The Washington Post National Weekly - November 6, 2016

Politics Obama’s campaign of hope has changed 4

Nation Forget dog’s bite, beware its buzz 9

World No home left for Mosul’s Christians 11

Laws Snap decision while voting may be illegal 23

ABCDE NATIONAL WEEKLY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2016

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IN COLLABORATION WITH

‘What is America?’

Distrust.

Racial injustice.

Economic insecurity.

Americans confront where our country is headed. PAGE 12

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2016

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Foothills Magazine presents its 5th Annual

PHOTO CONTEST

Enter your photos taken in North Central Washington for the chance to win cash prizes and see your photos published in the magazine! Photos will be judged in two categories – human subjects and landscapes.

Get all the details at photos.ncwfoothills.com Entries must be submitted by January 4, 2017

North Central Washington’s lifestyle magazine foothills.wenatcheeworld.com

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2016

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THE FIX

One less thing to believe in C HRIS C ILLIZZA

tional and same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide. The collapse of the banking industry in the late 2000s led to deep suspicion he FBI has long been an iconic instiabout the wealthy masters of the universe and tution in American life. After last the rigging of the system against the average week’s announcement by FBI DirecJoe. The Catholic Church sex scandal has led tor James B. Comey that the investigato a re-examination of that institution — even tion into Hillary Clinton’s private email server by many of the faithful. continues, it’s hard to see it staying that way.

Over and over again — whether it’s Clinton and her allies — including the media, the police, our politicians, President Obama(!) — are criticizing whatever — the pillars of our society Comey for stepping into the fray so have proved to be something short of close to an election. Republicans, who infallible. And, it’s not just that: There spent the last several months castigatis a sense that the people who make up ing Comey for failing to recommend these institutions are part of a rigged charges against Clinton over the email system — they are writing their own server when he initially wrapped the rules to help themselves and hurt evinvestigation in July, are now singing eryone else. his praises.

And then there’s this: Nothing has The result of the FBI-as-politicalcropped up to replace these fallen football narrative is nothing but bad idols. The foundational pieces of socifor the bureau. Here’s what the NBC ety — the things we always knew we political unit wrote of the impact on could rely on — are no longer foundathe FBI in all of this meshugas: tional. But, with nothing to replace “Another U.S. institution — the FBI them, we are left rootless, casting — has taken a hit. (It’s especially true MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY about for a new set of institutions on after all of the obvious leaks coming which we can rely. That casting around from the FBI and Justice Department.)

FBI Director James B. Comey testifies before a House causes fear and anxiety — and someAnd that news isn’t good for the councommittee hearing in July on the agency’s investigation of times even anger. try’s democracy.”

Hillary Clinton.

None of those emotions are conduNo, it’s not. l 27 percent have a great deal or quite a lot cive to a functioning, healthy democracy. EsThe decline in the FBI’s reputation is in pecially in a fractured media environment keeping with a massive fade in confidence in of confidence in banks in 2016; in 2004, that where business models are built on affirming what have long been considered venerable innumber was 53 percent. l 41 percent said they had confidence in the peoples’ beliefs rather than offering informastitutions. Gallup has been asking people how tion that might lead them to question those much confidence they have in some of our church/organized religion this year. Six in 10 beliefs. major societal institutions since the early people said the same in 2001; 68 percent said This FBI fight, then, is part of a broader 1970s. And, this year, a majority of Americans they had confidence in the church in 1975. thread in our political life: The end of true said they had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of It’s not hard to see why confidence has confidence in our current institutions and the confidence in only three: the military, small waned so badly. The Supreme Court has beunease that change has caused. Our politics business and the police. come more and more politicized in recent reflects that unease — and will probably do so Those numbers are eye-popping. But the years — never more so than this year when for some time. n trend lines on each of those institutions in the the Affordable Care Act was ruled constituBY

T

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Gallup polling really tell the story.

In virtually every case, the institutions in questions are at or near a low ebb — historically speaking. A few examples: l 36 percent of people have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the Supreme Court. In 1998, that number was 50 percent.

In 1988, it was 56 percent.

