are outsid the mainstream of public opinion on these issu while the lead democrat candid are convinc that enough of the elector has becom suffici skeptic of lawandord strategi — and the accompani racial underton and overton — to produc a democrat victori on nov 3 2020 
over the past 50 year democrat strategi base on the presumpt of increas liber among voter at larg have rare succeed 
perhap 2020 will be differ 
tucker carlson is not your new best friend by frank bruni jan 11 2020 sudden you’r dig him 
at least a littl bit 
i know i’v seen the tweet read the commentari heard the chatter detect the bare suppress cheer hurrah for tucker carlson 
if onli we had more brave principl republican like him 
right out of the gate he protest presid trump’ decis to kill qassim suleimani the iranian militari command note that it didn’t squar with the president’ determin not to get bog down in the middl east and warn of the possibl and horror of fullblown war 
your puls quicken 
you perk up 
he sound that same alarm on his next show and the show after that 
everi night at 8 pm he worri about the bellicos itch of our leader 
when all around him on fox news were play their usual role inde his usual role as masseur for the president’ tender ego he administ slap hard one the kind that leav angri red handprint 
ouch — and don’t stop 
you rejoic 
it’ one thing when democrat challeng what look like a rush to war by a republican presid 
it’ anoth when typic fawn member of his own parti do 
and while carlson was hard alon in his rebellion — three hous republican vote with democrat to check the president’ warwag author and over in the senat mike lee and rand paul rais a dissid ruckus — no one els had his ardor his articul his megaphon 
carlson to the rescu 
oh pleas 
the fascin with him is itself fascin for mani reason 
can you recal a modern presid befor trump whose mood and movement could be reflect and predict simpli by watch one news organ and for that matter just a few of it offer 
in lieu of a normal function white hous communic depart or a press secretari who hold actual press brief what a thought 
we have fox friend in the morn and carlson’ and sean hannity’ show in the even 
they don’t chronicl this presid 
they shape it not just in term of the volum of their applaus for trump who crave the loudest possibl clap but in term of actual interact 
carlson — like hanniti and anoth fox fixtur lou dobb — has in fact advis him behind the scene 
henc the rapt reaction to carlson’ antiwar jeremiad 
they may well matter 
also those of us who regard trump as a menac can be so eager — too eager — to welcom newcom to our shore that we overlook the pollut sea they sail to get there 
in a recent moment on the abc talk show the view that was awkward at best joy behar announc excit that the promin white nationalist richard spencer had just disavow trump becaus of iran 
carlson mind you has not disavow trump 
in fact he perform semant acrobat to denounc america’ militari maneuv against iran without precis blame trump 
those slap i mention land more forc on the administr in general than on the manchild at it apex who is in carlson’ tortur rendit a gullibl marionett his string pull by inveter habitu warmong 
if these profit elit would just let trump be trump and train his wrath on mexican instead of iranian a great presid would get it groov back 
dure his tuesday show carlson perform polit jujitsu and held two of the president’ princip democrat adversari respons for exacerb tension with iran 
refer to the washington establish and singl out nanci pelosi and chuck schumer he said these are peopl who have been basic advoc for a kind of war against iran for an aw long time 
it’ infuri he ad 
it’ becaus of schumer and pelosi and peopl like them that we got into iraq in the first place 
come again 
a republican presid georg w bush urg and oversaw the invas of iraq and while schumer author it pelosi vote against it as did mani more democrat than republican 
and carlson’ portrait of trump as puppet contradict report from the time and other news organ that some pentagon offici were stun when the presid order the strike against suleimani a measur more extrem than other option present to him 
carlson remain true to carlson select with fact slant with truth and — this is the most import part — commit to his vision of america as a land imperil by nefari democrat and the darkskin invad they would open the gate to if not for sentri like him and trump 
as matt gertz of media matter percept note carlson’ antiwar stanc 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 mani of his fan on the far right energi spent on mission in anoth hemispher is energi not spent on our southern border 
it’ no accid that in regard to the middl east he and spencer are on the same page 
follow suleimani’ death carlson ask his audienc whi are we continu to ignor the declin of our own countri in favor of jump into anoth quagmir 
carlson is defin not by a bold willing to check trump’ excess or ugliest impuls but by his indulg — no his fervent encourag — of those impuls as they pertain to racism and immigr 
on those front carlson himself grow ever uglier as my colleagu farhad manjoo and other have note 
it’ whi mani sponsor have defect from carlson’ show 
carlson repeat use variat of the word invas to character migrant from central america 
he insist that white supremaci is a fiction a hoax 
he has use languag that buy into and promot replac theori — a farright fixat on the idea that declin birthrat among white will caus a nonwhit takeov — and recent castig immigr for litter along the potomac river 
just last month he gave precious time on his show to an obscur republican congression candid in north carolina pete d’abrosca who has warn white american that they’r be replac by third world peasant 
d’abrosca has also brag of his support from the groyper armi a farright group with more than a whiff of antisemit 
is carlson himself abet hatr of jew 
in a rare point of agreement some jew and white nationalist believ so point to an onair rant last month in which he bash a jewish billionair paul singer by compar him unfavor with henri ford who own a newspap that ran a lengthi seri alleg a jewish plot to domin the world 
the fox news host goe full antisemit wrote tablet a jewish public while mike enoch who ralli with the neonazi in charlottesvill va said on his podcast if you didn’t catch the german shepherd whistl where he prais henri ford and then went into a diatrib of a jewish financi you know i don’t know what univers you’r exist in 
so that’ some of what carlson was up to just befor he turn his attent to iran 
how warm and fuzzi are you feel toward him now 
black briton know whi meghan markl want out by afua hirsch jan 9 2020 the british press has succeed in it appar project of hound meghan duchess of sussex out of britain 
the part it perhap didn’t bargain for howev is the loss of princ harri — a much love royal and a key part of the family’ global brand — along with her 
in a statement releas this week the coupl said they want to carv out a progress new role within the royal famili and would step back as ‘senior’ member and work to becom financi independ 
the british press react with surpris at the shock move abroad describ various as seismic selfish rogu and an atroci laps of judgment 
if the media paid more attent to britain’ communiti of color perhap it would find the announc far less surpris 
with a new prime minist whose track record includ overt racist statement some of which would make even donald trump blush a brexit project link to nativ nation and a desir to rid britain of larg number of immigr and an ever thicken loom of imperi nostalgia mani of us are also think about move 
from the veri first headlin about her be almost straight outta compton and have exot dna the racist treatment of meghan has been imposs to ignor 
princess michael of kent wore an overt racist brooch in the duchess’ compani 
a bbc host compar the couple’ newborn babi to a chimpanze 
then there was the sublim ludicr suggest that meghan’ avocado consumpt is respons for mass murder while her chariti cookbook was portray as somehow help terrorist 
those who claim frequent attack against the duchess have noth to do with her race have a hard time explain these attempt to link her with particular racial form of crime — terror and gang activ — as well as the fact that she has been most venom attack for act that attract prais when other royal did them 
her decis to guestedit british vogu for exampl was round condemn by larg part of the british media in stark contrast to princ charles’ twotim guest editorship of countri life magazin princ harry’ of a bbc program and kate middleton’ at huffington post all of which were quiet prais at the time 
her treatment has prove what mani of us have alway known no matter how beauti you are whom you marri what palac you occupi chariti you support how faith you are how much money you accumul or what good deed you perform in this societi racism will still follow you 
in britain’ rigid class societi there is still a deep correl between privileg and race 
the relat few peopl of color — and even fewer if you count onli those who have african heritag — who rise to promin and prosper in britain are often told we should be grate or told to leav if we don’t like it here 
the legaci of britain’ histori of empir — a global construct base on a doctrin of white supremaci — it pioneer role in the slave trade and ideolog of racism that enabl it and polici of recruit peopl from the caribbean and africa for lowpaid work and then discrimin against them in educ and hous is with us today the scandal surround the wrong deport of black british peopl in recent year is still reverber 
meghan’ decis to join the famili that is the symbol heart of the establish respons for this troubl histori was perplex to mani black british peopl as we wonder whether she fulli appreci the institut she had enter 
both she and harri appear to have gain crystal clear vision as to their realiti 
it’ no wonder the coupl want to leav and — as the code statement that they want to rais their son archi with the space to focus on the next chapter seem to suggest — protect him from the bile to which they’v been expos 
the british press have attack the coupl continu now react with shock at this move 
but the clue have been there for some time for anyon will to read them 
there was the decis not to give archi a titl from birth — someth that is expect among royal children of this rank but which meghan and harri appear to have chosen to avoid 
then there were the rumor last spring that they might reloc to a countri in southern africa 
in recent month the coupl have begun bypass offici royal channel and communic with the press direct — most notabl when the duchess said in a televis documentari that she found adjust to royal life hard and harri reveal that the tragic experi of the death of his mother diana princess of wale made him want to protect his wife and famili 
all were sign that the coupl would not abid by royal busi as usual to the extent that even announc this decis to step down from their role as senior royal appear to have taken buckingham palac by surpris 
i am not at all surpris 
this was the bitter shadow of their sunni may 2018 wed 
how mani of us suspect — hope but doubt we were wrong — that what would realli initi meghan into her new role as a briton with african heritag would be her experi of british racism 
and iron by take matter into their own hand harri and meghan’ act of leav — two finger up at the racism of the british establish — might be the most meaning act of royal leadership i’m ever like to see 
two death and my life by roger cohen jan 10 2020 samuel beckett when ask one beauti spring morn whether such a day did not make him glad to be aliv respond i wouldn’t go as far as that 
life is a predica death the eleph at the horizon that loom larger as the year pass 
still life is what we have 
to give less than everyth to it is derelict 
in the end it wonder is unimagin without the presenc of death 
as the dew dispel the mist dissolv and the sap rise on a morn such as the one that did not quit win over beckett the forc of life is unmistak 
that is what put us here in the first place 
great soul resembl the element in their immens 
they absorb everyth — pain injustic insult folli — and give back decenc and kind 
they are not born of a piec 
they come into be through unflinch confront with life’ spear 
they reach quiet 
disciplin is the backbon of gracious 
stoicism is the other face of wound 
in the most beauti smile pain knowledg hover 
midwint is not what prompt these reflect although when a freez wind whip off the east river all thought turn to refug 
no the death in quick success of two friend was the catalyst 
they were older than me 
but they were not old enough and not so distant in age that their memento mori feel less than urgent 
sonni mehta who die last month at the age of 77 would caress the book he love 
for them he live 
he guid alfr a knopf through more than three decad of rapid chang 
he was a complet publish eclect in his tast feroci in his will guid by a mission to bring the finest book to knopf and publish them onli onc edit had hone them to irreproach form 
yet he want to be rememb abov all as a reader 
i knew sonni for three decad 
he publish my last two book 
his civil never waver 
the twinkl in his eye never fade 
his friendship was constant 
whiski and a cigarett and the meander convers that went with them were more his thing than the treadmil 
he was a beauti man 
how so 
in his gentl that contain wisdom in his diffid that contain enthusiasm in his discret that contain curios 
you had to listen care for he spoke soft to the clue he offer 
his long marriag to his wife gita brought to my mind in it respect and vital rilke’ phrase about love as protect the solitud of the other 
a child of india brownskin in what was when he start the white preserv of british publish onc ask if he was perhap seek a job in the stockroom mehta never stoop to unkind 
his writer knew they had come home 
he command the unswerv loyalti of the like of michael ondaatj kazuo ishiguro germain greer and julian barn 
