Monthly Archives: June 2020

This story was published in partnership with The Daily Beast.

Matt Windschitl had one more chance to address colleagues in the Iowa House of Representatives before they voted on his pro-gun bill, the culmination of a yearslong effort to produce what one supporter hailed as the most monumental and sweeping piece of gun legislation in Iowas history. The veteran Republican lawmaker walked up to the chamber podium and unleashed a counterattack against an unlikely foe.

It was April 2017, and for years Windschitl had found himself absorbing broadsides from a man named Aaron Dorr, a far-right provocateur who led a gun rights advocacy organization called Iowa Gun Owners. Dorr had recently taken to Facebook to accuse Windschitl of brokering backroom deals to appease anti-gun forces in the state Capitol, saying the lawmaker was far more concerned about making sure his hair is just perfectly taken care of than fighting for gun rights.

Standing stern-faced at the microphone, Windschitl denounced the professed activist as a hype man focused on ginning up donations for his group. Dorr promoted himself as the leader of Iowas only no compromise gun lobby, but Windschitl pointed out that Dorr was not even registered as a lobbyist. When Windschitl asked whether anyone in the chamber had spoken to Dorr about the omnibus gun bill, no one raised a hand.

If youre sending this guy money, Im asking you to stop It is time for his scam to end, Windschitl said. You need and you deserve the truth: Aaron Dorr is a scam artist, a liar, and he is doing Iowans no services and no favors.

Dorr received an avalanche of criticism in the months and years that followed as he and two of his younger brothers Chris and Ben applied their brand of far-right activism to contentious political issues. The brothers, who were raised in Iowa, are part of a circle of far-right activists who manage more than a dozen nonprofits spread around the country, from Wyoming and Wisconsin to North Carolina and Georgia. They have built a massive grassroots fundraising machine that churns out a steady stream of messages beseeching donations to snuff out gun control, abortion rights, and other sources of conservative outrage.

In April, about a month after COVID-19 lockdowns took effect in the U.S., Reddit users placed the three brothers at the center of an astroturfing campaign against government measures designed to slow the outbreak. Chris Dorr helped organize a demonstration in the Pennsylvania capital despite official warnings about mass gatherings leading to a surge of infections. Since then, the death toll from coronavirus in Pennsylvania has climbed to more than 6,400. In recent weeks, the brothers sounded alarms about the thugs, criminals, and political terrorists who took to the streets nationwide following the May killing of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.

At the center of the Dorrs efforts is the brothers own for-profit consulting firm, which has received huge sums of money from their tax-exempt organizations, fueling allegations that the brothers are deceiving their supporters.

What theyre doing is raising a lot of money by setting up nonprofits and latching onto various conservative, hot-button issues, said Scott Hubay, an Ohio attorney who specializes in nonprofit compliance and examined findings compiled by The Trace and The Daily Beast. But instead of spending that money on what they told the public their purpose was, they appear to be using it to enrich themselves.

The Dorrs affiliated outfits have hauled in millions of dollars over the years, tax returns show. But successes on the fundraising front are belied by waning political clout, as the brothers tactics draw increasing fire from across the ideological spectrum. Their enemies denounce them as parasitic gadflies bent on using the latest political zeitgeist and alarmist rhetoric to line their own pockets, sometimes at the expense of causes they claim to support. Some of the biggest criticisms have emanated from the pro-gun community, including the National Rifle Association, which accused Aaron and Chris Dorr of being scam artists.

After The Trace and The Daily Beast sent this investigations findings to the Dorr brothers, Aaron Dorr responded with a statement that he said was also issued on behalf of his siblings. The Trace and its affiliated entities have always been tops on the list of the radical Lefts Hate-America fake-news outlets, he said.

At a time when armed thugs are rioting in our streets, murdering police officers, looting stores and burning down private businesses, we Dorr brothers could not be more proud of the aggressive, vicious fighting we do for law-abiding gun owners and pro-lifers all across America, he added. We apologize for nothing, and to be attacked by the same socialist, fake-news blogs that hate President Trump means we are doing our jobs fabulously.

But the Dorrs footprint grew as widening ideological divisions and fragmenting media created fertile ground for conspiracy theories and misinformation. COVID-19 brought this infodemic into sharper relief as false claims about the coronavirus including some pushed by President Donald Trump continue to frustrate efforts to contain the disease. The Dorr brothers were early propagators of the notion that power-hungry politicians were exploiting the outbreak to weaken coveted American freedoms, a line with echoes in the gun rights debate, where proposals for stricter laws have raised the specter of mass firearm confiscation.

Leading up to early protests against COVID-19-related lockdowns, the Dorrs created Facebook groups to organize opposition in Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. These groups attracted more than 200,000 members and became rallying points for conspiracy theorists. People who joined were directed to misleading web addresses http://www.ReOpenMN.com, for instance where they could ostensibly message leaders to reopen their states economy. Those who clicked on the links were taken to websites for the Dorrs gun rights groups, where they could buy memberships from $35 to $1,000.

The organizations leadership is focused on external threats, but the real crisis is of its own making.

byMike Spies

These are the kinds of things these guys do. They take advantage of rabble-rousing on the far-right, said Minnesota state Senator Ron Latz, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party whose efforts to tighten gun laws have drawn the Dorrs wrath. Its a business for them, Latz added. They know how to do it, and theyre jerks.

After The Washington Post first reported on the Dorrs role in the burgeoning anti-quarantine movement, the credit card processor handling donations to the brothers groups quietly booted them off its platform. Aaron and Chris Dorr sent out nearly identical messages in which each of them said they had been alerted to the processors action by a lifetime member who wanted to contribute $100 to their respective groups. They portrayed the de-platforming as part of a corporate gun control movement that would hamper our efforts to expose gun grabbers during the upcoming election cycle. By the time they sent out the messages, they had brought their fundraising capabilities back online. If we dont have the ammo we need to fight with, we cant fight. Its just that simple, both messages said. And thats why I want to ask you to make an emergency donation.

While the Dorrs gun rights groups have nothing close to the prowess or profile enjoyed by the NRA, theyve flourished at a time when internal feuds and financial scandals are hobbling Americas most influential gun rights organization, creating an opportunity for activists whose aggressive and unconventional tactics previously relegated them to the margins of American culture wars.

Casting themselves as the most powerful counterweight to jelly-spined Republican politicians and anti-gun socialists, the Dorrs have seized the moment to hone their image as the uncompromising wing of gun rights advocacy. But these pitches frequently involve misleading statements, embellishments, and outright falsehoods. A close look at the brothers online activity reveals numerous instances in which one of them mischaracterized a lawmakers record, attacked pro-gun Republicans as anything but, or spun criticisms of them and their groups as evidence of their influence.

After Windschitl denounced Aaron Dorr on the Iowa House floor in 2017, lawmakers approved the omnibus gun bill, which included Stand Your Ground protections for gun owners who killed in self-defense. Republican Governor Terry Branstad signed the measure into law. Despite Windschitls public assertions denying Dorrs role in the bills success, the activist has claimed credit, anyway.

Later that same year, Aaron Dorr defeated state House ethics charges brought by another Republican lawmaker who argued he had violated lobbyist registration rules. The lawmaker pointed to Facebook videos in which Dorr claimed to have conducted meetings with legislators and spent time finalizing legislation at the Capitol. Dorr defended himself by asserting that there were, in fact, no direct lobbying activities by me.

Included in his evidence: No one raised a hand when Windschitl asked whether any House members had spoken to Dorr about the omnibus gun bill.

After the House Ethics Committee dismissed the charges the chairman cited loopholes that exempted unpaid nonprofit directors from registration requirements Dorr sent out a fundraising plea characterizing the ordeal as payback for FORCING the General Assembly to pass Stand-Your-Ground and much more during the 2017 legislative session.

Revilement among mainstream gun rights advocates and GOP politicians has produced entire websites devoted to debunking the Dorrs rhetoric. Ben Dorr, the youngest of the three brothers, is the political director for Minnesota Gun Rights. He claimed to have killed every single gun control bill filed in Minnesota over the last few years, a remarkable assertion given how the states pro-gun lawmakers have publicly and emphatically denounced his group since at least 2015. In February, the House and Senate Republican caucuses joined with Republican Party leaders to launch http://www.mnscammersexposed.com, dedicated to warning constituents about the brothers attempts to cash in on unsuspecting Minnesotans sympathetic to their message.

Aaron Dorr once described himself as a graduate of numerous Rothfeld schools, an apparent reference to Mike Rothfeld, a national political consultant known for his mastery of direct-mail marketing, now a centerpiece of the brothers fundraising efforts. Rothfeld, who declined to comment for this story, has sat on the board of directors for the National Association for Gun Rights, whose strongarm methods and absolutist portrayal of Second Amendment rights blazed a trail for the Dorr brothers to follow.

The National Association for Gun Rights stepped in with early fundraising help after Aaron Dorr launched Iowa Gun Owners in 2009. It wasnt long before he tasted national notoriety. Chris Dorr, while working for U.S. Representative Michele Bachmanns presidential campaign before the 2012 Iowa caucuses, was alleged to have stolen a politically valuable Excel spreadsheet from a colleagues private computer containing contact information for members of Iowas largest homeschool organization. Chris Dorr had also clerked for state Senator Kent Sorenson, who was surreptitiously accepting payments from the Bachmann campaign for his endorsement, but was considering switching allegiance to Ron Paul, and the homeschool list would help make Sorenson more appealing as a paid surrogate.