This publication was prepared by editors at The Washington Post for printing and distribution by our partner publications across the country. All articles and columns have previously appeared in The Post or on washingtonpost.com and have been edited to fit this format. For questions or comments regarding content, please e-mail weekly@washpost.com. If you have a question about printing quality, wish to subscribe, or would like to place a hold on delivery, please contact your local newspaper’s circulation department. © 2016 The Washington Post / Year 3, No. 4

CONTENTS POLITICS THE NATION THE WORLD COVER STORY CULTURE BOOKS OPINION LAWS

4 8 10 12 16 18 20 23

ON THE COVER Portraits of American voters who discussed their view of the country and vision for the future. Photographs by T.J. KIRKPATRICK, Redux

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POLITICS

Eight years removed from hope

ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES

As the president stumps for Clinton, Obama finds an angry, less optimistic America G REG J AFFE Las Vegas BY

P

resident Obama’s motorcade was still hurtling through Las Vegas traffic when the Rev. Anthony Harris took the microphone to deliver the opening prayer at a rally here for Hillary Clinton.

He looked out on the crowd of 3,000 in the high school gymnasium, waiting for the president to arrive. The feeling was different now than it had been eight years

earlier, when Obama had just been elected and Harris led his congregation in prayer for the president. Then, there had been crying and cheering in his tiny storefront chapel and a sense that anything was possible.

Now, Harris, 47, took a deep breath. He hoped his words would rise above the anger and divisiveness of an election season unlike any in his lifetime.

“We pray that at the end of this political process we can learn to love each other, bless each other

and trust each other,” he told the crowd, but that noble sentiment did not survive the rally’s first speaker.

Taking the microphone, Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) blasted Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as a “liar,” a “racist” and a “fraud.”

“Lock him up! Lock him up!” the pro-Clinton crowd in the gym started to chant, echoing the antiClinton chants of “Lock her up!” that have become common at Trump rallies

President Obama waves as he approaches Marine One Nov. 1 at the White House.

He was traveling to Columbus, Ohio, to campaign for Hillary Clinton.

“I know people are frustrated,” Harris recalled, thinking as he returned to his seat. “But what does ‘lock him up’ even mean?”

In the week leading up to Election Day, the president is crisscrossing the country in an effort to help Clinton win the White House and safeguard his legacy.

Obama is being met by rowdy, cheering throngs eager to see him one last time before he leaves office.

For many, who will wait hours in line to hear him speak, Obama’s

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2016

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POLITICS 2008 election represented one of the most hopeful moments in American politics in decades. He was not only the first African American president but a relative newcomer to national politics with a remarkable life story who promised to bridge the country’s historic divides.

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” Obama said on that election night in Chicago’s Grant Park.

Today those words sound as if they came from a different era.

Obama will close out his presidency at what is perhaps the least hopeful moment in American politics in decades, a time when the two major-party candidates have historically low approval ratings and are locked in a bitter and coarse election contest. For much of this year, Obama, like the people who pack his rallies, has puzzled over what happened.

“It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,” he said at his State of the Union address in January.

Obama’s tone grew darker this past summer, after the killing of two black men by police in Minnesota and Louisiana, and the slaying of five Dallas police officers.

“It’s hard not to think sometimes that the center won’t hold and that things might get worse,” he confessed.

In other speeches — many of them drowned out by the angry rhetoric from the campaign trail — Obama has sought to describe the qualities he believes are needed to make American democracy work. He called for more empathy and an “open heart” in Dallas. At a Howard University commencement address, he emphasized compromise and tolerance. In Springfield, Ill., where his political career began, Obama made the case for campaign finance reform and an end to gerrymandering.

“We’ve got to build a better politics,” he said, “one that’s less of a spectacle and more of a battle of ideas.”

In Las Vegas, Obama tried another tack, blaming Republicans

RONDA CHURCHILL FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

NIKKI KAHN/THE WASHINGTON POST

and the “far-right media” for the state of political disarray. “They said I wasn’t born here. They said climate change is a hoax,” Obama told the crowd. “They said I was going to take everybody’s guns away . . . and impose martial law. . . . So people have been hearing it and they start thinking, well, maybe this is true. . . . Is it any wonder that they end up nominating someone like Donald Trump?”

Corey Friedl, a 66-year-old retiree clad in an Obama 2008 Tshirt, shared the president’s sense of disappointment and outrage.

