As part of a new series, Mint is tapping global thinkers for insights. The inaugural interview features Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and non-executive chairman of the board of Infosys Ltd. Nilekani previously served as chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and authored the groundbreaking book Reimagining India. Nilekani dwelt on the challenges and, in typical style, laid out the emerging ecosystem as well as the opportunities in a post-covid world. Edited excerpts:

We want to take you back to an idea you recently discussed: internal globalization. Do you think this is a moment when India should take a deep dive into it?

I completely feel what we call internal globalization is the need of the hour. If you look at external globalization, there was a great run for about 20 years. If you take 1991, not only was it the year of Indias big economic reforms, but it was also the time the Berlin Wall fell and in some sense launched an era of globalization. It was further enhanced by the rise of the internet, containerization, which made it easy to move things around the world and, of course, China joining WTO (World Trade Organization) in 2000. The World Is Flat was written in 2004, which in some sense represented the zeitgeist of that period. But today I think there is a lot of pushback against globalization, particularly by some of the big advanced countries and their populations.

Where we should focus our effort is on making the Indian internal economy, which is continental in scale, completely freeeasy to move money, easy to relocate. So definitely we need to get the scale benefits of Indias size and population through internal globalization.

Your first big theme was the world is flat. In the past two decades, we have seen the end of globalization as we knew it. Now you are arguing for internal globalization?

Yes. In the world is flat era, Boston and Bangalore were flattened but not Bangalore and Bidadi as internal India was not equally accessible. But given that Indias growth will have to come more from domestic economic activity, reducing friction internally between states is the need of the hour, and we maybe halfway on that journey.

Has the gap between Bangalore and Bidadi reduced significantly since the world is flat idea? And if it has, are we saying India is ready for the idea of internal globalization?

Bidadi today has a Toyota factory and a golf course, so I am not sure if it is the right example I should be using. But I think it is inevitable. We are going to see the migration from North to South and East to West... If you want to get enough economic growth equitably, then you have to make the Indian economy more efficient and more interoperable internally. I think some of the decisions this government has taken now on the whole APMC (agricultural produce market committee) is an example of trying to create a national market for agriculture.

GST (goods and services tax) is an example of creating a national market for goods and services. So I think it is inevitable, it is necessary; we have to find the right balance between the Centre and the states so that both parties have a stake in the game.

There is a surge in the use of tech in the wake of covid-19. Do you think this has given a fresh lease to the idea of using tech to do social good?

Absolutely. The pandemic has brought home the benefits of technology. One, of course, is applications such as Arogya Sethu for contact tracing; the fact that today the Supreme Court is conducting hearings on videoconference is something you would not have imagined before the pandemic.

And then the fact that the worlds largest cash-transfer programme has been so easy because of Aadhaar-DBT(direct benefit transfer)there were 400 million Aadhaar-enabled transactions in May and June... This will be the turning point in the (deployment of) useful technologies for social development.

So it looks like the enabling environment we have today is most conducive to nurture an open digital ecosystem like UPI (unified payments interface).

Actually, there are many things in play at the ground level. I will focus on both the digital and internal globalization together. Fundamentally, how do we create a national economy where goods, services, people and capital move freely? We do have free movement of people, and that is shown in the migration that has happened.

Our migration is going to go up because the fertility rate of southern and western states is below replacement level, whereas the TFR (total fertility rate) of some of the northern and north-eastern states like Assam is above fertility level. As a result, the bulk of young people over the next decade will be coming from these four to eight states. There is going to be internal migration from these states to the western coastal states or the southern states...

When people move around like that, you have to make sure that every service should be instantly accessible wherever they are. Today, my Aadhaar number is a nationally usable number; bank account, too, is nationally usable; so is my mobile number. This should be applied for other things, too.

If I am eligible for something from the PDS (public distribution system), I should be able to get it anywhere in the country. If I want an education in my mother tongue, I should get that anywhere in the country. We have to really re-imagine some of these things so that people have access everywhere. All this can only be enabled through technology.

What is the kind of architecture that a new India can look at?

Every service provided by the government should be digitally enabled so that it is accessible over a wire or a phone anywhere... For example, in the case of PDS, if I have national portability, a migrant in Delhi and his wife staying in a village in Bihar should be able to withdraw their PDS entitlement and each can take a part of it.

We also have to think of two models, what I call assisted service and self-service. Western society tends to have self-service because everybody is educated, rich and has a smartphone. In a country like India where many people may not have full literacy and may not have access to devices, you need both.

This requires an information highway, the building blocks of which have been in the making for the last 10 years. Given this free exchange of information, the privacy of data must be ensured. We have come a long way forward in the privacy space. In 2010, I had written to the prime minister that we should have a privacy law. A lot has happened since then. One is, of course, the landmark judgement of the Supreme Court that Indians do have a fundamental right to privacy. At the same time, the SC came out with a brilliant judgement that said there are some situations where some of the rights can be circumscribed; they also said any circumscription of privacy should be proportional, reasonable and be supported by law.

You said 50% of India has arrived there. What is the other 50% that needs to be done?

I mean 50% of the digital infrastructure is in place. What is in place is national identity, national payments and banking, and national mobile phones. The PDS system needs to be nationally mobile. GST has given us the foundation for the national indirect tax system, which of course needs to be further simplified, but fundamentally, the thing is there. FASTag has made it possible to drive a truck from Delhi to Kanyakumari without having to stop for paying toll... We need to have a way for voters to be able to move their vote when they migrate. I think healthcare is another important thing which, hopefully, the current crisis will accelerate... Then there is education. It is compounded by the fact that we are going to have many multilingual states in future because of migration.

How do we anticipate and respond to challenges like the pandemic?

You are asking me to talk about unknown unknowns". I am a great proponent of using digital methods to leapfrog. At the same time, I recognize that if the digital architecture is not open, interoperable and competitive, then you end up creating a new class of intermediaries. For me, (the question is) how do you make these happen in a way we do not replace old overlords with new digital overlords? The second thing is that in excessive dependence on digitization we have to make sure people have the capacity to deal with it. Inequality is exacerbated in a digital world.

There is a point Yuval Noah Harari makes about technology and cooperation. Do you think that in the present situation we have overestimated technology and underestimated cooperation?

I agree with you... As technology becomes more and more mainstream and part of the fibre of your life, then obviously it will become subservient to politics, ideology, security and privacy concerns... That is going to be the future.

You said this before about how Infosys set a very audacious goal of $1 billion when it was around $100 million. How would you recalibrate that goal if you had a similar challenge today?

I think the pandemic is a gigantic stress test on the world. Companies, in particular, are being stressed and clearly, it is starting to distinguish those who have resilient and successful business models from those who do not... Audacious goals are not just about size but also about how you make sure you are more resilient and are more agile and quick to respond to crisis and opportunities... I think the biggest learning from all this is that if you want to be in charge of your destiny, generate your own money... All the great companies became great because they were profitable and generated large amounts of cash... How do you re-imagine what you do to be financially sustainable, resilient, agile and responding to opportunities and threats, de-layering and de-bureaucratizing your firm and making yourself sentient where the nerve tips of your organization are able to immediately sense the change of the environment? These are all some of the things to be done for new audacious goals that companies have to set for themselves.

Data has become absolutely historical. You need fresh sets of data to, as you have put it and people are saying, to re-imagine things. Isnt that so?

Yes. Actually, that is why the whole idea of sentience is very important because past data may not indicate the future. So your ability to sense what is happening around you, both from data as well as your own insights, becomes very important. One of the reasons digital giants do so well is that they use data exhaustively to sense changes in the market. Every company will have to do that because things are going to change very quickly and the past is no indication of the future.

If you were asked to set three or five audacious goals for India in the current circumstances, what would they be?

I think one is, how do we achieve full and effective literacy and numeracy universally in the next five years... If we put our minds to it, we can address learning outcomes at scale in every language and every nook and corner... (O)ther countries that have either not done it or have done it at a very high cost; we can do it at low cost. The second is about transforming healthcare and making sure everyone has access to it at the lowest possible cost. The third is transforming the delivery of justice, equitably, quickly and cheaply... The fourth is creating a social welfare net that is accessible by everyone at the right time, place and quantum. Finally, how do we make data work for people? The Western model makes it work for large firms and governments. How do we ensure data empowerment? India can be completely data empowered in five years. These five things are not only audacious, they are doable, plausible, transformational and essential.

Gireesh Chandra Prasad contributed to the story.

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Originally posted here:

In a post-covid world, the past is no indication of whats in the future: Nandan Nilekani - Livemint

When Narendra Modi won a landslide general election in 2014, it heralded not only the victory of a new style of populism in India. It was also a watershed moment confirming Indias sharp turn to the right.

That nationalist populism has birthed exclusionary language in politics and and the popular media towards India's Muslims, and the imposition of centralized control (justified by strategic and security concerns) over its one Muslim-majority state, Kashmir, and a surge in interest in ties with Israel, perceived as a model state for its opposition to Islamist terrorism.

In response, there has been a conscious push by parts of the Muslim world to extend soft power influence over Indias Muslim communities, part of a wider strategy of building international prestige for strategic gain.

The lastest platform to host this political-culture war with its geopolitical resonances is the small screen, with two international TV hit series, one from Israel and the other from Turkey, vying for popular clout and attention. This is the story of Fauda versus Ertugrul.

A fundamental aspect of Indias new right-wing zeitgeist has been an assertive national security posture. This has been expressed more as populist rhetoric against Pakistan and terrorism rather than a robust and considered security doctrine. That assertive posture, valorizing the use of force, migrated quickly and easily through Indias thriving social media scene, which now hosts a noisy right-wing nationalist online ecosystem, where it acts as a fast-response team to defend Modi and attack his critics.

That militarized nationalism was soon picked up by Indias huge Bollywood movie industry, which launched a series of spy-thrillers and hyper-nationalistic historical fiction, turning hitherto marginalized characters from Indian history and mythology into superhuman patriots.

The industry also brought the mythmaking right up to date, with smash hits based on recent military confrontations with Pakistan. "Uri Surgical Strikes"was released in 2016 and there are two films in production based on the 2019 Balakot air-strikes movies pumping with jingoistic adrenalin.The producers of Balakot have even trailed their work as "A story that celebrates the accomplishments of The Indian Air Force."

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It didnt take long for Israel to enter the picture. India under Modi has shed its hesitations in embracing the Jewish state. Theres the blossoming and very public relationship between premiers Modi and Netanyahu, arms deals, and a new concept of strategic allyship. In tandem have come changes in both Indias political and cultural debate.

Into this milieu came two TV series,FaudaandErtugrul. They have become massive hits in India, but among very different constituencies, and thosedifferences indicate a lot more than competing crazes for well-produced hits; they have strong socio-political and geopolitical connotations.

Fauda, the series about an Israeli undercover unit that hunts down Palestinian terrorists, is immensely popular among right-wing Indians. Generally, Indians are not comfortable watching programs with subtitles, but when it comes to Fauda, whose actors talk in Hebrew and Arabic, they are glued to the screen.

No doubt the series, available on Netflix India and myriad pirate sites, is remarkable in its direction, story-lines, the depiction of human relations, and the cast; however, there is much more to its popularity in India than that. Where did the thirst for Fauda come from?

Like many cultural phenomena, Faudas fandom is led by early adopters who are major cultural influencers and many of them have made a distinct pivot rightwards.

Before 2014, it was uncool to be a right-winger in India. The media, academia, civil service and fine arts were dominated by a leftist-liberal elite. They caricatured right-wingers as politically dogmatic and culturally regressive: Hindu nationalist BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) voters, perhaps devotees of its powerful ultranationalist mother-ship, the Rashtriya Swayam Sewk Sangh (RSS), who enjoyedshakha(traditional exercises), spoke in chaste Hindi, practiced rigid vegetarianism, respected the celibate lifestyle and despised western-educated intellectuals.

But battered by six years of Modi, that left-liberal ecosystem is tottering. India has a new elite: right-wing, Hindu nationalist, upper middle-class, their self-confidence and aggressiveness towards "leftist" opponents directly correlated to their proximity to those in power.

Their Hindu nationalism, though, is far less connected to religious fundamentalism or literalism than the tenets avowed by Modis ideological home: In regard to issues of personal status and lifestyle, theyre positively liberal.

They hold degrees from American and European universities, some even from Israel. In stark contrast to the ultraconservative values associated with contemporary Hindutva, they back co-habitation and same-sex relationships; they have no compunctions about alcohol or marijuana.

And, crucially for Fauda, theyre staunch enemies of Islamism, dont feel bound at all by what they see as political correctness, and theyre an English-speaking class, confident of their western education, command over the global language and theyre big-time Netflix watchers.

For this group, Israel has obvious and compelling charms as well as offering an enticing and imitable playbook. For supporters of the bracingly self-confident, military-friendly Modi-style India, Israels decades of experience countering separatist and Islamist terror make it a key role-model, and Kashmir, the key laboratory for New Delhis imitation efforts. With the Indian government led a no-holds-barred campaign against Islamism and jihadi terrorism, focused on Kashmir, the marriage of Delhis new security awareness and new-found love for Israels approach seemed self-evident. Fauda is their poster-child.

The Harvard-educated economist right-wing anti-Muslim firebrand, Subramanian Swamy, who sits on the BJP national executive, watched Fauda during the coronavirus lockdown in May and was so impressed that he recommended the series as "lessons for India and the costs we must pay."

A deluge of amateur strategic experts, journalists masquerading as experts and other public figures have lectured the government to borrow Israel's entire military playbook and copy-paste it in Kashmir. But do those actually serving in the Indian army back them up?

Indian army officers, many of whom are deployed in counter-insurgency roles in Kashmir (an obvious point of reference to Israeli series) are another significant Fauda fan-base. Do they see a wider analogy between the Kashmir and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts? An equivalence between themselves as would-be Fauda operatives fighting an increasingly Gaza-style conflict against Palestinian-style militants adept at guerilla tactics, fueled by a mix of alienation, nationalist-separatism and Islam? Does Fauda really offer operative and theoretical lessons for India?

Numerous commentators have queried whether there is such an analogy. One camp from separatists to journalists and activists relentlessly accuse India of replicating the Israeli militarized occupation model in Kashmir, and push real and imagined fears about the West Bank-style colonization of Kashmir with non-Muslim outsiders, especially since the abrogation of the states autonomy. They see a reinforcement of their claims in the post-2014 strengthening of Indo-Israel counter-terrorism and defense cooperation.

Despite its popularity, official India dislikes the the Israeli-Palestinian and India-Kashmir comparison, considering it a potential attack on its uncompromising opposition to any internationalization of the Kashmir issue. The security czars in Delhi consider this solely Indias internal affairs, and frown at any comparison, despite the increasing similarities between the two conflicts.

Whether the Modi administration has actually copied Israels playbook or not is a matter of unproven guesswork. But as much as critics see Delhi as adopting Israels counter-terrorism tactics, Kashmiri militants themselves have unmistakably copied Palestinian tactics. WithIntifada-style protests, stone-pelting, fidayeen attacks,and now an overwhelming dominance by jihadist elements of the Kashmiri separatist movement, the resemblances between Kashmir and the West Bank/Gaza could not be more pronounced.

In a polarized India where Israels Fauda fuels right-wing nationalist and Muslim-skeptic fantasies, the Turkish smash hit Dirilis: Ertugrul ("Resistence: Ertugrul") has captured the imagination of Indias Muslims, and the Muslim communities across South Asia more generally.

Described as a Turkish "Game of Thrones," the series (which first premiered in Turkey in 2014 and runs to five series) is a sweeping historical drama set in the 13thcentury exploring the life, loves, adventures and many battles of Ertugrul, father of Osman I, and his path from obscurity and a small band of followers, to battling the far more powerful Mongols, Crusaders and Byzantines, to his son founding the 600-year Ottoman Empire.

In Pakistan, Ertugrul is hugely popular: Prime Minister Imran Khan pushed for it to be dubbed into Urdu and broadcast on national television and available online, and it is that Urdu language version which has travelled at maximum velocity across Pakistan to Indias Muslim community to Kashmir. The YouTube channel hosting "Erdugrul Ghazi," as the Urdu version is called, boasts over 200 million views. 61 million people have watched Series 1 Episode 1 on that YouTube channel alone.

Just as Fauda benefitted from a binge-viewing captive audience during Indias coronavirus lockdown, so did Ertugrul. Forced to stay indoors for weeks, Indian TV viewers were offered re-runs of series dramatizing Hindu mythology such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana; they generated record-breaking television rating points while Ertugrul became "the go-to Muslim household show to watch in India."

A well-known, and controversial, Indian Muslim cleric declared Ertugrul haram for its immodesty, but even he admitted it was "less haram" than watching Bollywood.

In Kashmir,the Muslim population had already lived through an extended government-imposed physical and Internet lockdown after theabrogation of Article 370, and had found their own escapist enjoyment in downloaded versions of Ertugrul, often passed around on flash drives.

The COVID-19 lockdown gave another boost to viewing figures, with Ertugrul attaining the status of a cult classic, appealing across a broad spectrum from religious clerics, to a young more Westernized and educated class, to moderately religious householders.Kashmiri couples are even naming their newborns after Ertugrul.

If Fauda is a warning writ large for a Hindu nationalist public about the threat of Islamist terrorism, the attraction to its Muslim minority of a series which foregrounds Muslims as heroes and victors, rather than the downtrodden and "other,"are clear. And there are other reasons for the popularity of Ertugrul in Kashmir: like with Fauda, its a drama that reflects geopolitical dynamics.

Ertugrul is the latest in the stream of religious and cultural influences from the wider Middle East seeking a constituency in the subcontinent. The region obviously exercises a powerful hold on the Muslim imagination worldwide as the cradle of Islam, but also the source of modern-day movements such as the penetration of Saudi-style Wahhabism, or Iranian influence over the Shia community. However, Ertugrul is different in many respects.

As many Indian Muslim intellectuals have suggested, Ertugrul presents a pull and a push: the pull of the narrative, valorizing rather than demonizing Muslims, and embedding Quranic references without pathologizing them as alien or dangerous: for Indian journalist Hiba Bg, that comes as a "fresh take for literally anyone, as all you ever hear of the Islamic Surahs on TV is before a man decides to put on an explosive belt."

The push comes from being entertainment funded and produced by Turkeys state television station, part of Turkish President Recep Tayyep Erdogans soft power outreach to the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent.

I spoke by phone with Safina Baig, a prominent politician and lawyer from Kashmir, and self-declared Ertugrul fan. She suggested that for Turkey, the series clearly has an implicit, well-planned geopolitical motive, building on what is already the significant success of Turkeys Erdogan presenting himself as a leader-father figure for many Kashmiris.

Irshad Magray, a research analyst from Kashmir and a passionate Ertugrul watcher, told me that even relatively non-religious Muslim youth like Ertugrul because it offers a message of hope and self-confidence to a younger generation becoming skeptical, even embarrassed, about their Muslim identity, thanks to the widespread association of Islam with terrorism in Indian politics and society.

In an article on the Ertugrul phenomenon written for the most widely read English daily newspaper in Kashmir, assistant history professor Safeer Ahmad Bhat notes the protagonists constant refrain: "Battle belongs to us, but victory belongs to Allah." Bhat traces this emphasis directly to modern-day Turkey: "Erdogan is attempting a careful mixture of Turkish nationalism and Islam," going on to say it was a clear example of a "government attempt to use history for the furtherance of nationalism."

But the message of a saga about the founding of a transnational empire is broader than Turkeys domestic politics: a key focus of the series is that the "Muslim resurrection" (part of the series title itself) "is possible only through the unity of Muslim rulers," Bhat added.

There is no doubt that Erdogan has launched a massive outreach campaign targeting Indian Muslims hrough social media, donations, scholarships, and becoming their global spokesman. In Kashmir, Erdogan is already considered a hero for taking up the cause of Islam and the Kashmiri people.

His adoption of the Indian Muslim cause, and specifically of Kashmir, does not have a narrow religious focus, which would quickly lead to sectarian friction and stymie his ambitions to be the outstanding leader of the global Muslim community, of which South Asian Muslims constitute a significant proportion. There are echoes from history too: In 1920, Indian Muslims, under Gandhis leadership, launched theKhilafat movement, a non-violent jihad to restore the Ottoman caliphate.

It may be too blatant to fuse the figures of Erdogan and Ertugrul (who prepared the establishment of the Ottoman empire) but the symbolism is indeed suggestive, if not effective.

Ertugruls message anchoring Muslim identity in pride, honor, toughness and achievement offers welcome symbolic pushback for a minority community in an India where right-wing Hindu nationalism is now so dominant in the media, politics, and social spaces, and in Kashmir particularly, where security forces lockdowns have intensified frustration and resentment against central government rule.

Just as Fauda fandom signals the shift of Indias influencers towards a more militant and exclusionary nationalism, the Ertugrul craze is is a signpost written for the alienation of many of Indias 180 million Muslims from that dominant political culture and their search for solidarity elsewhere.

In the background is a growing trend of Muslim radicalization, burgeoning Islamist-oriented groups, both non-violent and violent, leading to theirreorientation towards Turkey and the Middle East, in stark contrast to their roots and the indigenous Muslim religious traditions of the subcontinent.

Snarkier if not prejudiced voices charge that Ertugrul fuels Indian Muslims identity crisis by pushing the idea that they can base their self-image on borrowed victories but that "Turks and Arabs" will never give them "space at the table."

Whereas Erdugrul gives a voice to alienated Muslims, some increasingly radicalized, Fauda offers Hindu nationalists a sense of common cause, even intimacy. But that could be a poisoned chalice.

Clearly, the Israel depicted by Fauda, now familiar to hundreds of millions in India and amplified by right-wing activists and intellectuals on social media, is both a snapshot and a caricature: a country reduced to a hyper-masculine security-state dealing ruthlessly with terrorists. Any grassroots love for Israel that this may birth will be similarly cartoonish and manipulatable, not least bearing in mind the general ignorance of basic facts about Israel and the Jewish people in India.

In a country with an abysmal education system and poor reading habits, there are not insignificant sectors who glorify Adolf Hitler without realizing the offense to the Jewish community; Hindu nationalist leaders have a long history of admiration for Nazism and its "achievements." Only a minuscule intellectual class is educated about the Holocaust. In Gujarat, where Modi was one Chief Minister, state schoolbooksendorsed praising Hitler. A more significant and lasting relationship between the two countries requires a broader base beyond the Delhi elite and beyond Fauda.

How far will the polarization between the India of Fauda and the India of Ertugrul go?

That wlll depend on how far Modis political fortunes will continue to rise, Turkeys ambitions and radicalizing outreach to Muslims, Israels annexation plans and whether theyll cause a reassessment by key allies, and if the Indian opposition can offer a principled platform affirming inclusion and equality.

But despite the clouds on the horizon most immediately, the coronavirus pandemic (India now has the third-largest number of confirmed cases in the world), spiking tensions with superpower neighbor China, an insurgency in Kashmir and nation-wide protests over legislation that the Muslim minority and its allies clearly see as discriminating against the minority community Modis popularity ratings keep climbing, with some polls showing it near 90 percent.