i feel that my heart has been rip out jon segal his longtim colleagu at knopf told me 
when mehta’ father a diplomat die in vienna mehta found in his desk a folder with everi articl ever publish about him 
the pride of his father who had never compliment his son was evid 
remot father vast subject 
hear this stori i understood more of my friend’ eleg stoicism 
earlier in decemb ward just a journalist who turn to fiction a great washington post correspond in vietnam who becam a great novelist die at the age of 84 
like mehta he was a lover of scotch 
i had not seen much of just sinc we becam friend in berlin 20 year ago but his death hit me hard 
i recal him say to me back then i was useless for journal after vietnam 
i knew i was not go to do ani better work 
truth he decid must be pursu elsewher 
mani of the thing that make you a good journalist have to be discard to make you a good writer he said 
in a novel everi fact is a rock thrown in the hull and the boat sink a bit 
just probe the delus of peopl and nation and the damag they suffer 
his prose was underst 
in a danger friend one charact observ i have alway believ that a mountain ego result from an absenc of conscienc 
and that was befor his needi seiz the oval offic 
as with mehta just’ prod was subtl his smile contain sorrow his wisdom was hardearn his constant humor wri 
wound by a grenad blast in 1966 winch to safeti by a chopper he later wrote as quot in his washington post obituari when you got there you said instinct i made it 
and over and over again jesus christ 
i can hear my friend say that stress on the christ 
life hang by a thread 
pay attent to it ephemer gift 
of truman schockley dead at 19 in vietnam just wrote in 1967 smoke a lucki strike and stare off into the mountain schockley die with a sniper’ bullet through the heart and stop breath befor the cigarett stop burn 
now there’ a perfect sentenc that might even have persuad beckett 
spring pass 
truth distil doe not 
warren and klobuchar teach the boy a lesson by frank bruni jan 15 2020 would a femal democrat nomine have a harder time beat donald trump than a male one 
i can’t tell you becaus i don’t have a crystal ball and becaus it’ a stupid question it answer depend on which femal candid you’r talk about on how she run her campaign on the twist and turn of the nation convers between now and novemb 
but i can tell you this either of the two women among the six candid on the stage in des moin on tuesday night would give trump a serious run for his money 
both have earn the right to take him on 
both would be formid presid 
and both made clear with command perform how absurd it is that this countri hasn’t yet shatter the highest glass ceil of all 
i’m focus on elizabeth warren and ami klobuchar becaus dure the most electr stretch of this seventh debat of the democrat primari the focus was inde on them — or rather on the idea that their parti couldn’t risk nomin one of them at a junctur when get rid of a republican incumb has seldom if ever been so import 
you know the back stori 
accord to media report over recent day warren and berni sander met 13 month ago to discuss their nascent presidenti campaign and he told her he didn’t believ a woman could win the 2020 elect 
sander deni say that 
he deni it again on tuesday night and warren declin to get into a backandforth about that convers 
what she did instead was more effect — and certain more stir she drew a contrast between the two women and the four men who had made the cut for this debat which was the final one befor the iowa caucus and had the fewest candid so far 
that contrast was perfect and got better still when klobuchar chime in becaus what the two women said brilliant cast them not as trailblaz who had someth extra to prove not as outsid who had finagl a way in not as underdog urg voter to take some extraordinari leap of faith not as highmind gambl 
they turn the stubborn sexist notion that their presenc and presidenti ambit were exot on it head cite yardstick by which they were demonstr superior to their male rival 
i think the best way to talk about who can win is by look at people’ win record warren a secondterm senat from massachusett said 
look at the men on this stage 
collect they have lost 10 elect 
she didn’t name the men or the elect but joe biden is the veteran of two previous miser unsuccess campaign for the presid 
pete buttigieg lost bid to becom the treasur of indiana and the chairman of the democrat nation committe 
in contrast warren note the onli peopl on this stage who have won everi singl elect that they’v been in are the women — ami and me 
and the onli person who has beaten an incumb republican ani time in the past 30 year is me 
klobuchar a thirdterm senat from minnesota said you don’t need to be male to win just as you don’t need other qualiti pronounc necessari or optim by some unnam amorph committe of pronounc 
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 compet 
and when you look at what i have done she ad i have won everi race everi place everi time 
i have won in the reddest of district 
i have won in the suburban area in the rural area 
that she ad was whi she had the most endors of current iowa legisl and former iowa legisl in this race 
i don’t mean to romantic warren and klobuchar 
warren’ boast about vanquish a republican incumb 
that incumb was scott brown whose victori in a special elect in deep blue massachusett was consid someth of a freak occurr to begin with 
and when klobuchar began to tick off the name of women recent elect to high post she sudden froze unabl to rememb who the governor of kansa was though she’d just said i’m veri proud to know her 
her name is laura kelli 
i’m also not say that warren or klobuchar would be the party’ best bet 
i don’t know who would be 
i’m just say that on a night when the viabil of women aim for the white hous went from subtext to text these two women found word — not just in address that issu but also in talk about prescriptiondrug price climat chang nuclear weapon and more — that expos the bigotri and shame of doubt about femal candid 
otherwis the seventh debat was sleepili like mani of the first six biden seem to be campaign for a third barack obama term and his sentenc were less straight line than knot 
they didn’t build toward a conclus so much as sag until they final gave out 
warren said corrupt everi chanc she got 
sander call for revolut and correct emphas that mani trade and foreignpolici posit that other democrat came around to he embrac from the start 
buttigieg pivot from the question at hand to a practic soliloquy that almost alway had someth to do with turn the page and a new generat 
tom steyer insist that no one care about the environ as much as he did 
and klobuchar talk about so mani differ piec of legisl with her name on them that you had this imag of her race around the capitol with an outstretch pen stop all aid who pass by and scrawl her signatur on ani paper they were carri 
one new wrinkl was warren’ clear and proud posit of herself to sanders’ right on trade and on health care 
she was make the case for herself as a progress who would favor increment fix if those were the onli avail improv and who could be a unifi she suggest that sander lack that potenti 
buttigieg meanwhil was more determin than ever to mention and reach out to voter of color from whom he enjoy littl support 
but what most distinguish the debat was the way in which gender came to the fore 
there was a memor 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 arithmet to determin that 1990 was well 30 year ago 
mansplain met mathemat 
warren also said this sinc donald trump was elect women candid have outperform men candid in competit race 
and in 2018 we took back the hous we took back statehous becaus of women candid and women voter 
back in the 1960s she ad peopl ask ‘could a cathol win’ back in 2008 peopl ask if an africanamerican could win 
in both time the democrat parti step up and said yes got behind their candid and we chang america 
that’ who we are 
it was a selfserv edit of histori sure and it put the most posit gloss possibl on the nation’ charact 
but that didn’t make it ani less import 
or ani less inspir 
we can’t afford trump as our command in chief by frank bruni jan 7 2020 we choos our presid in happi time and sad amid bull and bear market when we’r tri to conserv what is and when we’r itch to discov what might be 
we should alway choos them as if we’r on the brink of war becaus it’ imposs to predict when we’ll find ourselv there in petrifi need of a strong stabl leader we can trust 
donald trump was chosen in a fit of longbuild and larg warrant cynic as a gambl and protest 
he hadn’t demonstr ani particular strength onli that he could perform a peculiar burlesqu of it 
he show zilch in the way of honor but had a genius for stoke doubt that it still exist in polit at all 
his support thrill to a pledg of disrupt not a promis of safe harbor 
and here we are with an inexperienc impuls and perpetu aggriev command in chief precis when we can’t afford one 
i hope i have him wrong 
i do 
i hope that some of his worst color are an act that some of his rashest outburst are a strategi that instinct can be as use as erudit and that in order the kill of maj gen qassim suleimani he has persuad iran to rethink rather than redoubl it aggress 
but there are reason to be worri even terrifi and they’r root in his untradit and sometim irrat approach to the presid — and in the wage of that 
i’m scare becaus all presid are onli as good as the counsel they seek and the counselor who provid it and trump has burn through so mani top advis and so much good will that he oper with a hollowedout staff of halfbak experi 
his second and current defens secretari mark esper lack the season and statur of his first jim matti who resign 13 month ago when trump reject his plea and vow to pull american troop out of syria 
that at least was the specif prompt for mattis’ departur 
but matti also found the presid to be of limit cognit abil and of general dubious charact wrote jeffrey goldberg the editor in chief of the atlant in a profil of matti last fall 
limit cognit 
dubious charact 
those may not matter when you’r choos the gilt for a golf resort or skyscrap 
they do when you’r decid whether to put american live on the line 
trump is on his fourth nation secur advis robert o’brien whose rã©sumã© is thin for the job 
and throughout the trump administr there are relev post unfil or occupi by offici never confirm by the senat 
we’r estrang from some of our most import alli who are exhaust by trump’ mood offend by his mockeri of them and chill by his ignor 
they have conclud that if he is america america is no longer trustworthi 
as greg miller of the washington post recent observ the presid has disparag us intellig agenc disrupt relationship with european partner and dilut the power of the bulli pulpit with thousand of falsehood 
all of that is come home to roost 
it’ imposs not to hear his justif for suleimani’ kill through the filter of his past exagger and lie 
it will be equal difficult to have faith in the inform that he dole out go forward 
and it’ hard to make sens of this 
errat in so mani other way trump was fair consist in oppos american militari entangl in the middl east to the point of scorn bash republican who got us into iraq and ignor recommend for repris against iran befor last week 
but in target suleimani he embrac a cours that his predecessor in the oval offic reject as too extrem 
accord to the times’ report pentagon offici were stun 
is trump’ spectacular turnabout a function of fresh develop or a spasm of ego 
we’r alway yoke to a president’ psych — to georg w bush’ itch for separ from his father to barack obama’ invest in his own unflapp 
trump’ selfsooth pantomim of potenc could strangl us 
and what of his reckless provoc tweet 
they’r one thing when he’ bait democrat quit anoth when he’ thumb his nose at intern law 
on twitter he threaten to bomb import cultur site in iran and later explain to report aboard air forc one that if it and other countri were go to engag in terror and tortur hell whi should we be ani better 
here mr presid is the reason becaus we aspir to valu that are actual worth fight for 
and the day we take our cue from the like of the taliban and the islam state is the day we should just junk the statu of liberti and retir the nation anthem 
reshap america’ imag in 280charact yowl and uppercas yelp trump told iran to be prepar for militari attack of a disproportion manner 
pleas god let richard nixon’ madman theori of intern relat — which held that an aura of reckless might cow adversari — have merit 
otherwis there’ no tell where this mad man might drag us 
donald trump has not made a singl public statement sinc order last thursday’ oper that has not been either unhelp or counterproduct noah rothman the associ editor of commentari wrote on monday 
rothman is conserv doe not routin bash trump and defend suleimani’ kill itself 
but in his essay titl a danger man in peril time he note that the best anyon can say about trump’ spasmod conduct is that it won’t matter 
serious moment demand sober and ration mind at the helm and the president’ behavior so far doe not inspir confid rothman ad 
no it make you trembl 
we hate data collect 
that doesn’t mean we can stop it 
by farhad manjoo nov 15 2019 we’r be watch 
we know we’r be watch and we don’t think the watcher have our best interest at heart 
they tri to mollifi us argu that we’r be watch for our own good and that in fact we’r the one in charg of the scale and scope of all the watch but deep down most of us are confus and suspici about this sudden state of affair 
whi are they watch us so close 
what will they do with all they learn about us 
is there ani hope of stop them 
and doe it even matter that we do not want to be watch — or is it of no consequ becaus they know we’r trap and so do we 
the abov may sound like the rave of a wretch imprison in the panopticon but accord to a survey of more than 4000 peopl conduct this summer by the pew research center it is the widespread sensibl of the day 
accord to the survey american in 2019 feel adrift and powerless about live under the glare of digit surveil 