Eight years ago, when Obama promised the crowd in Grant Park that a “defining moment of change” had come to America, tears were streaming down Friedl’s face. “His words were more than inspirational,” she

said. “They were a reality that I never thought I would live to see.”

The years since have been tough for her family and many of her friends. The billions of dollars spent bailing out Wall Street were not enough to save the small community bank where she worked as an executive assistant. “All the money went to the big guys,” she said. Only recently had she noticed the tourism economy in Las Vegas bouncing back.

She had hoped that the election of the first black president would ease racial tensions. Instead, she said, it seemed as if Obama’s presidency had “brought out the racism that’s in the country.”

Her 45 minutes in the crowded gymnasium cheering for Obama offered a respite from the otherwise nasty election season.

“All of my friends and family are so ready for the country to move beyond this election,” says Corey Friedl, above, a 66year-old retiree from North Las Vegas who attended a rally where President Obama spoke. The mood in the nation is quite different from 2008, when Obama gave his victory speech in Chicago’s Grant Park.

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Obama, his shirt sleeves rolled up and his mood buoyant, hit the high points of his presidency: 15 million new jobs, incomes finally rising again, Osama bin Laden dead.

“We have made so much progress, despite the forces of opposition and discrimination, and the politics of backlash,” Obama said as he finished his speech and rushed back to his limousine.

Friedl, her legs sore from waiting in line for tickets, leaned on a cane as she walked out of the gymnasium. “I am in love with him,” she said of the president.

“He’s just so inspirational.”

Outside the high school gymnasium, the skies had darkened and a stiff desert wind sent campaign fliers, paper cups and plastic garbage cans hurtling across the parking lot.

Rosie Dowd, one of the school janitors, scrambled to pick up the trash. She had been busy working during the president’s remarks and had caught only fragments of his speech. But she said she remembered Election Day 2008 as if it had just happened.

“I was home in front of the television with my children — planted,” she said. “I just screamed, ‘Thank you, God. Thank you, God. That man is heaven-sent.’ ” Her view of what came next was more sober. “Living through the life I have lived, I know there’s no such thing as pulling off everything,” she said.

Dowd blamed the country’s faltering morals for its increasingly toxic politics. “I see it every day in the schools,” she said. “Parents aren’t doing their jobs at home.”

Friedl blamed Trump. “I call him Voldemort,” she said, comparing him to the villain in the “Harry Potter” books.

On the car ride home after the speech, Friedl and her friends shared pictures from the rally and recounted the president’s best Trump taunts.

This year, Friedl said, she will stay up until all the election returns are in and the next president has delivered a victory speech to the country. But she knows she will feel more relief than joy when it is all done.

“All of my friends and family are so ready for the country to move beyond this election,” she said. “Me, too. I’d rather feel hopeful than hopeless.” n

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POLITICS

Going rogue in the voting booth BY

A MY A RGETSINGER

T

his election had been eating at Chris Drake. A staunch liberal in his 20s, he became a Republican by 30. But now 45 and an independent, he couldn’t stomach either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. And despite his libertarian leanings, he decided that Gary Johnson lacked the basic “depth of knowledge” to serve as president.

Then he saw the bumper sticker. A joke, sure, but it made sense: “Neil deGrasse Tyson/Bill Nye 2016.” There it was. His write-in choice for president.

“Can we just have some rational people who deal with facts and see how they do?” Drake, a software engineer in Bellevue, Neb., said of his dream ticket, two TV-friendly men of science. “I know it’s not going to matter. No one’s ever going to win a write-in vote. But I also can’t not make a vote.”

The write-in option may be the last refuge of an alienated but committed electorate — and this year, it’s hotter than ever. Everywhere you look this season, reasonable people are putting intensely philosophical and creative thought into how, exactly, they will throw away their vote for president.

“Planz for Nov. 8,” Monica Moser, a Nashville musician, wrote on Twitter recently. “Write in @CondoleezzaRice.”

“Anyone else trying to write in Theo Epstein on Nov 8?” tweeted Cameron Weiss, a Los Angeles sports agent.

Other popular choices: Michelle Obama. Jon Stewart. SNL’s Kate McKinnon. David Brown, the former Dallas police chief.