Thereisone event rowards the end of the year that will either bring the two Indias together, or drive them further apart at least in front of the small screen.Mumbai-basedApplause Entertainmentis partnering with Israels Yes Studios for an Indian adaptationof Fauda, but this time set against the always-simmering conflict between India and Pakistan.

ApplauseCEO Sameer Nair suggested Fauda would lend itself to the India-Pakistan context particularly well because it is "about people on both sides" and tries to "represent this gray [not back and white] state of conflict."

Plenty of Fauda critics are already skeptical that this was ever achieved in the Israeli-Palestinian version; and local fans, rooting for Israel, certainly dont embrace a "neutral" parsing of the series. Whether this endorsement of nuance and both sidesism will really fly in the nuclear-armed and fiercely partisan India-Pakistan context remains to be seen.

Abhinav Pandya,a Public Affairs graduate from Cornell University,is the author of "Radicalization in India: An Exploration," (Pentagon Press, 2019) and a forthcoming book on terror financing in Kashmir. Heis the co-founder of the Usanas Foundation, an India-based thinktank for geopolitics and security affairs.Twitter:@abhinavpandya

Read more from the original source:

Israels Fauda vs Turkeys Ertugrul: In India, the battle between two hit TV series is more than a culture war - Haaretz

For many decades, the Horological Holy Trinity has consisted of Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet. These three pillars of traditional Swiss watchmaking produce exquisite, historically important, valuable timepieces. Theyre unimpeachable. (And, yes, watch aficionados actually speak of this trio as The Holy Trinity.) For many watch collectors, owning at least one of each is mandatory for gaining entrance into horological heaven.

Among us mortals, however, there is a New Holy Trinity emerging: Grand Seiko, Nomos, and Tudor. I hadnt seen the light of this new Holy Trinity until my friend the author Gary Shteyngart a man well known for succinct and brilliant insights casually rattled it off one day. I owe my conversion experience entirely to Gary, and it is with his permission and my gratitude that I share his reformist vision of the new horological religion.

The original Holy Trinity (Vacheron, Patek, & AP) is out of reach for many of us because their watches are so expensive. And that Holy Trinity may be a bit too old-school. It might even be out of style. But the quest to commune with a three-headed horological god still compels us devoted watch worshipers.

Three is a powerful number. It is significant across religions, where three-headed gods occupy the highest of holy echelons. Three is the first odd prime number, and the second of all primes divisible only by itself and the great unifier, One. We mortals can perceive just three dimensions, and we can do so much with those three dimensions. And our eyes are trichromatic, seeing just three colors and blending them infinitely into our gorgeous experiences of reality. You can do a lot with three of something, and that even extends to a small watch collection able to cover just about every situation we might find ourselves in. And with Grand Seiko, Nomos, and Tudor, you can have it all. These three brands share a number of attributes that elevate their timepieces to holiness:

The Sacred In-House Movement All three brands offer in-house movements, a most sacred attribute among devoted watch aficionados. Grand Seikos movements are highly evolved mechanisms with roots going back to the 1940s and 50s. Nomos, a German company, produces beautiful and rather original movements in Glashtte. (Their balance bridge and free-sprung balance wheel are especially worthy of worship.) Tudor has been introducing in-house movements in many of their watches lately, elevating the brand up Mount Horology to sit alongside its Titan Father, Rolex.

Worship-Worthy Value Attitudes toward luxury have shifted to include a new emphasis on value. Its no longer necessarily in vogue to spend wildly and ostentatiously display ones expensive watch. Good value is worshiped now along with great quality and excellent style, and Grand Seiko, Nomos and Tudor offer some of the best value, quality, and style in timepieces today.

Alignment with the Mysteries of the Zeitgeist If only the marketeers could predict or better, create trends. They just cant do it, and the ability of a watch to capture the spirit of its moment remains a mystery to even the most astute analysis of culture. The dark forces at play here, shrouded in the vagaries of the lightning-fast global economy, have somehow not eluded Grand Seiko, Nomos, and Tudor. These brands seem to have dipped their timepieces in stardust that casts a spell on those who behold them.

Deep Roots Though Grand Seiko, Nomos, and Tudor form a new Holy Trinity, these companies have deep roots in horological traditions. Grand Seiko was formed in the middle of the 20th Century as a high-end expression of Japanese craftsmanship, and the brand employs thousand-year-old techniques in small workshops across Japan to produce some of the most transcendent dials, markers, and hands made today.

Nomos formed in 1990 after the Berlin Wall fell, setting up shop in Glashtte with a spirit of democracy and modernity that rings throughout the companys ethos today, a bright light of hope and free-market ingenuity shining where a dark cloud of dictatorial fascism once loomed. Tudor has roots reaching back to the minister of sport-oriented watch worship himself, Hans Wilsdorf, founder of Rolex. Tudor was, and still is, the more affordable little brother of the Rolex brand, but is no longer bound to house 3rd-party movements as Rolex once mandated in order to meet standards of affordability. Tudor worship today is a religion in its own right.

The Good Works of the New Holy Trinity As a Holy Trinity, Grand Seiko, Nomos, and Tudor offer an incredible variety of timepieces that, taken collectively, inhabit just about every niche an horological devotee could want to explore. Here, we examine three examples from each of the three new horological gods, each a manifestation of their good works.

Nicknamed the Snowflake, this watch has captivated people around the world with its textured white dial that glistens like freshly fallen snow on Mt. Fuji. The genre-defying Spring Drive movement uses a self-powered mechanism combined with an integrated circuit to power a perfectly smooth seconds hand. Considered by many to be the most significant movement development since Seiko brought quartz to the market in the late 1960s, the SBGA211 watch may just reconcile the differences between art, science, and religion.Diameter: 41mmPrice: $5,800

More Info: Here

With a dial intended to replicate autumn leaves reflecting off a black lacquered floor in a traditional Japanese home, and a flecked titanium rotor in bright green meant to represent summer leaves prior to their seasonal turning, this watch reads like verses from the scriptures of horology. An in-house Hi-Beat movement ticks 36,000 times per hour, offering unparalleled accuracy and a smooth sweeping seconds hand. Grand Seiko refuses to reveal the mysteries of how this dial is crafted.Diameter: 39.5mmPrice: $6,400

More Info: Here

To celebrate Grand Seikos 60th Anniversary, this watch recreates the very first watch from the revered Japanese manufacture. With no date, a hand-wound in-house movement, a titanium case, and a deep blue dial that transcends earthly hues, this watch carries the weight of its elegant history in its ultra-light body.Diameter: 38mmPrice: $8,000

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Orion dominates our night sky with its familiar rows of three stars each, but in Nomoss world, the Orion is more like the North Star, having consistently guided the brand from its earliest days. This is spiritual minimalism, providing a quiet mechanical refuge to souls grown weary of the hecticness of the digital age. Though the Orion is available in many sizes and with either a handwound or an automatic in-house movement, the 35mm Rose stands out for its dreamy, pink champagne dial and gold markers and hands.Diameter: 35mmPrice: $2,360

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Nomos is known for the use of bold, Bauhaus-inpsired color schemes, and the Club range of watches offers sporty looks in a wide selection of bold and funky hues. The Siren White houses an in-house Minimatik auto-winding movement, and the white dial gleams in contrast against the blued-steel hands and bright red luminescent markers.Diameter: 37mmPrice: $3,160

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Earthly in orientation, heavenly in execution, this watch is the most complicated from Nomos to date. With a uniquely skeletonized dial that shows two time zones as well as cities from around the world, the watch features an in-house movement that achieves maximum efficiency of operation through just one pusher to advance local time.Diameter: 40mmPrice: $6,100

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An in-house GMT movement in an incredible-looking watch for $4,050? Thats exactly the kind of value that New Holy Trinity represents. The familiar Pepsi bezel speaks of the Rolex GMT Master of the 20th Century, but the matte ceramic bezel insert and signature snowflake hands of the Tudor Black Bay GMT assure no one is going to confuse the two.Diameter: 41mmPrice: $4,050

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Housing an in-house movement that meets the stringent COSC accuracy standards, the Black Bay Bronzes gray-to-black faded dial and bronze case cast a steampunky shadow-spell on all who behold it. Even if youre descending to the depths of hell, this incredibly rugged and accurate dive watch will see you through to the light.Diameter: 43mmPrice: $4,150

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In-house COSC-rated movement. Light titanium case. Durable enough to go anywhere and withstand anything. The Pelagos may just be Tudors most badass dive watch. And for those who are tired of the vintage-inspired trends (though it certainly features some throwback influences), the Pelagos will show you The Power of Now.Diameter: 42mmPrice: $4,575

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The Best Value in Watches Comes From These Brands - Gear Patrol

By Aisha Sembhi

The recent revival of the Black Lives Matter movement has made unprecedented moves into the social mainstream. Otherwise neglected racism aimed towards Black people has been pushed to the forefront of social media, mainly thanks to the work of dedicated grassroots activists worldwide. The mainstream news, however, seems to be lagging. While protests and counter-protests alike have been widely reported on during the last month, news outlets seem to hesitate when asked to make the fundamental statement the UK needs to hear: Black Lives Matter.

We have officially reached the toughest barrier in achieving social justice implementing actual change. News outlets have been fundamental in controlling the national zeitgeist in turbulent and partisan times, and the BLM movement is no different. Outlets aligned with both the left and right wings of the political spectrum have churned out opinion pieces on the movement, and have undoubtedly consolidated their readers existing views on the situation.

An impartial news outlet should not allow political symbols to broadcast.

The BBC, however, has a different role to play. As a state-funded news source, the BBC has an underlying responsibility to remain impartial on certain political issues. Whilst the BBC has certainly been active in reporting BLM-related events, it has fallen short of explicitly supporting perhaps the largest and most momentous anti-racist movement this generation has seen. The BBCs recent announcement personifies the back-peddling that has occurred as a result of BLMs unexpected social success; broadcasters and guests will be discouraged from wearing BLM pin badges on air, as a consequence of the movement being highjacked and moulded into a political campaign.

On a surface level, this may seem like a sensible response. An impartial news outlet should not allow political symbols to broadcast, and so discouraging solidarity with specific groups can be perceived to be an appropriate response. However, a more nuanced approach to the situation reveals two fundamental issues to unpick. First, the idea that the BBC is entirely dedicated to its neutrality. Second, the notion that BLM is a political movement.

It would be inaccurate to describe BLM as a wholly political campaign.

The first issue addresses the BBCs approach to politics on air. If the BBC is truly the impartial news source we believe it to be, no political symbols of any sort should be on air. Whilst this is generally the case, the BBC does make some exceptions that are generally accepted and go without question. For example, individuals are allowed to wear the Remembrance Poppy if they wish to.

But the Poppy isnt political! some proclaim. And to an extent, this is true. However, we cannot ignore the fact that the Poppy has been co-opted by radical groups and adopted as a symbol of British nationalism over time. Of course, this sentiment does not apply to every single individual who wears a poppy, yet the politics attached to the symbol remain a discomfort to several groups in the UK. Surely, if the BBC were truly neutral, they would acknowledge this symbol that has been hijacked and discourage its broadcasting too?

Neutrality is no longer an option

Furthermore, it would be inaccurate to describe BLM as a wholly political campaign. Whilst BLM UK is calling for legislative change, most controversially defunding the police, the statement Black Lives Matter should not be treated as a political rallying call. It is not political to acknowledge and seek to remedy the systemic racism Black Britons face. BLM is a movement that transcends politics. Neutrality is no longer an option.

The BLM badge has a specific purpose. It shows solidarity with a global movement and demonstrates an awareness of the mistreatment Black people have faced for centuries in the West, and a willingness to prevent this.

Denouncing racism is not a controversy and should not be treated as such.

Ultimately, a BLM badge being worn on air is a quick visual reminder that racism should have no place in the UK, something which is indisputable. The BBCs hesitance to reinforce this notion is worrying, and suggests it is perhaps more concerned with appeasing opponents of BLM and entrenching their viewership, more so than they are concerned with utilising their power to protest the lives of Black Britons. Denouncing racism is not a controversy and should not be treated as such.

Photograph: Markus Winkler via Pixabay

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In opposition of the Badge Ban: why neutrality is no longer an option - Palatinate

Trump faces a tough landscape as coronavirus cases continue to surge.

A Senate runoff election in Alabama that is unusually personal for President Trump.

Republican National Convention planning in Florida that is overshadowed by the coronavirus outbreak.

Primary runoffs in Texas as well as a new poll showing former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. ahead of Mr. Trump in the state.

And spikes in Covid-19 cases in G.O.P.-led states from southeast to southwest.

Republicans are facing major decisions this week across the Sun Belt as the party tries to chart a course through a political moment defined not just by health and economic crises but also the unsteady and increasingly unpopular leadership of Mr. Trump.

The landscape for the president is so tough right now that Democrats are even encouraging Mr. Biden, Mr. Trumps opponent, to press his advantage and compete aggressively in traditionally Republican states like Georgia and Texas.

With 16 weeks to go until the general election on Nov. 3, The Times is expanding its live coverage of the campaigns for president, House and Senate, and governor, as well as coverage of voters, politics and policy across the nation.

Our reporters will be delivering daily updates, news and analysis on all the major races and political dimensions, including voting rights and mail-in voting, the protests against systemic racism and social injustice, and the repercussions of the virus and the devastated economy on the nations politics.

The Sun Belt is drawing particular attention this week, with Alabama Republicans deciding a Senate runoff on Tuesday between Jeff Sessions, Mr. Trumps former attorney general, and Tommy Tuberville, a former Auburn University football coach.

Mr. Trump has endorsed Mr. Tuberville against his onetime ally, Mr. Sessions, whom the president came to despise for recusing himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Most polls in Alabama close at 8 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday.

Texas also has primary runoffs on Tuesday for several key House seats, as well as a Democratic Senate primary runoff between M.J. Hegar and State Senator Royce West; the winner will face Senator John Cornyn in November. In Maine, Democrats will choose a nominee on Tuesday to face Senator Susan Collins, with Sara Gideon, the speaker of the Maine House, widely seen as the likely winner.

In Florida, state officials on Sunday reported the highest single-day total of new coronavirus cases by any state since the start of the pandemic, with more than 15,000 new infections. (New York had recorded the previous high of 12,274 on April 4.) New cases are increasing across the Sun Belt, as this map shows, and Republican governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas face criticism for their decisions to begin reopening their states weeks ago.

Republican Party officials still plan to attend their convention in Florida, an epicenter of the virus.

More than a dozen Republican National Committee members from across the country told The Times in interviews that they were still planning to attend the partys convention next month in Florida, despite the surge in cases.

President Trump last month moved the convention from Charlotte, N.C., to Jacksonville, Floridas largest city, because Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina refused to guarantee a late-August arena party free of social distancing. Several of the R.N.C. members interviewed are planning to first go to Charlotte, where the partys delegates will conduct much of their official business, before relocating to Jacksonville for the big party so desired by Mr. Trump.

Its a risk you have to take, said Morton Blackwell, 80, an R.N.C. member from Virginia who has attended every party convention since he was the youngest elected delegate backing Barry Goldwater in 1964. You take risks every day. You drive down the street and a cement truck could crash into you. You cant not do what you have to do because of some possibility of a bad result.

Art Wittich, 62, an R.N.C. member from Montana, said he had a duty to travel to Charlotte and Jacksonville to nominate and support Mr. Trump.

It is not only my duty, but also my honor go to Charlotte and Jacksonville to re-elect President Trump, he said. As such, I am willing to assume any risk to do so.

While a handful of Republican senators who are occasionally skeptical of Mr. Trump Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, to name three have announced they wont go to Jacksonville, there is very little appetite among party regulars to slim the festivities to less than the planned three nights or switch to a virtual convention, as Democrats have for their event in Milwaukee, which was originally slated to start this week. It is now scheduled to take place in mid-August without delegates present.

The conditions that led Mr. Trump to move the convention out of North Carolina now apply equally to Florida. Jacksonville officials late last month said they would require convention attendees to wear face masks, though there has been no word yet on restricting how many people can fit inside the citys VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Republican officials are also considering hosting some of the convention outdoors at the citys football or minor-league baseball stadiums.

Of course, it does tend to get hot and humid in Florida in late August.

R.N.C. members interviewed said they had little hesitancy about joining what, as of now, is still planned as an arena full of Trump supporters cheering his nomination.

If I can safely go to Walmart or a restaurant, I am confident we can safely gather to conduct the important business of the Republican Party renominating the president and vice president, said Henry Barbour, an R.N.C. member from Mississippi. We were prepared to work with folks in North Carolina to make it safe, and that is exactly what the R.N.C. is doing in Jacksonville.

Jeff Sessions, trailing in the Alabama polls, says his campaign is electrified.

MOBILE, Ala. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican and former attorney general who is trying to reclaim his old Senate seat, was making his final appeal to voters on Monday before Tuesdays runoff election against Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn football coach.

There has been little public polling in the race, but by several indications, Mr. Sessions faces an uphill battle. He finished behind Mr. Tuberville by about 12,000 votes in March, when voters first went to the polls.

In both public and private polling conducted for the Sessions campaign since, Mr. Sessions has been consistently down, apparently unable to repair the damage that President Trump has inflicted on his reputation with repeated attacks over how Mr. Sessions recused himself from the Justice Department investigation into Russias election interference.

The latest public poll in the race, conducted during the first and second week of July by Auburn University at Montgomery, showed Mr. Sessions trailing by double digits, even as Mr. Tuberville faced new questions about his involvement in a hedge fund that turned out to be a fraud.

The poll found Mr. Tuberville ahead 47 percent to 31 percent. Still, a considerable portion of the people surveyed 22 percent said they had not made up their minds.

Mr. Sessions said in a brief interview on Monday afternoon that his recent appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight had electrified his campaign. He appeared last Tuesday on Mr. Carlsons Fox News show, where the host praised the Republican as one of the very few politicians I do respect.

We had $30,000 small-dollar contributions come in right after that, Mr. Sessions said in between conversations with voters at a Cracker Barrel in Mobile.

.

Mr. Sessions declined to answer directly whether he would support Mr. Tuberville in the general election in the event that he does not win the runoff race against him. But he criticized his opponent for his regular refusal to engage with the news media.

Id like for yall to ask Tommy Tuberville of that, Mr. Sessions told reporters. Whats he going to whos he going to support after the runoff if he loses? Where is he? Hes not available. Hes been hiding out now for two weeks.

Look, Im a strong Republican, Mr. Sessions added. We need to win this seat.

President Trump on Monday assailed a broad movement to defund police departments, invoking the kind of pro-police language that won him support with the law enforcement community in 2016 and ignoring the calls for reform that have helped shape this election.

Democrats want to defund, and they want to abolish, Mr. Trump told a panel at the White House composed of people who have had positive interactions with the police.

With Mr. Trump facing an outcry over the threats he has made to protesters calling for racial equality and police reform efforts, his remarks on Monday were part of an effort to embrace law enforcement and to move away from more explicitly racist language as polls show him lagging behind Joseph R. Biden Jr., his presumptive Democratic challenger.

That has meant targeting police reform efforts supported by Democrats, such as shifting funding from police departments to social services like mental health and substance abuse counseling. Mr. Trump has called the defunding efforts a fad, but last month, he issued an executive order outlining a series of overarching principles meant to encourage but not mandate departments to alter their behavior.

The president also painted a dark picture of the United States should Mr. Biden win.

The radical politicians are waging war on innocent Americans, Mr. Trump said. If thats what you want for a country, you probably have to vote for Sleepy Joe Biden because he doesnt know whats happening, but you are not going to have that with me.

While recent polls have shown growing support among Republicans and Democrats for instituting police reform efforts including banning chokeholds after George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, was killed in police custody, most Americans reject the idea of defunding police departments.

Mr. Trump and his campaign have tried to accuse Mr. Biden of supporting efforts to defund the police, but Mr. Biden has actually opposed them. The former vice presidents spokesman has said he supported the need for an urgent overhaul after several police killings of Black men and women.

A spokesman for the Republican National Committee on Monday tweeted and then deleted a photograph showing one of Joseph R. Biden Jr.s sons, then a young child, wearing a Washington Redskins hat, in the latest example of disjointed Republican efforts to define the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Hey Joe Biden, are you still a Redskins fan? wrote Steve Guest, the R.N.C. official, before deleting the tweet amid online backlash.

His remark came on the same day that the football team announced it would retire its name, which is considered a racial slur. President Trump has expressed support for the moniker and complained that the name change was being considered in order to be politically correct.

The moment highlighted how Republicans have careened between seeking to tie Mr. Biden, 77, to the most progressive elements of his party, and seizing on his age and lengthy political record to cast him as out-of-touch with his partys zeitgeist.

Mr. Guest did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Several Twitter users posted screenshots of his tweet after he had deleted it.

Whatever Mr. Guests strategic intention, the effect online was to remind many of Mr. Bidens history of family tragedy, a subject that Mr. Biden has often used to connect with grieving voters.

In the photograph, Mr. Biden holds one young son, who wears the team-logo hat, with his head turned toward another son. A Biden campaign official estimated that the photograph was taken around 1974, and did not say which son was wearing the hat.

In 1972, Mr. Biden lost his first wife and a baby daughter in a car crash, while his two sons, Beau and Hunter, suffered injuries. Mr. Biden was sworn in to the Senate a few months after the accident at the hospital as they recovered.

Decades later, Beau Biden died of brain cancer.

Democrats are expanding their attacks against President Trump, adding new firepower to their offensive operation as the campaign barrels into the final fall stretch.

At the direction of the Biden campaign, the party is expanding the Democratic National Committee war room, a 35-person operation that was started in 2017. The group will become the central Democratic clearinghouse for attacking the incumbent president, a challenge Democrats last faced in 2004.

Led by Adrienne Watson and Nick Bauer, two operatives whove been focused on attacking Mr. Trump since the fall of 2015, the war room is planning to expand its advertising effort and bring in aides who worked for some of this years Democratic presidential candidates.

Biden staffers say the decision to run a key campaign operation out of the party committee reflects the remote nature of campaigning during a pandemic, a desire to conserve campaign dollars and the expertise built up at the committee over the past four years.

The D.N.C.s ads and messaging portray Mr. Trump as undone by his own narcissism, prioritizing his political interests and ego over the kind of expertise needed to battle a deadly pandemic.

In recent weeks, Mr. Trump seems to be sustaining the most damage from self-inflicted wounds. But Ms. Watson said Democrats could not count on Mr. Trump defeating himself, pointing to plenty of other examples like the release of the Access Hollywood tape in 2016 when Democrats began writing his political obituary.

The truth is that Trump has never imploded on his own, she said.

In Texas, where the number of infections and deaths have spiked in recent weeks, the State Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit on Monday that had been filed by Republicans over the cancellation of their state party convention.