Acting as Sorensons go-between, Aaron Dorr emailed Pauls campaign manager a list of demands: $8,000 a month for Sorenson; $5,000 a month for Chris Dorr; and a $100,000 donation to a political action committee. That committee was chaired by an Iowa Gun Owners board member. Also, one of Pauls campaign staffers would need to sign a letter apologizing for previous public statements bashing the gun rights group. One of the things the campaign would receive in exchange was the list of the main Iowa home-school group allowing for targeted home-school mail, Aaron Dorr wrote.

Sorenson went on to collect $73,000 funneled to his consulting firm to mask the Paul campaign as the moneys source. Sorenson and three Paul campaign staffers were later convicted of criminal charges. Sorenson and one Paul staffer served time in federal prison, while the other two received probation. The Dorrs were never charged.

The brothers involvement in the payoff scheme came into focus after Aaron Dorrs email surfaced in the news. Chris Dorr was copied on the email. However, he told investigators he didnt read it until after the story broke. He claimed ignorance in relation to his brothers negotiations with the Paul campaign and described the taking of the homeschool list as a mistake that likely occurred while he was procuring data around the office. An Iowa Senate ethics report later concluded that the evidence was conflicting as to whether Chris Dorrs claims regarding the list were true.

Over several years after the presidential campaign, the brothers expanded by opening or affiliating with gun rights groups in Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. They have also linked up with hard-right characters leading pro-gun organizations in Georgia, Idaho, North Carolina, and Missouri, among other places, spawning a network of affiliates with similar websites, messaging, and tactics.

As the executive director at Ohio Gun Owners, Chris Dorr leads operations in Columbus, where hes made enemies with gun rights activists and Republican politicians alike. Officials at the Buckeye Firearms Association blasted Ohio Gun Owners as a false flag group that was urging supporters to sign petitions to build a database for future fundraising efforts. In August, Republican Governor Mike DeWine referred Chris Dorr to State Police after he said there would be political bodies laying all over the ground and a corpse for the buzzards if lawmakers clamped down on guns following the mass shooting that killed nine people in Dayton. The police closed the investigation without filing criminal charges.

Chris Dorrs antics have become something of a joke at the Statehouse, where hes eschewed important legislative announcements to set up his tripod in the hall and film himself for supporters. He recently took his trademark bushy beard on camera to claim that George Lang, a Republican Ohio state representative and chair of the House Criminal Justice Committee, had voted against stand your ground legislation in 2018 and let a similar measure stall after it was filed one year later. In fact, Lang voted in favor of a bill containing stand your ground in 2018 before that provision was removed by the Senate. Lang co-sponsored the measure introduced the following year and, in a phone interview, he said the bill didnt advance because neither of the primary sponsors requested a hearing.

I did not watch the video at all, so I dont know what hes talking about, but if he inferred in any way that I have ever voted against stand your ground legislation, thats a bald-faced lie, Lang said in a telephone interview. He added that Ohio Gun Owners attacks had cost it a potential ally. From an ideological perspective, I probably line up with that group on about 90 percent of the issues, but I do not in any way, shape, or form condone the tactics that they use.

Gun rights advocates whove watched the brothers at work hope they will leave the game. Turf wars and funding battles are common in the nonprofit world, but the Dorrs unpopularity among would-be allies is remarkable, and underscores their penchant for sabotage. Their all-or-nothing approach dispenses with political strategizing and coalition-building in favor of a scorched-earth plan likely to be counterproductive.

We are familiar with their tactics: Theyre a fundraising organization, and they use the money for themselves, said Jerry Henry, the executive director of GeorgiaCarry.Org, a pro-gun organization thats grappled with the Dorrs Georgia chapter. Theyll introduce a piece of legislation and then come out against everybody who can pass that legislation for them.

Since the enactment of Windschitls stand your ground law in Iowa, Aaron Dorr has channeled his energies into advocating constitutional carry, which abolishes permitting requirements for carrying handguns in public. But as lawmakers rallied votes for constitutional carry legislation in 2019, Dorr attacked committee leaders whose support was crucial to moving it forward. Republican Jason Schultz, whod been guiding the bill through the state Senate, was so appalled he yanked it from consideration and then read a statement vowing to never back any bill Dorr put his hands on. Schultzs colleagues applauded.

In a phone interview, Schultz said the Dorr brothers were mostly concerned about their bottom line. Theyre only throwing gas on the fire to generate more donations, contributions, and memberships, Schultz said. I used to think they were really bad lobbyists; it turns out theyre working against the cause they claim to be fighting for.

Nonprofits are required to disclose details about yearly revenues and expenses on publicly available tax returns if their gross receipts are more than $50,000. The Internal Revenue Service can yank a groups tax-exempt status or levy fines if vendors, board members, or executives improperly enriched themselves at the expense of an organizations mission.

Tax returns for the Dorrs gun rights groups show they have seldom received compensation despite reporting that they worked as many as 70 hours per week. One of the few exceptions was in 2018, when Chris Dorr reported earning $30,000 from Ohio Gun Owners. Aaron Dorr has disclosed a total of less than $10,000 in pay since Iowa Gun Owners formed more than a decade ago.

But a closer look through the Dorrs statements and public records shows donations are steered to the brothers in multiple ways. One of the primary channels involves a for-profit consulting and direct mail business, Midwest Freedom Enterprises L.L.C. The brothers recently cut an hour-long video in which they took viewers on a tour of the warehouse where Midwest Freedom Enterprises is ostensibly headquartered, showing off some of the gadgetry they use to print, fold, and stuff mailers into envelopes.

From an ideological perspective, I probably line up with that group on about 90 percent of the issues, but I do not in any way, shape, or form condone the tactics that they use.

Aaron and Chris Dorr spoke in the video about launching the company in the early days of Iowa Gun Owners because it was cheaper to cram mailboxes with solicitations if they created them in-house. At one point, Ben Dorr held up a sheet of paper and read off the amount nearly $125,000 Minnesota Gun Rights paid for direct mail and postage pulverizing those anti-gun candidates and keeping members informed in 2016. The price tag would have been twice as high if not for Midwest Freedom Enterprises, he said.

And if these politicians dont like it, we frankly dont give a crap. We dont give a damn what you think, Ben Dorr said. Were fighting for our members and were saving them so much membership dues, so much money by doing it for pennies on the dollar because we love watching politicians cry.

He smirked. At least I do.

Direct mail has long been a favored fundraising tactic on the right. The Trace and The Daily Beast analyzed seven gun rights groups in the brothers network that had filed at least one detailed financial statement with the Internal Revenue Service between 2014 and 2018. The examination showed that these groups collectively spent more than $1.9 million on direct mail, postage, and related costs, accounting for almost half of their cumulative expenses.

Most of that money nearly $1.1 million came from Iowa Gun Owners, Minnesota Gun Rights, and Ohio Gun Owners, nonprofits managed directly by the Dorr brothers. According to their video, those three groups use Midwest Freedom Enterprises for their direct mail. Over that same five-year period, Iowa Gun Owners spent another $300,000 on management expenses, duties also performed by Midwest Freedom Enterprises, statements indicate.

Elections have also been a boon for the brothers mail business. In Iowa, candidates and political action committees paid $226,000 to Midwest Freedom Enterprises between 2010 and 2016, according to campaign finance records. At least about 30 percent $67,000 of those funds had been contributed to the Iowa Gun Owners PAC and other committees controlled by Aaron Dorr or his close associates.

In a video flagged by cleveland.com, Ben Dorr said hes gotten a cut of the consulting fees paid by Minnesota Gun Rights. Tax returns show Minnesota Gun Rights spent more than $163,000 on consulting between 2014 and 2018. Consulting cost Ohio Gun Owners and Iowa Gun Owners an additional $109,000 over the same timeframe.

Minnesota Gun Rights once faced legal action from a state Republican lawmaker when the group continued to disseminate mailers bearing his signature after hed ordered them to stop. That lawmaker later joined 15 of his colleagues in issuing an open letter denouncing the fakers and fraudsters who were trying to take advantage of gun rights supporters while doing nothing to actually advance the cause.

The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status for Minnesota Gun Rights in 2016 after it failed to file several years worth of tax returns. Nevertheless, Minnesota Gun Rights continued promoting itself as an active nonprofit. When confronted by reporters from a local Fox affiliate in 2019, Ben Dorr dismissed questions about the discrepancy as fake news only to later acknowledge that Minnesota Gun Rights had indeed fallen behind. The group filed the missing returns, and its status was restored.

Throughout their existence, Iowa Gun Owners and Ohio Gun Owners have never reported paying for fundraising. At Minnesota Gun Rights, meanwhile, tax returns show that 90 percent nearly $542,000 of all the funds spent between 2016 and 2018 went toward raising more money, a share far exceeding industry standards. The Better Business Bureau has recommended that fundraising should account for no more than 35 percent of a nonprofits expenditures.