Ken Bone, that random redsweater guy from the debate. The write-in option is where our deeply felt sense of civic rights and responsibilities — we should go to the polls, we need not be constrained by the ballot options — meets our fantasy-dinner-party guest list.

Granted, there can be a whiff of strategy behind the pipe dream.

After Bernie Sanders lost the

WASHINGTON POST ILLUSTRATION

Democratic nomination, some of his die-hards tried to mount coordinated write-in campaigns. But those efforts fizzled, largely because of Sanders’s utter lack of interest. (There is literally no hope of drafting some noble but reluctant hero into the White House: In most states, even writein candidates must get themselves registered for their votes to be counted.)

Recently, write-in mania has shifted to conservative circles — an escape hatch for Never Trump stalwarts who just can’t see themselves pulling a lever for a Clinton.

Ana Navarro, the GOP strategist, says she will probably write in her own mother. Mitt Romney has said he might write in his wife.

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote that “with [Nobel Peace Prize winner] Albert Schweitzer doubly unavailable (noncitizen, dead), I’m down to Paul Ryan or Ben Sasse.”

More remarkable is the chorus of Republican lawmakers touting their write-in plans. It became especially fashionable after Trump’s lewd groping confessions went public in an “Access Hollywood” video last month: Sens.

Kelly Ayotte and Rob Portman said they will write in Mike Pence, John McCain said he’s considering Lindsey O. Graham, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam vowed to cast a vote for some other Republican TBD. John Kasich’s office an-

nounced Tuesday that he wrote in McCain. But months earlier, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was already promising to write in Jeb Bush, while Sen. Mark Kirk was talking up his vote for either David Petraeus or Colin Powell.

Of course, within these declarations lies a hidden message (Hey, guys, wouldn’t it be FUN to cast a write­in vote?), designed to nudge Trump-resistant Republicans off their couches and to the polls — and, while they’re busy scribbling in their fantasy pick, hopefully support their down-ballot candidates as well.

Still, the energy that people put into picking the perfect write-in is amusing, considering the utter fruitlessness.

“It’s literally impossible to win a presidential election through a write-in vote,” said Jan Baran, an elections lawyer with the Washington firm of Wiley Rein. That’s because of the patchwork of rules governing how write-in votes are counted or whether they are even allowed at all. Nine states don’t permit write-in voting for the presidential race.

So why does any voter bother to write someone in?

“Because they don’t know what the rules are,” Baran said. “Or they know that person is not going to be elected — so it is just therapy of some sort.”

Our electoral Mad Lib may seem like a bit of polling-place

Write-in votes are very popular this year given the deep dislike of the main party hopefuls

whimsy, but the write-in option has deep roots. “At one time,” said Edward B. Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University, “all votes were write-in votes.”

Eventually, political parties started printing tickets of their anointed candidates, which voters could just shove into the ballot box. Some took to crossing out names and writing in their own picks.

Amid concerns of fraud, the United States shifted in the 1890s to government-provided ballots, with checklists of all the candidates. To accommodate old habits, they left a blank space for voters who wanted to choose someone entirely different.

Occasionally, write-in campaigns succeed. After petition snags got him thrown off the 2002 Democratic primary ballot, former D.C. mayor Anthony Williams ran for reelection as a writein and won. Eight write-in candidates have been elected to Congress, according to Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News, including one who unseated John F. Kennedy’s grandfather in 1919.

The option certainly came in handy in 1998, when Tennessee state Sen. Tommy Burks, a Democrat, was killed just weeks before Election Day — and his GOP challenger, Byron (Low Tax) Looper, was charged with his murder.

Burks was removed from the ballot, but Looper couldn’t be, since he hadn’t yet been convicted. So Burks’s widow ran as a write-in and won, overwhelmingly. Without that option, Winger noted, “voters would have been forced to vote for a murderer.”

Yet no write-ins have made a mark in presidential politics.

Evan McMullin has high hopes this year: Running strong in Utah, he is balloted in 10 other states and drawing buzz among write-in enthusiasts elsewhere. But no presidential write-in candidate has, in a single state, ever won more than 2 percent — which was Ralph Nader’s 2000 tally in Wyoming, one of the few places he was not on the ballot.

Is the write-in option good for

Other/No opinion not shown.