The court, an elected body made up entirely of Republicans, ruled 7 to 1 that while the Republican Party of Texas had a constitutional right to hold a convention in person, it did not extend to forcing a convention center to host the gathering during a pandemic.

The Party argues it has constitutional rights to hold a convention and engage in electoral activities, and that is unquestionably true, the courts majority wrote. But those rights do not allow it to simply commandeer use of the Center.

The convention had been scheduled to start on Monday at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston and run until Saturday.

But the Houston First Corporation, directed by the citys mayor, Sylvester Turner, a Democrat, terminated a licensing agreement last week for the use of the convention center by the state Republican Party. The corporation, a government entity that manages several city-owned buildings, cited the unprecedented scope and severity of the Covid-19 epidemic in Houston.

Harris County, which includes Houston, is one of the areas in the country hit hardest by the resurgent virus. On Monday, Mr. Turner proposed a two-week shutdown to blunt the progress of the pandemic.

The state Republican Party sued the Houston First Corporation, contending that the city-run convention center had breached the terms of its agreement. Later on Monday, the state Republican Party announced that it would vote on whether to hold its convention online.

The state G.O.P. chairman, James Dickey, said in a statement on Monday that the cancellation was politically motivated.

We believe that Mayor Turner used his control of city-owned property to disenfranchise Republicans and attempt to deny them the opportunity to cast their votes for national delegates and electors in-person in Houston, he said.

Could Texas really be in play for Joseph R. Biden Jr.? Its a question political observers and even the Biden campaign are intensely debating.

On Sunday, a Dallas Morning News poll showed Mr. Biden had the support of 46 percent of the states registered voters, compared with 41 percent for President Trump.

Other recent polls have suggested a close race in Texas, but this was the first public survey to show Mr. Biden leading outside the margin of error.

As Mr. Trumps poll numbers sag, Mr. Bidens campaign is seriously considering investments in states that just months ago Democrats considered out of reach the biggest prize being Texas, with its 38 electoral votes.

The state has voted Republican in every presidential election since Jimmy Carter won it in 1976, but Democrats see an opportunity to turn that around, driven by Texas growing Hispanic population and increasing frustration with Mr. Trump among independent voters.

The Morning News poll also found that M.J. Hegar, the Democratic establishments choice to challenge Senator John Cornyn in November, was on track to win Tuesdays primary runoff.

In addition to the presidential and Senate races, Texas presents Democrats with numerous realistic opportunities to pick up House seats this year. A strong showing in November could also help Democrats capture a majority in the Texas State House and on the State Supreme Court. Both bodies could play a crucial role in the redistricting battles that are sure to follow the 2020 census.

Even in California, where an already robust mail-in voting program will be expanded to the entire electorate this fall, the obstacles of conducting elections through the postal system during a pandemic are now quantifiable.

More than 100,000 ballots cast by mail for the March 3 primary elections were voided by election officials, who determined in most cases that voters had missed a deadline for sending them in, data released by the California Secretary of States office showed on Monday.

According to the office, 70,330 of the 102,428 rejected mail-in ballots did not arrive within a three-day grace period after the primary. The ballots had to be postmarked on or before March 3.

The accounting of rejected ballots followed Gov. Gavin Newsoms signing of a bill last month that will require mail-in ballots to be sent to all of the nearly 21 million registered voters in the state for the November election.

The second leading cause for the ballots to be rejected was that they were unsigned or the voters signature did not match the name on the election rolls, according to the data, which was first reported by The Associated Press.

In Los Angeles County, the states most populous county, 17,743 mail-in ballots were rejected.

Nearly seven million mail-in ballots were accepted for the primary, which was headlined by the Democratic presidential nominating contest. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont won the state, though Joseph R. Biden Jr.s dominance in other Super Tuesday races helped him establish a lead in the delegate count.

In November, election officials must accept mail-in ballots for up to 17 days after Election Day under the bill signed by Mr. Newsom. The ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 3.

A Wheres My Ballot? vote-by-mail tracking tool that uses text message notifications will also be expanded statewide, Sam Mahood, a spokesman for the secretary of states office, wrote in an email.

The Open Society Foundations, the philanthropic group founded by the billionaire George Soros, will announce on Monday that it is investing $220 million in efforts to achieve racial equality in the United States.

The investment, a huge financial undertaking that comes during an extraordinary protest movement, will immediately reshape the landscape of Black political and civil rights organizations and support several of them for years to come.

There is this call for justice in Black and brown communities, an explosion of not just sympathy but solidarity across the board, said Patrick Gaspard, the president of Open Society. So its time to double down.

Of the $220 million, the foundation will invest $150 million in five-year grants for selected groups, including progressive and emerging organizations like the Black Voters Matter Fund and Repairers of the Breach, a group founded by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II of the Poor Peoples Campaign.

The money will also support more established Black political organizations like the Equal Justice Initiative, which was founded by the civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson and depicted in the 2019 movie Just Mercy.

The Open Society Foundations will invest an additional $70 million in local grants supporting changes to policing and criminal justice. This money will also be used for civic engagement opportunities.

Even before Mondays announcement, progressive groups, Democratic candidates and racial justice organizations had been flooded with small-dollar donations, breaking giving records and allowing Joseph R. Biden Jr. as well as House and Senate candidates to post eye-popping fund-raising numbers.

It didnt rain after all in New Hampshire, where Republicans await Trumps return.

After President Trump canceled his planned outdoor rally Saturday because his campaign said there were concerns about a looming tropical storm, the rain never came, leaving Portsmouth, N.H., with a lovely New England summer day (and reporters with no news to cover).

The schedule change technically a postponement left local Trump supporters eager for the president to appear.

The worst job in the world could be the weatherman because theyre always wrong, said Chris Ager, a Republican national committeeman from New Hampshire. There was initial disappointment that it was postponed because there was so much excitement and enthusiasm. Then with the weather, Monday morning quarterbacking is always great.

Mr. Trumps planned Portsmouth rally was to be his return to the campaign trail after he filled just one-third of an arena in Tulsa last month, a major embarrassment after his campaign manager bragged that more than one million supporters had requested tickets. The event was to take place outside and under a hangar at the Portsmouth International Airport.

Mr. Ager and Juliana Bergeron, New Hampshires other R.N.C. member, both said they believed the president would have drawn a large enough crowd to fill the airport space had the event taken place.

Im over in the southwest corner of the state and I received tons of calls for tickets, Ms. Bergeron said. If it had been a terrible storm everybody would have said he should have canceled it.

Mr. Ager said he expects the Trump campaign to reschedule the Portsmouth event within a couple of weeks.

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Some Republicans Say Florida Convention Is a Risk You Have to Take - The New York Times

As with the rest of human existence, the year 2000 was a time of rapid, digitised change for rock music. Stylistically, the 90s grunge revolution was a fading memory, while the nu-metal that had taken its place had largely jumped the shark, morphing from the angsty, edgy, downtuned sound of the outsider to a mainstream-straddling pop cultural force owned by fat cats attempting to monetise teenage rebellion. Traditional punk and metal were still on the wane, while pop-punk only pulled further towards the norm. In many ways these were the last throes of the music industry gravy-train and many of the bands ridingit.

At the same time, a new breed of artists and some sleeping giants recognised the possibilities in play. The widespread popularisation of mp3s with Apples first iPod mightve still been a year away, but rapidly-evolving technology and the Napster controversy proved that music was about to become unimaginably easier to make, advertise and distribute. The world was growing smaller in front of our eyes, and music was to be a new ambassadorial force. Our collation of the stand-out albums of the year makes for a vibrant (and only occasionally cringe-inducing) trip down memorylane

50. High On Fire The Art Of Self Defense

If you think the year 2000 was a total wasteland in terms of traditionally heavy sounds, you just werent looking hard enough. When Sleep guitarist Matt Pike decided to strike out with a project of his own, few envisioned an outfit anywhere near as impactful as the mighty High On Fire. Coming on like a dirtier, heavier, druggier Motrhead, this was stoner metal with zero chill: all neck-rending weight and bludgeoning riffage. Although much of debut LP The Art Of Self Defense isnt up to the speed of their more definitive later work (2005s Blessed Black Wings being the watershed moment), there is a density and abrasiveness to odd numbers like 10,000 Years, Fireface and Master Of Fists that would whet our appetites for the jawbreaking feasts tofollow.

49. Mudvayne L.D. 50

BRBR-DENG aside, Illinois metallers Mudvayne tend to be defined by their shifting eras and imagery. As such, the nightmare carnival aesthetic of L.D. 50 was their most thrillingly bonkers moment. Watching back the music video for slamming lead single Dig, itd be all too easy to discount the quintet like many did as clowns. Dig into the schizoid atmospherics of -1, however, or the mathy tumult of Death Blooms and we find the experimentalist spark thatd make them a musical force for years tocome.

48. Nevermore Dead Heart In A Dead World

Often compared to (a darker, heavier, nastier version of) classic prog-metallers Queensrche, the fourth album from Seattle nightmares Nevermore was the sound of a monstrous line-up on cruise-control. Less personal than 1999s Dreaming Neon Black (which was inspired by the disappearance of vocalist Warrel Danes ex-girlfriend) theres a more scattergun approach to hot topics as varied as drug abuse (Narcosynthesis) and atheism (Believe In Nothing), while a cover of Simon & Garfunkels The Sound Of Silence feels absolutely unhinged. The main draw remains, of course, shred supremo Jeff Loomis contributions as he began to experiment with seven-stringguitars.

47. Kittie Spit

In many ways, nu-metal was a regressive step for gender equality in heavy music. Ploughing through the machismo and misogyny, however, all-female Canadian outfit Kittie arrived on their own terms: trading in a pulse-quickening blend of Korns unbound heaviosity and the riot grrrl attitude of Hole and L7. With teenage sisters Morgan and Mercedes Lander at the helm, and songs like Do You Think Im A Whore dealing with sexism, betrayal and bullying, Spit remains a provocativedelight.

46. Cypress Hill Skull & Bones

Never shy about their links to the world of rock and metal (frontman B-Real backed-up Prophets Of Rage, second vocalist Sen Dog went to school with Slayers Dave Lombardo and fronts rap-metal supergroup Powerflo, while 1994s Black Sunday openly samples Black Sabbath), Californian hip-hop collective Cypress Hill dove in headlong with Skull & Bones. While the first half of the double-disc set was a straightforwardly excellent rap workout, the second (Bones) saw them welcome aboard Fear Factorys Dino Cazares and Christian Olde Wolbers, Rage Against The Machines Brad Wilk and Deftones Chino Moreno to tear through metallic cuts like Valley Of Chrome, Cant Get The Best Of Me and the thumping (Rock)Superstar.

45. Children Of Bodom Follow The Reaper

In the year 2000, hard as it may be to believe, melodic death metals cutting edge took the shape of the reapers scythe. Nowadays, overfamiliarity and an obstinate refusal to meaningfully diversify or re-energise their songwriting mightve dulled the sheen, but having honed their attack over 1997s Something Wild and 1999s Hatebreeder Follow The Reaper saw Children Of Bodom deliver a masterclass in combining shred-heavy instrumentation and earworm bombast, with the duelling six-strings of frontman Alexi Laiho and Janne Warman catching the ears of metalheads around the world. From the springy title-track and fist-pumping Bodom After Midnight to the more atmospheric Mask Of Sanity and Hate Me!, this was Bodom at theirbest.

44. The (International) Noise Conspiracy Survival Sickness

When ex-Refused frontman Dennis Lyxzn formed garage-rock project The (International) Noise Conspiracy in late 1998, fans of his previous outfits energy, abrasion and unbending edge were unsure about this cooler, more laid-back vision. Second album Survival Sickness won many over, however, with the driving sounds and unbending leftist politics of songs like Smash It Up and The Reproduction Of Death sublimating much of what had made that previous band great. As a bonus, the uninitiated had just as much fun shakingalong.

43. Nightwish Wishmaster

The Nightwish formula was beginning to really fizzle by fantastical third LP Wishmaster. By some distance their grandest and most coherently-realised offering to date, the Kitee collective built on the foundations laid by 1997s Angels Fall First and 1998s Oceanborn with a symphonic metal masterclass. Although eccentric mainman Tuomas Holopainen has commented that its probably the least personal album in the bands catalogue, the warcry title-track, She Is My Sins vertiginous vocals and the majestically evocative Dead Boys Poem built on imagery from deep within Tuomas psyche which would be frequently revisited ensured this has stood as a landmark through the years thatfollowed.

42. Enslaved Mardraum: Beyond The Within

Think Viking metal is all swords, shields and single-minded brutality? Think again. Although Norwegian visionaries Enslaved never truly conformed to the lo-fi standards of so many of their Scandinavian extreme-metal contemporaries, fifth album Mardraum (translating as nightmare) felt like a quantum leap. Beefing out their black metal template with elements of jazz, retro avant-garde and outright psychedelia, tracks like Strre enn tid tyngre enn natt (Greater Than Time Heavier Than Night) and Krigaren eg ikkje kjende (Warrior Unknown) proved as vibrant as Asgards rainbowbridge.

41. Halford Resurrection

Rob Halfords 1990s exploits were the stuff of metal infamy, with neither of his semi-experimental post-Judas Priest side-projects (Fight and 2wo) getting close to the glaring brilliance of his 1990 parting shot Painkiller. As the decade turned over again, however, the Metal God made his way back on track with the aptly-titled Resurrection. The tellingly-titled likes of Made In Hell and Locked And Loaded packed plenty to get fans banging along, but it was his inspired collaboration with prodigal Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson on cheekily-titled cracker The One You Love ToHate.

40. Sleater-Kinney All Hands On The Bad One

Following a minor fan backlash to the darker, more complex sounds of 1999s otherwise-acclaimed fourth album The Hot Rock, Washington riot grrrls Sleater-Kinney clapped back with All Hands On The Bad One. Thematically fixated on the perception and expectations surrounding women not just in rock, but in broader modern media the likes of sardonic opener The Ballad Of The Ladyman and Male Model demanded that these women be viewed on their own singular terms. Meanwhile, other cuts like Youth Decay and Pompeii plumb into the anxieties of growing up in that harshest ofspotlights.

39. Morbid Angel Gateways To Annihilation

Perhaps the last truly great Morbid Angel album proved that even 11 years after defining release Altars Of Madness they were still at the very forefront of death metal. Featuring the stacked line-up of bassist/vocalist Steve Tucker, guitarists Trey Azagoth and Erik Rutan, and drummer Pete Sandoval, Gateways To Annihilation dampened the frenetic pace of 1998s Formulas Fatal To The Flesh in favour of a more suffocating attack in line with 1991 masterpiece Blessed Are The Sick. Tracks like He Who Sleeps, To The Victor The Spoils and Opening Of The Gates proved that you dont need orchestral accompaniment for a truly epic extreme metalsound.

38. Good Charlotte Good Charlotte

Described by the brothers Madden as Good Charlottes brightest, most innocent and starry-eyed moment, the Maryland pop-punks self-titled debut now feels like a lucid glance back through time. This song is dedicated to every kid who ever got picked last in gym class begins opening track Little Things, and the wholesome odes to the underdogs just keep coming. There was little of the Hollywood cool that would define later releases in songs like The Motivation Proclamation and Change/Thank You Mom, but it also spoke its message more directly to those downtrodden fans who needed to hear itmost.

37. Nile Black Seeds Of Vengeance

Broadly acknowledged as their defining work, the second album from Ancient Egypt-obsessed tech-death-metallers Nile was a quantum leap for both band and genre. Although 1998s Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka hinted at their complex ferocity, Black Seeds Of Vengeance captured it in its full widescreen (gory) glory. The influence of recently-recruited guitarist Dallas Toler-Wade is plain to see in the compelling economy of songs like Defiling The Gates Of Ishtar and Masturbating The War God, while the chant-along title-track remains their go-to setcloser.

36. The Offspring Conspiracy Of One

After the genre-defining brilliance of their output throughout the 1990s, sixth album Conspiracy Of One was a jarring change of pace for some Offspring fans. Teaming with hard rock super-producer Brendan OBrien, there was a more professional tightness and maturity, with elements of hip-hop and grunge making it into the mix on bangers like Come Out Swinging, Want You Bad and Million Miles Away. The old sense of humour was there too, of course, in tongue-in-cheek hit single Original Prankster. The bands vocal stance in favour of file-sharing mightve hit sales, but the album still achieved a platinum rating and more importantly extended their crowd-pleasingrun.

35. Cave In Jupiter

Methuen, Massachusetts mavericks Cave In cemented their uber-ambitious credentials with this sophomore epic. Their meld of metal, post-hardcore, noise and alt.rock that was only really hinted at on 1998s debut LP Until Your Heart Stops and which was beginning to take shape on 1999s Creative Eclipses EP was in full-on psychedelic flow by the aptly-titled Jupiter. Openly inspired by outfits like Failure and Radiohead, the soundscape swells and subsides through the crushing Big Riff and on into the otherworldly In The Stream Of Commerce and acoustic closer New Moon. It remains the standout release in the catalogue of vocalist Caleb Scofield, who tragically died in a 2018 trafficaccident.

34. Amen We Have Come For Your Parents

Theres a single-minded political purpose that stands out even two decades down the line from Amens third full-length. Referencing Ohioan heroes Dead Boys 1978 release We Have Come For Your Children, We Have Come For Your Parents found frontman Casey Chaos on vitriolic form, with the socially-charged purpose of songs like Mayday, Dead On The Bible and Too Hard To Be Free feeling thrillingly ahead-of-their-time. That the video for lead single The Price Of Reality featured Casey reconfiguring Francis Bacons nightmarish 1954 painting Figure With Meat overlaid with fragments of lurid Americana speaks loudly to their lofty artisticambitions.

33. Soulfly Primitive

The use of 18 guest musicians across 12 tracks undermined the credibility of Max Cavaleras post-Sepultura project as early as its second album for some fans. With the benefit of hindsight, however and the nine more conventional Soulfly releases that have followed in its wake Primitive stands as a shapeshifting (yet slab-heavy) landmark in Maxs extended catalogue. Whether nailing-on big-name vocals (Slipknots Corey Taylor on Jumpdafuckup, Slayers Tom Arya on Terrorist) or dabbling in more experimentalist waters (Deftones Chino Moreno and Will Havens Geady Avenell crash the spring-loaded pain, while Sean son of John Lennon ruminates with Max over lost fathers on Son Song), this was a fascinating testament to the Brazilian legends towering reputation in heavymusic.

32. Pearl Jam Binaural

Binaural marked a major creative watershed for Seattle legends Pearl Jam. A decade since their formation, the band stepped away from producer Brendan OBrien (who had presided over the previous four releases) in favour of Tchad Blake and a more atmospheric, less hook-oriented sound. There were a handful of catchy cuts in Gods Dice, Evacuation, Grievance and Light Years, but the rest of the album is an unapologetically experimental affair that signposted the way for much of their later work. The ukulele-led Soon Forget even hinted at frontman Eddie Vedders later solooutput.

31. Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage

All bright ideas and rough-edged execution, Killswitch Engages debut remains a breathlessly exciting listen. Formed from the remnants of metalcore also-rans Aftershock, Overcast and Nothing Stays Gold with a band name nicked from an episode of The X-Files and eventually pivotal guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz on drums Killswitch were all about marrying the grandiosity of classic and death metal to the energy of the rising metalcore and NWOAM scenes. From cutting intro Temple From The Within (a match for the albums serrated artwork) to the high atmospherics of closer One Last Sunset, it was a fitting beginning to one of the most dramatic journeys in modernmetal.

30. Snot Strait Up

When troubled frontman Lynn Strait was struck and killed in a traffic accident on December 11, 1998, it seemed to have spelled the end for renowned Californian funk-metallers Snot. Having already started work on what would be their second LP, however, his bandmates decided to complete the project in tribute to their departed friend. Rather than welcoming an outsider into the fold, the decision was made to get Straits friends to fill in. The assembled cast of contributors from Serj Tankian and Jonathan Davis to Max Cavalera, Corey Taylor, Fred Durst and even Ozzy Osbourne was one of the most impressive in the history of heavy music. It was the lower-profile contribution of Sevendusts Lajon Witherspoon (and bandmates) on Angels Son, though, which would make for the albums stand-outtrack.

29. Rancid Rancid

If 1998s genre-defying Life Wont Wait proved that Berkeley roughs Rancid werent slaves to their street punk heritage, 2000s self-titled follow-up (not to be mistaken with 1993s also-self-titled debut) confirmed that they were still very much bound to it. Veering close to hardcore, its 22 tracks in 38 minutes are overflowing with aggression and energy, with the no-holds-barred likes of Disgruntled and Corruption loading on the Black Flag influence, while righteous ruminations like Antennas and Dead Bodies reaffirm their unimpeachable socialconscience.

28. Monster Magnet God Says No

It wasnt released until April 2001 in the US, but the fifth album from New Jersey stoner metal legends Monster Magnet dropped several months earlier for UK fans. Recorded in a turbulent flurry as the bands label A&M was being merged with Interscope and Geffen and less than two years since the release of banging breakthrough Powertrip there was an obvious element of striking while the iron was hot, with tracks like Heads Explode and Doomsday attempting to recapture the magic, while the industrial inflections on Queen Of You and Silver Future attempted to tap into the nu-metal zeitgeist. Oozing swagger, Dave Wyndorf and the boys had a fair bit of success,too.

27. Smashing Pumpkins Machina/The Machines Of God

Although roundly regarded as one of Smashing Pumpkins lesser releases, the sheer scope of ambition and stylistic dexterity exhibited on Machina demands celebration. Conceived as the self-referential swansong for a band whose brilliance has always been enhanced by their skirting on implosion, its broad, high-minded approach to songwriting was the antithesis of the knuckle-dragging nu-metal movement that so many of the rest of the rock mainstream had bought into. From bristling, overdriven opener The Everlasting Gaze through the deep textures of Stand Inside Your Love and the dreamy acoustic of Try, Try, Try to towering, heart-on-sleeve climax Wound, the swirl of bittersweet purpose here only feels intensified byage.

26. The White Stripes De Stijl

The second album from Detroit duo The White Stripes was arguably the greatest example of their combination of retro pop-rock and modern garage stylings. Quickly gaining buzz, the bands peculiar mystique (were they brother and sister; husband and wife; ex-lovers?) threatened to outshine their music on occasion. Whether peeling off some classic blues (Death Letter), spinning-45 swagger (Why Cant You Be Nicer To Me?), twanging country (Your Southern Can Is Mine) or Dylan-esque folk (A Boys Best Friend), however, they oozed weirdoclass.

25. Bad Religion The New America

From righteous punk rock to rabid extreme metal (see entry 12 on this list), there was a fixation on the idea of a New America that ran through rock music at the turn of the millennium. The eleventh album from Los Angeles stalwarts and the last of their major-label affiliation with Atlantic Records tackles the pitfalls of encroaching modernity with a pre-9/11 frivolity that seems strange now, especially on tracks like I Love My Computer and The Hopeless Housewife. But when Greg Graffin got personal discussing his punk coming of age (A Streetkid Named Desire) and recent divorce (1000 Memories) there was an unusual warmth and intimacy in the rebelsongwriting.