What the Dorrs are doing goes far beyond what I would ever recommend to a client, said Hubay, the Ohio attorney and nonprofit compliance expert. 501(c)(4) organizations are supposed to be about advocacy and lobbying for legislation, but the Dorrs seem to be focused on generating contributions and then funneling those resources to themselves through management fees and direct mail. Its definitely suspicious.

As tax-exempt social-welfare organizations under section 501(c)(4) of the federal tax code, the brothers groups are different from charities in that they can spend money swaying voters toward specific candidates, as long as thats not their primary purpose. Groups must report the amount they spent on such activities to the IRS and may have to pay a tax.

Forms for the Dorrs groups show they have never reported engaging in political campaigns even while theyve solicited funds for the explicit purpose of boosting or defeating candidates. At Iowa Gun Owners, Aaron Dorr thanked donors for funding a $150,000 election program aimed at targeted races across the state, and in a separate instance, he complained about being betrayed by a state senator for whom his group had bought TV and radio ads, along with 12,000 pieces of direct-mail.

Hubay said the law is hazy about what activities constitute reportable political campaign expenses, but the fact that they described their program as a political program and talked about targeting certain races is something that the IRS could look at as evidence of unreported expenditures.

Meanwhile, the Dorrs keep finding ways to stoke right-wing rage.

On June 9, Chris Dorr issued an Action ALERT to Ohio Gun Owners email subscribers amid nationwide demonstrations against police brutality. Dorrs missive misportrayed the calls for defunding police departments as a campaign by antifa and Black Lives Matter thugs to savage our great nation with lawlessness. He added: I cannot begin to describe the anarchy, the social destruction that would ensue if America disbanded our police forces and let the left-wing nutjobs who run Americas major cities implement their leftwing community-based social solutions.

Dorr went on to denounce Sandy Hook Promise an organization founded by parents of the elementary school children slain in the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut for recent expressions in favor of police reform and racial justice. Dorr uged his readers to contact Ohio lawmakers and demand that they vote against a Sandy Hook Promise-backed bill to increase education on violence and suicide prevention in schools.

Once you are finished, please also consider chipping in $10 or $20 to help us cover the continual costs of fighting back against these gun-control bills, Dorr wrote. Every penny you can donate is being put to use immediately in this fight to mobilize more and more Ohians to this fight [sic], and we gratefully appreciate your support!

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The Brothers Behind an Extreme Gun-Rights Network That Republicans Call a Big Scam - The Trace

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There are leaders who are ahead of their times, leaders who are behind their times, and then theres Donald Trump, who comes from another time altogether. Hes stuck somewhere closer to the Stone Age than to Stonewall. And the Supreme Court just told him so.

In a 6-to-3 decision, the justices ruled on Monday that gay and transgender people are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law. It was a stunning milestone in L.G.B.T.Q. progress. It was also a major slap at Trump, whose administration has gone perversely far out of its way not merely to halt advances during the Obama years but to turn back the clock.

The court, even with two Trump appointees, moves with the illuminated society around it. Trump just grovels before his blinkered base. And while Trump is often clueless about public opinion, the court seems to be at least loosely tethered to it, as with a 5-to-4 ruling on Thursday that nixed his intended scuttling of a program that protected immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation. In some polling, about three-quarters of Americans support that program.

Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesnt like me? Trump tweeted just after the immigration decision was handed down. I merely get the impression that a majority of the justices are sane.

Its one of the great riddles of Trumps presidency: how a man so spectacularly out of touch and out of sync with so many Americans could wind up ruling over us. And he falls further out of touch and more clangorously out of sync by the second.

While the rest of the country graduates from Gone With the Wind to 12 Years a Slave, Trump clings to Tara tighter than Scarlett ever did. While the National Football League finally blesses many players desire to kneel during the national anthem, Trump still curses it.

While Juneteenth lodges ever deeper in the national consciousness and has been mentioned, annually, in official White House statements Trump has to have a black Secret Service agent explain it to him, as Michael Bender of The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Sleepy Joe Biden? Trump, in the midst of a great awokening, is Rip Van Winkle. And should he ever be roused from his culturally oblivious snooze, hell want meatloaf for lunch and a well-done steak for dinner. Hes an impossibly beefy man in an Impossible Burger world.

No presidents agenda and sensibility are in perfect tune with the countrys mood and the cultural zeitgeist, but Trumps discordance is earsplitting.

As Americans came to depend on Obamacare, Trump came to kill it. As Americans grew receptive to restrictions on firearms, Trump grew submissive to the N.R.A. As Americans focused on climate change, Trump ramped up offshore drilling. He thinks that taking the contrary position makes him courageous, when really it just makes him obtuse. Hes an imagination-starved anachronism in visionary drag.

In fact I have a new theory for why he chose the running mate he did. Mike Pence, who calls his wife, Karen, Mother, was one of the few men in America who made Trump look positively postmodern.

And that damned wall of Trumps, the wretched hallucination at the center of his political identity? Poll after poll show that most Americans dont want it not if Mexico pays for it, not if Martians pay for it, not if Trump, Pence and Javanka put on coveralls and build the monstrosity themselves. (Actually correction I suspect that most Americans would back that last scenario, and by a lopsided margin if Stephen Miller and Betsy DeVos joined the work crew.)

You would think that a man so unreflective of his country could never command the affections and approval of a majority of its people. And youd be right. Trump is the product and emblem of minority rule, the ridiculously lucky beneficiary of ridiculous political circumstances.

Almost three million fewer Americans cast ballots for him than for Hillary Clinton; he received 46 percent of the popular vote. But thanks to the exigencies of the Electoral College, he won the presidency nonetheless.

Most candidates and presidents start to sweat when their approval rating dips below 50 percent. Trump does a jig when his gets anywhere close to it.

The Republican Senate majority that saved his presidency by acquitting him during his impeachment trial is, like him, a seriously warped mirror of the country. Republicans control the chamber not because, in aggregate, they get more votes in Senate elections. They control it because its architecture privileges less populous states, many of which lean Republican.

With the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, Trumps clash with his own country intensified. He sporadically bristled at and raged about social lockdowns and other such cautionary measures even as most Americans supported them.

His view of recent anti-racism protests, his language about police brutality and some of his stubborn positions in regard to racial justice go against increasingly powerful currents in America, where a majority of people now embrace the Black Lives Matter movement. His refusal to rename military bases that pay tribute to men who fought for the Confederacy goes against even military leaders.

And on gay rights? Hes a study in regression. He went from shouting out L.G.B.T.Q. Americans at the Republican National Convention in 2016 (a slightly misunderstood speech, as I previously explained) to smacking us down ever since.

His administration has packed federal courts with judges hostile to gay rights. It has barred transgender Americans from enlisting in military service. It has backed Americans who, citing religious beliefs, dont want to give L.G.B.T.Q. Americans medical care or bake us a cake. Last June, when several United States embassies requested permission to fly the rainbow flag in honor of Gay Pride, the State Department said no.

In the days just before the Supreme Courts historic ruling on Monday, the Trump administration reversed an Obama-administration rule prohibiting discrimination against transgender people in health care. And it is the administrations position reiterated before the Supreme Court that federal civil rights laws dont and shouldnt prevent a gay or lesbian employee from being fired on the basis of sexual orientation. The court begged to differ.

But then so do Americans by a really big margin. According to a recent CBS poll, 82 percent of them didnt think it should be legal to fire someone for being gay. That included 71 percent of Republicans who held that position.

One lesson of all of the discrepancies between public opinion and Trumps opinion is that if a president persuades Americans that he (or, someday soon, she) is successfully managing the economy, theres a lot of wiggle room to be both tyrant and troglodyte. Another, as I mentioned earlier, is that the system is at least sort of broken.

A third is that Trump traveled toward his presidential destiny not via that oft-cited escalator in Trump Tower but via a time machine. I hope he kept the batteries charged, so its ready, after November, to return him to the past.

I invite you to sign up for my free weekly email newsletter. You can follow me on Twitter (@FrankBruni).

Listen to The Argument podcast every Thursday morning, with Ross Douthat, Michelle Goldberg and me.

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Trump the Troglodyte - The New York Times

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Fashion has awoken, but isnt woke enough.

There is still opportunity for the industry which prides itself on being so in touch with the zeitgeist to meet this extraordinary moment in American history and go beyond diversity and inclusion to truly welcoming everyone into the fold.

Its going to take real and for some, very personal work to shake the status quo that for too long has been good enough for the privileged majority and thus has become entrenched in a way that is both unfair and was broadly unaddressed.

But now it is an issue thats more urgent than ever.

While the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising animated discussions around LGBTQ rights and diversity issues a year ago, the topic was blown wide open this year by the killing of George Floyd another Black man dead at the hands of police.

The video of Floyd gasping for breath and ultimately dying while a white police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck proved to be just too much racially tinged police brutality to be tolerated. People in thousands of cities and towns across the U.S. and the world joined the largely peaceful protests and forced the issue to the front of the common consciousness.

If there were questions whether corporate America in the throes of the COVID-19 shutdown and facing financial meltdown still had the capacity to address diversity, it was answered in the flood of new, vocal supporters to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Many retailers, apparel and beauty firms took new and strong stands against racism and in support of the protests, donated to groups working on the issues, promised to look into their own practices. Away from fashion, corporate America mobilized at last: the National Football League embraced the Black Lives Matter movement, NASCAR banned the Confederate flag, the Aunt Jemima brand was retired and more.