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Hispanic voters: Favorable toward Clinton and Democrats, unfavorable toward TrumpKLMNO and GOP WEEKLY Q: Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of…

POLITICS

Among likely Hispanic voters

democracy? The practice troubles some political theorists, because it essentially gives voters a pass out of a tough decision.

The write-in vote undermines the process of forcing the electorate to hold its nose and just settle on a darn candidate. In a close race, it could launch the less popular of two major-party candidates to a plurality win.

But the write-in option also offers a fix for those who regard the system of winnowing the field as flawed. In 2010, Sen. Lisa Murkowski lost the Alaska GOP primary to a tea party challenger. She forged ahead as a write-in, arguing that her party’s takeover by ultra- conservatives had robbed general-election voters of a real choice. And she won.

Voting, Foley said, isn’t just about putting someone in office.

It carries “a symbolic and expressive value” that makes it hard to dismiss a write-in vote as a wasted one.

“Unless an election comes down to a single vote, no one vote is going to be decisive,” he added.

“So if I decide to cast my ballot as a write-in, that may be as important symbolically as if I cast a vote for a winner or a loser in a blowout race.”

That’s how Mike, a defense industry executive in Northern Virginia, sees it. A lifelong Republican (whose job prevents him from speaking publicly about politics), he was alienated early on by Trump’s disparaging comments about McCain’s POW ordeal.

“That was unforgivable. That’s not the Ronald Reagan way, that’s not the Bushes’ way,” he said. But as for Clinton? “I just know too much about her.” So in early voting, he wrote the name of retired Marine Gen. James Mattis — “a common-sense, call-it-like-it-is guy.”

“Some would consider it a protest vote,” he said. “I consider it a vote of conscience.”

Dismayed by her options, Jenni Mammen Terry, 35, a social worker in Meridian, Idaho, settled on Dwayne Johnson, the wrestlerturned-movie-star.

Do you really want The Rock to be president?

Perhaps not, she conceded.

“I’m not going to vote for the lesser of the two evils,” she said. “I don’t have much control. But you have to feel good about your vote.” n

Latinos heavily favor Clinton over Trump in latest poll Unfavorable Favorable 28%

Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump

76%

The Democratic Party The Republican Party

BY E D O ’ K EEFE AND E MILY G USKIN

H

illary Clinton maintains a nearly 50-percentagepoint lead among Hispanic voters in a new Washington Post-Univision News poll, with Donald Trump’s deep unpopularity raising questions about how much his candidacy has hampered Republicans’ longterm chances to win back support from the nation’s largest minority-group voting bloc.

Clinton is seen unfavorably by 28 percent of Hispanics, but 76 percent of them have unfavorable views of Trump — including 64 percent whose views are “very unfavorable,” which is 20 points higher than those who have very unfavorable views toward the Republican Party overall.

The poll finds opportunity for Republicans to expand support, with 51 percent of Latinos who support Trump now or say they would be willing to vote for a Republican presidential candidate in the future. But simply nominating candidates other than Trump probably will not be enough. Republicans may need to revamp the party’s stances on several issues to overcome Hispanics’ strong Democratic tilt, the poll shows.

In one sign of those broader difficulties, other Republicans up for election this year also trail Democrats by a wide margin: 66 percent of Latinos say they support a Democratic congressional candidate in their district, compared with 24 percent who support GOP candidates.

In the presidential race, over two-thirds of Hispanics who are likely voters (67 percent) support or lean toward Clinton, with just under 2 in 10 (19 percent) supporting Trump, according to the poll, conducted Oct. 26 to 30. Four percent support Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and 2 percent are for the Green Party’s Jill Stein, the poll finds.

Trump’s 48-point deficit

69%

20%

24%

71%

66%

27%

No opinion not shown.

POLL

Washington Post-Univision poll

Clinton holds largemore lead among likely Hispanic voters Hispanics say 2016 important than other elections Q:IsIf this the presidential wereelection being held today, Q: November's election presidential more, less or about for same whomin would you vote? the importance as previous presidential elections?

Among likely likely Hispanic Hispanic voters voters Among

More Clinton important 67% 78%

About TrumpLess Johnson Stein important the same 19% 4% 2% 4% 16%

No opinionopinion not shown.

Other/No not shown.

