October 21, 2020
This afternoon, Barack Obama stopped by Philadelphia, the largest city in that crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, to urge people to elect his former vice president, Joe Biden, to the highest office in the land. At the roundtable of community leaders, Anthony Phillips, the executive director of a youth civic engagement organization in Philadelphia, asked the president, "Given our political and social atmosphere, why should young Black men care to be engaged in the political process?" Obama didn't mince words. "What I consistently try to communicate during this year, particularly when I’m talking to young brothers who may be cynical about what can happen, is to acknowledge to them that government and voting alone isn’t gonna change anything," he said. "Young people are sophisticated, so there’s no point in overhyping what happens." Obama admitted that his presidency had not solved all the nation's issues. But he likes to think he left the country a little bit better. Criminal justice reform under Attorney General Eric Holder meant that many Black men convicted of nonviolent drug crimes faced more lenient sentences than they may have under previous administrations. The Affordable Care Act insured more than 20 million Americans, saving countless lives. "The answer for young people when I talk to them is not that voting makes everything perfect," he said. "It's that it makes things better." We could afford to make the country better. Vote. —Abigail Weinberg P.S. NASA is going to "announce an exciting new discovery about the Moon" on Monday. Finally, something to look forward to. Sources tell us the platform tweaked its code to help right-wing publishers and throttle sites like Mother Jones. BY MONIKA BAUERLEIN AND CLARA JEFFERY
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BY ALI BRELAND Mother Jones reporter Fernanda Echavarri explains why Democrats are on the verge of winning a state they’ve won only once in 60 years. If they don’t screw it up.
SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE
It was only a matter of time before Hikaru Nakamura, the US chess champion and the world’s best and fastest blitz player, challenged former President Obama to a benefit match for the Biden Victory Fund. Nakamura issued the call yesterday, inspired by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez playing “Among Us” to mobilize voters in one of the most-watched Twitch streams of all time. Obama’s answer is pending. I’ve reached out to the former president to see if he’ll accept. Don’t hold your breath, but do hold hope—there’s precedent: Thomas Jefferson wrote about chess in his diary and sent letters about playing Benjamin Franklin before selling some chess books to James Monroe. James Madison played. John Quincy Adams played. As did Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, Grover Cleveland, William Howard Taft, Warren Harding, Theodore Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. Chelsea Clinton plays (and has online). At 10 years old, Nakamura became the youngest US player named a master and, at 15, the youngest to reach the game’s top title. No biggie. Preparation tip, President Obama: Memorize a crushing answer to Nakamura’s noted bongcloud opening and you’re fine. I’ll sweeten the deal. The winner of Nakamura vs. Obama gets to play my colleague Ben Dreyfuss, who runs the Mother Jones Daily newsletter (forward it or sign up here) and, according to lore, is an unparalleled chess mind. The winner of Nakamura-or-Obama vs. Dreyfuss gets to play me. I studied as a kid with Bobby Fischer’s coach and competed on that team with Joshua Waitzkin of Searching for Bobby Fischer before quitting for baseball, but have since returned (to middling chess adequacy). Come through, President Obama. Nakamura needs you. Democracy needs you. “Amtrak Joe” needs you. As a student and scholar of strategy, tactics, and theory, you’ve got a fair shot against Nakamura. Never mind that Fischer said “the object” of chess “is to crush the opponent’s mind.” It’s not. And Garry Kasparov still competes but he’s more into politics these days, and I’ll handle Kasparov if he gets out of line in the comments. If you, readers, feel the heat and want to see Obama stomp Nakamura in the name of voter mobilization, forward this and tag @GMHikaru and @BarackObama; just don’t tag @HansenChess, or chairs might fly. P.S. There are more possible chess games than the number of atoms in the universe. —Daniel King Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by forwarding it to a friend or sharing it on Facebook and Twitter.
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