And all this happened alongside Pride Month celebrations rainbow-hued collections and all in the midst of the pandemic. There has also been real progress on the LGBTQ legal front with the recent Supreme Courts ruling that it is illegal to discriminate against employees on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Story continues

But a lot of the progress going forward is going to happen away from the spotlight now trained on the issue of diversity. People and organizations are going to have to look within. Many opinions on privilege, what racism is today and what it means to be a supporter of minority groups will have to be reexamined.

Michael Bush, chief executive officer of people analytics company Great Place to Work, said: The best companies, the best organizations, they are embarking on a path of learning, they are reading, they are studying, because people who think they understand why things are the way they are, thats part of the problem, because theyre wrong.

People in the majority need to move beyond a sense of individualism that hangs too much of their place in the world on their own efforts, he said.

Racism isnt bad people doing bad things, Bush said. Racism is moving through the world not realizing how the world reacts to you and believing youre moving through the world the way you do because you worked hard individually. Its full of bias.

To change, Bush said corporate leaders need to stop and listen and take some time before responding. And they need to be trying to understand.

A good litmus test is a ceos reading list.

What three books are you reading related to related to racism? Bush said. If youre like, None, and arent going to, I dont think youre going to move.

He suggested White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo the number-one nonfiction book on The New York Times Best Sellers list as a good place to start. And then there are plenty of places to turn. Nine of the top 10 books on the bestsellers list last week focused on race or social justice.

People seem to be listening and, hopefully thinking, more than ever before.

Its a hard pivot for fashion, which was just finishing preparations to celebrate Pride Month when Floyd was killed and the protests started.

Instead of stopping to pat themselves on the back and celebrate the LGBTQ community theres been some progress, but not enough as there are still very few LGBTQ ceos and business leaders in fashion the industry found itself behind the curve on another dimension of diversity.

One tenet of the push for corporate inclusion is that having a more diverse set of voices at the top will lead to better decisions and, as numerous studies show, better financial performance.

C-suites and boards are still dominated by straight white men. That, in essence, is the old boys club that, whether on purpose or not, benefits from a society and system that has held and continues to hold others back.

But there are some small cracks in the system.

In the Fortune 500, there are five Black ceos, including former J.C. Penney chief Marvin Ellison, who is now head of Lowes, and Jide Zeitlin at Tapestry. The number of LGBTQ ceos is smaller still, at four, including Jeff Gennette at Macys Inc.

There are others as well Neiman Marcus Group also has an LGBTQ ceo in Geoffroy van Raemdonck but the list of major players with real diversity at the very highest levels is vanishingly small. And thats a loss.

Macys is Americas department store and we serve a very diverse set of customers and communities, Gennette told WWD. The diversity of our teams is certainly helpful as it allows us to have a greater understanding of what the Black experience is in our company and our country today. But it isnt our Black colleagues responsibility to educate the people around them. Weve made a call for our non-Black colleagues to self-educate and have shared resources with both our colleagues and customers.

No human is one-dimensional, Gennette said. Each of us brings all of our experiences to bear when we try to empathize with any minority group. This weeks convergence of the victory on LGBTQ rights from the Supreme Court and the continued peaceful demonstrations demanding fundamental change to end racism was powerful and very encouraging to see.

While the COVID-19 shutdown and slow restart has had a crushing financial impact on fashion with Neiman Marcus and many others driven into bankruptcy the desire for equality is a personal and professional endeavor separate from the balance sheet.

Van Raemdonck said: Were at a very important time in history, evidenced by momentum in the Black Lives Matter movement as well as the recent Supreme Court ruling expanding LGBTQ+ protections in the workplace. At Neiman Marcus Group, we recognize our responsibility to speak out against racial injustices and societal inequities and to take pivotal action to ensure we have a company culture of acceptance and belonging. As a gay man, driving meaningful actions and serving as a catalyst for change is a responsibility I take seriously.

Even as these and other executives have been fighting for LGBTQ equality, they now face an even more systemic problem in battling racism and determining how to embrace the ongoing rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In the fashion industry, there is a great deal of white privilege both at the board level and management levels, said James Miller, who is gay and ceo and chief creative officer of The Collected Group, which operates Joie, Equipment and Current/Elliott. I dont think race has been focused on enough.

The company had not historically been vocal on issues of race, although it was working on the matter internally. Miller, however, has not shied away from thorny issues and this year Equipment launched a gender-fluid line in collaboration with The Phluid Project.

Miller said the many conversations he had while developing and selling the gender-fluid collection helped prepare him to step out early as the Black Lives Matter protests began.

The ceo personally took control of the brands Instagram accounts and started with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. There comes a time when silence is betrayal and has digitally engaged with people on the issue on behalf of the company.

Miller said he wanted to do it himself because: These are delicate conversations. We are a predominantly white-based organization and I dont believe everyone is equipped to wander into a discussion on race on a public platform.

Internally, Miller said the Collected Group has sought to be more thoughtful in hiring. Just because we have open positions doesnt mean we have to fill them tomorrow, he said. If youre looking to fill a seat in our company purely out of speed, that is absolutely the wrong way to go about this.

Miller said his company is also doing things that push the boundary of normalcy he pointed to donations of Personal Protective Equipment to what he said was the forward-leaning womens corrections department in Arizona and taking on less comfortable topics.

Why is fashion synonymous with making you feel good? said Miller, noting consumers are ready to move beyond pure aesthetics and to brands that represent more.

Customers are an important part of the equation.

Brands are used to a delicate dance, chasing consumer dollars while also trying to lead in various stylistic directions, looking for fresh ways to connect. This often begins with a kind of composite view on who is a brands customer and then a marketing apparatus that tries to find people who fit the profile.

That approach has historically missed large groups, from Black and LGBTQ people to plus-sized and older shoppers. It can also restrict appeals to select groups of consumers to a calendar of specific events.

Now the Black Lives Matter protests have pushed the absolute necessity of diversity to the fore, making it all the more clear that minority groups dont just exist for one month of the year be it Pride Month in June or Black History Month in February but deserve and need regular attention.

Companies have to do a wholesale rethinking of their customers, said Todd Sears, founder and principal of global business network Out Leadership. Thats not a new idea, its just not an idea that every company out there has paid attention to before this. Its like Black Lives Matters has ripped the Band-Aid off.

It is not just companies, but the people who keep them humming who need to take a fresh look at the world and their place in it.

Sears said allies people who are a part of the dominant culture, but open to and accepting of minority groups need to make clear that they are supportive.

Allies have to come out, he said.

Companies and the people who run them also have to create cultures that are able to move beyond the ideas of just diversity and inclusion.

Diversity is getting invited to the dance, inclusion is getting into the room with the dance, but belonging is getting asked to dance, Sears said. That you ultimately feel like youre a part of something thats easier for some companies than others.

And more companies are awakening to the fact that a diverse workforce can also be a stronger workforce.

Chantal Gaemperle, executive vice president of human resources and synergies for LVMH Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton, said teams are more efficient when people can express their potential in an open working environment where everyone can be themselves.

In order to be yourself, you need to be able to express your differences, Gaemperle said.

In the luxury business, which is about making people dream through exceptional experiences or create high-quality products, the company has to be able to capitalize on such differences, she said.

Its not just corporate babble to say that diversity and inclusion are business enablers its proven, she said. I think we can make a link with the economic performances of groups that are diverse in the composition of their talent to be able to reflect you see it with what were living today a world that is going through perpetual change and to have these different perspectives.

The current crisis has highlighted the necessity of local proximity, especially when it comes to subjects of cultural sensitivity, she said.

Our role at the group level is to say that this subject is fundamental, it is something that has to be spread with our practices, but each region can choose its focus according to local priorities, she said.

Its a particularly strong subject in the U.S. right now, with a push for more transparency when it comes to sharing statistics, she said.

Its a question we have, we are thinking about this I cant say I have all the answers its a sign of the times, today we are living in a very complex world that is changing all the time. We have to stay humble when it comes to this, and we have to above all listen, she said.

And the many diversity and inclusion programs in fashion are just a starting point for the industry at large.

The conversation is changing from one of inclusion and representation to one of opportunity, said Corey Chafin, principal in Kearneys consumer practice and lead author of the upcoming report, Unstoppable for 50 Years: LGBTQ+ Pride Marches Forward.

Its not just about saying we reserve two spots on our board for this demographic. Thats insufficient, Chafin said. What they need to focus on is, Are we providing the right opportunities for all our employees? As you get closer to the top you do see the numbers start to trail off; what you cant measure is why.

Companies need to look at trigger moments, or at just what step minority employees are leaving. Once you identify those, then you can set up some interventions around that, he said.

So, if a retailer has broad representation among sales associates, but a much less diverse group of store managers, they can track that and start to figure out how to move a more diverse group of people up through the ranks at that key juncture.

Many companies were tracking diversity already, but clearly arent using that information to redress the ongoing imbalance the higher up the corporate ladder one looks.

Theres a realization that the dominant culture thought that it understood the experience of various minority cultures and in fact it doesnt, Chafin said. It doesnt understand the history and the nuance.

We have to dig deeper to get to the why and to get to the why, you really have to understand the lived experience of those groups, he said.

There is space now to get to that understanding.