Source: Washington Post-Univision poll Oct. 26-30, error margin plus or minus 3.5 percentage points among 1,008 likely voters

Hispanic voters: Favorable toward Clinton and against Clinton is just a few points predominantly English advertisDemocrats, unfavorable toward GOP behind 2012 Republican presiing.Trump In moreand recent months, the dential nominee Mitt Romney’s

campaign has started airing

Q: Do youlosing have a margin favorable or unfavorable view of… television and 44-point among Spanish-language Hispanics, according to voters exit pollradio ads in parts of Florida and Among likely Hispanic ing that year. That year’s losses Nevada.

Unfavorable prompted calls by party leaderThe new Favorable Post-Univision poll ship to redouble efforts toward suggests the Clinton team’s strat28% 69% Hillary Clinton courting Latino voters, in order to egy may be working. A 66 percent stay competitive in presidential majority of Latinos younger than 76% 20% Donald Trump races with a racially diversifying 35 support Clinton, compared electorate. with — a The Democratic Party 24% 71 percent of seniors 71% A similar Post-Univision poll in nearly even margin. A national February foundParty Clinton 66% with poll of Hispanic voters 27% conducted The Republican 73 percent support among Histhis fall by the Pew Research panic voters and Center found a sizable age gap No opinionregistered not shown.

16 percent for Trump. In July among the broader population of 2015, 70 percent said they would registered voters, with younger vote for Clinton and 16 percent for Hispanic voters less supportive of Hispanics say 2016 more important otherelders. elections Trump — signaling little moveClintonthan than their ment over the presidential camWhile Clinton has fallen beQ: Is this November's presidential election more, less or about paign cycle. hind Trump among Americans the same in importance as previous presidential elections?

This year’s election is viewed as overall on questions of trust, Among likely Hispanic more important than voters previous among Hispanics in this poll she contests scores 37 Less points higher More by 78 percent of Hispanic Aboutthan likely voters, and overall enthusiTrump on honesty: 53 percent important important the same to asm78% remains high. Almost 8 in 10 16 percent. 4% 16% (78 percent) say they’re enthusiasThe Post-Univision News poll tic about voting, with 58 percent was conducted by landline and “very” enthusiastic about voting. cellular phone from Oct. 26 to 30 Knowing that she had strong among 1,008 Hispanic likely votNo opinion not shown.Hispanics startsupport among ers in the United States, in both ing in Washington the primary season,poll ClinEnglish and Results Source: Post-Univision Oct. 26-30, error margin plus Spanish. or minus 3.5 percentage points among 1,008 likely votershave a margin of sampling error ton’s general-election campaign adopted an aggressive bilingual, of plus or minus 3.5 percentage digital-first general outreach points. Sampling, data collection strategy that targets younger Hisand tabulation were done by Benpanics on Facebook, Snapchat dixen & Amandi International and other digital platforms with with the Tarrance Group. n

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NATION

Violence at stadiums alarms the NFL Arrests have risen and problems may be getting pushed to parking lots, analysis says

BY K ENT B ABB AND S TEVEN R ICH

L

ast month, Joe Bauer and his wife, Sharon, went to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore to watch the Ravens play the Oakland Raiders. During the second half, they were walking on an exit ramp when, according to a Baltimore police report, an argument turned into a full-blown altercation; a Raiders fan punched Bauer, a 55-year-old Ravens season ticket holder, and Bauer fell and hit his head.

Bauer suffered a brain injury and was initially given a 30 percent chance to survive. Though he has since improved, a relative said, his family is uncertain he will ever be the same.

While the National Football League is more popular than ever, expected this year to set a record by surpassing $13 billion in revenue, it faces potent threats to its dominance over the American sports landscape: declining television ratings, an inconsistent response to incidents of domestic abuse involving players and continuing worries about player safety. But an equally alarming threat is unruly fan behavior in and around NFL stadiums. It has some in the league concerned that it is driving fans to stay away.

“If you are concerned about bringing your family to a game, then that is an issue,” said Amy Trask, a former executive with the Raiders who has served on the NFL’s security committee. “It’s not just an issue for one team; it’s an issue for all 32 teams. The teams know this. The league knows this.”