twothird of american believ that surveil is an inevit consequ of modern exist — it is not possibl to go through daili life they say without compani and the govern collect data about them 
more than 70 percent believ that most or all of what they do onlin is be track and near that mani believ the same is true of what they do offlin 
and more than 80 percent feel like they have veri littl or no control over the data be collect about them 
in some way the number are unsurpris of cours peopl who are be watch all the time feel that they’r be watch all the time 
yet the survey also suggest a major fail on the part of corpor and the govern to mitig our concern about the tradeoff we’r make for digit conveni 
in the past few year googl facebook and other compani that collect and keep gigant trove of data about us have step up their effort to give us control over that data 
their primari argument is that user not the compani are in charg of the whole game — we can affect what data is collect about us and how it’ use 
that messag doesn’t seem to be get through 
larg major of american feel as we have littl or no control over our search and purchas and brows histori that our text and social media wander are easili monitor and that even our physic locat may be up for grab 
it get wors 
not onli do we feel we have no control over our data but we’r also sure there will be few consequ for misus 
most american say they don’t trust compani to own up to mistak in the handl of our data or to suffer ani serious punish when thing go wrong 
most of us say the companies’ own privaci polici are meaningless 
not that this is a paranoid view 
if you consid recent histori — say the fact that equifax was allow to stay in busi after it gargantuan 2017 breach in which it fail at it one job collect and maintain americans’ financi data — it stand to reason that punish for wrongdo will be light 
in juli facebook was fine 5 billion by the feder trade commiss for it role in the cambridg analytica privaci scandal — a fine that set a record but was of so littl consequ to facebook’ busi that it stock price actual rose after the punish was announc 
the pew survey show american are eager for more power over our data 
threequart of respond said there should be more regul of what compani can do with our data the view was share across the polit spectrum 
and american are wari of the fundament tradeoff we’r make for technolog 
datahungri corpor insist that we’r benefit from the surveil state — and that our veri acquiesc to the collect is a signal of our content 
in fact the vast major of american say that the potenti risk of data collect by compani and the govern outweigh the benefit 
but where doe all this leav us 
ordinarili a find of widespread discontent should spark a sens of optim — if peopl hate the status quo so much and are beg for a new way forward won’t the market or the govern step in and give us someth better 
but there is anothermor pessimist way to read this survey 
the tech compani still enjoy enorm financi success and have seen littl impact from increas scrutini on their busi 
this suggest none of it matter 
we hate the way thing are but we’v trade away our power to stop it and our worri won’t chang anyth 
the prison is terribl 
we all know it 
enjoy your stay 
we made the coronavirus epidem by david quammen jan 28 2020 the latest scari new virus that has captur the world’ horrifi attent caus a lockdown of 56 million peopl in china disrupt travel plan around the globe and spark a run on medic mask from wuhan hubei provinc to bryan texa is known provision as ncov2019 
it’ a clunki monik for a lurid threat 
the name pick by the team of chines scientist who isol and identifi the virus is short for novel coronavirus of 2019 
it reflect the fact that the virus was first recogn to have infect human late last year — in a seafood and liveanim market in wuhan — and that it belong to the coronavirus famili a notori group 
the sar epidem of 20023 which infect 8098 peopl worldwid kill 774 of them was caus by a coronavirus and so was the mer outbreak that began on the arabian peninsula in 2012 and still linger 2494 peopl infect and 858 death as of novemb 
despit the new virus’ name though and as the peopl who christen it well know ncov2019 isn’t as novel as you might think 
someth veri much like it was found sever year ago in a cave in yunnan a provinc rough a thousand mile southwest of wuhan by a team of perspicaci research who note it exist with concern 
the fast spread of ncov2019 — more than 4500 confirm case includ at least 106 death as of tuesday morn and the figur will have risen by the time you read this — is startl but not unforese 
that the virus emerg from a nonhuman anim probabl a bat and possibl after pass through anoth creatur may seem spooki yet it is utter unsurpris to scientist who studi these thing 
one such scientist is zheng shi of the wuhan institut of virolog a senior author of the draft paper not yet peer review and so far avail onli in preprint that gave ncov2019 it ident and name 
it was ms shi and her collabor who back in 2005 show that the sar pathogen was a bat virus that had spill over into peopl 
ms shi and colleagu have been trace coronavirus in bat sinc then warn that some of them are uniqu suit to caus human pandem 
in a 2017 paper they set out how after near five year of collect fecal sampl from bat in the yunnan cave they had found coronavirus in multipl individu of four differ speci of bat includ one call the intermedi horsesho bat becaus of the halfov flap of skin protrud like a saucer around it nostril 
the genom of that virus ms shi and her colleagu have now announc is 96 percent ident to the wuhan virus that has recent been found in human 
and those two constitut a pair distinct from all other known coronavirus includ the one that caus sar 
in this sens ncov2019 is novel — and possibl even more danger to human than the other coronavirus 
i say possibl becaus so far not onli do we not know how danger it is we can’t know 
outbreak of new viral diseas are like the steel ball in a pinbal machin you can slap your flipper at them rock the machin on it leg and bonk the ball to the jitteri ring but where they end up drop depend on 11 level of chanc as well as on anyth you do 
this is true with coronavirus in particular they mutat often while they replic and can evolv as quick as a nightmar ghoul 
peter daszak the presid of ecohealth allianc a privat research organ base in new york that focus on the connect between human and wildlif health is one of ms shi’ longtim partner 
we’v been rais the flag on these virus for 15 year he told me on friday with calm frustrat 
ever sinc sar 
he was a coauthor of the 2005 batsandsar studi and again of the 2017 paper about the multipl sarslik coronavirus in the yunnan cave 
mr daszak told me that dure that second studi the field team took blood sampl from a coupl of thousand yunnanes peopl about 400 of whom live near the cave 
rough 3 percent of them carri antibodi against sarsrel coronavirus 
we don’t know if they got sick 
we don’t know if they were expos as children or adult mr daszak said 
but what it tell you is that these virus are make the jump repeat from bat to human 
in other word this wuhan emerg is no novel event 
it’ part of a sequenc of relat conting that stretch back into the past and will stretch forward into the futur as long as current circumst persist 
so when you’r done worri about this outbreak worri about the next one 
or do someth about the current circumst 
current circumst includ a peril trade in wildlif for food with suppli chain stretch through asia africa and to a lesser extent the unit state and elsewher 
that trade has now been outlaw in china on a temporari basi but it was outlaw also dure sar then allow to resum — with bat civet porcupin turtl bamboo rat mani kind of bird and other anim pile togeth in market such as the one in wuhan 
current circumst also includ 76 billion hungri human some of them impoverish and desper for protein some affluent and wast and empow to travel everi which way by airplan 
these factor are unpreced on planet earth we know from the fossil record by absenc of evid that no largebodi anim has ever been near so abund as human are now let alon so effect at arrog resourc 
and one consequ of that abund that power and the consequ ecolog disturb is increas viral exchang — first from anim to human then from human to human sometim on a pandem scale 
we invad tropic forest and other wild landscap which harbor so mani speci of anim and plant — and within those creatur so mani unknown virus 
we cut the tree we kill the anim or cage them and send them to market 
we disrupt ecosystem and we shake virus loos from their natur host 
when that happen they need a new host 
often we are it 
the list of such virus emerg into human sound like a grim drumbeat machupo bolivia 1961 marburg germani 1967 ebola zair and sudan 1976 hiv recogn in new york and california 1981 a form of hanta now known as sin nombr southwestern unit state 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’ just a select 
now we have ncov2019 the latest thump on the drum 
current circumst also includ bureaucrat who lie and conceal bad news and elect offici who brag to the crowd about cut forest to creat job in the timber industri and agricultur or about cut budget for public health and research 
the distanc from wuhan or the amazon to pari toronto or washington is short for some virus measur in hour given how well they can ride within airplan passeng 
and if you think fund pandem prepared is expens wait until you see the final cost of ncov2019 
fortun current circumst also includ brilliant dedic scientist and outbreakrespons medic peopl — such as mani at the wuhan institut of virolog ecohealth allianc the unit state center for diseas control and prevent cdc 
the chines cdc 
and numer other institut 
these are the peopl who go into bat cave swamp and highsecur contain laboratori often risk their live to bring out bat fece and blood and other precious evid to studi genom sequenc and answer the key question 
as the number of ncov2019 case has increas and the death toll along with it one metric the case fatal rate has remain rather steadi so far at about or below 3 percent 
as of tuesday less than three out of 100 confirm case had die 
that’ relat good luck — wors than for most strain of influenza better than for sar 
this good luck may not last 
nobodi know where the pinbal will go 
four day from today the number of case may be in the ten of thousand 
six month from today wuhan pneumonia may be reced into memori 
or not 
we are face with two mortal challeng in the short term and the long term 
short term we must do everyth we can with intellig calm and a full commit of resourc to contain and extinguish this ncov2019 outbreak befor it becom as it could a devast global pandem 
long term we must rememb when the dust settl that ncov2019 was not a novel event or a misfortun that befel us 
it was — it is — part of a pattern of choic that we human are make 
we realli must stop start war by farhad manjoo jan 9 2020 let us not go again to war 
let us not go to war becaus we cannot afford to win anoth war 
there would be no win this war 
there is onli lose at a cost that stagger everi dimens on all side — in live in money and in the squander opportun to do anyth better with our collect time and resourc on this alreadi beset planet 
i’m speak here of war with iran our current precipic 
but i issu the warn more general too 
bookmark this page and pull it up as prophylaxi anytim the drum of war begin rattl anew war isn’t just tragic 
it is increas dumb and pointless too 
war is becom an outdat mean of human conflict resolut 
technolog is turn arm conflict into an endeavor increas domin by what war scholar call asymmetr warfar — mean that weaker power like iran can now marshal so much strength that they are no longer veri weak exact a mighti cost of victori even to the world’ preemin global superpow 
then there is climat chang which has ratchet up the opportun cost of everi conflict anytim we are fight each other we are abscond in the larger and more import fight for the habit of the planet 
you may debat whether ani particular histor war work out well for it agit 
but there should be no debat that mani of america’ recent war have end in miseri for all 
our politician talk of war as a last resort but that is onli to keep up appear becaus the truth is too terribl to admit that our evermoreexpens war machin a cost of near 740 billion in 2020 can buy us littl peac 
rather than a last resort war now offer no resort 
war can no longer be defend as the thing to do after everyth els has fail 
war must instead be seen as failur itself 
i had thought the futil of war might be grasp by most american politician by now 
one of donald trump’ rare bright spot as a candid was his departur from the post911 bushcheney doctrin that doubl down on heedless american militari intervention 
in his oftstat avers to endless war trump’ sentiment match the public’ — a pew poll this summer show that most american includ most militari veteran now believ that our war in afghanistan and iraq have not been worth fight 
trump seem to be heed the public’ caution back in the summer when he abrupt call off a strike against iran in retali for it shoot down an american surveil drone 
but in kill iran’ most import militari leader maj gen qassim suleimani trump open the door to war 
now iran is retali and a cycl of escal look possibl — even if for now trump is back away from further conflict 
it’ begin 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 repeat similar talk point 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 veri long i can tell you that the presid told fox busi in june 
don’t fall for it 
it’ plain dishonesti how could anyon who has live through the quagmir of iraq and afghanistan think war with iran will be anyth but long and brutal 
in those conflict america’ overwhelm militari might stumbl on local cultur geographi ethnic and religi rivalri and most of all the determin of an entrench commit foe that could melt in and out of the local popul 