Its the moment for diversity to step forward, more than any moment Ive seen in my lifetime, he said.

Right now the broader white community has been awakened and is focused on the issue.

Black people have been screaming and yelling and talking about this for yearsand it took this vicious murder on TV to open the eyes of many white people, said Kelly Charles-Collins, an employment trial attorney and ceo of HR Legally Speaking. They didnt have a choice, but to pay attention [to the killing of Floyd, who was held down, a knee on his neck, for eight minutes and 46 seconds]. They didnt have a choice but to pay attention. It was so long. It was so callous. It was so in their face that they didnt have a choice, but to pay attention.

The discomfort that white people feel at this moment is going to go away, Charles-Collins said. They will be able to go back to the, I dont see, I dont hear, I dont know.

To be part of the solution, fashion companies are going to have to go beyond words and take action, weaving equality into their operations by incorporating it into strategic planning and by making sure people have spaces to express their feelings.

That requires acceptance that your culture is not as welcoming or as inclusive as you thought it was, she said and then acting. Knowing is good, but applied knowledge is what makes a difference.

There is also hope in the next generation.

Gen Z seems to be enlightened in all the ways in how the world is diverse, Charles-Collins said. For them, I think the challenge will be how do you challenge [the status quo] in a way that creates sustained change. And they need the rest of us to help in that. Its systemic, so the system has to be dismantled. The people who benefit from the system have to want to change it.

Launch Gallery: All Black Lives Matter Pride Parade

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Belonging in Fashion, Equality in the Spotlight - Yahoo News

2020 is officially halfway over, which means the world of hip-hop has had plenty of time to leave its mark on the pop culture zeitgeist with their songs and lyrics. Even amid a turbulent year that's dictated that people stay at home most of the time, artists have managed to deliver. Today,XXL presents the Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2020 So Far.

The songs on this list are ones that either made waves in the commercial plane or became fan-favorites in the underground. A lot of times, it's a combo of two of those three things.

For his part, Drake earned his seemingly annual No. 1 on the Billboard Chart Hot 100 with "Toosie Slide," an Oz-produced song that belongs to his Dark Lane Demo Tapes project. Released in March, the track finds Drizzy working in dance instruction while also melodically spitting about sliding on the opps.The accompanying videofeatures the 6ix God dancing in his massive mansion instead of outside because of the coronavirus pandemic. It's unlikely fans saw a Drizzy dance song coming down the pipeline, but considering that he's done everything else, maybe they should've.This song slaps.

Also earning a No. 1 this year is Megan Thee Stallion. "Savage," released along with herSugaEP on March 6, features a chorus that could be an Instagram caption forever. Her song quickly picked up momentum as the #SavageChallenge started going up on TikTok. The track received another boost when Beyonc jumped on Meg's "Savage (Remix)"in May. The J. White Did It-produced song then leaped to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart just two weeks later on May 25. Other artists earning No. 1's this year include Doja Cat ("Say So (Remix)" with Nicki Minaj) and Kid Cudi and Travis Scott ("The Scotts").

Holding things down for Atlanta, Lil Baby has also left his mark on 2020 so far. This past March, he served up another memorable song when he unloaded "Emotionally Scarred," a track from his My Turn album. Baby spits some of his most honest lyrics as he remembers his days in the struggle. In June, he also dropped "The Bigger Picture," a poignant track that addresses police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement and community protests.

These are just some of the artists who've dropped some fire songs over the last six months.Check out thebest hip-hop songs of 2020 so far.Peep the list below.

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Here Are the Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2020 So Far - XXLMAG.COM

POCATELLO The Pocatello police force got significantly stronger Thursday morning after adding both Superman and the first-ever Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Fame inductee to its reserve officer squad.

Former Superman Dean Cain from the 1990s hit show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as well as UFC 1 champion and Hall of Fame inductee Royce Gracie took the oath and were sworn in as Pocatello police reserve officers during a Thursday morning ceremony at the Pocatello Police Department.

The Idaho State Journal spoke to Cain and Gracie on Wednesday evening during a firearms training in which both men shared their perspectives on various aspects of the current movement calling for the defunding of law enforcement agencies and their motivation for backing the men and women in blue during these tumultuous times.

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I grew up the grandson of a Navy commander and my uncle was a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, Cain said about his decision to become a reserve police officer. We had that military influence in the family and Ive always had that respect for the military, law enforcement and first responders. Ive always looked at them as heroes.

Moreover, Cain said as a former football player, he understands what its like to work under pressure.

But that is on a football field, Cain added. Police officers deal with life-and-death situations in real life every single day all the time. There are parallels between football players and police officers, but this is the big boy club. The opportunity to come up here, especially during this very tumultuous time, is an honor. Im humbled to get sworn in as a police officer here in Pocatello and be here to say, Listen, the men and women in blue are superheroes to me and they should be to you, too.

Gracie, a current resident of Los Angeles, said hes hopeful he can take some of the practices and training being implemented here in Southeast Idaho back to the men and women serving in the Golden State.

I love to help the police officers whenever I can, Gracie said. At home in LA, when I leave the house I surely hope the police know what they are doing so if I can help them out in any way, I will.

Cain and Gracie opted to become reserve Pocatello police officers via their participation in the CACF Foundation, which protects children from child predators, active shooters, bullying and teenage suicide. The program has become very popular with small agencies that need extra help and funding, according to its website.

Much like the sentiment of Pocatello Police Chief Roger Schei, Cain described the current movement to defund police departments, as a scary, scary proposition. In fact, Cain believes the opposite should be happening, in that law enforcement agencies throughout the country should be getting more money to provide additional funding for more rigorous training, especially the sort that involves teaching officers the practices involved with community-oriented policing.

The amount of training weve had in the last two days has been phenomenal, Cain said. If other officers throughout the country were trained like Chief Schei trains his guys here, I think wed be in a lot better shape as a police force in the nation.

Cain continued, The idea that people are vilifying the police is insane to me. I understand there is a groundswell for changing police policies but the way that Chief Schei does it here is the right way. This is a great example of unity and community policing. If we could implement what he is doing nationwide, I think we would be in a much better place. I am clearly making a point in joining now because the zeitgeist is going one way and it should be going the other way.

There are, however, aspects of the defund the police movement that Cain said he can support. For instance, Cain said he believes the use of social workers responding to calls involving those dealing with mental health issues could enhance the role of law enforcement agencies.

Social workers shouldnt replace police officers, but could enhance their roles is how I would describe it, Cain said. The mental health calls that these guys go on is never something they want to do. They are not specifically trained to handle these situations as if they are experts. Police officers deal with threats, they are not there to be a social worker, so if a social worker can take some of that load off the police officers hands, I think that is a great idea.

Cain said he doesnt support banning the use of chokeholds, primarily because the term itself can be deceptive. Cain said that its not the type of hold itself that should be scrutinized, but the training involved with teaching officers how to implement the hold and when to resort to such use of force.

When you say chokehold that is a very deceptive term, Cain said. We have Royce Gracie here who could choke me out in a heartbeat and in a safe manner. Id rather have Royce Gracie choke me out than knock me out, but police officers are trained to use a carotid hold, its not even a chokehold. You dont shut off a persons airway; you stop the blood flow to the brain, the person goes to sleep and they wake up in a minute. Chief Schei trains many ways to subdue a suspect without force and talks about it frequently. Its hard to say you are going to ban chokeholds because there are five different carotid holds you can do.

In speaking about why officers use carotid holds or neck restraints, Gracie added, Chokeholds are not the only way to subdue an opponent. There are maneuvers and locks to get a person to move from one point to another. The idea is to get the person in handcuffs, not to beat them up. In the first UFC, the order my father gave to me was to win without hurting your opponent. And that is in the UFC, the first sanctioned sport where men basically fight to the death. A sport where we are paid to rip each others heads off my dad told me he didnt want to see any blood. He told me to win without drawing blood and hurting your opponents.

Despite what appears to be a very fractured relationship between police and many of the people they swore an oath to protect and serve, Cain and Gracie are optimistic positive change will be the result of the current unrest.

I think there will be positive change because this is unprecedented, Cain said. This is a big, bad, ugly situation where police officers are being vilified and they shouldnt be, but maybe in the long run that will be a positive thing.

Gracie added, What I heard from the chief today, these guys are heading in the right direction. But they have been doing it right in this area for a long time already. This is not something new for them. Because one officer screws up doesnt mean that all of them are bad. We are all humans. We have to have trust in the system.

And so long as police officers continue to protect what Chief Schei describes as a gift, which is the level of bi-lateral trust between a law enforcement agency and the citizenry its promised to keep safe.

We need to continue to move forward, Schei said. We need to look at each other as humans, not for their race, religion, origin, orientation or a profession. You cant look at a group of people and judge them based on one person. My big thing is to protect the gift and what I mean by that is to protect the gift of trust that our community gives us. Because one guy did not protect the gift it has sent our country into a tailspin. And that infuriates me. We have to continue to get better and every day is a tryout. We cant take anything for granted.

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BACK THE BLUE: Former Superman, UFC Hall of Famer join PPD as reserve officers - Idaho State Journal

The Church is in danger. It is beset with doctrinal threats from the Social Justice Gospel and now physical threats as rioters desecrate our houses of worship.

