-- https://www.phpmyadmin.net/
--

START TRANSACTION;



--
-- Database: `tst_django_final`
--

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `auth_group`
--

CREATE TABLE `auth_group` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `name` varchar(150) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `auth_group_permissions`
--

CREATE TABLE `auth_group_permissions` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `group_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `permission_id` int(11) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `auth_permission`
--

CREATE TABLE `auth_permission` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `content_type_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `codename` varchar(100) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

--
-- Dumping data for table `auth_permission`
--

INSERT INTO `auth_permission` (`id`, `name`, `content_type_id`, `codename`) VALUES
(1, 'Can add user', 1, 'add_user'),
(2, 'Can change user', 1, 'change_user'),
(3, 'Can delete user', 1, 'delete_user'),
(4, 'Can view user', 1, 'view_user'),
(5, 'Can add feed list', 2, 'add_feedlist'),
(6, 'Can change feed list', 2, 'change_feedlist'),
(7, 'Can delete feed list', 2, 'delete_feedlist'),
(8, 'Can view feed list', 2, 'view_feedlist'),
(9, 'Can add 9 feeds', 2, 'add_feed_9'),
(10, 'Can add 6 feeds', 2, 'add_feed_6'),
(11, 'Can add 3 feeds', 2, 'add_feed_3'),
(12, 'Can add url list', 3, 'add_urllist'),
(13, 'Can change url list', 3, 'change_urllist'),
(14, 'Can delete url list', 3, 'delete_urllist'),
(15, 'Can view url list', 3, 'view_urllist'),
(16, 'Can add 15 urls', 3, 'add_url_15'),
(17, 'Can add 10 urls', 3, 'add_url_10'),
(18, 'Can add 5 urls', 3, 'add_url_5'),
(19, 'Can add api key list', 4, 'add_apikeylist'),
(20, 'Can change api key list', 4, 'change_apikeylist'),
(21, 'Can delete api key list', 4, 'delete_apikeylist'),
(22, 'Can view api key list', 4, 'view_apikeylist'),
(23, 'Can add rss feed', 5, 'add_rssfeed'),
(24, 'Can change rss feed', 5, 'change_rssfeed'),
(25, 'Can delete rss feed', 5, 'delete_rssfeed'),
(26, 'Can view rss feed', 5, 'view_rssfeed'),
(27, 'Can add log entry', 6, 'add_logentry'),
(28, 'Can change log entry', 6, 'change_logentry'),
(29, 'Can delete log entry', 6, 'delete_logentry'),
(30, 'Can view log entry', 6, 'view_logentry'),
(31, 'Can add permission', 7, 'add_permission'),
(32, 'Can change permission', 7, 'change_permission'),
(33, 'Can delete permission', 7, 'delete_permission'),
(34, 'Can view permission', 7, 'view_permission'),
(35, 'Can add group', 8, 'add_group'),
(36, 'Can change group', 8, 'change_group'),
(37, 'Can delete group', 8, 'delete_group'),
(38, 'Can view group', 8, 'view_group'),
(39, 'Can add content type', 9, 'add_contenttype'),
(40, 'Can change content type', 9, 'change_contenttype'),
(41, 'Can delete content type', 9, 'delete_contenttype'),
(42, 'Can view content type', 9, 'view_contenttype'),
(43, 'Can add session', 10, 'add_session'),
(44, 'Can change session', 10, 'change_session'),
(45, 'Can delete session', 10, 'delete_session'),
(46, 'Can view session', 10, 'view_session'),
(47, 'Can add ref code', 11, 'add_refcode'),
(48, 'Can change ref code', 11, 'change_refcode'),
(49, 'Can delete ref code', 11, 'delete_refcode'),
(50, 'Can view ref code', 11, 'view_refcode');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `django_admin_log`
--

CREATE TABLE `django_admin_log` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `action_time` datetime(6) NOT NULL,
  `object_id` longtext DEFAULT NULL,
  `object_repr` varchar(200) NOT NULL,
  `action_flag` smallint(5) UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
  `change_message` longtext NOT NULL,
  `content_type_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
  `user_id` char(32) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `django_content_type`
--

CREATE TABLE `django_content_type` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `app_label` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
  `model` varchar(100) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

--
-- Dumping data for table `django_content_type`
--

INSERT INTO `django_content_type` (`id`, `app_label`, `model`) VALUES
(6, 'admin', 'logentry'),
(8, 'auth', 'group'),
(7, 'auth', 'permission'),
(9, 'contenttypes', 'contenttype'),
(4, 'main', 'apikeylist'),
(2, 'main', 'feedlist'),
(11, 'main', 'refcode'),
(3, 'main', 'urllist'),
(1, 'main', 'user'),
(5, 'rss', 'rssfeed'),
(10, 'sessions', 'session');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `django_migrations`
--

CREATE TABLE `django_migrations` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `app` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `applied` datetime(6) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

--
-- Dumping data for table `django_migrations`
--

INSERT INTO `django_migrations` (`id`, `app`, `name`, `applied`) VALUES
(1, 'contenttypes', '0001_initial', '2020-12-24 09:32:09.961385'),
(2, 'contenttypes', '0002_remove_content_type_name', '2020-12-24 09:32:10.816050'),
(3, 'auth', '0001_initial', '2020-12-24 09:32:12.361478'),
(4, 'auth', '0002_alter_permission_name_max_length', '2020-12-24 09:32:14.519509'),
(5, 'auth', '0003_alter_user_email_max_length', '2020-12-24 09:32:14.537770'),
(6, 'auth', '0004_alter_user_username_opts', '2020-12-24 09:32:14.567828'),
(7, 'auth', '0005_alter_user_last_login_null', '2020-12-24 09:32:14.592745'),
(8, 'auth', '0006_require_contenttypes_0002', '2020-12-24 09:32:14.645184'),
(9, 'auth', '0007_alter_validators_add_error_messages', '2020-12-24 09:32:14.666522'),
(10, 'auth', '0008_alter_user_username_max_length', '2020-12-24 09:32:14.693863'),
(11, 'auth', '0009_alter_user_last_name_max_length', '2020-12-24 09:32:14.722787'),
(12, 'auth', '0010_alter_group_name_max_length', '2020-12-24 09:32:14.791651'),
(13, 'auth', '0011_update_proxy_permissions', '2020-12-24 09:32:14.811542'),
(14, 'main', '0001_initial', '2020-12-24 09:32:16.149924'),
(15, 'admin', '0001_initial', '2020-12-24 09:32:23.270632'),
(16, 'admin', '0002_logentry_remove_auto_add', '2020-12-24 09:32:25.695384'),
(17, 'admin', '0003_logentry_add_action_flag_choices', '2020-12-24 09:32:25.740273'),
(18, 'admin', '0004_auto_20200801_1035', '2020-12-24 09:32:26.864331'),
(19, 'admin', '0005_auto_20200801_1203', '2020-12-24 09:32:28.076377'),
(20, 'main', '0002_user_referral_code', '2020-12-24 09:32:28.225151'),
(21, 'main', '0003_refcode', '2020-12-24 09:32:28.591804'),
(22, 'main', '0004_urllist_status', '2020-12-24 09:32:29.174487'),
(23, 'main', '0005_user_gen_ref_code', '2020-12-24 09:32:29.349707'),
(24, 'main', '0006_auto_20201223_1602', '2020-12-24 09:32:29.476175'),
(25, 'main', '0007_auto_20201223_1603', '2020-12-24 09:32:29.638716'),
(26, 'rss', '0001_initial', '2020-12-24 09:32:30.282280'),
(27, 'sessions', '0001_initial', '2020-12-24 09:32:31.636292');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `django_session`
--

CREATE TABLE `django_session` (
  `session_key` varchar(40) NOT NULL,
  `session_data` longtext NOT NULL,
  `expire_date` datetime(6) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

--
-- Dumping data for table `django_session`
--

INSERT INTO `django_session` (`session_key`, `session_data`, `expire_date`) VALUES
('1cfcj7webjwh6192fx7sxm4xmkuscq8p', 'ODgyMzU3MTFlMDgxOTk2ZDM0YjRmZmI1NzQ3MDA4YTUxZTQzMmIxZjp7Il9hdXRoX3VzZXJfaWQiOiI0MTY1NjJiZS02N2NhLTQ5NWEtOGI3My02MGEzZDMyYjk2NGIiLCJfYXV0aF91c2VyX2JhY2tlbmQiOiJkamFuZ28uY29udHJpYi5hdXRoLmJhY2tlbmRzLk1vZGVsQmFja2VuZCIsIl9hdXRoX3VzZXJfaGFzaCI6IjkzNGY0YWIwMGQ3NjZjM2RjYzA5NGE4MzI3NTE0MWQxYTRjODZiMDUiLCJ1aWQiOiJsaXNhIn0=', '2021-01-04 06:45:09.642000'),
('3fuvewz0jtvku3n53qbfa9ktk07tax95', 'MjI3NjdjNzllMjZlYTM4NTE4Zjc2OTYyY2IzYzZlZTMyMTc2ZWYyYjp7Il9hdXRoX3VzZXJfaWQiOiJkMDBhMDU1Mi00OGMwLTQ4NjMtYWMxZS03YzA4M2Q3MTc0NjgiLCJfYXV0aF91c2VyX2JhY2tlbmQiOiJkamFuZ28uY29udHJpYi5hdXRoLmJhY2tlbmRzLk1vZGVsQmFja2VuZCIsIl9hdXRoX3VzZXJfaGFzaCI6IjVhZGNmOGNmN2JhYTc1YTc2NjBkM2EyN2ViZjVlYWRmYzE5NzRjY2EifQ==', '2020-12-26 14:38:16.177000'),
('4ox87ertdu45rt9c5ujjqjm6qhg1istn', 'YTgzNzU2MDZlM2ZiZDdmMWVkYWM4NGNhM2I1OTUxNzFiM2M4ZDZhYzp7fQ==', '2021-01-01 08:30:48.809000'),
('94wxmsb26qyyuf9zuxyg0k21velnpevr', 'YTgzNzU2MDZlM2ZiZDdmMWVkYWM4NGNhM2I1OTUxNzFiM2M4ZDZhYzp7fQ==', '2021-01-01 08:31:30.488000'),
('bgnpgrohb9dmq6p7uzrjotqer97mo5uk', 'YTgzNzU2MDZlM2ZiZDdmMWVkYWM4NGNhM2I1OTUxNzFiM2M4ZDZhYzp7fQ==', '2021-01-01 07:45:10.364000'),
('emqsu4a8ag8jfonlascgfnucwzrx3dci', 'YTgzNzU2MDZlM2ZiZDdmMWVkYWM4NGNhM2I1OTUxNzFiM2M4ZDZhYzp7fQ==', '2021-01-01 07:43:20.218000'),
('ix70wzhuwmqko7ytxbcan65ja4c1vwdn', 'YTgzNzU2MDZlM2ZiZDdmMWVkYWM4NGNhM2I1OTUxNzFiM2M4ZDZhYzp7fQ==', '2021-01-01 07:51:45.359000'),
('m4me6g031ouxny0gunftpb6g3gbsdg4j', 'NDY3NzZjZGMzMmY2NWEwMjJkY2VjMjE3YTFmMzdkODBiNDQzNWM1Yjp7Il9hdXRoX3VzZXJfaWQiOiI2YzEwOGQyYi03N2VkLTQ2NjAtOTNkNC0zN2UwN2U1YTZiY2IiLCJfYXV0aF91c2VyX2JhY2tlbmQiOiJkamFuZ28uY29udHJpYi5hdXRoLmJhY2tlbmRzLk1vZGVsQmFja2VuZCIsIl9hdXRoX3VzZXJfaGFzaCI6ImFjMDMxYWMyZTBlYTRlNmE0YWIzY2MzOGY5MTg2ZTY2NTM2M2I1NWQiLCJ1aWQiOiJjaHJpcyJ9', '2021-01-05 07:38:09.719000'),
('qgpyz9k2zxpg233ngcqoavgpjgf6itwr', 'MGI5ZTE4Mjk3ODU2NGNlY2QzM2U0NzQ4NGZiYWMwMDhjN2I0ZWMxNjp7Il9hdXRoX3VzZXJfaWQiOiIzYjc2ZTkwNS05MThmLTQ3MGYtYmRhMi0yMTk3YjE4NzA1ZmMiLCJfYXV0aF91c2VyX2JhY2tlbmQiOiJkamFuZ28uY29udHJpYi5hdXRoLmJhY2tlbmRzLk1vZGVsQmFja2VuZCIsIl9hdXRoX3VzZXJfaGFzaCI6Ijk0ZjcyNWZjMjZmNWNlM2ZmYzQxODAzOTIxODIxYzg0ZTAzNzQ5OWYiLCJ1aWQiOiJhbnUifQ==', '2021-01-04 08:25:49.458000'),
('ufktaf6aqvvuc95fe7crpcvz3lvt3m9z', 'YTgzNzU2MDZlM2ZiZDdmMWVkYWM4NGNhM2I1OTUxNzFiM2M4ZDZhYzp7fQ==', '2021-01-01 07:45:54.777000'),
('wfaz7l6to26n1qzos230b7pcn0mfcfev', 'ODY0MDQ3MzU4MjRmMzFkMzVlOWI4OWFjZjRiNWQ5ZGJmNjc1OGIwZDp7Il9hdXRoX3VzZXJfaWQiOiJiZGZmNGRjZi1iNWUyLTRmMWMtYWQ0Mi1hYTY2ODEwMDU2ZjUiLCJfYXV0aF91c2VyX2JhY2tlbmQiOiJkamFuZ28uY29udHJpYi5hdXRoLmJhY2tlbmRzLk1vZGVsQmFja2VuZCIsIl9hdXRoX3VzZXJfaGFzaCI6ImI0YjQ5YWJhN2NjMWI3ZmYyMzNhNTc4NWU2Y2E1ODIzMGFhNzI0NzgifQ==', '2020-12-30 15:18:31.746000'),
('zdme4jg70m46l0sp5dx8a2tqakdupow6', 'YTgzNzU2MDZlM2ZiZDdmMWVkYWM4NGNhM2I1OTUxNzFiM2M4ZDZhYzp7fQ==', '2021-01-01 07:50:46.428000'),
('zvh3mayttvdw0sgnwoicn2yj8xi0rk39', 'YTgzNzU2MDZlM2ZiZDdmMWVkYWM4NGNhM2I1OTUxNzFiM2M4ZDZhYzp7fQ==', '2021-01-01 07:46:44.506000');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `main_apikeylist`
--

CREATE TABLE `main_apikeylist` (
  `api_key` char(32) NOT NULL,
  `secret_key` char(32) NOT NULL,
  `created_at` datetime(6) NOT NULL,
  `is_active` tinyint(1) NOT NULL,
  `userid_id` char(32) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

--
-- Dumping data for table `main_apikeylist`
--

INSERT INTO `main_apikeylist` (`api_key`, `secret_key`, `created_at`, `is_active`, `userid_id`) VALUES
('06bc729c07b04b39b3f96de84c164612', '268c93e62aa746e3bb18fafa81ec25a7', '2020-12-21 06:12:16.720000', 0, '416562be67ca495a8b7360a3d32b964b'),
('1338b98f2736432c85d12f88c4606a57', 'f33d227848d1430f9a65bf3bf3273632', '2020-12-21 08:36:25.351000', 0, 'e10cfbc2230c43109414b442708f797b'),
('19ed892e455846dda998a0f570fc658f', '449c920b66964459982c70974824fc7e', '2020-12-23 10:52:42.992000', 0, '5bc686e9f04b4fc3a703a8270da29c71'),
('3c968767d6f74bf2a3b809b77babeab3', '3bc65b4b7dc04b2bbaedbdb907239570', '2020-12-21 09:25:25.685000', 0, '9abcf7d267444161b1aa710fdef67116'),
('3d65c319d1f64f71872803d47048479a', 'aad47e1a61864c9e9102005c2a7c9b53', '2020-12-21 06:20:46.198000', 0, 'ee6707c6eb0e487db743d3734d8eab4a'),
('445997e3d69b46faa3ae8a740147cff3', 'c799dadf5e4d47219b04a83f9e0cf1c2', '2020-12-22 17:38:13.965000', 0, 'c3d8ec0002334b0a89832a44c85df83f'),
('4c8ef308995f4fbebca1895721afd67a', '990bd33b95844593b65df5395527280b', '2020-12-21 08:24:34.734000', 0, '3b76e905918f470fbda22197b18705fc'),
('52a17eddef244beaa29084d787d6831c', '07bca591715b458d945eea8df6e0debc', '2020-12-22 17:35:24.981000', 0, '9252cc82aa814c779426c0667f4eaa9f'),
('90f70575ee6f409aa51f296ccc80add4', '22716d5be65d41bd8b0c58be3df24a20', '2020-12-21 06:27:24.158000', 0, '5e6ba78fce9c40f58cabd814f4d58bcc'),
('94fb0d2270e1457e8294daae587eedda', 'e649f3c67fbb4e9ea3123979395043f3', '2020-12-21 09:14:27.541000', 0, '428cfce44cce45d9a890f5fead4f5c31'),
('a41b32a0160845c786376d2394b7edc4', '014b5b7db48f4165963d5bcfedbeef97', '2020-12-24 05:28:37.869000', 0, 'f2a61977884f4aa68dc451ba54c1c242'),
('bd7619601f4a45d4aa4c3ce893f33160', '60b1c11df1cd488e94594228505cc975', '2020-12-23 11:18:09.912000', 0, 'ffc87295386c4934b8284edf59256e56'),
('bdf2bd2984f241d89843697a2e408f24', 'd5075dfcbd49458cb520d9487049f1b9', '2020-12-21 06:18:23.333000', 0, '32e52415c6a44b4084d8dfe01e72f3c9'),
('c1f5b018f9fb4732878fddc0df258855', '324566174bd14791855dc52224c6c03f', '2020-12-21 08:27:22.783000', 0, '853ea23a166b4472a20b9239c5a65b99'),
('c23a6f817c644a00ae79df78c9db6675', 'a3ea46e5ef4c4d9da5df399321762226', '2020-12-19 14:00:15.481000', 0, '118c1f99637e49128d6144e25accaa47'),
('cc53990c6ace425f8c4d16bdb720b6a6', '4ae103afb19941aba17bb25e2c1d3447', '2020-12-21 08:39:07.357000', 0, '4cb694b522a748ef8cdfda8b6655977e'),
('e2900f096bfc4a2fbbe01c8a44e8ca13', '1386ea9313ff4d5dbe94226a417f8dd2', '2020-12-21 09:08:52.962000', 0, '982758a4314e4c23b5b345a773975e80'),
('e77aa5c0e6d040db95dd90e41ba3890a', '3ea0f7a766924579bc97a293ea39f33b', '2020-12-21 08:29:21.703000', 0, '1ce6713cad63422882eba02029a7b827'),
('f2157fe9b0314b32b6ea683ccf5bb564', '5ba6a23a18f34ac9be9477e4195c0cf1', '2020-12-21 09:12:37.455000', 0, '8b978f80c2b1457c8205eaee50503cd7'),
('f6ade3865a474720808eddb68fd060d6', '5137ca225690412284d551cebcb5e74d', '2020-12-22 07:17:40.788000', 0, '85f1502b7f4f42c8be02a17c109d5691'),
('fc891af978f649bb9c5208c8f5275aa0', '83283f4764e243438750dda46ef6d44d', '2020-12-12 14:19:05.215000', 0, '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `main_feedlist`
--

CREATE TABLE `main_feedlist` (
  `feedname` varchar(300) NOT NULL,
  `uuid` char(32) NOT NULL,
  `userid_id` char(32) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

--
-- Dumping data for table `main_feedlist`
--

INSERT INTO `main_feedlist` (`feedname`, `uuid`, `userid_id`) VALUES
('Feed 1 of Jay', '0ab5b08270434636a61b4f64ebabfe25', '118c1f99637e49128d6144e25accaa47'),
('Feed4 of chris', '0be59664418f4647b673ed321a6871d7', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('Feed2 of chris', '210b5341af0b425b9bf64f4f4833af50', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('Feed 1 of mike', '300a9ec2f1dc4a52a43e65f14798985d', 'd00a055248c04863ac1e7c083d717468'),
('Feed 2 of mike', '5b8e1d045ff54d2cab5d5e9f33f14ea9', 'd00a055248c04863ac1e7c083d717468'),
('Feed5 of chris', '7db6f95de7a84672bffc1cbedd22ce19', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('Feed 3 of chris', '9d53f87013094c01a8bd109192918a6e', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('Feed 1 of chris', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `main_refcode`
--

CREATE TABLE `main_refcode` (
  `uuid` char(32) NOT NULL,
  `referral_code` longtext NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

--
-- Dumping data for table `main_refcode`
--

INSERT INTO `main_refcode` (`uuid`, `referral_code`) VALUES
('b2604e137a264842996a1fa188176dc0', 'CHRISTMAS50'),
('bf6bd9bc64664dbebf3ec875f66f768a', 'ASCIAN50'),
('c7d240f177b240d9b4ed917b3ab09284', 'MIKE70'),
('ca0711569e12413b83ffefa1e88d4c59', 'CHRIST70');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `main_urllist`
--

CREATE TABLE `main_urllist` (
  `url` varchar(200) NOT NULL,
  `created_at` datetime(6) NOT NULL,
  `updated_at` datetime(6) NOT NULL,
  `uuid` char(32) NOT NULL,
  `feedid_id` char(32) NOT NULL,
  `status` tinyint(1) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

--
-- Dumping data for table `main_urllist`
--

INSERT INTO `main_urllist` (`url`, `created_at`, `updated_at`, `uuid`, `feedid_id`, `status`) VALUES
('https://rss.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/HomePage.xml', '2020-12-16 08:41:47.642000', '2020-12-16 08:41:47.690000', '30d2fca9dcda47a3a31c4768e1f31000', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', 1);

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `main_user`
--

CREATE TABLE `main_user` (
  `password` varchar(128) NOT NULL,
  `last_login` datetime(6) DEFAULT NULL,
  `is_superuser` tinyint(1) NOT NULL,
  `username` varchar(150) NOT NULL,
  `first_name` varchar(30) NOT NULL,
  `last_name` varchar(150) NOT NULL,
  `email` varchar(254) NOT NULL,
  `is_staff` tinyint(1) NOT NULL,
  `is_active` tinyint(1) NOT NULL,
  `date_joined` datetime(6) NOT NULL,
  `uuid` char(32) NOT NULL,
  `mobile` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `ref_code_used` longtext NOT NULL,
  `user_ref_code` longtext NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

--
-- Dumping data for table `main_user`
--

INSERT INTO `main_user` (`password`, `last_login`, `is_superuser`, `username`, `first_name`, `last_name`, `email`, `is_staff`, `is_active`, `date_joined`, `uuid`, `mobile`, `ref_code_used`, `user_ref_code`) VALUES
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('pbkdf2_sha256$150000$oOJLgjPQdlCu$478XBcuTzf9UVQcZNCVnHGK5S1OwT6+AzfnDhDBeK24=', '2020-12-18 08:44:21.489000', 0, 'testuser01', '', '', 'tu@gmail.com', 0, 1, '2020-12-16 15:04:12.949000', 'bdff4dcfb5e24f1cad42aa66810056f5', 1234567890, '1', '1'),
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('pbkdf2_sha256$150000$hDLdungIevAd$aBq6FB8g4oAwjMXadtL2A7oSzWqOEUyuz/75qZ8GJJg=', '2020-12-14 05:01:58.475000', 0, 'mike', '', '', 'm@xyz.com', 0, 1, '2020-12-12 14:19:04.778000', 'd00a055248c04863ac1e7c083d717468', 1234567890, '1', '1'),
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('pbkdf2_sha256$150000$hN2eIHVLz5XP$+P+X854Pj55cHCPZCuUe29t2UtTb0m2dlfg97cjEbr8=', NULL, 0, 'kyle', '', '', 'wadhe.dushyant010@gmail.com', 0, 1, '2020-12-23 11:18:09.701000', 'ffc87295386c4934b8284edf59256e56', 1234567890, 'SKY50T', 'KYL50T');

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `main_user_groups`
--

CREATE TABLE `main_user_groups` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `user_id` char(32) NOT NULL,
  `group_id` int(11) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `main_user_user_permissions`
--

CREATE TABLE `main_user_user_permissions` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `user_id` char(32) NOT NULL,
  `permission_id` int(11) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- --------------------------------------------------------

--
-- Table structure for table `rss_rssfeed`
--

CREATE TABLE `rss_rssfeed` (
  `uuid` char(32) NOT NULL,
  `title` longtext NOT NULL,
  `summary` longtext NOT NULL,
  `description` longtext NOT NULL,
  `link` varchar(200) NOT NULL,
  `published` varchar(300) DEFAULT NULL,
  `image_url` varchar(300) DEFAULT NULL,
  `feedid_id` char(32) DEFAULT NULL,
  `userid_id` char(32) DEFAULT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