as vox’ alex ward point out iran has almost three time as mani peopl as iraq did when we invad in 2003 
it also has treacher geographi and it control a great mani proxi forc across the middl east and even in like sleeper cell in europ and latin america 
iran also possess a sophist cyberwar oper — it is believ to be behind recent hack into american bank and other target and to have spread disinform and propaganda on social network around the world 
the unit state would overwhelm iran in a convent headon war but like china and russia iran has adopt a deep capac to mount hybrid war — conflict that involv both convent and unconvent mean of war 
for exampl iran could expand it oper on oil tanker in the strait of hormuz deal a cost rise in global energi price 
as ward conclud a usiran war would be a bloodi hell dure and after the fight 
this get to the immens folli at the heart of our militari might 
though the unit state spend more on the militari than the next nine countri combin we have not been abl to purchas much peac through strength 
that’ becaus our strength is clear of a type and our year in iraq and afghanistan have made plain our vulner 
among other shortcom our militari is still buy most big old defens technolog like aircraft carrier and bomber from the militaryindustri complex even if mani of these technolog face obsolesc under a futur of artifici intellig unman battlefield robot and other cyberweapon 
our country’ effort at adopt artifici intellig technolog in the militari might not be enough to counter our rival includ russia and china 
the upshot is this the unit state hold militari supremaci over the world’ water and the airspac but our control is limit and contest 
the last two decad have made clear that even for america war is never simpl 
we should fear it 
we should avoid it 
and we ought to look for more fruit thing to do with our money and our live like make life on earth more livabl not less 
what doe it mean to have a serious drink problem 
by nanci wartik jan 31 2020 one day in the fall of 2018 i woke up feel wreck 
the night befor i’d had beer with colleagu and wound up bray loud to one of them about someth she’d confid and what i thought she should do 
i wish i’d never told you this she final blurt and i knew i’d betray a trust 
a few night befor i’d been more inept 
a group of us had held a memori for a friend 
at a gather later i’d had a martini with prosecco chaser then pick a senseless quarrel with our hostess a close friend as bereav as i was 
now i sat there head pound stomach roil 
it was anoth in a string of morn when i’d woken want to smother myself with a pillow 
booz it didn’t take much for me to feel the effect 
alcohol could make night glitteri and fun make me love all humankind 
it could also and unpredict rous demon that turn me into a wife shrew spark bruis argument unleash embarrass faux pas 
this morn a new thought struck penetr to the bone 
i can’t do it anymor 
i quit 
although i’d grappl for decad with my relationship to alcohol i didn’t consid myself an alcohol 
in onlin quizz ask how mani drink i typic had per day i could fair accur answer two veri generous drink 
on the world health organization’ audit quiz which test for drink problem i score eight of 40 point make me a medium drinker with a riski pattern 
but medium didn’t sound too bad and the websit said i could alter my drink without too much difficulti 
plus i had the vaunt femal triumvir husband kid respect job 
friend when they weren’t mad at me 
ok sometim i overdid it 
but it was easi to imagin myself as your averag funlov parisian oenophil 
and yet 
i was in my late teen when i discov what alcohol could do quash my inhibit kindl fals intimaci provok brilliant revel that i soon forgot 
alcohol made me the outgo person my unconfid self want to be let me talk to peopl i normal wouldn’t have 
yes occasion i awok to see a head on the adjoin pillow and felt a bolt of regret 
damn 
whi did this guy seem cute last night 
but i’d call a friend guess what i did this time 
i’d ask turn discomfort into a hilari anecdot 
or a friend would inform me of my revelri nanci the bartend threw you out 
you couldn’t stay on your stool 
alcohol was also medic 
i drank to quiet angst or becaus i was lonesom 
i drank it took year to realiz becaus i had clinic depress 
eventu i treat the depress but kept drink 
alcohol was my stress reduc my realiti fighter the conferr of artifici joy 
life chang in my 40s 
i marri and with my husband adopt our belov daughter now 17 
work from home i made dinner drink wine with a neighbor mom 
my morningaft headach were worsen though 
night rather than read or chat with my husband i’d crash 
i fear my drink was destroy brain cell 
i’d written about how alcohol is harder on women than men and that worri me too 
some year ago to prove i had control i cut down to five night a week 
it was tough 
how could i not drink after a rough day 
i couldn’t manag two consecut sober night 
achiev my two sober night was alway an exercis in militarylevel strateg 
but everi sunday i felt virtuous 
an actual alcohol couldn’t skip ani night i thought 
but i could 
what doe it mean to have a serious drink problem 
the answer is surpris vagu 
alcohol isn’t an actual diagnosi 
in 1980 the american psychiatr association’ authorit diagnost and statist manual of mental disord establish two differ classif alcohol abus and alcohol depend 
in 2013 the dsm 
combin the categori to creat alcohol use disord a spectrum rang from mild to sever base not on how much someon drink but on how mani of 11 behavior or psycholog symptom a person has 
meanwhil the center for diseas control and prevent has it own standard focus more on quantiti of alcohol consumpt 
seven drink per week or fewer is consid safe for women 14 or fewer for men 
but guidelin fluctuat intern accord to a stanford univers studi from 2016 
in canada or franc you can drink more week and be consid low risk 
moreov a recent studi in the lancet conclud alcohol is so tough on health that there’ no safe level 
in short if you wonder whether you drink too much sometim it’ best to trust your gut 
i don’t know exact what happen that fall morn as i sat in bed achi and humili 
as viscer as i’v known anyth i knew i was in troubl 
so what if i didn’t swig a bottl of scotch daili 
i’d hit medium drinker rock bottom and it was enough 
despit the websit say i could chang my drink without too much difficulti quit booz is one of the hardest thing i’v ever done 
i pine for it at restaur i’d gaze at rubi goblet as if at a divin elixir 
after workout i’d crave a beer 
and what was the point of social sober 
eventu i had to tri 
guzzl nonalcohol beer — befor i wise switch to seltzer — while chat with peopl savor complex pinot noir was initi daunt 
but astonish my nonintox brain still found what they said funni touch or interest 
i didn’t join aa though i don’t rule it out 
i sought support from my husband daughter and friend — those i’d offend those surpris i even had a problem 
i devour others’ stori watch movi about alcohol read memoir lurk in subreddit for peopl struggl to quit 
but what realli kept me on the path was the remark differ between the drink and not drink me 
i hadn’t grasp the degre to which a sens of shame had insidi undergird my life 
now it was gone replac by an unaccustom pride 
the longer i abstain the better i felt in way that spill into marriag work parent friendship 
recent someon unawar i’d quit told me i look year younger 
i’m more patient 
my headach are infrequ my energi up 
those result fit with a studi publish in the canadian medic associ journal among the first focus on moder drinkers’ mental health 
research studi cohort of peopl in hong kong and the unit state found even safe drinker women in particular show improv wellb if they stop 
today i can label myself 
i had moder alcohol use disord a chronic relaps brain diseas mark by loss of control over alcohol 
the nation institut on alcohol and alcohol abus say 62 percent of american adult more than 15 million peopl are on the alcohol use disord spectrum 
other research put the number higher 
i’d guess mani like me drink modest enough that they don’t believ they have a problem 
i feel lucki i quit befor anyth wors happen 
sobrieti can still be a challeng 
if all goe accord to plan i’ll never again experi the soft scrim that drop between me and realiti as wine drain from my glass 
it seem sad until i rememb that three time sinc quit i’v tri a celebratori drink 
most recent in peru i had one of the country’ famous pisco sour 
it gave me a mild buzz and a hangov 
i haven’t had a drop sinc 
these day i awaken clearhead 
i’m closer than ever to be the mother wife relat and friend i want to be 
it feel good 
realli good 
i get up the next morn 
i do it again 
what if it were obama on trial 
by nichola kristof jan 25 2020 what if it were presid barack obama who was the subject of the senat impeach trial 
how would we feel then 
cass sunstein a professor at harvard law school suggest a question along those line in his book impeach a citizen’ guid 
it’ one of sever thought experi that i suggest in order to step back from the hurlybur in the senat and interrog our own principl and motiv 
the first approach as sunstein put it is this suppos that a presid engag in certain action that seem to you veri veri bad 
suppos that you are tempt to think that he should be impeach 
you should immedi ask yourself would i think the same thing if i love the president’ polici and thought that he was otherwis do a splendid job 
altern if you oppos impeach and remov sunstein suggest you ask yourself would i think the same thing if i abhor the president’ polici and thought that he was otherwis do a horrif job 
in practic term this amount to what if it were obama who had been caught in this ukrain scandal 
my guess is that if it were obama republican would be demand wit as they did in the 1999 trial of bill clinton 
given how aggress republican member of congress pursu the benghazi event — multipl investig eventu find no evid of wrongdo by either obama or thensecretari of state hillari clinton — i’m confid that the gop 
would be insist that obama be remov with frequent chant of lock him up 
yet i suspect that mani democrat would also switch side find it easier to excus misconduct by someon they admir — and see it as more import in that situat to preserv execut privileg and leav it to voter to decid the matter in the fall 
that’ whi we owe it to ourselv as a matter of intellectu honesti to think through how we would react if it were the other guy on trial 
progress may be scof that this exercis is unrealist obama was meticul in avoid scandal and ethic conflict 
he check with the justic depart befor accept the nobel peac prize and for him a scandal was someth like wear a tan suit 
the ukrain mess would have been out of charact for obama while it is entir in charact for trump 
but republican will see this differ 
the second thought experi come from anoth distinguish lawyer neal katyal in his new book impeach the case against donald trump 
imagin if it had work katyal suggest 
imagin if our presid had leverag his role as command in chief to convinc a foreign power to open an investig into his polit oppon 
imagin if the president’ rival lost the primari becaus news broke that he was under investig 
imagin if that meant the presid face a weaker candid in novemb 2020 — and won reelect as a result 
the foreign countri could then blackmail our presid by threaten to expos the corrupt gain leverag over our foreign polici 
meanwhil the presid might abus presidenti power in other way in the belief that impun was complet 
if all this eventu becam public and truth doe have a way of trickl out this would have devast consequ for the legitimaci of american elect 
this thought experi perhap isn’t so farfetch 
we know now that trump’ pressur on ukrain caus alarm in the white hous and the intellig communiti with nation secur advis john bolton liken it to a drug deal 
yet for all that uproar it almost didn’t becom public 
it was onli becaus of a whistleblow that the inform began to emerg and the militari aid to ukrain was releas onli after the white hous becam awar of the whistleblow and was be pressur by congress 
in short trump’ plan almost succeed — and in ani case he will get away with it in the sens that he is sure to be acquit by the senat 
when republican suggest that trump did noth wrong what messag doe that impun send to trump and to futur presid 
the third thought experi is simpl what if trump weren’t presid but was like almost ani other person in america 
what if he were a high school vice princip who ensur that a polic detective’ son would be accept in advanc placement class — and then ad i’d like you to do us a favor though 
the favor would be an investig of the vice principal’ exwif befor their upcom child custodi hear in hope of tilt the outcom in his favor 
in that situat the vice princip would be fire 
we all recogn that no school offici or other person in a govern bureaucraci should use public power for privat benefit 
so a last queri shouldn’t we have as high a standard for the presid of the unit state as for a school vice princip 
what if trump gave alaska to putin 
by nichola kristof jan 22 2020 let’ not dismiss the senat impeach trial as a kangaroo court 
that’ an insult to kangaroo who late have been suffer enough 
presid trump and senat republican leader seem to be plan a rush sham trial with no wit and limit evid 
this remind me of a trial i onc monitor of a chines journalist in beij the proceed were held in a majest court build with high ceil plush courtroom crisp microphon and attent secur offic all overseen by solemn judg — everyth a justic system might want except justic 
what’ at stake in this trial is the basic idea that america’ leader is account for misconduct 
without that concept we may have a grand senat chamber and eloqu speech but our democraci ring hollow 
without that principl of equal befor the law our grand senat under mitch mcconnel simpli becom an american analogu of china’ rubberstamp nation people’ congress 
mcconnell’ grim determin to see no evid and hear no wit is particular hypocrit becaus in 1999 dure the impeach trial of presid bill clinton he did favor allow wit 