The NFL has made significant efforts in recent years to improve the climate inside its stadiums by identifying trouble spots and providing its franchises with guidelines for creating a friendlier atmosphere. But it is having only limited success and may be pushing the problem of unsavory fan behavior from stadiums to the parking lots.

Although arrest totals fluctuate year to year, they have trended slightly upward on a per-game basis since 2011, according to a Wash-

Where NFL stadium arrests occured

1

The average number of arrests at NFL games, 2011-2015

5

20

Packers Raiders

Giants

Steelers

49ers

Jets Chargers

Most

Fewest

TEAM

ARRESTS

TEAM

ARRESTS

Chargers

24.6

Seahawks

0.8

Giants

22.5

Bears

0.8

Jets

21.5

Buccaneers

0.8

Raiders

17.8

Texans

1.0

Steelers

16.8

Panthers

1.4

Includes regular season games. Some teams were omitted because data was either unavailable, partial or unreliable. Details available at the end of the article.

Source: Local police records compiled by the Washington Post

ington Post examination of police data from the past five seasons.

Last year, 6.34 arrests per game were reported leaguewide during the 17 weeks of the regular season.

In the 10th week of the season, 126 arrests were made — the secondhighest total during the five-year period. That was the most since 129 arrests were made in Week 14 of 2012.

The data assembled by The Post provide a snapshot of the factors the NFL and local law enforcement see as bellwethers for fan trouble. Division contests and night games result in considerably more fan arrests, according to records collected from city, county and state police jurisdictions that oversee security at NFL stadiums.

The later the kickoff, the greater the likelihood of arrests, the data show. Of the 15 games the past five seasons with the most arrests, a combined 705, nine of those con-

THE WASHINGTON POST

tests began at 4 p.m. or later.

When division games are played at night, arrests are twice as high as early-afternoon nondivision contests; the league and its network broadcast partners often schedule these division rivalry games in prime time.

If the home team loses, no matter the opponent or scheduled kickoff time, arrests increase. The closer the loss, the more arrests tend to rise.

The Post used public records laws to obtain data from 29 of the 31 jurisdictions with a stadium (the New York Giants and New York Jets share MetLife Stadium in New Jersey). Authorities in Cleveland and New Orleans did not provide documents despite repeated requests. To provide further context, The Post visited stadiums and interviewed more than two dozen NFL and law enforcement officials.

Officials at NFL headquarters dispute that games are unsafe or any perception that stadiums are anything but family-friendly. Behind the scenes, however, the league puts a high priority on controlling fan behavior and identifying possible trouble spots. Certain venues seem to be hotbeds for police activity, particularly in parking lots, where oversight is not regulated by the league office and where alcohol consumption goes largely unmonitored.

The data show per-game arrests over the past five seasons were highest at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium, where police instituted stricter policies in 2013 after a violent parking lot brawl that involved thrown glass bottles. After San Diego, where police made 24.58 arrests per game between 2011 and 2015, were the stadiums in New York (21.96 arrests per game), Oakland (17.78) and Pittsburgh (16.75). The NFL sees high arrest numbers at its stadiums in San Diego, New York and Pittsburgh as byproducts of those franchises’ zero-tolerance policies; Oakland, though, is continually on the league’s radar, along with San Francisco, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Philadelphia.

But the potential for trouble is hardly confined to those sites. Last October, a man was shot outside a Dallas Cowboys game at A&T Stadium and later died. A year earlier, a man at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., home of the 49ers, was beaten so badly, his attorney said, the man now suffers from permanent seizure activity. In 2013, a 30-year-old man was beaten to death in the parking lot at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium.

Those are just among the most high-profile incidents in recent years. Not all incidents lead to arrests, and much more common are verbal and physical jousting among fans, drunkenness and a general climate of boorishness.

The league’s stadiums in Seattle, Chicago, Tampa and Houston tallied the fewest arrests the past five seasons, averaging one arrest or fewer per game.

Three jurisdictions — Atlanta,

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2016

9

NATION Detroit and Minneapolis — provided arrests only for inside the stadiums. But incidents still happen at those venues, which underscores the problem as those in and around the league see it: Teams and law enforcement are largely uncertain when or where trouble might arise, often leading to a reactive approach.