--
-- Dumping data for table `rss_rssfeed`
--

INSERT INTO `rss_rssfeed` (`uuid`, `title`, `summary`, `description`, `link`, `published`, `image_url`, `feedid_id`, `userid_id`) VALUES
('02b9fce8d61e441287c5df819041624e', 'Markets Rebound After Stimulus Package Is Passed: Live Business Updates', 'Stock indexes recovered some losses on Tuesday from the previous day as Congress passed a $900 billion stimulus package and anxiety eased in equity markets about a fast-spreading strain of the coronavirus in Britain and new travel restrictions. The Nikkei 225 in Japan was down 1 percent, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.7 percent and the Shanghai composite closed 1.8 percent lower. The pound fell 0.4 percent against the U.S. dollar and 0.2 percent against the euro. ', 'Stock indexes recovered some losses on Tuesday from the previous day as Congress passed a $900 billion stimulus package and anxiety eased in equity markets about a fast-spreading strain of the coronavirus in Britain and new travel restrictions. Futures indicated stocks on Wall Street would open slightly higher.\n\nThe Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.8 percent, after dropping 2.3 percent on Monday. The CAC in France was up 0.9 percent and the DAX in Germany gained 1 percent. The FTSE 100 in Britain was unchanged from the previous day, when it fell 1.7 percent.\n\nStocks in Asia mostly closed lower. The Nikkei 225 in Japan was down 1 percent, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.7 percent and the Shanghai composite closed 1.8 percent lower.\n\nIn Washington, after weeks of negotiations, Congress overwhelmingly approved a coronavirus stimulus package that includes billions of dollars for American households and businesses that have been hurt by the pandemic. It restores a supplemental unemployment benefit for millions of unemployed Americans at $300 a week for 11 weeks and includes money for another round of $600 direct payments to adults and children.\n\nThe British pound continued its decline as investors waited for an update on the Brexit trade negotiations. In just nine days, the transition period ends and Britain could lose tariff-free access to its largest trading partner if a deal is not struck soon. The pound fell 0.4 percent against the U.S. dollar and 0.2 percent against the euro.\n\nThe British currency fell on Monday as more than 40 countries cut off travel links from Britain in an effort to stop the spread of a new strain of coronavirus that was “out of control” in parts of England. France stopped all trucks delivering freight from Britain, and hundreds of drivers remain stuck in the southeast of England, prompting concerns about fresh food supply and lost revenue.\n\nTighter restrictions on social activities and businesses in Britain, imposed to limit the virus’s spread, are also expected to weaken an economic recovery that analysts had expected to restart early next year.\n\nEnergy prices dropped for a second day. Futures on West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude benchmark, declined 1.4 percent to $47.29.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/22/business/us-economy-coronavirus/', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/22/business/22economy-briefing-markets/merlin_180177084_4fe0737d-e81b-4cd0-ba72-684931b5e039-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('03abda91f9454089b992aaa58d5ce22d', 'Could Congress overturn Biden’s Electoral College win? Possibly. Will it? No.', 'Even after the Electoral College certified President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the winner of the election on Monday, some of President Trump’s staunchest allies in Congress refused to accept his loss, vowing that they could still reverse the results on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. Mr. Trump amplified their claims, recirculating an article on Tuesday about the efforts led by Representative Mo Brooks, Republican of Alabama, to challenge Mr. Biden’s victory when the House and Senate meet to formally ratify it on Jan. 6. Every four years, the House and Senate come together to formally tabulate the electoral votes and raise any final concerns about the results. ', 'Even after the Electoral College certified President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the winner of the election on Monday, some of President Trump’s staunchest allies in Congress refused to accept his loss, vowing that they could still reverse the results on the floor of the United States House of Representatives.\n\nMr. Trump amplified their claims, recirculating an article on Tuesday about the efforts led by Representative Mo Brooks, Republican of Alabama, to challenge Mr. Biden’s victory when the House and Senate meet to formally ratify it on Jan. 6.\n\nBut while the Constitution gives Congress the final say in the election, there is no chance that it will agree to overturn the results and keep Mr. Trump in office.\n\nEvery four years, the House and Senate come together to formally tabulate the electoral votes and raise any final concerns about the results. Normally, it is a perfunctory confirmation of the Electoral College vote. But this year, Mr. Brooks has threatened to transform it into a messy last stand by objecting. He is all but certain to fail, but not before a potentially divisive spectacle on the House floor that could thrust Vice President Mike Pence into the politically perilous position of confirming that Mr. Trump lost.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/technology/can-trump-still-win.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/business/15distortions-overturn1/15distortions-overturn1-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('03f27bdba4304e5ca2e56550ff758729', 'Catie Lazarus, Comedian With a Lot of Questions, Dies at 44', 'Catie Lazarus, a writer and comedian who probed the minds of celebrities and created her own late-night comedy universe on her longstanding self-produced live New York talk show, “Employee of the Month,” died on Dec. 13 in her apartment in Brooklyn. “I started hosting this show because I couldn’t quite figure out how to break in,” Ms. Lazarus told The New York Times in 2015. “I wanted to hear from people who, for the most part, love what they do and have carved out a niche for themselves. ', 'Catie Lazarus, a writer and comedian who probed the minds of celebrities and created her own late-night comedy universe on her longstanding self-produced live New York talk show, “Employee of the Month,” died on Dec. 13 in her apartment in Brooklyn. She was 44.\n\nHer father, Simon Lazarus III, said the cause was breast cancer.\n\nIn 2011, as the nation recovered from the Great Recession, Ms. Lazarus was just another struggling comic trying to make it in New York. She had dropped out of a doctoral program in clinical psychology at Wesleyan University to move to the city, but as she tried establishing herself on the stand-up circuit, she discovered that stable jobs were hard to find. In light of these circumstances, she started hosting “Employee of the Month,” an interview-based talk show about work and labor at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.\n\nMs. Lazarus asked notable writers, artists, politicians, intellectuals and comedians how they had achieved their enviable careers. She eventually interrogated subjects like Rachel Maddow, Dick Cavett, Greta Gerwig and David Simon. She inquired about disappointment, too; for example, she asked the journalist Kurt Andersen how he felt about getting pushed out of New York magazine.\n\n“I started hosting this show because I couldn’t quite figure out how to break in,” Ms. Lazarus told The New York Times in 2015. “I wanted to hear from people who, for the most part, love what they do and have carved out a niche for themselves. It wasn’t just about how they broke in, but what they continue to find worth struggling for, worth the heartache and the rejection and the economic toil and other types of losses that go along with it.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/arts/catie-lazarus-dead.html', '2020-12-20 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/obituaries/Laarus-01/Laarus-01-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('04e81f4738974f10bdd7c79afe4e5576', 'How Will We Eat in 2021? 11 Predictions to Chew On', 'Predicting food trends is a dubious exercise in any year, but those who dabble in the dark art of culinary prognostication have never faced a landscape harder to read than 2021. Others see a much slower transition, in which home cooking remains popular and cautious diners venture out into a radically different restaurant landscape than the one they left. On the flip side are legions of Americans, including 2.3 million bar and restaurant workers, who remain unemployed or in a deep financial hole. ', 'Predicting food trends is a dubious exercise in any year, but those who dabble in the dark art of culinary prognostication have never faced a landscape harder to read than 2021.\n\nMost forecasters agree that the pandemic and the stumbling economy will not deliver a year of frivolous food or “breakout” cuisines. There will be no next-gen Salt Bae or CBD-infused poke bowl doughnut ramen tacos to be optimized for Instagram.\n\nBut innovation and a restaurant rebound will come, eventually. The most optimistic believe that the cork will pop out of the bottle by summer. “If we can ride the wave of what’s going to be a crappy winter, it’s going to be like the Roaring Twenties all over again,” said Andrew Freeman, whose hospitality marketing and public relations companies, AF&Co. and Carbonate, issue an annual trend forecast.\n\nOthers see a much slower transition, in which home cooking remains popular and cautious diners venture out into a radically different restaurant landscape than the one they left. Economically, there will be two worlds, each eating very differently than the other. Independent restaurants will likely remain in free fall, while chains like Domino’s and McDonald’s continue to profit. Diners who made it through the pandemic with jobs and health intact and are aching to spend money at restaurants. On the flip side are legions of Americans, including 2.3 million bar and restaurant workers, who remain unemployed or in a deep financial hole.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/dining/food-trends-predictions-2021.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/22/dining/22food-predict13/22food-predict13-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('0529be47cb1a4599b3eb20ae5dd1337d', 'MacKenzie Scott Announces $4.2 Billion More in Charitable Giving', 'In her short career as one of the world’s leading philanthropists, MacKenzie Scott has made a mark through the enormous scale of her giving and also through its speed, donating nearly $6 billion of her fortune this year alone. Ms. Scott, an author who was once married to Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, announced in a Medium post on Tuesday that she had given nearly $4.2 billion to 384 organizations in just the last four months. “Economic losses and health outcomes alike have been worse for women, for people of color, and for people living in poverty. ', 'In her short career as one of the world’s leading philanthropists, MacKenzie Scott has made a mark through the enormous scale of her giving and also through its speed, donating nearly $6 billion of her fortune this year alone.\n\nMs. Scott, an author who was once married to Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, announced in a Medium post on Tuesday that she had given nearly $4.2 billion to 384 organizations in just the last four months. Many of the groups are focused on basic needs, including food banks and Meals on Wheels, in a trying year for millions of people.\n\n“This pandemic has been a wrecking ball in the lives of Americans already struggling,” Ms. Scott wrote. “Economic losses and health outcomes alike have been worse for women, for people of color, and for people living in poverty. Meanwhile, it has substantially increased the wealth of billionaires.”\n\nMainstays like the N.A.A.C.P., Easterseals, Goodwill and the United Way made the list. So did more than 100 separate Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A. organizations nationwide, which like many nonprofits have lost enormous amounts of revenue, even as demand for their services has increased.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/business/mackenzie-scott-donations.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/business/15scott/15scott-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('06f1d3e45aac4f8e83757056f9969b56', 'Biden Taps Pete Buttigieg for Transportation Secretary', 'Several sources close to the presidential transition said Mr. Biden had selected Gina McCarthy, who led the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration, to lead the White House office of climate policy, and Jennifer Granholm, the former governor of Michigan, as the energy secretary. person to hold a cabinet-level position in the Biden administration, but the first in any cabinet, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group that last month pressed Mr. Biden to appoint L.G.B.T.Q. community in the cabinet room will help President-elect Biden build back our nation better, stronger and more equal than before,” said Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign. ', '“He will, I think, grasp the challenge of moving the transportation sector toward a net-zero emissions profile by 2050,” Mr. Podesta added.\n\nMr. Buttigieg now stands as the first major member of Mr. Biden’s domestic climate change team, which the president-elect had hoped to roll out in its entirety this week.\n\nSeveral sources close to the presidential transition said Mr. Biden had selected Gina McCarthy, who led the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration, to lead the White House office of climate policy, and Jennifer Granholm, the former governor of Michigan, as the energy secretary.\n\nBut the nomination of an E.P.A. administrator has been held up with concerns over racial equity.\n\nMr. Biden’s first choice to head the agency was Mary D. Nichols, California’s top climate change regulator. But she came under fire from liberal activists who contended that Ms. Nichols did not do enough in her state to address racial disparities in environmental policy.\n\nThat has set off a scramble to find a candidate of color to lead the agency: last-minute possibilities include Richard L. Revesz, an Argentina-born law professor and former dean of N.Y.U. School of Law; Michael S. Regan, who currently serves as head of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and is Black; and Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, who is of Mexican descent.\n\nIf confirmed, Mr. Buttigieg would be not only the first openly L.G.B.T.Q. person to hold a cabinet-level position in the Biden administration, but the first in any cabinet, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group that last month pressed Mr. Biden to appoint L.G.B.T.Q. people to his cabinet.\n\n“His voice as a champion for the L.G.B.T.Q. community in the cabinet room will help President-elect Biden build back our nation better, stronger and more equal than before,” said Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/us/politics/pete-buttigieg-biden-transportation-secretary.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/us/politics/15dc-pete-dot/merlin_169676613_0b563acf-69fe-4dc7-823f-ddca7d27534c-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('0977d36c7a024c7ab24f15c565a69d0a', 'The New Covid Strain in the UK: Questions and Answers', 'Both vaccines create immunity to the coronavirus by teaching our immune systems to make antibodies to a protein that sits on the surface of the virus, called spike. It is conceivable that a mutation to a coronavirus could change the shape of its spike proteins, making it harder for the antibodies to gain a tight grip on them. But our immune systems can produce a range of antibodies against a single viral protein, making it less likely that viruses can easily escape their attack. ', 'But sometimes the virus infects people with weak immune systems. In their bodies, the virus can thrive for months. Case studies on these immunocompromised people have shown that the virus can accumulate a large number of mutations as it replicates in their bodies for a long period of time.\n\nOver time, researchers have found, natural selection can favor mutant viruses that can evade the immune system. Researchers have also suggested that the evolution of the variant might have been additionally driven by medicine given to such patients. Some mutants might be able to withstand drugs such as monoclonal antibodies.\n\nOther scientists have suggested that the virus could have gained new mutations by spreading through an animal population, like minks, before re-entering the human population. Such “animal reservoirs” have become a focus of intense interest as more animal infections have been detected.\n\nIs the variant already circulating in the U.S.?\n\nNot yet, as far as anyone knows. But that does not mean it hasn’t already reached the United States. British scientists have established a much stronger system to monitor coronaviruses for new mutations. It’s conceivable that someone traveling from the United Kingdom has brought it with them. Now that the world knows to look for the variant, it may turn up in more countries.\n\nWill the variant render the new vaccines ineffective?\n\nNo. Most experts doubt that it will have any great impact on vaccines, although it’s not yet possible to rule out any effect.\n\nThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two vaccines, one from Moderna and the other from Pfizer and BioNTech. Both vaccines create immunity to the coronavirus by teaching our immune systems to make antibodies to a protein that sits on the surface of the virus, called spike. The spike protein latches onto cells and opens a passageway inside. Antibodies produced in response to the vaccines stick to the tip of the spike. The result: The viruses can’t get inside.\n\nIt is conceivable that a mutation to a coronavirus could change the shape of its spike proteins, making it harder for the antibodies to gain a tight grip on them. And B.1.1.7’s mutations include eight in the spike gene. But our immune systems can produce a range of antibodies against a single viral protein, making it less likely that viruses can easily escape their attack. Right now, experts don’t think that the variant will be able to evade vaccines. To confirm that, researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research are analyzing the changes to the structure of its spike protein.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/health/new-covid-strain-uk.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/health/virus-variant-1608579875269/virus-variant-1608579875269-facebookJumbo-v2.png', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('0ad2cac6e3854cebaeda7d6d382ac4b3', 'Our 28 Best Christmas Cookies', 'When Claire Will submitted these cookies in response to a call for holiday cookie recipes, Melissa Clark thought they were kind of boring. Then she tested them. Of the five kinds of cookies Melissa served at a party, these were the first to disappear. ', 'When Claire Will submitted these cookies in response to a call for holiday cookie recipes, Melissa Clark thought they were kind of boring. Then she tested them. Of the five kinds of cookies Melissa served at a party, these were the first to disappear. One friend texted on his way home, “send recipe for spice cookies a.s.a.p.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/article/best-christmas-cookies.html', NULL, 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/11/24/dining/24COOKING-PEANUTBUTTERBLOSSOMS2/24COOKING-PEANUTBUTTERBLOSSOMS2-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('0c71ef432102441db0042d7d9a7f792f', 'Modern Love Podcast: A Holiday Lesson About Desire', 'Paula grew up in foster care, and year after year she would find herself “clobbered by desire” when the holidays rolled around. She longed for a mother and father to rescue her and “make everything better”; she wished for the hip-huggers and games she saw on TV. “What did love feel like to you as a child?” Daniel Jones asked Paula at the end of episode. ', 'Paula grew up in foster care, and year after year she would find herself “clobbered by desire” when the holidays rolled around. She longed for a mother and father to rescue her and “make everything better”; she wished for the hip-huggers and games she saw on TV.\n\nWhen she was 21, she met a man named Jeff who ruptured this annual cycle of desire. He became the inspiration for a hard-earned Christmas lesson.\n\nToday’s stories\n\n“What did love feel like to you as a child?” Daniel Jones asked Paula at the end of episode. Paula recalled getting dropped off at her first foster home, with clothes and garbage bags. “It doesn’t feel like love,” she said. “It’s like everything is bent on trying to figure out these people just to make sure they don’t give you away again.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/style/modern-love-podcast-holiday-desire-mistake.html', '2020-12-16 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/12/03/fashion/16MODERNLOVE-image/03MODERNLOVE-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('0cf25130a2b443cf985cd83275193958', 'Biden Campaigns in Georgia, Presses for the Senate Majority He Will Need', 'Fighting a cold and coughing several times during his remarks, Mr. Biden sought to tie Ms. Loeffler and Mr. Perdue to President Trump’s failed efforts to overturn the elections by raising false allegations of voting fraud in Georgia and other swing states. Mr. Biden mocked the two senators for supporting a lawsuit filed by the Texas attorney general that sought to overturn the results of the presidential elections in four states, including Georgia. In an email to his supporters as he flew to Atlanta from Washington, Mr. Biden made a raw, political appeal for campaign contributions to help the Democratic Party win. ', 'The rallygoers — which spanned age and race and included Atlanta natives as well as transplants who have flooded into the city in recent years — watched from their cars, tooting their horns in place of applause. Another crowd of hundreds gathered along the sidewalks outside.\n\nFighting a cold and coughing several times during his remarks, Mr. Biden sought to tie Ms. Loeffler and Mr. Perdue to President Trump’s failed efforts to overturn the elections by raising false allegations of voting fraud in Georgia and other swing states.\n\nMr. Biden mocked the two senators for supporting a lawsuit filed by the Texas attorney general that sought to overturn the results of the presidential elections in four states, including Georgia.\n\n“Maybe your senators were just confused. Maybe they think they represent Texas,” Mr. Biden said to more honks and cheers. “Well, if you want to do the bidding of Texas, you should be running in Texas, not in Georgia.”\n\nIn the five weeks since being projected to be the president-elect, Mr. Biden has sought to minimize partisanship and keep his focus on the pandemic, which has killed more than 300,000 people in the United States and is raging out of control. In speeches, he has repeatedly called for unity of purpose and said he will be a president for all Americans, including the more than 74 million who voted for Mr. Trump in the presidential race.\n\nBut for Mr. Biden, the runoff elections will be an early test of his power to shape the future of the Democratic Party.\n\nIn an email to his supporters as he flew to Atlanta from Washington, Mr. Biden made a raw, political appeal for campaign contributions to help the Democratic Party win.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/us/politics/biden-georgia-senate.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/us/politics/15dc-biden-1/merlin_181301871_b5713cae-7549-424c-8bf9-5d5dd3b22dbf-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('0ef36749ee1c41b392971764eb68aa42', 'Cities Aren’t Toast', 'The coronavirus does not have to kill cities — just our old idea of what cities were, how they worked, and who they were for. Disease has shaped the modern city, and the modern city has shaped disease. Democrats depend on big cities and their surrounding suburbs for the bulk of their voters, but when was the last time you heard a national Democratic politician make a forceful case for the beauty, creativity and importance of cities — for all that we owe to them, and all we may yet gain from them? ', 'This is also our chance to remake crumbling urban infrastructure — to create more engaging outdoor public spaces and to radically improve public transportation.\n\nThen there is climate change. Think of the coronavirus as a trailer for the horror flick of natural disasters to come. We have a chance to fortify urban space against future outbreaks of disease as well as the coming calamities caused by the changing weather — we can even do both at the same time. For instance, reducing automobile traffic in cities will not just cut emissions that warm the climate. It will also clean up the toxic air that hangs over our most populous areas, and is thought to increase the risks of respiratory diseases, including susceptibility to Covid-19. More walkable and bikeable urban design is good for the environment and our health; a study of commuters in Britain showed that biking to work was associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.\n\nWhat’s important here aren’t the specific ideas, but the larger push for civic revitalization. The coronavirus does not have to kill cities — just our old idea of what cities were, how they worked, and who they were for.\n\nRethinking urban space in the aftermath of disease is hardly a new idea. If cities were going to be crushed by pestilence, they would have died millenniums ago. Disease has shaped the modern city, and the modern city has shaped disease.\n\nThe practice of epidemiology was born in the city, when John Snow, a London anesthesiologist, tracked the spread of cholera to a contaminated water pump in 1854. And much of the civic infrastructure we now take for granted — public parks, garbage trucks, sewers — was put in place partly to curb disease. Cities have overcome disease before, and they can do so again.\n\nYet at the moment, a grand project to rebuild American cities feels terribly elusive. Despite their economic and cultural importance, cities in the United States are often marginalized in politics and, more deeply, in our picture of how America should work. About 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas, but most say they’d rather live somewhere else.\n\nRepublicans use cities as a cudgel — supposedly crime-ridden “Democrat cities” became a mantra for President Trump. Democrats depend on big cities and their surrounding suburbs for the bulk of their voters, but when was the last time you heard a national Democratic politician make a forceful case for the beauty, creativity and importance of cities — for all that we owe to them, and all we may yet gain from them?', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/opinion/cities-coronavirus.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/20/opinion/sunday/2021Manjoo/2021Manjoo-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('118f37d61725494782041a74f224c3db', 'Defying Trump, McConnell Seeks to Squelch Bid to Overturn the Election', 'Nor did Mr. McConnell earn much love from the few voices of Republican dissent that have raised alarms in recent days that Mr. Trump’s defiance of democratic norms — and the acquiescence of much of his party — would do lasting damage both to the G.O.P. Another, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, said on Tuesday that merely recognizing Mr. Biden’s victory was not enough for his party. Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a senior Republican committee leader and former head of the party’s campaign arm, argued that fears like Mr. Romney’s were somewhat overwrought, but reflected a general loss of trust by many Americans in the electoral process. ', 'Moving to head off potential backlash, Mr. McConnell told reporters pressing him to rebuke Mr. Trump’s rhetoric that he did not have “any advice” for Mr. Trump. Earlier in the day before congratulating Mr. Biden, he had used his speech on the Senate floor to lavish praise on the president’s record on foreign and domestic policy.\n\nThe blowback was immediate from the party’s outspoken right flank anyway and foreshadowed the return to an old dynamic briefly abated during the Trump years in which Mr. McConnell was a favorite punching bag for conservatives. Mark Levin, the talk radio host and strident supporter of Mr. Trump, declared that Mr. McConnell had been “AWOL” from “challenging the lawless acts of the Biden campaign and Democrats.”\n\n“Trump helped you secure your seat, as he did so many Senate and House seats, and you couldn’t even wait until January 6th,” Mr. Levin wrote on Twitter. “You’ve been the GOP ‘leader’ in the Senate for far too long. It’s time for some fresh thinking and new blood.”\n\nNor did Mr. McConnell earn much love from the few voices of Republican dissent that have raised alarms in recent days that Mr. Trump’s defiance of democratic norms — and the acquiescence of much of his party — would do lasting damage both to the G.O.P. and to the country.\n\nOne of them, Representative Paul Mitchell of Michigan, who is retiring, went as far as to quit the party on Monday in protest. Another, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, said on Tuesday that merely recognizing Mr. Biden’s victory was not enough for his party.\n\n“How many Republicans will say that what the president is saying is simply wrong and dangerous?” Mr. Romney said on CNN. “We need to have people who are strong Trump supporters say that as well, or you are going to continue to have this country divided, which is pretty dangerous.”\n\nRepresentative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a senior Republican committee leader and former head of the party’s campaign arm, argued that fears like Mr. Romney’s were somewhat overwrought, but reflected a general loss of trust by many Americans in the electoral process.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/us/politics/mcconnell-congratulates-biden.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/us/politics/15dc-mcconnell1/15dc-mcconnell1-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('11b81e19c5e94bae911c417eaeb89799', 'Is Trump Really All That Holds the G.O.P. Together?', 'The Trump program is subject to change at the whim of the Trump persona. And Mr. Trump’s attitude is what came to define the conservative movement and the Republican Party. Discussions of policy and the political horse race gave way to figuring out the best way to “own the libs” — a Trump specialty — and whatever controversy engaged Mr. Trump’s attention at the moment. ', 'This fretful ambivalence turned into enthusiastic commitment over the next four years. Mr. Trump was far better on policy for conservatives than skeptics had imagined. His judicial selections, tax and regulatory moves, and toughness toward China and Iran earned their favor. He and the conservatives also shared enemies — a biased media, an entrenched bureaucracy, liberal Democrats. And because many of the attacks on the president seemed to conservatives to be partisan, silly or false, it became easy to pass over those criticisms that were objective, serious and true.\n\nMany Republican officials who had voiced concerns over Mr. Trump’s style and agenda retired or died. The NeverTrump faction of Republican and conservative elites broke off from the movement to found alternative media platforms and institutions. Most of the central institutions of the American right — the activist think tanks, the single-issue groups, talk radio, blogs, cable news — aligned themselves with Mr. Trump’s program, if not always with his persona.\n\nIt was a tricky play. The Trump program is subject to change at the whim of the Trump persona. The party more often catered to the president’s obsessions, tastes, moods and inclinations than it stood against them. Even as it became clear that what really thrilled the crowds at MAGA rallies was Mr. Trump’s unpredictability, brashness, crudity, dark comedy and unapologetic fighting spirit, some on the right began an effort to backfill ideological content into the vessel of “Trumpism.”\n\nWhat they forgot was that for Mr. Trump, everything is a transaction. Deals can be modified until the last moment and then litigated after the contract has been signed. It’s true that the broad outlines of Mr. Trump’s worldview — immigration restriction, trade protection, reluctance to enter into foreign entanglements, opposition to entitlement reform — have been more or less consistent for decades. What is equally true is that Mr. Trump has no hesitation in dropping a proposal, person or principle if he believes it will suit him. The programmatic details of Trumpism are fungible. The attitude behind it is not.\n\nAnd Mr. Trump’s attitude is what came to define the conservative movement and the Republican Party. In 2017, Kellyanne Conway said that Mr. Trump’s presence at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) would rechristen the gathering as TPAC. She has not been proved wrong. Discussions of policy and the political horse race gave way to figuring out the best way to “own the libs” — a Trump specialty — and whatever controversy engaged Mr. Trump’s attention at the moment. For much of the right, unplacable and vocal resistance to cultural progressivism mattered more than experience, credentials or know-how.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/opinion/trump-republican-party.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/22/opinion/22continettiWeb/22continettiWeb-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('11eb2dbc238a40c4953a0b719fdcd261', 'A Dinner, a Deal and Moonshine: How the Stimulus Came Together', 'The moderates did not know it, but Democratic leaders had been doing their own postelection recalibration after insisting for months that any deal less than $2 trillion was inadequate. Three days after the dinner at Ms. Murkowski’s house, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, had driven to Wilmington to meet with Mr. Biden and plan the year ahead. She compared their negotiations to how Billy Crystal’s character, Miracle Max, describes a patient in the film who has been tortured to the brink of death, pronouncing them “mostly dead.” ', 'Two weeks after dinner at Ms. Murkowski’s, they honed the initial $908 billion framework over slices of pizza in a large Senate hearing room and rushed to arrange a news conference for the next morning. They moved so quickly that the posters Mr. Manchin had ordered were not done by the time the event began.\n\n“None of us thought in good conscience we could go home for Christmas with all these people thrown out of their apartments, closing their businesses, getting into food lines,” said Mr. Warner, a Virginia Democrat. “It would be the ultimate Scrooge-like activity.”\n\nThe moderates did not know it, but Democratic leaders had been doing their own postelection recalibration after insisting for months that any deal less than $2 trillion was inadequate.\n\nThree days after the dinner at Ms. Murkowski’s house, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, had driven to Wilmington to meet with Mr. Biden and plan the year ahead. The president-elect’s message was plain.\n\n“He knew we could not get everything now, but anything we could get would make his job easier when he became president,” Mr. Schumer said. “We agreed.”\n\nWhen the moderates introduced their plan, the top Democrats saw their opportunity. They quickly embraced it as the easiest vehicle for jump-starting negotiations.\n\nIt was a major shift for the leaders, who had rejected Trump administration proposals twice as large, refusing to budge as the election approached even as they privately conceded that there was little momentum for a deal. During one call in late September, Ms. Pelosi had told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that she had spent a sleepless night watching a rerun of “The Princess Bride,” the 1987 cult classic. She compared their negotiations to how Billy Crystal’s character, Miracle Max, describes a patient in the film who has been tortured to the brink of death, pronouncing them “mostly dead.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/us/politics/stimulus-deal-congress.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/20/multimedia/00-stimulus-ticktock1/00-stimulus-ticktock1-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');
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('1249f7f681ea4069a3b388259439d5ca', 'Georgia’s Secretary of State on Standing Up to Trump', 'And one of the things I will press you on, though, that Stacey Abrams — we’re going to talk about her in a second — also has been getting death threats for a long time, for many years, actually, and a lot of them from these ultra right conspiracy theorists, which have been pushed by a lot of different people in the Republican Party, these conspiracy theories around voting or whatever. As Secretary of State, what we want to make sure is that there have been some talk about people moving into Georgia just to come in and vote for this. So, well, you say people need to come out to vote, but according to some, including the Center for New Data — and I you’re aware of this data — there’s some continuation of a long history of Republicans in Georgia making it harder to vote. ', '[MUSIC - THEME, “SWAY”]\n\narchived recording (SINGING) When you walk in the room, do you have sway? [MUSIC PLAYING]\n\nkara swisher\n\nBrad Raffensperger is getting it from all sides.\n\narchived recording (donald trump) He’s an enemy of the people — the Secretary of State.\n\nkara swisher\n\nGeorgia’s Republican Secretary of State is being thrashed by President Trump and denounced by fellow conservatives. He’s even getting death threats from the far right. So what terrible thing did Raffensperger do? He stood by the math and declared that Joe Biden, not Donald Trump, had won Georgia in the presidential election. In other words, he just did his job. Usually, he wouldn’t be celebrated for that. But in this climate, it meant the staunchly conservative Raffensperger briefly got a little bit of love from the left. But that didn’t last long. Last week, he wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. In it, he compared Trump’s refusal to admit defeat in 2020 to how progressive superstar Stacey Abrams responded in Georgia’s 2018 gubernatorial race. Trump, he said, was using Abrams’s, quote, “playbook.” Well, Brad, that’s just wrong. So I wanted to call him out. But I also wanted to understand this guy, who still has a lot of power right now. Georgia is about to have two critical runoff races that will decide who controls the U.S. Senate, and by extension, whether Biden can actually get anything done. It’s Raffensperger’s job to ensure a free and fair election — another one. Part of your job as Secretary of State is to oversee and certify elections. And in this sort of Groundhog Day 2020 — I don’t know if it feels like that to you — you keep having to count and certify this one. Biden won the election tally, then the hand recount, and then the machine recount. So just remind us, what is the final presidential vote tally for Georgia?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, it shows Vice President Biden got about 12,000 votes in that range, more than President Trump. So that’s what’s been certified. And that’s now what the governor then recertified also. So we have done the process. We gave the candidates, as they are afforded in state law, every opportunity to ask for a recount. When we did the audit, we went above and beyond. We didn’t just do a 90% or a 95% risk limiting audit. We counted every single ballot by hand because people were questioning, were the machines flipping votes? And when you looked at the human readable text, we actually listed the people’s names, and then you counted that. It just really killed that whole argument and really proved how silly it was.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWell, it didn’t kill it, though, because President Trump held a rally in your state earlier this month, saying we won Georgia, just so you understand. Insulted you, suggesting Georgians need to make sure you know what the hell you’re doing. How do you respond to this?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, I really can’t respond too much because I’m outgunned. He’s got 88 million Twitter followers. And I think we have now, because of this controversy, we’re up to about 37,000 Twitter followers on our state account. But it’s just, how do you — you can’t out yell a megaphone. And so, we just respond with facts. And I understand why Republicans are disappointed. And then Republicans question my conservatism. No, I have not changed. In fact, I went to see one of my contractor friends yesterday. It was a Christian business owners group. And he says, yeah, I’m telling all my friends that yeah, you were for Donald Trump before any of us were. And so, people understand that I was actually one of his earliest supporters when he was running in 2016. But people don’t want to hear that sometimes because that doesn’t fit their narrative.\n\nkara swisher\n\nHe asked you to be part of the campaign in January — is that correct? Would you define —\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, but now I hold a different office. I’m Secretary of State. And we made it a policy not to endorse anyone. Obviously, yeah, I’m a Republican. I don’t vote for Democrats. I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings that are on the Democrat side. But we just don’t think it’s appropriate for us to get out there and, quote, “beating the drums” for candidates. Because people want to make sure that their election officials are just doing what they need to do so that’s an honest and fair counting of the results.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAll right, some disaffected voters believe in some wild conspiracy theories. I want to go through them so you can sort of disabuse them and I know they’ve been pushed back, but I’d like to do it once again. They’re spreading. They continue to spread. One was the dragging of suitcases. I’m just going to ask you — and I’d just like you to answer them very quickly — did election workers in Georgia stick fraudulent ballots in suitcases and drag them out in the dark of night?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nNo. What’s really sad is that Rudy Giuliani came before a Senate committee last week, and they cut and spliced that videotape. And the WSB came in later with our investigator. Head of investigations saw the whole tape and actually what had transpired. And so, it’s been totally debunked.\n\nkara swisher\n\nDebunked. The water main break.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nOh —\n\nkara swisher\n\nDid a water main break, leaking all over ballots and changing the tally in Fulton?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nNo, it was actually a toilet that hadn’t been used for a long time. But also that being investigated. But no, it didn’t change the ballots.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAnd it didn’t leak all over the ballots.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nRight, correct.\n\nkara swisher\n\nIt just was a toilet.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nRight.\n\nkara swisher\n\nA bad toilet.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nA bad toilet. It hadn’t been used for a while, and I think probably the seals or something went, just because no one’s been really using Hawks Arena.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYou should look into that issue. I’m kidding. I’m teasing. Before the runoffs, make sure all toilets are working. All right, duplicate counting. Did election workers recount the same ballots multiple times?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nNone that we know of at all, so. But if there is, then we open up investigations.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo none so far?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nNone so far that we know of.\n\nkara swisher\n\nOK, the Pennsylvania party — did Georgia’s Democratic lawmakers head to Pennsylvania and start counting votes there?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nNo. We have two state senators — state senator Jen Jordan and state senator Elena Parent happened to have blonde hair. And then there was two ladies, two females, that were also counting up in Pennsylvania that had blonde hair. And someone said that was them. No, they’re totally made-up story. And then, they were getting all sorts of — our state senators were getting death threats and things like that. So, just totally spun up, that whole cloth.\n\nkara swisher\n\nRight. The right is screaming at you. The left is sort of celebrating you for doing your job, really. Does it even make sense to you that this is where you find yourself?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, I know that I’ve gotten some flack from the state party chairman of the Republican Party.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYes, I read.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nBut what I’ve been very blunt with is, his job is to raise money and turn out the vote. And we didn’t turn out enough Republicans. But also, one of the things that he fusses at the most is our no excuse absentee ballot law. That went into place in 2005. And he was a state senator. And he voted for that. And so, it’s a bill that he supported. I wasn’t here then. I was out there working my business.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo now he’s decrying something he voted for.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nExactly.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo he was for it until he was against it.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nExactly.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo when you point these things out, these hypocrises, the reaction?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, they start squealing like a stuck pig because they don’t like being held accountable. That’s the truth. I had my voting record and everything I voted for, everything I voted against. I’ve never voted for a tax increase. And I took some heat when I didn’t vote for raising the gas tax. But we had some ideas, a conservative element. We said, well, we could do it this way. But the speaker was very generous and kind to me. He didn’t flog me. But I just didn’t vote for it.\n\nkara swisher\n\nI don’t think we’re flogging yet, but go ahead.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nBut I have a voting record that I’ll stand on. And I’ve always stood on my conservative principles. I’m pro-life. I’m pro-business. Anything I can do to help taxpayers, I’m going to look out for taxpayers. Because at the end of the day, I’m in this building right now in the capital. And there’s a taxpayer that’s paying for the electricity that I’m using and the heat that we have on today because it’s 55 degrees right now in Atlanta, Georgia.\n\nkara swisher\n\nNice, nice. So speaking of squealing like stuck pigs, Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham seem to be pressuring you, too. Can you walk us through this? You were attacked by failed Senate candidate, Doug Collins, and now the state of Texas is after you — who was also himself is under investigation, by the way. Let’s just not — it’s fair to point that out. How much worse could it have been if Georgia and not Pennsylvania had been the tipping point for 2020, if it was 5,000 votes versus 12,000?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nThat’s just conjecture.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah, I’m conjecturing.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nYeah, I know. That’s good. But I don’t do probability studies. I’m an engineer. We just get out a calculator, use four decimal places, and we say those are the numbers. But it is what it is. As it relates to the Texas attorney general, as it relates to Georgia, I don’t really focus on what the other states have to say as it relates to Georgia. It seems to me that that is all hat, no cattle.\n\nkara swisher\n\n[CHUCKLES] What about Lindsey Graham?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, obviously, as you’ve watched things unfold, what they really want to do is overturn the will of the people, create doubt in the absentee ballot process, and then just throw out the elections, throw out Georgia, throw out Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona. And then, it goes to the Congress, and they would pick the next president, which hasn’t been done for 100 some odd years. It’s in the Constitution. And that would be an extraordinary avenue to go. And that’s what their plan was, obviously, as you watch events unfold across the nation.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWell, when you think of someone like former Trump cybersecurity official Chris Krebs, who was doing the same thing that you were doing, putting out information, he was fired by the president by tweet. He’s now suing the Trump campaign for defamation. Should you?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, no. I think what I found in our industry, no one ever wins in lawsuits. And they just take up a lot of time.\n\nkara swisher\n\nMm-hmm. So did that alarm you when he was fired or not surprised at all?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, I just noticed that it happened. But I noticed that he’d really did good work. When we have our meetings with the National Association of Secretaries of State, probably a third of our conversations, maybe 40% of our conversations have been about cybersecurity. Everyone’s been worried about these foreign and domestic threat factors that could come in from anywhere. And D.H.S. and CISA have just been really a tremendous support for every secretary of state.\n\nkara swisher\n\nTo talk about cybersecurity, this is obviously something you’ve got to be concerned about, and there are foreign interferences and attempts. But there’s also domestic attempts, and there’s always been attempts to impact elections in some nefarious way. How do you look at, as someone who’s an engineer, where we are right now with the ability to attack elections?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, it’s not much different than a 9/11 event. It’s a cyber versus someone blowing up buildings. But they’re out there. Those threats are there. And it’s really trying to stay on your toes. But you know that people come in and they’re actually hacking into our governments. It’s happened in Georgia. It’s happened in other states, that they find a way of getting mole and getting a way, a back door into your systems. And so, you can never let your guard down. And you always want to make sure you have robust, top notch cyber security.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo speaking of threats, you, your wife, and your staff received death threats in the midst of all this. Has that backed off, or is it still continuing to be an issue?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWe still get some threats. We’ve also had other family members have threats and threatening behavior and things like that. So we haven’t let our guard down. There’s people out there. We still have people like to drive by the house and do selfies, so. I don’t know why —\n\nkara swisher\n\nSelfies in front of your house.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nYeah, I don’t know why that black Mercedes sport utility dropped by the house- - husband and wife. The guy got out and took a picture — that kind of stuff. If I find out where he lives, maybe I’ll go by his house, take a selfie there, and say, “Back at you, buddy.”\n\nkara swisher\n\n[CHUCKLES] No, was he threatening? He just took a selfie.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nJust took a selfie, but what’s the purpose?\n\nkara swisher\n\nI guess you’re famous. I don’t know.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nI’m not famous. I’m just an ordinary guy.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah, right. And one of the things I will press you on, though, that Stacey Abrams — we’re going to talk about her in a second — also has been getting death threats for a long time, for many years, actually, and a lot of them from these ultra right conspiracy theorists, which have been pushed by a lot of different people in the Republican Party, these conspiracy theories around voting or whatever. Are you worried about the level of rhetoric that some of the Republican Party — I know it’s not all of it — has created and where it leads? Because this is where it leads, is these threats to your wife.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, maybe what we should do is call the leadership, our national leadership, together on both sides of the aisle and specifically call out Antifa and B.L.M. for any violence that they do and then also call out any person on our side, whatever groups those are, and then call them out specifically by name. And we then do that. But that really requires national leadership. And I’m not national leadership. I’m the Secretary of State here in Georgia.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut a lot of these conspiracy theories aren’t coming from those sides. They are coming from these ultra right groups. And it’s very clearly you’re being attacked by the ultra right.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nAnd I’ve actually condemned it, instead of paying lip service to it. And they haven’t.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWhy haven’t they?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nI think that —\n\nkara swisher\n\nIt’s very dangerous. It’s a very dangerous thing.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nIt’s dangerous, but they also see that —\n\nkara swisher\n\nAnd now you’re under siege, right? Now you’re feeling that heat.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nAnd they see them as a large voting base, but that element over there is less than 5% of people that are on either of these two extremes. Most Republicans, if you dissect this, of what our groups are, we’ll be Christians, we’ll be business owners. We’ll have a niche, but we’re like a big tent of conservatives. And some of us are more moderate than others, but we call ourselves Republicans. On the other side, you have moderate Democrats. You have, then, very liberal. But I don’t believe that violence really has a home in either one of what I would call the 90% in the so-called middle.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut in this case, it is disinformation to characterize it’s B.L.M. violence. This is ultra right violence that is happening to you directly, correct? You don’t think that?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, it’s threats. It’s threats.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah, threats or threats of violence. Threats of violence.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nYeah, it is.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYou are not being threatened on the other side. Is that correct?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nNo, this is our side.\n\nkara swisher\n\nLet’s get to Stacey Abrams. So in this Wall Street Journal op-ed that just appeared, you said the only thing stolen in 2020 was Donald Trump’s theft of the Stacey Abrams playbook. And I have to tell you, I think it’s a total false equivalency. I couldn’t agree with you less.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell —\n\nkara swisher\n\nAnd I think you get it for red meat for the base. This is what I think has happened here. So tell me, why did you even write this? Why did you want this idea out?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nBecause I think people need to understand, it’s not helpful when the left does it, it’s not helpful when the right does it. And that’s really to the point what Chris Krebs talked about. This was the most secure election ever. And who believes that right now, other than, perhaps, people on the left side? But the right says these elections were fraudulent because that’s what people have said. And we have to make sure that people have confidence in the results.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAll right, so isn’t there a big difference? So Trump is making unsubstantiated claims about imaginary people stuffing ballot boxes, about suitcases, or about water mains — something you’ve discredited very clearly and very well. Meanwhile, Abrams has some real data about voter suppression in Americans. Many of the minorities are not able to vote. I’m going to quote you directly. “Establishing a playbook that President Trump is following to the letter now, Ms. Abrams refused to concede, announced that she would launch major litigation against Georgia’s election system, and began collecting hundreds of millions of dollars from donors convinced the election had been stolen from her, one that she refused to concede.” She specifically chose not to use the word concede, but she accepted the result. Even before the certification, she said in the speech that she prayed for Brian Kemp’s success. Should Trump do that and pray for Biden’s success?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nIt would be a spirit of conciliation if he did.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut she did not do these things. I know why you made the comparison.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nRight.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut is it a similar comparison?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nSimilar, but different. Different race. By the end of the day, we ran our election. We believe it’s a fair election for reporting honest results, and we think they’re accurate results. And we wish that President Trump would accept that. I know it’s unfortunate for him, and it’s unfortunate for me as Republican and other Republicans. But those are the results. And I think it’s time that we move on.\n\nkara swisher\n\nI’m going to finish up on Stacey. I’m going to pepper you just a few more times. The litigation was not about overturning a certified result. Lawsuits were about changing policies. So I think I’m fairly characterizing that. Is that correct?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, when I got here as Secretary of State, I think we had about 10 ongoing lawsuits, and it ramped up to about 14. I think that was our peak. And most of those came from left wing activist groups. And many of those were groups that she was behind or had some type of other influence behind those. So she’s been very active in the lawsuit arena over the last two years.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWell, I don’t think she was behind them.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nOh. She has a lot of friends, and she influences an awful lot of what’s happened in Georgia.\n\nkara swisher\n\nOK, but —\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nThat’s the direct connection. Obviously, this is President Trump’s campaign that’s suing us.\n\nkara swisher\n\nThis is a very direct —\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nYes.