24. Wu-Tang Clan The W

Three years after theyd pushed the stylistic envelope with Wu-Tang Forever, New York hip-hop legends Wu-Tang Clan returned to the formula with which they had risen to fame. All stripped-back beats, grindhouse attitude, soul swagger and kung-fu punch, tracks like Hollow Bones and Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off) were the perfect soundtrack to back-street wrongdoings, generally avoiding macho posturing in favour of more streetwise hustle. Collaborations with heavyweights like Snoop Dogg (Conditioner), Nas (Let My Niggas Live) and Busta Rhymes (The Monument) emphasised their wide-ranging influence, while the appearance of soul legend Isaac Hayes on I Cant Go To Sleep showcased elements of velvety vulnerability thus farunseen.

23. HIM Razorblade Romance

Finnish Love Metallers HIM were at the absolute height of their powers on this scintillating sophomore offering. Painted in deepest gothic black and passionate blood red, concepts showcased on 1997 debut Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 were distilled into something singularly seductive. With frontman Ville Valo growing in confidence and his band nailing down their shadowy, surging schtick, songs like Poison Girl, Join Me In Death, Gone With The Sin and Right Here In My Arms swelled a swooning fanbase well beyond their homeland where as it happens the album raced to number one and eventually wentdouble-platinum.

22. Cradle Of Filth Midian

Heavily inspired by legendary Liverpudlian author Clive Barkers novel Cabal and its cinematic adaptation Nightbreed the fourth album from Suffolk metal extremists Cradle Of Filth unfolds as a nightmarish sort-of concept album, and the closest theyd ever get to a truly cinematic experience. Having welcomed guitarist Paul Allender back into the fold after five years away, their trademark twin-leads were swapped out for a more vicious style, with Dani Filths typically overblown performance, and some unapologetically hammy narration from Doug Bradley lending a horror movie accessibility to otherwise brutal cuts like Cthulhu Dawn. Meanwhile, the high gothic textures of Her Ghost In The Fog earned their most comprehensive mainstream exposureyet.

21. Disturbed The Sickness

The debut LP from nu-metal survivors Disturbed showcases the best and worst of what the movement had to offer, while also indicating the more straightforward hard rock direction with which they would find massive success. There are unheralded levels of cringe in the bone-headed lyricism of Stupify and the slathered-on synths of The Game, but there is bombastic brilliance, too, in David Draimans delivery across highlights like Voices and the ingenious absurdity of the now-iconic title track. Altogether now: Ooh, wah, ah, ah, ah oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh!

20. In Flames Clayman

Some argue that by the year 2000 In Flames were past their peak. Following on from the 1990s unholy trinity The Jester Race (1996), Whoracle (1997), Colony (1999) the future was clay in their hands, the Metallica conundrum looming large: stay put as big fish in the underground pond or break cover in a run for mainstream metal success? Going one last round with longtime producer Fredrik Nordstrm and refusing to blunt their razors edge on full-blooded bangers like Pinball Map and Another Day In Quicksand, there was the sense of one foot planted safely in their past. But with an influx of stadium-worthy hooks and a ramped-up focus on melody from the untouchable, oft-harmonised guitars of Jesper Stromblad and Bjorn Geloette turning tracks like Swim and Suburban Me into compositions worthy of a hoarse-throated Iron Maiden or Thin Lizzy, to the glaring synth-lines colouring Only For The Weak another found traction in freshground.

19. Napalm Death Enemy Of The Music Business

Having parted ways with their long-time management and seen tensions with Earache Records boil over following 1998s Words From The Exit Wound, Napalm Death were in bristling (but liberated) form going into their ninth LP. Ditching the deeper grooves that had characterised their late-90s run we saw a return to the grindcore violence they had pioneered. On the final record to feature guitarist Jesse Pintado, too, tracks like Vermin, Thanks For Nothing, Necessary Evil and Cure For The Common Complaint burn with renewed anti-establishment purpose. Excruciatinglybrilliant.

18. Electric Wizard Dopethrone

While the contemporary sludgy stoner doom genre was a recognisably American phenomenon, Dorset trio Electric Wizard had established themselves as purveyors of a brand of sonic suffocation every bit as heavy as anything from the other side of the Atlantic. Loading up the sheer heft of riffmasters like Black Sabbath, Sleep, Saint Vitus, Cathedral and Candlemass, and, er, electrifying it with a sense of manic, tripped-out purpose, they were already recognised as one of the heaviest bands on the planet. Dopethrone picked up where they had dropped off on 1997s Come My Fanatics with the crazy heaviosity of songs like Vinum Sabbathi and Funeralopolis setting the bar for years tocome.

17. Alkaline Trio Maybe I'll Catch Fire

Falling between landmark 1998 debut Goddamnit and 2001s commercial breakthrough From Here To Infirmary, Maybe Ill Catch Fire often feels like the overlooked gem of Alkaline Trios back-catalogue. After relatively optimistic opener Keep Em Coming, the record unfolds a shade darker than what had preceded it. Madam Me is all stabbing six-strings and pained regret, Youve Got So Far To Go is one of their best-ever Dan Andriano cuts and album closer Radio with that immortal opening line Shaking like a dog shittin razorblades / Wakin up next to nothin has become arguably their most instantly-recognisable anthem. The fireburns.

16. Papa Roach Infest

CUT MY LIFE INTO PIECES, THIS IS MY LAST RESORT! With their numerous reinventions and renaissances since, Papa Roach have put serious distance between themselves and the scene from which they emerged, but their smashing second LP remains their apparently immovable high watermark. Detonating dance-floors with Last Resort, tugging heartstrings with Broken Home and getting under our skin with Between Angels And Insects, Jacoby Shaddixs Californian mob delivered angst-overload via the hookiest songwriting nu-metal would eversee.

15. Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven

Across four sprawling tracks comprising almost 90-minutes of music, Canadian collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor redefined post-rock for the new millennium. Presented across two discs whose artwork did not feature the bands name, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven painted a potent yet mysterious apocalyptic vision of capitalist society in collapse. A ravaged, largely wordless soundscape that veers between moments of rattling dissonance and others of transcendent beauty sampled voices occasionally peeking through this still feels like a strangely sepia-toned glimpse into a broken future just about tounfold.

14. Glassjaw Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence

On the strength of a demo recorded with local producer Don Fury, New York post-hardcore upstarts Glassjaw found themselves being championed by the mighty Ross Robinson (Korn, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit), signed to Roadrunner Records and whipped across the country for recording at Robinsons renowned Indigo Ranch studio in Malibu, California. These twelve tracks were the result. Although the label (from which the band split, somewhat acrimoniously) didnt seem to know what to do with the explosion of emotions at play in songs like Pretty Lush, Siberian Kiss and Ry Rys Song, their biting brilliance and enduring influence has been transparent in the yearssince.

13. The Hives Veni Vidi Vicious

As evidenced elsewhere on this list, there was a huge garage-rock revival in the early-2000s with bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes, Kings Of Leon and Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs all playing their part but few outfits broke out with the unabashed abandon and sheer sense of fun that we got from Swedish wildcards The Hives. Led-on by uber-charismatic frontman/ringleader Howlin Pelle Almqvist, the high-energy likes of Hate To Say I Told You So, Main Offender and Die, All Right felt custom-tooled to get bodies shaking and fists pumping. Crucially, there was a wry self-awareness that meant both band and fans were enjoying the stupidly good times with no stringsattached.

12. Lamb Of God New American Gospel

By 2000, Lamb Of God were shaping up as one of the dominant forces of the New Wave Of American Metal and they hit the next millennium with a fresh name (previous moniker Burn The Priest having been jettisoned to avoid accusations that they were an overtly Satanic outfit) and debut album to prove it. Bridging the gap between the brutalist death-inflected sounds with which they emerged and the groovier direction that would lead them to the top of the metal mountain, New American Gospel isnt the best LOG release, but killer cuts like Black Label and Pariah cement its importance in the millennial metallandscape.

11. AFI The Art Of Drowning

After nine years and four previous LPs, The Art Of Drowning finally saw shady Californian punks AFI make some kind of mark on the mainstream. While still flirting with the horror-punk of their early years, this was slower and more melodic with a pronounced gothic influence bleeding through tracks like Ever And A Day and 6 To 8. They confidently showcase other shades, too: surging stand-out The Days Of The Phoenix burning with a sense of arms-in-the-air catharsis while The Lost Souls blueprints much of the punchiness and raw emotion with which they would ascend to real stardom on 2003s Sing TheSorrow.

10. Pantera Reinventing The Steel

Although its roundly recognised as the weakest offering released after their 1990 reinvention, there is a pugilistic defiance about Panteras final LP that ensures it cannot be ignored. With internal cracks stressed further by massive external pressure, the album is characterised by the tension between classic metal (of which the band had become regarded as defenders), the increasingly experimental tendencies of the Abbott brothers and the more extreme death and black metal influence frontman Phil Anselmo was keen to explore. Chuck the baggage to one side, though, and tracks like Revolution Is My Name and Ill Cast A Shadow standtall.

9. Green Day Warning

Although the album marked something of a commercial dip for the Berkeley punk heavyweights, Warning found Green Day daringly evolving their sound in a way that would prove pivotal. Building on the foundations laid by 1997s Nimrod, there was less outright high-tempo punk influence, with shades of pop and folk often coming to the fore. The jangling acoustic attitude of the title track and underrated minimalist melancholia of anti-commercialism closer Macys Day Parade showcased Billie Joe Armstrongs more nuanced songwriting, while the thumping Minority sowed the seeds of more political thinking that would bear world-conquering fruit with their next LP: 2004s AmericanIdiot.

8. Limp Bizkit Chocolate Starfish & The Hot Dog Flavoured Water

Limp Bizkit took the ridiculous/sublime dynamism of nu-metal to its (il)logical conclusion. From its bewildering lyrics (Ben Stiller, you are my favourite motherfucker!) to frontman Fred Dursts insufferable wannabe-celebrity swagger to an album title literally referencing the human anus, Chocolate Starfish had no right to succeed. But with guitarist Wes Borland embracing the insanity, cranked-to-11 smashers like My Generation, Rollin and Take A Look Around won pretty much everyone over regardless, setting sales-records for a rock band and burrowing into the subconscious of a whole generation offans.

7. Iron Maiden Brave New World

Iron Maiden mightve never officially gone away, but 2000s Brave New World remains one of the greatest comebacks in the history of heavy metal. Having struggled with artistic decline and dwindling audience numbers for the best part of the 1990s, the British metal legends welcomed human air-raid siren singer Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith back into the fold, setting up their ultimate three-guitar line-up and giving their sound an epic escalation perfectly befitting 2002s subsequently iconic live album Rock In Rio. From pounding opener The Wicker Man via the stirring Blood Brothers to high-wire closer The Thin Line Between Love And Hate, Brave New World opened the floodgates for a bright newera.

6. A Perfect Circle Mer De Noms

A Perfect Circle became one of the more remarkable metal side-projects of the millennium for a variety of reasons. When Billy Howerdel transitioned from working as guitar tech to alt.metal figurehead in his own right and managed to recruit Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan as vocalist, the stage was set for a musical blend that combined the thumping heaviness of Tool with an atmospheric dexterity more like something from a movie soundtrack. Mer de Noms (French for Sea Of Names) was the grandstanding first release. Mesmeric highlight Judith remains the landmark, but the darker shades of 3 Libras and The Hollow were further stand-out singles, while the mysterious likes of Sleeping Beauty and Thinking Of You expanded that rich initialworld-building.

5. At The Drive-In Relationship Of Command

If, as many believed, American hard rock was crying out for saviours at the turn of the millennium, big-haired El Paso collective At The Drive-In were the heroes wed been holding out for. Righteous anger and unbound creativity spilled freely from Cedric Bixlers almost Dio like vocals and Omar Rodriguezs hard guitars on One Armed Scissor and Invalid Letter Dept. Hell, the king of punk himself, Iggy Pop, even crops up to lend guest vocals on the agitprop firecracker Rolodex Propaganda. The record has been lauded many times since as one of the most important rock records of all time, and its damn hard toargue.

4. Marilyn Manson Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death)

Even after the shock-rock-redefining greatness of 1996 Antichrist Superstar and 1998s Mechanical Animals, Marilyn Mansons ferocious fourth album is the release that lingers in so many fans minds. Featuring that mega-provocative image of a jawless Manson as the crucified Christ, the record was a scathing response to the scapegoating that perceived artistic martyrdom Manson suffered in response to the 1999 Columbine school shooting. Returning fire, the God Of Fuck opened-up on guns, God and government, attacking the moral ignorance and hypocritical rot at the heart of modern America from rock-club-ready bangers Disposable Teens and The Fight Song to The Nobodies lingering creep, the rigour-mortise jerk of Cruci-fiction In Space and despondent closer Count To Six And Die (The Vacuum Of Infinite SpaceEncompassing).

3. Queens Of The Stone Age Rated R

Although 1998s cult classic, self-titled debut slipped under the radar somewhat, Rated R catapulted Queens Of The Stone Age straight into rocks mainstream. Having already contributed to Seattle stalwarts Screaming Trees, fronted desert-rock icons Kyuss and co-founded boogie-rockers Eagles Of Death Metal, Josh Homme was a respected face in the scene. This was the moment he really stepped into the sun, though. Bringing aboard livewire bassist Nick Oliveri, eventual EODM co-conspirator Gene Trautmann and Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, wordily-titled hits The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret and Feel Good Hit Of The Summer were towering tentpoles, but it was the consistency of inspiration and invention from the fast-fire Quick And To The Pointless to sprawling closer I Think I Lost My Headache that made this an all-timeclassic.

2. Deftones White Pony

Although Deftones entire catalogue demands a degree of reverence, White Pony remains their undisputed masterpiece. Severing ties, for good, with the flailing nu-metal genre into which they had been lumped, the Sacramento visionaries delivered their most artful, progressive offering. Bred from the battle for creative control and subsequent brinkmanship between guitarist Stephen Carpenter and vocalist Chino Moreno (who had recently picked up his own six-string), the breakneck shifts from extreme heaviness to near-ambience created a tension and pulsating ebb-and-flow. The textural contributions of electronic specialist Frank Delgado added yet another dimension to tracks, from the crashing Mini Maggit to the ethereal Digital Bath and brooding mega-single Change (In The House Of Flies). The appearance of Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan (at the height of his powers) on the incredible Passenger was further icing on thecake.

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The 50 Best Albums From 2000 - Kerrang!

Reserve your free ticket here: zdaylondon2019.eventbrite.co.uk The Zeitgeist Movement is a global sustainability advocacy group working through education & explicitly non-violent means to bring the world together for the common goal of human and environmental sustainability. Please join us in London to hear us & as always Z-Day gives members the opportunity to socialise, make []

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The Zeitgeist Movement is a global sustainability advocacy group working through education & explicitly non-violent means to bring the world together for the common goal of human and environmental sustainability. Please join us in London to hear us & as always Z-Day gives members the opportunity to socialise, make new friends, discuss & hopefully put []

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Zeitgeist Day, or Zday for short is an annual global educational symposium that works to amplify a context upon which existing/emerging scientific findings may find a concerted social imperative aiming to create a more truly responsible, sustainable, peaceful, global society. This years theme in London is based heavily on activism, what a person can set []

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Hi everybody! Count down to ZDAY London 2016. Have a look at the program for the day. Theres still tickets available, so make sure you have got them as soon as possible, if youd like to guarantee your seat. Click on program image to zoom in, please. TICKETS here:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/z-day-london-2016-tickets-21680330452 Thank you! And see you on []

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Were glad to announce that Barb Jacobson from Basic Income UK will be speaking! She has been active in community organising since 1982, a co-ordinator of Basic Income UK and on the board of Unconditional Basic Income Europe, a network of organisations and activists in 25 countries. Basic Income UK is a collective promoting unconditional []

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The Zeitgeist Movement UK | A Global Grassroots Movement ...

TikTok perfectly encapsulates the zeitgeist of 2020. The video-sharing social network from Beijing-based ByteDance is the perfected form of previous social media trends: Vines snappiness, Instagrams infinite scroll, and Reddits niche subsets. Now that quarantine has locked us away with phones as our constant companions, we suddenly have extra free hours that TikTok, like a gas, has expanded to fill. Since the start of 2020, Tiktok has surged in popularity, receiving 52.2 million unique American users, 12 million from March alone. It now sits as the most downloaded app in the world at more than 2 billion downloads.

TikToks growth points to a new form of digital identity that is both personal and public: a new norm for the 2020s that has evolved over the past few years. Thanks to the apps video-editing capabilities, the skill needed to make a TikTok is less than on other platforms, lending TikToks a homemade air. But the massive audience that TikTok videos can reach presents these casual clips to a very public eye. All kinds of content exist on the app; still, the carefully-curated For You page that greets every user ensures a finely tailored experience from the vast chaos. And, though the platform has been dismissed as a time-waster for teens, it has successfully capitalized on broader trends in how we consume social media and grown into a new behemoth for the decade. Though TikTok trends themselves tend to be short-lived, the apps duality may be the key to its longevity.

The Homemade Film Festival

TikToks user base skews young. Reuters reported in 2019 that about 60%of the platforms users in the U.S. are between the ages of 16 and 24. TikTok shares similarities with other apps targeted toward a young user base, like Snapchat, which is used by 69%t of U.S. teens. Both Snapchat and TikTok have a more informal culture, where the self-consciousness of more public social media platforms, like Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, is nowhere to be found. While platforms like Facebook which 7 in 10 U.S. adults use see a broader range of ages among their users, TikTok is undeniably one for the first generation of true digital natives who have grown up alongside social media.

After tiring of the perfect presence one is pressured to curate on Instagram and the insecurities the platform tends to exacerbate it seemed only natural that apps, where imperfection and casual communication reigned, would gain traction. TikToks popularity points to a reaction to that image-consciousness, according to Karen North, a professor of communication at the University of Southern California specializing in social media and psychology. TikTok made everything extremely easy and really fun, North told the HPR. The whole culture of it is not to judge. For the uninitiated, TikTok is best known for its viral dance challenges, which users of all skill levels can participate in. It doesnt matter if you do it well or exceedingly poorly, North said, adding that TikToks algorithm and huge audience make it possible for anyone who participates in a challenge to get lots of views.

Beyond viral challenges that make it easy and appealing to jump in, TikTok also makes it easy for users to edit their own videos through the app. This, coupled with the overall flexibility for format on the platform, has brewed a perfect environment for encouraging users to experiment with their videos, which range from personal stories to comedy sketches to tutorials. And with stay-at-home advisories encouraging everyone to keep indoors, people have more free time to spend on their phones. The extra time has invited even adults and college students to join the TikTok craze, and with more users comes more content.

Its like a bunch of sixth graders hosted a film festival and didnt give you a program beforehand, said Eli Russell 20, who started making TikTok videos (@notchrissyteigen) after returning home in March when students left campus because of concerns about the coronavirus. Russell said that a combination of more time, more of his friends getting on the app, and the convenience of making videos on TikTok all factored into his start on the platform. Tyler Sanok 22 (@ksanok10) also cited extra time and the platforms convenience as the reasons he and his brother started posting TikTok videos during quarantine. Because the amount of time and effort needed to make a TikTok video isnt as much as that required for, say, a YouTube video, he said, theres no consequence for not shooting your shot.

It is also not surprising that for Generation Z users who grew up in the era of internet stardom, thanks to YouTube the prospect of TikTok celebrity is also an appealing motivator to produce videos. TikToks most popular creator, 16-year-old Charli DAmelio, gained more than 66 million followers in the span of a year, mainly for her dance videos and relatability, despite being an ordinary person without a large internet following before her start on the platform. Through some combination of luck, timing, and the omnipotent TikTok algorithm, TikTok fame could be within reach for any user.

The Algorithm

On any platform made for sharing content, there is potential for spreading messages. TikToks are punchy and to-the-point due to an upper time limit of 60 seconds. Its estimated audience of 800 million active users provides enormous potential for content of any agenda to go viral. In recent weeks, TikTok has been increasingly used for political organizing and educational efforts, though those efforts still stick to the pace of the apps other snappy videos. When you use any platform [for promoting causes] its important to do it so that it fits the culture of that platform, North said. TikTok videos often have background music or are filmed casually with a single person speaking directly to a camera. A scroll through the array of videos tagged with police brutality shows that many of these videos still maintain the same format.

Claira Janover 21 (@cjanover) said that when she first started making TikTok videos during quarantine, her videos focused more on humor. Since then, her channel has started to tackle topics like racism, sexism, and police brutality a gradual change prompted by comments shes received on her TikToks and her own changing focus. If I believe something, Im going to articulate it, Janover said. She added that she thought TikTok lends itself well to sharing information of substance because it adheres to the narrowing American attention span, but also has the power to influence.

Still, though, TikToks algorithm prevents it from being a completely effective means of communicating information to diverse audiences. TikToks impeccably-curated For You page an infinite scroll of videos presents each user with a feedback loop based on the content they have interacted positively with in the past. Sanok said that while it is beneficial for TikToks algorithm to help videos gain traction by presenting them to users with similar interests as the creator, when it comes to sharing political ideas in a productive way, the resulting echo chamber may fall flat. The people seeing this are not the people that you need to change their minds. You need to send it off to the people who dont necessarily agree with this or are not informed, he said.

Because of this, despite how quickly users can share content on TikTok, it is difficult to tell how broadly any given video spreads. Its not like Twitter, where you know whats trending globally, Russell said. Its a very tailored experience. He added that this aspect makes it difficult to make generalizations about the platform. Since every individuals experience is engineered to be specific to their interests, everyone is likely to find their niche, but breaking out of that niche requires actively searching for different content so that the algorithm can adjust. I think if I spent one day liking random dancing videos, then tomorrow, I wouldnt have any activist videos. I would just have those dance videos, Russell said.

Still, though, videos can make it outside of circles of like-minded users. Going into more of a political atmosphere of content, theres obviously a lot of conservative and a lot of libertarian pushback, Janover explained. She added that other TikTokers have put in the effort to make videos rebutting her videos, with some of those rebuttal videos receiving the same amount of attention as the original video evidence that TikTok has a pocket of like-minded users for nearly every possible perspective.

In July, one of Janovers videos went viral after conservative commentators shared it, sparking a wave of backlash that she said targeted not only her but also friends and supporters. In the satirical TikTok, Janover likened saying All Lives Matter in response to Black Lives Matter to claiming that a papercut matters just as much as a stab wound. Janover subsequently received death threats and lost an internship at Deloitte. Janover did not anticipate the video receiving so much attention. I posted that video almost a month ago. Its not new, Janover told the HPR. She added that she had seen progressive activist TikToks use extreme analogies before, and did not think her video was extraordinary.