Black Lives Matter leader Shaun King tweeted out his fatwa against any Christian art that doesnt meet with his approval. He said,

Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been. In the Bible, when the family of Jesus wanted to hide, and blend in, guess where they went? EGYPT! Not Denmark. Tear them downYes. All murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down. They are a gross form white supremacy. Created as tools of oppression. Racist propaganda. They should all come down.

One is tempted to go through a long discourse on the danger of this statement, but why? It is enough for us to all see the threat. If there is some private property these Marxists do not like then they will either take it or destroy it.

St. Johns Church in Washington, DC was vandalized last night. The church already suffered a fire during earlier riots in DC.

As ToddStarnes.com reported, Historic St. Johns Church has been hit by vandals. They desecrated the church by spray painting the words, BHAZ on the front columns. BHAZ stands for Black House Autonomous Zone.

And St. Johns is a liberal church.

Dont think selling out to Black Lives Matter or the Democrat Party will keep you safe. It wont.

They will do to you and your church what Xi Jinping is doing to churches in Chinatearing them down. And they will follow in Xis path to rewrite the Bible. (Xi is working to make Jesus and the Bible more acceptable to the socialism practiced by the Chinese Communist Party.)

This is a Revolution. And as Hannah Arendt explained, In theory as in practice, only a counter-movement, a contrervolution, could stop a revolutionary process which had become a law unto itself.

We need SBC leaders helping this forming contrervolution.

And where are Southern Baptist leaders? The Southern Baptist Elite are playing virtue signaling games. They surrender the Broadus Gavel and repeatedly utter their vain repetitions that black lives matter.

As if praying to the secular zeitgeist will help them.

Greear demanded Christians say black lives matter. He declared it a Gospel Issue. Of course, everyone believes black lives matter; however, there is the huge problem of the Black Lives Matter agenda.

SBC President Greear said he would retire the Broadus gavel, a little known artifact except to the few men who use it to bring to order or to end a session of the annual meeting of Southern Baptists, according to the Louisiana Baptist Message.

Talk about a useless, empty bit of virtue signaling.

While we are at it, Dr. John A. Broadus baptized Lottie Moon. Lottie Moons family owned slaves. Should we cancel the Lottie Moon offering too?

Oh wait, that might hit the bottom line. We already all know the answer to that.

We also know how the story ends and the Gates of Hell will not prevail. However, persecution and tribulation are promised to the church. Yet, we still should pray and do our best to seek a peaceful life (I Timothy 2:2). So, recognizing the very plots of antichrist to destroy and overwhelm the church in secular politics and culture is part of our Christian duty.

Why have so many SBC Elites failed in this duty?

Whatever the reasons, they have failed.

As Doug Wilson said yesterday: We need new leaders.

Wilson wrote, So what the evangelical world actually needs is a changing of the guard. We need new leadership. We need to identify those men who have been warning the evangelical world for decades about what is coming down the pike, and who have now been proven right. The old guard has been fooling around with tepid half-measures, and a little respectable growling here and there, but they have not seen and identified the threat for what it was. They have not been willing to see the threat for what it was all along.

It is time for new leaders. The SBC Elites have failed. Their feckless response to riots was to justify the lawlessness. No thanks.

We need real leaders.

And we need them before it is too late.

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ALERT: The Church in Danger - Capstone Report

But the Dewaele brothers didnt want to use it as an abstract effect, modulating other sounds. They wanted to make something musical: An album -- beats, bass, pads and all -- created entirely on the Synthi 100. Which is precisely what they did, Deewee Sessions is the result of their time with #30 and every single sound on the album comes from that machine. Albeit with a little help from modern technology.

I guess sort of the point of the album was to showcase what we think are the characteristics of the machine said Dewaele. The album is made up of six movements, three per side of the vinyl release. Movement 1 starts with a simple pulse tone. Its exactly the first sound you imagine would come out of such a machine, electronic, pure, almost sinister. But it doesnt take long before that tone starts to waver and dissolve into a cacophony of metallic, haunting and then soothing, throbbing sounds. The album is the sonic equivalent of shining light through a prism -- one sound seemingly contains all the sounds.

If youre familiar with Soulwaxs more electronic-led music (Nite Versions, for example), youll soon recognize their trademark earthy-futuristic sound. The first two movements of the album feel like a nod to the Synthi 100s prog-rock legacy, with a more abstract edge to them. Movement 3, however, is when moody, plodding basslines start to emerge, and something resembling a rhythm. Side B starts with another melodic breather for Movements 4 and 5, before the Dewaele brothers return to their higher-energy roots for the last, thumping, head-swirling act.

It would be bold to say that Deewee Sessions will be the last record to showcase the Synthi 100, but it almost certainly will be the last one entirely made with it -- the remaining specimens are dying. Sort of living? We only know of about 14 or 15. Dewaele said. And he should know after having been looking for one for at least the last 25 years. As he tells it, many ended up in similar institutions to IPEM, and for a while were not considered important or valuable and may have found their way into landfill. It's quite surprising that half of them are still around.

Even the one they made the album with, #30, wasnt fully working. Dewaele guessed at it being 75-percent functional when it arrived at their studio. Fortunately, IPEM had a staff member that cared deeply for it, and was overseeing its glacial restoration. A process that would continue during its relocation. He actually has an exact replica of the machine and even slotted the circuit boards in there, and could not get it to work. Dewaele said.

Given that Dewaele estimates there are over 7,000 combinations on the patchbay (that pipes signals between different components), and not everything was working, adopting the experimental spirit of the Synthi 100 wasnt just nostalgic, it was essential to get anything done. [The restoration problem] was actually a blessing in disguise, because what that opened up to us was like okay well knowing that doesn't work, why don't we really do what Peter Zinoviath imagined? Which is why don't we use modern technology.

So thats what they did. David and Stephen paired the Synthi 100 with gear from Expert Sleepers, a company that specializes in hardware and software that allows old synthesizers to be controlled by modern PCs. So you keep the sound and the idiosyncrasies of the machine, but it allows you to do it much more according to Dewaele.

Purists might be aghast that any modern equipment could be allowed in such a project, but Dewaele makes the case that this is actually more inline with the Synthi 100s futurist vision. For all its vintage feel, the Synthi 100 is technically a hybrid analog/digital system. Zinovieff essentially added a computer to it, albeit an incredibly basic one by todays standards. But despite the brothers future-forward approach, it was an anachronism too far for Zinovieff.

The brothers were keen to speak to the synths spiritual father, but it didnt go as planned. I guess, not surprisingly, Peter Zenoviath had no interest in revisiting the synth 100 or anything of the EMS stuff Dewaele said. Because there's so much more we can do with computers right now. He's an 80-something-year-old, still making avant garde computer music.

And here is where the two worlds combine (or compete?). On the one hand, theres a mini revival going on with the Synthi 100. It's cool because since we started making the album, there's been a little bit of a zeitgeist thing where there's one in Melbourne, there's one in Athens, there's one in Belgrade, and they've all had recent restorations. Dewaele added. And they're now in contact with all these people. So it's now become a lot more part of their repertoire, more than it was in 2016.

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Soulwax and the hunt for the EMS Synthi 100 - Engadget

By David Closson, Voices Contributor | Tuesday, June 23, 2020 Protesters gather in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., as it hears arguments on gender identity and workplace discrimination on October 08, 2019. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Our rapidly changing moral landscape presents a daunting challenge for Christians committed to biblical sexual ethics. The LGBT movement continues to challenge centuries of norms concerning the family, marriage, and human sexuality. And a recent Supreme Court decision means legal definitions and understanding regarding human sexuality are changing, too.

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Secular progressives often criticize conservative Christians for their alleged obsession with sexual ethics. But secular and progressive elites are increasingly forcing the issue, insisting everyone embrace their worldview and the full spectrum of LGBT policy positions or face social ostracizing, public shaming, loss of jobs, or other increasingly dire consequences. Those in positions of cultural and political influence are willing to use the coercive power of government to accomplish their political objectives. This was evident this week in the U.S. Senate as Democrats argued for the immediate passage of the Equality Act, legislation that represents one of the greatest threats to religious liberty ever introduced in Congress. It would gut our nations flagship religious liberty law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was passed nearly unanimously by Democrats and Republicans alike.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a 6-3 decision inBostock v. Clayton County. The majority ruled that employment discrimination on the basis of sex prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should be understood to include actions based on sexual orientation and gender identity. By reinterpreting the statue in this way, the Court essentially rewrote civil rights law.

Many conservatives were surprised by the decision and considered Justice Neil Gorsuchs majority opinion to be a betrayal of the originalist and textualist approach he had previously insisted guided his judicial philosophy. As both Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh pointed out in their respective dissents, the majority opinion authored by Gorsuch imposed a meaning that would have been foreign to those who authored the Civil Rights Act and ignored the plain meaning of the statute.

The consequences of theBostockdecision will play out for many years. In the immediate future, there are significant questions about how the ruling will affect religious liberty. Can religious institutions such as colleges and seminaries continue to have have sex-separated dormitories and housing? Are sex separated private spaces like bathrooms, locker rooms, and changing facilities now discriminatory? Will women athletes be forced to compete against biological males in both scholastic and professional sports? Will employers be forced to cover treatments and surgeries that are not medically necessary and that are in opposition to their religious beliefs on human embodiment?