it’ certain not unusu to have a wit in an impeach trial he said then 
lindsey graham a member of the hous and an impeach manag at the time was even more blunt 
if there’ ani doubt call wit he urg 
in everi trial that there has ever been in the senat regard impeach wit were call graham note then 
by the count of hous democrat the averag number of wit is now 33 for each of the past impeach trial 
know that john bolton as nation secur advis refer to the ukrain mess as a drug deal whi would senat not want to clarifi what he meant 
whi risk cover up a coverup 
there are less strain argument that mcconnel and other could make against remov trump from offic 
they could say that the president’ conduct while improp did not rise to the level requir remov 
instead trump and his defend are pursu a line of defens that would creat an imperi uncheck presid becaus it’ not clear what would ever merit impeach and remov by their standard 
trump’ team even suggest that abus of power itself cannot be ground for impeach call it the hous democrats’ newli invent ‘abus of power’ theori 
newli invent 
abus of power was central to the discuss of impeach at the constitut convent 
alexand hamilton said that impeach was the remedi for the abus or violat of some public trust 
it was also the basi for articl of impeach approv by the hous judiciari committe against both clinton and richard nixon the full hous reject that articl against clinton and nixon resign befor a full hous vote 
frank o 
bowman iii a constitut law scholar who is cite in the president’ legal brief call that same brief a wellcraft piec of sophistri 
trump and his support simpli make assert without regard to realiti 
this is an echo in the impeach domain of the 16241 fals or mislead statement trump made in his first three year in offic by the count of the washington post 
for exampl trump’ backer insist that impeach and convict requir a violat of a particular crimin statut even though most scholar agre that that is not the case 
inde one earli impeach was of a judg who presid while drunk which was not a violat of crimin law 
trump’ lawyer argu that remov from offic would amount to nullifi an elect and subvert the will of the american peopl 
under that reason despit the constitut a presid could never be remov — and in that case a presid is untouch 
we all recogn that a presid has the right to pardon crimin but suppos he pardon hacker in exchang for investig the biden 
or what if trump announc that he would pardon everi republican bank robber 
or suppos trump fawn over vladimir putin to the point of return alaska to russia 
as it happen alaska isn’t my exampl but that of alan dershowitz the president’ lawyer 
assum putin decid to ‘retake’ alaska the way he ‘retook’ crimea dershowitz wrote in a 2018 book 
assum further that a presid allow him to do it becaus he believ that russia has a legitim claim to ‘its’ origin territori 
even that would not merit impeach and remov by dershowitz’ standard 
note to alaska senat lisa murkowski and dan sullivan your thought comrad 
do we realli think that there should be no check on a rogu presid as he hand alaska over to putin — or florida to spain while we’r at it — or even as he pardon stream of republican bank robber 
must we toler an outof control ruler who engag in the word of the declar of independ in a long train of abus and usurp 
that’ the kind of system that we rebel against in 1776 no 
what will you do when the cultur war come for you 
by charli warzel jan 29 2020 the cultur war will come for us all 
on sunday it came for a washington post report felicia sonmez 
nine peopl were kill in a helicopt crash in calabasa calif that morn includ the basketbal 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 inaccur or fals layer anxieti on top of grief 
into the mix ms sonmez tweet the link to a 2016 articl from the daili beast about a young woman’ accus that mr bryant had rape her in colorado 
crimin charg against him were drop in 2004 and a civil suit was settl out of court 
the tweet highlight the fact that mr bryant’ legaci is fraught and complic and attract the attent of fan as well as troll who bombard her inbox with abus and post her home address onlin 
ms sonmez then post a select of the threat she receiv without obscur the name of the peopl who had sent her hate mail 
she slept in a hotel on sunday night fear for her safeti at home she said 
we don’t know all the detail but it seem that the post’ manag and execut editor were not pleas 
they chastis her over email and place her on administr leav while the organ review whether she had violat the company’ social media guidelin 
their reason on monday the tweet display poor judgment that undermin the work of her colleagu 
the post revers her suspens on tuesday rough 36 hour after the initi tweet state that senior manag had conclud that ms sonmez’ tweet didn’t violat compani polici 
this of cours was obvious to almost everyon but the post’ higherup 
it was imposs to imagin how post a link to a stori by a differ public on twitter could undermin the work of colleagu 
just as it was imposs to imagin which colleagu would have felt undermin more than 300 of ms sonmez’ colleagu express solidar with her in a letter from the post’ union to manag 
there remain glare question 
did the execut editor marti baron inquir about ms sonmez’ safeti when he email her to critic her tweet 
what beyond a reflex for onlin civil led the post to determin the report was hurt this institut by discuss a part of mr bryant’ legaci that appear in the post’ own news page 
whi after year of watch journalist women and vulner individu be troll and abus by viral outrag onlin are newsroom still fall for the same gamergatestyl tactic 
the post’ offici statement it doesn’t quit rise to the level of an apolog which includ the caveat we consist urg restraint for report onlin doesn’t begin to answer these question 
the incid also rais headier question includ in the world of onlin journal what specif do writer owe to their public via their social media presenc 
sure there’ a bare minimum if they’r collect a paycheck 
journalist obvious shouldn’t undermin their colleagu with cheap shot or reckless specul as to others’ work 
they should stay profession 
after that thing get murki 
twitter is a gordian knot of news and opinion that can’t be untangl 
insid public news and opinion bleed togeth opinion writer report while report opin via news analysi 
partisan commentari onc a third rail for object report is omnipres on twitter 
in the past news organ — and the peopl who work for them — would never have call the presid a racist 
some now do so explicit 
newsroom and even the platform have struggl with find a new standard in the trump era of disinform meanwhil journalist are expect to sort it out in real time while on the job 
and to get it right or face consequ 
journalist who build follow onlin in part by be incis combat funni and omnipres on twitter are often hire becaus of that exposur — becaus they’r a known quantiti 
at a larger organ though those same attribut may quick be seen as a liabil 
public hire divers outspoken writer and then get anxious when these writer start tweet about polit 
some outlet ask staffer who don’t cover incendiari beat like polit to refrain from comment on polit goingson 
but what happen when polit touch everyth 
for those who’v made a name be outspoken sudden say noth is a statement in itself 
for newsroom leader the question get tough fast 
few if ani outlet seem to want to draw exact line 
and so they becom blur 
there’ also a doubl standard 
while few public would say it it’ all but requir for young journalist to jump into the cultur war onlin 
it’ a way to find stori 
and in a volatil industri it get you notic 
be part of the discours each day mean be market 
it help writer but it also bolster public help promot big stori and creat all kind of dystopian form of content like microscoop or break news too small to merit it own articl but enough to tout to competitor on twitter 
this exposur is a drug for journalist 
the realtim spar and feedback is seduct and the endorphin boost of constant mention is addict 
but it’ also exposur in the truest sens great visibl and great vulner blend seamless togeth 
though an argument could be made that all the timewast injok and gaff from idl report and editor on twitter subt undermin the rigor part of the work newsroom benefit great from the constant exposur of their journalist 
report use twitter to poke and prod sourc 
writer sometim enhanc their stori with long tweet thread that explain the report process 
and report build trust with audienc by includ or signal to their audienc perspect in their onlin analysi ms sonmez who has come forward with detail of her own sexual assault told her colleagu erik wempl that her tweet were in part to make survivor like herself who follow her feel seen 
when import news break newsroom claim credit when their report break it first on twitter 
which is whi the post’ statement especi it urg of restraint is so fraught 
the same editor who want restraint from report onlin dure a celebr death would most like also be furious if their capitol hill report were slow in livetweet a hear or impeach proceed and fell behind the competit 
restraint is a virtu in journal no doubt but so are tenac and transpar 
the messag is contradictori broadcast everyth but exercis restraint 
twitter isn’t real life but tweet can and will get you fire or suspend 
but these qualiti have been in conflict and competit for long befor twitter and newsroom understood a journalist exposur dure break news and had their back accord 
evid suggest that’ not alway the case in the face of a cascad of onlin outrag 
that’ less a chang in the industri than it is a failur of newsroom leader to understand the inform war it send it journalist out to fight in each day 
while the internet’ cultur war dynam are fraught they’r not all that hard to understand 
they come in the form of intimid and threat toward journalist and angri campaign toward advertis and execut 
some of the respons are postur and some are real but all are engin for maximum viral and outrag 
yes sometim journalist make mistak 
sometim work will harm the institut or undermin cowork but newsroom leader ought to be train to distinguish troll from goodfaith critic 
it’ a weird moment that newsroom aren’t talk about enough 
just as social media platform allow celebr politician and influenc to circumv tradit press gatekeep the same thing has happen to journalism’ own practition 
despit all the social media guidelin there’ an unansw question who do those follow realli belong to 
perhap it’ most accur to say they’r an asset and a liabil for both parti 
everyone’ expos 
but there’ an asymmetri to that exposur 
the cultur war will come for us all institut and individu alik 
one group can weather the storm the other need protect 
newsroom need to get smart prepar and protect their foot soldier 
it’ the least they can do 
‘bojack horseman’ end with a necessari reckon by charl dunst feb 1 2020 this essay contain spoiler for the final season of bojack horseman 
i haven’t done anyth 
sinc i got out of rehab i have been on my best behavior proclaim bojack horseman voic by will arnett the eponym protagonist of the anim netflix show 
in the second half of the sixth and final season bojack a washedup 1990s sitcom star and anthropomorph hors has found out report are plan to publish a damn exposã© of his prerehab behavior 
they can’t get me on old explet he plead 
i’m a differ person now 
but they do get him 
after bojack give a princ andrewlik interview he’ ostrac and fall off the wagon almost drunken drown to death in the pool of his former home 
he’ convict and sentenc to 14 month in prison for break and enter although he admit it was kind of for everyth — includ seduc and almost sleep with an exgirlfriend’ 17yearold daughter and provid a former costar with the heroin on which she fatal overdos 
male antihero tv charact like bojack — the don draper and walter white who domin the late 2000s and earli 2010s — are usual design to be empathet 
we’r suppos to root for them despit their wrongdo and cheer when they ride off into the proverbi sunset as some karmic justic restor the broken they’v left behind 
sinc it began bojack horseman has offer an altern forc viewer to repeat see the damag it destruct protagonist inflict while complic ani empathi they might feel for him 
this uniqu approach arriv at it logic conclus with the final instal of episod releas friday punish bojack while also lay out a path for his redempt 
if this remain a rare outcom on tv it is even rarer in real life — and it’ like to reson with viewer wrestl with what a transgressor’ path to aton might look like 
in crucial way bojack bear resembl to jon hamm’ don draper on mad men — both charact treat women horribl use their profession power to get what they want without ani serious selfreflect 
yet unlik don bojack eventu tri to better himself address his drug addict and repair the relationship he has broken 
at first there seem to be hope for a neat end for bojack 
but that would have betray the show’ under messag that action have consequ — and that the acknowledg of this fact is central to one’ person penanc and evolut 
when a bowl or teapot fall and shatter most peopl might throw it away consid the object broken ruin and without valu 
the japanes art of kintsugi take a radic differ approach use precious metal to bring the broken piec back togeth 
bojack horseman doe someth similar 
take for exampl bojack’ confid and former biograph dian nguyen alison brie 
though thrive in her person life she’ struggl to write her promis collect of essay 
as she tri to focus she’ interrupt by a surreal blackandwhit mã©lang of key contributor to her emot wreckag includ her father and bojack 
a figment of her exhusband mr peanutbutt paul f tomkin appear in her mental chao offer tidbit of insight 
crack in an object are part of it histori he say 
bojack is also tri to piec himself back togeth 
after year of blame his misde on childhood trauma he at last accept respons for his behavior 
he emerg sober think himself to be a new man and most escap profession punish 