\n\nkara swisher\n\n— single campaign that’s doing it. I mean, you have a lot of friends, too, right? Like that do things together.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\n[LAUGHS] I don’t know about that.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYou’re a powerful white guy. You’re a powerful millionaire white guy. Of course, you have a lot of friends, too. In any case, I’m going to disagree with you that this is a similar thing. One of the things she did push back on was the guy who held your job was administering his own election. Brian Kemp was the secretary of state. I know it’s technically legal, but it broke with tradition, a bipartisan tradition.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nNo, but we never had a secretary of state at the same time running for governor. And so, that’s really what happened at the end of the day. The other secretaries of state that have stepped out is really so that they could do fundraising. And that was at the end of the day, they needed to be able to fundraise, fundraise, fundraise, so they could run a broad campaign.\n\nkara swisher\n\nIn 2009, just so you know, Republican Karen Handel resigned as Georgia’s Secretary of State to dedicate yourself full time for her campaign for governor. I think you probably would do the same.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, she made the decision that she thought was best for herself.\n\nkara swisher\n\nRight, right. I think it was a good one, in my opinion. I have opinions. [MUSIC PLAYING] We’ll be back in a minute. Early voting in Georgia’s Senate runoffs begins today. Republican David Perdue is facing off against Democrat John Ossoff. And Republican Kelly Loeffler is up against Democrat Raphael Warnock. The future of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance. If Republicans win both, they’ll hold a 52 to 48 majority. If Democrats win both, the Senate will be split 50/50. So all eyes are on Georgia right now with the two Senate runoffs. How is the drama and conspiracy going to affect voter confidence in turnout? What is your assessment from the level you’re at?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, I think it’s just simple. When organizations are unified, they’ll do better than ones that have disunity. And so, it’s really important that we as Republicans get unified behind the message, behind the senators, and we get out there and vote for them. As Secretary of State, what we want to make sure is that there have been some talk about people moving into Georgia just to come in and vote for this. No, I’m sorry. If you voted last fall for some senator in another state, think you’re going to bebop into here, stay at a K.O.A. campground, vote for your side, and then bebop out, no.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBebop? I love that word. I’m going to start using that.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, we’re going to put an end to that real quick.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nSo we want to make sure this is Georgians voting for our Georgia senators. I know it has national significance. So everyone, the other 49 states, they can look in, but you don’t get to vote. This is an election for Georgians to vote for the Georgia senators.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYou only have a few weeks to cool, though. You have very little time to cool. And here you have the two senators attacking you, yourself, someone who has a lot of support, presumably, in the Republican ranks.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, I think that I would encourage them to really just focus on the race and really get at it and work it hard.\n\nkara swisher\n\nHave you called them? Talked to them?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nNo, I’ve heard from them, and they heard back from my wife. And I think if they want to call us, they have my number. They always have.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWhat did she say to them?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nShe had a private conversation.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWas she angry?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nShe had a private conversation.\n\nkara swisher\n\nOK, all right. So, well, you say people need to come out to vote, but according to some, including the Center for New Data — and I you’re aware of this data — there’s some continuation of a long history of Republicans in Georgia making it harder to vote. The nonprofit’s recent memo in Georgia runoff suggests 42 early voting polling locations have been marked for closure. These accounted for nearly a quarter million in-person early votes in the general election, also in areas with people of color and Democrats. There are also concerns of whether there are limitations on weekend voting. But you know, Secretary Raffensperger, many people can’t vote any time they want. What do you say to them, taking away ability to do early voting, which is critical in the pandemic?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, every one of those decisions, it’s county. We do, from time to time, behind the scenes, we will prod counties if they’re doing things we think, yes, you can do that, but it really is politically unwise. Why are you doing that? Because my job is to have fair and honest elections, but also, I’d love to have elections to get back to being boring again and not everything flamed up. And so, it is a county decision. It also is a runoff election. So we’re not expecting 5 million voters. Even though it will be —\n\nkara swisher\n\nWhich was the amount in the presidential.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nIn the presidential race, we had 5 million. So it could be a half of that. It could be 3 million, something like that.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut you have the power to enforce consistency. So why aren’t you doing more? Are you afraid to do more because the heat is coming from —\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nNo, it’s the counties make that decision, but I know that in some of the counties, they meet the election board and the county commissioners. Also, it’s a county budget issue. Some of the counties don’t have any money. Some of the other counties are— I don’t want to flush, but are more affluent.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut the idea of it is if this presidential election was not flawless, obviously, but a fair election is what you talked about, why not keep an ability of people to vote as much as possible?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, and we’ll be looking at that as we get more information on what the counties are doing.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWhy not speak out right now and say, let’s not close locations?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, we’re still looking at all the locations that they do have and don’t have. And so, we haven’t heard from a few localized counties. And so, we’ll just look into that on a case by case basis.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAll right, you spent $100 million on election equipment in 2020. But you’re continuing to enforce Georgia’s use it or lose it purge to remove inactive voters. This has been something that has been probably among the most controversial things. What else do you have planned for Georgia’s election system?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, when we passed House Bill 316, what that allowed us to do was join Electronic Registration Information Center. And when we joined that —\n\nkara swisher\n\nERIC, right? ERIC.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nThat’s ERIC.\n\nkara swisher\n\nERIC is a Pew-backed voter system that helps eliminate dual registration between states, so people know where people move.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nExactly. And so, when we joined ERIC, that allowed us to really objectively update our voter rolls. We already have about over 30 states, I believe, that are members. We joined, Florida joined, and Texas joined all after us. But that’s good. Alabama was already a member. So was South Carolina. We have to get Tennessee. We haven’t gotten them yet. But when people move from state to state, we’ll have those records.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo, is use it or lose it then subjective? Like, it’s sort of a guess. The use it or lose it, for people who don’t know, is you remove people who haven’t voted — it’s usually a seven-year period or something.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nYeah, ours was nine years.\n\nkara swisher\n\nNine years. So if you don’t vote, you think they’re not there. That’s a guess.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nIt was a guess. And that’s why the advantage of ERIC is we’ll actually know where people live. And it really gives us that objectivity. It also does a really good job. Its data on death records is stronger than what we’ve seen from other sources. And so, it’s very objective. And so, we’re excited about having full implementation of that. And we believe that those whole questions about use it or lose it and those terms will be going away because now people have objective standards.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo when will it be fully implemented?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nIt should be fully implemented by June of 2021.\n\nkara swisher\n\nRight, and then to absentee voting — because this has been important during the pandemic — you’re including adding photo I.D. requirements and eliminating at will absentee options. If elections are working in Georgia and mail-in helped reduce wait time and improve turnout, why change anything at all?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWhen we stood up our absentee ballot portal, it took less than 30 seconds for you to do that. But we asked for three pieces of information — your name, your birth date — date, month, and year — and then your driver’s license. When you did that, it automatically connected us with photo ID and, also, your driver’s license. We could verify it was truly you requesting this ballot. And that gives the voter confidence of other voters that — person using this. And so, we have, for this cycle here of the runoff, well over a large majority of the new people requesting are actually using that system, the portal if they weren’t on the rollover list. What that really does is it has photo I.D. just like we have photo I.D. when you show up to vote in person either early or on the day of election. And so, it’s really treating the system uniform. And whenever we can have uniformity, I think that’s a good thing.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut you think uniform is not harder, and some people think uniform is not equal.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWe want to make sure we have honest and fair elections in Georgia. And if everyone realizes that all 50 states have honest and fair elections, then America is a better place.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo I guess what I’m trying to ask is if this has been such a fair election, why do you need to make more election changes now that people could either disenfranchise them or perceive it? Because it’s not a particularly good look for the Republican Party to be the party of not wanting people to vote. As you said yourself, at the end of the day, the job of the state of the Republican Party is to raise money and turn out the vote, and that didn’t happen. A lot of these feel like demographic shifts and not convincing those different demographic groups to go with you.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, I believe that after our election reforms work their way through the General Assembly, that all sides will be heard, and you’ll see that at the end of the day, it’ll be a balanced package that people will support. And that would be my hope.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo a balanced package, meaning that —\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nThat you have to hear from all corners of the Republican Party, but there’s a party in opposition here also. And they’ll have their voice and a place at the table.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut Republicans run Georgia. One of the things is Republicans did really well in the down ballot races. Republicans control the legislature. Is it possible to be balanced with that case and not go for the jugular in voter restriction?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nI believe that what we do at the end of the day, it’ll be something that we have our ideas, they may have their ideas. But at the end of the day, you have to make sure that it fits the Georgia model.\n\nkara swisher\n\nThis presidential election and pushing back on Trump, it is remarkable what you’ve done, and also, Gabriel Sterling, who had his speech. Did you know he was going to do that? I think you did. He wouldn’t have done it without your support, I’m guessing.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nYes, I knew he was going to do it. I’ve known Gabe for about nine years now. He’s very eloquent as a speaker. And he spoke from the heart, and he spoke truth. And I knew was going to speak truth. And he just did a tremendous job. And I came out the next day just to let people know, yep, we knew what he was going to say. I just didn’t know he was going to say it so well, and it was going to connect with so many people. I think it really connected with people on both sides of the aisle. And it’s really important that it connect with people on our side of the aisle.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo when you think about what’s happened between you and him and pushing back on Trump, which is a frightening thing for a lot of Republicans, I mean, I think you’ve seen throughout all these states that there’s very little of it, including in the federal system. Is this the hill you all want to die on, or is it the hill you’re going to win on? What will happen here post-election?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nIt’s just a hill of integrity that we’re going to fight on. And we think if we fight on that hill, that it’s a good place to fight. Because we’re really standing for the truth, and we’re standing on our integrity. And I think that’s a good place for everyone to stand.\n\nkara swisher\n\nHave you spoken to President Trump?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nNo.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWhat would you say to him if you spoke to him?\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nI would affirm the great things that he’s accomplished. He has to understand that he’s actually accomplished much in his four years. Look at what he did with the Supreme Court, moving the capital to Jerusalem. So he is a guy that is a person of his word, and he moved it. And then, really taking on and having those honest discussions that if you’re going to have defense here, y’all need to belly up to the bar and start throwing in some money. You’ve got plenty of money here. And so that’s a more balanced approach. And understanding that perhaps 20 years ago, of putting China in the World Trade Organization made sense, but they’ve abused the system, and it’s not helping middle America. And we need to have something that helps middle America. And so, I appreciate those kind of statements. Then if he wants to talk —\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo you’ll be positive.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nThen if he wants to talk about construction, we can talk about all the great things he’s accomplished over the years.\n\nkara swisher\n\nOK, I think you probably are a better builder, but that’s just my opinion. When you’re governor or perhaps running for a higher office, we can talk about those issues.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nI think when we can actually engage in conversation, then we see maybe our common interest. And then, how do we — OK, I don’t agree with you on this, but let’s build on the common interest. And that’s probably a good starting point.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah, excellent. But by the way, I voted for Ronald Reagan the first term, but not the second. Not the second. Sorry.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nYou don’t need to apologize.\n\nkara swisher\n\nOddly enough, I voted Democrat, but I didn’t like his opponent. But I did. I did, I did, I did. I have to say, I had a poster and everything because I thought he did represent that, but didn’t like so much some of the aid stuff and things like that. But in any case, see? People can change. People can change.\n\nbrad raffensperger\n\nWell, I’ll be working on you. [CHUCKLES]\n\nkara swisher', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/14/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-brad-raffensperger.html', '2020-12-14 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/14/opinion/14sway-raffensperger-image/14sway-raffensperger-image-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('145ca343ebbd4ccca8d3ae6b92ebe0fd', 'Who Is Jeffrey Rosen, Who Will Lead the Justice Dept. for Trump’s Endgame?', 'It has also emerged that Mr. Barr knew that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son Hunter Biden was the subject of a money laundering investigation that appears to have subsided and a tax investigation, but he respected department norms and did not make that information public before the election despite open demands from Mr. Trump to damage Mr. Biden. Mr. Barr’s resistance to Mr. Trump’s demands that he use the department to subvert the election strained their previously close relationship, leading Mr. Trump to bully Mr. Barr on Twitter over the weekend and culminating with Mr. Barr’s submission of a resignation letter on Monday. But Mr. McCabe’s lawyers urged Mr. Rosen to shelve the case, arguing that their client had not intentionally lied and noting that in any case, false statements made during internal inquiries at federal law enforcement agencies are typically punished administratively, not by criminal prosecution. ', 'Mr. Barr’s record of politicizing the Justice Department, however, has been complicated by his approach to the election. He publicly rejected Mr. Trump’s spurious claims of election fraud and kept the department out of the dozens of failed lawsuits the Trump campaign and allies have brought seeking to subvert the outcome.\n\nIt has also emerged that Mr. Barr knew that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son Hunter Biden was the subject of a money laundering investigation that appears to have subsided and a tax investigation, but he respected department norms and did not make that information public before the election despite open demands from Mr. Trump to damage Mr. Biden. And since the disclosure of those inquiries, Mr. Barr resisted Mr. Trump’s pressure to appoint a special counsel for the Hunter Biden inquiry.\n\nMr. Barr’s resistance to Mr. Trump’s demands that he use the department to subvert the election strained their previously close relationship, leading Mr. Trump to bully Mr. Barr on Twitter over the weekend and culminating with Mr. Barr’s submission of a resignation letter on Monday. It will now fall to Mr. Rosen to decide whether to maintain Mr. Barr’s stances on such issues during what may be a fraught endgame for Mr. Trump.\n\nIt will be an intense change of pace for a lawyer mainly versed in business and administrative law issues, although he has sometimes strayed into the murkier waters of the Trump era.\n\nIn late summer 2019, not long after his intervention that helped Mr. Manafort stay out of Rikers Island, Mr. Rosen convened a meeting with lawyers for the former F.B.I. deputy director Andrew G. McCabe regarding accusations that he had lied to internal investigators about dealings with the news media.\n\nAsking a grand jury to indict Mr. McCabe would be in line with the desires of Mr. Trump, who had repeatedly attacked him; he was the acting director of the F.B.I. when investigators opened an inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice. But Mr. McCabe’s lawyers urged Mr. Rosen to shelve the case, arguing that their client had not intentionally lied and noting that in any case, false statements made during internal inquiries at federal law enforcement agencies are typically punished administratively, not by criminal prosecution.\n\nMr. Rosen rejected their appeal, which would normally be a precursor to an indictment. (In a twist, the grand jury did not indict Mr. McCabe. It remains unclear whether prosecutors asked for an indictment and the jury balked, or whether prosecutors — seeing the reaction of the jurors to the evidence and arguments — pulled the case back.)', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/us/politics/jeffrey-rosen-justice-department.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/us/politics/15dc-rosen/15dc-rosen-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');
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('152a981f5c8d41c78cf422ab48ac3e79', 'The Lives They Lived', 'louwenda kachingwe Oh, you — [LAUGHS] jack nicas Yeah. jack nicas Nice, OK. abel oleson Yeah. jack nicas [SPEAKING SPANISH] translator [SPEAKING SPANISH] Muchas gracias, Maria — maria [SPEAKING SPANISH] interposing voices [SPEAKING SPANISH] Gracias, adios. ', 'michael barbaro\n\nFrom The New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. This is “The Daily.” [MUSIC] Across the country, nearly 100,000 small businesses have now shut down permanently because of the pandemic. Federal relief funding has stalled. And yet, some cities are now preparing for a second round of shutdowns. Today: For the past six months, my colleague, Jack Nicas, has been documenting the experience of a single neighborhood bar in the Bay Area of California to understand the consequences for its owner, bartender and cleaner. It’s Tuesday, October 6. Jack, tell me about the Hatch.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo the Hatch is the classic neighborhood bar. I moved to Oakland in late 2015. And one of the first things you do when you move to a new city is you find your local dive bar —\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nRight.\n\njack nicas\n\n— at least if you’re me. And pretty quickly, I knew it would be the Hatch. It’s just a really perfect neighborhood bar in my view. It’s unpretentious, relaxed. The beer is cheap. You can always find a seat. And I ended up just spending a lot of time there. You know, my friends and I would gather around the uneven tables upstairs and spend long nights talking until close. And we’d watch the N.B.A. playoffs on a bed sheet that hung from the ceiling. And we just, uh — we made it our place.\n\narchived recording Good morning. Thank you for joining us here on Mornings on 2. It is Tuesday, March 17. Bars, nightclubs and restaurants closed at midnight.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo when the pandemic hit and I realized that small businesses across the country were going to close, my mind went to the Hatch. And I decided, let me follow this place for a few months and see what happens.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nMm-hmm.\n\njack nicas\n\nAnd so I check in on the Hatch on March 17. This is the day after Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, has ordered the state’s bars and restaurants to close.\n\njack nicas So yeah, why don’t we just — do you mind if I record, by the way? louwenda kachingwe Yeah. jack nicas OK, cool.\n\njack nicas\n\nAnd when I get there, I find the bar’s owner, Louwenda Kachingwe. Everyone calls him Pancho. And he’s packing up the bar’s booze and basically is in the early hours of trying to figure out what to do with his bar. And it’s a moment of enormous uncertainty.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe I think the way that I’ve been processing it is, what can we do to stay open in some capacity, right? jack nicas And so you guys are going to pursue this. You’re going to do take-out? louwenda kachingwe We’re going to try.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo at this point, he’s thinking of moving to take-out. And it’s pretty much the only option available for bars and restaurants, besides shutting down.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe We’re going to see what it looks like, what it entails, cause I have no clue still, right? And so but what does that look like?\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nI’m curious what you were thinking at this point about whether Pancho is going to be able to pull this off.\n\njack nicas\n\nWell, I’ll say that when I first met Pancho, he actually struck me as sounding pretty relaxed about everything that was going on. And I didn’t really know him, but as I learned his story, I got the sense that this is a guy who really has had to figure out how to deal.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe Yeah, so I was born in Chegutu, and that’s basically —\n\njack nicas\n\nPancho grew up in the 1980s in a rural village in Zimbabwe. And he was the youngest of 13 kids. And when he was 10 years old, his dad, who was an academic, got a job at the University of Iowa. His siblings were much older than him. And he traveled alone with his parents across the world to Iowa.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe So we get there, and we are the only Black family there, right? And people would be like, you talk funny, right? And they were like, why do you talk funny, right? And I’m just, like, all these things. I was so unsure myself.\n\njack nicas\n\nThen, at 14 years old, something pretty drastic happened.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nWhich is what?\n\nlouwenda kachingwe At that point in time, there was some sort of dysfunction that was happening in the family, right? My dad — to this day, I still have no clue what happened.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo when he was 14, his mother came to him rather suddenly one afternoon and said, I’m going back to Zimbabwe. And I don’t want you to see your father anymore. We’re splitting up.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nWow.\n\njack nicas\n\nBut I have rented an apartment for you, paid the rent for a few months. And here’s some spending money. And you’re going to live on your own.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe And I was like, OK. And she was like, I packed your stuff. Let’s go. jack nicas It was set up already for you. louwenda kachingwe Yeah, it was already set up, right. So it was kind of both surreal, for one, right? And the way that I was like, wait, what happened, you know?\n\njack nicas\n\nSuddenly, he was a 14-year-old kid living on his own.\n\njack nicas How were you making do? Were you going to get groceries or take-out, or what were you doing? louwenda kachingwe No, I had two or three dishes that I knew how to make. I know pasta and eggs. That’s my go-to, right, and the best peanut butter sandwiches ever. So that was just it. And then whatever we had at school, whatever school lunches that were happening. I would do the frozen dinners. I learned how to budget really early on. I was just like, I’m going to budget, and just be like, what can I eat that can actually last me a long time, right?\n\njack nicas\n\nSo he would wake up in the morning, alone as a 14-year-old in an apartment, and make himself breakfast, dress himself, wash his clothes, go to school. And he just did that. He was a kid acting as an adult, but at night, as other kids were going home to their families, he was going home alone to his apartment.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe I mean, there was definitely a lot of loneliness, right? I mean, basically, it was hard to sleep at night, and so I’d go on these long night walks, just thinking about the future really, right? I used to call them the future walks, right? And just being like, well, what are the things that you want to do? Or the thought that I would always have would just be, I’m like, well, can’t get any worse. I’m like, this is where you’re at now and that it can only go up, right?\n\njack nicas\n\nAnd it does go up. Within a few months, he moves in with his best friend’s family. And he finishes high school, goes to college in Minnesota. Then he moves to the Bay Area, becomes a bartender. And a few years after that, he decides to go it on his own. And he looks across the Bay, where rents are cheaper, and he finds this old Hawaiian barbecue joint with orange carpets. And he turns it into the Hatch. And very quickly, Pancho found success.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nAnd when you say success, what do you mean?\n\njack nicas\n\nThey were busy from the outset, essentially. He said that in his first months, he was serving drinks in red solo cups, and he was sleeping upstairs on the couch. But the place was pretty packed. So, fast forward to this past spring. The Hatch is employing 17 people, and then the shutdown happens. And Pancho has to lay most of them off. And those employees are waiting to see if Pancho can keep the bar alive, survive the shutdown, and ultimately, bring them back.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nAnd what do you know about these people who were let go?\n\njack nicas\n\nSo, essentially, at the Hatch, like most bars, there is a front of the house and a back of the house. And the front of the house are the bartenders who were musicians and artists and photographers. And they’re mostly in their 20s and 30s, and they’re trying to make rent and some spending money to go out with their friends. And then there was the back of the house. And these were people in their 50s who are trying to survive and trying to support children. So I wanted to know what the shutdown would be like for people on both sides. And so in early April, with the help of a translator, I started talking to Maria.\n\njack nicas [SPEAKING SPANISH] Okay, estamos aqui. speaker [SPEAKING SPANISH] Okay, hola Maria. maria [SPEAKING SPANISH] Hola.\n\njack nicas\n\nShe was someone I had never seen before at the Hatch, because she would come in at the crack of dawn to scrub the floors and clean the tables where my friends and I drink.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nAnd what did you learn about her?\n\nmaria [SPEAKING SPANISH]\n\njack nicas\n\nMaria is 55 years old. And she is from the Mexican state of Michoacán.\n\nmaria [SPEAKING SPANISH]\n\njack nicas\n\nAnd in the late 1990s, her husband crosses into the United States without documents. And pretty quickly, she follows.\n\nmaria [SPEAKING SPANISH]\n\njack nicas\n\nSo her and her husband and Maria’s young stepdaughter all kind of start this new life in America. And working on fake documents, that cost about 20 bucks. Her husband is washing dishes and cooking in smoky kitchens across the East Bay here in the Bay Area. Maria’s collecting cans to get by. And together, they have two more kids. So fast forward to a few years ago. The kids are grown. And she gets a job at the Hatch as a cleaner. And she makes about 400 bucks a week.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nSo what does she do after Pancho has to make these layoffs?\n\njack nicas\n\nWell, after the shutdown, her entire family is out of work. So her stepdaughter loses her job at a Toyota dealership. Her son is no longer working in construction. Her husband is out of work. And her daughter, who is in her senior year at high school, is taking classes from home. And really, this looks like what a lot of American families were going through. But the difference here is that because Maria and her husband are undocumented, there’s no $1,200 stimulus check coming her way. There’s no additional unemployment insurance coming her way. California has made $500 per undocumented immigrant available.\n\nmaria [SPEAKING SPANISH]\n\njack nicas\n\nBut she’s too afraid to apply for it because she figures it’s going to put her on a list.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nSo how is she getting by?\n\njack nicas\n\nSo they’re going to a food bank. They’re eating more simple meals.\n\nmaria [SPEAKING SPANISH] jack nicas OK.\n\njack nicas\n\nAnd Maria suffers from intense back pain. And she even has to stop going to physical therapy to deal with that. But her biggest worry is her rent that she owes in just a few weeks. And she doesn’t want to get kicked out of her apartment.\n\njack nicas And so she’s not sure what she’s going to do? translator So she was saying that she has a little saving, that she was keeping for her daughter’s graduation. She was going to graduate this year, and she had $800 for the graduation.\n\njack nicas\n\nReally, the only savings at this point that she has is this $800 that she’s been saving as a graduation gift for her daughter. She doesn’t want to spend it, but she says she has no choice.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nMm-hmm.\n\njack nicas Can you ask her how she’s feeling? translator Yeah, OK. [SPEAKING SPANISH] maria [SPEAKING SPANISH] translator Yeah. OK, so she’s feeling a lot of sadness. And she’s very worried mainly because of the economic issues. They worry and — jack nicas I understand.\n\njack nicas\n\nMaria tells me that she’s just desperate to get back to the Hatch. She’s much less worried about getting sick from the coronavirus than she is about making money and paying her rent.\n\nmaria [SPEAKING SPANISH] interposing voices Gracias. Adios.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nSo Jack, who is the other person from the bar that you followed?\n\njack nicas\n\nSo the other person is Abel Oleson. He’s a 34-year-old bartender. And he’s exactly the kind of guy you’d expect to be tending bar at a place like the Hatch. He’s got a bushy mustache. He wears vintage T-shirts. He has lots of tattoos he can’t explain. Abel started working at the Hatch last fall. He got along with the staff, loved the customers. He was doing DJ nights upstairs.\n\nabel oleson Hey there, Jack. How’s it going, bud? jack nicas Good, Abel, how are you? abel oleson Uh, good, man. Just, you know, killing time at home. Playing a lot of video games, trying not to go outside.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo it turns out that the shutdown came at a really bad time for Abel. He just went on a big grocery run. He just paid off an overdue $270 phone bill. And essentially, he tells me he’s got about $20 in his pocket.\n\nabel oleson I live check to check. I live tip to tip as a bartender. So when I have $20 in my pocket, that is, could be kind of a scary thing. But it’s a temporary thing.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo now he’s hunkered down and quarantined with his girlfriend, who’s out of work as a budtender at a weed dispensary in San Francisco.\n\nabel oleson Honestly, we’re not spending a dime. We both kind of canceled all of our subscription services. And besides paying bills and food, we’re spending zero dollars, so.\n\njack nicas\n\nBut these are circumstances that are somewhat familiar to Abel. He spent much of his childhood in Portland with a single mom who was sometimes out of work. And he also lost his job as a bartender before when he was in his 20s and kind of was familiar with the unemployment process.\n\nabel oleson And I remember the system being very obnoxious. And I was fully prepared for that kind of bureaucracy again.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo the day after the lockdown began, he immediately applied for funds. He applied for government assistance. He applied for this bartender fund. He basically fanned out and looked for every source of money that he could get.\n\nabel oleson That’s the biggest problem right now, is just wait waiting for these things to come through and going food shopping and trying to kill boredom. And that’s kind of about it. jack nicas OK. All right, bye. abel oleson Yep, stay healthy man. jack nicas You, too. Thanks.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nSo as of early April, Abel is waiting to see if he’s going to get government assistance. He’s applied for it. Maria is not eligible for any of that assistance and afraid to seek the benefits she could get from California. And so she’s running out of money.\n\njack nicas\n\nAbsolutely.\n\njack nicas Hey, Pancho. louwenda kachingwe Hey, there you are. Hey. jack nicas How’s it going, man?\n\njack nicas\n\nSo as I was talking to Abel and Maria in April, I also reached out to Pancho to see how takeout was going.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe Well, I started the takeout delivery service. So we were building it from scratch, right? jack nicas You said you did deliveries yesterday or today? louwenda kachingwe Yesterday. Yeah, I did delivery yesterday. jack nicas And how many you actually do? louwenda kachingwe I did one delivery, yeah.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo takeout is not going well. In the first week, the Hatch had nine orders, and I was one of them.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nWow.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo that brought in $369 in the first week. And that obviously wasn’t going to be enough to help the business survive. And on top of that, he had multiple other complications.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe Yelp lost all our ads, so that was a bit of a setback for sure.\n\njack nicas\n\nThe fact that he got locked out of the Hatch’s Yelp account because of an overdue advertising bill.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe And — jack nicas Wait, so they blocked all your ads? Can you clarify that? What do you mean? louwenda kachingwe It says that we have to pay — we have a bill that we need to pay. So the number one platform that people use, we can’t advertise that we’re open and doing deliveries and takeout on it — jack nicas Wow. louwenda kachingwe — because they blocked us out.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nAnd why is that important?\n\njack nicas\n\nIt was important because without Yelp, in some ways, it was very difficult for them to tell their customers that they were even doing takeout now. Instead, I would watch the Hatch’s Instagram account post these increasingly desperate pitches to get people to come in. One of the Instagram posts that I remember is just Robin waiting bored by the phone, being like, please call me.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nBut people weren’t.\n\njack nicas\n\nNo, obviously not. I mean, it was a really difficult start for the takeout business. And meanwhile, he was on the hook for more than $8,000 in rent that was upcoming. He had two cooks and his manager on salary. And he had no money coming in.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nMm-hmm. And at this point, what are his options?\n\njack nicas\n\nSo around that time, Congress had approved a $349 billion package of small business loans for people just like Pancho.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nRight, PPP.\n\njack nicas\n\nExactly. So these are essentially forgivable small business loans that are designed to help small business owners just like Pancho, who are in this situation, to get a lifeline and keep their businesses alive and keep paying their employees.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe So immediately I was like, well, I’m going to jump on this, because I suspected everyone will want to jump in on it.\n\njack nicas\n\nImmediately, Pancho applies for one of these loans through Chase Bank.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe So I put in the information. And they’re like, great, good job. They will send you a confirmation email. Email never showed up.\n\njack nicas\n\nAnd it’s just completely a Kafkaesque experience.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe And then, five days later, got another email. And they’re going, you can apply now. And I was like, I’m pretty sure I did. [LAUGHS] jack nicas Oh, no. louwenda kachingwe I’m pretty sure I already applied.\n\njack nicas\n\nPancho understood that he was competing against literally hundreds of thousands of other small business owners to get this money.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe Then we were in panic mode. And I was like, oh, shit, we need to reapply now, right? Especially at that point, I’m like, oh, we are in so much trouble. So reapplied, and then Chase was like, sorry, you’re not eligible at this time to get a loan. So I’m like, OK — jack nicas Oh my god. louwenda kachingwe — this is the worst. jack nicas Wow. What a mess. louwenda kachingwe Oh, you — [LAUGHS] jack nicas Yeah.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nAnd how would you describe his state of mind at this moment? Because this is a pretty grim situation.\n\njack nicas\n\nIt was. This is a real crossroads for the Hatch and for Pancho. And I know that Pancho is disappointed that he didn’t get the money. Yet, when I’m talking to him, he still has this kind of dark humor about the situation.\n\njack nicas I appreciate that you’ve got kind of gallows humor. I love that you can laugh about it. louwenda kachingwe Well, it’s one of those things where I’m like, well, I can’t really afford to be down in the dumps about it. I think I have to be proactive because, literally, people are depending on it, right? But so as long as there’s things for me to try, I have to keep going. jack nicas All right, man. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. louwenda kachingwe All right. Bye, thank you. jack nicas All right. louwenda kachingwe All right. jack nicas Talk soon. Bye bye. archived recording 1 It is Friday. It’s May 1st and May Day, Pam. archived recording 2 Yes. archived recording 3 The Bay Area shelter-in-place order extended through the end of this month. archived recording 4 Here in the Bay Area, we are still a ways out from restaurants reopening. archived recording 5 This hits Oakland especially hard. A lot of folks across the country here in California and in Oakland dealing with the new unemployment numbers that came out. Again, just dismal numbers. archived recording 6 One in five workers without a job in California. Many Bay Area renters are in a similar position. abel oleson I kind of hope that’s true. I don’t think we’re really planning on staying here for super long. jack nicas How long have you guys been here? abel oleson Since October. I got this apartment and the job at Hatch at the same day.\n\njack nicas\n\nIn the beginning of May, I ride my bike over to Abel’s apartment. And he lives by the highway, kind of on the edge of west Oakland. And he is in the backyard, fixing up his low rider bike. And we start chatting about how the past few weeks have been.\n\nabel oleson Have you been talking to any other people at the Hatch recently? jack nicas Yeah, I talked to Pancho and —\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nAnd how is Abel doing?\n\njack nicas\n\nHe’s actually doing pretty well.\n\nabel oleson Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the unemployment check’s pretty great. And some interesting things have come out of that actually, so.\n\njack nicas\n\nHe’s been getting unemployment now for three weeks. And through this combination of state unemployment assistance and this new federal money from the stimulus law, he’s making more than $1,000 a week. And that’s double what he made at the Hatch. And he said it’s more than he’s ever made in his life.\n\njack nicas It’s still more than what you have been making. abel oleson Yeah. jack nicas OK. abel oleson Definitely, so. jack nicas So what have you done with the money? abel oleson So my computer actually died. jack nicas OK. abel oleson The screen cracked in half, so I bought a new laptop. jack nicas Nice, OK. abel oleson Yeah. jack nicas How much was that, the laptop? abel oleson It was like 900 bucks or something like that. jack nicas OK, cool. But that will — that’s a necessary expense. abel oleson Yeah, not anything crazy. It’s just kind of something that works good. jack nicas Sure. abel oleson Um — jack nicas Paid rent. abel oleson Paid rent, yeah. I just paid rent, just all the bills. jack nicas And food. So rent, food, bills, and then a new laptop. abel oleson Yeah, I mean, that’s about it.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nAnd so what did he tell you about his life during this period?\n\njack nicas\n\nI mean, he told me he was surprised that the government worked as intended here. He was very skeptical at the beginning. But now the money was coming in, and he was actually starting to pay off a bit of debt.\n\njack nicas And is your girlfriend still not working, or? abel oleson She’s still not working. Yeah, so it’s actually been — surprisingly, it’s been pretty good. jack nicas Good. Glad to hear that. abel oleson It’s nice to — yeah. We’ve never had a day off together. So now we’re getting our fill of that. jack nicas That’s good. abel oleson Yeah, it’s good, man. jack nicas Good, good, good, good. Do you feel like, at a certain point, do you try to look for a job, or are you just going to try to ride it out, or? abel oleson I mean, I’m going to just ride it out for now. jack nicas Especially given the fact that you’re getting the money, right? abel oleson Yeah, the extra money goes through July. jack nicas Yeah.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nSo for Abel, the safety net is very much working.\n\njack nicas\n\nIt is working as intended. And Abel now has the luxury of being able to stay at home. And he’s concerned about the virus so he’s not super motivated to get back to work.\n\njack nicas So I’m walking through downtown Oakland and heading over to the Hatch right now. It’s the first time I’ve actually been here.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo I go to see Pancho at the Hatch. And at this point, business really has not picked up. He’s making roughly 5 percent of what he made before the pandemic. He’s burned through roughly $20,000 in emergency funds he had set aside and another $20,000 of his own personal money. And he has new problems. A few days earlier, someone had broken into the window above the door, climbed in and robbed the Hatch.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe Yeah, so they came in — laptops, cameras, napkins. Yeah, liquor.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nThis guy cannot catch a break.\n\njack nicas\n\nHe really couldn’t.\n\njack nicas So how much total shit did they steal? louwenda kachingwe That we have currently that we can keep track of, about maybe $13,000. jack nicas OK.\n\njack nicas\n\nAlthough it turned out that despite the entire mess with the loan process, he ended up getting one of these PPP loans from the government.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe Yeah. jack nicas So what happened with that? louwenda kachingwe We got the money. jack nicas OK, that’s good. louwenda kachingwe And it’s a nightmare. jack nicas OK. interposing voices [LAUGHTER]\n\njack nicas\n\nBut he said it turned out to be a nightmare itself. And it was putting him in a bind.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe $72,500. Something like that, yeah. jack nicas Why is it a nightmare? louwenda kachingwe It is a nightmare because basically, I now have — what am I? Seven weeks left, something like that.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo these small business loans, they come with specific rules. And specifically, Pancho has to spend 75 percent of the money on payroll within several weeks. Problem was, he was running a takeout joint now. He didn’t need 75 percent of his staff. Take Maria. Pancho doesn’t have the need for a cleaner like he did before the pandemic. And even if he was able to bring Maria back, she’s undocumented, so her wages wouldn’t count against the payroll money he has to spend.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nRight.\n\njack nicas\n\nAnd then there are people like Abel. He’s making more money on unemployment than he did at the Hatch, so he has no incentive to come in and get a paycheck.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe I called like this guy that used to work here before. And I was just like, listen. I was like, what are you doing right now? Right, I was like, you should come, just do some things, clock in, a couple things like that. I’m going to pay you really well because I gotta move this money anyway. And he’s like, yeah, well, the thing is, I’m making $4,000 a month right now on unemployment. jack nicas Oh my god. louwenda kachingwe And he’s like, so, eh. [LAUGHS] He was like, I don’t really want to come to work. So I can’t even get anybody to take this money. So then I’m talking to the accountant, and he’s like, you’re in the same boat as a lot of other people, right?\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nSo suddenly he’s sitting on top of all this money, and he can’t use it the way he probably most needs to, which is to pay the rent.\n\njack nicas\n\nExactly, and this was a common criticism of PPP from small business owners. You had to use this money towards bringing people back to work, and fast. But in reality, you don’t need this many employees to come back to work when your business is so slow. And on top of that, many of your employees would prefer to stay home and continue to collect unemployment. But as I was talking to Pancho about this in the bar, I get an alert on my phone.\n\njack nicas You guys saw San Francisco just put out dates right now. louwenda kachingwe They’ve got dates? jack nicas Yeah. louwenda kachingwe For what? For phase four and stuff? jack nicas Yep, it just came out. They said —\n\njack nicas\n\nSan Francisco was setting some dates for outdoor dining, and eventually, even indoor dining for the first time since the lockdown began.\n\njack nicas I’ll tell you right here. So I think it’s June. June 13 is for restaurants, outdoor restaurants. July 13th is like indoor restaurants. louwenda kachingwe That’s crazy. Outdoor restaurants is June 15th? jack nicas Yeah.\n\njack nicas\n\nAnd it hits Pancho that Oakland probably will follow suit soon.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nRight.\n\njack nicas\n\nAnd if so, that means he just has to survive maybe just a few more months before he can get back to normal. [MUSIC]\n\njack nicas So that’s encouraging. Good.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nWe’ll be right back.\n\narchived recording 1 Good morning, everyone. It is Wednesday, July 15. archived recording 2 A neighborhood in Oakland is fighting over a wild peacock. [PEACOCK CRY] archived recording 3 The Bay Area is taking another big step into reopening today. That means outdoor dining gets the green light to reopen officially. archived recording 4 Restaurants say reopening outdoor dining is a relief. archived recording 5 This has been kind of a confusing process for a lot of people involved, Christian. archived recording 6 Yeah, very confusing process for a lot of people. And a lot of businesses following this very closely. As you said —\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nSo Jack, by the summer, bars and restaurants were allowed to open for outside dining in Oakland, just as in San Francisco. So what did that look like for the Hatch?\n\njack nicas\n\nSo on July 28, the Hatch did reopen for outdoor dining. So they set up a few tables out on the sidewalk. And they built a little takeout window into the kitchen. And they were starting this new model and hoping that it worked.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nAnd what did that new model mean for the three people you have been following?\n\njack nicas\n\nSo for Maria, she probably was most eagerly awaiting the Hatch to reopen of any of the people I had been following. But one day, when I called her cell phone, her husband picked up, and he was sounding panicked and actually told me that he was wheeling her to the emergency room because her back pain had gotten so bad.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nWow.\n\njack nicas [SPEAKING SPANISH] translator [SPEAKING SPANISH] Hola Maria, como estas? maria [SPEAKING SPANISH]\n\njack nicas\n\nWhen I called back a few days later, I found out some terrible news.\n\nmaria [SPEAKING SPANISH]\n\njack nicas\n\nThat Maria had been diagnosed with cancer in her hip.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nHm. So all that pain she had been experiencing was probably from that, from the cancer.\n\njack nicas\n\nRight, and now she essentially couldn’t walk.\n\nmaria [SPEAKING SPANISH]\n\njack nicas\n\nFortunately, she does have some health insurance through a county program that provides health insurance to undocumented immigrants for a small fee. She is getting some treatment, but it is still in the early stages. And it’s not exactly clear how everything will turn out. But of course, she’s in no shape to get back to cleaning the Hatch.\n\ntranslator [SPEAKING SPANISH] maria [SPEAKING SPANISH]\n\njack nicas\n\nSo before, Maria really hadn’t wanted to apply for this $500 benefit that California made available to undocumented residents. But now, her situation had grown so desperate that she was willing to take the risk and try to get that money.\n\njack nicas So had she actually gotten through to the line to figure that out? translator She didn’t. She called 90 times, 90, 9-0. jack nicas 90, wow. translator Yeah, 90 something times. And they never got through that so far. And they just can’t get it through.\n\njack nicas\n\nPancho, however, did need a cleaner, and so he decided to give her husband some hours. The only problem with that was Maria joked that her husband wasn’t a great cleaner, and Pancho confirmed that.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nBut it sounds like the decision to hire her husband wasn’t really about whether or not he was a great cleaner. It was about keeping the family financially, I guess, on their feet.\n\njack nicas\n\nRight, he was trying to help Maria and her family in this moment.\n\njack nicas [SPEAKING SPANISH] translator [SPEAKING SPANISH] Muchas gracias, Maria — maria [SPEAKING SPANISH] interposing voices [SPEAKING SPANISH] Gracias, adios.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nAnd what about Abel?\n\nabel oleson Hi, how’s it going, bud? jack nicas Hey, man, how are you?\n\njack nicas\n\nSo I called him up, and he told me he was back at work.\n\njack nicas So first day, when the staff all came back together, what was the mood like? abel oleson Oh, man, I think we were just really happy to see each other after, I don’t know, four months or whatever. Had a run of shots and then put our masks back on and got back to work. It was positive. I think we all really liked working there.\n\njack nicas\n\nBut the bad news was that, like Maria, health crisis had also emerged in Abel’s life.\n\nabel oleson So Mom is diagnosed with cancer. And so she’s going through chemo right now. jack nicas Oh, Jesus. abel oleson Yeah, yeah, yeah. So — jack nicas What kind of cancer? abel oleson Colon cancer. It’s definitely survivable, but there’s definitely a reality that my mom could die from this. So, um, it’s funny about this that it’s like, you — I don’t know how to put it. It’s like, life still goes on in the pandemic. It’s like, you kind of expect because there’s this thing going on, it’s like that nothing else kind of like will fall apart, too. And you’re like, well — oh shit, well this too, right?\n\njack nicas\n\nHis mother lives in another state, so he was concerned about his ability to go visit her by going back to work. But he was also at the same time grateful to have his job at the Hatch as a distraction from everything that was going on.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nAnd what about the unemployment benefits that Abel had, which seemed like they were more than he was making at the Hatch? Did that affect his decision?\n\njack nicas\n\nIt did. The extra federal benefits that were showing up in his unemployment checks were set to expire at the end of July. So Abel felt he had to get back to work in order to pay rent.\n\njack nicas What are you making in a shift right now? abel oleson I think it’s like 100 bucks, basically, a shift before taxes. So it comes out to 80 something. And then tips can vary dramatically, but it’s probably $30 or less.\n\njack nicas\n\nHe only had a few shifts a week now. And before the pandemic, he was making roughly $500 a week. And now it was a bit over $200 a week.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nWow.\n\nabel oleson All I can kind of do right now is just try to stay positive as much as I can. [MUSIC] Yeah, man. Well, good luck with — jack nicas Thank you. abel oleson — the rest of the podcast then. And yeah, if you need to know anything else — jack nicas I’ll keep you in the loop. Thank you. abel oleson — feel free to give me a call. jack nicas Yep, thanks man. abel oleson Bye-bye. jack nicas All right, appreciate it. video call ringing Hey, Pancho. jack nicas Hey, Pancho. louwenda kachingwe Jack. jack nicas Hey. louwenda kachingwe There you are. jack nicas How are you? louwenda kachingwe Uh, pretty good. jack nicas Good. louwenda kachingwe Just hanging out at home.\n\njack nicas\n\nSo I got in touch with Pancho a few days after the reopening.\n\nlouwenda kachingwe Yeah, it was good seeing them, especially after months. So there’s the part where I’m just like, yes, I’m glad everybody’s here. But I did have this moment when all the staff came in, and I was like, I wonder if this is just a fool’s errand. [LAUGHS] You know? And I was like, I wonder if this is what we’re doing here, right? I was like, and maybe all we’re having is this moment where we’re like, we get to see each other. And we get, like, two more months of this before everything completely implodes. You know?\n\njack nicas\n\nSo now it seems everything’s falling into place. And yet, Pancho has a lot of doubts about everything. First of all, he’s worried that there’s going to be a second wave and a second shutdown. And then, he’s also really worried because Oakland was changing rapidly in front of his eyes. I mean, the unemployment was high in the city. And he was just seeing, on a weekly basis, his friends and his customers leaving the Bay Area. And then he was worried that the people who were left behind in Oakland wouldn’t be enough to make his business survive. [MUSIC]\n\nlouwenda kachingwe For me personally, the best way to describe it is, I was in the Hatch. My friend just stopped by. And she was like, you look old. [LAUGHS] She was like, you look so old. I was like, yeah. I was like, I feel old. [LAUGHS} I was like, yep. I was like, that is a correct assessment of that. And she was like, yeah, usually you’re just like so super cheery all the time. And I was like, it’s kind of hard to be cheery because there’s like everywhere you look, there’s some sort of fire. And there’s just like so many unknowns. I’m like, it’s just hard to predict. And it’s like, you’re constantly second guessing if you’re making the right decision in any given moment. It’s almost like a war of attrition where you try to see who can hold on the longest, right, and get to the other side. And then you’re like, am I doing a good enough job with that? It’s like, and am I even the right person to be doing that? Being in this situation, you feel helpless, right? Where I was like, man, I’m really good at this, but I’m only so good.\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nSo Jack, it has now been six months since you started following Pancho and the staff of the Hatch. Ultimately, what did this experience tell you about what it takes to keep a small business alive right now?