Originalism and textualism are methods of interpreting the law. But as theologically conservative Christians, we hold to a form of originalism and textualism when reading and interpreting Scripture the historical grammatical method. In other words, we believe Gods Word is authoritative, infallible, and inerrant. Because the Bible is breathed out by God, followers of Christ are called to obey and align their lives with it (2 Tim. 3:16). In order to obey and align our lives with the Bible, we must read and interpret it.

The historical grammatical method of interpretation means we take seriously the grammar and syntax of the words and phrases that appear in the Bible because we want to know what the text says and what it means. We also want to place the text in its historical context. The Bible was written in a culture that is very different than our own. To understand many of the stories, we need some understanding of the ancient world in which it took place. Although this process of reading the Bible takes effort, there is no other faithful way to read Scripture.

As theologically conservative Christians, we know our views on marriage and sexuality are increasingly unfashionable and go against the cultural zeitgeist. But we hold to these views anyway, because we believe the Bibles teachings about marriage and human sexuality are clear.

Transgender activists posit a distinction between the biological reality of sex and the subjective, internal feeling of gender identity. The biblical worldview, however, affirms the goodness of the material creation and the human body. In fact, the doctrines of creation, incarnation, and bodily resurrection provide strong theological affirmation of our physical bodies. Genesis 1:31 says that everything God created, including the human body, is very good. In other words, our bodies (including our maleness or femaleness) are essential, integral components of who we are.

In a world disordered by the fall, the goodness of the body may be difficult for many to affirm, and the church should show grace to those who struggle with accepting their bodies. But Christians must also speak the truth in love and stand on our convictions, which biology and anatomy support.

Christians cannot and should not compromise their Bible-informed beliefs about human sexuality. Why? Because we believe in the authority of Gods Word. And because we believe the Bibles teachings are what is best for society and individual flourishing.

The real reason theologically conservative Christians disapprove of the LGBT movement has nothing to do with wanting to deny people rights or oppressing a group of people. Our convictions come from our compassion for them and our concern about the consequences of certain chosen behaviors. Both the Old and New Testaments prohibit homosexual conduct, and since God created us male and female (Gen. 1:27), we have no right to recreate ourselves any more than the clay has the right to tell the potter what to do (Is. 45:9).

As evidenced by the muted outcry to the Supreme Courts decision on Monday even among many conservative groups conservative Christians are increasingly on the periphery when it comes to our convictions on human sexuality. Christians, especially pastors, will continue to face mounting pressure to compromise or at least downplay the Bibles teaching on marriage and sexuality. However, we cannot compromise our beliefs because we are committed to Scripture. While the Courts decision is deeply discouraging, we do not give up. We know that we are advocating and fighting for timeless truths revealed to us in Scripture.

So, let us continue to articulate a biblically robust, theologically informed perspective on how Christians think about the major issues facing our nation in order to promote the true flourishing of individuals and of society.

David Closson is the Director of Christian Ethics and Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council.

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Why Bostock will never have the final word on human sexuality - Christian Post

Statues are falling, conversations are changing. Were in the middle of a much anticipated cultural revolution and its becoming clear that our perception of the world is beyond faulty. Amid those changes, even the ostensibly progressive creative industries are finally recognising their roles in building a flawed system. The Grammys have finally renamed their Urban Contemporary category in an attempt to stop the racial profiling of artists, and even Anna Wintour herself has apologised for the lack of support she has given to Black voices over her 32-year tenure at Vogue.

In place of London Fashion Week Mens, which was supposed to take place this past weekend, the British Fashion Council organised a three-day digital residency programme which saw designers being given a timeslot to showcase their creative output. Some hosted panel discussions, others streamed films, VR presentations and even live gigs. Keeping the conversation relevant to whats happening in the real world, many responded to the Black Lives Matter movement, with the BFCs own programming for #LFWReset focused on amplifying BAME voices.

Joe Casely-Hayford AW95

These are all important gestures of support to creatives that have so often been overlooked, but the obvious question is -- what about those that have already fallen victim to a corrupt system? Just like in general educational curricula, the presence of Black folk in fashion literature is sparse and ambiguous, to say the least. At the Royal College of Art, when we had a brief introduction to the history of fashion, Black designers contributions to history were never really mentioned, remembers Saul Nash, the Hackney-born designer and dancer, and current Fashion East recipient.

One name that may not have made it onto RCAs fashion history reading list, but has played a definitive role in establishing London as a major fashion capital is Joe Casely-Hayford. Born in Kent in 1956 into a line of influential Ghanaian creative polymaths, Joe was one of the first Black British fashion designers to attain mainstream success. After graduating from Saint Martin's School of Art in 1979, he started his career in the early 80s by upcycling surplus military tents into garments, before teaming up with his wife Maria to launch a namesake brand which originally specialised in shirting. His work in both menswear and womenswear earned him multiple nominations at the British Fashion Awards, as well as a broad fanbase that included everyone from Princess Diana to Lou Reed. A lot of people had the issue that they couldnt pigeon-hole him, everyone was always quite quick to make assumptions because of the colour of his skin. But his breadth of talent, which extended in so many different ways, made it impossible to define him as just one thing, explains Charlie Casely-Hayford, Joes son who took over their joint business upon his fathers passing in 2019.

Joe Casely Hayford SS99

Joe was the first-ever designer to design a capsule collection for Topshop back in 1995, and was involved in a whole range of creative ventures including the design of The Barbicans seminal exhibition on the art of African textiles that same year. A decade later, he became the creative director of the heritage Savile Row tailoring brand Gieves & Hawkes, and in 2009, joined arms with his stylist-designer-model son to launch Casely-Hayford. This new brand brought together Joes decades of experience and trailblazing with Charlies new perspective, creating a cross-generational approach to a refined wardrobe. Our collections were an extension of conversations weve been having for years, and thats how we would always design, says Charlie, whose parents never really encouraged him to work in fashion. A large part of that was down to the struggles that he had in the industry, he didnt want his kids to go through the same thing. Still, both my sister [Alice Casely-Hayford, Net-A-Porter & Porter Magazine Content Director] and I ended up in fashion.

When Louis Vuitton first announced Virgil Abloh as its menswear artistic director, he became the first African-American man to head an LVMH-backed brand. Last year, Rihanna was named the Black woman to launch her own brand with the support of the French conglomerate. But before Virgil and Riri, there was Ozwald Boateng. Appointed as the artistic director of Givenchys men's division in 2003, the London-native self-taught designer of Ghanaian descent became the first-ever Black person to head the design team of a French Maison. His appointment didnt come out of nowhere, though -- for two decades beforehand, Ozwald has steadily built a tailoring empire with his signature vivid colours and decorative fabrics, often paying homage to his heritage by elevating classic tailoring with elements of traditional dress.

Oswald Boateng AW96

He created bespoke costumes for some legendary films and TV show -- including some of those outrageous suits Carries BFF Stanford Blatch wore on Sex and The City. Ozwald was a fixture of 00s zeitgeist, but just as he was preparing to take over America, the atmosphere shifted. His vibrant hues and boxy cuts went out of style, swapped out for the outr sex-appeal of exposed chests and slim-fit shirts. The industry quickly forgot about all the barriers he broke. Business declined, global stores were closed, and magazines and newspapers decided to exchange the figure of a confident party boy for an arrogant, out-of-touch man. The Guardian gave his self-produced documentary, A Mans Story, one star, while GQ put him top of their 2014 Worst Dressed list. Thats nine places above Nigel Farage. Long before the overflowing of kindness, the industrys message was clear [read in Heidi Klums voice] one day youre in and the next day youre out.

While he may have been absent from recent fashion week schedules, Ozwalds influence is everywhere. He remains the only Black-owned business on Savile Row, and last year, he hosted a show in New Yorks Apollo Theatre in honour of the 100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance.

Indeed, a key issue in the industry remains the lack of a visible presence of Back folk in both business and creative positions in the industry, showing the next generation they too can one day take the helm. This has, however, slowly changed in recent years, as designers like Martine Rose, Nicholas Daley, Wales Bonner and Samuel Ross have picked up the torch and run full-speed ahead into creating successful businesses.

Martine Rose AW20

A South Londoner with her HQ in Tottenham, Martine launched her much-loved eponymous label in 2009 and has regularly collaborated with brands like Napapijri and Nike. Over the past decade, she has been a defining figure in developing what some might define as streetwear but is in fact just a resolutely contemporary take on ready-to-wear. Proving her influence beyond her own brand, Martine became a menswear consultant for Balenciaga when Demna Gvasalia took over the creative direction, a stint she recently finished after three years.

While the consultant role is one that has increasingly been offered to Black figures in fashion whether as collaborative artists or members of diversity panels rarely have they been offered the most lucrative roles.

Diors Resort 2020 show in Morocco came under plenty of criticism when they revealed its theme to be common ground, presenting luxury interpretations of elements of traditional garments from across the African continent. To justify the move, Maria Grazia Chiuri surrounded herself with collaborators who had authority on the subject, including anthropologists, African artists and textile specialists, as well as London-born Grace Wales Bonner. She began her career in 2014 with her CSM graduate collection titled Afrique. An intellectual approach to exploring Black identity in the context of contemporary menswear was quickly defined as her brands core and her immaculate execution made her an industry favourite. Since then, she has won just about every fashion prize out there, curated her own exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, and had Meghan Markle wear a custom Grace Wales Bonner design. PS. Shes 29.