the movi he film right befor enter prison has posit buzz 
the industri has forgotten bojack’ indiscret allow him to walk entertainment’ dollarpav road to rebirth 
peopl have short memori say princess carolyn ami sedari his agent and friend 
it’ the best and worst thing about peopl 
but a stint in rehab cannot eras the hurt he’ caus the peopl in his life just as similar period out of the spotlight have not repair the damag inflict by reallif men who resurfac in attempt comeback 
princess carolyn declin to continu repres bojack 
hollyhock aparna nancherla his half sister send him a letter the content of which are never reveal to the viewer but which clear mark her perman exit from his life 
and dian whom bojack has unfair imagin to be his savior wish him well but impli their friendship has reach it end 
this bittersweet end show how within the last decad writer and audienc have come to think differ about socal difficult men 
mani peopl admir don draper — whom jon hamm himself call a pretti dismal despic guy — despit seven season of narciss callous woman and a layer platon relationship with his onetim secretari peggi olson that often border on the emot manipul and abus 
by the show’ end don appear to remain on good term with some of those he wrong and is set to look after his children in the eventu absenc of his die exwif betti 
the seri end with him ostens at peac dream up the 1971 landmark cocacola ad i’d like to buy the world a coke 
viewer also root for walter white on break bad despit his deceit and exploit action toward other most notabl jess pinkman his partner in crime and skyler white his wife 
skyler anna gunn was the onli charact who truli challeng walter’ behavior ms gunn herself receiv hate mail as a result 
the backlash was so strong that the actress pen a new york time ope in 2013 observ that male charact don’t seem to inspir this kind of public vent and vitriol which is instead reserv for tv wive like skyler and betti draper on mad men 
we’r prime to extend empathi to the reckless antihero rather than the charact repres the moral consider that probabl should hold them in check 
in it final episod break bad valor walter a man who onc cold watch a woman die of an overdos without do anyth to save her among mani other horrif deed 
he get to go out on his own term after magnific mow down a conglomer of neonazi perhap the onli charact who outrank him in insidi 
bojack horseman is uniqu out of step here 
it creator raphael bobwaksberg doesn’t want to give his protagonist such a satisfi end 
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 showrunn said he found himself unwil to forgiv the actor he admit to believ in the power of forgiv general 
this ambival speak direct to the tone of the final season of bojack 
as a viewer it would have felt preposter for bojack to be readili accept back into the fold by the peopl who care about him the most 
it’ fit that the show forc him to reckon with his past in a way charact like don draper and walter white never did 
the series’ arc match the public’ grow concern about how to measur and take part in account across all walk of life — the metoo abus and manipul yes but also those who may have for instanc said or done racist or homophob thing 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 serv as indel remind of where broken onc was — and to illumin who he is now as a whole 
life’ a explet and then you die bojack tell dian in the final scene 
they are sit on a maroonshingl roof have what they both recogn is like to be their last interact with one anoth 
but she disagre 
instead she urg him to see the crack of his past as fortif for the futur offer a correct he seem to accept 
life’ a explet she say and you keep live 
where the fraud are all legal by elisabeth rosenth dec 7 2019 much of what we accept as legal in medic bill would be regard as fraud in ani other sector 
i have been circl around this conclus for this past five year as i’v listen to patients’ stori while cover health care as a journalist and author 
now after a summer of firsthand experi — my husband was in a bike crash in juli — it’ time to call out this fact headon 
mani of the democrat candid are talk about practic fix for our highpric health care system and some legisl or regul solut to the madden world of medic bill would be welcom 
my husband andrej flew over his bicycle’ handlebar when he hit a pothol at high speed on a sunday ride in washington 
he was unconsci and lie on the pavement when i caught up with him minut later 
the result six broken rib a collaps lung a broken finger a broken collarbon and a broken shoulder blade 
the treatment he got via paramed and in the emerg room and intens care unit were great 
the troubl began as i knew they would when the bill start arriv 
i will not even complain here about some of the crazi high charg 182 for a basic blood test 9289 for two day in a room in intens care 20 for a pill that cost penni at a pharmaci 
we have great insur which negoti these rate down 
and at least andrej got and benefit from those servic 
what i’m talk about here were the bill for thing that simpli didn’t happen or onli kindof sortof happen or were mislabel as thing they were not or were so nebul defin that i couldn’t figur out what we might be pay for 
to be clear mani of the charg that i would call fraudul — mayb all of them — are technic legal thank sometim to lobbi by provid but that doesn’t make them right 
and no one would accept them if they appear on bill deliv by a contractor or a lawyer or an auto mechan 
there were so mani of these charg that i came up with categori to keep track of them 1 
medic swag in the trauma bay someon slap a hard brace around andrej’ neck until scan confirm that he had not suffer a grievous spinal injuri 
it was remov within an hour 
the medic equip compani that provid that piec of plastic bill 319 
our insur paid 215 90 percent of it discount rate of 239 
we were bill 24 our patient respons 
compani are permit by insur to bill for durabl medic equip stuff you receiv for home use when you’r in the hospit or doctors’ offic 
that yield some familiar markedup charg like the sling you can buy at walgreen for 15 but for which you or your insur get a bill for 120 after it is given to you at urgent care 
the polici has also led to widespread abus with patient sent home with equip they don’t need my mom’ apart for exampl hold an unus wheelchair a walker and a commod paid for by medicar by which i mean our tax dollar 
it’ as if you were given a swag bag at a confer and then sent a bill for hundr or thousand of dollar 
at least with swag you get to keep it 
my husband’ hard worn neck brace didn’t even come home with us as a souvenir 
2 
the cover charg the biggest singl item on andrej’ er 
bill was a 714399 trauma activ fee 
what was that for sinc everi compon of his care had been bill and bill handsom 
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 becaus one trip into a scanner examin the head upper spine and maxillofaci bone but was bill as three separ thing 
there was also an administr fee of more than 350 each for four inject 
trauma activ fee have been allow sinc 2002 after 911 when the trauma center associ of america an industri group convinc regul that they need to be compens for maintain a state of readi 
wait 
isn’t the purpos of an er 
to be readi 
isn’t that whi the doctors’ servic and scan are bill at higher rate when they are perform in an emerg depart 
despit scrutini from research about whether trauma fee are deserv trauma activ fee have onli grown in size 15 percent annual in recent year and can reach into the ten of thousand of dollar 
on averag medicar pay a fee of about 1000 
some have liken trauma activ fee to a cover charg for be wheel into an er 
with major trauma 
but doe a cover charg typic cost more than the meal 
3 
impostor bill we receiv 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 bedsid treatment from peopl who never came anywher near the bed to deliv the care 
andrej had a small finger fractur with a cut that need some stitch which a resid a surgeonintrain sutur 
but the 1512 bill came in the name of a senior surgeon as if he had done the work 
physician and mani other health profession are allow to bill for the work of extend — standin with less train who see patient and work under the supervis doctor 
these might be resid physician assist or nurs anesthetist for exampl 
for bill purpos this allow the senior provid to be in two three sometim more than half a dozen place at onc often even when they are physic mile away 
the resid did a fine job on my husband 
but if an assist did the work shouldn’t it be bill for less 
at law firm the hour rate for paraleg and junior attorney are lower than those for partner 
on a websit call clinic advisor a reimburs expert himself seem to wonder at the profession’ luck that such bill is toler i hear peopl ask ‘how can i do that 
the doctor never saw the patient never had ani interact with the patient and yet i can still bill this servic under the physician’ 4 
the drivebi the day befor andrej left the hospit a physic therapist visit and ask a few question 
from that brief encount the therapist note ambul deficit balanc deficit endur deficit painlimit function transfer deficit 
that translat into a bill of 64615 for what was record as a pt 
evalu 1st session onli billabl 
he said he was there for 30 minut but he was not 
he said he walk andrej up 10 step with a stabil belt for assist 
he did not 
there was no signific health servic given 
just an appear and some box check on a form 
it’ a phenomenon call drivebi doctor 
more shock the drivebi continu at our home presag by a call on andrej’ cellphon a day after he was discharg 
a physic therapist from a privat compani want to visit him for athom therapi 
in his discharg instruct no one had mention this servic and his injuri was clear too fresh to benefit 
she came 
she didn’t know which bodi part had been injur and conclud he was in too much pain to particip 
the same compani call twice more the follow week to schedul visit 
by the third time i told andrej not to open the front door 
nonetheless our insur was bill — and paid — for three visit 
it’ as if alexa notic that my dishwash make too much nois it doe and took it upon herself to send over a repair guy 
but if i turn him away at the front door say i’m ok 
with the racket i am would i still be bill for the visit 
5 
the enforc upgrad one monday when andrej was in pain and out of pill the trauma doctor suggest we meet in the emerg room becaus the trauma clinic was open onli 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 cloth 
they gave him a prescript 
becaus the interact — which could have happen in the lobbi — happen in the er it result in an er 
visit charg 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 ani of the emerg room resourc feel like a scam 
is an er 
visit determin by the content of the servic render or mere by the locat 
andrej had a similar experi when his broken finger was treat with a plastic splint that fold over his fingertip 
he complain becaus the upper layer press on the fractur 
at a followup visit someon took a pair of scissor and cut off the upper half of the splint and tape the lower half back in place 
that translat into a 481 charg for surgeri in addit to the 375 charg for the offic visit and a 103 facil fee 
doesn’t surgeri by definit involv cut into flesh or an anim object — not a piec of plastic 
sure it sound fanci to upgrad a meet to an er 
visit or to call the tweak of a splint surgeri but if an airlin overbook my flight and put me on anoth flight where the onli seat avail is in first class it doe not charg me for the more expens ticket 
my insur paid for most of these question charg though at discount rate 
but even a discount payment for someth that never realli happen or didn’t need to happen or that we didn’t agre to have happen is still accord to common sens a fraud 
whi do insur pay 
part becaus insur have no way to know whether you got a particular item or servic 
but also becaus it’ not worth their time to investig the million of medic interact they write check for each day 
despit the advertis concern about your wellb as one benefit manag enlighten me they’r too big to care about you 
electron record which autofil bill box have probabl made thing wors 
for exampl the birth of a babi boy may automat prompt a bill for a circumcis have day surgeri may prompt a check for sedat 
so what is the appropri payment for swag i didn’t ask for outrag cover charg standin doctor drivebi visit and faux surgeri 
in some case zero in other far less than was paid 
and yet these are all everyday normal experi in today’ health care system and they may be perfect legal 
if we want to tame the cost in our 3 trillion health system we’v got to rein in this behavior which is fraud by ani other name 
whi america need a royal famili by jennif weiner jan 10 2020 like everyon els on the internet i’v been watch the royal rumbl as princ harri and his american bride are attempt to carv out new role in the royal famili and i’v reach a conclus we the american peopl need some royal of our own 
i know 
you’r think didn’t we fight a revolut so we wouldn’t have king 
aren’t monarchi expens and aren’t european nation streamlin their monarchi for this veri reason 
and isn’t princ harri quit so that he won’t have to particip in an archaic obsolet system with unpleas echo of imperi and elit that has made his wife a target for racist 
all true 
but hear me out becaus as the hous of windsor burn and as recrimin ricochet from instagram to the tabloid with courtier and confer call and compet tale of who knew what when there’ the kernel of someth that might be worth pull out of the dumpster fire and reinvent as our own 
base on my understand of british govern which full disclosur is larg inform by memori of my 10thgrade world histori class plus three season of the crown the prime minist and parliament are democrat elect and do the actual govern while the dynast unelect royal have ceremoni role 