\n\njack nicas\n\nI think what it takes is a true reopening of the economy. And I think it’s pretty clear at this point that that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. And so that means that a place like the Hatch is left teetering on the edge. And that also means that people who rely on the Hatch to survive, its employees are also teetering. And these are people who were already on the edge. These are people who can’t work from home. These are hourly workers who don’t have many, if any, savings. And so it’s going to remain an important question of what happens to these people over the next months and even years. And I think it’s important to remember that this is the story of my neighborhood bar, but it’s also the story of your neighborhood bar. This is the story of everyone’s favorite bar or restaurant. And remember that before the pandemic, the Hatch was successful. I mean, this was a place that was pretty full just about every night of the week. And now, Pancho is scraping to survive for the sake of the Hatch and for the sake of his employees. And yet, he’s finding that there’s really only so much he can do. [MUSIC]\n\nmichael barbaro\n\nJack, thank you very much. We appreciate it.\n\njack nicas\n\nThank you.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/podcasts/the-daily/covid-coronavirus-deaths-lives.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/09/17/obituaries/22daily/00crouch1-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('18965ae7968f4206a34da83491ccbab7', 'Nothing Can Kill Fashion', 'It behooves us to take them — and fashion — seriously. Critics and philosophers have been deriding fashion for millenniums, using it as a symbol for every manner of human weakness: duplicity, depravity, narcissism, frivolity, greed — attributes also ascribed traditionally to women. Jean-Jacques Rousseau denounced fashion as a threat to moral society — an incitement to desire and covetousness, writing that finery is a “stranger to virtue.” In “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” by Hans Christian Andersen, excessive interest in fashion proves to be the sign of a dangerously vain and foolish leader. ', 'We will sometime soon return to dressing for the “outside” world, to adorning and beautifying ourselves. But things will not be the same, because we will not be the same.\n\nCovid-19 grants each of us newly heightened awareness of our bodies: how they work, how we “wear” them in society. Such changes are culturally profound and will necessarily alter fashion. It behooves us to take them — and fashion — seriously.\n\nWhile fashion has acquired more gravitas in recent years (entering university curriculums, for example), anti-fashion prejudice has a long history, intertwined with sexism and misogyny. Critics and philosophers have been deriding fashion for millenniums, using it as a symbol for every manner of human weakness: duplicity, depravity, narcissism, frivolity, greed — attributes also ascribed traditionally to women. Often, fashion becomes a kind of literary shorthand, a metaphor, for the failings of the female sex.\n\nWhen Plato derided democracy as a form of government too reliant on easy promises, he likened it to fashion. In “The Republic,” he compares democracy to an “embroidered robe which is spangled with every manner of flower,” whose eye-catching colors appeal “to women and children” — something unmanly, in other words, which seduces immature (i.e., female) minds.\n\nWhen Euripides’ unhinged heroine Medea seeks vengeance on her husband, Jason, she turns to fashion. After Jason abandons her to marry the young and beautiful Glauce, Medea sends Glauce tainted “wedding gifts”: a silken robe and a golden coronet, both infused with a lethal and combustible poison. The bride, vain about her beauty (another feminine weakness), rushes to try on her gifts and dies in agony, engulfed in flames.\n\nThis aura of menace hovers over fashion throughout the centuries. Jean-Jacques Rousseau denounced fashion as a threat to moral society — an incitement to desire and covetousness, writing that finery is a “stranger to virtue.” In “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” by Hans Christian Andersen, excessive interest in fashion proves to be the sign of a dangerously vain and foolish leader. Karl Marx inveighed against the “murderous, meaningless caprices of fashion.” And even Simone de Beauvoir lambasted fashion for “enslaving women.”\n\nIf it’s so unimportant, why does fashion remain such an irresistible literary and philosophical motif? If it’s trivial and irrelevant, how can it also be so powerful and dangerous? Why does fashion get invoked so often only to be renounced or exiled from depictions of ideal or moral societies? Why is fashion conjured only to be repudiated?', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/opinion/covid-fashion-athleisure.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/20/opinion/sunday/2021Garelick/2021Garelick-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('189cb5aba84c4e7b87de1dc47f727c00', 'Bonus: Kara and Nick Kristof Debrief on Ajay Banga', 'On yesterday’s episode of Sway, the chief executive of Mastercard spoke about why the company blocked subscription payments on Pornhub. Was it too little too late? Kara asks Nicholas Kristof, the journalist whose reporting on child pornography forced the payment company’s hand. ', 'On yesterday’s episode of Sway, the chief executive of Mastercard spoke about why the company blocked subscription payments on Pornhub. Was it too little too late? Kara asks Nicholas Kristof, the journalist whose reporting on child pornography forced the payment company’s hand.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-nicholas-kristof.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/22/opinion/22sway-kristof-image/22sway-kristof-image-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('18b6b309bc3c456eb0dd717239974ffd', 'Circus Acrobats Reach $52.5 Million Settlement in 2014 Fall', 'When eight acrobats suspended high above the ground at a performance in Rhode Island suddenly came crashing down in May 2014, gasps and screams ripped through the crowd of spectators. “That was an amount that everyone on our side thought was the right amount, it was a fair amount and it was the just amount, in our opinion,” the lawyer, Zachary M. Mandell, said in an interview. All nine were taken to a hospital, according to a statement from Feld Entertainment, which owned the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. ', 'When eight acrobats suspended high above the ground at a performance in Rhode Island suddenly came crashing down in May 2014, gasps and screams ripped through the crowd of spectators. In a YouTube video of the episode, one person can be heard asking, “Were they supposed to fall like that?”\n\nThey were not.\n\nOn Monday, a lawyer for the injured acrobats said his clients had reached a $52.5 million settlement with the owner and operator of the arena where the performance took place.\n\n“That was an amount that everyone on our side thought was the right amount, it was a fair amount and it was the just amount, in our opinion,” the lawyer, Zachary M. Mandell, said in an interview.\n\nThe eight performers, who were more than 20 feet up in the air, fell atop a dancer who was on the ground below. All nine were taken to a hospital, according to a statement from Feld Entertainment, which owned the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/us/circus-acrobats-injured-settlement.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/us/21xp-circus1/21xp-circus1-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('1e458187398b4b409533e99633233e7c', 'From Mod-Chic Chairs to Virus Barriers', 'For almost 60 years, Plexi-Craft Quality Products in the Bronx has been turning out chic, mod-looking coffee tables, chairs and even tissue boxes, made with crystal-clear acrylic resin. Now Plexi-Craft is busier than ever, shaping its acrylic resin (also known under brand names like Lucite and Plexiglas) into transparent barriers that allow the businesses of New York to do what they do. “But Covid-related regulations for businesses aren’t going away soon,” which is driving several businesses in the city to invest in well-made shields, he continued. ', 'For almost 60 years, Plexi-Craft Quality Products in the Bronx has been turning out chic, mod-looking coffee tables, chairs and even tissue boxes, made with crystal-clear acrylic resin. But when the coronavirus struck in March, its factory, the city’s last surviving acrylic furniture maker, temporarily closed.\n\nBut something unexpected happened around May. Doctors, banks, hotels, downtown office buildings and restaurants started contacting the company with requests for shields to keep their workers and customers safe. Now Plexi-Craft is busier than ever, shaping its acrylic resin (also known under brand names like Lucite and Plexiglas) into transparent barriers that allow the businesses of New York to do what they do.\n\n“Traditionally, they’re seen as inexpensive things — something temporary,” said Hans Kretschman, a former investment and commercial banker who bought Plexi-Craft from the founder’s sons four years ago, of the barriers. “But Covid-related regulations for businesses aren’t going away soon,” which is driving several businesses in the city to invest in well-made shields, he continued.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/nyregion/plexicraft-virus-barriers-bronx.html', '2020-12-18 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/18/nyregion/18nyvirus-plexicraft/18nyvirus-plexicraft-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('1fd9aa553c154ee1a97237a010226553', 'Sundance Goes Virtual With a More Accessible 2021 Lineup', 'Upon taking over from the outgoing director, John Cooper, last February — a promotion that made her both the first woman and the first person of color to head Sundance — Jackson said she wondered what she could bring to the world’s most venerated independent-film festival. Movie theaters across the country were soon shuttered, and some of the most talked-about titles to come out of Sundance 2020, like the raucous comedy “Zola,” were pulled from the calendar and still have no release date. By June, Jackson knew she would have to plan for a Sundance that would play out primarily on the internet. ', 'Upon taking over from the outgoing director, John Cooper, last February — a promotion that made her both the first woman and the first person of color to head Sundance — Jackson said she wondered what she could bring to the world’s most venerated independent-film festival. “I was looking at an incredible, almost 40-year-old machine,” she said in an interview, “and thinking, ‘What is my role going to be in taking this forward?’”\n\nJust one month later, it was clear that Jackson’s inaugural year would be anything but typical. In March, the fast-growing Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the South by Southwest festival mere days before the event was supposed to take place. Movie theaters across the country were soon shuttered, and some of the most talked-about titles to come out of Sundance 2020, like the raucous comedy “Zola,” were pulled from the calendar and still have no release date.\n\nBy June, Jackson knew she would have to plan for a Sundance that would play out primarily on the internet. “The core of the festival being digital just seemed necessary for our public health and for our sanity, so we could have some certainty of what we were planning for,” she said. And much to the programmers’ surprise, the flood of submissions mostly kept pace with the previous year.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/movies/sundance-film-festival-2021-lineup.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/16/arts/15sundance1/15sundance1-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');
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('2b2a830137694703a28705b0d0a97bbf', 'Your Card Payment Has Been Declined', 'And they’ve been buying new computers and office things, and things that have enabled their life to work, as well as noticing things are done differently. We’re participating — remember, for us — I don’t really have a difference in my head about whether you pay with a credit card, or you pay with a debit card, or you pay with a prepaid card, or you pay bank account to bank account, or you pay on a phone, or you pay by bopping your forehead with mine. Talking about cash back versus points — we’ve launched something called the Priceless Planet Coalition, where we’re trying to plant 100 million trees with our partners over the next few years by incenting consumers to change their spending behavior to be more ecologically friendly, for example, take the tube, don’t take a cab. ', '[MUSIC PLAYING] (SINGING) When you walk in the room, do you have sway?\n\nkara swisher\n\nYou might think Mastercard is a credit card company. Don’t tell that to C.E.O. Ajay Banga.\n\najay banga\n\nI actually wouldn’t know how to get to a credit card if you asked me to get you on. Because I don’t issue any, right? I got to go to a bank and then say, hey, would you please give my friend Kara Swisher a credit card?\n\nkara swisher\n\nBanga’s company works with card issuers and with acquirers who sign up shops or merchants. Basically, he’s a middleman, but a very powerful one. Mastercard has more than 3 billion cardholders around the world, and last year, $6.5 trillion passed through its pipes. That gives Banga a lot of leverage. If Mastercard turns off payment processing, companies fall in line. Just look what happened to Pornhub. After recent reporting on child pornography on that site, done by my colleague, Nick Kristof, card companies threatened to pull the plug on subscription payments, and Pornhub changed its policies. Banga has been C.E.O. of Mastercard for a decade. In January, he’ll step down in transition to the role of executive chairman. So I wanted the exit interview, to understand how he’s using his power, and what trillions of dollars in transactions tell him about the economic shitshow we’re in right now. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let’s talk about the current economy. You run a corporation that switched 87 billion transactions last year. But then came 2020, and you’re flooded with consumer data right now. So how has the pandemic changed spending?\n\najay banga\n\nSo can I dial back for a second and walk you through phases of this?\n\nkara swisher\n\nSure, as long as they’re not talking points, Ajay, but go ahead.\n\najay banga\n\nSo we defined that we’d probably operate the company through four stages when this pandemic broke. Very early, we said, there’ll be a containment phase, which is think of everything shutting down, kind of what happened in March and April. The world came to a stop. And then there’s the stabilization phase, which was the next couple of months. And really, stabilization was a polite word for the bottom of the pit. Basically, everybody was buying toilet paper and medicines, and fighting about Lysol and stuff like that. And then you come out of that into what we called the normalization phase — again, normalization in quotes — meaning it’s not really normal. It’s a new normal. You’re not really going to sporting events and going out to eat dinner. It’s just different from stabilization. Everything else is kind of happening, but the social angle is not there. We’re all talking on Zoom, and we’re not going to work, and we’re working from home — or as I call it — really not work from home, you’re living at work. And then the real fourth phase is growth, which I think is back to pre-Covid time periods, which requires, to my mind, a free and equitable and wide distribution of vaccines before consumer confidence, business confidence, comes back to that kind of level. So our spending patterns have changed over this period. So for example, in New York City, small businesses who had been doing regular transactions with us electronically — for the better part of March and April, around half of them had no transactions. Because basically, they were only physical, and didn’t know how to go digital. Now if you fast forward to now, it’s about 25% of them that seem to not be having any electronic transactions. The others seem to have reopened, have some physical transactions, and have figured out how to go digital in some modest ways. What we’ve seen around the world is that consumer spending is actually growing over the prior year domestically.\n\nkara swisher\n\nOn what? What has it changed?\n\najay banga\n\nOn everything from home improvement — because everybody is at home, and suddenly notices the paint on the table and the chairs. And they’ve been buying new computers and office things, and things that have enabled their life to work, as well as noticing things are done differently. They’ve been buying far more groceries, much more cooking at home, that kind of stuff. And then the last couple of months, restaurants have begun to pick up again, as even in the United States, indoor dining and outdoor dining picked up. But if you go to Asia, where indoor dining is still open in China, and in Japan and the like, there you see a slightly different pattern. It’s all based on what stage the pandemic that marketplace feels like it’s had.\n\nkara swisher\n\nRight. What do you see not coming back? I mean, I’m trying to think of things I don’t buy. I do a lot of delivery. I’m sure, if you looked at my spending patterns, it’d be delivery and hardware items, I guess.\n\najay banga\n\nSo I walk you through two or three things. I mean, e-commerce doubled as a contribution to retail sales in the United States, from 8% or 9% pre-Covid to about 20-something at the peak. And it’s now somewhere in between those two. So the moment physical opened up, people kind of reverted back a little bit to their prior life. But they’ve also figured out the convenience. 7 out of 10 people are using e-commerce now. And 8 out of 10 people are doing contactless commerce, which is very different from pre-Covid.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo this is an acceleration of trends that were already happening?\n\najay banga\n\nAbsolutely, absolutely.\n\nkara swisher\n\nDo you think they’ll go back, or is this here to stay?\n\najay banga\n\nSo I think part of it has gone back. That’s what I’ve seen even in China, and even in the Asian markets that seem to be dealing with this crisis a little better than what we have been going through.\n\nkara swisher\n\nIt’s a low bar. It’s a low bar, Ajay.\n\najay banga\n\nThe other part of your question — well, what else we’re not doing, which is very important- - is travel. So travel is an interesting thing. Domestic travel seems to have come back a little bit, in the U.S as well, or even in Europe. So look at the TSA. They seem to be clearing a million passengers. They were, back in April, down to less than 100,000. Now pre-Covid, that number used to be 3 million. So where are we? We’re somewhere in the middle. Overseas travel is down to a much lower level. So travel cross-border— and therefore cross-border of that type that you’re used to seeing — is way lower. But travel domestically is on. I mean, rural is the new urban. People are going to hotels in places that aren’t in the big population centers.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSure, but do you see any overwhelming trends? Are retail stores dead, movie theaters, and things like that? I mean, when you talk about acceleration of trends that were already happening.\n\najay banga\n\nNot really, I’ll tell you why. It is true that physical retail commerce had taken a big beating. But then if you look back over the last three months when things began to reopen, I saw that coming back up. It’s not back to where it used to be. But they took some share back from e-commerce. Clearly, you and I as human beings prefer to also go and touch and feel and buy, not just buy online.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWell, not me. Not me, Ajay.\n\najay banga\n\n(LAUGHING) Not you? But I do. I do a lot of stuff online. I always was, even pre-Covid. But I find that once things re-opened, I did go back. And you’re careful, but you did go back. I haven’t gone back to what I used to be, but I have gone back.\n\nkara swisher\n\nHow long do you think it will take for consumer and business confidence to recover?\n\najay banga\n\nConsumer confidence? If you measure it with all the public indices, they seem to be back up to a pretty good level. But I think what that doesn’t measure is their confidence in traveling, and their confidence and being out and about socially, the way you and I used to do pre-Covid. That’s not what they’re measuring. They’re measuring something else called consumer confidence in its totality — confidence about their job — confidence about their pay, maybe. That kind of stuff seems to be doing OK. What’s not really back there is cross-border travel, or travel out there in social and entertainment settings — a soccer game, a football game, a theater. That’s not happening right now. My general belief on travel is that consumer travel will come back first to a higher degree. Because everybody’s been pent up for so long, that as they begin to feel the confidence of the vaccine, they’re going to be out there traveling. Business confidence will be the next phase to come back. A lot of people are saying people have figured out how to do stuff on Zoom, they won’t go back to physical travel. I’m not quite there.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut you think people will stay in offices?\n\najay banga\n\nYeah, I think you’ll find human beings are human beings. They like the innovation, the interaction, the creativity, the social networking, the culture you build in an organization. Kara, these are not that easy to do digitally. And so I think you’ll find a reversal to the mean. Whether it goes all the way back to what it was pre-Covid or comes somewhere in between — I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAlthough I have to say — talking to a lot of business leaders, that’s kind of an outlier. They all kind of like this idea of not having to serve headquarters, or do the —\n\najay banga\n\nYeah, leaders have big houses, and live in big homes, and it’s a little easier for them to do this. You’ve got to just think about all the people who work for you. They’re in an apartment with their mother-in-law, dog, and two children. And they’re all trying to work on Wi-Fi and Zoom at the same time. It’s hard. So I think you’ve got to just think about the people, and what they’re looking to do. Whether they want more flexibility— no question. 100%. So if companies weren’t giving them adequate flexibility on working hours, on being able to cater to their own personal circumstances, I think that’s changed forever. But is it that they want to work from home all day long every day of the week? I don’t think so. I think something else will evolve, is what I’m saying.\n\nkara swisher\n\nNow you’ve been going to the office physically?\n\najay banga\n\nEvery day.\n\nkara swisher\n\nEvery day. Why is that?\n\najay banga\n\nWell for, two or three reasons. One, was I was in the midst of a C.E.O. transition to Michael. And it’s kind of hard to do a transition when you don’t see each other. And so we kind of built our own little bubble. And he and were, at one point in time, the two guys in this office for a while. The second part clearly was the ability to, honestly, get out of the house. The kids had come over and were living with us, so we had six adults in the house. I’m lucky. I’m blessed to have a reasonably large home. But at the end of the day, everybody needs a little space. And I was the one who could go out, and so I did. And I think the third thing was very clearly to be able to eventually say, how will we reopen offices? So when we began to shut offices, it’s not as though we had scientific evidence of how to shut and when to shut. It’s when governments came out and finally shut us down — that’s different. That’s legal. But otherwise, if you shut down because you think it’s not safe to go to work — you individually — how do you reopen? How are you going to decide? So my view has been — I’ve been coming to work. I’ve tried to make sure that our office is redesigned for all the right aspects of social distancing, from changing the air filters across the offices, to temperature screening, to P.P.E., to changing the occupancy of each conference room, and elevator, and pathways in the office, and the cafeteria, and how people are seated in A-team and B-team. We’ve done all the things that every other company is trying to do to make the office space safe and secure. And then I think at the end of the day, some people have opted to come back. And we’ve got about 15-20% attendance back. I think you’re going to get far more people back in the office than is currently being spoken of. Because I think people are speaking to today’s circumstance. You need to fast forward, six, eight, 10 months, with the vaccine out there, and I think we’d be in a very different place.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo speaking of being in a very different place, back in November, you joined Hillary Clinton and industry leaders in calling on Congress for more stimulus relief. What’s your outlook for the economy if that fresh stimulus doesn’t arrive?\n\najay banga\n\nWell, my view is that the fiscal stimulus — not monetary — we need fiscal. We’ve got enough liquidity. It’s really fiscal stimulus. It’s the people out of work. It’s the closed restaurants. It’s the folks who got impacted the most, minorities and women, and the likes of the industries which were more people-intensive and touch-intensive. I think there’s a lot going on there. And if we don’t get to both small businesses and the people who are impacted the ability to tide over the next six months till the vaccines are properly available and equitably distributed, then I think, shame on us if we can’t get that organized.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAll right, so before this pandemic happened, you had been setting up for the longer game. And so your stock is up a lot, 1,500%, something like that.\n\najay banga\n\nThat’s right.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYou’ve tripled the revenues. And you’ve processed $6.5 trillion last year. But the digital payments startup Stripe says it processes hundreds of billions of a year in transactions. Square says it processed $106 billion last year in transactions. Talk a little bit about these companies, and how you look at them. And I know in some cases, they are partners with Mastercard. I get that. But it reminds me a little bit of what streaming companies or Netflix has done to Hollywood. They have come in an area that is your business, and moved forward really quickly. And right now, I think Stripe is at a $70 billion valuation, possibly $100 billion valuation. Talk a little bit about this, and if you’ve missed something, like a lot of big companies.\n\najay banga\n\nSo my general view is that we weren’t actually in the same business that a lot of these were. For example, Square, run by Jack— Jack’s a very good partner and friend of our company.\n\nkara swisher\n\nJack Dorsey?\n\najay banga\n\nYeah. And if you think through what he did — he basically allowed acceptance of electronic payments to reach far more merchants than the ecosystem had allowed to operate prior to the arrival of people like Square, like iZettle. But Square— I would say they were the harbinger of that move. And so what they did was they enabled simple, easy sign on for merchants to become eligible for physical payments done electronically. Well, guess what? Those are still our rails. We are not in the acceptance business. Mastercard has never been in the business of actually going to sign up merchants to accept our payment. That’s done by acquirers. So if you understand the payment ecosystem, we play a role in it. And our role never was to encompass everything from the issuing of a payment instrument, all the way to the actual management of the transaction at a merchant. We don’t do that. There are other players that do that.\n\nkara swisher\n\nI get that, but you could have done it. One of the people that —\n\najay banga\n\nWell, not really. I don’t know that. I think you would never have got to the scale that the ecosystem has got to of 70-80 million merchants now accepting electronic payments if companies like us and others like us had tried to manage the entire ecosystem from soup to nuts on our own. The power of this ecosystem actually is in the form in which different players have come to play in it. And we are at the center of it, because we enable all the pipes to work. But we enable them to work in a way that value transfer and safety and security and simplicity of the payment is guaranteed. And that’s our role.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAll right, but I don’t quite look at you as a cog in the system. So Stripe will be the largest enabler of payments in the world, with the largest I.P.O., probably, coming up. Someone wrote me — and I want you to respond to this — Mastercard missed Stripe like Microsoft missed Google. How would you respond to that?\n\najay banga\n\nYeah, I mean, I think Microsoft and Google both have pretty good market valuations.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSure do, sure do, but —\n\najay banga\n\nAnd just so, I think that question actually is not correct. It misses the point. And I think the point I’m trying to make here is if you want to be all things to everybody — sure, we’ve all missed everything. I also missed the chance to be in broadcasting. But that’s not what the point is. We are who we are because we’re good at what we do. And we are truly the enablers of those rails to connect. One big change in our company over this period of time is that we don’t just do guardrails, but we do do instant payment account-to-account rails. And we’re also enabling blockchain-based rails on central bank digital currencies, fiats. So we call that the ABC, the account-to-account, the blockchain, and the guardrail of what we are trying to do. That makes us a little different from some of our direct competitors, but it remains the principle. We are the one-stop shop. You want to be a Stripe, and you want to enable more merchants and more people to enter? Go ahead and do it. But you still can work with us, because we’ll enable all that work to happen for you. It’s the same.\n\nkara swisher\n\nStripe has a valuation which is almost a third of your current market cap. Is it worth that much?\n\najay banga\n\nI don’t try and understand market valuations. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to predict so many of these. I learned that long back. That’s what investors do. They put their money where they’re thinking they’re going. That’s all right, I am fine with that.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo now Visa’s been very aggressive. It made a big investment in Stripe in 2015. You did not.\n\najay banga\n\nActually, we’re also invested in Stripe. We just invested at a different time. Both of us have invested at different points of time in players who have been in contiguous but away from us spaces, more as a way of connecting with them, and connecting with what innovations they’re doing. Because then we, as a company, can get that innovative spirit into ourselves. I mean, we have a whole group of people in our company who have spent the last 10-11 years investing in everything from startups— literally, what we call Mastercard Start Path. So banks, fintechs, and merchants invest with us there, all the way to larger investments through venture capital firms. And the idea is we don’t know how to access all those guys, but they do. And by investing with these startups, we learn how people are thinking, and that enables us to adapt our products, our capabilities, and our thinking to where the puck is going, as compared to where it is.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWhat are you looking for when you’re doing those investments? What are you thinking about?\n\najay banga\n\nAwareness and knowledge and learning, and the ability to inject that outside-in thinking into our company’s culture, so we can be more innovative, but innovative for those who are actually designing new-consumer facing applications at the other end.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAll right, so let’s talk crypto. In 2017, you called cryptocurrency junk. Now you’re getting into the cryptocurrency game.\n\najay banga\n\nNo, no, no, that was very clear. I called Bitcoin junk.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBitcoin junk. OK, OK, sorry. The quote that you said was, “I think cryptocurrency is junk” in 2018, but you were referring to Bitcoin.\n\najay banga\n\nYeah.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAll right, I want to know why you think that. You signed a deal with cryptocurrency payments platform Wirex to let the company directly issue crypto-backed cards on the Mastercard network. So talk about your evolution of thinking, and whether you think Bitcoin is still junk.\n\najay banga\n\nYeah, so the question that I was asked at that time — which is what the answer was to — was are these currencies? And I said, that’s junk, they’re not currencies. What they are is they are asset classes. I mean, at the of the day, a currency needs to be stable and somewhat predictable, at least over the course of a few seconds and a few minutes, as compared to what we saw and do see in most cryptocurrencies, unless they’re a stable coin, which tries to solve some of the stability, and then it needs to fit with regulatory standards in each country — know your customer, anti-money laundering — which Bitcoin does not find easy to achieve. And it has to be fast and easy to settle, which if you go through a typical cryptocurrency transaction, it’s actually very, very energy-intensive, and it’s quite delayed in its settlement. Although I believe that can get solved over time. And so it needs all these things to work well. And then finally, it needs to protect the consumer and their data and their privacy. So if currencies do all that, where that fits well is central bank digital currencies, fiat currencies. So if tomorrow, governments go into digital currencies, which a number of them are talking to us on — in fact, we are one of the largest patent holders in the world on central bank digital currency.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah, by the way, if they could come up with a new name — CBDC sounds like marijuana. But go ahead, go ahead. [LAUGHTER] So what do you think about Bitcoin now? Would you still call it junk?\n\najay banga\n\nSame problem, it’s got — no, I told you, it’s a great asset. If you want to invest in pork bellies, go ahead. You want to invest in shares, go ahead. If you’re a smart investor, go ahead. But don’t call shares currency. Currency is something you transact to buy a drink just now, and toilet paper the minute later. If that drink costs you $3 today, and then the value goes up to $2,900 the next day, that’s not a viable method of exchange.\n\nkara swisher\n\nRight. But do you personally own Bitcoin? I’m just curious.\n\najay banga\n\nNever have.\n\nkara swisher\n\nNo?\n\najay banga\n\nNever have.\n\nkara swisher\n\nI owned 10 once. When I was in the original early Bitcoin, I bought them for —\n\najay banga\n\nYeah, so you got in good timing.\n\nkara swisher\n\nI bought them for like $20 or whatever at the early-early, and then I lost them.\n\najay banga\n\nYou lost them?\n\nkara swisher\n\nI lost them.\n\najay banga\n\nOh, because you put them on some exchange, and they got hacked into?\n\nkara swisher\n\nNo, in the early days, you put them on a drive. You put all the information — and I lost the drive.\n\najay banga\n\nI see.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo there we have — I was just doing a story. This was a long time ago.\n\najay banga\n\nWell, that’s an expensive drive that you lost.\n\nkara swisher\n\nOh well, too bad. [MUSIC PLAYING] We’ll be back in a minute. If you like this interview and want to hear others, hit subscribe. You’ll be able to catch up on “Sway” episodes you may have missed, like my conversation with economist, Raj Chetty. And you’ll get new ones delivered directly to you. More with Ajay Banga after this break. [MUSIC PLAYING] Outside of tech, you’re facing the challenge of a shifting consumer base. Like millennials are afraid of credit card debt. They want money back. Cash back is a big shift, rather than points and other things. So how do you think about this younger generation of consumers?\n\najay banga\n\nOh, I think that their own desires are also what they are. We’ve got to cater to them. And at the end of the day, if that’s what they want, that’s why we’re all in existence. You can kind of say, hey, I don’t like what they want kind of thing. So long as it’s legal and ethical, you should be doing it. So we’re all doing that. We’re participating — remember, for us — I don’t really have a difference in my head about whether you pay with a credit card, or you pay with a debit card, or you pay with a prepaid card, or you pay bank account to bank account, or you pay on a phone, or you pay by bopping your forehead with mine. I don’t really care whether they’re into credit card or otherwise. Somebody else makes money in different ways from how you choose the instrument of payment. I make money on the payment transaction, and the information that flows from it that’s anonymized. And that’s what I care about. I don’t care about the methodology of the source of funding of that transaction.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut the idea of credit card debt — do you think it’s been undermined by these companies?\n\najay banga\n\nNot all debt is bad. Debt taken the right way, debt taken with knowledge, debt taken to manage what you think you can handle — that’s your choice as a consumer. But if you take it in a way you don’t understand what you’re signing up for, and you can’t afford to pay it back, that’s a pretty bad idea.\n\nkara swisher\n\nThey certainly want cash back. That trend is very — cash back versus points.\n\najay banga\n\nTalking about cash back versus points — we’ve launched something called the Priceless Planet Coalition, where we’re trying to plant 100 million trees with our partners over the next few years by incenting consumers to change their spending behavior to be more ecologically friendly, for example, take the tube, don’t take a cab. I will give you an app that will tell you how many trees we’ll plant. And I will try and get you to collect trees rather than even cash back or points. So I think consumers will change over time, depending on what motivates them.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut as you were noting, millennials and Gen Z are also increasingly socially conscious, which could put pressure on you to take a stronger moral stance, something you’ve been asked to do recently when the Pornhub controversy — as you know, my colleague, Nick Kristof, recently reported the scale of child pornography on Pornhub, along with other terrible things. After that, MasterCard and Visa cut off the use of services on the website. Can you talk me through how you made that decision?\n\najay banga\n\nSure. So what basically happens is that if you — look, if everybody came to me and said that you can’t accept things on that merchant, and you can’t do things there, then there’s a slippery slope that just says who makes the most noise? So is alcohol bad? This topic has been about guns in the past. Are birth control pills bad? So there is the concern of the legal standard as well, which needs to be applied. When Nick wrote that article, we went back and we looked. We found actually instances where clearly, the legal standard of what should be allowed on Pornhub had been crossed. So we went back to Pornhub and said, sorry, only you’ve crossed the legal standard. And that’s how we pulled away from allowing our payment instrument to be accepted there.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo why did it take so long? PayPal terminated services on Pornhub in 2019.\n\najay banga\n\nWell, if they found legal stuff earlier, great, then we should all see it, and we could do it. We couldn’t find it— illegal content earlier. It’s got to be illegal content. This is not a moral stand. If I do, I’m telling you, it’s a very slippery slope on all of these. It’s like, for example, I’ve had people ask me, why couldn’t Mastercard cut off merchants who sell guns? That’s really interesting, because Walmart sells ammunition, guns, and diapers, and I don’t know what you bought. So I don’t know how to cut it off. And trying to make that point has been one of the most interesting things, because people go right past that.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWhat about direct — like in Pornhub, you have a very easy situation.\n\najay banga\n\nNo, porn’s not illegal. It is certain kinds of porn that are illegal. So child porn is, and that’s what we saw. That’s why we pulled out.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo you banned the use of the card for premium memberships on Pornhub, but you didn’t ban the use the card for buying ad sales. Why draw the line at subscription payments only?\n\najay banga\n\nNow you’re back to — again, at the end of the day, I have to follow a legal standard. I’m not trying to follow a moral standard. If I did, I personally abhor all kinds of things to do with gun sales as well. I don’t own a gun. I also abhor things to do with porn. But you know what? That’s not what this is about. There are laws in a country, and we’re trying to work within the laws. Take, for example, cannabis. You were talking about that in a joke with CBDC just now. Well, so different states legalize the sale of marijuana. But we can’t allow our cards to be used to buy them, because the federal government hasn’t legalized it. And so we followed that standard, and that’s what we’ve been doing all this while. It’s got nothing to do with my personal beliefs or otherwise.\n\nkara swisher\n\nDo you feel, though, that you could use your leverage to push Pornhub to do more? So many companies are being pulled into these issues, whether it’s Facebook, whether it’s any of these companies.\n\najay banga\n\nWe have used our position on social causes extensively, which I do think you would acknowledge, whether it be financial inclusion, or small businesses, or in solidarity for African-Americans. And so yes, absolutely, we believe that corporations should have that kind of attitude. But you’ve got to be within the law.\n\nkara swisher\n\nThe law is the way you look at it?\n\najay banga\n\nAbsolutely.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWell, American Express has a longstanding global policy that does not allow cards to be used to buy adult digital content at all. Would you consider a similar policy, or do you feel like legal usage is the way—\n\najay banga\n\nI just feel that I don’t know how to choose one over the other, Kara. I just don’t want to be the one who is making decisions that overrule anything else that’s the legal standard of that country. And you’ve got to be very careful on this. Now that’s not the only standard, obviously. Ethics matter, and there are lines that get crossed when something happens. For example, we’ve also gone back and told Pornhub that uploading by users is not something that we feel comfortable with. And if you notice, they are now addressing that.\n\nkara swisher\n\nThey just cut them. They just cut all of them, right.\n\najay banga\n\nYeah, so therefore — listen, there’s no right or wrong answer in this. There’s no black or white in this. There is a way of trying to find your way through it. And all we are trying to do is to find our way through it with using some form of standards that we can live up to, guide rails that we can live up to and not be seen as arbitrating. Because that’s not the role.\n\nkara swisher\n\nDo you see more corporations getting involved in these social issues much more strongly? How do you think about that as a leader? Because you do have the power to do that.\n\najay banga\n\nLook, I said this the other day to somebody, that I’m an old-fashioned believer in capitalism. But I believe that capitalism with the right guide rails is what we’re referring to here. And if you take the guide rails off, and if you just let people do whatever they want, you can get unintended consequences. And I think that’s happened. You could see inequality has widened. You can see a bunch of things that haven’t worked out the way they should have. So what we’re really talking about here is capitalism with guide rails. And I think the guide rails start with your employees. If you don’t start with your own employees, how can you talk about stakeholder capitalism? So my employees are a mix of— you were talking millennials— I’ve got 57% of my employees are now millennials. It is 7% 11 years ago. Well, they care about society in a completely different way. And so we have open discussions about that in the company. I’ll give you an example of things we’ve done. In our company, if you put 6% into your 401k, we give you a 10% match, which means you save 16% a year. And by the way, 97-98% of my employees take advantage of this. If you save 16% a year, and you join my company at the age of 25 on an income of $50,000, and you retire at the age of 55 at an income of $250,000, you would have a decent nest egg to retire with. That is putting your money where your mouth is for your employees.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo talk about that in the broader sense —\n\najay banga\n\nNo, hold on, hold on, hold on. You’re going to hear me through now.\n\nkara swisher\n\nOK, all right, OK.\n\najay banga\n\nBecause this is a topic I care about. You keep talking about Pornhub and guns, but let me tell you, this is where the rubber hits the road. Do you really care?\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah. OK, all right.\n\najay banga\n\nAnd so second topic — 16 weeks of parental leave, whether you’re a mother or a father, birth parent or adoptive parent. 16 weeks paid. No pro-rata on your bonus. We have that. Stock ownership — 3/4 of my company owns stock in our company. So yes, I personally have benefited from the performance of our stock over the last 11 years. So have very large swaths of my company. So I think you start with your employees. You treat them with that decency. You give them your hand on their back. And then you go and worry about society and community. And that’s why we made that commitment to reach 500 million people for financial inclusion by 2020, which we did. We’ve now upped that commitment to 1 billion in the midst of this crisis with Covid, and said we will reach 25 million women entrepreneurs and 50 million micro SMEs.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAll right, I’m going to make the link for you between things like Pornhub. It’s the idea of corporations taking roles government has before — whether it’s helping people with stock ownership, or bettering people, or giving people benefits — corporations acting.\n\najay banga\n\nWith one difference. This is not legal doubts. These are things I can choose to do.\n\nkara swisher\n\nRight.\n\najay banga\n\nBecause it’s an open space, where I’m leading with my heart and my mind, not trying to figure out where the law is drawn. There’s a very big difference there, which deserves to be recognized. And that’s all I’m saying.\n\nkara swisher\n\nLet’s get into financial inclusion, because it’s been a passion point for you. Do you have experience of being financially excluded? You’ve had a very successful career.\n\najay banga\n\nI didn’t grow up like this. I grew up in an army officer’s family in India with a very average background. And my dad grew, and became a three star general, and he prospered. If you knew the Indian Army’s pay scales at that time — and he had three kids going through college — he used to walk to work as a three star general and similar. And he used to re-sole his shoes, because he couldn’t afford to buy new shoes. That’s the family I grew up in. So I have not been financially excluded — don’t get me wrong — but I understand. If you grew up in India, and if you grew up with a family that’s that type, you cannot miss that life isn’t easy for a lot of people.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSure, and a lot of them are unbanked — this idea of the unbanked — it’s usually talked internationally — but about 7 million US households were also unbanked last year, a little more than 5%, which was higher than I realized.\n\najay banga\n\nWell, actually, it’s more if you talk about underbanked.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut it’s a global issue —\n\najay banga\n\nIt is.\n\nkara swisher\n\n— this idea of who’s being left out. So who is being left out, and what is the reason companies should be focusing on this?\n\najay banga\n\nWell, first of all, it’s in your own self-interest. Because I think you try and apply solutions to big problems in the world— if I may step back for a second — I look at the problems of the world through three sides of a triangle. The first side is one versus many. That’s the inclusion/exclusion. It could be gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, grew up on the wrong side of the track, whatever. The other side of the triangle is humanity versus nature, all our issues with climate, ecology, water, air, all that. And the unfortunate part is that those two sides stay aloft because the bottom keeps them aloft. And that is the trade-off between short term and long term. Politicians, C.E.O.s who look at things shorter term than long term — if you think about it, these are long term problems being attacked with shorter term solutions. None of these are going to be solved by philanthropy alone. You’ve got to apply commercially sustainable solutions. And so that means we’ve got to apply a business model. The private sectors in generating capital technology has got to come to play here. Because there isn’t enough money in philanthropy and government to solve for 2 billion people being relatively excluded from the financial mainstream.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo what does that mean?\n\najay banga\n\nWell, you’ve got to come with commercial solutions. So what we did was we said we have a network of banks, merchants, and partners, and we have technology that connects them. So can we go and find a way to connect these billions of people? And we made a commitment to find a way to 500 million. So we found the biggest generator of cash in an economy was the government paying its own citizens — pensions, social benefits, health care benefits, distribution of rations and food when they were in trouble, that kind of stuff. And that lends itself to misuse by agents and corruption and leakage, and all those fancy words that people use. Leakage is a fancy word for theft, right? So that kind of is what was going on. And so we tried to get into that, and discovered the problem is that most of these 2 billion people don’t have an identity. And if you don’t have an identity, you can’t open an account for them. When you say, you could solve that by using a phone, because they can then transfer money from one to the other — yes, but the moment you need to do anything more serious than that, you need to have an account. And no bank in any country of any type, whether you want to open a fancy account or an account in the cloud, can open an account for you without an identity. So what are the challenges of that? So we in South Africa began to work with the South African government that wanted to issue biometric identities to its citizenry, which they did. And we put all that on a chip, and on the other side of the card put a payment card that enabled the South African Social Security Agency to start giving benefits on that card. And all of a sudden, people who were getting benefits and cash, and were at the mercy of in-between agents, now started getting it directly on the card. They could use it to go to an ATM and take out cash, or they could use it to buy their rice and their vegetables wherever they wanted. That idea spread from South Africa to saying, we’ll find 500 million people like this. We’re doing this in tens of countries around the world in 1,500 different programs. And that’s spread.\n\nkara swisher\n\nThese are physical cards, rather than the mobile? Because mobile was sort of touted —\n\najay banga\n\nNo, it could be — I don’t care about the physical card. It could be on a mobile phone. It could be on your fingerprint. I don’t care about form factors. That’s not what I’m into. Just because I have card in my name doesn’t make me a card company. Apple doesn’t sell apples. Whether it’s a card, whether it’s a phone, I don’t care. I just want to make it easier for you to do both the inward flow and the outward flow. And then I want to use that transaction flow to enable banks to start lending money to you and so on. That’s what means financial inclusion.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYou said you don’t care. But is there one of them — of the biometrics — so whether the card, whether the phone that’s becoming more important than the other?\n\najay banga\n\nNo, it’s actually a very good question. I think biometrics began to move. The only problem, Kara, with biometrics —\n\nkara swisher\n\nIt’s creepy.\n\najay banga\n\nIt’s creepy, one, and two, who should keep that? So if you take the government of India, where they have run a very successful scheme where they’ve collected the biometrics of all the citizenry — all 10 fingerprints and the irises — well, they’re all in one location. Now you can tell me it’s kept safe. You just have to look at what happened recently in the United States over the last couple of days.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah.\n\najay banga\n\nAnybody who believes that anything is safe is the one person you should not believe knows what they are talking about. And so at the end of the day, my view of identity is nobody should have everything about you.\n\nkara swisher\n\nMany people think the secure thing is cash itself, although I get the stealing and theft, and running off with your money. But when you started Mastercard, a lot of the coverage focused on your war on cash.\n\najay banga\n\nYeah.\n\nkara swisher\n\nDon’t you need to win the war on financial exclusion before you win the war on cash?\n\najay banga\n\nIt’s actually intertwined, which is how we ended up with a war on cash. It was because of the fact that we defined our marketplace as cash, not other electronic funds. And then we realized that the generator of that cash was the government, and it was going to do excluded. And therefore, for me, financial inclusion and the war on cash are intertwined. I don’t mean by the war on cash that you should make sure that people who are excluded get even further disadvantaged. Very far from it. I actually think that cash is the friend of the someone who has something to hide. If you’re poor and you’re excluded, Kara, you can’t do anything that you and I take for granted. You can’t hire a car. You can’t rent a hotel room. You can’t get access to credit or insurance. Nobody counts, so you don’t count. You’re not even counted in a survey, because you don’t have an identity. So I actually am on the other side of this, which is that these folks need to be helped to not be in that game of cash. You need to get them to the right place. That doesn’t mean you cut off their cash. It means you help them get something else as well. This is not an either/or. It is about being there for them.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWhen do you think the world will be actually cashless?\n\najay banga\n\nI doubt — it’s interesting, when I joined, 85% of the world’s retail transactions were in cash. It’s still 80-plus%. But I do think that the pandemic has changed people’s ways of thinking about interacting with cash. But that doesn’t mean that we should be thinking of going past cash by saying, therefore let me deny people who have to deal in cash. That’s not the idea. You’re not lowering the river water, you’re raising the level of water, and providing people the chance to go higher. That’s the idea.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWhen’s the last time you made a transaction in cash? Me a year ago. I don’t use cash at all.\n\najay banga\n\nOh, I do cash only if I’m tipping somebody, mostly.\n\nkara swisher\n\nDo you do mostly on your phone, or what is your —\n\najay banga\n\nNo, I do a lot of stuff still via card, for a very simple reason. I just find taking out a card to tap very easy. Taking out a phone to double-click on the right-hand side, to then unlock the phone with my face, and then use it is just one step extra for me. But I do use Apple Pay frequently.\n\nkara swisher\n\nApple Pay, me too. So what are you going to do next? You’re a young man.\n\najay banga\n\nI don’t know. I don’t know, maybe you’ll hire me, and I’ll come work with you.\n\nkara swisher\n\nNo, I’m working for Mastercard, with all those benefits. But what do you what to do?\n\najay banga\n\nI want to do something with that triangle. I’ve tried to do it here. To be honest with you, I’ve tried really hard. The financial inclusion thing, the Priceless Planet Coalition for the climate side — and I’ve really tried to run the company for the long term.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWould you like to work for the Biden administration?\n\najay banga\n\nFirst of all, you’ve got to be asked before you can say yes or no to that.\n\nkara swisher\n\nFair.\n\najay banga\n\nAnd so that’s very interesting. But secondly, I’m here as executive chairman for at least a while. And so my first commitment is to make Michael successful, and to make the company go through this period of time. And then I’ll see. I don’t know that I’m a great believer in being a secretary of anything or the other. I don’t know that that enables me to focus on this triangle. If there were roles in any administration of this type — particularly for somebody like him and his vice president— who said, hey, there’s a role you can play here which can actually make a difference to these three things — that would be interesting. I don’t know what that is.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAll right, this is great. I really appreciate this, thank you so much.\n\najay banga\n\nKara, thank you. Be well.\n\nkara swisher', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-ajay-banga.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/opinion/21sway-banja-image/21sway-banja-image-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('2dc75be585d8442495c233829beee925', '2 Passengers, Dog Slide Out of Moving Plane at La Guardia Airport', 'Brian Plummer was sitting toward the back of a Delta Air Lines flight readying to depart La Guardia Airport on Monday when, he said, he noticed a man and a woman with a large service dog nearby. The Atlanta-bound plane was not completely full, Mr. Plummer said, and the couple changed seats several times. The man and woman never did settle in, and as Flight 462 began to taxi out to a runway, the man stood up, ignoring a flight attendant’s order to sit, saying that he had post-traumatic stress disorder, Mr. Plummer said. ', 'Brian Plummer was sitting toward the back of a Delta Air Lines flight readying to depart La Guardia Airport on Monday when, he said, he noticed a man and a woman with a large service dog nearby.\n\nThe Atlanta-bound plane was not completely full, Mr. Plummer said, and the couple changed seats several times.\n\nThe man and woman never did settle in, and as Flight 462 began to taxi out to a runway, the man stood up, ignoring a flight attendant’s order to sit, saying that he had post-traumatic stress disorder, Mr. Plummer said.\n\nA short time later, Mr. Plummer said, he felt the plane shudder to a stop. It was not immediately clear to him why, but the flight crew eventually told the passengers what had happened.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/nyregion/la-guardia-airport-dog-passenger-plane.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/nyregion/21ny-runwayescape/21ny-runwayescape-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');