It would be one thing to have had a conservative say, like, This type of demeanor isnt respected. This anger, this displacement even if it is an analogy is not appropriate or professional. I would have been able to see the validity in that, Janover explained, adding that it surprises her that so many people interpreted the TikTok video as a serious threat. But people of all political stances and age groups are paying attention to TikTokers, it seems. The fact that I even say, Oh, my TikTok is what caused this is very odd for me to think about, Janover said.

TikToks Future

TikToks short-lived predecessor, Vine, graced the Internet with its presence for just four years. Vines demise is primarily credited to rival apps adding improved versions of its features and an inability to adapt quickly enough to keep its users. TikTok, however, has steadily grown since its initial 2016 launch in China by demonstrating deft adaptability. When allegations that TikTok was censoring the Black Lives Matter movement tag drew attention, TikTok responded just days later with an apology, creation of a diversity council, and commitment to donating $3 million to nonprofits that help the Black communities hard-hit by COVID-19 as well as an additional $1 million toward fighting racial injustice in the U.S. The speed of the move demonstrated a close attunement to TikToks user base, which could protect TikTok from potentially being blindsided if any strong challengers to the video-streaming app market ever arise.

TikToks popularity in the U.S. comes amid deepening political partisanship. The video streaming app is not the only social media platform to use confirmation bias as a tactic to hook users on its content. However, the fact that doing so has only boosted TikToks popularity signals that perpetuating confirmation bias is profitable. Therefore, there is little incentive for social media platforms to move away from using confirmation bias. This tactic is especially troubling given that social media now outpaces newspapers as a go-to news source for Americans, according to the Pew Research Center. Social media incentivized in this way for functioning as an echo chamber will only further entrench polarization.

There is also, of course, the matter of privacy and security concerns. ByteDance, as a Chinese company, is subject not to privacy laws in the United States, but those in China. TikTok has faced several controversies over security in recent months. Most recently, the app came under scrutiny for reading text left on users pasteboards whenever TikTok was opened. It is no surprise that the app collects more information than users might anticipate; thousands of apps have been found to do so, either directly or by piggybacking on permissions given to other apps. But TikToks concerns over data privacy will likely persist in the public consciousness for years to come, as lawmakers struggle to keep pace with technological advancements.

Still, TikTok appears to have solidified its place among the most-used social media platforms and seems to be here to stay for better or worse. Its blend of private and public reflects a continuing trend of blending our personal and digital lives. Furthermore, the fact that, despite a history of security scandals, so many people continue to use TikTok, calls into question how much digital privacy invasion we are willing to tolerate from tech companies. And, despite the massive amount of content available on the app, the fact that users can find themselves in smaller echo chambers points to a growing trend of polarization; TikToks success only shows other tech companies that vindicating users by showing them personalized content will be rewarded. TikTok is fun, but the fun veneers deeper considerations well have to make as we accept that blend of public and private as fixtures in our daily lives. We will need to examine whether we want the perfected convenience of algorithmically-curated content, or whether its possible to reward breaking out of our bubbles.

Image Credit: The image by Kon Karampelas is licensed under the Pixabay License.

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TikTok: The Summation of 2020's Duality and Chaos - Harvard Political Review

Maria Grazia Chiuri is once again on the move after a very long pause. As we chat via Zoom she appears relaxed, dressed in a white T-shirt and Dior headscarf, sitting outside the house that once belonged to her father in Puglia. The sun shines on her back and a sprawling row of what appears to my untrained eye to be unusually photogenic olive trees provides the most impressive Zoom backdrop Ive seen during my lockdown experience so far. My father was a farmer. I grew up in this area, she explains in her robust Roman accent.

Just days before, Maria Grazia was in Paris where she conducted a global press conference alongside CEO, Pietro Beccari, to announce plans for her Christian Dior Cruise collection, which will take place in Puglia this month. The following week, a trip back to France to reveal her new couture collection during the Fdration de la Haute Couture et de la Modes much-anticipated first ever digital show week.

And after that, her attention will turn to London for an upcoming pop-up store in Harrods, opening 1 August. It will be a lush, velvet-clad space offering shoppers in search of newness after quarantine the chance to buy updates on the brands old and new signatures, including its top-selling saddle bags and book totes and a new personalisation service. The wheels of fashion are slowly grinding again after months of lockdown, and so her life is too.

Photographer: Ekua King Stylist: Fenella Webb

Fashion has always felt like a time warp, with its six months ahead of time show-to- retail cycle and three months ahead of time monthly fashion magazines. But that dizzying what season is it again? feeling has increased tenfold, thanks to Covid-19, which swooped in and left us suspended mid-action fashion cupboards full of clothing samples, factories heaving with yet-to-be-shipped orders and ad campaigns on the cusp of being shot for months on end.

It feels like its been a lifetime since I saw Maria Grazia, back in February, at her big ticket, big budget autumn/winter 20 show in Paris. That was roughly a week before she went into lockdown in Rome with her daughter Rachele Regini. (Her husband and son were in quarantine separately in their second home in Rome.)

Since then, everything and, in some ways, not enough has changed. I think there is an important lesson from Covid that we have to reinvent ourselves every day, she says.

Photographer: Ekua King Stylist: Fenella Webb

As far as re-entries go, Maria Grazias sounds as demanding as you would expect from the creative director of one of the luxury fashion worlds cornerstone brands. But listening to Maria Grazia describe it, her transition back into normal working life sounds more like a homecoming. Perhaps thats because one of her first orders of business, the Cruise show, happens to be taking place in her fathers birthplace, a region she summered in as a young girl. In this part of Italy everything is very familiar, she explains. Fashion in Italy I know everybody very well. Many companies are family companies. They are part, in some way, of my professional family. I call them for Christmas or holidays, she explains.

And while she began designing and planning the collection before coronavirus hit (it was originally scheduled to take place in May), the upcoming Cruise show has very much become a statement and a symbol of these Covid times. Maria Grazia wanted to support Italy, and specifically the Puglia region, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. We would like to send a message of support, hope and rebirth to the world; to the big suppliers and the small ones. Many still dont know how to survive, so this move is so important for the artisans that we need to preserve. We want to give them a reason to restart, Pietro Beccari said in the press conference.

One of the most striking aspects of Maria Grazias era at Dior is the socio-political messaging underpinning her clothes. She spent her first four years at the house using T-shirts, bar jackets, tulle skirts, tailoring and kitten heels to espouse feminism.

For example, she showed her A/W 20 collection held a day after Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 23 years in jail against a set of neon signs by the art collective Claire Fontaine, broadcasting #MeToo-adjacent messages in caps lock, such as, CONSENT and PATRIARCHY = CLIMATE EMERGENCY. And theres a mentorship programme, Women@Dior, dedicated to gender equality and sustainability. In recent years, shes become more vocal about her growing awareness of climate change.

Today, its the economic fallout of coronavirus thats on her mind. It runs a through line in four talks we have in seven days (our Zoom interview, a collection preview and two press conferences), in which she regularly mentions how many people depend on Dior for their livelihoods. We give jobs to a lot of people, she says. The LVMH-owned house reported revenue of 53.7 billion in 2019. And there are lots of people in the fashion system: journalists, photographers, make-up artists... I felt I had to do something.

In the 1940s, Christian Dior, the man and the brand, played a part in lifting Europe out of a different sort of crisis. He showed his first collection in 1947, two years after World War II ended, eventually becoming a figure who helped a nation rehabilitate itself after one of the most devastating global conflicts in history. [Christian Dior] wasnt a revolutionary. He was a reactionary who reinvented national pride after a terrible moment, Florence Mller, a historian who helped curate the retrospective Dior: Couturier Of Dreams for Pariss Muse des Arts Dcoratifs told The Washington Post.

Maria Grazia seems acutely aware of her own responsibility in carrying on that legacy. This is not a war, this is another kind of problem, she says. And we have other problems now. Its not like in the Second World War. Now there is the pandemic and this problem of [climate change]. Its completely different. But, again, we give jobs to a lot of people. Sustainability means also to maintain jobs for the workers.

Photographer: Ekua King Stylist: Fenella Webb

For her couture collection, which she debuted with a big-budget film, Le Mythe Dior, directed by Matteo Garrone, of Gomorrah fame, Maria Grazia wanted to provide the other need Monsieur Dior met so famously during those post-war years in France: a bit of escapism. In some ways we are so conscious about this time. We are so conscious about whats happened about all these problems. People need to dream. I need to dream, she says.

But even in the dreaming, you get the sense that Maria Grazia is ever aware of the news cycle. Shes the woman who popularised activism in fashion with a T-shirt (We Should All Be Feminists, a slogan taken from the speech by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.) This is not a woman who designs in a bubble. So it was unexpected in some respects to see her surprise when questioned about the near all- white casting of the film, in an interview that followed its premiere. Just hours before Dior debuted the mesmeric movie short which featured nymphs and goddesses enchanted by doll-sized Dior gowns in the woods Naomi Campbell had opened the week with a speech about the need for more meaningful diversity within the fashion industry in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.

For me, I think diversity is important but it depends on the situation and the reference, Maria Grazia said, explaining that the casting boiled down to the films Greek mythology references. If I do another film, I probably make another casting. I dont think its possible to make all the things with the same language even if I completely agree with the value.

For context, shes set previous shows in California (inspired by, among other things, a Georgia OKeeffe exhibition) and Morocco (a celebration of Africa with a diasporic line-up of mostly Black creative collaborators). Fashion critics complained the Garrone-directed film was out of step with the cultural conversation defining the times. And that, as someone famous for being in tune with the zeitgeist, Maria Grazia had failed to read the room. For a woman so outspoken on social issues, it looked like she had missed an opportunity.

The strange thing is that Im very sensitive to these issues, even before Covid, she told me when I asked her about Black Lives Matter and the growing social justice movement, a week before she debuted the film. Im very happy that we speak about these problems. But it is also evident that these problems have a long history. I cant believe that only with this pandemic situation we start now to wake up, she said. And I think a lot of people who were scared to use their voice start to use their voice. That is good. Sometimes people attack me to say, You are a political designer. Everybody is political. If you are human, you are political. Nobody is perfect, but we have to try to make something. I dont think I can change the world, but I can do a little part. If everybody thinks they can do a little part all together, probably we can create a better place to live.

The Dior Harrods pop-up opens 1 August

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'We Need To Dream' - Maria Grazia Chiuri On The Role Of Fashion In Times Of Crisis - Grazia

Its not an overstatement to say that Moncler Genius has revolutionised the way big brands communicate with their audience. Since its debut during Milan Fashion Week A/W 18, the project has not only won its fans hearts, but has also been praised by a number of fashion critics and brand communication experts. The latest Genius drop featured designs by Hiroshi Fujiwara, the so-called godfather of Japanese streetwear, and has garnered impressive results in the Post-COVID-19 market, according to the Chinese publication Jing Daily. Being in the midst of a global pandemic has forced brands to completely reshape their marketing plans for 2020/21. The question: How could fashion face COVID-19 has been asked so many times weve finally got tired of talking about it. And yet, we can learn a lot about how the future is going to look like just by observing how some of the biggest players in the industry are trying to reimagine their existence.

Veronica Leoni for Moncler Voices

Firstly, we shouldnt be surprised by Monclers ability to effectively communicate their projects and, consequently, transforming winter outerwear into highly-wanted and highly-sold luxury pieces. Back in the 50s, Moncler supplied the expedition team that reached the summit of K2 for the first time ever. Thirty years later, it became the staple of Italys youth subculture Paninari, a cultural movement that has in many ways anticipated todays streetwear aesthetic. Fast forward to 2020, and Moncler has become one of the most popular brands in the zeitgeist. This ongoing process is made possible by the plurality of voices that coexist in one single project. As i-D put it, Moncler Genius combines a variety of contributions which are able to coexist alongside one another, creating a mosaic of differences and extraordinary individuality. These varied voices in their distinctive design languages harmonised through a single design process conceived by the brand. Just like all true love stories, the relationship between Moncler and its designers is mutually beneficial, allowing both parts to express something that would have otherwise stayed silent.

Matthew Williams for Moncler Voices

So its no accident that Monclers latest digital campaign is called Moncler Voices and aims once again to give a platform to the people that shape todays fashion system. Following Moncler Chairman & CEO Remo Ruffinis invitation, artists, curators, stylists, designers, directors, athletes, explorers and cultural players will be asked to create an intimate image that portrays the answer to one question: What does Moncler mean to you?. Kicking-off today on Instagram, the campaign will include contributions from Matthew Williams, Jonathan Anderson, Nick Dutton, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Craig Green, Veronica Leoni, Pierpaolo Piccioli, Richard Quinn, Simone Rocha and many others. Each of them has been asked to share a picture that expresses their personal relationship with the brand; it's a visual tool to reflect on the spirit of togetherness, creativity and exploration that Moncler stands for, proving that sometimes its not all about taking immediate action when forced to face a new reality, but rather actively listening to what others have to say.

Francesco Ragazzi for Moncler Voices

Sabino Pantone for Moncler Voices

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Monclers latest digital initiative is all about giving fashion creatives a voice - i-D

The West Toronto Railpath is a rare corridor that makes traversing Toronto's industrial west end a breeze.

Made just for walkers, joggers, and cyclists, this scenic 2.1-kilometre trail cuts through the Junction Triangle.

Both the Dupont and Bloor Street bridges are clearly demarcated as part of the West Toronto Railpath.

It runs down from Cariboo Avenue,just north of Dupont,and heads southalong the GO Train rail corridoruntil Dundas Street and Sterling Road.

You can enter through a number of connectivity points(off Bloor, or the path behind Osler Fish Warehouse, or adjacent to Henderson Brewing, to name a few) to access this special asphalt trail.

There are nine main entrances along the 2.1 kilometre trail.

The Junction Triangle has never felt particularly inviting to pedestrians, in large part due to the fact it's an area shaped by railway tracks, ongoing construction, and the remnants of old factories.

This linear asphalt path is a paradise for pedestrians and cyclists.

But on the WTR, the urban essentials railways and bridgescome together against a backdrop of greenery and graffiti that shows Toronto's adaptive ecology at its best.

The WTR runs directly next to the GO train corridor.

The railpath was established in 2009, at a time when the Junction Triangle (or The Wedge, as some thought to call it,before the Fuzzy Boundaries project banged the gavel) was in its early stages of an identity renaissance.

The occasional sound of trains passing by interrupts the peace and quiet of the trail.

Like the Beltline Trail, another rail-to-trail that uses railroad right-of-ways, the WTR runs on an abandoned line. A mere fence, and at times, graffiti-covered sound barriers, is all that separates commuters from the trains as they whizz by.

The trail was completed in 2009 and runs along an old railroad right-of-way.

Aside from the fact that it gets you efficiently from A to B (it's my favourite detour to all that Sterling Road has to offer), or the direct access to the Bloor GO and UP stations, the trail itself is a sight for sore city eyes.

Graffiti is an essential part of experiencing this urban landscape.

For art in the wild, check for artby DeRAIL, StART, artists like Alexander Bacon andQue Rockford (you can watch a video on the duo's Dupont Street Underpass mural) and Lynnette Postuma (whose 12,000 square-footGradationwall pays hommage to the trees of the trail).

Severalinterdisplenary arts teams are responsible for the muralshere.

The volunteer group Friends of the West Toronto Railpath calls it a "living canvas", which is an apt description of this changing trail.

The graffiti here is as as essential a component as the growth of the shrubs and sumach trees and vines of the path, and you'll find the artwork here shifting to match the zeitgeist.

The Wallace Avenue foot bridge stretches overtop the GO train corridor to Dundas Street West.

Here to stay are four sculptures made from galvanized steel placed along the length of the trail. These pieces by John Dickson range between five and six metres high as part of his project, Frontier.

There is public seating interspersed along the trail, including these Pause Platforms.

Closer to the Dundas exit, there are also three wooden circular seats calledPause Platforms, which sit on top of three decommissioned groundwater pumping wells.

Looking north from the heritage Wallace Avenue footbridge.

One pitstop you should definitely not miss out on is the walk across the Wallace Avenue footbridge: the first project by the Ontario Bridge Company.

Built in 1907, it was originally created as a low-cost, temporary crossing, but is now a historical landmark that provides an uninhibited view of the trains as they travel underfoot.

The Wallace Avenue footbridge was built in 1907.

Biking from north to south takes roughly 10 minutes, approximately, which is simply not enough to satiate most cyclists looking for an urban reprieve.

Phase 2 of the WTR has been a prolonged and painful (for eager pedestrians) process,promising an extension down to Abell Street at Sudbury Street.

An extension of the WTR is expected to lengthen the trail south to Abell Street at Sudbury Street.

There was some movement made in February 2020 with the announcement of a $23 million plan that should introduce four new pedestrian-cycle bridges, connections to Dundas Street West, Lansdowne Avenue, Brock Street, and Queeen Street.

The project is slated to begin in 2021, if all goes according to plan. Until then, a little more than 2 kilometres will have to do.

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The West Toronto Railpath is the city's hidden urban trail next to the train tracks - blogTO

EXCLUSIVE: We hear that Cinemart, the documentary team of directors Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nason and producer Mike Gasparro, is partnering on the documentaryLuLaRichwith Based on Medias Blye Faust and Cori Shepherd Stern.

The doc will investigateLuLaRoe, the billion dollar clothing empire which has recently been accused of misleading thousands of American women with their multi-level marketing platform. Once promoted by Katy Perry and Kelly Clarkson, the brand has gone from an aspirational movement to a trending pyramid scheme that is now the subject of multiple lawsuits.

LuLaRoes founders DeAnne and Mark Stidham have denied all allegations and have launched countersuits of their own, defending the companys legitimacy and model. LuLaRoe is still fully operational and many women continue to enthusiastically promote the brand. The company has also dramatically reduced entry costs to attract new saleswomen during the pandemic and economic downturn.

Related StoryProducers Blye Faust & Cori Shepherd Stern Launch Based On Media

The film will chart the meteoric rise of the company, its Mormon founder and a culture of dedicated legging-clad millennial saleswomen who rose through the ranks seeking a better life for their families.

In addition to offering LuLaRoe execs Mark and DeAnne Stidham a chance to tell their story, LuLaRich will explore the broader zeitgeist of the Mormon subculture, multi-level marketing, social media, womens rights, economic equality, fraud and white-collar crime in the digital age.

Nason and Furst will direct with EP Gasparro, the award-winning team behind Hulus Fyre Fraud and Netflix docuseries The Pharmacist which we reported yesterday was being snapped up by David Permut to be made into a feature narrative. The Cinemart team is currently in production on a new sports true-con for Quibi about Baseballs recent sign stealing scandal in a co-production with Spring Hill Entertainment and executive producer Lebron James.

Cinemart will be joined by EPs Blye Faust and Cori Shepherd Stern of Based On Media. Faust won an Oscar for Best Picture onSpotlight and Stern is an Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning producer known for diverse projects including Warm Bodies and HBOs Open Heart.

The Cinemart is repped by CAA and Jonathan Gardner and Carissa Knoll at Cohen & Gardner. Based On Media is repped by WME, along with Robert Strent and Ted Fisher at Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks.

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Documentary About Controversial LuLaRoe Clothing Empire In Works From Fyre Fraud Team And Based On Media - Deadline

Arsenal's justification for not supporting their player Mesut zil, pictured above, last year calls into question their motivations behind their current support of the BLM movement. Wikimedia Commons

Arsenal Football Club, along with other Premier League teams, have been noticeably eager to perform support for the current BLM movement - from armbands to taking a knee before games. However, the football industrys record on racism, including anti-Blackness, is a chequered one and encourages us to be sceptical of their motives. Less than a year ago, when Mesut zil powerfully spoke out against the ethno-religious persecution of Uighur Muslims in China, Arsenal responded by distancing itself from their playersposition, claiming that As a football club, Arsenal has always adhered to the principle of not involving itself in politics. Inconsistencies like this suggest an ulterior motive to their support of the BLM movement.

"Gestures, however shallow, of support from other industries and celebrities, have created a situation where it would be financially damaging to appear to not support the movement."

Arsenal are at their core a business, and it was a financial decision to not stand with zil against China. The club would have been mindful of the financial damages that the NBA faced when Daryl Morey, of the Houston Rockets, spoke in solidarity with the Hong Kong protests. Chinese firms responded by suspending their sponsorship and state-run broadcasters refused to show NBA games. This came (in the words of the leagues head, Adam Silver) at a fairly dramatic cost to the League. zil was already personally feeling the financial wrath of China, with his likeness removed from the Chinese edition of PES and his 30,000 strong Chinese fan club being closed down. Arsenal were thus unwilling to risk facing financial losses by taking a principled stance.

Money informed Arsenals refusal to support zil in 2019, and financial self-interest has in part guided their response to the current protests now. The current BLM movement, to the frustration of many activists, has been heavily co-opted and monetized by many corporations and brands, including Arsenals key markets. Many have stated their support, but this often does not scratch the surface of material demands made by Black people, for BLM. Gestures, however shallow, of support from other industries and celebrities, have created a situation where it would be financially damaging to appear to not support the movement. For example, Crossfit is currently in considerable financial trouble, with Adidas having severed their partnership with the company due to its founders crude tweets about George Floyds death. As such Arsenal, and the league as a whole, have been eager to remain ahead of the cultural Zeitgeist and be seen as supporting the movement.

"Racism is structurally and linguistically ingrained into the game. It is going to take much more than empty platitudes to redeem it."

However, as the football clubs and associations are only motivated by their financial needs, rather than any actual desire to enact change, they have traded in only shallow, symbolic gestures. Whilst having Black Lives Matter on the back of their shirts, or tweeting a black tile is better than doing nothing, it fails to acknowledge the structural or linguistic racism which remains rampant within English football.

The league has refused to implement the Rooney Rule (in which a Black applicant has to be interviewed for any job opening), resulting in the shameful under-representation of Black managers within the game although a quarter of players are Black, there is one BME manager in the Premier League, Nuno Espirito Santo (who got his start in Portugal). The divergent careers of two England captains illustrates this problem. While Steven Gerrard was able to secure the managers position at Rangers (the most successful club in Scottish history), Sol Campbell had to drop down four divisions to literally the worst club in England in Macclesfield Town (at the time of hiring they were 92nd out of 92 Professional English clubs). This is symptomatic of the general lack of black representation across the institutions of English football: there are no black owners, chief executives or chairs amongst any of the 92 professional clubs in England, and only 3% of all board members are black. Hopefully this situation is about to change, with players such as Raheem Sterling speaking out, claiming that there is a need to give black people the chance they deserve. However, it speaks volumes to the failings of the footballing community that it had to be Sterling, a player, rather than someone involved in the running of football to take a stand.