the king and queen and their offspr live in the palac wear fabul jewel drive or are driven in fanci car to event like troop the color excus me the colour and swan up which sound made up but isn’t all while drain the nation’ coffer to the tune of some â£824 million this year per the royal famili or â£345 million per republ a group that advoc abolit of the monarchi 
the subject pay the bill and in return the royal live their live in public enjoy various richpeopl pursuit attend wed in nice cloth and the aforement jewelri cut ribbon stand on balconi and wave 
they are england’ celebr in chief the star of one of the world’ longestrun realiti show 
they either serv as expens anachron or use distract depend on whom you ask 
that’ the thing about the monarchi say helena bonham carter play princess margaret on season 3’s final of the crown 
we paper over the crack 
the problem with a realtim soap opera that draw the entir world’ attent is that veri few peopl are equip to be it star 
recent histori prove the point the beauti princess becom a desper unhappi young mother who die tragic tri to escap the paparazzi rest in peac princess diana 
her husband the dash princ caught on tape muse about becom his mistress’ tampon realli who’ write this dialogu 
an uncl bounc out of the famili busi after consort with a notori pedophil 
is it ani wonder that we now have a princ who want to be written off the show or at the veri least becom a recur guest star not a seri regular 
in the unit state meanwhil we expect our elect offici with their unelect spous and children to serv that public ceremoni role 
which has meant first children go through adolesc on the world stage and spous who’v work as lawyer and teacher press into thankless unsalari and highlyscrutin servic as hostess in chief 
wouldn’t it make sens to separ those sphere the way they have in iceland where there’ an elect presid to handl ceremoni task and a prime minist to govern 
we too could give the power to an elect offici and keep a differ person around to handl the hostingribbon cuttingros garden tourleadinggossip lightningrod stuff 
we could keep it simpl and give the gig to miss america who’ alreadi been chosen and alreadi has a tiara 
or we could have a televis realiti contest a royal contest — see what i did there 
to elect our king and queen 
we could recruit the glitter coupl we think would be best suit for the job of repres america on the world stage beyoncã© and jayz 
jennif lopez and arod 
georg and amal clooney 
danni devito and rhea perlman 
ina garten and jeffrey 
we would put the wouldb royal through their pace — can she keep her cool while shake hand in fourinch heel for three hour 
can he entertain foreign dignitari even if he doesn’t speak their languag 
can they wrangl a gaggl of corgi or visit colleg footbal champ 
do they look good in funni hat 
we let peopl vote 
we move the winner into the white hous and reloc the presid into some nearbi more modest dig 
then we let the presid govern while our king and queen cut the ribbon and host state dinner pardon the thanksgiv turkey and light the christma tree 
we give them a salari and strict instruct about the valu they are to uphold one singl brooch like princess michael of kent’ and you’r out 
and we give them crown and titl becaus symbol have weight and mean and becaus fairi tale and hallmark movi have train us to believ that precious metal headgear and titl confer prestig and desir 
there’ a reason we aren’t all bing a netflix seri call the basebal cap a reason that — no offens iceland — cinderella and sleep beauti dream of a princ and not a presid 
elect royal coupl would elimin the problem of the unpaid first ladi shift the burden of be a hostess a chariti patron and a fashion plate onto the shoulder of someon who has skill for it allow the president’ spous to continu on whatev path he or she previous chose — health care administr librarian lawyer pilatesclass frequent 
even better it would erad the possibl of a presid who would rather be a king 
ani candid who prefer campaign to govern who would rather speak at a ralli than sit through a brief or who understand the hierarchi of fox news but do not seem to have read the constitut can run to be a royal not a presid 
give the power with no crown to the hardwork camerashi introvert give a crown with no power to the preen spotlight hog 
for all we know princ charl who’ been kind of a yawn as a royal could have been a solid politician and our disastr presid might have been at least a contain disast as king donald the first 
whi donald trump hate your dog by frank bruni nov 5 2019 reach for verb to describ abu bakr albaghdadi’ final moment presid trump grab hold of cri scream and whimper 
reach for noun he said that albaghdadi die like a dog 
i wasn’t awar that canin expir in a signatur fashion but trump know best even if he doesn’t know so veri mani word 
about a week later when he took characterist nasti note of beto o’rourke’ decis to abandon the presidenti race he said that o’rourk quit like a dog 
some simil demand repetit 
this wasn’t one of them 
but a lack of verbal ingenu never stop trump 
and an animus toward a certain anim has long well hound him 
in his boundless unorigin he has liken women he dislik to dog 
in his infinit incoher he has repeat tweet of peopl be fire like dog 
i person haven’t met all that mani gain employ pooch unless dig hole in the backyard is a profess and when those excav receiv order to desist none of them got a pink slip and a referr to career counsel 
trump did recent make the acquaint — from a distanc — of a dog with a bona fide job 
that dog is a belgian malinoi name conan 
and conan’ job brilliant execut was to find chase and corner albaghdadi 
trump call conan a beauti dog a talent dog 
the new york post put conan’ pictur on it front page along with the headlin zero bark thirti 
trump also tweet a photoshop imag in which he drape a medal around conan’ neck 
so this malinoi warrant decor while a dog get deris 
or is it just that everi dog has it day 
i use to believ that adag until trump came along 
he has had more than 1000 day in the presid even as the white hous goe to the dog 
journalist with mani news organ the washington post new york magazin slate and more have had a field day with trump’ dog use of dog as an allpurpos putdown 
when it come to like a dog he’ like a dog with a bone 
you’r no one until he’ divin the fleabitten mongrel within you — and you’v join a dog pound that includ the like of mitt romney gen stanley mcchrystal bill maher steve bannon georg will omarosa manigault newman my fellow time columnist gail collin and mani more 
fun doggi factoid cling to him like so much samoy fur 
he’ the first presid in more than a centuri who doesn’t have a dog 
accord to the chines zodiac he was born in the year of the dog 
accord to ivana trump he provok growl from her dog chappi a poodl who could suss out a peacock 
the media’ nicknam for his first defens secretari jame matti was mad dog 
and from the forehead up he’ a dead ringer for a distress pomeranian 
but no one has definit solv the riddl of what seem like a rabid case of canin contempt 
i have my own theori but first i have the more erudit insight of justin frank a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst and the author of the book trump on the couch 
frank note that trump is phobic about germ and no doubt see dog as fourleg germ factori 
he probabl also think dog are stupid becaus they obey frank said 
disobedi is trump’ prefer postur at least for himself although he broke with that to becom in frank’ word putin’ lap dog 
disobedi that is and distemp 
frank rais anoth issu that the presid might well have with dog when they’r around they often steal attent becom the object of people’ ooh and coo 
trump like the ooh all to himself 
my own sens 
for trump all relationship are transact and god’ creatur possess valu onli in accord with their abil to elev and enrich him 
his affect for kellyann conway hing on her superhuman power not to break into laughter or spontan combust when she put the most ludicr adulatori spin on his most transpar execr deed 
if border colli perform that trick he would keep a kennel of them at maraloco 
his regard for rudi giuliani depend on the hunch henchman’ open to unscrupul errand 
if doberman pinscher could pressur ukrainian offici to investig joe and hunter biden trump would repurpos camp david as a dog run and turn ivanka’ pump into chew toy 
but they can’t just as siberian huski can’t hack democrats’ email — for that a huski siberian is handier — and golden retriev can’t retriev gold 
dog are useless to trump at least by the criteria he care about 
there’ no money in most of them no vote in ani of them and they can’t play golf with him and tell him along the way what a man drive and grace putt he has 
that’ lucki for lindsey graham who would otherwis be swap out for a labradoodl licketysplit 
conan pass muster onli by be a proxi for trump’ own imagin machismo 
mayb chappi was mere yappi 
like a donald 
whi trump persist by thoma b edsal jan 22 2020 the failur of the american elector to rise up in opposit to presid trump — whose outrag are welldocu — suggest that voter are less toler less empathet and less insist on integr than mani believ 
the elect of trump and his first three year in offic have reveal a nation deepli ambival about immigr race equal fair — even about the ground rule of democraci itself 
what if the belief system use to justifi antiimmigr polici and to justifi race prejudic for that matter — hostil to outsid insular high sensit to extern threat — are as deepli ingrain in the american bodi polit as belief system sympathet to immigr and to racial equal — open recept to new experi trust 
karen stenner a polit psychologist and behavior economist best known for predict the rise of trumplik figur under the kind of condit we now confront respond to my email inquiri by note the conflict pressur at play i don’t think i would agre that trumpian conserv stand on immigr race and homeless are a more natur or default posit 
communiti with a good balanc of peopl who seek out divers complex novelti new and excit experi etc and those who are disgust by and avers to such thing avoid them and tell other to do likewis tend to thrive and prosper in human evolut 
find the right balanc stenner said is vital to both societ cohes and human flourish 
but she warn we may have tip the balanc too far in favor of unconstrain divers and complex push the boundari beyond mani people’ capac to toler it 
at this junctur she argu we need to tinker with that balanc and get it right for everyon 
so there’ the paradox of our time it is like that rather less liber democraci will ultim make liber democraci more secur 
among liber stenner argu the greatest ambival attach to immigr issu and that ambival is onli worsen by the unwilling of liber to accept an open debat in which immigr oppon can express their fear and concern without be call racist 
suzett brook master — who has written extens about immigr integr detent employmentbas immigr and the immigrants’ right field general — made a parallel point in her recent studi of immigr chang is hard academ agre that it is the pace of chang relat to the composit of the receiv communiti that matter most 
simpli put if a place is alreadi quit divers make it more divers matter less 
even signific inflow of divers newcom will be perceiv as less threaten becaus the communiti has alreadi adapt to greater divers 
by contrast in a relat homogen locat even small absolut number of newcom such as refuge can be disrupt and activ cultur anxieti 
jonathan haidt a professor at nyu’ stern school of busi offer a similar nuanc examin of how the balanc between tribal and open might play out 
tribal he wrote by email is not a mindless and etern us versus them mental 
it is a set of psycholog adapt that make peopl respond to threat and intergroup competit with an urg to band togeth enforc loyalti to the team and guard boundari or territori 
in the polit arena haidt continu if one gain prestig for outdo other on one’ devot to sacr valu — such as guard america’ border on the right or be antiracist on the left — then the party’ rhetor will shift to the extrem with candid make more extrem propos that gain them prestig 
the pressur to go to extrem haidt suggest are rough symmetr between left and right 
john r hib a polit scientist at the univers of nebraska take a more uncompromis stanc 
in an email he wrote though consider of such matter is alway specul suggest the possibl that conserv orient particular on topic such as immigr and race are evolutionarili more primal is perfect reason 
in their book predispos liber conserv and the biolog of polit differ hib kevin b smith of the univers of nebraska and john r alford of rice argu that liber is an evolutionari luxuri that can emerg in peopl when negat stimuli becom less preval and less dead or as hib put it in an email when daili threat to life and limb pose by other human be have diminish 
convers they write if the environ shift back to a threatfil atmospher then posit select for conserv orient would reappear 
let’ take a look at one of the core divis between liber and conserv the caus of poverti 
the right tend to blame individu fail while the left tend to place the onus on econom and polit forc 
the accompani chart creat from 2019 voter studi group data by zach goldberg a doctor candid in polit scienc at georgia state show the differ 
linda j skitka a professor of psycholog at the univers of illinoi at chicago and four colleagu conduct an intrigu set of test to determin the durabl and strength of liber and conserv belief on poverti in a 2002 paper disposit script or motiv correct 
understand ideolog differ in explan for social problem 
they found that in troubl time when competit for limit good intensifi liber move to the right it is much easier to get a liber to behav like a conserv than it is to get a conserv to behav like a liber 
liber act like conserv when resourc are scarc cognit load is high and aid serv secondari rather than primari need 
conserv onli act like liber when they are ask to consid help a person with intern control caus of need who has convinc reform 
in an email skitka provid some reason for this differ my research has found that hold peopl respons for their plight is a more natur respons than feel sympathet to those in need 