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('315d82dba49c48569dc4a4389e31cd77', 'Why It’s So Hard to Keep California’s Hospitals Staffed', 'Hospitalizations and deaths have continued to soar as the nation’s most populous state has emerged as the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic — and they don’t appear to be slowing down. With just 2.5 percent of the state’s overall intensive care capacity available, officials have been rushing to get more so-called “field hospitals,” or alternative care sites, up and running. Gavin Newsom didn’t officially extend what were supposed to be three-week stay-at-home orders affecting most of the state’s 40 million residents, he said Monday that it was “self-evident,” the orders would need to be in effect well into January, in light of projections that more than 90,000 people in California could be hospitalized with the virus in coming weeks. ', 'Good morning.\n\nI wish I could start this holiday season on a brighter note.\n\nBut the reality is that California, for all the sunshine and warmth, is in the midst of one of its darkest winters.\n\nHospitalizations and deaths have continued to soar as the nation’s most populous state has emerged as the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic — and they don’t appear to be slowing down.\n\n[Track coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations in California.]\n\nWith just 2.5 percent of the state’s overall intensive care capacity available, officials have been rushing to get more so-called “field hospitals,” or alternative care sites, up and running. And discussions are underway about how to implement the state’s plans to ration care, which were put together earlier this year, as New York saw its hospitals overwhelmed with patients.\n\nWhile Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t officially extend what were supposed to be three-week stay-at-home orders affecting most of the state’s 40 million residents, he said Monday that it was “self-evident,” the orders would need to be in effect well into January, in light of projections that more than 90,000 people in California could be hospitalized with the virus in coming weeks.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/us/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-californias-hospitals-staffed.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/22/us/22fieldhospitalcatoday/merlin_181546212_6b006701-6d2b-4f4b-8c49-4673b0cdb4fc-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('3470969ca87746d49637645699bd610e', 'Just How Dangerous Was Donald Trump?', 'Trump celebrated what may be the extrajudicial killing of Michael Reinoehl, an antifa activist wanted in a fatal shooting, but such killings weren’t the norm. On Twitter, Robin argued, correctly, that George W. Bush, far more than Trump, changed the shape of government, leaving behind the Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security. Most of Trump’s legacy, by contrast, is destruction — of even the pretense that the law should apply equally to ruler and ruled, of large parts of the Civil Service, of America’s standing in the world. ', 'Trump celebrated what may be the extrajudicial killing of Michael Reinoehl, an antifa activist wanted in a fatal shooting, but such killings weren’t the norm. He put children in cages, but was pressured to let them out. And in the end, he lost an election and will have to leave.\n\nThe damage he’s done, however, may be irreversible. On Twitter, Robin argued, correctly, that George W. Bush, far more than Trump, changed the shape of government, leaving behind the Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security. Most of Trump’s legacy, by contrast, is destruction — of even the pretense that the law should apply equally to ruler and ruled, of large parts of the Civil Service, of America’s standing in the world. (If mainstream liberals are more deeply horrified by Trump than some leftists, it could be because they maintain greater romantic attachments to the institutions he’s defiled.)\n\nMost consequentially, Trump has eviscerated in America any common conception of reality. Other presidents sneered at the truth; a senior Bush official, widely believed to be Karl Rove, famously derided the “reality-based community” to the journalist Ron Suskind.\n\nBut Trump’s ability to envelop his followers in a cocoon of lies is unparalleled. The Bush administration deceived the country to go to war in Iraq. It did not insist, after the invasion, that weapons of mass destruction had been found when they obviously were not. That’s why the country was able to reach a consensus that the war was a disaster.\n\nNo such consensus will be possible about Trump — not about his abuses of power, his calamitous response to the coronavirus, or his electoral defeat. He leaves behind a nation deranged.\n\nThe postmodern blood libel of QAnon will have adherents in Congress. Kyle Rittenhouse, a young man charged with killing Black Lives Matter protesters, is a right-wing folk hero. The Republican Party has become more hostile to democracy than ever. Both the Trump and Bush presidencies concluded with America a smoking ruin. Only Trump has ensured that nearly half the country doesn’t see it.\n\nIn May, Samuel Moyn predicted, in The New York Review of Books, that if Biden won, fears about American fascism would dissipate. Complacent in their restoration, he wrote, those who warned of fascism “will cordon off the interlude, as if it was ‘an accident in the factory,’ as Germans after World War II described their 12-year mistake.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/14/opinion/trump-fascism.html', '2020-12-14 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/14/opinion/14goldbergSub/14goldbergSub-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('35aef99b9fe743828463407258d8a9b4', 'Don\'t Postpone Children\'s Health Care in the Pandemic', 'Dr. Ellen Stevenson, a professor of pediatrics at Oregon Health and Science University, said that there had been cases where parents waited on skin infections, so they worsened to the point that children needed oral antibiotics, rather than soaks and antibiotic ointment. Children with asthma, diabetes, sickle cell disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and other problems that require regular check-ins and preventive medications should be getting their care, “making sure your chronic conditions are being managed optimally,” Dr. They may not have been in the company of other children, so parents have not had the chance to make the kind of comparisons that sometimes raise developmental questions. ', 'Dr. Ellen Stevenson, a professor of pediatrics at Oregon Health and Science University, said that there had been cases where parents waited on skin infections, so they worsened to the point that children needed oral antibiotics, rather than soaks and antibiotic ointment.\n\n“Covid has taken all the air in the rooms, but we need to remember that other diseases are still out there,” said Dr. Sally Goza, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who is a primary care private practice pediatrician in Fayetteville, Ga. During the course of the pandemic, she said, she has taken care of a child who had recurrent fevers and turned out to have leukemia, and diagnosed acute appendicitis over the telephone. “There was chronic constipation, but the abdominal pain was a little different,” she said. “Luckily it had not ruptured.”\n\n“If the recommendation is that you need to go in, you should go in; hospitals are in many ways some of the safest places to go, we’re so cautious,” Dr. Costello said.\n\nChildren with chronic illnesses\n\nChildren with asthma, diabetes, sickle cell disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and other problems that require regular check-ins and preventive medications should be getting their care, “making sure your chronic conditions are being managed optimally,” Dr. Beers said. Some of this can happen remotely; make sure these children have their prescriptions adjusted and up-to-date, and that parents know exactly what to monitor.\n\nDevelopmental concerns\n\nYoung children’s lives have been disrupted since last spring. They may not have been in the company of other children, so parents have not had the chance to make the kind of comparisons that sometimes raise developmental questions.\n\nWith many children for whom there were already questions, the pandemic interrupted the often lengthy process of evaluation and diagnosis. That means that months are passing without children getting evaluation, therapy and special help in the early years, when that help can matter most.\n\nDr. Stevenson worries when “I see someone who had a developmental concern who had been referred pre-pandemic and is still waiting.” Some children are getting early intervention services virtually, she said, but others are not getting help.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/well/family/children-health-pandemic.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/well/21well-klass/21well-klass-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('369bb95116124fb7b426c763251720bb', 'Reopen Schools, and Reform Them', '“Their leaders are recognizing that the dual public health and equity emergencies they are facing necessitate suspending their tests and taking action to ensure fair access for highly qualified Black and Latinx students,” the Hunter students wrote. Hunter’s three-hour exam is for most students the sole point of entry into the school, which is just 2.4 percent Black and 6.2 percent Latino, in a district that is 25 percent Black and 41 percent Hispanic over all. Chloë Rollock, a senior at Hunter who said she is one of just a handful of Black students in her grade, said being the only Black student in class “when we’re talking about slavery, or things that are going on in New York City right now that have to do with Black people,” had often been a painful experience. ', 'Few voices have articulated the unfairness and absurdity of continuing this tradition more clearly than the public high school students across New York City who have protested and organized in recent years to demand an end to the admissions tests and screening policies. Some of the high schools in question, known as specialized high schools, are required by state law to use a common exam as the single point of entry. Another exam, for Hunter College High School in Manhattan, a public school overseen by the City University of New York, is administered separately. The specialized high school exam is scheduled to be held next month. Hunter’s exam, which is usually given in January, has been postponed indefinitely. In a statement, officials at Hunter said they were still weighing how to approach admissions for September and were “looking at holistic ways to remedy the diversity concerns.”\n\nWith the exam for Hunter delayed, students there see an opportunity to abolish it entirely. In a letter to the school administration, students questioned why the school had not done so already, even as Boston and other cities suspended similar admissions tests over concerns they would worsen inequality in the midst of the pandemic. “Their leaders are recognizing that the dual public health and equity emergencies they are facing necessitate suspending their tests and taking action to ensure fair access for highly qualified Black and Latinx students,” the Hunter students wrote. “Why isn’t Hunter doing the same?”\n\nHunter’s three-hour exam is for most students the sole point of entry into the school, which is just 2.4 percent Black and 6.2 percent Latino, in a district that is 25 percent Black and 41 percent Hispanic over all. The student activists at Hunter have a list of complaints and demands. They argue that the exam unfairly disadvantages Black and Hispanic students, who are less likely to have access to extensive test preparation. They say they have been denied the opportunity to attend school with New Yorkers of other races and socioeconomic backgrounds. They also describe a difficult environment for the Black and Latino students and students from lower-income households who do attend Hunter.\n\nChloë Rollock, a senior at Hunter who said she is one of just a handful of Black students in her grade, said being the only Black student in class “when we’re talking about slavery, or things that are going on in New York City right now that have to do with Black people,” had often been a painful experience. “Everyone is always looking at me, and I always know it,” said Ms. Rollock, 17. “It really reminds me, I’m this outlier. I questioned my worthiness being at Hunter. It made me question my own self-worth.”\n\nHigh school students across the city have raised many of the same issues in recent years, demanding changes to admissions policies by staging walkouts, marches, a sit-in at City Hall and other protests.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/opinion/new-york-public-high-schools.html', '2020-12-20 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/opinion/21schoolsWeb/21schoolsWeb-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('369f42e3acf34cf28177f1aadcf11577', 'The Pandemic\'s Inhuman Demands', 'The strange politics of the coronavirus have created a taboo, at least in certain progressive circles, in talking too much about the emotional suffering wrought by nine months of purgatorial isolation. It’s easier to discuss what it’s doing to our kids, because we feel justified in trying to spare them pain. Now that I’m waiting out a pandemic in a small apartment with small kids and winter closing in, most things I’d need to do to be less miserable are proscribed, though sometimes by suggestion rather than decree. ', 'The journalist Anne Helen Petersen recently asked, on Twitter, for articles about the “long-term psychological effects” of the pandemic. She soon noticed that many of the replies were about the damage it was doing to children.\n\nSeeing this crystallized something I’d been dimly aware of. The strange politics of the coronavirus have created a taboo, at least in certain progressive circles, in talking too much about the emotional suffering wrought by nine months of purgatorial isolation. It’s easier to discuss what it’s doing to our kids, because we feel justified in trying to spare them pain.\n\nIf, before this year, I felt for a day the way I now feel all the time, I’d consider it an emergency and do anything I could to fix it. Now that I’m waiting out a pandemic in a small apartment with small kids and winter closing in, most things I’d need to do to be less miserable are proscribed, though sometimes by suggestion rather than decree. In many cases, it’s up to each of us to decide how much seclusion, how much joylessness, how much boredom and frustration we can tolerate, even though the pandemic means that whatever risks we take for relief aren’t ours alone.\n\nSo emotional respite has become a public good. Many conservatives, not surprisingly, feel entitled to make whatever use of the commons they want. Throwing gratuitous holiday parties is like the social equivalent of “rolling coal,” modifying vehicles to be extra polluting and thus own the libs.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/opinion/coronavirus-loneliness.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/opinion/21goldbergWeb/21goldbergWeb-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('38c7e4cab16d498fb3aa7d0d49695d86', 'What Books Should Biden Read? We Asked 22 Writers', 'Michael Beschloss is the author of, most recently, “Presidents of War.” Du Bois wrote to counteract historians and others who had portrayed the effort as doomed by Black inferiority. “The most innovative and successful period of modern American foreign policy came immediately after World War II, something captured by the title of the memoir written by Dean Acheson, President Harry Truman’s fourth and last secretary of state. ', 'Elizabeth Kolbert is the author of, most recently, “The Sixth Extinction.”\n\nMichael Beschloss recommends\n\nImage\n\n“This classic shows how, when our democracy was fragile, a human and courageous leader — through his acts, language and personal example — defined the office of the presidency in order to protect our liberties, defend the country from secret foreign threats, ensure the rule of law, bring our people together and inspire our next generation.”\n\nMichael Beschloss is the author of, most recently, “Presidents of War.”\n\nKatherine Mangu-Ward recommends\n\nImage\n\n“Calvin Coolidge is rarely counted among the rock-star presidents, but he was soothingly bland after a corrupt and divisive period in American political history. The famously laconic politician managed to leave Washington in better shape than he found it, including the rare feat of reducing the size of the federal budget. Silent Cal reportedly napped every afternoon of his presidency, a habit that might make our 46th president — and all of us — happier, saner and more effective.”\n\nKatherine Mangu-Ward is the editor in chief of Reason magazine.\n\nAnnette Gordon-Reed recommends\n\n‘Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880,’ by W.E.B. Du Bois\n\nImage\n\n“The book recounts the efforts to remake American society in the wake of the Civil War operating on the premise that African Americans are equal citizens of the United States. Du Bois wrote to counteract historians and others who had portrayed the effort as doomed by Black inferiority. He demonstrates that the successes of interracial government were deliberately sabotaged by white supremacists who preferred to maintain a racial hierarchy rather than move into a future grounded in equal citizenship among all Americans.”\n\nAnnette Gordon-Reed is the author of, most recently, “Most Blessed of the Patriarchs.”\n\nRichard Haass recommends\n\nImage\n\n“The most innovative and successful period of modern American foreign policy came immediately after World War II, something captured by the title of the memoir written by Dean Acheson, President Harry Truman’s fourth and last secretary of state. There has been no comparable burst of creative statecraft since the Cold War ended three decades ago, and President Trump did much to weaken the institutions and relationships that have underpinned U.S. foreign policy for three-quarters of a century. President Biden will inherit a world of disarray; once he has completed the most urgent repairs, the challenge will be to design and build new arrangements that will structure rivalry with China and narrow the gap between the global challenges that will largely define this era and the world’s willingness and ability to respond to them.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/books/joe-biden-book-recommendations.html', '2020-12-20 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/20/books/20BIDENBOOKS/20BIDENBOOKS-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('3b3fe13e2ad54c2da4d21a6a0bd20db5', 'Murders of Journalists Doubled in 2020', 'MEXICO CITY — The number of journalists killed as a result of their work more than doubled in 2020, an international media watchdog group said on Tuesday, with armed conflict and gang violence making Mexico and Afghanistan among the deadliest countries for reporters globally. At least 30 journalists were killed worldwide this year, according to the watchdog group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, with 21 of those killings carried out as a direct response to the reporters’ work, compared to 10 in 2019. While the total number of killings rose in 2020, the number of deaths related to conflict fell to its lowest level since 2000, according to the C.P.J., with waning violence in the Middle East and fewer reporters traveling because of the coronavirus pandemic. ', 'MEXICO CITY — The number of journalists killed as a result of their work more than doubled in 2020, an international media watchdog group said on Tuesday, with armed conflict and gang violence making Mexico and Afghanistan among the deadliest countries for reporters globally.\n\nAt least 30 journalists were killed worldwide this year, according to the watchdog group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, with 21 of those killings carried out as a direct response to the reporters’ work, compared to 10 in 2019.\n\n“It’s appalling that the murders of journalists have more than doubled in the last year, and this escalation represents a failure of the international community to confront the scourge of impunity,” Joel Simon, the C.P.J.’s executive director, said in a statement.\n\nWhile the total number of killings rose in 2020, the number of deaths related to conflict fell to its lowest level since 2000, according to the C.P.J., with waning violence in the Middle East and fewer reporters traveling because of the coronavirus pandemic.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/world/americas/mexico-journalists-killings-double.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/22/world/22-Mexico-photo/22-Mexico-photo-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('3bb00ee3d78346d6a5a31f202e9beac9', 'Tiny Love Stories: ‘Tears Start Before My Feet Stop’', 'They sat at the kitchen table. I was within earshot, dressing my beloved doll, when June said, “Marian, boys shouldn’t play with dolls.” To which my mother responded, “If Danny wants to play with dolls, he can play with dolls.” My doll was dressed and ready for an outing, and my mother looked at me adoringly. — Daniel Nathanson ', 'Playing With Dolls\n\nIt was Los Angeles in the 1950s, and my mother was ahead of her time. After my older sister, Debbie, got a doll, I wanted one just like hers. Of course my mother said yes. My mother’s friend, June, came over. They sat at the kitchen table. I was within earshot, dressing my beloved doll, when June said, “Marian, boys shouldn’t play with dolls.” To which my mother responded, “If Danny wants to play with dolls, he can play with dolls.” My doll was dressed and ready for an outing, and my mother looked at me adoringly. — Daniel Nathanson', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/style/tiny-modern-love-stories-tears-start-before-my-feet-stop.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/08/fashion/00DEC-TINYLOVE-2/00DEC-TINYLOVE-2-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('3d0e25235cfb4ae6967fb3e6b2bf80dc', 'California Travel Restrictions Ban Short-Term Rentals. Why Can\'t Travelers Get Refunds?', 'While it granted refunds at the very start of the pandemic and then partially reimbursed hosts, since mid-March, the company has taken the stance that guests understand that travel may be disrupted by the pandemic, and has been using pre-pandemic rules that allow hosts to choose from one of three standard cancellation policies. Vrbo said in an email that it does not plan on changing its policies and that “travelers should work directly with the host on an alternative that works for both parties, such as rebooking the trip or a travel credit that can be used at a later date.” Hosts are not required to offer those alternatives. Airbnb said in an email that “Our extenuating circumstances policy is intended to protect guests and hosts from unforeseen circumstances that arise after booking,” and that after the declaration of a global pandemic in March, “Covid-19 and its consequences were no longer unexpected, including the risk of continued or new travel and movement restrictions.” It noted that hosts choose a level of flexibility when they offer their homes for rent and that renters are informed of the policy when they make a reservation. ', 'Airbnb, whose recent I.P.O. garnered the co-founder and chief executive, Brian Chesky, around $11 billion based on the company’s overall valuation, has one of the strictest lodging cancellation policies. While it granted refunds at the very start of the pandemic and then partially reimbursed hosts, since mid-March, the company has taken the stance that guests understand that travel may be disrupted by the pandemic, and has been using pre-pandemic rules that allow hosts to choose from one of three standard cancellation policies. Payment pages include information about the cancellation rules. Airbnb does have an “Extenuating Circumstances policy” but explicitly states it does not apply to reservations made after March 14 for Covid-related circumstances other than actual sickness. Individual hosts may agree to full or partial refunds.\n\nVrbo, a vacation rental company owned by Expedia, follows policies similar to Airbnb. Its coronavirus resources page advises travelers to “Review the property’s cancellation policies. They apply even if your reservation is affected by COVID-19.” In the same vein, VRBO’s “Book With Confidence Guarantee” explanation on its website specifies that the guarantee was designed to protect guests “from fraudulent listings and property misrepresentation. It does not cover cancellations due to unforeseeable circumstances, such as COVID-19.” Customers who purchased travel insurance may be able to request a voucher for future dates.\n\nIn essence, travelers could bear 100 percent of the financial impact of any local shutdown when booking with the companies.\n\nVrbo said in an email that it does not plan on changing its policies and that “travelers should work directly with the host on an alternative that works for both parties, such as rebooking the trip or a travel credit that can be used at a later date.” Hosts are not required to offer those alternatives.\n\nAirbnb said in an email that “Our extenuating circumstances policy is intended to protect guests and hosts from unforeseen circumstances that arise after booking,” and that after the declaration of a global pandemic in March, “Covid-19 and its consequences were no longer unexpected, including the risk of continued or new travel and movement restrictions.” It noted that hosts choose a level of flexibility when they offer their homes for rent and that renters are informed of the policy when they make a reservation.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/travel/airbnb-vrbo-refunds-travel-ban.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/travel/15california-rental-refunds/merlin_162397371_4f8fd0bb-8aca-48f9-be41-d80762de8e04-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('3da7921134d347c39ef87ade54ba3145', 'Here’s Why Vaccinated People Still Need to Wear a Mask', 'The virus rapidly multiplies there, jolting the immune system to produce a type of antibodies that are specific to mucosa, the moist tissue lining the nose, mouth, lungs and stomach. If the same person is exposed to the virus a second time, those antibodies, as well as immune cells that remember the virus, rapidly shut down the virus in the nose before it gets a chance to take hold elsewhere in the body. This is why mucosal vaccines, like the nasal spray FluMist or the oral polio vaccine, are better than intramuscular injections at fending off respiratory viruses, experts said. ', 'In most respiratory infections, including the new coronavirus, the nose is the main port of entry. The virus rapidly multiplies there, jolting the immune system to produce a type of antibodies that are specific to mucosa, the moist tissue lining the nose, mouth, lungs and stomach. If the same person is exposed to the virus a second time, those antibodies, as well as immune cells that remember the virus, rapidly shut down the virus in the nose before it gets a chance to take hold elsewhere in the body.\n\nThe coronavirus vaccines, in contrast, are injected deep into the muscles and stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. This appears to be enough protection to keep the vaccinated person from getting ill.\n\nSome of those antibodies will circulate in the blood to the nasal mucosa and stand guard there, but it’s not clear how much of the antibody pool can be mobilized, or how quickly. If the answer is not much, then viruses could bloom in the nose — and be sneezed or breathed out to infect others.\n\n“It’s a race: It depends whether the virus can replicate faster, or the immune system can control it faster,” said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “It’s a really important question.”\n\nThis is why mucosal vaccines, like the nasal spray FluMist or the oral polio vaccine, are better than intramuscular injections at fending off respiratory viruses, experts said.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/health/covid-vaccine-mask.html', '2020-12-08 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/08/climate/08VIRUS-TRANSMISSION1/08VIRUS-TRANSMISSION1-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('3e8086fafa694b8788da32efd950921d', 'The Joys of Frivolous Sex', 'The complaints of a single person don’t begrudge or contradict the pain of the harangued parent or the anguished daughter missing her sick father. I don’t have to want children to sympathize with families; you don’t have to share my priority to accept its validity in my life. It’s a reasonable and good-natured greed, one fueled not by desperation but by a tremendous love of the world and the people in it. ', 'The complaints of a single person don’t begrudge or contradict the pain of the harangued parent or the anguished daughter missing her sick father. Our struggles are not undermined if society also concedes that there are people who once got substantial meaning from interacting in ways that are now impossible — through dating or casual sex. We are also going through something painful, without even the socially approved validity of the nuclear unit to back us up.\n\nMost of society does not really believe that casual, nonmonogamous encounters can actually hold meaning, rather than simply serve as crude ways to blow off steam. I know that they can. Living as a purposefully single and promiscuous person was one way to know others, one way to find joy in the world, and it’s gone for now. Single people have lost something important, and should be allowed to bemoan it. I don’t have to want children to sympathize with families; you don’t have to share my priority to accept its validity in my life. There are not a finite number of ways to have felt pain this year.\n\nA friend asked me a few months ago whether I didn’t perhaps regret having ended a long-term relationship in early 2020, at such a particularly bad time in history to choose to be alone. I won’t pretend it didn’t cross my mind that life would have most likely been far more pleasant if I had been with my ex during the worst of lockdown. Not only would it have been good to have company in general, but I also missed him, specifically. I loved him; I still love him, which does not mean that it made me happy to be in our relationship.\n\nI left because I identified that my desires and needs were not being best served by monogamy. This would have been impossible in my earlier life, when I was crippled by need, leaking out of me onto every passing man who looked like he could fill a boyfriend-shaped gap in my life. Back then, I could no more have turned down the offer of companionship and love than I could water and air.\n\nNow, I need differently. I need very little from individuals, but I am greedy for the world. And why not? Why shouldn’t I be? It’s a reasonable and good-natured greed, one fueled not by desperation but by a tremendous love of the world and the people in it. How could I be ashamed of that? That this impulse was thwarted in 2020 does not make it a malign one.\n\nSome single people are not living in constant wait for the relief of a marriage to put them out of their misery. The restrictions of this year happened to suit couples and families best, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of us were getting life wrong.\n\nAs we move into 2021, I know now more than ever that I was right to do what was best for me. I won’t be pretending that I want things that I don’t for the sake of temporary comfort. I’ll be waiting until the life I do want — trashy, frivolous and shallow as it might seem to some — is possible again.\n\nMegan Nolan (@mmegannnolan) is a writer and critic. She is a columnist for New Statesman, where she writes about culture and politics, and the author of the forthcoming novel “Acts of Desperation.”\n\nThe Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.\n\nFollow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/opinion/sex-relationships-covid.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/27/opinion/sunday/2021Nolan/2021Nolan-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('41616436fc294c239c3a0fc70aeb22b0', 'Trump Didn’t Break Our Democracy. But Did He Fatally Weaken It?', 'In our research, we argue that though all democracies are imperfect, one of their central virtues is that they are built to be resilient — to bend without breaking, even when elected leaders pull institutions in an authoritarian direction. His attacks — and those from elected officials in his party and from the conservative media — put additional pressure on election officials and poll workers, who faced threats, intimidation efforts and overt pressure to ignore the will of the voters. Optimists can say that our election system faced the 2020 test admirably, and those who run it will be better prepared for future efforts to undermine their work. ', 'In our research, we argue that though all democracies are imperfect, one of their central virtues is that they are built to be resilient — to bend without breaking, even when elected leaders pull institutions in an authoritarian direction. But just because they’re more flexible doesn’t mean democracies can’t break. Resilience — the ability to adapt and keep functioning under strain — is a resource that needs replenishing, not a guarantee of safe passage.\n\nIt’s normal for institutions to face challenges from events or from politicians who try to use them for their own purposes. When institutions survive a stress test, they may come out stronger or weaker. Ambiguous laws can be clarified to withstand abuse; regulations can be updated; and public officials gain experience in how to prevent or defend against future tests. But it can take time for the strengthening to occur.\n\nThe 2020 election provides a clear example of democratic resilience to authoritarian pressure. Election officials and judges fielding legal challenges had to adapt not only to the enormous logistical challenges of the pandemic but also to Mr. Trump’s rhetoric. His attacks — and those from elected officials in his party and from the conservative media — put additional pressure on election officials and poll workers, who faced threats, intimidation efforts and overt pressure to ignore the will of the voters.\n\nYet in most of the more than 10,000 electoral jurisdictions across the country, voters cast ballots without incident and Election Day was peaceful. International election observers praised the election as orderly and organized.\n\nBoth democracy optimists and pessimists can draw the conclusions they want to see from this example. Optimists can say that our election system faced the 2020 test admirably, and those who run it will be better prepared for future efforts to undermine their work. Pessimists can say that Mr. Trump’s attacks will leave lasting scars. Next time, election officials might give in to political pressure. Or the damage might be invisible, like a tree’s weakened root system, deterring people from running for office or working at the polls.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/opinion/trump-democracy-america.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/16/opinion/15saunders-hyde-01/15saunders-hyde-01-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('4200140f1bb343e899d78c04063b79cf', 'The Next Covid Vaccine Challenge: Reassuring Older Americans', 'Still, her mother’s age, medical condition and living situation put her at “very, very, very high risk for Covid,” Dr. Inouye said. “When you balance that tremendous fear, I just think the risk for her of getting Covid is so much higher than the risk of a side effect, which we know is going to be very rare.” Fear of side effects deterred Jeffrey Balkind’s wife from volunteering for the vaccine trials, but Mr. Balkind, 74, has stared down death twice — once during a 13-day hijacking in Pakistan in 1981, and again three years ago when his Vespa crashed. ', 'Dr. Timothy Farrell, a geriatrician at the University of Utah, said he was surprised but thrilled by the vaccines’ effectiveness in this group. “It’s going to be very important to see the subgroup analysis,” he said — that is, to learn whether there are significant differences after age 85.\n\nEven so, he has been recommending the vaccine to all of his patients, who range in age from 65 to 106 years old.\n\n“We have a clear and present danger of Covid, and we have social isolation,” Dr. Farrell said. “We know that that’s an independent risk factor for mortality, even stronger than individual chronic diseases.”\n\nDr. Inouye also arrived at the same conclusion, both professionally and personally.\n\nHer 91-year-old mother, who lives in an assisted living facility, is independent and spry, still playing piano and bridge and exercising regularly. Still, her mother’s age, medical condition and living situation put her at “very, very, very high risk for Covid,” Dr. Inouye said.\n\n“We’re just desperately worried about her every single day,” she added. “When you balance that tremendous fear, I just think the risk for her of getting Covid is so much higher than the risk of a side effect, which we know is going to be very rare.”\n\nFor many people, the prospect of receiving a new vaccine for a new virus is daunting.\n\nFear of side effects deterred Jeffrey Balkind’s wife from volunteering for the vaccine trials, but Mr. Balkind, 74, has stared down death twice — once during a 13-day hijacking in Pakistan in 1981, and again three years ago when his Vespa crashed.\n\n“When you’ve come to near-death experiences twice, volunteering for a vaccine trial — it wasn’t a great sense of worry or apprehension for me,” Mr. Balkind said.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/14/health/coronavirus-vaccine-elderly.html', '2020-12-14 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/14/science/14VIRUS-ELDERLY1/14VIRUS-ELDERLY1-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('42963671fc764f67800ce54f8430d0f0', 'The Ghost of Sabotage Future', 'And the sabotage doesn’t stop with using phony deficit concerns to block necessary spending; it also involves deliberately increasing the risk of financial crisis. Yet last month Steven Mnuchin, the blessedly departing Treasury secretary, gratuitously clawed back hundreds of billions of dollars in budget backing for Fed emergency lending programs, making those funds unavailable to his successor. And talks over economic relief almost fell apart over a last-minute demand by Senator Pat Toomey, backed by the Republican leadership, that the legislation bar the Fed from restarting some of these programs or anything like them. ', 'Beyond that, the final hurdles to reaching an agreement were a reminder of something we should have learned during the Obama years: When a Democrat is in the White House, Republicans try to sabotage the economy. And the sabotage doesn’t stop with using phony deficit concerns to block necessary spending; it also involves deliberately increasing the risk of financial crisis.\n\nRemember, G.O.P. flimflam when Barack Obama was president went beyond posing as deficit hawks to block needed fiscal stimulus. It also involved constant criticism and harassment of the Fed over its efforts to rescue the economy. And now it’s happening again.\n\nSome background: Although the pandemic recession was deep and ugly, it could easily have been even uglier. For a few weeks in March, America teetered on the edge of a financial crisis approaching the meltdown following the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Fortunately, however, this incipient crisis was quickly contained by the Federal Reserve, which stabilized markets both by purchasing trillions of dollars’ worth of financial assets and by making it clear that it would do even more if necessary.\n\nThat was a job well done. But the risk of financial crisis hasn’t gone away, so we want to make sure that the Fed has the tools to meet future challenges.\n\nYet last month Steven Mnuchin, the blessedly departing Treasury secretary, gratuitously clawed back hundreds of billions of dollars in budget backing for Fed emergency lending programs, making those funds unavailable to his successor. And talks over economic relief almost fell apart over a last-minute demand by Senator Pat Toomey, backed by the Republican leadership, that the legislation bar the Fed from restarting some of these programs or anything like them.\n\nIn the end, this poison pill appears to have been rendered mostly harmless, with face-saving language that prevents exact copycat programs but seems to leave room for slightly different programs that would achieve the same results.\n\nBut the episode was a preview of things to come. If another crisis develops, expect Republicans to do all they can to prevent an effective response.\n\nSo how should we feel about this relief deal? The glass is half full: For millions of American families, the next few months will be less hellish than they would have been otherwise. The glass is half empty: Unless Democrats win those Georgia seats, expect an ugly spring and years of economic sabotage ahead.\n\nThe Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.\n\nFollow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/opinion/republicans-covid-stimulus.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/autossell/Screen-Shot-2020-12-21-at-7/Screen-Shot-2020-12-21-at-7-facebookJumbo.png', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('4524f66056994af2bbba34553f6283e7', 'How Having a Child With Autism Helps Me Ride Out the Pandemic', 'When we first went into lockdown, he refused to take a walk in our quiet, suburban neighborhood, insisting, “The virus is everywhere.” He’d watched us wiping doorknobs and scrubbing groceries, heard us talking about schools and businesses closing, and concluded that the coronavirus was a miasma hovering right outside our front door. What most comforts my son currently is watching “Family Feud” and “Deal or No Deal” on the Game Show Network, and that’s fine. I hoisted him on my hip, and told him, “We’re going to have an adventure riding in a tow truck!” Framing scary experiences as “adventures” has gotten us through many challenging experiences, including eight days without electricity, heat or internet during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. ', 'Lean into facts.\n\nAs a young child, our son was very literal, like many, though certainly not all, autistic people. When we told him his beloved grandfather who’d died would always live in his heart, he was confused. He asked, “Does that mean he’s buried in my stomach?”\n\nTo this day, he struggles to understand idioms, metaphors or sarcasm. He needs concrete information. When we first went into lockdown, he refused to take a walk in our quiet, suburban neighborhood, insisting, “The virus is everywhere.” He’d watched us wiping doorknobs and scrubbing groceries, heard us talking about schools and businesses closing, and concluded that the coronavirus was a miasma hovering right outside our front door. My fault. I’d assumed he knew how a virus spreads, so hadn’t explained it explicitly.\n\nOne night, waiting for “Jeopardy!” to come on the air, he caught the end of the evening news about the soaring number of Covid-related deaths. This time, I jumped in to reassure him that while people are getting sick, even dying, scientists are working diligently to find the right medicines, and that soon he will be able to get the vaccine, just like his annual fall flu shot. We frequently revisit the rules about masks, hand-washing and standing at least six feet away from others. He gets it. Despite all the sensory issues he’s been navigating since childhood, he’s meticulous about wearing his mask.\n\nJust as I once watched from the sidelines as many so-called autism cures, such as secretin, chelation therapy or swimming with dolphins, were proven ineffective or even harmful, I’m sitting out debates on dubious Covid treatments. I trust Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, when he says the vaccine will be widely obtainable by spring. Meanwhile, I continue to reassure my son (and myself) that this won’t last forever, even though it often feels as if it will.\n\nFind your comforts.\n\nAfter my son’s diagnosis, I often needed to remind myself not to let my fears for his future rob me of my joys in the present. I didn’t know the term for it then, but I was practicing mindfulness. I wore emotional blinders, trying to focus only on what was directly in front of me, one day at a time. I still try to embrace small, ephemeral things daily: the heady scent of Casablanca lilies that bloomed on my birthday; finally being able to see “Hamilton,” thanks to Disney+; the satisfying snap of placing the last piece in a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.\n\nWhat most comforts my son currently is watching “Family Feud” and “Deal or No Deal” on the Game Show Network, and that’s fine. I’ve indulged in back-to-back episodes of “Love It or List It,” and those handsome “Property Brothers” on HGTV myself. Home and cooking shows offer solace because they feel safe and predictable, when so much else doesn’t. At the start of the shutdown in March, when flour was hard to score, I still managed to bake so many loaves of banana bread that a friend threatened to run an intervention on me. Maybe I’m still overindulging in stress baking, but nothing keeps me more in the moment (or makes my son happier) than the buttery aroma of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies wafting from the oven. Recreational eating is a time-honored coping strategy I’m embracing for the duration.\n\nModel resilience.\n\nI tend to be a catastrophizer, but now, more than ever, I’m aware of how my son takes his cues from me. Kids absorb our fears, as well as our ways of regulating our emotions. If I stay calm, he (usually) will too. Years ago, when my car suddenly sputtered to a halt in the middle of a busy street, I forced myself not to panic. I hoisted him on my hip, and told him, “We’re going to have an adventure riding in a tow truck!” Framing scary experiences as “adventures” has gotten us through many challenging experiences, including eight days without electricity, heat or internet during Superstorm Sandy in 2012.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/well/family/autism-parenting-pandemic.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/03/well/00well-autism-parent/00well-autism-parent-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');
INSERT INTO `rss_rssfeed` (`uuid`, `title`, `summary`, `description`, `link`, `published`, `image_url`, `feedid_id`, `userid_id`) VALUES
('47981efbe5084ce8a1cbc76157e7f9b9', 'Georgia Senate Race: Kelly Loeffler, a Wall Street Senator With a Hardscrabble Pitch', 'She held a joint event with Georgia’s most outlandish politician, Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene, who during her primary campaign professed support for QAnon conspiracy theories, which claim that Mr. Trump is locked in battle with a clandestine cabal of pedophile Democrats. In a sign of the perils of Trumpist politics, Ms. Loeffler found herself the target of Democratic attacks after a photo appeared of her smiling alongside a former Ku Klux Klan leader at a recent campaign event. Asked about the senator’s politics, her longtime friend Ms. Marquis said the first she learned of Ms. Loeffler’s anti-abortion position was during her campaign. ', 'Birth of a Trump warrior\n\nThe senator didn’t get much of a political honeymoon either.\n\nMr. Collins had vowed to run against her in the special-election primary if she was chosen, thus beginning a running duel to showcase their fire-breathing credentials. Attila the Hun even appeared in one of Ms. Loeffler’s ads.\n\nShe began backing legislation that had little chance of passing but spoke to the Republican base, including bills like the “No Catch-and-Release for Rioters Act,” the “Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act” and a measure to bar abortion providers from receiving loans for coronavirus relief.\n\nShe has repeatedly excoriated sermons delivered by her Democratic opponent, Mr. Warnock, branding him a “militant Marxist radical” — a strained broadside that riled fellow Black pastors — and falsely claiming that his sermons had incorporated the controversial “God damn America” remark from a speech by the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Even so, while her campaign says Mr. Warnock has been spreading abhorrent views “for decades,” she was willing to appear with him in January at his church, Ebenezer Baptist, during the traditional political pilgrimage for Martin Luther King’s Birthday.\n\nLoyalty to the president has been paramount.\n\nShe has claimed ignorance of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Mr. Trump boasted of groping women. She held a joint event with Georgia’s most outlandish politician, Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene, who during her primary campaign professed support for QAnon conspiracy theories, which claim that Mr. Trump is locked in battle with a clandestine cabal of pedophile Democrats. And Ms. Loeffler has called for the resignation of a fellow Republican, Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state in Georgia, who rebuffed pressure from the president to disenfranchise enough voters to reverse his narrow defeat there.\n\nIn a sign of the perils of Trumpist politics, Ms. Loeffler found herself the target of Democratic attacks after a photo appeared of her smiling alongside a former Ku Klux Klan leader at a recent campaign event. The longtime white supremacist, Chester Doles, had posted the photo on a Russian social networking site, and it quickly ended up on Twitter. Ms. Loeffler disavowed Mr. Doles and said she hadn’t known who he was; no evidence has emerged to suggest that she did.\n\nAsked about the senator’s politics, her longtime friend Ms. Marquis said the first she learned of Ms. Loeffler’s anti-abortion position was during her campaign. Ms. Marquis, whose daughter was born with Down syndrome, said she recently wrote her friend to thank her for her stance. In an interview, she indicated that Ms. Loeffler’s politics were center-right, but called back to clarify: “I think she’s more right than center, especially when it comes to right-to-life and the Second Amendment.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/us/politics/kelly-loeffler-georgia-senate.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/multimedia/00Loeffler/00Loeffler-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('48dbab7f72d04a37b666995701b23c88', 'Condé Nast Puts Anna Wintour in Charge of Magazines Worldwide', 'She has been the editor in chief of the United States edition of Vogue since 1988, the artistic director of Vogue’s parent, Condé Nast, since 2013, and the company’s global content adviser since 2019. On Tuesday, as part of a larger revamping, Condé Nast announced that Ms. Wintour will have a pair of new titles — worldwide chief content officer and global editorial director of Vogue — giving her final say over publications in more than 30 markets around the world. In addition to the elevation of its editorial leader, Condé Nast announced that Amy Astley, a confidante of Ms. Wintour, will be the global editorial director of AD, the title formerly known as Architectural Digest; Will Welch will become the global editorial director of GQ; and Divia Thani will be given the same role at Condé Nast Traveler. ', 'Going into this week, Anna Wintour was already one of the most powerful people in the magazine world. She has been the editor in chief of the United States edition of Vogue since 1988, the artistic director of Vogue’s parent, Condé Nast, since 2013, and the company’s global content adviser since 2019.\n\nOn Tuesday, as part of a larger revamping, Condé Nast announced that Ms. Wintour will have a pair of new titles — worldwide chief content officer and global editorial director of Vogue — giving her final say over publications in more than 30 markets around the world.\n\nIn addition to the elevation of its editorial leader, Condé Nast announced that Amy Astley, a confidante of Ms. Wintour, will be the global editorial director of AD, the title formerly known as Architectural Digest; Will Welch will become the global editorial director of GQ; and Divia Thani will be given the same role at Condé Nast Traveler.\n\nEdward Enninful, the most powerful Black editor at Condé Nast, was made the head of Vogue’s editions in Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. Simone Marchetti will become the European editorial director of Vanity Fair, putting him in charge of its editions in France, Italy and Spain. The American and British versions of Vanity Fair will remain under the control of Radhika Jones.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/business/media/conde-nast-anna-wintour.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/business/15conde-01/merlin_165334299_ac423981-dcf0-4687-bb84-864cd85a7985-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('4be792cb3da242bda5d422eb348cc3c8', 'Beethoven’s 250th Birthday: Here’s Everything You Need to Know', 'No composer left a mark on music quite like Ludwig van Beethoven. He embodied the then-new ideal of the musician as passionate, politically engaged Romantic hero. In honor of the 250th anniversary of his birth — he was baptized Dec. 17, 1770, and probably born a day or two earlier — writers and critics for The New York Times have spent the year choosing their favorite recordings; delving into his life and times; traveling from the house where he was born in Bonn, Germany, to his grave in Vienna, Austria; speaking with some of his best interpreters; and exploring his vast, influential body of work. ', 'No composer left a mark on music quite like Ludwig van Beethoven. He took the popular forms of his time — symphony, string quartet, piano sonata, opera — and stretched them to their breaking points. He embodied the then-new ideal of the musician as passionate, politically engaged Romantic hero.\n\nIn honor of the 250th anniversary of his birth — he was baptized Dec. 17, 1770, and probably born a day or two earlier — writers and critics for The New York Times have spent the year choosing their favorite recordings; delving into his life and times; traveling from the house where he was born in Bonn, Germany, to his grave in Vienna, Austria; speaking with some of his best interpreters; and exploring his vast, influential body of work. It is, if not everything you need to know about Beethoven, then a pretty good start.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/article/beethoven-250-birthday-classical-music.html', NULL, 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/14/arts/14beethoven-image/14beethoven-image-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('4e7d1c6d87684b57a88305b2519499e8', 'The Vaccine Arrived in a 63-Pound Box, Packed in Dry Ice', 'The head pharmacist for one of Northwell Health’s hospitals, who had been tracking the package, opened the 63-pound box, packed in dry ice. From that vial would come five doses. After preparing the vial, staff members put it in a cooler, and drove it 25 minutes east to Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where a news conference had been hastily moved up. ', 'The first shipment of the vaccine arrived at a loading dock in Queens shortly after sunrise on Monday. The head pharmacist for one of Northwell Health’s hospitals, who had been tracking the package, opened the 63-pound box, packed in dry ice. He took out a single vial.\n\nFrom that vial would come five doses.\n\nAfter preparing the vial, staff members put it in a cooler, and drove it 25 minutes east to Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where a news conference had been hastily moved up. A nurse, Sandra Lindsay, was waiting to get the first shot.\n\nGov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office teleconferenced in. But it was not until just after 9 a.m., right before the broadcast began, that someone on the governor’s team said that it appeared they were not only about to administer the first dose in the state, but the first in the country.\n\n“The silence in that room was deafening,” said Joe Kemp, communications officer for Northwell. “Hospital workers, Cuomo’s people. Every one of us realized at that minute, just how profound that was going to be. We were putting a woman on the moon. It was a lunar landing.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/nyregion/covid-vaccine-schedule-first.