This is only part of the problem. A recent study has uncovered the pervasive racist discourse within football. The League and international board claim to take a hard line on racism yet the Bulgarian FA were fined less for their spectators frequent racist chanting than Nicklas Bendtner was for wearing a pair of Paddy Power branded underwear during Euro 2012 (an obviously disgusting crime considering that the Danish FAs official betting sponsor was Ladbrokes). Underlying this, is a secondform of racist discourse. Black players are consistently reported in ways that underplay their intelligence and draw attention to their physical characteristics instead. This has been going on since at least the 1950s. The Brazilian and Austrian teams were the two most technically gifted teams in the world at that time, but this did not stop Alf Ramsay from evoking the n-word to describe the Brazilians playing style, alongside the phrase in a circus ring. In contrast, the Austrians were likened to ballerinas dancing a Viennese waltz (Evening Standard, November 26th, 1951). This problematic discourse hasnt gone away, as evidenced by the ways in which the playing styles of Bonucci and Koulibaly are described on Wikipedia. The two players are consistently top in pass accuracy and pass completion stats in Serie A, however while Bonucci is described as someone primarily known for his technique, passing range, Koulibaly is described as a large, aggressive, quick, and physically strong. I wonder if you can guess which one is the white player and which is Black? Many football fans unthinkingly take part in this type of problematic discourse, and it is our own responsibility to investigate and challenge the way we perceive Black players. Whilst we may see this as an isolated issue, it is partially the pernicious assumption that Black players as less intelligent that holds them back from getting managerial employment and it is imperative that the FA and TV broadcasters push for change and accountability regarding this.

There are real problems pertaining to race in football. It is vital that we are not fooled by the Premier Leagues financially motivated pastiches into thinking that suddenly racism in football is suddenly going to be solved. Racism is structurally and linguistically ingrained into the game. It is going to take much more than empty platitudes to redeem it.

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Enough with the empty platitudes, Football must address its racist culture - Varsity Online

Session. Skater XL. Skate 4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2. All four of these skateboarding games have either been released or announced within the last six months, and that's more than we can say for the last several years' worth of skate games.

With two cracking indie games out, the reaction to the Skate 4 announcement at EA Play (the tweet from EA has over 142,000 likes at the time of writing), and the excitement around the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 remaster, it's clear that skate games have stepped to the fore once more. It helps that skateboarding has simultaneously dropped back into the half pipe that is mainstream culture, as well. It was set to make its debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before COVID-19 delayed the competition yes, skateboarding is now an Olympic sport, and the butterfly effect that has on pop culture cannot be understated.

Are we on the precipice of the second coming of skateboarding games, one that can rival the first movement kickstarted (or kickflipped) by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater in 1999? It certainly seems so. Let's break down why that is.

It's safe to say that indie developers lit the match that led to AAA studios recognizing the embers of a skate game renaissance. Both Session and Skater XL have been in development for years, both are from teams composed of current and former skateboarders, and both build off of the left foot/right foot joystick mechanic first popularized by EA's Skate. They know what skate game fans want, and they've provided.

In November 2017, crea-ture studios released Session as a free demo before launching a Kickstarter campaign to help build a fleshed-out game as PC Gamer reported, the campaign reached its initial goal in just three days. Last year, I went hands-on with Session ahead of its Steam Early Access release, and discovered how the team at crea-ture was making a hyper-realistic skate game with a learning curve as steep as skating IRL.

Then there's Easy Day Studios' Skater XL, which debuted on team Early Access in December 2018 (it'll release in full on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Switch later this month). As we previously reported in our Skater XL hands-on, Easy Day Studios head Dain Hedgpeth was so dedicated to capturing the particular vibe of West Coast skating that he moved the entire team to SoCal. Skater XL also uses the joystick-as-feet game mechanic, but the devs consider it more of an instrument to be learned rather than an insurmountable feat to be bested.

Both studios were hell-bent on delivering a game that authentically depicts the modern skate era while nodding to its past: Skater XL has iconic skate spots built into its maps while Session has a very '90s camera option that will instantly bring you back to classic skate montages. Session, Skater XL, and the near-constant demand online for more skate game content was indicative of a shift in the video game industry tide, and publishers like Activision and EA could ignore it no longer. That's why the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 and 2 remaster was revealed in May and Skate 4 was announced right before the end of June's EA Play. We're undeniably in the midst of a revival but just how did that first skate game movement begin?

1999's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was a revolution. Developed by Neversoft and released not long after Hawk himself landed the first ever 900 at the '99 Summer X-Games, THPS 1 is a pillar of the late '90s/early-aughts skateboarding zeitgeist. The PlayStation versions of the game and its sequel were the first and second highest selling console titles of 2000, according to The Magic Box. And skateboarding exploded onto the mainstream scene shortly after in 2002, MTV debuted Jackass' skateboarding hooligans and The X Games was broadcast live on television for the first time.

But the arcade quality of the THPS games left something to be desired for gamers and real-world skateboarders alike. Enter 2007's Skate, EA's realistic response to the standard-bearer that was the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise. Skate's "flick-it" control system was its thesis statement that was in development long before other elements were even considered and it was a winning thesis. As IGN reported in 2008, Skate performed better than Tony Hawk's Proving Ground on PS3 and Xbox 360 it should come as no surprise to learn that EA quickly put sequels into production, with Skate 2 and Skate 3 releasing back-to-back in 2009 and 2010.

But other than the OlliOlli series, the last game of which was 2015's OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood, the past decade has been a skate game wasteland. The last several Tony Hawk titles were almost uniformly bad and EA deactivating Skate's servers in 2016 was a nail in the proverbial coffin. As Hawk said in a 2018 interview with skateboarding podcast The Nine Club, "It was tricky to reinvent the wheel every time. And then once EA Skate came out with a different control scheme, it split the market. And then we both had a good run, but I think by then both companies were like we're fighting for a smaller piece of the pie and that's why they're not happening. The market became so diluted and it just became shooters, and then that was it, that was the monster, and no sports games are really going to infiltrate that."

But 2020's energy is ripe for the resurgence of skate games. It's not unlike the vibes of the early aughts - nihilistic, disenfranchised youths look to escape a world on fire and have some good, clean fun. Right now, the news is scary, we're all stuck inside, and sports are cancelled. With heavy games like The Last of Us 2 preaching about the horrors of the violence it makes you commit and battle royales taking the shooter to its logical conclusion, there's room at the metaphorical video game park for a half-pipe.

The skate game resurgence has never felt more real, or more diverse in form and style. With Session you can attack NYC's concrete jungle for hours, trying and failing to trigger the game's "catch" function that requires you to push on the joysticks to catch the board while executing a trick. With Skater XL you can coast across plazas under the SoCal sunshine, visiting famous skateboarding landmarks while learning how to play the game's controls like you'd learn an instrument.

With Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 you can retread memory lane, nailing a Boneless while blasting Primus' "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" except now you can do it with a much more diverse roster composed of both the OG THPS 1 and 2 team and today's top skaters. And nobody knows what the hell you'll be able to do in Skate 4, but at least it's happening. And as GamesRadar recently reported, we the people "commented it into existence".

If the skate game renaissance is here, consider me its Da Vinci, the Italian archetype of the movement clad in checkerboard Vans.

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With Skate 4 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Remastered leading the way, the second coming of skateboarding games is here - GamesRadar+

Summer is heating up and so is the Criterion Channels lineup of content. The Tokyo Olympics may be postponed this summer, but you can still celebrate with 100 Years of Olympic Films: 19122012, or get your dose of drama with the Marriage Stories feature on Sunday, July 12.

Heres whats on the Criterion Channel in July:

Friday, July 10

Double Feature: Loving on the Edge

Mala NocheandMy Own Private Idaho

Touchstone works in the evolution of the New Queer Cinema movement, these twin tales of aimless youth by Gus Van Sant are swooning expressions of his signature concern: the emotional journeys of young men adrift on the margins of society. While editing his boldly original debut featureMala Noche,about a romantic deadbeats wayward crush on a handsome Mexican immigrant,Van Sant met Mike Parker, a Portland street kid who became the inspiration for the young hustler played by River Phoenix inMy Own Private Idaho.Further developing the themes of queer identity, transience, and unrequited longing,Van Sant created an intoxicating anthem of outsiderhood that stands as one of the defining independent films of the 1990s.

Saturday, July 11

Saturday Matinee:The White Balloon

Jafar Panahis revelatory debut feature is a childs-eye adventure in which a young girls quest to buy a goldfish leads her on a detour-filled journey through the streets of Tehran on the eve of the Iranian New Year celebration. Cowritten by Panahi with his mentor Abbas Kiarostami, this beguiling, prizewinning fable unfolds in documentary-like real time as it wrings unexpected comedy, suspense, and wonder from its seemingly simple premise.

Sunday, July 12

Marriage Stories

Bad marriages make great movies, as evidenced by these gloriously messy, cuttingly perceptive portraits of some of the most dysfunctional relationships ever captured on-screen. With raw emotion, dramatic blowups, and soul-baring self-reflection baked into the premise, these tales of marital breakups and shakeups explore everything from jealousy, infidelity, and betrayal to the procedural complexities of divorce and separation to the myriad, sometimes barely perceptible ways in which couples drift apart. They also happen to be vehicles for some of the most personal and revealing statements from major directors like Ingmar Bergman, John Cassavetes, Ida Lupino, Mike Nichols, Noah Baumbach, Lars von Trier, Asghar Farhadi, and others, each of whom brings fresh insight to that most universal of subjects: the mysterious intricacies of human intimacy.

Come Back, Little Sheba,Daniel Mann, 1952

The Bigamist,Ida Lupino, 1953

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,Richard Brooks, 1958

La notte,Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961

Juliet of the Spirits,Federico Fellini, 1965

Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,Mike Nichols, 1966

Faces,John Cassavetes, 1968

A Married Couple,Allan King, 1969

Scenes from a Marriage,Ingmar Bergman, 1973

California Suite,Herbert Ross, 1978

Kramer vs. Kramer,Robert Benton, 1979

52,Franois Ozon, 2004

The Squid and the Whale,Noah Baumbach, 2005

Antichrist,Lars von Trier, 2009

Certified Copy,Abbas Kiarostami, 2010

Tuesday, After Christmas,Radu Muntean, 2010

A Separation,Asghar Farhadi, 2011

45 Years,Andrew Haigh, 2015

Monday, July 13

Nostalgia for the Light

Master documentarian Patricio Guzmn travels ten thousand feet above sea level to the driest place on earth: Chiles Atacama Desert, where astronomers from all over the world gather to observe the stars in a sky so translucent that it allows them to see to the boundaries of the universe. The Atacama is also a place where the harsh heat of the sun keeps human remains intact, including those of political prisoners disappeared by the Chilean army after the 1973 military coup. Just as astronomers search for distant galaxies, surviving relatives of the disappeared search for the remains of their loved ones in a quest to reclaim their families histories. Melding the celestial and the earthly,Nostalgia for the Lightis a gorgeous, moving, and deeply personal odyssey into both Chilean history and the furthest reaches of space.

Tuesday, July 14

Short + Feature: Lost Pets

PickleandGates of Heaven

Featuring an introduction by Criterion Channel programmer Penelope Bartlett

Do all dogs go to heaven? Two documentary filmmakers explore mortality and mourning through the experiences of pet owners. InPickle,Amy Nicholson profiles a couple of extreme animal lovers, interviewing them about the menagerie theyve cared for and buried over the years, including paraplegic possums, emaciated cats, and morbidly obese chickens. Errol Morriss debut feature,Gates of Heaven,immerses viewers in the community surrounding two pet cemeteries in Napa Valley, California, blending sincerity and satire to spin its quirky subject into a surprisingly expansive study of human nature.

Wednesday, July 15

Directed by Miranda July

Featuring the 2019 documentaryMiranda July: Where It Began

The fearless, brilliantly idiosyncratic films of writer-director-actor and all-around polymath Miranda July combine arrestingly oddball whimsy with astute, emotionally penetrating observations on intimacy, sexuality, loneliness, and human connection. Beginning her career as a performance artist immersed in the riot grrrl scene of 1990s Portland, Oregon, July found her way to film with her pioneeringJoanie 4 Jackieproject, in which she curated and distributed feminist video chain letters of underground movies made by women across the country. With her acclaimed featuresMe and You and Everyone We KnowandThe Future,July established herself as one of American independent cinemas most distinctive voices, a bold, relentlessly imaginative artist who finds cosmic insight in the everyday.

Features

Me and You and Everyone We Know,Miranda July, 2005

The Future,Miranda July, 2011

Shorts

The Amateurist,Miranda July, 1998

Nest of Tens,Miranda July, 2000

Shorts fromJoanie 4 Jackie

Transeltown,Myra Paci, 1992

Dear Mom,Tammy Rae Carland, 1995

The Slow Escape,Sativa Peterson, 1998

Hawai,Ximena Cuevas, 1999

No Place Like Home #1 and #2,Karen Yasinsky, 1999

Gigi (from 9 to 5),Joanne Nucho, 2001

Ophelias Opera,Abiola Abrams, 2001

La Llorona,Stephanie Saint Sanchez, 2003

untitled video,Sujin Lee, 2002

Joanie 4 Jackie: A Quick Overview,Shauna McGarry, 2008

Thursday, July 16

Three Starring Jane Fonda

Few actors have dominated an erafor their work both on- and offscreenthe way Jane Fonda did in the 1960s and 70s, when she emerged as one of the most acclaimed performers of her generation as well as a zeitgeist-defining cultural icon for her fierce political activism. All made at the peak of her career, these three films showcase Fondas nuance, impeccable comic timing, and versatility: shes larger than life as an intergalactic bombshell in the cult sci-fi extravaganzaBarbarella;riotously funny as a bourgeois housewife who takes up armed robbery in the barbed slapstick satireFun with Dick and Jane;and at once prickly and disarming as a divorced woman fighting for custody of her daughter in the Neil Simonpenned ensemble farceCalifornia Suite.

Barbarella,Roger Vadim, 1968

Fun with Dick and Jane,Ted Kotcheff, 1977

California Suite,Herbert Ross, 1978

Friday, July 17

Double Feature: Girls and the Gang

Mona LisaandGloria

Featuring an audio commentary forMona Lisaby director Neil Jordan and actor Bob Hoskins

Two gritty 1980s crime classics distinguish themselves with ingredients all too rare for the genre: heart, humor, and strong female protagonists. Set in Londons sordid criminal underworld, Neil JordansMona Lisastars Cathy Tyson, Bob Hoskins, and Michael Caine in a surprisingly affecting, romantic neonoir about the complex relationship that develops between a glamorous call girl and a small-time mobster. Then, the great Gena Rowlands goes from gangsters girlfriend to gun-toting action hero in John Cassavetess offbeat, New York-set thrillerGloria,in which she acts as avenging angel for a young boy on the run from the mob.

Saturday, July 18

Saturday Matinee:Miss Annie Rooney

As Shirley Temple grew up before the eyes of America, this delightful comeback vehicle offered her a chance to shine in a new kind of film: a charming teenage romance, complete with jive-talking, jitterbug-mad bobby soxers. She displays her patented pluck (and receives her first on-screen kiss) as starry-eyed fourteen-year-old Annie Rooney, who pines for nerdy classmate Marty (Dickie Moore) even though his wealthy family looks down on her working-class background. When Annies father (William Gargan) invents a new form of synthetic rubber, however, it may just be her ticket to love.

Sunday, July 19

100 Years of Olympic Films: 19122012

Originally scheduled to begin this month, the Tokyo Olympic Games have been postponed, but you can still celebrate a century of Olympic glory with this monumental collection. Spanning fifty-three movies and forty-one editions of the Olympic Games,100 Years of Olympic Films: 19122012is the culmination of a massive, award-winning archival project encompassing dozens of restorations by the International Olympic Committee. The documentaries collected here cast a cinematic eye on some of the most iconic moments in the history of modern sports, spotlighting athletes who embody the Olympic motto of Faster, Higher, Stronger: Jesse Owens shattering world records on the track in 1936 Berlin, Jean-Claude Killy dominating the Grenoble slopes in 1968, Joan Benoit breaking away to win the Games first womens marathon in Los Angeles in 1984. In addition to the impressive ten-feature contribution of Bud Greenspan, this stirring collective chronicle of triumph and defeat includes such documentary landmarks as Leni RiefenstahlsOlympiaand Kon IchikawasTokyo Olympiad,along with captivating lesser-known works by major directors like Claude Lelouch, Carlos Saura, and Milo Forman. It also offers a fascinating glimpse of the development of film itself, and of the technological progress that has brought viewers ever closer to the action. Traversing continents and decades, reflecting the social, cultural, and political changes that have shaped our recent history, this remarkable movie marathon showcases a hundred years of human endeavor.

The Games of the V Olympiad Stockholm, 1912,Adrian Wood, 2016

The Olympic Games Held at Chamonix in 1924,Jean de Rovera, 1924

The Olympic Games as They Were Practiced in Ancient Greece,Jean de Rovera, 1924

The Olympic Games in Paris 1924,Jean de Rovera, 1924

The White Stadium,Arnold Fanck and Othmar Gurtner, 1928

The IX Olympiad in Amsterdam,dir. unknown, 1928

The Olympic Games, Amsterdam 1928,Wilhelm Prager, 1928

Youth of the World,Carl Junghans, 1936

Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations,Leni Riefenstahl, 1938

Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty,Leni Riefenstahl, 1938

Fight Without Hate,Andr Michel, 1948

XIVth Olympiad: The Glory of Sport,Castleton Knight, 1948

The VI Olympic Winter Games, Oslo 1952,Tancred Ibsen, 1952

Where the World Meets,Hannu Leminen, 1952

Gold and Glory,Hannu Leminen, 1953

Memories of the Olympic Summer of 1952,dir. unknown, 1954

White Vertigo,Giorgio Ferroni, 1956

Olympic Games, 1956,Peter Whitchurch, 1956

The Melbourne Rendez-vous,Ren Lucot, 1957

Alain Mimoun,Louis Gueguen, 1959

The Horse in Focus,dir. unknown, 1956

People, Hopes, Medals,Heribert Meisel, 1960

The Grand Olympics,Romolo Marcellini, 1961

IX Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1964,Theo Hrmann, 1964

Read more here:

Celebrate Past Olympics and More on The Criterion Channel in July - Cord Cutters News, LLC

DAYTON, Ohio Desiree Tims moved back home on a Tuesday. That Saturday, the Ku Klux Klan marched on Courthouse Square. Two days later, devastating tornadoes whipped through the area. A few months after that, a mass shooting in a popular nightlife district left nine dead.

During her decade away in Washington, DC, Tims completed a White House internship, worked for two prominent senators, and earned a Georgetown Law degree by taking night classes. If she left with one takeaway, it was that so few of those she observed in power and so few of her peers close to power had life experiences remotely comparable to hers.

Black. Born to a teenage mother. Raised by her grandparents in a neighborhood many political professionals obsessed with labels would simply identify as working-class if white people lived there. First in her family to attend a four-year college, but after easy As at public schools, a mental grind at a private university. The question she was always sure everyone was asking: Can this little Black girl from West Dayton do it?

Its a question that now underpins her campaign for Congress in Ohios 10th District. When Tims returned last year, her name on the deed of the brick ranch she grew up in, she hadnt planned to seek office so soon. But the tragedies that had visited Dayton accelerated the timeline. And this moment, 2020, groaning under the weight of crises that have magnified the injustices put upon people of color, has the makings of upheaval that could carry someone like Tims.

She won her primary in April with 70% of the vote, but without the national progressive energy or attention that recently lifted young Black congressional candidates such as Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones against white, establishment-aligned choices in New York. The victories encouraged Tims, who would be the districts first Black representative. As the country confronts the truth that for so long, so much has been decided by so few people who are too alike, she frames her run quite literally as a fight for representation.

I get very passionate about it, because it's very frustrating when you see that up close, the neglect that is consistent in the halls of Congress, Tims, 32, said in an interview at her childhood home. So instead of begging and advocating people to do the right thing, let's just replace them.

Unlike Bowman and Jones, who are running in safe Democratic districts, Tims is attempting to unseat Rep. Mike Turner, a nine-term Republican. Democrats have targeted him for years without success, but Turners margin of victory was cut by more than half between 2016 and 2018, from 31 points to 14. Black turnout in the district dropped from 73% to 59% between the two previous presidential elections and was 43% in 2018, according to data provided by Tims polling team. Her advisers see a path where the combination of a young Black candidate and a base motivated to defeat President Donald Trump who carried the district by 7 points last time turns out enough votes to win.

Tims announced her candidacy days after the shooting last August. Dayton hasnt had much of a rest since. The coronavirus pandemic has hit hard, with a recent spike in COVID-19 cases prompting the mayor, and days later the governor, to require masks in public places. The national outrage over systemic racism after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor also has been profound in a city where the 2019 KKK rally, which attracted only nine members, was an emotional and financial burden. Tims participated in the anti-racism protests here in May. And she views several disturbing incidents like the six bullets fired through the storefront of a local Democratic Party headquarters where a Tims sign and Black Lives Matter sign hung in the windows as a threat to her.

Sometimes when you're living in the whirlwind of history, you cant appreciate the fact that you're in it, said Bob Mendenhall, a Tims supporter and co-owner of Blind Bobs, a tavern in the neighborhood where last years shooting occurred. Like, the old world is dead, and the new world hasn't arrived yet. And we are in this transformational period. I try to find a silver lining. Maybe COVID-19 can make us all slow down for just a second, and reflect on what we want this country to be.

Tims has scored nice endorsements from the senators she worked for, Ohios Sherrod Brown and New Yorks Kirsten Gillibrand. And Gillibrand has joined forces with two other senators with national profiles, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, to raise money for her campaign. Tims, though, is largely unknown to voters here a point the National Republican Congressional Committee, in defense of Turner, stressed in an April memo. Before the primary, her name had never appeared on a ballot. She hadnt been preparing for this her entire life. Her middle school language arts teacher, now the head of a local teachers union and excited about her candidacy, recalled Tims as a bright and enthusiastic student, but never pictured her as a politician. Nan Whaley, Daytons mayor and one of the savviest Democratic activists in the state, has known Tims for barely a year. To her supporters, this only reinforces that Tims has the fresh eyes the district needs.

Symbols and substance rarely have an opportunity to be handmaids for each other, said Rev. Peter Matthews, Tims pastor at the McKinley United Methodist Church. The fact that she would bring a Georgetown Law degree back to West Dayton and offer herself for service, thats a pretty big deal. For other young kids, not just African American, but kids of all stripes in a city desperate for hope, shes putting herself out there front and center.

Tims walks through a neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio.

Tims grandfather Papaw, she called him loved watching Wheel of Fortune. He would try to play along, but guessing the words was especially tough for him. He hadnt made it past the first grade in Opelika, Alabama. There were fields to work, a family depending on any ounce of income he could contribute. Eventually hed be part of the Great Migration from the Deep South to the Midwest, from sharecropper to steelworker, settling first in Middletown, Ohio.

I always remember him sitting at the table, spelling the words out, Tims said. He was always still learning the language of English. All of the time he was like, What is this word? How do you spell this word? And, you know, Im doing something else, and Im like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, add an E. I didnt appreciate it at the time, but not everyone was sitting with their grandparents or their parents, teaching them English, and how to spell, and how to say things.