under most condit liber are more sympathet to the needi in larg part becaus they are more like to attribut the caus of their need to someth about the situat 
conserv in contrast tend to attribut the caus of people’ need to someth about the needi person they don’t work hard enough etc 
becaus blame the individu is a default or fallback posit liber have to go through a more cognit effort process to reach their less natur conclus — peopl have to basic overrid a more natur inclin to make disposit attribut instead accord to skitka 
as a result she continu under certain pressur liber respond to the needi more like conserv when resourc are scarc or when they are under a lot of cognit load eg they are distract or their abil to engag in selfcontrol is reduc eg when under the influenc of alcohol 
the leftright differ over the caus of poverti appli to other controversi subject high salient in contemporari american polit skitka and her colleagu write liber tend to focus on situat or institut explan for thing like homeless or whi peopl commit crime wherea conserv tend to focus on person explan for the same phenomena 
skitka and her fellow author receiv strong support for their argument in a 2012 paper loweffort thought promot polit conservat by scott eidelman a professor of psycholog at the univers of arkansa and three coauthor 
eidelman and his colleagu conduct a seri of test compar the answer of two group to ideolog reveal question 
the first face time pressur or were forc to answer with distract background nois in environ tax limit or otherwis disengag effort delib thought 
the second group was ask the same question with plenti of time to think and without nois or other distract 
in each case those test under favor circumst provid more liber answer than those test under more hostil condit 
the advers condit forc those particip to perform what the author call loweffort think and the result show that loweffort think promot polit conservat 
in one of their four experi the author went to an unidentifi bar in new england and persuad 85 drinker to take the test and have their alcohol level measur 
the result bar patron report more conserv attitud as their level of alcohol intox increas 
becaus alcohol limit cognit capac and disrupt control respond while leav automat think larg intact these data are consist with our claim that loweffort think promot polit conservat 
diana mutz a professor of polit scienc and communic at the univers of pennsylvania point out that one effect of increas educ level is to fundament chang individu world view 
the one sens in which there is evid that we do ‘overcome’ our tendenc toward tribal is through educ she wrote by email 
everi studi i’v ever seen across the social scienc show that educ promot less ingroup favorit and greater toler toward those unlik ourselv she continu 
in panel studi that track the same peopl over time as peopl gain advanc level of educ they becom more toler and favor toward liber democrat norm 
one scholar who has devot much of his career to the studi of the transit in develop countri from materialist to postmaterialist valu — from a valu orient that emphas econom and physic secur to one that emphas selfexpress and qualiti of life — is ronald inglehart a professor of polit scienc at the univers of michigan 
he see a general transit to more liber world view — perhap as a concomit of voter with colleg and graduat school degre 
liber valu are not a veneer mask a much less pleasant realiti inglehart point out in an email 
a sizabl and grow segment of the american public he wrote has toler liber view and these view are deeproot and endur 
inglehart’ research has found that those who develop postmaterialist valu which strong correl with what you think of as liber valu in their preadult year remain relat postmaterialist 40 year later 
materialist and postmaterialist take oppos side in respons to these statement a woman has todoesn’t have to have children to be fulfil i wouldwouldn’t want foreign homosexu or peopl with aid as neighbor a child needsdo not need a home with both a father and a mother in order to grow up happili imagin isi not one of the most import thing to teach a child men dodon’t make better polit leader than women homosexu isi never justifi 
from 1970 to the present the ratio of materialist to postmaterialist has gone from 41 to 11 accord to inglehart 
ryan eno a polit scientist at harvard whose research has demonstr the precari of liber racial commit when test in real world circumst repli by email to my inquiri there is no doubt that there is more ambival on these issu among liber and moder than is reflect in the poll 
in addit to the pressur of social desir bias to give the liber answer eno wrote other will lie to themselv tell themselv they believ someth that they realli don’t and other are liber in theori but less so in practic when it come to thing like homeless in their own citi or neighborhood 
there are other sourc of intern tension and conflict interest among democrat and liber 
i have written frequent on the problem confront the upstairsdownstair democrat coalit — combin welleduc relat affluent voter who are disproportion white with poor and work class voter who are heavili minor 
in his book polit is for power how to move beyond polit hobbyism take action and make real chang and in an atlant articl eitan hersh a polit scientist at tuft has focus on the relat weaker commit of the upscal constitu of the democrat coalit to polici initi aim at provid substant help 
mani collegeeduc peopl think they are deepli engag in polit hersh wrote in the atlant they follow the news — read articl like this one — and debat the latest develop on social media 
they might sign an onlin petit or throw a 5 onlin donat at a presidenti candid 
in fact he argu their consumpt of polit inform is a way of satisfi their own emot and intellectu need 
these peopl are polit hobbyist 
what they are do is no closer to engag in polit than watch sportscent is to play footbal 
hersh is hard on these voter a group he describ as collegeeduc white peopl a demograph group that is now predomin democrat 
these voter he write do polit as hobbyist becaus they can 
on the polit left they may say they fear presid donald trump 
they may lament polar 
but they are pretti comfort with the status quo 
they do not feel a sens of oblig of link fate to peopl who have concret need such that they are will to be their alli 
they might front as alli on social media but veri few white liber are activ engag in facetofac polit organ commit their time to fight for racial equal or ani other issu they say they care about 
whi doe all this matter 
what differ doe it make if liber and democrat are more ambival than conserv and republican 
for one thing it mean that in elect that are increas negat ambival partisan — democrat in this case — will be more vulner to attack design to generat conflict to weaken enthusiasm and to increas the likelihood of nonvot 
presid trump and the propon of the republican parti he domin are certain to do all they can to capit on this vulner 
most import democrat ambival in a year when high turnout is mandatori reflect the larger problem face a polit parti that is now focus on it share animos to trump 
that animos may or may not be enough to propel it presidenti candid to victori but the inher tension between differ sector of the centerleft coalit over ideolog econom and social issu — not to mention glare level of intraparti incom inequ — call into question exact what common ground hold the democrat coalit togeth 
how common is it 
brexit has arriv 
but bori johnson’ reign is just begin 
by richard seymour jan 31 2020 london — the moment has arriv 
britain is out of the european union 
prime minist bori johnson and his people’ govern — it scarc call itself conserv at this point — has fulfil the promis on which it was elect in decemb and got brexit done 
there are difficulti ahead 
mr johnson has promis imposs and contradictori thing on brexit maximum regulatori freedom where it suit his govern maximum frictionless trade where it suit the british economi 
the european union is unlik to give him what he want in the month of negoti to come 
but by fulfil his pledg mr johnson has won enorm good will from nationalist voter across england and wale 
outsid the european union he will also have more scope to chang the british government’ role in the economi 
this give him a uniqu opportun do what his predecessor could not build a last popular base for the conserv parti 
mr johnson can now take advantag of his big major to overhaul british capit incentiv longterm conserv voter while perman annex chunk of the labour party’ histor base 
alreadi the dimens of mr johnson’ plan are becom clear 
he has no intent of run the countri as ani conserv leader sinc margaret thatcher would have he is not out to roll back the state 
instead he is out to secur the support of workingclass voter who hand over to the tori dozen of seat former held by labour 
his premiership set free by brexit could reshap britain’ elector map for decad 
dure the elect mr johnson campaign as an almost singleissu nationalist the phrase get brexit done fall robot from his lip between everi other stammer 
beyond that much of what he said was convent tori he promis harsher restrict on immigr mean an end to free movement from the european union and the expans of the hostil environ for migrant 
domest repress the manifesto promis would also tighten with a bigger penal system and a greater emphasi on counterextrem which as home secretari priti patel has indic will target part of the left 
mr johnson has also hint at constitut reform which would strengthen the execut and weaken judici challeng 
he promis an attack on liber norm and legal in the name of nation invigor 
tell he distanc himself from the last govern 
he would end auster rais spend on the nation health servic guarante pension rais the minimum wage and borrow â£100 billion to invest in infrastructur 
mani of these promis were grossli exagger but they serv to underlin the point that a johnson administr would be differ 
and sinc the elect the govern has act to carri out it commit pass legisl to guarante nhs 
spend increas and propos moder improv to workers’ and renters’ right 
it has also promis that most of the infrastructur spend will be invest in england’ depriv northern region — and this week back up the promis by nation the north’ major rail servic 
if this sound like an incurs into labour territori it is 
mani of the polici are direct taken from labour’ plan 
the push for a larger state reson with a polit ambigu popular memori of the postwar era — a certain nostalgia for the era of big dynam industri own by the british govern inflect both a version of the leftw polit of the labour parti leader jeremi corbyn and a version of brexit sentiment 
mr johnson know that mani of the vote contribut to a conserv major were lent by voter who want brexit done 
a more interventionist state is a way to shore up a last broad coalit 
this pragmat raid on enemi turf was first conceiv under mr johnson’ predecessor theresa may 
more thought tori knew they had to chang 
the british state and economi had becom dysfunct gape region inequ a hous market inaccess to younger worker weak labor product sluggish invest and veri littl to export 
mrs may’ advis understood that the conserv had to break with the formula of auster and financi somehow 
but while she use the rhetor of workingclass uplift she was unabl to back it up with polici 
her chancellor philip hammond a tradit alli of the bank was determin to keep auster go 
if noth els he could see no other way to creat a fiscal surplus big enough to soften the impact of brexit 
mr johnson by contrast is just enough of an opportunist to see that deliv brexit in howev selfinjur and punit a form give him both the polit power and the regulatori latitud to do thing differ 
there is a risk though of succumb to mr johnson’ own mythmak 
as much as he need workingclass conserv they have alway exist 
and the core tori voter remain the affluent middl class 
what’ more when it come to public spend he’ limit in what he can do by his commit to freez most tax 
in an economi that is alreadi weak and like to be weaker after brexit he has littl room for serious invest 
and mr johnson will face conflict demand from within his own parti 
the chancellor sajid javid has demand 5 percent cut from most govern depart make plain that the spend spigot are not about to freeli flow 
and the prime minist is surround by alli who far from want a more interventionist state want to cut tax and slash regul in the interest of a more global competit economi 
dure the elect mr johnson was abl to glide over the glare contradict in what he said with a bustl con man’ charm but in offic he has to navig them 
with a big major he can no longer play the outsid 
howev the lesson of nationalist leader global is that in this jitteri era they don’t have to deliv boom success to keep power 
from viktor orban in hungari to narendra modi in india these leader have expand their base by deliv a person charismat form of rule in which they are milit defend of the nation against all comer — be they foreign traitor liber or leftist 
mr johnson is not a nationalist by convict 
he is the epitom of the reckless opportunist that as the sociologist aeron davi say run britain 
his vote record in parliament show him to be slight more liber than his parti 
but his perform over the last few month — dure which he agit against parliament accus oppon of collabor with europ and saberrattl against the court and media — show him to be adept at use the far right’ templat 
whenev the contradict in his govern threaten to unravel he is like to return to these tactic 
inde brexit fit in with that method perfect 
after today mr johnson will be abl to continu remind voter that he was abl to overcom the hostil of the liber elit and accomplish his goal 
and as negoti proceed he can gin up hostil against his suppos enemi whenev he doesn’t get his way 
whenev ani politician claim to speak for the peopl someon alway pay the price 
migrant are first on the list for mr johnson 
but they will not be the last