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/16/nyregion/16nyvirus-firstvaccine1/16nyvirus-firstvaccine1-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('4eb4298ae8f746afbaaf955ef3b36ddb', 'The Life of Humberto Trujillo, the Postmaster of Phoenix', 'My dad was the postmaster of Phoenix, but his first job, he was a bricklayer. So when we say, we’ll see you later, he’s like, “Yeah, that’s what my dad said and then I never saw him again.” That was my dad — sarcastic, and kind of a smart ass. My dad was, like, “I could do that.” So he took the test and then he became a mail handler in the night shift, processing mail. ', 'My dad was the postmaster of Phoenix, but his first job, he was a bricklayer. He built stuff all across Phoenix — fixtures at St. Agnes Catholic Church, Christie’s Cabaret, [LAUGHS] helped build the main post office. He was just one of the bricklayers on the job. So when he became postmaster, he just would say, “I run the building that I built.” Look how far he came. Humberto Iniguez Trujillo, Jr. They called him Junior. He was born in Phoenix, and he grew up in the Duppa Villa Projects. How do I explain the Duppa Villa Projects? Most of his friends he grew up with didn’t make good life choices. His dad was into drugs and bad things and passed away when he was 6 years old — my grandfather. He had been through a lot — thrift stores, food stamps, raised by a single mom. But, my dad is a comedian and he makes everything a joke. So when we say, we’ll see you later, he’s like, “Yeah, that’s what my dad said and then I never saw him again.” That was my dad — sarcastic, and kind of a smart ass. [LAUGHS] I think that’s what got him through. He was a really good athlete naturally — baseball, basketball, football. Even played football for a year at Phoenix College, but it just didn’t work out. He always felt like he was not book smart. He felt like, “if I was just smarter.” That was a big motivator for him, like, you’re going to college. Our whole life, you’re going to college, no matter what. You’re going to be the first to graduate from college. He met my mom when he was 14 and she was 11 — yeah! My mom’s family really took my dad in. He was always at her house. And you can see it, because we have the pictures, he’s always with them. They got married young. [LAUGHS] My grandfather had just started his own masonry business, and so my dad and his brother-in-laws were certified bricklayers and they went into that line of work. Safety, precision — when he did brick work, it had to be perfect. It’s the fundamentals that matter. Laying the foundation is key. If you don’t do it right, it’ll fall. I think he was 26 maybe — he was pretty young when it happened. The wall was like five and a half feet, pure brick, but someone did something wrong and the wall fell over onto his leg and tore something in his knee. He was devastated. He was going to be a foreman, and then maybe have his own construction company someday, but after that he was like, no, I’m done. At that time, my mom was a mail carrier. My dad was, like, “I could do that.” So he took the test and then he became a mail handler in the night shift, processing mail. Being so ambitious, you could see his wheels are turning. Boisterous personality and everybody likes him, he’s funny, he talks to everyone. So people would be like, have you ever considered management? “I could do that.” So he became a supervisor. Then operational manager — if somewhere was struggling, he’d go in and help. Washington, D.C., New Mexico, Colorado. I can just hear him talking to managers at stations, rain or shine. Doesn’t matter — you got to make sure that the mail gets out. There were times I know in my early adulthood I hated the post office. He was always on night shifts and out of town a lot. We got to deliver the mail, that’s just how it goes. They got divorced two or three years later. The truth is infidelity. He met people at work, so. I was a team mom, so that was a lot of our conflict. When I graduated from college, he almost didn’t come. But I’m really glad he did, because you could tell even in the pictures it’s a really proud moment for him. Like, she’s living the dream I originally had. The thing with my dad is really it’s hard not to like him and get along with him. You can be mad a t him for so long, but— “What the hell am I doing out here? Huh? Does anybody know? I’m trying to get my way to church and it’s snowing so hard everything’s jacked up. Just thought I’d share that Sunday morning with you.” He can win you back over. He’s really good at that. [LAUGHS] One day he called me in the morning and he’s all, mija, I got it. I got this job. I’m the first Hispanic postmaster. I run the whole show here. And he even had mariachis there, because “I’m going to make sure I have my culture represented well.” That was my dad. “A great day in my life. I want to say thank you to everybody. Thank you.” [APPLAUSE AND CHEERS] He was the postmaster of Phoenix. “Topping our news this half hour, a somber ceremony earlier today. A procession through the streets of Phoenix to remember Postmaster Humberto Junior —” He had such a fighting spirit, I thought, because he was so stubborn. He’s not going to let this virus beat him, not this guy. He like fights for everything. Nothing beats him. At that time, no one could go to the hospital. You’re not allowed in, so they had three nurses in there. Two of them held his hand and another one sang “Amazing Grace” as he passed. The post office here in Arizona put the flag at half-mast in his honor. And the procession, they led us by the main post office, the building he built. He just showed you really can do anything you put your mind to.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000007495102/coronavirus-deaths-obituaries-humberto-trujillo.html', '2020-12-21 09:45:03+00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/autossell/Cause-of-Life_Humberto_Thumnail-opt1/Cause-of-Life_Humberto_Thumnail-opt1-facebookJumbo.jpg?video-overlay', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('525c344acee44f0e912b40fa3c34d14b', 'How to Talk to Kids About Porn', 'Choose a time that is private and somewhat casual, like a car ride (which can feel less intensely intimate because eyes are focused ahead and not on each other) or a walk or hike (because an activity and movement serves the same purpose) or late at night after a family movie (kids are smart, they know adults tend to be tired around this time and will talk less and listen more). Stick with open-ended “how” and “what” questions, like “What do you think teenagers use pornography for?” Or, “How do you think porn impacts people’s real-life relationships?” Let them be the experts of their own experience and start with what they observe and think about the topic rather than pushing them to tell you about their porn experiences. I also realize this may or may not be relevant to you, but it’s pervasive in our culture, so I want to make sure you have some important information about porn and healthy relationships.” ', 'Try to talk with your teenager openly and honestly, and without judgment, shaming or ultimatums. Choose a time that is private and somewhat casual, like a car ride (which can feel less intensely intimate because eyes are focused ahead and not on each other) or a walk or hike (because an activity and movement serves the same purpose) or late at night after a family movie (kids are smart, they know adults tend to be tired around this time and will talk less and listen more).\n\nThis should be the start of a series of conversations, not a one-time lecture. Stick with open-ended “how” and “what” questions, like “What do you think teenagers use pornography for?” Or, “How do you think porn impacts people’s real-life relationships?” Let them be the experts of their own experience and start with what they observe and think about the topic rather than pushing them to tell you about their porn experiences.\n\nWhat if my kid is embarrassed?\n\nYour teenager is likely to resist any conversation with you about porn — and about any topic related to sex. Still, it’s important for you to raise the issue and make sure your child has the important information they need, even if they don’t seem to want to hear it.\n\nThe absence of a response does not necessarily mean that your child is not listening. You can say, for example, “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about porn, but the opportunity hasn’t really come up yet, so I’m just going to share some of the information I think is important.” If you meet resistance, you might continue with, “I know this is awkward and difficult. It is for me, too. I also realize this may or may not be relevant to you, but it’s pervasive in our culture, so I want to make sure you have some important information about porn and healthy relationships.”\n\nWhat does my kid really need to know?\n\nAs part of your conversations, even if they are one-sided, it’s important to include the following messages:\n\nPorn is someone else’s fantasy that doesn’t come from your own imagination and is not reflective of most people’s sexual realities and safe sexuality practices.\n\nPorn is entertainment, and is largely driven by making what sells and what will make a profit.\n\nPerformers’ bodies are typically altered and enhanced to curate a specific look.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/10/well/family/children-pornhub.html', '2020-12-10 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/09/well/00well-pandemic-porn/00well-pandemic-porn-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('539e47d3894442a8a02f01007f321356', 'Biden to Pick Jennifer Granholm, Former Michigan Governor, for Energy Secretary', 'Ms. Granholm is widely credited during her two terms as Michigan governor with steering her state through a recession and working with the Obama administration on a 2009 bailout of the automobile industry that included clean energy investments and incentives for carmakers to invest in technologies like battery storage. After her second term ended, in 2011, she became an advocate for renewable energy development, including giving a TED Talk on how investing in alternative energy resources can bolster state economies, something Mr. Biden has focused on in his coronavirus recovery plan. “The economics are clear: The time for a low-carbon recovery is now,” Ms. Granholm wrote this year in The Detroit News, making the case for Michigan and other states to embrace low-carbon recovery measures to help rebuild from the economic hit of the coronavirus pandemic. ', 'Ms. Granholm is widely credited during her two terms as Michigan governor with steering her state through a recession and working with the Obama administration on a 2009 bailout of the automobile industry that included clean energy investments and incentives for carmakers to invest in technologies like battery storage.\n\nAfter her second term ended, in 2011, she became an advocate for renewable energy development, including giving a TED Talk on how investing in alternative energy resources can bolster state economies, something Mr. Biden has focused on in his coronavirus recovery plan.\n\n“The economics are clear: The time for a low-carbon recovery is now,” Ms. Granholm wrote this year in The Detroit News, making the case for Michigan and other states to embrace low-carbon recovery measures to help rebuild from the economic hit of the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nThe decision to choose Ms. Granholm was seen as a nod to environmental groups, some of which had waged a campaign against Ernest J. Moniz, a former energy secretary who had long been seen as the front-runner to take the helm of department a second time. Though he was a favorite candidate of labor groups and a close adviser to Mr. Biden, activists objected strongly to financial ties he had to the fossil fuel industry and positions he had taken in favor of continued development of natural gas.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/climate/Jennifer-Granholm-energy-department.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/climate/00cli-granholmHFO-photo/00cli-granholmHFO-photo-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('5460bc93409f40d6bee06225f8d45e56', 'Spelling Bee', '', '', 'https://www.nytimes.com/puzzles/spelling-bee', NULL, 'https://static01.nyt.com/packages/other/crossword/fb-og/purple.png', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('583879ef1f604fad90f5fff903d4438b', 'More Mammals Are Hiding Their Secret Glow', 'Although results are preliminary, the findings suggest we may have to book a larger venue for the mammal rave. When he heard about the platypus discovery, Kenny Travouillon, curator of mammals at the Western Australian Museum, borrowed a black light lamp from the arachnology department. “We just went around for a bit of fun,” he said. ', 'Were platypuses just the beginning?\n\nIn October, researchers reported that the already perplexing animals fluoresce a psychedelic blue-green color under black light. The species joined a short list of mammals known to do this, including opossums and flying squirrels.\n\nSince the study came out, others have begun their own investigations, mostly in Australian mammals. Although results are preliminary, the findings suggest we may have to book a larger venue for the mammal rave.\n\nWhen he heard about the platypus discovery, Kenny Travouillon, curator of mammals at the Western Australian Museum, borrowed a black light lamp from the arachnology department. (They normally use the lamps to find scorpions, which also fluoresce.)\n\nAfter confirming that their preserved platypuses glowed, he and his colleagues moved on to the rest of the collection. “We just went around for a bit of fun,” he said. “Putting the torch on all of them and let’s have a look.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/science/glowing-mammals-australia.html', '2020-12-18 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/18/science/18TB-GLOW1/18TB-GLOW1-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('59b74950f0ad4326be375a0af20976e7', 'Jo Nesbo Talks About ‘The Kingdom’', '“The Kingdom,” the latest novel by the best-selling Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo, doesn’t feature Nesbo’s usual protagonist, Harry Hole. On this week’s podcast, Nesbo talks about the book, as well as his work routines and his former careers — as a stockbroker and a rock star. In that respect, me writing lyrics — pop songs of 3 ½ minutes — that was sort of my school for writing in general, and even for writing novels.” ', 'Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play Music | How to Listen\n\n“The Kingdom,” the latest novel by the best-selling Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo, doesn’t feature Nesbo’s usual protagonist, Harry Hole. It’s about two brothers and a dark family secret. On this week’s podcast, Nesbo talks about the book, as well as his work routines and his former careers — as a stockbroker and a rock star.\n\n“I see myself mainly as a storyteller,” Nesbo says of his life in music and books. “I was the worst musician in the band; the rest of the guys, they are really good musicians. But I could write songs and I could write stories, so that was sort of my ticket to be in the band. In that respect, me writing lyrics — pop songs of 3 ½ minutes — that was sort of my school for writing in general, and even for writing novels.”\n\nImage\n\nDavid Michaelis visits the podcast to talk about “Eleanor,” his new biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. He discusses, among other subjects, the dynamics that maintained Roosevelt’s relationship with her husband.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/books/review/podcast-jo-nesbo-kingdom-david-michaelis-eleanor-roosevelt.html', '2020-12-11 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/10/19/books/review/McGrath2/McGrath2-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('5b535ee3a78542a48075e4c81c960f84', 'Treasury Department’s Senior Leaders Were Targeted by Russian Hacking', '“I agree with Secretary Pompeo’s assessment: It certainly appears to be the Russians,” Mr. Barr said, further undercutting President Trump’s effort to cast doubt on whether the government of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was behind the attack. Mr. Mnuchin was among several top officials in the government who met with national security officials for the first time at the White House on Monday to assess the damage and discuss how to deal with it. It was held two days after Mr. Trump said the attack on federal networks was “under control,” was being exaggerated by the news media and might have been carried out by China rather than Russia, which has been identified by intelligence agencies, other government officials and cybersecurity firms as the almost certain source of the hacking. ', 'Mr. Mnuchin said that the hacking was related to third-party software. He added that there had been no damage or large amounts of information displaced as a result of the attack and that the agency had robust resources to protect the financial industry.\n\n“I can assure you, we are completely on top of this,” he said. He did not explain how the Russian presence was not detected in the system for more than four months.\n\nHis statement came on the same day that Attorney General William P. Barr, at his final news conference before stepping down, sided with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in saying that Moscow was almost certainly behind the hacking. The intrusion went through a commercial network management software package made by SolarWinds, a company based in Austin, Texas, and allowed the hackers broad access to government and corporate systems.\n\n“I agree with Secretary Pompeo’s assessment: It certainly appears to be the Russians,” Mr. Barr said, further undercutting President Trump’s effort to cast doubt on whether the government of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was behind the attack. Mr. Trump appears to be alone in the administration in his contention that China might have been the source of the hacking.\n\nMr. Mnuchin was among several top officials in the government who met with national security officials for the first time at the White House on Monday to assess the damage and discuss how to deal with it.\n\nThe meeting was a principals committee session led by Robert C. O’Brien, the national security adviser. It was held two days after Mr. Trump said the attack on federal networks was “under control,” was being exaggerated by the news media and might have been carried out by China rather than Russia, which has been identified by intelligence agencies, other government officials and cybersecurity firms as the almost certain source of the hacking.\n\nThe session was classified, but if it was like the briefings to Congress in recent days, the intelligence officials expressed little doubt that the attack was most likely carried out by hackers associated with the S.V.R., Russia’s premier intelligence agency.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/us/politics/russia-hack-treasury.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/us/politics/21dc-HACK/21dc-HACK-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('5c8ba0732e2045f5baf364020a98fcf6', 'East Coast Braces for Winter Snow Storm on Wednesday', 'A major winter storm is forecast to sweep through parts of the Mid-Atlantic States and the Northeast starting early Wednesday, sending heavy snow, freezing rain and strong winds surging through the region into Thursday. The storm, a nor’easter, is expected to stretch from North Carolina up through Virginia before advancing north, blanketing some areas with up to two feet of snow, the National Weather Service said. The storm will unleash a hazardous mix of rain and then heavy snow starting Wednesday, kicking off in western North Carolina and southwest Virginia, where it will let loose sheets of freezing rain, the Weather Service predicted. ', 'A major winter storm is forecast to sweep through parts of the Mid-Atlantic States and the Northeast starting early Wednesday, sending heavy snow, freezing rain and strong winds surging through the region into Thursday.\n\nThe storm, a nor’easter, is expected to stretch from North Carolina up through Virginia before advancing north, blanketing some areas with up to two feet of snow, the National Weather Service said. The onward march of severe weather could also bring ice accumulations, tree damage, power outages, closures of schools and businesses, and dangerous travel conditions, the service said.\n\nWhen will it start snowing?\n\nThe storm will unleash a hazardous mix of rain and then heavy snow starting Wednesday, kicking off in western North Carolina and southwest Virginia, where it will let loose sheets of freezing rain, the Weather Service predicted.\n\nFrom there, the system is expected to migrate and spread, stretching as far north as Boston, southern New Hampshire and Albany. It could impact areas as far west as Pittsburgh and as far south as Washington and Northern Virginia.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/us/noreaster-weather-snow.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/us/15xp-winterstorm2/15xp-winterstorm2-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('5dba5d3593aa484e95a1b3fc4c1dfadd', 'The Virus Trains: How Lockdown Chaos Spread Covid-19 Across India', 'SURAT, India — The crowds surged through the gates, fought their way up the stairs of the 160-year-old station, poured across the platforms and engulfed the trains. Thousands of migrant laborers were frantic to leave — loom operators, diamond polishers, mechanics, truck drivers, cooks, cleaners, the backbone of Surat’s economy. Two of them were Rabindra and Prafulla Behera, brothers and textile workers, who had arrived in Surat a decade ago in search of opportunity and were now fleeing disease and death. ', 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s coronavirus restrictions sent migrant workers fleeing. To get them home, the government offered special trains. But the trains would spread the virus across the country.\n\nJeffrey Gettleman, Suhasini Raj, Sameer Yasir and\n\nSURAT, India — The crowds surged through the gates, fought their way up the stairs of the 160-year-old station, poured across the platforms and engulfed the trains.\n\nIt was May 5, around 10 a.m. Surat was beastly hot, 106 degrees. Thousands of migrant laborers were frantic to leave — loom operators, diamond polishers, mechanics, truck drivers, cooks, cleaners, the backbone of Surat’s economy. Two of them were Rabindra and Prafulla Behera, brothers and textile workers, who had arrived in Surat a decade ago in search of opportunity and were now fleeing disease and death.\n\nRabindra stepped aboard carrying a bag stuffed with chapatis. His older brother, Prafulla, clattered in behind, dragging a plastic suitcase packed with pencils, toys, lipstick for his wife and 13 dresses for his girls.\n\n“You really think we should be doing this?” Prafulla asked.\n\n“What else are we going to do?” Rabindra said. “We have nothing to eat and our money’s out.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/world/asia/india-coronavirus-shramik-specials.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/07/world/xxINDIA-TRAINS1-promo/xxINDIA-TRAINS1-promo-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');
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('5e6ea1e594e74927a7aa747434950134', 'E.U. Urges Member Countries to Lift Travel Bans on Britain', 'Credit... Andrew Testa for The New York Times As Britain found itself even more isolated on Tuesday because of a new variant of the coronavirus spreading there, the European Commission advised European Union members to lift blanket bans on travelers, recommending testing or quarantines instead. The commission, the bloc’s executive arm, said on Tuesday that member states should move swiftly to reverse travel bans imposed over the past few days in an effort to stop the spread of new variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in Britain. Credit... Jae C. Hong/Associated Press LOS ANGELES — As California’s new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to soar, the nation’s most populous state has emerged as the epicenter of the pandemic heading into a dangerous holiday week. ', 'Live Updated Dec. 22, 2020, 8:51 a.m. ET Dec. 22, 2020, 8:51 a.m. ET Covid-19 Latest Updates: E.U. Urges Members to Lift Blanket Travel Bans on Britain The European Commission’s advice comes as officials are looking for a way to end France’s blockade of British ports. We share what we know about the British variant of the virus. California is building field hospitals. Here’s the latest.\n\nE.U. urges member countries to lift blanket travel bans for Britain. A deserted Covent Garden in London on Monday. People across southeastern England, including in London, have been told to stay home. Credit... Andrew Testa for The New York Times As Britain found itself even more isolated on Tuesday because of a new variant of the coronavirus spreading there, the European Commission advised European Union members to lift blanket bans on travelers, recommending testing or quarantines instead. And one vaccine expert said that there was no evidence at the moment to suggest that the current product would have to be adapted. The commission, the bloc’s executive arm, said on Tuesday that member states should move swiftly to reverse travel bans imposed over the past few days in an effort to stop the spread of new variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in Britain. It recommended testing or quarantining as needed, and stressed that nonessential travel should be discouraged. The recommendations are nonbinding. The commission said it was important to maintain movement for essential travel and transport between Britain and the European Union, and also suggested that to allow the transport of goods to flow freely, countries should use rapid tests for truckers and haulers rather than time-consuming P.C.R. tests. “While it is important to take swift temporary precautionary action to limit the further spread of the new strain of the virus, and all nonessential travel to and from the U.K. should be discouraged, essential travel and transit of passengers should be facilitated,” the commission said in a statement. “Flight and train bans should be discontinued given the need to ensure essential travel and avoid supply chain disruptions.” A bottleneck has built up at the British-French border since the weekend, when France moved to unilaterally suspend all traffic between the two countries. Addressing the issue of E.U. nationals stuck in Britain and vice versa, the commission said that they should be exempted from any temporary restrictions and be permitted to go home. The commission’s cautionary tone was echoed by Dr. Ugur Sahin, the co-founder of BioNTech, which, with Pfizer, developed the first vaccine approved in the West to combat the coronavirus. In nuanced comments, he said that it would be two weeks before full results from laboratory studies would allow for a fuller understanding of how the mutations might impact the effectiveness of the vaccine. “We believe that there is no reason to be concerned until we get the data,” he said. If an adapted vaccine were necessary, it could be ready within six weeks, Dr. Sahin told a news conference on Tuesday. But it would require additional approval from regulators, which could increase the wait-time, he said. But governments around the world were not waiting for a more complete picture of the new variant, instead racing to seal their borders to travelers from Britain. More than 50 governments put in place some sort of regulation, and officials in London warned that the lockdown measures in effect in the capital and southern England might need to be expanded. The government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said Monday night that the new strain was now “everywhere” across England and that cases were only expected to grow over the holiday period. “I think it’s likely therefore that measures will need to be increased in some places in due course, not reduced,” Mr. Vallance said. Officials in France and Germany also acknowledged that it was possible the variant was circulating in their countries. The World Health Organization also sought to temper the growing sense of alarm over the new variant and the danger it poses. “There is zero evidence at this point that there is any increase in the severity associated with this disease,” Mike Ryan, the W.H.O. emergency director, said at a virtual news conference. “Clearly there is work ongoing to look at transmission and the increased rates of transmission and how much of that is attributable to this particular variant.” While scientists around the world worked to better understand the dangers of the variant, the measures being put in place to try and contain it were already being felt across Britain. Millions of people forced to abruptly cancel Christmas plans are now also facing the prospect of a disruption to basic services unlike anything experienced so far in the pandemic. Even the Royal Mail was forced to temporarily suspend all services to Europe, with the exception of Ireland, because of the “current restrictions around air, road, ferry and train movements.” Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Melissa Eddy and\n\nWhat we know about the new British variant. A testing center in London last week. Credit... Tolga Akmen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images In recent days, the world has watched with curiosity and growing alarm as scientists in Britain have described a newly identified variant of the coronavirus that appears to be more contagious than, and genetically distinct from, more established variants. Initial studies of the new variant prompted Prime Minister Boris Johnson to tighten restrictions over Christmas, and spurred officials in countries around the world to ban travel from Britain. Here’s what scientists have learned about it so far. Is the British variant some kind of new supervirus? No. It’s just one variation among many that have arisen as the coronavirus has spread around the world. Mutations arise as a virus replicates, and this variant — known as B.1.1.7 — has acquired its own distinctive set of them. Is it more contagious than other viruses? It appears so. In preliminary work, researchers in Britain have found that the virus is spreading quickly in parts of southern England, displacing a crowded field of other variants that have been circulating for months. However, a virus lineage becoming more common is not proof that it spreads faster than others. It could grow more widespread simply through luck. For instance, a variant might start out in the middle of a crowded city, where transmission is easy, allowing it to make more copies of itself. Still, the epidemiological evidence gathered so far from England does seem to suggest that this variant is very good at spreading. In places where it has become more common, the overall number of coronavirus cases is spiking. Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, estimates that the variant has an increased transmission rate of 50 to 70 percent compared with other variants in Britain. Does it cause more severe disease? There is no strong evidence that it does, at least not yet. But there is reason to take the possibility seriously. In South Africa, another lineage of the coronavirus has gained one particular mutation that is also found in B.1.1.7. This variant is spreading quickly through coastal areas of South Africa. And in preliminary studies, doctors there have found that people infected with this variant carry a heightened viral load. In many viral diseases, this is associated with more severe symptoms. Is the variant already circulating in the U.S.? Not yet, as far as anyone knows. But that does not mean it hasn’t already reached the United States. British scientists have established a much stronger system to monitor coronaviruses for new mutations. It’s conceivable that someone traveling from Britain has brought it with them. Will the variant render the new vaccines ineffective? No. Most experts doubt that it will have any great impact on vaccines, although it’s not yet possible to rule out any effect. Carl Zimmer and\n\nAdvertisement Continue reading the main story\n\nCongress passes a $900 billion pandemic relief bill. Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday in the Capitol. Congress approved the spending measure after months of gridlock and debate. Credit... Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times WASHINGTON — Congress has overwhelmingly approved a $900 billion stimulus package that would send billions of dollars to American households and businesses grappling with the economic and health toll of the pandemic. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said hundreds of dollars in direct payments could begin reaching individual Americans as early as next week. The long-sought relief package was part of a $2.3 trillion catchall package that included $1.4 trillion to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. It included the extension of routine tax provisions, a tax deduction for corporate meals, the establishment of two Smithsonian museums, a ban on surprise medical bills and a restoration of Pell grants for incarcerated students, among hundreds of other measures. Though the $900 billion stimulus package is half the size of the $2.2 trillion stimulus law passed in March that provided the core of its legislative provisions, it remains one of the largest relief packages in modern American history. It will revive a supplemental unemployment benefit for millions of unemployed Americans at $300 a week for 11 weeks and provide for a round of $600 direct payments to adults and children. “I expect we’ll get the money out by the beginning of next week — $2,400 for a family of four — so much needed relief just in time for the holidays,” Mr. Mnuchin said on CNBC. “I think this will take us through the recovery.” President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who received a coronavirus vaccine on Monday with television cameras rolling, has insisted that this bill is only the beginning, and that more relief, especially to state and local governments, will be coming after his inauguration next month. Lawmakers hustled on Monday to pass the bill, nearly 5,600 pages long, less than 24 hours after its completion and before virtually anyone had read it. The legislative text is likely to be one of the longest ever, and it became available only a few hours before both chambers approved the bill. In the Senate, the bill passed 92 to 6, with Senators Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Rick Scott of Florida — all Republicans — voting no. It will now go to President Trump for his signature.\n\nCalifornia builds field hospitals and considers rationing care as virus spreads unabated. A mobile field hospital was set up at UCI Medical Center in Orange, Calif., on Monday. Credit... Jae C. Hong/Associated Press LOS ANGELES — As California’s new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to soar, the nation’s most populous state has emerged as the epicenter of the pandemic heading into a dangerous holiday week. With just 2.5 percent of the state’s overall intensive care capacity available, officials have been rushing to get more so-called field hospitals up and running. And discussions are underway about how to implement the state’s plans to ration care. While Gov. Gavin Newsom did not officially extend what were supposed to be three-week stay-at-home orders affecting most of the state’s 40 million residents, he said on Monday that it was “self-evident” the orders would need to be in effect well into January, in light of projections that more than 90,000 people in California could be hospitalized with the virus in coming weeks. The state added 295,000 cases over the past week, according to a New York Times database, and is likely to reach 300,000 new cases this week, given the virus’s trajectory. No other state has added even 150,000 cases in a week. Mr. Newsom urged Californians to view their sacrifices as part of a massive effort to mitigate the worst surge the state has seen, even as hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses are rushed to health care providers. “We have agency,” he said, repeating a point he has made at various times throughout the pandemic. “The future is not something to experience — it’s something to manifest.” The governor spoke during a Monday news conference from his home, where he is in quarantine for the second time because of exposure to a state employee who tested positive. Mr. Newsom has tested negative, but he said that he, like tens of thousands of other Californians, would spend Christmas isolated even from his family. The governor and other state leaders have in recent days painted an increasingly dark picture of the fate of those who fail to heed guidelines. Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s secretary of health and human services, said in a news conference that health care providers and state and local leaders were working frantically to prevent the state from tipping into what he and the governor described as crisis mode. “We continue to build up our capacity,” he said. “When we look forward to that forecast of quite a few patients towards the end of January — that’s not a story that’s already been written.” But as has been the case in the last couple of months, making sure health care facilities are sufficiently staffed has been the biggest hurdle. Nurses, doctors, janitors and so many others are exhausted. Aid from other states and the federal government is scarce. In the next week or so, more Californians could hear that hospitals are simply full. Patients who are unable to avoid going to the hospital will wait in hallways for hours. The mere possibility that California’s caseload could overwhelm even the state’s emergency surge capacity is likely to harm workers, said Joanne Spetz, a professor at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. “The term psychologists use is moral distress,” she said. “And that is a huge, looming and developing issue among health professionals.”\n\nYoung and unemployed service-industry workers face bleak prospects. Harry Rosado, 23, enrolled in a culinary training program when he could not find a job after being laid off from a restaurant in New York. “I wasn’t getting called back on anything,” he said. Credit... James Estrin/The New York Times New York City has been hit harder by the economic crisis set off by the pandemic than most other major American cities. But no age group has had it worse than young workers. By September, 19 percent of adults under 25 in the city had lost jobs compared with 14 percent of all workers, according to James Parrott, the director of economic and fiscal policy at the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School. Young adults have been especially vulnerable because they were overrepresented in the service industries that have been decimated by social distancing restrictions. While workers under 25 made up just 10 percent of the city’s total work force of 4.8 million before the pandemic, they held 15 percent of the jobs in the hardest-hit service industries, including restaurants, retail stores, and arts, entertainment and recreation businesses, Mr. Parrott said. The consequences of losing a job for workers just starting out can reverberate for years, leading to lower wages, fewer job prospects and financial hardship and instability, especially for those already burdened with college or credit card debt. The national picture mirrors what is happening in New York. Across the country, the overall unemployment rate for November was 6.7 percent, but it was 10.5 percent for 20- to 24-year-olds. By contrast, the rate for those 25 to 54 was 6 percent. Workers under 25 filed slightly over one million claims in October for regular state unemployment benefits — not including pandemic assistance — compared with nearly 80,000 for the same month last year.\n\nAdvertisement Continue reading the main story\n\nFor Europe, it’s wave after wave. The intensive care unit for Covid-19 patients at the University Hospital of Brno, Czech Republic. Credit... Laetitia Vancon for The New York Times The coronavirus first smashed into Europe with a wave of infections that nearly broke its hospitals — exhausting, infecting and killing doctors and nurses. Lockdowns created some space in intensive care wards over the summer. But the reprieve was short-lived. Since the fall, the continent has watched with horror, and paralysis, as another wave struck with nearly equal force — and in some places far more. Hospital corridors were crammed again, respirators overloaded. As death rates spiked, governments imposed restrictions, hoping to salvage their economies while keeping the virus at bay. It hasn’t worked out that way. By December, the graphs charting the pandemic’s course looked less like progress than a scary roller coaster. The one constant through it all has been the strain on frontline workers in hospitals. It has not helped them that European leaders are still struggling to get a handle on a pandemic that has eluded all their policy prescriptions. If any further reminder were needed, President Emmanuel Macron of France tested positive last week. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has closed much of the country again. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy has imposed tough new restrictions over the holidays. Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, facing a new and fast-spreading variant of the virus, has sealed off London and much of southeastern England. The king of Sweden said the country’s hands-off approach had “failed.” Now, with the holidays and vaccines just starting to arrive, hopeful giddiness is mixing with reckless behavior and popular fatigue, raising fears that the new year will usher in yet another bump in infections. The dread is pervasive. The already considerable burdens on health care workers have gotten worse in 30 countries across the continent in recent weeks, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, an E.U. agency. Occupancy and admissions to hospitals and intensive care units were up over the previous week in at least a dozen countries, the agency said in a report on Thursday.\n\nThe virus hits federal death row, prompting calls for delays in executions. Several inmates at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., have contracted the coronavirus. Credit... Neeta Satam for The New York Times The pandemic is sweeping through death row at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., with at least 14 of the roughly 50 men there having tested positive, lawyers for the inmates and others familiar with their cases said. The outbreak comes as the Trump administration is seeking to continue the wave of federal executions it has conducted, with three more scheduled before President Trump leaves office on Jan. 20. Two of the three people scheduled to be put to death next month — Corey Johnson and Dustin John Higgs — have tested positive for the virus. Already their lawyers are saying their execution dates should be withdrawn. And postponement past Jan. 20 could be the difference between life and death, as President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has said he would work to end federal capital punishment. The Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons did not respond to questions about what protocols they would use to determine whether to delay execution of a prisoner who had Covid-19. But there is evidence that executions can become spreading events. After the November execution of Orlando Hall, a Bureau of Prisons official revealed in a court filing that eight members of the execution team had tested positive for the coronavirus, and that five of them planned to travel to Terre Haute for the December executions. Mr. Hall’s spiritual adviser said he also tested positive after attending the execution. There is a precedent of sorts for citing the virus as cause for postponement. The third person scheduled to be executed before Mr. Trump leaves office is Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row. She is not held at Terre Haute, and has not tested positive for the virus. But after the government announced its intention to execute Ms. Montgomery — convicted of murdering a pregnant woman and abducting her unborn child — two of her lawyers traveled to visit her at a federal prison in Texas. They later tested positive for the coronavirus. A court order then temporarily enjoined the government from executing Ms. Montgomery, who was scheduled to die this month, and the Justice Department delayed her execution until January.\n\nSouth Korea is struggling under the strain of a severe outbreak. A coronavirus patient was loaded into an ambulance at a nursing home in Gwangju, South Korea, on Tuesday for transport to a hospital. Credit... Yonhap/EPA, via Shutterstock SEOUL, South Korea — In several provinces across South Korea, there are no I.C.U. beds available to treat the rapidly rising number of Covid-19 patients. As of Monday, only 42 beds were available nationwide, the government said. In the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country’s population and the majority of its recent infections, there were just six. ? The latest explosion of coronavirus cases in South Korea has put the country on edge in a way that it has not been since the beginning of the pandemic. If cases cannot be brought under control and the strain on hospitals alleviated, the government could for the first time impose Level 3 restrictions, the set of social-distancing rules ?just short of a lockdown in South Korea. A quiet fear has taken hold in a country that for much of the year was held up as a model for the rest of the world. The streets of Seoul are growing emptier by the day. Supermarkets have reported brisk sales of instant noodles and meal kits. Restaurant owners are anxious they will be forced to close their doors except for takeout orders. And now, the virus is even harder to contain. “Unlike in the past, this time the virus seems to pop up everywhere and no place is safe,” said Myeong Hae-kyung, a chief nurse at the Yeungnam University Medical Center in Daegu who served on the front line when the city was the epicenter of the country’s first coronavirus outbreak early this year. “In recent days, my life has been alternating just between the hospital and home,” she said. “I am afraid to go anywhere else.” In this wave, hospitals are a critical focus in South Korea. The country has aimed to provide patients with hospital beds within a day of receiving a diagnosis. But as of Sunday, 368 patients in the Seoul metropolitan area were waiting at home for beds to be assigned to them. Last week, a patient in Seoul died at home while waiting for a hospital bed. Another died at home in Seoul on Sunday.\n\nAdvertisement Continue reading the main story\n\nMexico misled the public about an outbreak in the capital, a Times investigation finds. People walked along a crowded commercial street in downtown Mexico City on Saturday. Credit... Gustavo Graf Maldonado/Reuters Despite Covid-19 cases spiraling upward and hospitalizations surging, federal officials in Mexico reassured the public during a Dec. 4 briefing that Mexico City had not reached the critical level of contagion that, according to the government’s own standards, would require shutting down its economy. In fact, Mexico’s capital had surpassed that threshold, an investigation by The New York Times has found. Yet the capital stayed open for business, its streets thronged with shoppers, its restaurants teeming with diners. Instead of shutting down the economy, the federal government misled the public about the severity of the outbreak — and allowed Mexico City to remain open for two more weeks, according to officials and a review of government documents. Mexico decides when to lock down the nation’s capital and each of its states based on a formula that considers the latest numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. When the government introduced the system, officials told Mexicans that it would be a transparent and objective measure of the spread of the virus. But this month, the government used in its calculation two numbers that were lower than figures it had made publicly available elsewhere, producing a result that would allow the capital, a city of nine million residents, to keep businesses open in the busy weeks of early December. The government finally moved to shut the city down on Friday. By then, the capital’s hospitals were overflowing. More than 85 percent of hospital beds in the capital were occupied on Sunday, according to federal data, up from 66 percent when the government decided to delay the lockdown. Federal health officials did not provide a response to requests for comment. The government of Mexico City pointed to recent public comments by the mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum, who said that her government had avoided a lockdown because “this time of year is really important in terms of families’ finances.” Unlike many global leaders, the Mexican president has not used a stimulus program to support businesses and the unemployed during the pandemic. Without a safety net in place, closing down Mexico City in the middle of the holiday shopping season would inflict considerable pain on the nation’s economy. But allowing Mexico City’s residents to crowd into stores, dine indoors and work in their offices for two weeks while the virus was known to be spreading rapidly has increased the burden on an already strained public health system, experts say.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/22/world/covid-19-coronavirus/', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/22/world/22virus-briefing-mutation/22virus-briefing-mutation-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('5ee0a124cd524a39b6ff5958b1f457d5', 'Kamala Harris Deserves a More Important Job', 'I was speaking recently to Matt Dunne, founder of the Center on Rural Innovation, which promotes digital economic development in small-town America, and he was telling me about a Vermont community near his home with a great public library: “You could drive by on any Sunday and the parking lot would be full,” he said. The parking lot was full of cars with kids doing their homework and adults doing their office work — using the wireless connectivity spilling out of the empty building because their rural homes lacked high-speed broadband. I’d love to see President-elect Joe Biden give her a more important job: his de facto secretary of rural development, in charge of closing the opportunity gap, the connectivity gap, the learning gap, the start-up gap — and the anger and alienation gap — between rural America and the rest of the country. ', 'I was speaking recently to Matt Dunne, founder of the Center on Rural Innovation, which promotes digital economic development in small-town America, and he was telling me about a Vermont community near his home with a great public library: “You could drive by on any Sunday and the parking lot would be full,” he said. “There was just one problem: The library was closed on Sundays.”\n\nThe parking lot was full of cars with kids doing their homework and adults doing their office work — using the wireless connectivity spilling out of the empty building because their rural homes lacked high-speed broadband. Alas, stories abound of rural Americans going to Subway sandwich shops and Dairy Queens in search of free Wi-Fi.\n\nAnd that is why I want to talk today about Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.\n\nHarris is too smart and energetic to be just the vice president, a position with few official responsibilities. I’d love to see President-elect Joe Biden give her a more important job: his de facto secretary of rural development, in charge of closing the opportunity gap, the connectivity gap, the learning gap, the start-up gap — and the anger and alienation gap — between rural America and the rest of the country.\n\nPresident Trump feasted off those gaps in our last two presidential elections to dominate Democrats in rural America. Putting Harris in charge of fixing them would be a real statement by the Biden team.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/opinion/kamala-harris-rural-america.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/16/opinion/15friedman1/15friedman1-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('63c89011e9a142cc9690bab15b399906', 'Got $1 Million to Spare? You Can Buy an Ambassadorship', 'For decades, presidents from both parties have quietly distributed a portion of these cushy posts (often in the touristy capitals of Europe and the Caribbean) to some of their most generous campaign donors. “We’re the only country in the world that does business in this way,” says Dennis Jett, a retired ambassador, career foreign service officer and professor who wrote the book “American Ambassadors.” “Nobody else has an open market on ambassadorships. The fact that nearly every modern president has done the same would seem to be the rare piece of evidence in support of Mr. Trump’s claim that he is no more corrupt than the Washington “swamp.” The incoming Biden administration now has a chance to prove him wrong. ', 'Who wouldn’t want to be an American ambassador?\n\nBeyond the pomp and social cachet, you get a luxury residence, six-figure salary, and private school tuition for your children — a comfortable diplomatic lifestyle bankrolled by taxpayers. For decades, presidents from both parties have quietly distributed a portion of these cushy posts (often in the touristy capitals of Europe and the Caribbean) to some of their most generous campaign donors. Although the practice is technically prohibited by law, Congress has long acquiesced.\n\n“We’re the only country in the world that does business in this way,” says Dennis Jett, a retired ambassador, career foreign service officer and professor who wrote the book “American Ambassadors.” “Nobody else has an open market on ambassadorships. If we really believed in capitalism, we would list these postings on eBay.”\n\nThe problem, as indicated by Gordon Sondland and other donor-ambassadors during the Trump administration, is that the most loyal are often the least competent. But the practice of effectively selling ambassadorships did not start with President Trump. The fact that nearly every modern president has done the same would seem to be the rare piece of evidence in support of Mr. Trump’s claim that he is no more corrupt than the Washington “swamp.” The incoming Biden administration now has a chance to prove him wrong.\n\nThe precise origins of ambassadorial graft are obscure, but one of the earliest examples can be found inside the original “smoke-filled room,” a suite at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, where Republican power brokers haggled into the early hours of June 12, 1920, trying to choose an agreeable presidential candidate to unite their party’s deadlocked convention. They finally settled on the stately-looking junior senator from Ohio, Warren G. Harding. One of Harding’s powerful backers was George Harvey, publisher and industrialist, who had engineered Woodrow Wilson’s ascent to the White House. After Harding won the election, he made Harvey ambassador to the Court of St. James’s in London.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/opinion/ambassadors-donors-biden.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/16/opinion/16schwartz-02/15schwartz-02-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('681307ead505490c98853f0bf976c167', '‘Challenges and Bumps’ Expected as N.B.A. Returns', 'On Tuesday night at Barclays Center, Stephen Curry will take the floor for the Golden State Warriors and Steve Kerr will coach the team in its first meaningful game in more than nine months. He will be coaching against Kevin Durant, the co-pillar of two Warriors championship teams alongside Curry, and against a good friend, Steve Nash, who will be making his official debut as the Nets’ (and Durant’s) coach. To lead off a schedule that was moved up to begin just before Christmas, after strong urging from the league’s television partners in their quest for maximum profit, Warriors vs. Nets comes amid a pandemic that is wreaking its worst havoc yet across the United States. ', 'On Tuesday night at Barclays Center, Stephen Curry will take the floor for the Golden State Warriors and Steve Kerr will coach the team in its first meaningful game in more than nine months. The considerable wait to get back to work is where the details only begin to take on layers for Kerr.\n\nAs he returns from the longest hiatus he has known in an N.B.A. career that began when he was a rookie in 1988-89, Kerr must confront two familiar faces leading the Nets. He will be coaching against Kevin Durant, the co-pillar of two Warriors championship teams alongside Curry, and against a good friend, Steve Nash, who will be making his official debut as the Nets’ (and Durant’s) coach.\n\nIt is a lot to track in terms of story lines and, at the same time, it is only half the story on opening night of the N.B.A.’s 75th season. To lead off a schedule that was moved up to begin just before Christmas, after strong urging from the league’s television partners in their quest for maximum profit, Warriors vs. Nets comes amid a pandemic that is wreaking its worst havoc yet across the United States.\n\n“We are in the same boat as a lot of people out there,” Kerr said. “Everything is strange for everybody. We’re lucky to be working, and we recognize that. So we are embracing our circumstances rather than lamenting them.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/sports/basketball/challenges-and-bumps-expected-as-nba-returns.html', '2020-12-20 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/20/sports/20nba-stein-1/20nba-stein-1-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('6a9899a109d24de7a593d1566b8a66d7', 'What Should I Do About the Abusive Mom Down the Hall?', 'The children are wailing in response to being hit — I can hear it all through the door, and the mother threatening to throw the children out. I do not want to involve the police for obvious reasons and can only imagine how stressful it would be to care for two young children in an apartment alone during a pandemic. A neighbor whose first interaction with you concerns the question of whether she’s abusing her children isn’t likely to give you much of a hearing — and sadly, mistrust may be heightened if she’s Black or brown and you aren’t. ', 'I live in a large apartment complex. Since I moved in several months ago, I have heard my neighbor down the hall — a single mother of color — repeatedly hitting and screaming obscenities at her two young children, who are both under the age of 10. These are not casual slaps (if there are such things) or a parent raising her voice. The children are wailing in response to being hit — I can hear it all through the door, and the mother threatening to throw the children out. It happens multiple times a week, and I can hear all of this in my apartment down the hall. I do not want to involve the police for obvious reasons and can only imagine how stressful it would be to care for two young children in an apartment alone during a pandemic. It is also obvious, however, that the children’s welfare is at stake. But I am afraid that if I say something, the children will be put in an even worse situation. Do I talk to the mother directly? It seems unlikely that will seriously change whatever forces have compelled her to parent this way. What would you advise? Name Withheld\n\nIt does sound as if what you’re hearing may be child abuse. A particular concern is that these rages are a regular occurrence. You shouldn’t rush to call the authorities when you see someone losing it in what might otherwise be a caring relationship; people don’t have to be what you’d consider good parents to retain the rights and responsibilities of parenthood. But there is a bar beneath which they should not fall.\n\nWould talking to this woman be helpful? You could try, but it’s hard to be optimistic. A neighbor whose first interaction with you concerns the question of whether she’s abusing her children isn’t likely to give you much of a hearing — and sadly, mistrust may be heightened if she’s Black or brown and you aren’t. If you were already on friendly terms, you could offer to help with the kids and, perhaps, reduce the stress that may be one cause of the violence. But clearly you aren’t, and a pandemic probably isn’t the right time to begin a relationship. In any case, the situation needs attention now. Your reluctance to involve the police (who aren’t likely to have the relevant training) is justified, so long as you don’t judge the children to be at immediate risk of serious harm. If you did report this ongoing situation to the police, what’s supposed to happen is that someone from the agency responsible for child-protective services — different municipalities use different designations — would be dispatched. But things can go wrong. So the best course of action would be to call the Childhelp National Abuse hotline, or a local alternative, and get a referral to the appropriate agency in your community. A trained caseworker can look for evidence of neglect or physical injury and intervene when necessary to help people who are dealing with mental illness or substance abuse or are just stressed out. Alerting the authorities isn’t something to be done lightly — and you’re right to be concerned about making a bad situation worse — but you can reasonably hope that the social-service professionals will use good judgment.\n\nI was shopping at a large chain store in New York City, and as I was paying, there were two young people nearby who were doing something on their phone that kept producing loud bursts of sound. As he was ringing me up, a grumpy white male employee who appeared to be in his late 60s or early 70s expressed disapproval in a “kids today!” kind of way. I agreed that yes, it was a little inconsiderate, and he said: “Yeah, that’s the problem with this whole country. The whole country is inconsiderate! I wish I had an AK-47!” I was taken aback and said, “Well, that’s not a great thing to say!” Then he replied in a kind of conspiratorial but aggressive way, “I am a Vietnam vet, and I am not politically correct; that’s why I wish I had an AK-47.” Then (perhaps reacting to the look on my face) he said, “I’m just kidding,” which did not sound very convincing.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/magazine/what-should-i-do-about-the-abusive-mom-down-the-hall.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/20/magazine/20mag-ethicist/20mag-ethicist-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');