A-COLD-WALL* AW20

Her fellow fashion award darling is Samuel Ross who has had quite an unorthodox experience of getting to the turnover of 12m his brand A-COLD-WALL* hit last year. Originally from Northamptonshire, he studied graphic design and illustration at De Montfort University in Leicester before being taken under Virgil Ablohs wing, assisting him on Off-White as well as on Kanye Wests Yeezy line. In 2015, he finally launched a brand of his own. Fortunately, my home fostered an incredibly creative environment, with memories such as building cameras with my father, discussing architecture, Apple products and visiting computer fairs, Samuel shares.

His conceptual approach to garments as design objects was routinely labelled as streetwear from the beginning. While this term first entered the mainstream fashion vernacular in the 90s, its overuse can almost exclusively be traced to Louis Vuittons AW17 menswear show which debuted Kim Jones infamous Supreme collaboration. In some ways, streetwear has become fashions version of urban -- a catch-all term for all non-white style identities. It's a coded term, a lazy term. Its quite tiresome, and illogical too. To be direct, it often reflects a lack of sensitivity and understanding displayed by the author, Samuel says.

Nicholas Daley SS20. Photography Piczo

Another designer using their platform to spotlight other Black creatives is Nicholas Daley, who established the multi-sensory potential of garments at his CSM graduate show in 2013. Bringing together the influences his Jamaican father and Scottish mother instilled in him growing up, Nicholas asked legendary musician and artist Don Letts to walk in his graduate show. He was really interesting, because of the way he blended punk-rock with reggae music, he says. His shows blend together fashion with live music by performers from Nicholas own creative community. I see fashion as a vehicle for saying so much more. Its the three Cs -- community, craftsmanship and culture -- that are the backbone of what my brand is about.

Proof of recent progress in terms of the representation of Black voices on the fashion week schedule comes in the new wave of emerging menswear designers exploring their multi-cultural backgrounds and complex definitions of British-ness. Priya Ahluwalia consistently merges her dual Indian and Nigerian heritage in both the techniques employed in the production of the garments and their presentation. With a sustainable outlook which includes reworking existing garments and textiles that would otherwise end up in landfill, Priya continues to build the puzzle of her past by creating the fashion of the future. Ahluwalias most recent project is a Jalebi, a photography book which captures Britains first Punjabi community in Southall through the lens of Laurence Ellis. The best thing about London is the accessibility there are so many talented people, as well as suppliers and manufacturers which helps with the process of collaboration, says Priya.

Bianca Saunders SS20. Photography Ronan McKenzie

Also based in South London, Bianca Saunders work focuses on introducing subtly feminine elements to templates of Black masculinity, a theme she originally found by looking at yardie dancehall culture during her MA at RCA. It was about the way some Jamaican men choose to groom from shaping their eyebrows to the upkeep of hair, she explains. Appearance was key to presenting themselves. For Black History Month in November 2019, Bianca curated a show in the stalls of Brixton Village, with some of the photographs by Ronan McKenzie starring her own family wearing Bianca Saunders SS20. Her latest presentation was one of the standout moments of London Fashion Week Mens AW20, as she staged a presentation in which models danced in her fluid, modern tailoring at 9:30am.

The person behind the choreography was Saul Nash, a close friend of Biancas, who himself also creates garments that blend performance and fashion and focuses on the way clothes move. He recognises the big shift in the mentality of the designers which has helped create this network: Were now entering a generation where its not about elbowing each other to get to the top, but its about understanding that were all different and trying to understand how we can work together to get through it.

According to a 2018 report by University of the Arts London, 47% of the students across their five universities (London College of Fashion, Central Saint Martins, Camberwell College of Arts, London College of Communications and Chelsea College of Arts) come from BAME backgrounds. Among them is Cameron Williams, a graduate of this years CSM MA class whose final collection stood out for its explicit yet subversive interpretation of his familys West African heritage. He titled both the outing and his new-found brand Nuba, after a somewhat derogatory name, given to generalise the Nilotic tribes of the Nuba Mountains of Sudan by Arab traders and settlers throughout history.

Cameron Williams AW20. Photography Sharmaarke Ali Adan. Direction Jebi Labembika

For his graduate collection Cameron drew influence from his ancestry by combining the indigenous influences of sculptural wrapping and frugal functionality, with the urban streetwear influences of my surroundings. Its what he defines as an ideal of survival fashion. His plans for the years to come? Funding is also an important factor for me, which I see becoming more accessible as Black-owned businesses within art and fashion are providing financial grants to others, endorsing the progress of upcoming Black professionals. The aim for the near future is to develop into a cultural entity that promotes a world without tokenism, fetishism or colourism, and changes our approach to the understanding of indigenous cultures.

Clearly, there are so many changes that still need to be made, but the sole responsibility [shouldnt] be on Black-owned brands to make these changes, Charlie Casely-Hayford says. Instead, we need to look at structures and how to create a culture of belonging, which means integrating a deeper understanding through the corporate structure -- this includes looking at executive boards and people behind the scenes. The idea of just having a Black model just isnt enough anymore as that wont make a difference on a deeper level.

One thing I have realised recently is how closely my following watches me and absorbs everything I do and say, Bianca adds. As designers, we have this platform to reach a very engaged audience of young fans coming through, we have the power to influence for the better. Hopefully, some of that power will in the future be amplified by those that are already on the top of the pyramid. Whats indisputable in our industry today is the imbalance between the contribution Black fashion designers have made to building contemporary fashion and the attention their work has been given. Instead of just sitting on advisory boards and offering their experiences as consultants, there need to be more Black voices guiding the industry from its highest seats. If it werent for those that came before, the fashion landscape we so deeply cherish would be a pale imitation of what it is today.

Joe Casely-Hayford SS01

Credits

All imagery courtesy of the credited designers

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Where would menswear be without Black British designers? - i-D

Sky Movies placed a warning on the Disney remake letting viewers know that they might be offended by a childrens film. If I had three wishes for corporate wokeness they would be stop, stop and please, please, please stop.

Life comes at you fast, as the kids say, but it apparently hurtles towards you at the speed of sound, if youre Sky Movies. The entertainment provider has taken to putting warnings on films that display outdated attitudes and cultural depictions which may cause offence today and this apparently includes the Aladdin adaptation that came out last year.

Im just about old enough to remember the dim and distant days of May 2019, when the Guy Ritchie offering received its cinematic release. A very dark time for the movie industry, replete with hideous racism. I mean how could anyone watching this remake of the 1992 animation, with its virtually entirely ethnic-minority casting, not conclude it was an obvious racist dog whistle?

Will Smith can only have taken the role of the genie because he wanted to mock the Middle East. Ritchie himself was clearly trying to sneak his deep-seated contempt for Arabs into the cultural zeitgeist by implying they all ride magic carpets, believe in jinn, and frequently and spontaneously burst into song. Frankly, how Disney ever signed off on the project is staggering, now we view it through the enlightened eyes of 2020. How anyone can look back on what we thought was acceptable 13 months ago with anything but a mixture of horror and disgust is beyond me.

Personally, Im shocked that it got away with a PG (Parental Guidance) rating at the time. How on earth could the British Board of Film Classification possibly have thought it acceptable for children to watch a blue Will Smith dance around in a spangly turban? Those poor kids must either have been scarred for life or will have to undergo extensive re-education. I mean, the only appropriate solution for any child whose parents took them to the cinema to see Aladdin is that they should be immediately taken into care to stop them from growing up to be white supremacists.

And Aladdin isnt the only movie that Sky is warning us has outdated attitudes. Aliens obviously does (though those views are presumably outdated because its set in the future, so humanity hasnt had a chance to develop them yet), and The Jungle Book remake from 2016 carries the warning, too, as do Flash Gordon and Trading Places. Tropic Thunder and White Chicks also both bear the advisory, perhaps for more obvious reasons, but both of those movies are still less than 20 years old and stirred up no controversy at the time, being widely praised as great comedies.

Obviously, this all started with the Gone with the Wind debacle, which also fell foul of the outdated attitudes warning on Sky, having been pulled altogether by HBO last week for the same reason. But while that movie which, incidentally, provided the role that earned the first Oscar for a black actress, in the shape of Hattie McDaniel was made in 1939, whereas Aladdin was made last year. Woke madness is currently rocketing through time at a rate previously achieved only by Marty McFly.

Bizarrely, neither 12 Years a Slave nor Django Unchained have been slapped with this warning, despite literally being about slavery and both containing dialogue that virtually uses the n-word as a form of punctuation.

This nonsense needs to stop. It makes the entire woke brigade look ridiculous. How can you expect anyone to believe your movement isnt operating some kind of year zero approach to the world when its terrifying corporations into slapping outdated attitudes trigger warnings on childrens films from the previous calendar year? Aladdin is a light-hearted Disney musical, not Birth of a Nation or Triumph of the Will, and even if it were, watching movies doesnt make someone a racist. Erasing the past is bad enough erasing yesterday is completely insane.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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A woke new world: Who deemed the outdated attitudes on display in 2019s Aladdin movie unacceptable in 2020? - RT