Tims mother and father were 18 and 20 when she was born and divorced not long after that. She grew up in the tiny ranch, with her mom and her maternal grandparents Papaw and Grandma and for a while her great-grandparents. My grandmother was the matriarch, and her word meant a little more, Tims recalled. There were few kids her age on the block. She would cut through the backyards of the cul-de-sac to go play with friends at the Y or walk to visit her dad, who lived nearby with his parents.

They were a family of workers. Tims mom went back to school to be a nurse. Papaw worked at a steel mill in Middletown for years, commuting a half-hour each way after moving to West Dayton. When they talk about the Midwest and Middle America, they show this white guy with Popeye arms, like toot toot, like coal mines and steel mills, Tims said. And Im like, yeah, there are Black people in the steel mills. There are Black people who are coal miners.

Middletown, coincidentally, is the hometown of J.D. Vance, whose 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy tapped into a white working-class zeitgeist that surrounded Trumps election. The book became highly politicized Vance used it to promote a conservative point of view. But Tims sees him as somewhat of a kindred spirit. Until the end of it, she said, that book is amazing. I thought he nailed it. She recalled the part where, while studying at Yale, Vance panicked over which fork to use at a fancy dinner. I was like, I feel seen.

Politics was always in the background. Grandma paid close attention. And Tims recalled accompanying family to civil rights marches, but not quite processing the experience. I was like, Oh, were going to a festival or a parade. I didnt get it.

Tims excelled at Paul Laurence Dunbar High, named for the Black poet and playwright from Dayton. For college she chose Xavier, a Jesuit school in Cincinnati close enough to family, but far enough to have her own life. She was soon in another world. I got a D, she said with a gasp. When she asked classmates who were coasting how they got by, she learned how their time at private or wealthier public schools prepared them, or how a paper they wrote in 10th grade could be recycled for college.

I was pissed because I felt like I got cheated, she said. I missed a lot of parties in college because I was in the library. And a lot of times it was the dictionary to the left of me, an actual reading assignment to the right.

The lesson was not lost on her. She would think of Papaw playing Wheel of Fortune with his pencil, writing down the words he didnt know.

How, she would wonder, can I drive back up I-75 to Dayton and say its too hard?

Tims at the Truman Bowling Alley in the White House.

Tims graduated from Xavier in 2010 and into the aftermath of the Great Recession, a period of slow recovery that was particularly hard on millennials like her.

Im seeing people who graduated in 2009 working at the mall, Tims said. That wasnt the deal. I could have worked at the mall in high school, which I did. The deal was that I get a good-paying job after traumatizing myself through nights and nights of library studying.

She thought she had that job, or that she was at least on the path to it, as a credit manager for Wells Fargo near Cincinnati. But the company was restructuring after its 2008 acquisition of Wachovia and laid off Tims after only a few months. She had just bought a new car, just signed a new lease. Talk about a quarter-life crisis, she said.

Tims with her grandfather at her graduation from Xavier.

Tims spent her nights browsing CareerBuilder. Her grandmother spent hers watching MSNBC, tuned into the young presidency of Barack Obama, and picturing her granddaughter as part of it. Tims had knocked on doors for Obama in 2008, but the family had no Washington connections to work, no favors to call in. Grandma, though, insisted she try for a White House job. I was like, You need to clasp your pretty little hands together and get on your knees and pray for Procter & Gamble or General Electric, Tims recalled. She just kept nagging me about it.

It wasnt until months later, after Wells Fargo had rehired and relocated her to Virginia, that the White House called Tims to follow up on the internship application she had completed in five minutes and long forgotten. She was so sure a friend was playing a joke that she hung up the first time. But the timing was convenient. She was miserable in her new job as a personal banker. She had accepted the posting because she figured shed at least be closer to Virginia Beach, a favorite vacation spot. In reality she was more than 200 miles away in McLean, an affluent DC suburb.

Things in Washington were like that for Tims. Her surroundings could be disorienting, if not intimidating. On the first day of her White House internship, she had no idea she was sitting next to Valerie Jarrett, the Obama confidant, until starstruck colleagues made a fuss. Her work included a rotation through the Office of Presidential Correspondence, where she read all of Obamas hate mail, and through the Office of Public Engagement, which Jarrett ran.

I was never much enamored by people like Valerie Jarrett, Tims said. I was inspired by them but it wasnt like ooh and aah, because I was on a mission to get the information, to bring it back home.

Tims had opportunities to stay at the White House after the internship ended but wanted to learn more about policy and legislation. She said she submitted her rsum to Browns Senate office at least five times before being hired to work on civil rights, judicial, and education issues. She later moved on to Gillibrands staff, where she specialized in agriculture and womens issues. Eventually she was elected president of the Senate Black Legislative Staff Caucus, but she could not shake the same feelings she had at Xavier: that her life experiences, not just her skin color, placed her squarely in the minority.

What I found was most of those people are from privileged backgrounds, regardless of race or sexual orientation, Tims said. How are you relating to someone who said they cant afford groceries on Friday? They dont understand what its like to ration out gas, because you cant take all of your trips, because you need to make sure this full tank lasts two weeks.

Tims point of view was beginning to align with her own political ambitions, but first she wanted to get away from Capitol Hill. She took a job at a childcare advocacy group while studying law at Georgetown and thinking of all the ways she would use what she learned in Washington to help Dayton.

Its a challenge, because she didnt come to it the way some do, Brown said in a telephone interview. But itll make her a better public official, because shes seen it from the outside [and the] inside that way.

Tims in the Oregon District in Dayton, Ohio, one block from the mass shooting site.

The Oregon District, one of Daytons oldest neighborhoods, is a particular point of pride in the city. The brick-covered East Fifth Street features buildings dating to the 1800s and a lineup of establishments known for solid pub food, craft beer, and live music.

Early the morning of Aug. 4, 2019, a 24-year-old man opened fire outside Ned Peppers, a western-themed bar, killing nine and wounding more than a dozen. The people of Dayton barely had time to process this another tragedy after the Memorial Day tornadoes that damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings in the region and plunged Daytons drinking water system into chaos when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who as the states attorney general had courted the gun lobby, visited that evening.

Do something! Mendenhall, the proprietor of Blind Bobs, cried out as DeWine spoke, starting a chant that became a demand for tougher gun safety measures.

It also fit into the broader theme of Tims soon-to-launch congressional campaign.

Turner, the Republican incumbent, has won high National Rifle Association ratings, thanks to his staunch opposition to gun control. His views, though, began to shift after his daughter and a family friend found themselves across the street from Peppers when the shooting began. A few days later, Turner announced his support for several measures, including magazine limits and a red flag law. But suddenly Tims case against him had a fresh angle: He had come late to something that was good for Dayton. Its not an easy district, Brown said, but theyve had so much pain in the last two years.

The Ohio 10th includes all of Dayton and surrounding suburban and rural areas. (Comedian Dave Chappelle lives in the bucolic village of Yellow Springs.) Whaley, the mayor, sees the race as tough but winnable. I think she'll need tremendous turnout out of Dayton, particularly West Dayton and Trotwood and Jefferson Township, she said. This could be an interesting year for this district.

Turner, 60, has waffled a bit in the Trump era. Unlike other Republicans, he labeled the presidents Twitter attack last summer against four Democratic women of color in Congress as racist, but then toed the party line by voting against a House resolution to condemn it as such. He called Trumps telephone call asking Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, alarming. Then, at a hearing during the impeachment inquiry, Turner defended Trump, earning the highest political currency the president can offer: an approving tweet. Turner did not respond to requests through a spokesperson to comment for this story.

The Ohio Democratic Party and other allies, such as the abortion rights group Emilys List, are helping Tims litigate Turners voting record and paint him as too close to Trump. Unlike other young progressives whove risen in politics in recent years, Tims candidacy is not defined so much by one or two policy demands. Her primary opponent, a young scientist from the suburbs, aligned himself with Bernie Sanders by promoting ideas like Medicare for All. Tims advocates for a public option and expansion of Obamacare. She briefly worked for the League of Conservation Voters, which has endorsed her, but the words Green New Deal dont appear in the two sentences she dedicates to the environment on her website. She speaks more passionately about local concerns, such as the food deserts in Dayton neighborhoods. If youre searching for comparisons among her would-be generational peers in Congress, shes neither Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New Yorker who has embraced Sanders democratic socialist agenda, nor is she Abby Finkenauer, the Iowan who practices a Midwest pragmatism.

Tims campaign is more centered around education and other institutional failures and grounded in her perspective that the system presents a cycle of barriers to all but a privileged few. I often feel like I got lucky, and I dont think you should be lucky to get into a White House internship, to work on Capitol Hill, she said. I certainly worked hard, but I see so many people I went to school with at Dunbar who are also hard workers, and they didnt get those same breaks.

The message transcends race, but she understands her race is relevant sometimes unpleasantly so to the conversations happening right now.

After attending a Democratic presidential debate near Columbus last fall, Tims and a Black aide were stopped by suburban police while trying to find late-night food. The officers said the car, driven by the aide, was suspicious because it had pulled away from a business that had been closed for hours. They ran the plates and found that the owner had an expired drivers license. Tims, the passenger, interrupted several times as one officer questioned the aide and another approached her side with a flashlight, according to dashcam video and audio obtained by the Dayton Daily News. The encounter never escalated beyond Tims asking for the first officers badge number. In a tweet she sent while they were pulled over and later deleted, Tims asserted she was being harassed for being a brown woman who knows her rights.

At home last month, Tims said she still believes she and her aide were racially profiled, but that after seeing the video she drove the hour to Genoa Township to meet with the police chief and express regret for how she handled the situation. I was like, look, obviously theres bias on both sides, she said. We were looking for directions, Im super hungry, it was a very long day, and I apologize for my perception of what I thought was bias.

Chief Stephen Gammill stood by the officers in a telephone interview this month, saying he didnt believe they could have known the drivers race before approaching the car. He added that he appreciated Tims visit.

Im chalking it up, Gammill said, to a long night at the debate and maybe other experiences shes had in her life.

Tims speaking with Bob Mendenhall of Blind Bob's in the Oregon District in Dayton, Ohio.

And that, really, is the point of the campaign. The experiences of Desiree Tims this little Black girl from West Dayton, as she internalized it for all those years form the core of every argument she makes to be the next representative for West Dayton.

Putting herself out there carries a cost. Her campaign manager says they have taken appropriate steps to document threats with law enforcement. Tims sees and hears more nasty and racist vitriol than ever on social media and in her community. The burden of speaking out fell on her when a local state senator asked if COVID-19 rates are higher among Black people because the colored population does not wash their hands as well as other groups. As a child, marches were fun, a chance to follow. As a Black candidate, protests over systemic racism and police brutality bring an expectation to lead.

Tims worries that a Facebook post advertising her plans to participate in a May 30 protest in downtown Dayton made her a target. As she drove to the protest that morning, she noticed her car, which had been parked in her driveway, had a tire losing air. The problem? Several screws had spiraled their way in. Thats what stuck with me its not a nail, she said. When she left the protest that afternoon, she received the call that the Greene County Democratic Party headquarters in nearby Xenia, where signs for Tims campaign and Black Lives Matter are prominently displayed, had been shot up overnight.

A month earlier someone had chucked a piece of concrete through the storefront window. There have been no arrests, and the cases are closed. An official with the Xenia Police said there was no overt indication of a racial motive or hate crime. Doris Adams, the party chair, believes otherwise, recalling arguments shes had at parades with those who criticized the partys support for the Black Lives Matter movement. They didnt leave a calling card saying it was that, she said. But that was the window they hit. Both times.

Rev. Matthews, Tims pastor, drove her to survey the damage from the bullets after she realized the screws had ruined her tire. Obviously I was full of dismay, but I had to remind her that heroes live with courage out loud, he said. I think these instances have reminded her that shes doing the right thing.

They have. So, too, have the instances that reward Tims hope that voters, not just in the Ohio 10th but around the country, are ready for new representation, whether thats Jamaal Bowman or Mondaire Jones in New York, or Cameron Webb in Virginias 5th District. Webb, who won a four-person primary last month, would be the first Black doctor to be a voting member of Congress. Like Tims, he is trying to pull off an upset in a Republican-leaning district that Democrats see as competitive.

Its certainly inspiring to see people in my generation, millennials to see Black people, to see gay people, to see people whose great-great-grandfather wasnt a state senator go run for Congress and win, Tims said.

Tims points to her large margin of victory in the primary, a contest where she was able to win white, Black, and Latino votes across the districts urban, suburban, and rural areas.

The common denominator is we all want opportunity, she said. We all want access to the American dream. And that is the best language that I can speak: opportunity. So people definitely are taking a look Can this little Black girl from West Dayton do it? And the answer is, I've already done it.

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Her Case To Be In Congress Is Unique. Shes Running Because She Doesn't Think It Should Be. - BuzzFeed News

(This is the latest installment in our Long Read series. For previous entries, please visit the Long Reads archive.)

Yesterday morning, Harpers Magazine published a letter written and signed by 50 public figures including J.K. Rowling, Malcolm Gladwell, Gloria Steinem, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, and so many more. The letter condemns the concept of public shaming for weaken[ing] our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity. Although never explicitly mentioned, it can basically be read as a condemnation of cancel culture in the wake of protests and calls for reform.

Rowling, youll remember, faced backlash for both posting and defending her transphobic tweets and views. In 2016, Margaret Atwood was criticized for her support of a letter that demanded that the University of British Columbia provide reasons for firing one of its instructors after an accusation of sexual assault. Ironically, Atwood was trending this week for seemingly calling out transphobes by sharing an article about the spectrum of biological sex.

Obviously, the letter was supported by many people. But there were many others who called out its misguided direction and oversimplification. The one line that sticks out to me is, the way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away. Thats definitely why the world erupted in protests, right? Because the exposure, argument, and persuasion that Black lives do indeed matter was going over so well with everyone?

Like many people who decry the disintegration of free speech, it completely ignores the socio-political contexts in which these conversations take place.

The argument also grossly overstates the impact something like cancel culture has on someones right to free speech. Everyone is free to share their opinion. It doesnt mean that people have to like it, support it, or even engage with it. No one has taken away J.K. Rowlings platform. Some of us have just agreed that what she says is sh-t.

This letter is part of a much larger idea that has been floating around in my head for a while, but especially in the past few weeks. In the wake of the protests, many people have been cancelled and have had to own up to their anti-Black racist actions, especially those in the past. Last week I wrote about Shane Dawson, and two days ago Cody wrote about Terry Crews unnecessary defense against the myth of Black supremacy. Even in the past few months, people like Ellen, Doja Cat, Camila Cabello, and Lea Michele have all been cancelled.

But what does it mean to be cancelled? I dont think most people have a clear definition. For some, its a boycott - of their music, their movies, and their work. For others, its a hashtag. I see a #SoAndSoisOverParty trending every week. In its simplest form, cancel culture is public humiliation. For people who rely almost entirely on the support of the public, the idea is that being cancelled can result in an experience that hopefully leads to atonement and correction for the injustice for which the person was cancelled. Its a reckoning for people who arent normally held accountable for a lot of the things they do.

What Im interested in exploring is what happens after someone is cancelled. Can they come back? Should they even be allowed to? When I originally conceived of this piece, I wanted to do a deep dive of cancel culture. It was going to be about whether or not we should cancel people and what the main arguments of both of those sides were. But weve already had those conversations.

Vox wrote an incredible dissection of the issue, including tracing it back to its roots in the Black Civil Rights movement. According to Vox, cancel culture was the modern version of the boycott and bubbled up into the mainstream through Black Twitter. Time Magazines Sarah Hagi wrote about the power that cancelling has to give voice and power to people who historically havent had it. Even The New York Times has weighed in, writing a sort of Cancellation 101.

I highly recommend reading all of the above. Each piece encourages a nuanced conversation about a subject that can be so incredibly polarizing and emotional. Those who are against it point to its ability to shut down discussion and its oversimplification of often complicated circumstances. Those for it see it as a tool for the masses to hold those in power accountable in the only way they can. And after going back and forth for half a decade, you would think that we would have come to some sort of conclusion.

Yet here we are in July 2020 talking about cancel culture. And it has somehow become even more polarizing. So rather than examining cancel culture, I want to reframe it through the lens of celebrity gossip, because thats what we do here at LaineyGossip.

In todays world, cancel culture has now become part of the celebrity ecosystem. As long as social media exists, and as long as we continue to pay attention to what celebrities do, there will be cancel culture. That last point is important too. Cancelling someone by very definition means that at some point they were scheduled. The power and privilege that celebrities have comes directly from the people who support and love them.

At its core, this celebrity-fan relationship is built on trust. We trust that they will entertain us, maybe even that they will represent us, and that their lives are something that we can learn from. This is particularly evident whenever someone gets cancelled because youll see immediate tweets all like, [this celebrity] is cancelled, but thank god [other celebrity] is unproblematic. The idea of the unproblematic fave or the only white man I trust belies that we have a deep belief that the people (or at least the image we have of them) we prop up onto these public platforms will use them responsibly.

When someone breaks that trust, people feel betrayed and disappointed. And once that trust is gone, the whole relationship disintegrates, which is why theyre cancelled. Which means that even if someone maintains commercial success or retains their platform, their social capital and impact are lessened. Its why even years after someone is cancelled, it continues to come up.

Weve already established that cancelling has little impact on someones career, especially the more powerful they are. I mean, Prince Andrew is literally in a picture with a woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was a minor, and he still gets to decide whether or not to golf in Spain this year. Very often, audiences dont have the same power to administer real consequences. But as the NYT article explains, cancelling is ultimately an expression of agency.

This idea of trust might also explain why cancelling has grown in the zeitgeist. Have you ever been in a relationship where a lack of trust f-cks up other relationships? Over time, weve become more suspicious of celebrities, expecting a downfall to be right around the corner or carefully examining their apology to see whether theyre actually sorry or they want to save face.

So back to my original question. Looking at it from this angle, how does one return from being cancelled? Well, just like when someone breaks our trust in real life, it depends. Theres the severity of the breach, the frequency with which it happened, how long ago it happened, and whether or not someone has grown since. Ultimately, people have to work hard to gain back a persons trust and they have to prove time and again that they changed.

Even still, the unique part about looking at this issue from a trust standpoint is that it acknowledges that there will always a small amount of mistrust. I want to use a Lady Gaga and Beyonc quote from "Telephone" as an example because it perfectly encapsulates what Im trying to say. Also Im gay.

You know Gaga, trust is like a mirror. You can fix it if its broke

...but you can still see the crack in that motherf-cking reflection.

Its that crack in the mirror that outraged people when Kevin Hart explained that he was tired of having to apologize. There was more to the story, but at its core, people were mad that he confirmed what we were thinking: he wasnt ever sorry in the first place.

Therein lies the key to who should and shouldnt come back from being cancelled. Its the desire to grow, change, and to do better. Its the vulnerability of admitting when youre wrong and trying to learn from it. Its being open to criticism and taking responsibility for the hurt that youve caused.

Because cancel culture isnt about preventing people from making mistakes. Thats frequently an argument used against it, but its ill-informed. Cancelling really is about getting celebrities to see the consequences of their mistakes, an important part of the learning process. If you never see any backlash for your actions, how are you going to know if theyre bad?

When it comes to celebrities and famous people, its hard to know whats going on in the background. Which means that while I want to believe that everyone who apologizes truly means it, we know from experience that that isnt true. How can we tell if someone has actually grown and put in the work? Its hard. Years and years of a lack of accountability have made famous people feel entitled to their fame and fortune. Its made men like R Kelly and Harvey Weinstein feel as though theyre above the law.

I think thats maybe why the bar is set so high for people. If the public is going to be convinced that youve changed, theyre going to need a lot of proof. And by now, celebrities know that. Remember when they taught us in school that everything you put on the internet is forever? I feel like people never truly understand how important that piece of advice is. Todays celebrities should know that cancel culture is an occupational hazard. That having to answer for your present and past behaviour is on the job description of being really famous.

Are there cases where it goes too far? Of course. But completely writing off cancel culture as a threat to free speech does a great disservice to the conversations it forces us to have. Ironically, the letter that J.K Rowling and so many others signed ignores all that nuance. By lamenting the oversimplification and emotional reaction intrinsic in cancel culture, theyve oversimplified and emotionally reacted to it themselves!

Perhaps we need to shift the way we view what cancelling looks like. At the centre of this issue is a discussion about the kinds of people we choose to put our trust in, and whether they continue to deserve that trust. The past few weeks have been the Facebook Friend Purge where we really consider whether those with fame are responsible enough to have it. And in doing so, theres an important conversation about how those people have looked and acted a certain way for most of history.

I think the fact that we even have the ability to do this and to hold people accountable is incredible. Its like a class action lawsuit. Theres power in numbers. Cancel culture took away Roseannes show. It brought to light the atrocities of Harvey Weinstein. Even yesterday, it made Halle Berry reverse her decision to play a trans character in a movie (and if you dont understand why thats important, watch Disclosure ).

It is not true that cancelling is always final. While its possible to recover, the work involved emphasizes how fragile but important that trust is. Even with its flaws, if cancel culture makes someone think twice before hitting that tweet button, maybe thats not such a bad thing?

Excerpt from:

Reframing cancel culture through the lens of celebrity gossip - LaineyGossip

Cannabis is a term; cannabis is a plant, said Jeff Gray in an early morning conversation with The PotNetwork. Gray is the CEO of SC Labs, which stands for Science of Cannabis, and is one of the few African American executives in an industry thats fallen way too short on its promises of social equity. From a scientific perspective, it is truly an amazing plant in terms of what it produces and the amounts of these compounds that it produces."

What it's been used for by the people who have the power in order to control has changed, he continued.

Today, some of the people who make money in the legal cannabis trade are the same forces that made marijuana central to the drug war so many years ago, he said. To Gray, that idea is critical toward understanding the industrys current climate. And its an issue with historical blame on both sides of the political aisle.

The prominence of cannabis even in the anti-war movement, in communities of color as a tool to put people to incarcerate people, that was the way that they were probably going to make the most money at that time, said Gray, discussing the corporate landscape of the past 50 years.

And now, theres a different opportunity to make money, he continued, remarking upon the corporate infiltration of legal cannabis. So, let's change it up.

Gray was born in Gardena and grew up in California, where the atmosphere around cannabis was always progressive. Hes a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, whose first job out of college was at a government social service agency. Like many, his foray into cannabis began with a general fascination with the plant.

I cultivated a couple of things but never had a specific end in mind, he said, recalling his early days in what was yet to be an industry.

A smoker for sure at the time though not as much now since hes become a father Grays initial interests in cannabis lie more in the drugs greater possibilities. As he told The PotNetwork, there is a robust cannabis movement rooted in activism, safe access, and patients. According to Gray, having more control over treating oneself for certain things than with conventional medicine is a powerful form of self-autonomy.

And cannabis spoke to his independent, entrepreneurial spirit as well.