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('71dd588abd2a4cdfba707fce77f1ceab', 'Bonus: Kara and Maggie Haberman Debrief on Brad Raffensperger', 'And frankly, there is a lot of frustration among Republicans at the media and a perception that the media — and look, I don’t like bad faith criticism against the media, and I certainly don’t like using it as some kind of an excuse for doing things that many of these Republican elected officials know better than to be doing, such as joining on to the suit and suggesting that the election was entirely fraudulent. Look, I think that there are Republicans who are working in these Senate races who believe that they need Trump because of Trump’s own questions cast about the validity of the election to say to voters, it’s OK to vote. Look, before Trump, there was a 20% to 25% of the Republican Party favored somebody like Trump with positions like Trump. ', '[MUSIC - THEME, “SWAY”]\n\narchived recording (SINGING) Darling, you, you have sway.\n\nkara swisher\n\nHey, “Sway” listeners. Welcome to a bonus episode with New York Times White House correspondent and resident Trump expert, Maggie Haberman. She’s also my favorite person to text with late at night. We’re here to talk about my latest interview with Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger. Maggie Haberman, hello.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nHello.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo how are you? You’ve been busy. You’ve been busy covering Trump. Has then been a difficult four years or hard or lots of work?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nIt’s been lots of work. It’s been, at times, difficult, at times, not. But it has slowed down to this sort of just daily barrage of tweets and lawsuits. There is a very long tail on this election so far.\n\nkara swisher\n\nThe long tail — that’s a nice word. You’re so kind. That’s a way to put it. It just seems like an endless nightmare to me. So I’m surprised you had time to listen to my interview with Secretary Raffensperger. I’d love to know what you thought of what he’s doing because you’ve been watching all the Republicans as they swirl around President Trump.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI think he sounds like a very unusually lone voice of frustration within the Republican Party, who is trying to maintain some faith in the process, as the leader of his party is telling people that they shouldn’t trust it and as the leader of his party is personally attacking him. I thought he got very in the weeds on facts with you. I think he tried to make very clear about what had actually happened, about what the requirements were for voting, about the way they conducted the election. I think that people could learn a lot from listening to him beyond just sort of the president declaring Brad Raffensperger is bad. And Brad Raffensperger is saying, no, I’m not. I mean, if people want to actually understand what happened in Georgia, I think they should listen to the episode.\n\nkara swisher\n\nI don’t think people do really want to understand what happened.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nSome people do.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWho do you think is the person who’s most gotten under Trump’s skin? Is it Raffensperger? Or is it Krebs, Romney? There’s a lot of enemies that he’s sort of aimed himself at recently.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nYeah, I don’t know how to sort of rank the greatest hits here. I would actually say that Brian Kemp has gotten under Trump’s skin, the governor of Georgia, more than Raffensperger over a longer period of time, dating back to the fact that Trump did help him in his election. And in Trump’s mind, therefore, he should get some — what he wants in return. And what he wanted was not Kelly Loeffler appointed to the Senate, and that was who Kemp went with. And so, his relationship with Kemp has just devolved from there. Mitt Romney is definitely one of the officials who rankles President Trump. They have a very long history and weird history. I mean, on the one hand, Romney has been very vocal about the president’s abuses of power as he sees it and misuse of his office and impropriety. It’s also worth remembering that Romney helped enable Trump in 2012. Romney took an endorsement from Trump, which gave Trump a toehold of legitimacy. So, going along with certain things does come with a cost. And while I understand that the response to that may then be but Trump is really bad, sure, but he was saying pretty bad things at the time, too. And —\n\nkara swisher\n\nWe are going to get into this —\n\nmaggie haberman\n\n— he had aleady done birtherism, and Romney still took his endorsement.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo what I want to focus on here, though, is, these guys are making big bets standing up to Trump on the future of the Republican Party and their own role in it. Why do you think they’re doing that? And what do you think the Republican Party will look like post-Trump?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nLook, I think they’re doing it for different reasons, right? I mean, in some cases, they’re doing it for their own political futures. But I actually think that in the case of Romney, I think he’s really very discouraged by what he has seen happen within the party. I think that for Kemp, I think that he is making clear he is not going to go beyond what the law allows. And I think that’s true for Raffensperger as well. I think Raffensperger is taking his statutory role very seriously. I think that there is a greater question here. You know, Donald Trump is skilled at turning everything in an up, down referendum on himself. Elections are about the country. They’re not about an individual’s feelings. And —\n\nkara swisher\n\nRight.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\n— I think that these are people who are concerned about where the Republican Party has headed under Trump. Your question is about where it goes after. And then that begs the question, is there an after? I don’t think there’s going to be an after for some time, Kara. I mean —\n\nkara swisher\n\nReally? Now tell me why this is. I have thought that he’s going to flame out.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI mean, he — well, I think, I guess, define flame out. I don’t think he’s actually going to run again. But I think he will do everything that looks like running for at least a year. I think he will freeze the Republican field. I think he will continue to engage in these litmus tests of loyalty for conservatives in terms of an up, down referendum on himself. And I think that voters react to that. And I think that’s very important to remember one of the weird things that Trump has done is — not weird, but one of the fascinating things he has done is, he creates these conditions by which the base does exactly what he wants. And then other officials say this is what the voters want, so we’re doing what they want, right? So I mean, I’ll give you a for instance. I think if President Trump had encouraged mask use, I think that his voters would have even grudgingly, in some cases, but they would have gone along with it for the most part. The fact that he wouldn’t just further gave them a reason as voters to say, yeah, we think this infringes on our personal choices and personal freedoms. And then, other elected officials responded to that. So I think that there is a strange, circular dynamic going on here with Trump and his base and then other elected officials. And I think you are seeing that play out here.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo why?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nBecause they are following their president because it has turned into a — I said, it is a test for their future. And many of them are representing very Trumpy districts. And they believe that they have to be seen as fighting. And again, this is my point about going along with something because you think it won’t really matter at the end of the day. Sometimes it does matter. Did Mitt Romney accepting Donald Trump’s endorsement help elevate Donald Trump eight years ago? 100%.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah, he probably thought nothing of it.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nYeah, I’m sure he thought it didn’t matter at the time. Well, it did matter. These things do matter, even when you tell yourself that they don’t.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo what do you imagine? It feels like lemmings. Or maybe it’s not. Maybe they do think this is the future. Because what is the Republican Party, if not the Trump party now? Do you think that grip will ever —\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nIt’s impossible. It’s really impossible to say. I mean, four years is a lifetime in politics. Two years is a lifetime in politics. So I think it depends on what President Trump looks like when he’s out of office. Did he pay any price with some Republican voters for how he’s conducted himself over the last couple of weeks? We don’t know the answer to that. And we’re probably not going to know the answer to that for some time. But I think that’s going to dictate a lot of whether this matters in terms of Trump’s staying power. But I think that this belief, again, that people have that he’s just going to flame out — based on what? What have you seen of him that ever makes you think he’s just going to go away?\n\nkara swisher\n\nMake the case why he would go away. What is the would go away part?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nThe would go away is that he gets to Florida. He remembers that he really likes having a lighter life, that he didn’t particularly enjoy aspects of the presidency, and that he doesn’t want to work that hard to retain a job he never particularly enjoyed in the day-to-day. That’s the making the case for it. But I would say that 50 years of trying to get attention suggests to me that he’s not going to suddenly become a whole different person.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWhat I’d love to get at the idea is why doesn’t he mind people having a lack of confidence? Because I think the numbers right now — I saw a number last night. 70% of Republicans think the election is rigged, essentially. How does he do that? What is the superpower here that’s going on with this guy?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nHe has a base that’s incredibly bonded to him. He’s been very effective at keeping them on his side. He has been very, very good at tapping into what his voters see as some sense of shared grievance. And frankly, there is a lot of frustration among Republicans at the media and a perception that the media — and look, I don’t like bad faith criticism against the media, and I certainly don’t like using it as some kind of an excuse for doing things that many of these Republican elected officials know better than to be doing, such as joining on to the suit and suggesting that the election was entirely fraudulent. But I do think that look, it’s impossible to have a nuanced conversation around Donald Trump these days. But I do think that there are a number of voters who believe that the media coverage of Trump is unfair. And he has been very good at flaming that, as opposed to just being a bad set of facts. And they are sticking with him.\n\nkara swisher\n\nDoes he remind you of Nixon in that way? Because Nixon was quite supported for a long time. But in hindsight, he looks like he sort of skulked off to California, and that was that. But there was quite a lot of support for Nixon, including winning the election before he went down.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI mean, it’s a little different. In the case of Nixon, there were Republican senators who went to him and said no more. A line has been crossed, and that’s when he left. The language of Donald Trump in public is sort of the language of Richard Nixon on the Nixon tapes in private. I think that’s an important distinction. I think that — I mean, what is amazing is that Trump is — it’s not just norm shattering. I mean, he is doing things that are fundamentally dangerous in terms of public confidence in institutions. And yet, people still stick with him and tell themselves, well, he’s telling it like it is, or it’s just stylistic. I don’t care. I mean, these aren’t style choices. This is who he is. But why it didn’t last with Nixon, again, he did have support. There were Republicans who were willing to say to him, no more. We really haven’t seen that.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWhy isn’t there anybody doing that here?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nPart of why we haven’t seen it is because there are these two Senate runoffs in Georgia on January 5th. And the majority control hinges on the outcome of those. And McConnell is —\n\nkara swisher\n\nMitch McConnell.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nMitch McConnell is — one of the qualities he shares with Trump and there’s not many, but one is sort of a singular focus on winning and on power. And Trump goes about it in kind of a semi-competent, ham-fisted way. McConnell’s very disciplined. And he knows what the levers of power are, and he knows what’s at his disposal. And he is focused entirely on holding those seats. And I don’t think you’re going to see him or most senators say anything until afterward, although you have seen some senators saying, like John Cornyn of Texas, say, he doesn’t see what the legal basis is for this Texas suit. So you’re seeing some inching toward the line, but again, there’s nobody who’s having a sort of, how dare you, sir, kind of moment.\n\nkara swisher\n\nIs that over the how dare you’s with this guy? There’s been a lot of how dare you’s. Nobody wins.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nWell, there’s been a lot of how dare you’s from Democrats.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWell, here’s Brad. He’s kind of doing how dare you.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nHe is doing it. But I think it would require a more visible figure in Washington to have a little more impact. Or maybe that wouldn’t even matter, Kara, by the way. I mean, when you are willing to say anything and you can’t be shamed, that’s an edge. And that’s what this president has had.\n\nkara swisher\n\nThat’s the edge of politics. It’s not shamelessness.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nYeah.\n\nkara swisher\n\nIs there anyone who could stand up and say something? Who would you pick?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nWell, but let me ask you a question. Let me flip it around to you. What does saying something do? What is it? If somebody believed that if they say something, then Donald Trump says, “oh, OK, you’re right.”\n\nkara swisher\n\nNo, no, but who has the moral high ground anywhere in the Republican Party?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI don’t want to get into moral high ground. I mean, that’s maybe for a columnist. That’s not for me.\n\nkara swisher\n\nThat’s why I’m using the senators that go up and talk to Nixon. Who has the influence?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nBut I mean — but sure, but that’s — I think that if McConnell wanted to go to Trump and say, you need to stop this, as I said, the reason he’s not doing it is because the incentives, the power incentives for what he needs are not in support of that. I’m not saying that’s good or bad. I’m saying that is what it is.\n\nkara swisher\n\nIt is what it is. So, with Georgia senate run-offs, what do you think is going to happen?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI have no idea.\n\nkara swisher\n\nNo idea.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nNot into the predictions game. I don’t know. What do you think is going to happen?\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut he’s important there. You think the reason they’re doing it is they think Trump’s important there and his anger. But it seems like he’s almost cutting into it by supporting all these half-baked conspiracies.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nYeah, I don’t actually know. Look, I think that there are Republicans who are working in these Senate races who believe that they need Trump because of Trump’s own questions cast about the validity of the election to say to voters, it’s OK to vote. Yes, the system was bad before in my election, but this one is OK. You should do it. Whether that’s actually been effective or not, we’re going to find out. But I was talking to a Trump advisor who said that they had found in their reviews of data that Trump would go places for rallies. And his support in those areas would either stay the same or go down a bit during the campaign. So I don’t know why it would be particularly different here. These are very tight races. We’ll see. I could see a world where both Republicans win. I could see a world where both Democrats win. I don’t really see a world where it splits, but we’ll see.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAnd were you surprised the two senators in these Senate races stuck with Trump again, Perdue and Loeffler?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nNo, it goes back to the same reason. They need the base voters. You’re not going to see a whole lot of variation on the themes here until at least January 6th.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWere you surprised by all these Republican governors and secretaries pushing back? It’s not just Brad Raffensperger. There’s in Arizona, in several states.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI mean, I think that there are a number of Republicans who think that this is creeping toward a different and more dangerous space. And I think there were people — and again, this goes back to the whole theme that I said at the top about enabling. There are people who wanted to let him have his moment and thrash. And now, they’re warning that maybe they let that go on too long. The only thing that would have mattered would have been the AG of Texas saying I’m not going to do this suit. The AG of Texas is under investigation himself and may or may not be looking for some kind of intervention by Trump in his case. So I think that the incentives here are all over the place.\n\nkara swisher\n\nIf you had to look at it like it’s all over, President-elect Biden is sworn in, what do they do the day after?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nWhat do Republicans do?\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nWell, I think they continue to try to block some nominees and if they hold the Republican — look, if Democrats take the seats in Georgia, then this is a whole different ballgame, because then you’re going to see a much easier confirmation process for President-elect Biden’s nominees. You will see a different level of potential passage, not across the board, but on some policy matters. If Republicans hold it, then I think that you’re going to still see McConnell trying to flex muscle and keep some nominees from being confirmed. They’ve already made very clear that Neera Tanden at CAP is among the people that they consider to be not one they want to confirm. And then, if the Republicans hold the Senate, is there just total gridlock? I don’t expect much different. Donald Trump will still be the leader of that party. So I don’t think that January 21st looks much different than January 20th.\n\nkara swisher\n\nOh, great. Thanks, Maggie. Geez.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI just wish people would start getting more realistic about this because I think that what I worry about what’s going to happen, especially because so much of the anger at Trump has been deflected onto the media over the last four years, is, nothing changes. And then, it’s, “why are you guys covering him?” If he’s a former president with 74 million voters and if he announces he’s running, should we not cover that? What is the argument for not covering him? My job is to chronicle what is happening. He is the president, full stop. I understand many people would like him not to be or not to have been. But at the moment, he is. And when Joe Biden is the president, we will cover him.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSpeaking of which, but Trump. That’s something we talk about, but Trump.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nBut Trump is a big theme in our text.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYes, explain that if you can.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI hold to the belief that two things can be true at once. Now I will say that a big difference at this moment is that— and when Trump is doing is a different level of doing an assault on democracy in terms of trying to undo the —\n\nkara swisher\n\nI would say perfidy, but go ahead. Go ahead, yeah.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nOK, you can say that. But what he is doing is an escalation even beyond what we have seen from him. So I do think that we are in a particularly fraught and dangerous moment. And I understand why people are concerned about looking like anything is a distraction. But I just —\n\nkara swisher\n\nAnd using the word “coup,” right?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI mean, some people are using the word “coup,” and I understand why they are. I don’t think it’s been particularly effective so far. If he succeeds at the court in some way, then that’s different. I think it is possible to both cover Donald Trump and cover Joe Biden. And what I have discovered is that if even the mildest observation is made about Joe Biden, there is an enormous level of pushback ostensibly not from Biden’s team, but sometimes encouraged by Biden’s team. They’re about to be president, unless something incredibly dramatic happens. The coverage gets rigorous or should. And that is, a healthy democracy isn’t only that we cover the unprecedented nature of Donald Trump and then nothing ever else again. That is not how this works.\n\nkara swisher\n\nRight, except —\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nThere’s another thing, Kara. It’s also that, look, working the refs is a time honored tradition by various administrations, but their problems are also not our problems. So while I understand it’s inconvenient when, say, the Biden team puts out a pretty inaccurate statement saying that the FDA has approved a vaccine, which the FDA has not yet done as of this recording — now it may happen any minute now. It’s expected to happen, but it’s a central issue of the moment, the vaccine. And it’s an issue that Biden ran on. So, when they put out an inaccurate statement and his supporters can’t even handle a tweet acknowledging that the statement was wrong, I mean, that’s unfortunate.\n\nkara swisher\n\nWell, it is a but Trump thing. And at the same time, I think that Trump has given —\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nYou see it as a but Trump thing. I understand that. I’m saying I think two things can exist at once.\n\nkara swisher\n\nI think Trump is literally over here burning things down. And so, they —\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nBut I just said that. Why can’t two things be true? I’m not saying these are equal.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSee, as we text about, I think Trump is giving Biden great cover. I think —\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nAbsolutely. Completely agree with that. Completely agree with that. I think that Trump gave Biden great cover throughout this campaign. And I think most Biden people will acknowledge that.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah, the basement worked.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nCorrect, and them’s the breaks. If Donald Trump wanted mail-in voting to be more in his favor, he perhaps should not have spent all of his time undermining it and telling his voters to vote on Election Day. Trump took advantage of all kinds of windows of opportunity in 2016. There is nothing wrong with Joe Biden doing the exact same thing.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo there are the Republicans like Brad Raffensperger — very conservative, very conservative. And he’s more of a Reagan Republican. One of the things he did right after this was he — I thought he made a bogus comparison between Trump 2020 and Abrams’ 2018. He represents a different kind of conservative to me. How does he and people like him get power back, or is that just impossible now?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nWell, I mean, that would have — the aiming at Stacey Abrams is not a province of Donald Trump. So I mean, I think recognizing that is the answer to your question, right? I mean, I think that even if they weren’t in power, they would be doing the exact same thing — in power within their own party, I mean. That’s actually a shared goal of Trumpers and non-Trumpers within the Republican Party.\n\nkara swisher\n\nBut what — you get back to conservatives like him. Because those are conservatives I think Democrats feel like they can deal with, right? Do you get back to the Brad Raffensperger version of conservative?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nLook, before Trump, there was a 20% to 25% of the Republican Party favored somebody like Trump with positions like Trump. That is obviously now much more than 25%. I think it’s going to take several election cycles to be beyond that for the Republican Party, if it gets there at all. But I think that who the nominee is for the party in 2024 will be quite revealing to that end.\n\nkara swisher\n\nDo you have any opinions?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nOh, I have no idea. Listen, I think at the end of the day — and I’m basing this on reporting — he will not ultimately try to run in 2023. But I think he will do everything to say he is up until that point, because it raises money and money pays for his endeavors, and it keeps him relevant and so forth. And I think that presents an enormous challenge for those of us in the media, which is the bar for providing him with news coverage. Now, again, I think if a former president with hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank who just got 74 million votes says he’s running, I think we have to report that he said that. I think we also have to appropriately caveat it and make the point about why it may actually not end up happening further down the road. But I still think it has to be covered. In terms of who will be the nominee, I was recalling on Twitter last night that when Jake Sherman at Politico and I were doing a story when I still worked there about the huge GOP field, he said shouldn’t we put Trump in? And I said absolutely not. He’s not going to run. And I don’t want to do this again, where —\n\nkara swisher\n\nHa.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\n— we say he’s running and he doesn’t. Because that’s what happened in 2011. And I was obviously wrong, but it was a very defendable call at the time. This is a guy who had spent 25 years up until then, saying he was running and not running. So my point is, I have no idea what 2024 will look like. And you shouldn’t want my guess on that. I don’t know.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah, I think it’s Tucker Carlson. Anyway, last question. You’ve been covering him for a long, long time, including way, way back kind of stuff. Why Trump? Not but Trump. Why Trump?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nLook, I think a couple of reasons. But I think that you will get angry at this statement, but I think that he has often been underestimated. And I think that that has been a mistake for people to do. I think that among those underestimations was that he was so ingrained in pop culture for 30 years, but particularly, that he was introduced to broad segments of voters through “The Apprentice” —\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah, I agree with you on that.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\n— and as something other than the businessman that we knew in New York City, when I was at the tabloids in New York City. And I think that he is — I think, as I said before, I think his shamelessness is an edge. And people should not hear that as praise. It’s just a fact. I think that he has an appeal for some voters of a kind of obtainable wealth, obtainable aspirational wealth, aspirational status. I think all of that factors into it, but also, he demagogued immigrants. He race baited. I mean, I could go down the list why him. He was willing to say the dog whistles through a bullhorn, and that was part of why, too.\n\nkara swisher\n\nSo is there any — I mean, Ted Cruz seems like a paler version of this. But is there anybody who can pick it up?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI don’t know who could pick it up. But I mean, honestly, I think that if you’re talking about pure Trumpism, I think your Tucker Carlson suggestion is probably the closest to it right now.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah, they’re all trying to copy him.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nYeah, but I just — I have no idea what to come. I think we also don’t know yet, Kara. We haven’t mentioned an important piece here, which is what investigations the president faces when he leaves office. And so, we know that Tish James, the attorney general in New York, is looking at a civil investigation. Cy Vance, the Manhattan district attorney, is looking at a criminal investigation related to the Trump organization. Now that’s the only criminal investigation that we know of right now, but does that change? Who knows? So that’s an important asterisk.\n\nkara swisher\n\nThis is why the show is going to keep going. And it’s like Berlusconi in Italy, who’s back again.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI’ve heard that argument made. I think it could be made in a different direction. There’s so many unknowns.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYeah. So are you going to stop covering him? You’ve been talking and covering this guy for four years. What are you going to do?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI don’t think I’m going to stop covering him, but again, I don’t know what the bar for actual news coverage is going to look like going forward. We’ll see.\n\nkara swisher\n\nAre you exhausted, Maggie Haberman?\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nYes, I am always exhausted, but you know that.\n\nkara swisher\n\nI do, I do. But I think this is more exhausting than you can imagine.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI think this, as I said, this election has had a long tail. So I think everyone’s very tired, including his supporters.\n\nkara swisher\n\nYes, not Rudy Giuliani, though.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nNo, he’s never going to leave the show. And Donald Trump is never going to break with him. This is like — somebody said to me, why won’t he get rid of Rudy? They’ve been dealing with each other in one way or another since the ‘80s. He’s not going to suddenly get rid of him.\n\nkara swisher\n\nNo, they’re strapped to the mast together, till the end times.\n\nmaggie haberman\n\nI’m just going to let you roll with that.\n\nkara swisher\n\n[LAUGHS] OK, Maggie Haberman, thank you, and thank you for your coverage. I think that you get a lot of flack, but I think you’ve done an amazing job covering this really unusual moment in political history of the United States of America.\n\nmaggie haberman', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-maggie-haberman.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/16/opinion/15sway-haberman-image/15sway-haberman-image-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('7669ad09c4e54a65af70a40d1bcf9cff', 'Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues', '“We are grateful for this bipartisan agreement which will provide immediate relief across our industry and a lifeline to the future,” Charlotte St. Martin, the president of the Broadway League, the trade organization for producers and theater owners, said in a statement. “Our situation was critical and dire,” she said. But the leaders of some large nonprofit cultural organizations worried that the way the bill is structured — giving priority to organizations that lost very high percentages of their revenue before considering the rest — could put them at the back of the line for grants, since they typically get a significant portion of revenues through donations. ', 'Broadway theaters, which have been closed since March, applauded the relief package.\n\n“We are grateful for this bipartisan agreement which will provide immediate relief across our industry and a lifeline to the future,” Charlotte St. Martin, the president of the Broadway League, the trade organization for producers and theater owners, said in a statement.\n\nNataki Garrett, the artistic director for Oregon Shakespeare Festival, said that the aid would be crucial for nonprofit theaters. “Our situation was critical and dire,” she said.\n\nBut the leaders of some large nonprofit cultural organizations worried that the way the bill is structured — giving priority to organizations that lost very high percentages of their revenue before considering the rest — could put them at the back of the line for grants, since they typically get a significant portion of revenues through donations.\n\nWith the bill set to be approved in both chambers of Congress as early as Monday evening, arts groups around the nation were cautiously celebrating while studying the fine print to see what kind of aid they might qualify for. Most doubt the entertainment industry can fully swing back into action until well into next year, at the earliest.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/arts/covid-stimulus-theaters-venues.html', '2020-12-21 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/arts/21stimulusarts2/merlin_170606898_2db91f13-77ce-4e33-b0da-be0e2e18c0be-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('77b4ad87cfd24aba8f8cc05ca4420c36', 'A Race to Become the Tesla of Delivery Trucks and Vans', 'A business like Workhorse Group, which employs 130 people and had sales of less than $1 million in the first nine months of the year, would not normally attract much attention on Wall Street. For a time, investors poured money almost exclusively into Tesla, but that capital has spread to makers of commercial vehicles like Workhorse in anticipation of large orders from companies including Amazon and UPS, which are delivering more packages every year and have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. “We’ve had probably 180 one-on-one meetings this year with different funds and investors that want to hear our story,” Workhorse’s chief financial officer, Steve Schrader, said in a recent interview. ', 'A business like Workhorse Group, which employs 130 people and had sales of less than $1 million in the first nine months of the year, would not normally attract much attention on Wall Street.\n\nBut these are not normal times.\n\nWorkhorse is aiming to make electric delivery vans. Its stock has risen nearly sevenfold this year, and it is not alone. Several of its competitors started trading on the stock market this year and have seen their share prices rocket up.\n\nBecause of the success of Tesla and its electric cars, many investors have become convinced that electric vehicles are no fad, and that a real transition away from internal combustion engines is well underway. For a time, investors poured money almost exclusively into Tesla, but that capital has spread to makers of commercial vehicles like Workhorse in anticipation of large orders from companies including Amazon and UPS, which are delivering more packages every year and have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.\n\n“We’ve had probably 180 one-on-one meetings this year with different funds and investors that want to hear our story,” Workhorse’s chief financial officer, Steve Schrader, said in a recent interview. “Last year we had one analyst covering us. Now we have six. The phone’s ringing all the time.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/business/electric-delivery-vans-workhorse.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/18/us/00workhorse-01/00workhorse-01-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('79ba53e1aa58426ba3a959fc0b41cc07', 'Santa Tests Positive for Coronavirus After Photo Session With 50 Children', 'A Georgia couple who dressed up as Santa and Mrs. Claus for an outdoor photo session that was attended by about 50 children last week learned that they had tested positive for the coronavirus three days after the event, the county’s top elected official said on Tuesday. The couple wore masks during the event at a local pavilion, Mr. Parker said, but many of the children who posed for photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus did not have face coverings, including Mr. Parker’s two children. Mr. Parker said that the couple, county residents whose names have not been made public, developed symptoms of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, after the event and were tested on Saturday. ', 'A Georgia couple who dressed up as Santa and Mrs. Claus for an outdoor photo session that was attended by about 50 children last week learned that they had tested positive for the coronavirus three days after the event, the county’s top elected official said on Tuesday.\n\nThe event was on Thursday and was part of an annual Christmas parade and tree-lighting ceremony in Ludowici, Ga., about 235 miles southeast of Atlanta, said Robert D. Parker, the chairman of the Long County board of commissioners.\n\nThe couple wore masks during the event at a local pavilion, Mr. Parker said, but many of the children who posed for photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus did not have face coverings, including Mr. Parker’s two children. Mr. Parker said that his children had not sat on Santa’s lap, but that he did not know whether any of the other children had done so.\n\nMr. Parker said that the couple, county residents whose names have not been made public, developed symptoms of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, after the event and were tested on Saturday. The couple notified county officials on Sunday that they had tested positive for the virus, he said.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/us/georgia-santa-covid.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/lens/15xp-santacovid-photo/15xp-santacovid-photo-facebookJumbo.png', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('7cf3717f382c44bab8db4d75db09fe19', 'Stimulus Deal Q&A: Second Check, Unemployment Insurance and More', 'This $100 weekly payment would be added to the $300 weekly federal benefit, and would also end on March 14. If your benefits have already run out, experts said to check your state’s website for further instruction about whether you’ll be required to do anything to receive the extra 11 weeks of aid. Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have been overpaid by the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, in large part because of administrative errors that occurred while trying to quickly push benefits out using a new program. ', 'Let’s say a person earned most income through larger freelance jobs from movies, but took lower-paying jobs at restaurants in between. Such a worker would qualify for lower, state-level benefits based on the restaurant work.\n\nThis $100 weekly payment would be added to the $300 weekly federal benefit, and would also end on March 14. The benefit will begin only after your state reaches an agreement with the Labor Department.\n\nHow long will I have to wait for benefits?\n\nIf your benefits have already run out, experts said to check your state’s website for further instruction about whether you’ll be required to do anything to receive the extra 11 weeks of aid. The states will probably reinstate them automatically, but expect to wait at least a few weeks.\n\n“You may have to wait through part of January to get access to benefits that stopped at the end of December,” said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst for social insurance at the National Employment Law Project. “If Congress passes relief, it has historically been structured so that your benefits are restored beginning the date of enactment. So there shouldn’t be a gap in your eligibility if that happens, just a gap in when you get paid.”\n\nWhat if my unemployment agency says I’ve been paid too much?\n\nHundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have been overpaid by the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, in large part because of administrative errors that occurred while trying to quickly push benefits out using a new program. Federal guidance changed three times, experts said, and mistakes were inevitable. Some people were overpaid thousands — maybe even tens of thousands — of dollars.\n\nThe problem now: Even when the state is at fault for overpayment, the recipient is still generally responsible. And states often collect what’s owed by automatically withholding a portion of a person’s benefit.\n\nThe latest legislation would fix that by giving states the discretion to waive the overpayments when honest mistakes were made that could be painful for the claimant to repay, Ms. Evermore said.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/article/stimulus-deal-update.html', NULL, 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/19/business/00stimulus-faq/00stimulus-faq-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('7e8dd4b3b03b46f7ba70312e283d7bcd', 'The Crossword, Tiles and More', 'A Guide by DEB AMLEN With patience and practice anyone can learn to solve crosswords. Read More ', 'How to Solve\n\nThe New York Times Crossword\n\nA Guide by DEB AMLEN\n\nWith patience and practice anyone can learn to solve crosswords. Read More', 'https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords', NULL, 'https://static01.nyt.com/packages/other/crossword/fb-og/yellow.png', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('7f9132bdc3a6445c8e8cf423a5950866', 'Bronx Nursing Home Residents Get Their First Shots', 'Nursing Home Residents Get First Shot of Vaccine James Estrin Reporting from the Bronx Harriet Krakowsky, 85, had two great-grandchildren born this year but has not yet seen them in person. “My goal is to live long enough to meet them,” she told me. ', 'Nursing Home Residents Get First Shot of Vaccine James Estrin Reporting from the Bronx\n\nJames Estrin/The New York Times\n\nHarriet Krakowsky, 85, had two great-grandchildren born this year but has not yet seen them in person. “My goal is to live long enough to meet them,” she told me.\n\nOn Monday, she was one of the first people in her nursing home to receive the coronavirus vaccine. ?', 'https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/22/nyregion/covid-vaccine-bronx.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/21/nyregion/21nursinghomeburst11/21nursinghomeburst11-facebookJumbo-v3.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('8cdff80631b440e4841b893e7625a5bb', 'I Can’t Stop Watching Coronavirus Vaccine Videos', 'Cable news segments about the vaccine almost all show footage of the vaccine being moved around the country with granular logistical details about the rollout, all of which seem to underscore that, yes, this is happening. “It’s all very well saying that a laptop is amazing but I’m actually showing that laptop, and as a result I can be trusted a bit more,” the YouTuber behind the gadget reviewing account, Geek Street said in a 2018 interview about the unboxing phenomenon. As Ms. Silcoff wrote in 2014, “these videos seem to come from a more snake-brained place.” Describing her own journey down the unboxing rabbit hole, she suggested that “the root of these videos’ gargantuan success could lie solely in the fact that it feels good to take the plastic off something unused.” ', 'News organizations understand all this instinctively. Cable news segments about the vaccine almost all show footage of the vaccine being moved around the country with granular logistical details about the rollout, all of which seem to underscore that, yes, this is happening. Local news channels have their own spin on unboxing videos. “Vaccine delivery unboxing at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center,” is the title of one video by the Portland Press Herald. There are other clips from Iowa, Minnesota and my home state of Montana.\n\nThere’s likely another motivation behind the footage — one intended for those skeptical of or hesitant to take the vaccine. Those who’ve investigated the allure of unboxing videos argue that they appeal to consumers who might be wary of a new product. When an influencer unboxes a gadget or toy or new cosmetic, they are (often, quite literally) tearing through the company’s marketing gloss to reveal the real product. “It’s all very well saying that a laptop is amazing but I’m actually showing that laptop, and as a result I can be trusted a bit more,” the YouTuber behind the gadget reviewing account, Geek Street said in a 2018 interview about the unboxing phenomenon. Google, which owns YouTube, reported in 2014 that “62 percent of people who view unboxing videos do so when researching a particular product” to buy.\n\nIf unboxing videos are a Consumer Reports-esque way of building trust, then it makes sense that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo staged his own unboxing video of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine earlier this month. For six minutes he channeled his inner YouTuber pulling apart and explaining the GPS tracking device and thermal monitors that help keep tabs on each package. He took out individual vials to show how each box can hold roughly 5,000 doses. The entire spectacle was intended “just to show you how real it is,” he said.\n\nBut for those of us eager to get stabbed and safely join the immunity herd, there’s no marketing happening, here. As Ms. Silcoff wrote in 2014, “these videos seem to come from a more snake-brained place.” Describing her own journey down the unboxing rabbit hole, she suggested that “the root of these videos’ gargantuan success could lie solely in the fact that it feels good to take the plastic off something unused.”\n\nBut just because it tickles the lizard brain doesn’t mean there isn’t something deeper, too. Watching the vaccine show up at hospitals or end its journey via rapid deposit into a fleshy patch of upper arm, I feel hope for the first time in a while. Unboxing, at its most elemental, has a hopeful quality to it. It’s exciting, new and full of possibility. Watching the beginning of the end of the pandemic, I am, for the first time, allowing myself to imagine those possibilities — and how good it will feel when we can finally take the plastic off our lives.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/opinion/coronavirus-vaccine-videos.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/autossell/vax-loop-thumb/vax-loop-thumb-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('8da62d8dd66a4a9d94f79059bb9eb39d', 'So Jeffrey Toobin Had a Zoom Incident. What Now?', 'In August, his eighth book, “True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump,” about Robert Mueller’s inquiry into election meddling, was published, getting positive reviews and a brief berth on the New York Times best-seller list. Then in a matter of minutes, Mr. Toobin, 60, committed the act that would make him subject, not observer, of scandal, investigation and commentary. While working on a podcast about the presidential election for WNYC and The New Yorker with some of the magazine’s other well-known journalists, including Jane Mayer and Masha Gessen, he was seen lowering and raising his computer camera, exposing and touching his penis, and motioning an air kiss to someone other than his colleagues, Mx. ', 'Until Jeffrey Toobin’s fateful appointment with Zoom on Oct. 15, his quarantine was going better than most people’s.\n\nIn August, his eighth book, “True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump,” about Robert Mueller’s inquiry into election meddling, was published, getting positive reviews and a brief berth on the New York Times best-seller list. His third, about the Monica Lewinsky scandal, is being filmed by Ryan Murphy for a limited series on FX.\n\nAnd over on HBO, he was about to appear as himself on the whodunit “The Undoing,” delivering commentary on the murder trial that shapes the story’s arc.\n\nThen in a matter of minutes, Mr. Toobin, 60, committed the act that would make him subject, not observer, of scandal, investigation and commentary. While working on a podcast about the presidential election for WNYC and The New Yorker with some of the magazine’s other well-known journalists, including Jane Mayer and Masha Gessen, he was seen lowering and raising his computer camera, exposing and touching his penis, and motioning an air kiss to someone other than his colleagues, Mx. Gessen said. The magazine suspended Mr. Toobin that day and executives began an investigation.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/style/jeffrey-toobin-zoom.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/17/fashion/00toobin-topart/00toobin-topart-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('8f5df456139d4b56bc7711b897673615', 'After Bars and Beaches, Gibbons Await a New Home in Thailand', 'Hers is a rare success story. Named Cop, after a police officer who aided in her rescue, she is part of a small colony of gibbons rescued, rehabilitated and released into Phuket’s largest remaining forest by the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project, a nonprofit group that rescues gibbons in Thailand. “Some have grandchildren now.” ', 'KHAO PHRA THAEO WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, Thailand — The white-handed gibbon, captured as an infant by poachers, was rescued from a grim life amusing inebriated visitors in tourist bars, then spent eight years in a cage at a rehabilitation center.\n\nNow, this survivor of abuse and trauma lives in the jungle on Thailand’s Phuket island, where she was recently seen perched on a tree branch 50 feet above ground as her wild-born mate and their two offspring watched warily from nearby trees.\n\nHers is a rare success story.\n\nNamed Cop, after a police officer who aided in her rescue, she is part of a small colony of gibbons rescued, rehabilitated and released into Phuket’s largest remaining forest by the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project, a nonprofit group that rescues gibbons in Thailand.\n\n“We now have 35 in the forest at Phuket, including those born in the wild,” said Thanaphat Payakkaporn, general secretary of the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand, which runs the gibbon project. “Some have grandchildren now.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/world/asia/gibbons-thailand-forest.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/22/world/22Thailand-gibbons-top/22Thailand-gibbons-top-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');
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('924f09d4e6894fcba8f03b90832dddd3', 'We Know How to Curb the Pandemic. How Do We Make People Listen?', 'Robert Cialdini, then a professor of marketing and psychology at Arizona State University, and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments to explore how hotels could get more visitors to reuse their towels, thereby conserving resources (and boosting a hotel’s bottom line). But the researchers wondered whether learning that lots of other people reused their towels would prove even more motivational. To find out, they had the hotel leave the usual sign on the washroom towel racks of one group of rooms — the sign emphasized that reusing towels was environmentally friendly — and gave another group of rooms signs with the additional information that “almost 75% of guests who are asked to participate in our new resource savings program do help.” This second group turned out to be more than 25 percent more likely to reuse their towels. ', 'At this point, we have all the scientific information we need in order to prevent the surgings of the coronavirus: Avoid gathering indoors with people from outside your household, keep physically apart from others, wear a mask, wash your hands often. Among those who can follow these precautions — a lot of people, as policymakers should recognize, can’t afford to — too many are still disregarding public health advice. A recent report by researchers from Northeastern University and elsewhere found that the number of Americans heeding most recommendations has dropped steadily since April. (Mask-wearing, which has increased, was an exception.)\n\nThis is a problem that societies have wrestled with for centuries: How do you persuade people to do things that are beneficial to the community, like social distancing — or crucially, being vaccinated when the time comes — if such actions don’t immediately benefit those who take them or even put them at a disadvantage in some way? As it turns out, research suggests that we are more likely to engage in “prosocial behavior” if we think lots of others are doing so, too. But that creates an obvious conundrum: How can you persuade more people to adopt a new behavior if, to do so, it needs to already seem ubiquitous?\n\nIn 2008, The Journal of Consumer Research published what has become a classic study that showed how describing “social norms” to people — that is, telling them what a majority of others are doing — can encourage prosocial behavior. Robert Cialdini, then a professor of marketing and psychology at Arizona State University, and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments to explore how hotels could get more visitors to reuse their towels, thereby conserving resources (and boosting a hotel’s bottom line). Typically, washroom signs informed guests that the reuse of towels would help protect the environment. But the researchers wondered whether learning that lots of other people reused their towels would prove even more motivational.\n\nTo find out, they had the hotel leave the usual sign on the washroom towel racks of one group of rooms — the sign emphasized that reusing towels was environmentally friendly — and gave another group of rooms signs with the additional information that “almost 75% of guests who are asked to participate in our new resource savings program do help.” This second group turned out to be more than 25 percent more likely to reuse their towels. “Seeing what many others are doing lends itself to imitation,” Cialdini says. “We think that gives us a clue to what is the most valid response, what is the objectively correct thing to do.”', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/10/magazine/covid-research-behavior-.html', '2020-12-10 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/13/magazine/13mag-studiesshow/13mag-studiesshow-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('92999704f6fd44c8813af3420d22e454', 'In Sweden, Coronavirus Infections and Calls for a Lockdown Are Rising', 'Now, a second wave has brought a new surge in infections and Stockholm’s emergency services are overrun, forcing the authorities to recalibrate their approach. But with ski lifts, restaurants and bars all remaining open, Sweden’s tougher restrictions still pale in comparison to the rest of Europe and there are mounting concerns that not enough is being done. Intensive care beds in hospitals in the Stockholm region are all currently occupied, regional health director Bjorn Eriksson said at a news conference on Tuesday. ', 'Sweden has been an outlier in the global pandemic: It eschewed lockdowns and kept restaurants, bars, schools, movie theaters and gyms mostly open. And while death rates were high compared to its Nordic neighbors, they were comparable to those of larger European countries.\n\nNow, a second wave has brought a new surge in infections and Stockholm’s emergency services are overrun, forcing the authorities to recalibrate their approach. They imposed new restrictions at the end of November that bring the country’s response somewhat more in line with the rest of Europe. They include drastic cutbacks on the size of public gatherings and some school closures.\n\nBut with ski lifts, restaurants and bars all remaining open, Sweden’s tougher restrictions still pale in comparison to the rest of Europe and there are mounting concerns that not enough is being done. Intensive care beds in hospitals in the Stockholm region are all currently occupied, regional health director Bjorn Eriksson said at a news conference on Tuesday.\n\n“We are far beyond 100 percent of capacity in intensive care. We are approaching almost double the number of available spaces,” he said.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/world/europe/sweden-coronavirus-restrictions.html', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/world/15virus-sweden1/15virus-sweden1-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('9557f94bdc0f45fe9d918aecedf1b5e1', 'Alzheimer\'s Researchers Study a Rare Brain', 'Aliria’s daughter Rocío Villegas-Piedrahita said that her mother was aware that her brain would be donated to science, “and she was fine with it. The brain bank at the University of Antioquia is staffed by medical faculty, residents and students, who communicate by WhatsApp messages and must be ready to move upon news of a death. On the morning of Nov. 10, Dr. Andrés Villegas, the director of the brain bank, solemnly shared news of Aliria’s death with his colleagues. ', 'No one expected to have this brain so soon, and Aliria would likely have lived much longer if not for her cancer. Aliria’s daughter Rocío Villegas-Piedrahita said that her mother was aware that her brain would be donated to science, “and she was fine with it. We even joked that it was the ‘golden brain.’”\n\nMs. Villegas-Piedrahita said it seemed to her that Alzheimer’s research — drug research, especially — had stagnated. “The death of my mom, as sad as it is for us, may have opened many doors,” she said. Her older sister, Magaly Villegas-Piedrahita, agreed: “We’re not selfish. We wanted to donate this brain. We just hope the field can advance.”\n\n‘This is a historic moment’\n\nThe brain bank at the University of Antioquia is staffed by medical faculty, residents and students, who communicate by WhatsApp messages and must be ready to move upon news of a death. Brain tissue deteriorates quickly, and samples must be fixed in preservative or frozen within a few hours to be useful.\n\nOn the morning of Nov. 10, Dr. Andrés Villegas, the director of the brain bank, solemnly shared news of Aliria’s death with his colleagues. “This is a historic moment,” he wrote. The team had not worked with the brain of an extreme outlier before, and it was unclear to Dr. Villegas whether other researchers had, either. But Dr. Villegas said he was also saddened. Many in the research group had come to regard Aliria as a friend, and her death from cancer had been painful and premature.\n\nHis colleague Dr. David Aguillon, in the meantime, took a taxi to extend condolences to Aliria’s family and receive their final consent papers. Dr. Aguillon had cared for Aliria in recent years and accompanied her on study visits to Boston. During their last trip, in April 2019, when Aliria was still recovering from a knee surgery, he had pushed her all around the cold and rainy city in a wheelchair, a memory she cherished for what remained of her life.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/science/alzheimers-genetics-brain-autopsy.html', '2020-12-11 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/14/science/14SCI-AUTOPSY1/14SCI-AUTOPSY1-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('95f647db4fb843a0a74b6b4dc221b1c7', '16 Delightful Cooking Projects to Brighten Up the Holidays', 'Kay Chun whittles down what is typically a three-day process to just one. Her technique to ensure a crisp, crackly crust starts with loosening the skin on the duck, dousing it with boiling water to tighten, seasoning it with a honey and five-spice glaze, and air-drying overnight. Roast your duck set over a beer can for best results, then serve with hoisin sauce, scallions, cucumbers and tortillas — or homemade Mandarin pancakes, if you want to go the extra mile. ', 'This cooking project brings a serious wow factor, thanks to this duck’s beautifully shellacked, intensely garnet skin. Kay Chun whittles down what is typically a three-day process to just one. Her technique to ensure a crisp, crackly crust starts with loosening the skin on the duck, dousing it with boiling water to tighten, seasoning it with a honey and five-spice glaze, and air-drying overnight. Roast your duck set over a beer can for best results, then serve with hoisin sauce, scallions, cucumbers and tortillas — or homemade Mandarin pancakes, if you want to go the extra mile.\n\nRecipe: Peking Duck With Honey and Five-Spice Glaze', 'https://www.nytimes.com/article/cooking-projects.html', NULL, 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/11/27/dining/ss-peppermint-cookies/ss-peppermint-cookies-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('996f620f854144369330e12bf91f8558', 'They’re Young, Unemployed and Facing Bleak Prospects', 'Fresh out of high school, he was hired as a sales associate in Midtown Manhattan at Journeys and then at Zumiez, two fashion stores popular with young shoppers. New York City has been hit harder by the economic crisis set off by the pandemic than most other major American cities. By September, 19 percent of adults under 25 in the city had lost jobs compared with 14 percent of all workers, according to James Parrott, the director of economic and fiscal policy at the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School. ', 'Young and eager, Harry Rosado never had trouble finding a job.\n\nFresh out of high school, he was hired as a sales associate in Midtown Manhattan at Journeys and then at Zumiez, two fashion stores popular with young shoppers. He moved on to Uncle Jack’s Meat House in Queens, where he earned up to $300 a week as a busboy.\n\nThen Mr. Rosado, 23, was laid off in March when the steakhouse shut down because of the pandemic. He was called back after the steakhouse reopened, but business was slow. In August, he was out of work again.\n\nNew York City has been hit harder by the economic crisis set off by the pandemic than most other major American cities.\n\nBut no age group has had it worse than young workers. By September, 19 percent of adults under 25 in the city had lost jobs compared with 14 percent of all workers, according to James Parrott, the director of economic and fiscal policy at the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/nyregion/nyc-unemployed-young-workers.html', '2020-12-22 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/18/nyregion/00nyvirus-youngunemployed/00nyvirus-youngunemployed-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb'),