The marriage of the ideal with the entrepreneurial is what brought Gray, along with three partners, to found SC Labs. Labeling themselves as four activist-entrepreneurs, they sought to give consumers a way to trust the brands they were being sold by bringing cannabis out of the Wild West and developing the industrys first testing standards. Together they succeeded, with the guidelines they devised having been adopted into extensive use across the cannabis space.

Gray is modest when it comes to his accomplishments; however, crediting his partners as the backbone of SC Labs. I am not the I'm not the visionary behind this, he said. One of my partners was the first lab director at the first cannabis testing lab of its kind.

The lot of them convinced him that together, they could make a difference. I learned more than I had about areas that I hadn't even considered in 10 years that I've been participating in cannabis prior to that, said Gray, praising his partners and the work they do at SC Labs.

Jeff Gray is proud of the work he does at SC Labs and is invested in his role in the cannabis industry at large. But as one of the few Black men to break through the barriers of minority ownership in the legalized cannabis trade, he carries the burdens of racial disparity to often overlooked in everyday conversations about seed-to-sale, marijuana banking, and the like. As Gray explained to The PotNetwork, the political moment may finally have arrived at more in-depth discussions on race in America, but hes been a Black man all of his life.

I was reading James Baldwin, who said to be conscious and Black in America is to be in a rage every day, said Gray, speaking straightforward. My experience as a Black man in this country hasn't changed since these recent events.

Those events, of course, are the brutal police murders of Black men and women like Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, and the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that followed across the country. As Gray explained, watching the video of George Floyds murder was so visceral it was akin to a snuff film. If you're not upset, if that doesn't hurt you, if you don't empathize somewhere something's wrong, he said.

As down-to-his-bones angry as Gray is at this moment, however, he hopes it can be an opportunity for change the kind of change that goes beyond surface-level distraction and reaches a meaningful discourse within the zeitgeist. He sees the work of younger people who are taking to the streets and prays that the moment isnt missed.

Feeling a responsibility to speak, Gray recently took to Instagram, joining in what he hopes will be a larger conversation about race, equality, and cannabis. It feels like the appetite for the destruction of Black bodies is insatiable, he told his followers before speaking some necessary truths to the legal marijuana trade.

(Story continues below...)

With money comes the exclusion of people of all backgrounds who helped build this, he continued, calling cannabis [a]n industry devoid of people of color in positions of power. They were harsh words for a community that built itself on whats transformed into a facade of social justice and racial equity. Still, the statistics dont lie.

African Americans have been shut out of the cannabis industry. According to a report by NBC News earlier this year, less than one-fifth of owners or stakeholders are people of color. In the United States, Black-owned cannabis dispensaries make up less than one percent of the entire industry. Minorities are underrepresented in boardrooms across the globe as well.

Yet, Black communities continue to be persecuted for cannabis use. As the ACLU has pointed out, Black Americans are four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis than their white counterparts, even though both groups use the drug at similar rates. Even in states that have legalized the plant, African Americans still face over-policing for public nuisance crimes concerning cannabis at a rate higher than whites.

If you don't have capital, you don't have access getting into cannabis, said Gray, speaking from his own California-centric experience. He explained that as much as the situation has improved for example, he noted the lack of police helicopters searching for heat signatures to make large drug busts is a net positive its only improved for certain classes of people. Cannabis shifted from an all-inclusive economy to the same, uniform dynamics of every other capitalistic industry.

It all gets consolidated among the few, and the many get left out, he said.

But efforts at inclusiveness that look to uplift the Black community within legal cannabis mostly miss the point, according to Gray. Governments, activists, and industrialists who push for equal treatment now, as sincere as they may be, still ignore 400 years of racial disparity.

Economic equality is also critically important in the industry because without it getting into this industry is like starting a Monopoly game and somebody already owns half the property the disadvantage is on you, he said. We could be at such a disadvantage competitively for so long and then for everybody just to go okay, so we're good, even if we got to the point that we have equal treatment. We can't just start from there.

As Gray said in his Instagram video, however, diversity is marketed as a brand, especially in the cannabis industry. At the height of protesting in June, a group of African American women from Cannaclusive put out The Accountability List. It tracked every major cannabis brands response to the Black Lives Matter movement. While its perhaps difficult to gauge sincerity from a single Twitter post or Facebook feed, the women insisted that the industry put its money where its mouth is.

Cannaclusive followed up with each brand to see who was donating to the cause, and how many Black employees and Black executives they had in their ranks, among other markers. Too many brands were content with posting a blank square on social media and calling it social justice.

Gray doesnt want to judge sincerity either necessarily but is also too invested in the gravity of this moment to let surface gestures rule the day. He sees that for many in the industry, what theyve done is a marketing play; their efforts will be short-lived.

It's such a sad thing that it's going to take this moment and make it that it doesn't achieve its potential, he lamented.

Unlike others, though, he is doing something about it and has been for a while now. He and his team and SC Labs work with SACNAS or the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, and UC Santa Cruz to recruit minority students in STEM majors into the cannabis industry. At SC Labs, these students gain valuable scientific and technological experience in the cannabis industry.

Its essential work to Gray, who noted the difficulty in finding talented scientists to work in the cannabis field. According to him, many people would shun the work for fear of what it would mean for their future career prospects, with those who took internships going as far as leaving it off their resumes.

There's the development of the talent on your team and the openness and commitment to elevating those people when giving them those opportunities, said Gray. We grow their careers. That's always a treat.

In the end, Gray stressed that he doesnt want to lose this moment for what it is, an opportunity.

We don't know the experiences we don't have, and that's okay, said Gray. Policing, the arrest rate, pre-trial cash bail for Black people stopped by police that affects the poor and people of color disproportionately. This system is largely oppressive for poor people, as well as sentencing disparities, the rates of parole. Then you have to put all this post-prison, securing employment, accessing the social safety net. I mean the right to vote. Weve taken away the right to vote for people.

All those things are part of that system, he continued. And where we sit in cannabis, we have this sort of extra responsibility.

Images: SC Labs lab employees (Courtesy SC Labs)

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Race, diversity, and Black ownership in the cannabis industry: A conversation with SC Labs CEO Jeff Gray - PotNetwork

Gugu Mbatha-Raw knew her role on The Morning Show would be a challenge. As Hannah Shoenfeld, the talent booker who survives a sexual assault, she provided a crucial turning point in the Apple TV+ series that centers on the sexual misconduct that plagued a news organization. It was her story, and ultimately, her tragic fate, that put a spotlight on unchecked abuses of power. Mbatha-Raw tapped into a gamut of emotions to showcase a trauma that so many women are only too familiar with, and hopes that Hannahs tragic ending can serve as a cautionary tale, showing the value in not staying silent.

DEADLINE: First off, I have to ask, how are you doing? The world is super unsettling right now. How are you holding on?

Related StoryGugu Mbatha-Raw On Her Harrowing Sexual Assault Scenes In 'The Morning Show' & More - The Actor's Side

GUGU MBATHA-RAW: Im doing well today. There are ups and downs. Its sort of a day-by-day, week-by-week process. But today Im doing well. I think it has been an incredible time and Im inspired. Im inspired to think that even though were going through so many challenges that hopefully positive things are going to come from everything.

DEADLINE: Your character Hannah was an impetus for change, which fits very well with the times were in. It seems like something has to happen, like what happened with George Floyd, for people to actually take notice and see what people have been experiencing for years.

MBATHA-RAW: I know. Its very sad that there was a sacrifice in that way that it becomes a catalyst. Certainly, in terms of The Morning Show, not to say it had to be that way, but I think sometimes when youre dealing with institutions, and youre dealing with cultures that are very slow-moving and set in their ways that unfortunately, like you say, sometimes there has to be something so jolting and so shocking and so sad that it awakens people. Both in the culture that were in now, but certainly in terms of the show, what happens in Episode 10 of The Morning Show is an awakening. Hopefully, the emotional trigger of that moment will sustain the evolution of the culture.

DEADLINE: Youre very vocal about Black Lives Matter and whats going on with racial injustices, with police brutality.

MBATHA-RAW: I think its a fascinating moment in history were in on many, many levels. Its really a seismic shift and a catalyst and an awakening culturally. Ive always believed that Black lives matter, thats not something new to me, but I think what is fascinating is when the culture also simultaneously awakens, and there is a sense of momentum and I think that thats when real change can actually happen.

Beyond anything that feels like activism on the fringe, this is activism in the front and center of our culture, and its an international conversation that is happening now. So that, to me, as much as its like giving birth, theres so much pain that needs to happen, but then for a new system and hopefully a more equal way of living. There has to be a reckoning and there has to be discomfort. I think its part of the process.

DEADLINE: Hannahs journey is just so vital to exposing abuses of power in The Morning Show. What were your initial thoughts when you first read the script?

MBATHA-RAW: I read the first couple of scripts, and because not everything was written, I couldnt tell from them exactly where Hannah was going to go in the story. I knew it was being cast by Vickie Thomas who is an incredible casting director, and who Ive met for many things over the years, and I know she always does great, interesting work. Through her, I got on the phone with [executive producers] Kerry Ehrin and Mimi Leder, and they explained the arc of Hannahs journey which I just thought was so powerful. So, it was really in them explaining where she goes. I was really inspired by the fact that, as well as having this traumatic experience with the Mitch character, she also confronts him. I think it revealed the complexities of how different people bury those kinds of experiences. In terms of relating to her, the writing was so great in terms of the world and the characters being very ambitious and driven. I definitely could identify with Hannahs in the world of entertainment that Ive met, in terms of that career drive, and so that was interesting, at least on the surface, but I was definitely more drawn to her secrets.

DEADLINE: What else drew you to the show as a whole?

MBATHA-RAW: Obviously, the cast. Knowing that this is Jennifer Anistons first return to TV since Friends, I knew it was going to be a big deal. Id worked with Reese Witherspoon very briefly on A Wrinkle in Time, and really respected the way she has been championing female voices in her storytelling and her production company. Steve Carell obviously is such an amazing actor with such a range. I was intrigued by Apple TV+ because it didnt exist really at the point that I got the scripts and knowing that it was going to be a new streaming platform, I thought it was a fascinating and interesting experience to be part of something brand new like that.

It was the first time post-#MeToo that Id read anything that addressed the power dynamics in the media landscape so directly, but also in a nuanced way. I thought the conversations were going to be interesting and provocative, and hopefully potentially healing if we got it right, in terms of showing all the different perspectives and looking at the gray area of these issues. Because I think it can be very easy to simplify them when things become a hashtag, and things become just very much part of the zeitgeist. I think its always important to remember the human cost and look at those issues more intimately. So, I was excited by that challenge.

DEADLINE: This show came at a time when a similar scandal rocked a very popular morning show, The Today Show. I know this show was written before all of that came to light but how mindful of that did you have to be when you were approaching this character?

MBATHA-RAW: Obviously, we always knew we were dealing with a fictional drama. Kerry Ehrin, the showrunner and lead writer, had done so much research with the writing team. I think it was a testament to the research and how eerily accurate some of the scenarios were. But it was never based on anybody specific in that way. I think that they wanted it to be relevant but also universal in a way that women could relate to it, and men hopefully can relate to it, or at least see a new light shared on experiences that maybe theyd overlooked.

Its always exciting to work on something that you feel is topical, because as painful as some of these issues are, I think that they do need to be processed. And I think when youre watching something that is a drama that is outside of yourself, that is fictionalized somehow on your TV screen or your phone or however youre consuming it, its a safe place. Youre watching it even though some of the scenes are close to the bone and potentially triggering for people whove had those experiences. I think to know that its a drama, to know its outside of you, that it will have some kind of resolution outside of yourself, is helpful for the culture, I hope.

DEADLINE: There was a healing quality to the story. Not just the Hannah story but with all the stories of the other womenof Bradley, of Alex.

MBATHA-RAW: To see so many defined female characters in one show, not just archetypes, theyre nuanced and complex and there are so many of them. Not just Hannah, obviously Reeses and Jennifer Anistons characters, Karen Pittman, Bel Powley, theres such a spread of different perspectives on that world and I just really appreciated the nuances of the ensemble.

DEADLINE: Your character was very good at what she did. She was a hustler, and she had the added weight of what happened to her, and the circumstances surrounding her promotion. Was that challenging for you to balance all those elements?

MBATHA-RAW: I love a challenge and I definitely felt that there was a lot going on for Hannah. But I think that thats very real, and that people dont always wear their heart on their sleeve in terms of their past and their trauma. I think people do want to move on, even if they havent processed things, and the idea of being a survivor of a situation like this, at least for Hannah, she didnt want it to define her. She wanted it to be something that she could forget about and move on from. Obviously, as we see, she hadnt fully dealt with it. But its very human to put out that tougher facade. The defense mechanism, the workaholic energy, all of that, is a way often to numb actually having to just be still and deal with your stuff. That is very familiar for people in the entertainment industry, in news, and somewhere in the morning show world which is a blend of entertainment and news which is very adrenalized, and that live TV element obviously adds an extra [layer] to everything. Its very easy to be in denial in a world that moves very fast.

DEADLINE: As women, especially in this industry, we always feel like we have to prove ourselves. Being a woman of color, Ive always been told we have to be two times better than our counterparts, especially our white male counterparts.Was that something that you felt that Hannah was dealing with?

MBATHA-RAW: I think that that was obviously an underlying pressure for her. It wasnt overtly expressed in the storyline but we did talk about her backstory. I think in the quest for equality, gender equality and racial equality, this is a big conversation were having culturally now. But in the quest for that, certainly when we were making The Morning Show, and in terms of Hannahs perspective on that, I think that she probably had internalized the culture that she was in to such a degree that she was just trying to progress and trying to do the best she could. I dont know if it was always conscious. It was very much internalized for her.

DEADLINE: Were in this moment where weve heard a lot of survivors come out with their accounts of abuse. While weve also seen people like Harvey Weinstein or R. Kelly having to answer for these wrongdoings, the sad truth is that were living in a world where people still question or place judgment on the survivors. Were you concerned at all about how viewers would receive Hannahs story?

MBATHA-RAW: I think everybody was concerned to do their best to honor that in a nuanced way, certainly in terms of going through those beats of showing Hannahs perspective. There has been some judgment in the media about why it takes a long time for people to come forward in these situations, or why they were in the hotel in the first place, and all of those kinds of things. Seeing that episode, really seeing somebody like Hannah, who was in a very vulnerable scenario after the Vegas shooting, a very traumatic experience in itself, and just really understanding how somebody like Mitch was a mentor figure for her and I think his perspective was so different to hers. She was looking up to him, idolizing him as the star of the show, and that hes actually giving her a little bit of extra attention in terms of as a mentor and being kind to her. I dont think she ever imagined that it would transition to anything more than thatTheres so much going through Hannahs mind in terms of what will the implications will be. She doesnt know how to deal with that situation so she just goes through with it. I think that to actually see those beats, and working with Michelle MacLaren who directed the episode, making it much more about the thought process for Hannah as well as the physical element was very important. So, I trusted the female leadership behind the camera. They really wanted to show a different side and in detail, a nuanced side of that experience.

DEADLINE: What kind of responses have you received to your performance and to Hannahs story?

MBATHA-RAW: Its been really interesting for me. Theres been a whole gamut of emotions. Many women have found it quite moving. People have reached out to me on social media, and some people have felt like its the first time they felt seen.

DEADLINE: Did you interpret Hannahs overdose as accidental, even though it was never really talked about or mentioned on the show?

MBATHA-RAW: Its incredibly sad and it could have gone many ways for Hannah. Knowing that she had this promotion, and a chance of a new start in Los Angeles with a different outlook there, which in a sense you could say its a fresh start, or it could be that shes also thought of a problem being removed out of sight, out of mind, and somewhat blackmailed to get out of that situation.

We talked a lot about that moment where Hannah accepts the promotion, or leaves a voicemail at least, and then realizes that that didnt solve it. That didnt solve this abyss, this pain inside of her, and that its really that. She feels like she needs to numb that. Obviously, suicide is such a sensitive and complex issue, and I think in terms of, Did she intend to do it? Did she not? we talked a lot about it, and I always felt like she didnt intend to die but that she did intend to numb.

But Im optimistic. Im hopeful there are so many stages of this process and weve gone through them very quickly in the last few weeks and I think that is going to be really interesting to see in the long term. I hope that the movement has stamina and I hope that the culture has the stamina for really implementing the shifts that need to happen, not just a hashtag, beyond the hashtag. As powerful as that is in our culture for a moment, I think its also about letting in things that are going to have longevity.

DEADLINE: What did playing Hannah teach you?

MBATHA-RAW: I learned a lot on many levels. I think I learned about the world of morning shows on a superficial level. But also, the power of actually staying silent doesnt help anyone. I think as we see with Hannah, her silence, or her inability to process, actually only becomes self-destructive to herself, and that has been a lesson for me. I think actually youre not protecting anyone by staying silent about those kinds of injustices. Its only eating you inside. So thats been a valuable lesson in terms of addressing things, processing them.

DEADLINE: What are you looking forward to at the moment?

MBATHA-RAW: I guess Im looking forward to just seeing how we as a culture evolve. The word normal, whatever that means, I dont think that normal was functional overall, the normal that we had for many people. I think that before things settle there has to be a new configuration. Im looking forward to the new normal and progress.

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The Morning Show Star Gugu Mbatha-Raw On Americas Cultural Awakening & The Road To A New Normal - Deadline

The Open Mind explores the world of ideas across politics, media, science, technology, and the arts. The American Prospect is republishing this edited excerpt.

Heffner: We seem to be living through a dystopia for realists now with the Iran-U.S. confrontation, the global pandemic, and now worldwide protests. Is that a fair way to look at it, or are we going to come out of the dystopia into a utopia?

Bregman: You know its very understandable if people are pessimistic right now. I always like to make a distinction between optimism and hope. I mean, you certainly dont have to be an optimist right now. But I think there are some reasons to have hope because hope is about the possibility of change, right? I think that this moment gives us a lot of reasons for hope as well. I mean weve seen that ideas that just a couple of years ago were dismissed as quite unreasonable and radical and crazy have been moving into the mainstream. Now they still have a long way to go yet, Im talking about ideas like universal basic income or higher taxes on the rich or you name it. But that gives me some hope.

Heffner: Is there a reason to be more cynical about the condition of humankind in the United States right now?

Bregman: Institutional racism and racism and discrimination, these are not uniquely American phenomena. It exists everywhere in the world and in Europe, sadly as well. There are some things though that we can learn from other countries. In the book, Ive got one example of how prisons in Norway are organized. The U.S. could learn quite a bit from that. So what you have in the United States are sort of taxpayer-funded institutions that are called prisons, where you have citizens who go in there for small crimes I dont know, small drug offenses and they come out as criminals. They create this kind of bad behavior.

Now in Norway, they have the opposite. They have an institution where people go in as criminals and they come out as citizens. If you look at these prisons, theyre very strange. Actually theres one prison called Bastoy, a little bit to the South of Oslo. It basically looks like a holiday resort. Inmates have the freedom to relax with the guards, socialize with them to make music. Theyve got their own music studio and their own music label called Criminal Records.

So sort of your first intuition is like these small regions have gone nuts.

Like this is very crazy, but then you look at the statistics, you look at the numbers, it turns out this is the most effective prison in the world because it has the lowest recidivism rate in the world, the lowest chance that someone will commit another crime once he or she gets out of prison. So investing in these kinds of institutions, you will actually get a return on investments. These things save money in the long term because the chance that someone will find a job actually increases with 40 percent.

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Now, its just unimaginable that this will ever happen in the United States. But, I try to show that actually it wasnt just the U.S. that was the first country that experiments it with these kind of prisons in the sixtiesjust as the U.S. was almost about to implement a universal, basic income to completely eradicate poverty at the beginning of the seventies. Thats where historians may be useful. They just can show that, you know, things can be different, you know, they can be much better.

Heffner: Those solutions that you describe are innovative and imaginative at a time when this country couldnt even honor the commitment of frontline essential workers.

Bregman: The country is capable of the compassion because we see so much compassion. We see millions of very courageous protesters in the streets. Its just that we need a political revolution here. The short summary of my book would be something like most people are pretty decent, but power corrupts.

For the vast majority of our history, when we were still nomadic hunter gatherers, there was a process going on that scientists call survival of the friendliest, which means that actually for millennia, it was the friendliest among us who had the most kids and so had the biggest chance of passing on their genes to the next generation.

Then you look at current policies and it seems like, well, thats not survival of the friendliest, this is survival of the shamelessand its not only the case in the U.S. its also the case in the UK with pretty shameless politicians like Boris Johnson or in Brazil with [Jair] Bolsenaro. Its a real indictment of the so-called democracy we have created that [its] somehow not the most humble leader [who] rise to the top, but the most shameless leaders.

Heffner: Does your book advocate for a specific tactic that can be used by protestors to try to in this new tech age to actualize their movement for reform when the political means to achieve it really dont seem apparent.

The country is capable of the compassion because we see so much compassion. We see millions of very courageous protesters in the streets. Its just that we need a political revolution here.

Bregman: Its not up to me as a white European to say, I know this tactic is better or that that, that tactic is better. Or if they say that people shouldnt try it or whateverlike Martin Luther King said a riot is the language of the unheard. But it is interesting though, that if you look at the scientific evidence that the approach that the vast majority of protesters are taking right now, very courageously so, the peaceful approach is also the most effective one.

Weve got the work of sociologist called Erica Chenoweth whos built this huge database of protest movements since the 1900s. She discovered that actually peaceful protest movements are twice as successful as violent ones. The reason is that they bring in a lot more people on average 11 times more, right. You bring in children and women and the elderly and older men, and you name it, so everyone can participate in these more peaceful protest movements.

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Im not saying that a certain amount of rioting or violence [should not occur]. Im very hesitant to sort of condemn that when we see sort of the horrific brutal savage police violence, thats the real story. Thats what we should really be talking about. Im hopeful and Im so impressed just to see this for ordinary uprising of so many peaceful protestors who are against all odds keeping their self control and doing whats right. Its, its very, very impressive.

Heffner: Do you think that in the wake of the pandemic our economy can recover in a more equitable fashion?

Bregman: Every historian knows that throughout history, crises have been abused by those in power. Think about the burning of the Reichstag and then you get Adolph Hitler, think about 9/11, and then you get two illegal wars and massive surveillance of citizens by the government. This is an old playbook.

But weve got other examples as well. The New Deal, they came up with it in the midst of the Great Depression. Think about the Beveridge Report, the primal text of the welfare state in Great Britain was not written after the war, but in 1942, when the bombs were falling on London. So now is the time to do something like that.

Heres my hope: If you, again, zoom out and you look at the past 40 years, I think you could describe it as the era that was governed by the values of selfishness and competitionthe greed is good mantra. My hope is, and I do sense a shift in zeitgeist here, is that we can now move into a different era thats more about solidarity.

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Finding Hope in Americas Pandemic Dystopia - The American Prospect