('9a7e8a45f9f24e2ba9b4d6aee8ad7334', 'Tom Cruise Erupts at ‘Mission: Impossible’ Crew Over Covid-19 Breach', 'The actor Tom Cruise recently erupted at crew members on the set of “Mission: Impossible 7” over a breach of Covid-19 protocols in an apparent effort to prevent further disruptions to a film whose production has already been delayed by the pandemic. And if you don’t do it, you’re fired!” Mr. Cruise apparently became enraged after spotting two crew members standing together at a computer screen, in violation of an on-set rule requiring people to stand about six feet apart, The Sun reported. ', 'The actor Tom Cruise recently erupted at crew members on the set of “Mission: Impossible 7” over a breach of Covid-19 protocols in an apparent effort to prevent further disruptions to a film whose production has already been delayed by the pandemic.\n\n“We are creating thousands of jobs,” Mr. Cruise, the star of the film, can be heard saying in a leaked audio clip that is littered with expletives. “I don’t ever want to see it again! Ever! And if you don’t do it, you’re fired!”\n\nThe recording was published on Tuesday by The Sun, a British tabloid, and its authenticity was confirmed by two sources close to the film. One source said that Mr. Cruise had been speaking to members of the “Mission: Impossible 7” crew about a breach in Covid-19 protocols on the set in London, and that further details were not immediately available.\n\nMr. Cruise apparently became enraged after spotting two crew members standing together at a computer screen, in violation of an on-set rule requiring people to stand about six feet apart, The Sun reported.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/movies/tom-cruise-covid.html', '2020-12-16 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/16/world/16xp-virus-cruise/16xp-virus-cruise-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');
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('9c444425dda6443391bee9f4c485e271', 'U.S. and Pfizer Discuss Deal for Tens of Millions More Vaccine Doses', 'Despite the start of vaccinations, deaths and disruptions in the United States are likely to persist for months, since virus cases have soared across the country and the vast majority of Americans will not be eligible for vaccinations until this spring or later. Credit... Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press A handful of states are getting an early start on vaccinating some of their most vulnerable citizens, beginning with West Virginia, which began inoculating residents and staff at long-term care facilities on Tuesday, nearly a week before the majority of nursing homes around the United States are scheduled to get started. “I know you’ve seen the weather report,” General Perna said, noting that the storm “could be a problem.” He continued, “My responsibility to deliver safe and effective vaccines means get ahead of that problem.” About 600 sites, many of them hospitals, were scheduled to receive the vaccine this week, nearly three million doses in all. ', 'Covid-19: U.S. and Pfizer Discuss Deal for Tens of Millions More Vaccine Doses Next Year California orders more body bags and mobile morgues as deaths surge. The F.D.A. is likely to approve the Moderna vaccine this week. A snowstorm in the Northeast threatens to snarl vaccine deliveries. This briefing has ended. Follow our latest coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nU.S. and Pfizer are negotiating a deal for more vaccine doses next year. Boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine were prepared for shipping at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant in Michigan on Sunday. Credit... Pool photo by Morry Gash The Trump administration is negotiating a deal to use its power to free up supplies of raw materials to help Pfizer produce tens of millions of additional doses of its Covid-19 vaccine for Americans in the first half of next year, people familiar with the situation said. Should an agreement be struck, it could at least partially remedy a looming shortage that the administration itself arguably helped create by not pre-ordering more doses of the vaccine Pfizer developed with its German partner, BioNTech. Pfizer agreed this summer to provide the United States with 100 million doses by the end of March, enough to inoculate 50 million people since its vaccine requires two shots. The Pfizer vaccine is one of only two that so far have been proven to work. The administration has locked in only enough doses of the two vaccines — the other, produced by Moderna, is on track to receive emergency authorization from the F.D.A. this week — to cover 150 million people by the end of June, or less than half the nation. The administration recently asked Pfizer to sell it enough doses to cover an additional 50 million Americans, but Pfizer said it had already found customers around the world for all the doses it can produce until around the middle of next year. In recent days, however, Pfizer has indicated that it would be able to manufacture more doses if the administration orders the company’s suppliers to prioritize its purchase requests. The two sides are now negotiating a contract under which Pfizer would provide tens of millions more doses between April and the end of June. According to one person familiar with the situation, Pfizer asked for that favored status with suppliers months ago. But before it was clear which vaccine trials would succeed, Trump administration officials were apparently worried about hindering other vaccine makers that had accepted billions of dollars in federal subsidies. Federal officials worked to prioritize orders for manufacturing supplies from those firms, including Moderna. It is unclear whether the government’s concerns about squeezing the supply chain have now faded, or whether its interest in securing more of Pfizer’s vaccine has simply grown. Pfizer announced in November that clinical trials had shown that its vaccine was about 95 percent effective, and the firm was the first to win approval from the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use of its vaccine. After the company signed a contract last July pledging to sell the United States 100 million doses by the end of March, Pfizer officials suggested at least twice that the Trump administration reserve more doses, but were turned down, according to people familiar with the situation. Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, told “PBS News Hour” on Monday that in early October, the government resumed negotiations with Pfizer about delivering more doses. But he said Pfizer “resisted giving us any date by which they would do it.” Moderna, a small Massachusetts-based firm that developed a similar vaccine, agreed last summer to provide the United States with 100 million doses by the end of March. It has now pledged to sell another 100 million doses by the end of June. Sharon LaFraniere, Katie Thomas and\n\nWith more body bags and mobile morgues, California braces for grim days ahead. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 1:18 - 0:00 transcript ‘We Are Not at the Finish Line,’ Newsom Says Despite Virus Vaccine Gov. Gavin Newsom of California heralded the arrival of the coronavirus vaccine in his state, but he underscored the danger the state faces in the next few weeks. We’re finally seeing the vaccine being utilized. We’re finally seeing those we value the most — we’ve celebrated since the beginning of this pandemic — get that support. Those emergency room docs and nurses, folks there on the front lines of this pandemic, and have been from the beginning, that are weary, worn out, worn thin. I was having these conversations about some of the work we’re doing, our mutual aid for morgues and working with coroners just a couple of days ago. And some hesitated to want to share that publicly. But I think I have an obligation to share publicly what we are doing on this issue. Here’s the numbers: 163 people we’ve lost on an average, every single day — 142 yesterday. We just had to order 5,000 additional body bags. They just purchased for the state. And we just distributed them down to San Diego, Los Angeles, Inyo counties. That should be sobering. I don’t say that, you know, I don’t want people to run with that. I don’t want people to scare folks. But, but this is a deadly disease, and we need to be mindful of where we are in this current journey together to the vaccine. We are not at the finish line yet. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California heralded the arrival of the coronavirus vaccine in his state, but he underscored the danger the state faces in the next few weeks. Credit Credit... Pool photo by Jae Hong With spiking coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths all shattering records in recent weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said the state was preparing for bleak days to come: The state has ordered an extra 5,000 body bags, activated a mutual aid network for morgues and coroner’s offices, and stationed 60 refrigerated storage units in counties around the state to handle remains. The governor heralded the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccine in his state as the starting gun for a final sprint to the end of the pandemic, but he underscored the danger the nation’s most populous state faces in the next few weeks. The governor said he didn’t want the news of those preparations to cause panic, “but I think I have an obligation to share it.” Over the past week, he said, California has reported an average of 163 deaths a day from Covid-19 — four times the average daily toll of a month ago. And the outlook is worsening. Despite the start of vaccinations, deaths and disruptions in the United States are likely to persist for months, since virus cases have soared across the country and the vast majority of Americans will not be eligible for vaccinations until this spring or later. Even as applause rang out at hospitals as the vaccines arrived, many intensive care units remained near capacity and more than 110,000 Covid-19 patients are hospitalized, a record. The 201,600 new coronavirus cases reported across the United States on Tuesday represented a fall of about 18,000 from last Tuesday’s figure. But the seven-day average for new deaths — nearly 2,500 — has been creeping up and is larger than what was reported during a spring surge. Total deaths in the United States have also surpassed 300,000, the largest toll of any country in the world. More than 10 percent of coronavirus tests in California over the past two weeks have come back positive, the highest rate since April, when testing was not widespread. More than 260,000 people are now being tested for the virus in California on an average day. Vaccination will soon allow the thousands of frontline health care workers to escape the stress hanging over every interaction with their loved ones, Mr. Newsom said, and those workers will have a crucial role to play as hospitals continue to fill. “These are the folks we’re going to count on the most,” he said. Across the country in New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has warned of another shutdown if hospitalizations continue to accelerate, and Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City echoed concerns about a worsening situation at a news conference on Tuesday. The mayor said that the virus data was “going in the wrong direction” and a shutdown after Christmas — similar to what the city experienced in the spring — would help curb the spread. However, only Mr. Cuomo, not the mayor, has the power to impose a shutdown. Statewide, hospitalizations were at 5,982, the state reported on Tuesday. “With some good luck and hard work and the vaccine starting to help us, we could be out of that in a matter of weeks,” Mr. de Blasio said. In New York City, 40,950 doses are expected to be available at 42 hospitals, he said. After the first batch of vaccines arrived in the city, which was once the epicenter of the pandemic, 73 health care workers have already received their first dose, he said. On Monday, Mr. Cuomo said about 10,000 vaccine doses were to be administered throughout the day in hospital systems across the state. Mr. de Blasio, who was still “feeling the glow from yesterday,” expressed his excitement for the vaccine’s long-awaited arrival. “It was really good to see that sense that we could actually have a positive moment together,” he said. “Didn’t matter which state you came from or what party you’re in, people were just working together.” Jill Cowan and\n\nAdvertisement Continue reading the main story\n\nA day after vaccination, these early recipients felt little more than a sore arm. Fernando Pires, who received a COVID-19 vaccination on Monday at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I., reported some soreness the day after. Credit... Cody O\'Loughlin for The New York Times The swamped intensive care units and emergency departments at many American hospitals have little flexibility these days for employees to be out sick. So it came as a relief that some of the hundreds of frontline health care workers who received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine Monday were able to return to work the next day with just a bit of soreness at the injection site. In interviews Tuesday, six vaccinated frontline workers said they had no significant side effects. Fernando Pires, a 60-year-old maintenance worker who cleans rooms in the emergency department at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, said he was not feeling anything other than a lot of pain in his arm. It was a small annoyance, he said, considering the peace of mind the vaccine gave him after months of coming to work despite being at risk himself, as someone with diabetes and asthma. When his boss called him to ask if he wanted to be in the first round of vaccine recipients, Mr. Pires said, “I didn’t even think twice.” At Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, Dr. Mercy Dickson, a 35-year-old emergency medicine resident, said she was feeling good, even after working night shifts before and after receiving the vaccine. “I have a little bit of soreness on my right arm where I got the shot,” she said. “But otherwise, I feel as I felt before.” After months spent alongside Covid-19 patients who struggled to breathe, were isolated from family members, and died from the virus, Dr. Dickson said the vaccine was a first step for her toward healing. And as a Black doctor, she said, she especially hopes it will make a dent in the disproportionately deadly toll the virus has taken on Black Americans. “Hopefully, someone sees me — someone who looks like them — and is encouraged to get their own vaccine, and we are able to change positively the trajectory of people’s lives and minimize the suffering and pain that families have to go through,” she said. Luciana Thornton, a pharmacist at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis in Wichita, Kan., said she was surprised by how good she felt the day after receiving her shot, given what she had read about the vaccine’s potential side effects. “Some people have fever or chills, and I have had none of that,” she said. “A lot of people I’ve talked to feel pretty good. Some people have had headaches. I feel a lot better than I expected to.”\n\nNursing homes in four states are getting an early start vaccinating residents. A nursing home resident in Miami got a drive-by visit from a friend in July. Credit... Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press A handful of states are getting an early start on vaccinating some of their most vulnerable citizens, beginning with West Virginia, which began inoculating residents and staff at long-term care facilities on Tuesday, nearly a week before the majority of nursing homes around the United States are scheduled to get started. The state expects to have 48 of its 214 facilities fully vaccinated by Friday, according to Marty Wright, chief executive of the West Virginia Health Care Association. Most of the country’s nursing homes will not begin vaccinations until Monday, when a major drive run by CVS and Walgreens will get underway in earnest. West Virginia is instead using local pharmacies. West Virginia is one of four states — along with Florida, Ohio and Connecticut — that are getting an earlier start. “We chose to not go along that time frame — to begin immediately, using the local pharmacies,” Mr. Wright said. Covid-19 has ravaged the country’s nursing homes, despite an array of safety measures and bans on visitors, put in place months ago to slow the devastation. Deaths of residents of long-term care facilities have swelled to account for almost 40 percent of the country’s death toll, now over 300,000. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a “strike force” that will distribute 21,450 doses this week at nursing homes in two counties, in advance of the pharmacy chains’ campaign next week. The strike force vaccinations are set to begin Wednesday or Thursday, according to Margarita Hall, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County. Ohio expects to begin on Friday, with between five and 10 institutions giving shots that day, Gov. Michael DeWine announced. He said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had selected Ohio to start early. Complicating the process at long-term care facilities is the need to obtain written consent for vaccination. “When you have residents, many of whom are not capable of consent, you have find their guardian, their family, somebody else to consent for them,” said Peter Van Runkle, executive director of the Ohio Health Care Association, an organization of some 1,100 long-term care facilities. “That is challenging.” There is also some hesitancy about the vaccine among both residents and staff members, he noted. Facilities in Ohio have so far not made vaccination mandatory; rather, administrators are hoping that briefings and educational materials will persuade most people to take the shot. Mr. Van Runkle said it would probably take until early March to get all 200,000 to 300,000 people who either live or work in Ohio’s long-term care facilities inoculated. In Florida, industry experts said that about 75 percent of nursing home employees had agreed to receive the vaccine. Neil MacFarquhar, Frances Robles and\n\nAdvertisement Continue reading the main story\n\nThe F.D.A. is likely to approve emergency use of the Moderna vaccine this week. Moderna’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. The company has said that its vaccine is 94.1 percent effective. Credit... Cody O\'Loughlin for The New York Times The coronavirus vaccine made by Moderna is highly protective for adults and prevents severe cases of Covid-19, according to data released on Tuesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Based on the encouraging findings, the agency intends to grant emergency authorization for use of the vaccine on Friday, people familiar with the F.D.A.’s plans said. The decision would give millions of Americans access to a second coronavirus vaccine beginning as early as next week. The review by the F.D.A. confirms Moderna’s earlier assessment that its vaccine had an efficacy rate of 94.1 percent in a trial of 30,000 people. Side effects, including fever, headache and fatigue, were unpleasant but not dangerous, the agency found. The success of Moderna’s vaccine has become all the more crucial to fighting the pandemic as other vaccine efforts have faltered. The hopeful news arrives at a time of record-breaking numbers of new coronavirus cases in the United States, which are overwhelming hospitals, and of an ever-increasing total death toll, which reached a bleak milestone of 300,000 on Monday. The data release is the first step of a public review process that will include a daylong meeting on Thursday by an independent advisory panel of experts. They will hear from Moderna, F.D.A. scientists and the public before voting on whether to recommend authorization. The panel is expected to vote in favor, and the F.D.A. generally follows the experts’ recommendations. Distribution of about six million doses could then begin next week, significantly adding to the millions of doses already being shipped by Pfizer and BioNTech, the companies that developed the first coronavirus vaccine given emergency clearance last Friday. Health care workers received the first shots on Monday of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which has an efficacy rate of 95 percent. The rollout of vaccines has been highly anticipated, and is one of the most ambitious immunization campaigns ever conducted in the United States. The federal government signed deals last summer with Moderna and Pfizer to deliver a total of 200 million doses in the first quarter of 2021. Because both vaccines require two doses, those contracts guaranteed enough shots for 100 million people. Last week, the U.S. government announced that it had purchased another 100 million doses from Moderna for the second quarter, increasing the number of Americans who could be vaccinated to 150 million. But that still leaves the question of how and when the roughly 180 million other Americans will be covered. Noah Weiland, Denise Grady and\n\nA snowstorm in the Northeast threatens to snarl vaccine deliveries. Dallas White, a UPS driver, wheeled a shipment of Covid-19 vaccine into UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on Monday. Credit... Kristian Thacker for The New York Times A major winter storm is bearing down on the Northeast, from Virginia to New England, with the potential to snarl distribution of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the region. The storm is expected to bring strong winds, more than six inches of snow and blizzard conditions in many areas on Wednesday and Thursday, threatening to hamper highway travel and knock out power, according to the National Weather Service. Some places may get two feet of snow; others may get freezing rain. The same weather system is also producing snowfalls and slick conditions in parts of the Plains states on Tuesday as it moves eastward and gathers strength, the service said. Two giant rivals, UPS and FedEx, are working side by side to deliver the Covid-19 vaccine to vaccination sites from Pfizer’s plants in Michigan and Wisconsin. A spokesman for UPS, Matthew O’Connor, said the company had a team of meteorologists monitoring the weather around the clock. “We develop contingency plans based on weather forecasts and local conditions, enabling our employees to safely deliver what matters most,” Mr. O’Connor said in a statement. “Should roadways or airports be closed, we will observe all closures, and UPS will be ready to deliver as soon as it is safe.” He added that UPS’s new health care command center, set up at its air hub in Louisville, Ky., was keeping track of the Covid-19 vaccine shipments, which must be kept frozen and require special handling. The command center “can step in with contingency plans should it appear that a package may be delayed,” he said. Gen. Gustave F. Perna, who heads the operations of Operation Warp Speed, the federal vaccine distribution effort, told reporters on Monday that officials were ready to deal with any issues that could disrupt smooth deliveries, including wrong delivery addresses and truck or airplane accidents. “I know you’ve seen the weather report,” General Perna said, noting that the storm “could be a problem.” He continued, “My responsibility to deliver safe and effective vaccines means get ahead of that problem.” About 600 sites, many of them hospitals, were scheduled to receive the vaccine this week, nearly three million doses in all. Some 500,000 doses were delivered on Monday to 142 of the sites around the country. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference that vaccine delivery and administration would continue despite the weather. “There’s nothing about the storm at this point that should disrupt the supply of vaccine coming in,” he said. But the city will close virus testing sites run by the city’s Health and Hospitals system from 2 p.m. on Wednesday to noon on Thursday, said Deanne B. Criswell, the commissioner of emergency management. Restaurants have already been ordered by the city to close their roadway dining programs at 2 p.m. Wednesday. They were already grappling with the loss of indoor dining this week. The closure order is temporary, and officials said it could be lifted by Thursday night. But the major snowstorm, expected to sweep into the area on Wednesday afternoon, will pose a significant test for restaurant owners and of how the city’s now-permanent outdoor dining program can withstand severe winter weather. The city urges restaurants to remove the tops of their outdoor dining structures, but it will not require them to take those structures off the street. Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio and\n\nThe F.D.A. greenlights a new at-home virus test. Ellume’s test starts with a self-collected nasal swab, which is plugged into a cartridge and analyzed, and its data is transmitted to a smartphone via Bluetooth. Credit... Ellume, via Associated Press The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued an emergency authorization for the country’s first coronavirus test that can run from start to finish at home without the need for a prescription. People as young as 2 are cleared to use the test, which takes just 15 to 20 minutes to deliver a result. Unlike many similar products, which are only supposed to be used by people with symptoms of Covid-19, this test is authorized for people with or without symptoms. The test, developed by the Australian company Ellume, detects bits of coronavirus proteins called antigens. It’s slightly less accurate than gold standard laboratory tests designed to look for coronavirus genetic material using a technique called polymerase chain reaction, or P.C.R. But in a clinical study of nearly 200 people, Ellume’s product was able to detect 95 percent of the coronavirus infections found by P.C.R., regardless of whether the infected people felt sick. It also correctly identified 97 percent of the people who received negative laboratory test results. Like other antigen tests that have received the F.D.A.’s emergency stamp of approval, Ellume’s test performs best within the first few days after a person starts experiencing Covid symptoms. In people without symptoms, the product found only 91 percent of the coronavirus infections discovered by P.C.R. Dr. Valerie Fitzhugh, a pathologist at Rutgers University, noted that all of the study’s false positives occurred in the asymptomatic group. That “does make me a little nervous,” Dr. Fitzhugh said. False positives could send people into unnecessary periods of isolation or erode trust in testing. Ellume, which was awarded a $30 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, plans to manufacture and deliver about 20 million home tests to the U.S. within the first half of 2021. The tests are expected to cost about $30 or less. The test’s price tag — compared with some competitors that cost just $5 — and limited availability will likely restrict it from very frequent use. But a test that can ping back immediate results could allow someone to promptly begin their isolation and break the chain of transmission. People carrying the virus are thought to be most contagious in the few days before and after their symptoms start, if they experience symptoms at all. “I think this is hugely impactful, potentially,” Dr. Butler-Wu said. Ellume’s test starts with a self-collected nasal swab. Plugged into a cartridge, the sample is analyzed, then the data is pinged to a smartphone via Bluetooth. The results go to the person taking the test, and can be shared with health care providers, as well as public health authorities.\n\nAdvertisement Continue reading the main story\n\nTom Cruise erupts at the ‘Mission: Impossible’ crew over a breach of Covid-19 protocol. Tom Cruise, on the set of “Mission: Impossible 7” in Rome last month, took issue with crew members who broke coronavirus protocols. Credit... Riccardo Antimiani/EPA, via Shutterstock The actor Tom Cruise recently erupted at crew members on the set of “Mission: Impossible 7” over a breach of Covid-19 protocols. His expletive-laden rant was an apparent effort to prevent further disruptions to a film whose production has already been delayed by the pandemic. “We are creating thousands of jobs,” Mr. Cruise, the star of the film, can be heard saying in a leaked audio clip. “I don’t ever want to see it again! Ever! And if you don’t do it, you’re fired!” The recording was published on Tuesday by The Sun, a British tabloid, and its authenticity was confirmed by two sources close to the film. One source said that Mr. Cruise had been speaking to members of the “Mission: Impossible 7” crew about a breach in Covid-19 protocols on the set in London. Mr. Cruise apparently became enraged after spotting two crew members standing together at a computer screen, in violation of an on-set rule requiring people to stand about six feet apart, The Sun reported. Paramount Pictures declined to comment, and The Sun did not say when the recording of Mr. Cruise, 58, had been made. Reuters reported that the filmmakers for “Mission: Impossible 7” — the latest installment in the 24-year-old series — arrived in London earlier this month. In February, production on the film was shuttered in Venice, Italy, amid a raging coronavirus outbreak in that country, Reuters reported. Production resumed in September, and has since moved between Italy, Norway and Britain. Production was paused again in October after 12 crew members on a set in Italy tested positive for the virus, Variety reported. In the leaked clip, Mr. Cruise said he would not accept any apologies for what had happened on the set, an apparent reference to the breach in Covid-19 protocol. “You can tell it to the people that are losing their homes because our industry is shut down,” he said, adding an expletive. “It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education.”\n\nEven as vaccinations begin, officials across the U.S. impose new restrictions. The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston in July. Credit... Steven Senne/Associated Press Even as the first few days of mass vaccinations in the U.S. signaled what may be the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic, officials in hard-hit areas were nonetheless imposing new restrictions this week to try to curb outbreaks. In Boston, Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced the closure of museums, movie theaters and indoor fitness centers starting on Wednesday, among other measures. “Unfortunately, we are at the point where we need to take stronger action to control Covid-19 in Boston, and urgently, to ensure our health care workers have the capacity to care for everyone in need,” Mr. Walsh said in a statement. Several surrounding communities announced similar rules. A few days earlier, Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts had imposed other restrictions, including a 90-minute time limit on restaurant dining and fewer people per table. New restrictions took effect in Delaware on Monday, limiting the capacity of various businesses and imposing a 10 p.m. curfew on restaurants and bars. Gov. John Carney also extended the state’s mask mandate to apply whenever Delaware residents or visitors are indoors with anyone from outside their households. Winter sports competitions are banned through Jan. 11, and restaurants must post signs requiring that patrons at individual tables all be from the same household. In Virginia, new limits on social gatherings, a new curfew and a universal mask requirement took effect on Monday. With some exceptions, residents will be required to stay home from midnight until 5 a.m. Masks will be required outdoors when social distancing isn’t possible. The new restrictions come as the coronavirus continues to surge across the country. On Monday, the United States announced nearly 1,700 newly reported deaths and surpassed 300,000 total deaths for the pandemic. See Coronavirus Restrictions and Mask Mandates for All 50 States Many states are considering fresh restrictions on business and in some cases urging residents to stay home to stop the spread of the coronavirus.\n\nSanta tests positive for virus after a photo session with 50 children. A Georgia couple who dressed up as Santa and Mrs. Claus for an outdoor photo session that was attended by about 50 children last week tested positive for the coronavirus two days after the event. The event was on Thursday and was part of an annual Christmas parade and tree-lighting ceremony in Ludowici, Ga., about 235 miles southeast of Atlanta, said Robert D. Parker, the chairman of the Long County board of commissioners. The couple wore masks during the event at a pavilion, Mr. Parker said, but many of the children who posed for photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus did not have face coverings, including Mr. Parker’s two children. Mr. Parker said that the couple, county residents whose names have not been made public, developed symptoms of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, after the event and were tested on Saturday. The couple notified county officials on Sunday that they had tested positive for the virus, he said. “They’re good folks,” Mr. Parker said. “They would never knowingly put anybody in danger.”\n\nAdvertisement Continue reading the main story\n\nTop congressional leaders met to discuss a stimulus deal and a year-end spending bill before the deadline on Friday. Senator Chuck Schumer on his way to meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Representative Kevin McCarthy. They have agreed that any additional pandemic aid should be wrapped into the year-end spending measure Credit... Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times Congressional leaders scrambled on Tuesday to reach agreement on a stimulus bill and a catchall omnibus funding package to keep government funding flowing, meeting to try to hammer out critical spending deals ahead of a Friday deadline. Their talks broke up about 10 p.m. Tuesday, with lawmakers voicing some optimism as they left the Capitol. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said, “We’re making significant progress.” He added that he was encouraged that they were “going to be able to complete an understanding sometime soon.” As he left the Capitol, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, echoed Mr. McConnell’s optimism and said that “hopefully we can come to an agreement soon.” Discussions and staff work were expected to continue on Wednesday. The Tuesday meetings of the top two Republicans and Democrats in the House and the Senate were the first in-person spending talks in months for the leaders, with a final deal still elusive on both the dozen must-pass spending bills and hundreds of billions of dollars in economic aid for individuals and businesses struggling amid the pandemic, and to fund the distribution of a vaccine. They took place in the Capitol office suite of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, who hosted Mr. Schumer and the Republican leaders Mr. McConnell and Representative Kevin McCarthy of California. The group first met for a little under an hour to discuss how to resolve its differences before government funding is scheduled to lapse at week’s end, and reconvened later in the evening for a second session. Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, joined the first session by phone, after speaking separately with Ms. Pelosi for more than an hour. Mr. McCarthy, headed back to his office after the evening meeting, said that “we’re exchanging our papers.” He also offered a note of optimism for the chances of a deal. “We’re making significant progress,” Mr. McConnell said, “and I’m optimistic that we’re going to be able to complete an understanding sometime soon.” The four leaders have agreed that any additional pandemic aid should be wrapped into the year-end spending measure, and that Congress should not adjourn without approving some pandemic relief as Covid-19 cases continue to rise across the country and the government works to distribute the vaccine to essential workers and others. “We’re going to get an agreement as soon as we can agree,” Mr. McConnell told reporters after the first meeting. Aides involved in the discussion said they were nearing agreement on a catchall spending package, and the text could be released as early as Wednesday. But it remained unclear what congressional leaders would agree to for pandemic relief, as well as what additional legislative items may be merged with the broader spending package. Even if Congress were to pass a bill this week, it may not be in time to prevent millions of Americans from going weeks with no source of income, given that many state unemployment offices have already programmed their systems to cut off benefits after next week, when the current pandemic programs expire. Reinstating the benefits in those states will take time, especially because the plan being considered by Congress would make several technical changes to the programs, which the Labor Department must then incorporate into formal regulations, said Elizabeth Pancotti, a policy adviser for Employ America, an advocacy group. The Christmas and New Year’s holidays, when state offices are shut, will add further delays, she warned, though workers would eventually receive back pay for the weeks where their benefits lapsed. Emily Cochrane and\n\nglobal roundup A pilot is investigated in China after attending a wedding with hundreds, and other news from around the world. A subway train in Beijing on Monday. Even though China has largely contained the coronavirus, small clusters of cases have continued to surface in the country. Credit... Andy Wong/Associated Press The Chinese authorities on Tuesday were investigating a cargo pilot in a province in southwestern China who tested positive for the virus shortly after attending a 300-person wedding, just days after returning to the country from the United States. His case added to fears about an outbreak in the province, Sichuan, where a few dozen cases — most of them imported — have been registered in recent days. Even though China has largely contained the virus since it emerged in the central city of Wuhan last year, small clusters of cases have continued to surface in the country. And it is a stark reversal: Earlier this year, travelers from China were seen as posing a major risk of carrying the virus, but now, with the U.S. the center of the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, the tables have turned. It is unclear how the pilot, who was identified in Chinese news reports by his surname, Gao, had contracted the virus. Mr. Gao, 26, returned to the city of Chengdu from Los Angeles in late November and spent time in quarantine after testing negative for the virus, according to Chinese news media reports. The authorities have classified his case as an imported infection. As news of the case spread on Chinese social media sites, many people expressed anger over Mr. Gao’s decision to attend the wedding, which took place in the city of Jiangyou on Saturday, 13 days after his return from the United States. He tested positive on Monday, according to Chinese news reports. China has some of the strictest virus-control measures in the world, and the government typically mandates two weeks of quarantine for people returning to the mainland. But pilots are allowed exemptions. Some do not need to undergo quarantine if they test negative for the virus upon returning to China. Here’s what else to know in coronavirus news from around the world: Officials in the Philippines , fearing a surge in cases over the holiday season, said on Tuesday that anyone going out in public must wear a face shield on top of a face mask. Face shields had previously been required only on public transit and in enclosed spaces like malls and grocery stores, while masks have been mandatory since April. The Philippines, a country of more than 100 million people, has had a total of more than 450,000 cases, one of the worst outbreaks in Southeast Asia.\n\nOfficials in the United Kingdom imposed tighter restrictions on London, closing pubs and restaurants in the city, effective Wednesday, after British health authorities identified a new, faster-growing variant of the virus. Under a previously announced plan for Christmas, the government will temporarily lift the restrictions again a week later to allow up to three families to mix indoors.\n\nPolitical infighting, haphazard planning and a nascent anti-vaccine movement have left Brazil , which has suffered the pandemic’s second-largest death toll, without a clear vaccination program. Its citizens now have no sense of when they may get relief from a virus that has brought the public health system to its knees and crushed the economy.\n\nAt least 274 journalists around the world were in prison on Dec. 1, including some who had covered the pandemic, according to a report published early Tuesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, an advocacy group in New York. Notably, at least three journalists in Egypt were arrested after covering their government’s response to the coronavirus, the report said. One of them, Mohamed Monir, contracted the coronavirus in custody and died a few days after his release. In Honduras , the journalist David Romero, who had been serving a 10-year defamation sentence when the pandemic started, died of Covid-19 complications in prison.\n\nThe European Medicines Agency has said in a statement that it will bring forward a meeting to decide whether to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to Dec. 21. The meeting was originally planned for Dec. 29. The agency, which supervises drugs and vaccines for the European Union , said it had decided to expedite the meeting after receiving additional data from the pharmaceutical firm at the request of its experts.\n\nDelivery workers in South Korea say they’re dying of “overwork.” More than a dozen couriers have died this year. Some died after complaining of unbearable workloads that kept them on the clock from dawn until past midnight. Megan Specia and\n\nAdvertisement Continue reading the main story\n\nA man who rode a Jet Ski across the Irish Sea to see his girlfriend was jailed for defying virus restrictions. Dale Mclaughlan crossed the Irish Sea on his Jet Ski to visit his girlfriend in the Isle of Man’s capital, Douglas, above. Credit... Guy Jackson/Agence France-Presse Last Thursday, Dale Mclaughlan bought a Jet Ski. On Monday, the 28-year-old Scotsman was sentenced to four weeks in jail. What happened on the three days in between, according to court documents, may be one of the more unusual instances of rule-flouting during the pandemic. The day after purchasing the watercraft, Mr. Mclaughlan set off at 8 a.m. for what he thought would be a 40-minute trip from the southwestern coast of Scotland to his girlfriend’s home on the Isle of Man, between England and Ireland. He later told the authorities that he had never ridden a Jet Ski before and that bad weather on the Irish Sea caused the trip to stretch to four and a half hours. Mr. Mclaughlan finally reached his girlfriend on Friday night, after walking 15 miles from the Isle of Man’s coast to her home in its capital, Douglas. The couple spent the weekend enjoying the city’s nightlife, but their reunion was cut short on Sunday, when he was arrested and later charged with one count of violating the Isle of Man’s coronavirus restrictions. On Monday, he received a four-week jail sentence. “This individual was aware of the law and showed a flagrant disregard when they chose to break it, mixing in the community and potentially putting lives at risk,” Howard Quayle, the chief minister of the Isle of Man, said in a statement on Tuesday. The Isle of Man, which relies on Britain for defense but is self-governing, is closed to nonresidents, except for those who have special permission. Mr. Mclaughlan arrived without an entry permission and failed to declare his arrival or self-isolate, Mr. Quayle said.\n\nThe Supreme Court tells two federal judges to reconsider rulings that allowed virus limits on churches. Colorado lifted its restrictions on attendance at houses of worship after the Supreme Court ruled on a case from New York last month. Credit... Stephen Speranza for The New York Times The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered federal judges in New Jersey and Colorado to reconsider rulings allowing limits on attendance at indoor religious services in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The court’s brief orders, which instructed the judges to take account of its decision last month lifting similar limits in New York, were unsigned and gave no reasons. The New Jersey ruling appeared to be unanimous, while the court’s three liberal justices dissented from the one concerning Colorado. The Supreme Court has changed direction on how to balance public health and the free exercise of religion since Justice Amy Coney Barrett succeeded Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. While Justice Ginsburg was alive, the court upheld restrictions in California and Nevada by votes of 5 to 4. In the New York case, it struck down restrictions by the same margin. In New Jersey, a priest and a rabbi sued over restrictions that limited attendance at indoor religious services to the lesser of 150 people or 25 percent of capacity. In Colorado, a church and its minister sued to challenge 50-person limits on attendance at religious services, and lost in the lower courts. In the Supreme Court, state officials argued that the matter was moot, because the state removed the limits after the court issued its decision in the New York case. Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, dissented from the order concerning Colorado on Tuesday, accepting the state’s argument that the case was moot and saying there was no prospect that the state would reimpose the capacity limits.\n\nTeachers stage a sickout Tuesday to protest policies they say are putting them at risk. A Texas flag at an elementary school in Murphy, Texas, this month. Teachers in the state participated in a national sickout. Credit... LM Otero/Associated Press More than 500 teachers in Georgia, Texas and other cities around the country called in sick on Tuesday as part of a nationwide protest against standardized testing during the pandemic, along with other policies that educators say are putting them at risk as coronavirus cases rise. “This is legit just teachers who are just fed up across the nation and are saying this has to stop,” said Alfred Brooks, the founder of Teachers for Good Trouble, which organized the national sickout on Tuesday. Teachers participated in at least seven cities including Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles and St. Paul, Minn., said Mr. Brooks, a high school teacher near Atlanta, where more than 80 people rallied in front of the State Capitol building. Some participants with health concerns spoke out on Instagram in support of the sickout, Mr. Brooks said. Teachers at a school in Pensacola, Fla., came to work for in-person classes on Tuesday but wore yellow, the color associated with Teachers for Good Trouble, and taught the organization’s lessons on social justice and the racial context of standardized testing, he said. In Texas, anger over a policy requiring teachers and students to take a state standardized test, with some districts requiring that students sit for the exam in school buildings, motivated some Houston-area educators to participate in the sickout, especially because a high school teacher died of the coronavirus earlier this month. “They’re prioritizing testing over the safety of students, teachers and communities,” said Naseeb Gill, 32, a fifth-grade teacher in Houston, who called in sick on Tuesday. Known as a Day Without Teachers, the sickout reflects an escalation in the contentious debate over the safety of in-person instruction that is playing out as the virus surges in many states. Teachers at about 50 schools in Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, were expected to participate, according to some who planned to take part. They are motivated by a range of policies, including requirements for teachers to use sick days to quarantine unless their absence is ordered by administrators. Many teachers in so-called right-to-work states have few labor protections. Calling in sick has been a common method for teachers to express their concerns during the pandemic. About 100 teachers in Arizona’s third-largest school district staged a sickout on Friday, demanding that schools close after winter break and stay remote until the region’s infection rate declines.\n\nAdvertisement Continue reading the main story\n\nThey finished prison terms in New Zealand, but they’re still in jail waiting to be deported. Downtown Auckland, New Zealand, last month. There are no active chains of coronavirus transmission in New Zealand. Credit... Fiona Goodall/Getty Images Closed borders and a sharp drop-off in international travel have slowed to a trickle the number of people entering or leaving New Zealand. That includes prisoners who have already done their time. Fourteen foreign citizens are being held in the country’s prisons beyond the end of their sentences because there are no international flights for deporting them, according to government data. Some have been held for months, and one has been detained for more than 270 days, Immigration New Zealand said on Tuesday. As of Dec. 8, 132 other foreign nationals had completed prison sentences and were awaiting deportation from within the community, where some are required to remain at a given address. There have been no recent local transmissions of the coronavirus in New Zealand, so holding detainees in prison poses little risk to public health. But other countries still grappling with the pandemic have taken steps to absolve themselves of responsibility for as many detainees as possible. In Britain, the immigration charity Bail for Immigration Detainees reported in May that 95 percent of requests for bail from detainees in custody had been granted since the start of lockdown in March, as part of an effort to avoid potential prison outbreaks. And in the United States, deportation flights have continued, with more than 40,000 immigrants deported from the United States between March and July. Of the 14 prisoners being held past their sentences in New Zealand, nine had criminal convictions and five had significantly overstayed the terms of their visa, the government said. Radio New Zealand initially reported on the cases on Monday. Many of the detainees are from countries in the Pacific Islands. Deportations to Pacific Island nations are especially challenging “because of their unwillingness to take back their citizens and their limited capacity to manage returning deportees,” New Zealand’s immigration minister, Kris Faafoi, said in a statement. But some immigration advocates warn that detaining overstayers could come at a significant cost to public health if New Zealand experiences another coronavirus outbreak. Alastair McClymont, an immigration lawyer based in Auckland, said that many visa overstayers were already wary of any form of bureaucracy that could allow them to be tracked, and that this might incentivize them to go further underground.\n\nRussia says a trial of the Sputnik vaccine showed a 91.4 percent efficacy rate. Dr. Lyudmila Soboleva, 38, received the Sputnik V shot in Moscow last week. The government-funded coronavirus vaccine is based on genetically modified common cold viruses. Credit... Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times Russia has released additional results from a clinical trial of its leading coronavirus vaccine, called Sputnik V, showing an efficacy rate of 91.4 percent, similar to results obtained by Western vaccine makers. Unlike in the West, the Russian authorities have taken a different path on vaccination, promoting the government-funded shot, which is based on genetically modified common cold viruses, before testing was complete. Moscow approved Sputnik V for emergency use in August, before wide-scale clinical trials to prove its efficacy and safety had even begun. The World Health Organization and independent experts criticized the move as risky, noting that it undermined confidence in the vaccine, which Russia plans to market in more than 70 countries. The financial company promoting the vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, released on Monday data from the interim result of its Phase 3 study, based on 22,714 participants receiving either the vaccine or a placebo. A total of 78 people across the two groups contracted Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. It showed that among those who received the vaccine, none became severely ill with Covid-19 and that 91.4 percent were protected from mild or moderate cases. Twenty severe cases were recorded among the placebo group. Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive of the fund, praised the result as “astonishing” and said it would help Russia apply for registration for Sputnik V in potential export markets. He said the fund intended to apply in Argentina this month, and in other Latin American nations and countries in Asia and Africa in January. So far, Russia has shipped about 320,000 doses of the vaccine and inoculated about 200,000 people outside of the clinical trials. The vaccine this month received a vote of confidence from AstraZeneca, the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant, when it opened talks with Russian vaccine scientists about combining efforts. The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed at the University of Oxford, England, showed encouraging but perplexing results: Two doses of the vaccine provided stronger results (90 percent efficacy) when the first dose was only at half strength than when two full-dose shots were injected (a 62 percent efficacy). The joint efforts will explore whether that vaccine can be made more effective if recipients also receive a shot of Sputnik V. The Russian trial is scheduled to continue until May, but Mr. Dmitriev said that regulators might halt it on ethical grounds as the vaccine had been proved effective. The efficacy rate was similar to what the Russian group had reported earlier but based this time on a larger, more statistically relevant sample. The results were comparable to those of the Pfizer vaccine, which reported a 95 percent efficacy and has already been approved for use in several countries, and of Moderna’s, which reported a 94.1 percent efficacy rate.', 'https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/15/world/covid-19-coronavirus/', '2020-12-15 00:00:00', 'https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/15/us/politics/15virus-brief-negotiation/merlin_181187004_90204b4b-6074-4b7a-b02d-3e1f421d4f50-facebookJumbo.jpg', 'd177c8c941214a59a3ebf90f81986d7c', '6c108d2b77ed466093d437e07e5a6bcb');