In 2008, when Jeffrey Miller traveled to Oakland to attend his first Monday night game as the NFL’s new head of security, he saw something familiar — though not at all family-friendly.

“I’ve been in actual prison riots,” said Miller, a former Pennsylvania state police commissioner who in the spring stepped down after eight years in the NFL league office to take a job with a private security firm in California. “I looked around me, and I saw so many people getting Tased by police right outside the venue, it was unbelievable.

“I looked around and said: We have got to change this environment.”

The NFL has instituted a leaguewide “code of conduct” and a list of “best practices” for stadium security over the past eight years. It also has established text messaging lines for fans to anonymously report bad behavior, leading to fewer incidents inside stadiums. Facilities paid closer attention at entry gates to inebriated fans, sometimes turning them away, and many teams instituted a zero-tolerance policy for smoking, profanity or fighting. If someone is ejected, he or she is barred from buying tickets — at least through league-approved channels — until they pass a $250 conduct exam and petition the team, in writing, for permission for return.

The NFL says arrests inside stadiums decreased by 32 percent from 2014 to 2015 and that fan ejections also were down. But fan behavior in parking lots, it acknowledges, is another matter.

The NFL said there were nearly 500 arrests in stadium lots last season, a 6 percent increase over 2014. For the most part, data collected by The Post did not differentiate between arrests made inside and outside stadiums.

“We see very few incidents, but one incident is too much,” said Brian McCarthy, a spokesman in the NFL league office. “We do recognize that, and it’s something we take very seriously.” n

KLMNO WEEKLY

It’s a dog-eat-pot world as legal marijuana expands BY

K ARIN B RULLIARD

S

tar, a petite 6-year-old sheltie who competes in dog agility shows, almost missed a contest last month. She had spent the previous night at the vet, totally stoned on pot.

Her drug trip was an accident.

Star lives in Oregon, where recreational use of marijuana became legal last year. Her owner’s husband had left some loose-leaf pot on the dining room table, and Star got curious. That was days after her sister, Kicker, gobbled up a pot-infused hard candy she found in the car, leaving her wobbling and incontinent. A veterinarian gave both dogs activated charcoal to absorb the toxin, which contributed to nearly $3,000 in medical bills and caused Star to poop in the ring during her competition.

“It was a bad week,” said the dogs’ owner, Susan Fry of South Lebanon, Ore. But it was probably a fairly routine week for the clinic that treated the dogs. As more jurisdictions legalize marijuana, veterinarians across the country say they are seeing a sharp increase in cases of pets accidentally getting high.

Tasty “edibles” such as muffins and cookies that people consume for a buzz are also appealing to animals, who can’t read warning labels, and, in the case of dogs, rarely stop at just one pot brownie.

“Dogs used to kind of chew on the stash growing in the basement. Now they’re finding a big bag of gummy bears,” said Heidi Houchen, a veterinarian at VCA Northwest Veterinary Specialists in a suburb of Portland, which treats a few marijuana cases a week. “Dogs are Hoovers. Dogs are the rock eaters.”

These incidents, which are rarely fatal, have driven a 330 percent increase over the past five years in calls about pets on pot to the Pet Poison Helpline, said Ahna Brutlag, a veterinary toxicologist who is associate director of the Minnesota-based animal poison

control center. Two-thirds of the calls involve marijuana edibles, and nearly all involve dogs, she said. Veterinarians also cited examples of chihuahuas lapping up bong water, cats being exposed to vaping, and even rabbits, ferrets and birds getting accidentally stoned.

In the year after pot became legal for recreational use in Or-

330 percent Increase over the past five years in calls about pets on pot to the Pet Poison Helpline, according to Ahna Brutlag, a veterinary toxicologist who is associate director of the Minnesota-based animal poison control center.

egon, DoveLewis, a large emergency veterinary clinic in Portland, saw a 63 percent increase in marijuana toxicity cases despite a client base growth of just 7 percent, said Alaina Buller, a clinic spokeswoman. Those findings echoed the results of a 2012 study that found such cases quadrupled at two Colorado veterinary clinics in the five years after medical marijuana was legalized in that state.

As several YouTube videos illustrate, baked pets look a lot like really high people: Glassy-eyed, teetering, lethargic and pretty pathetic. In the case of Nigel, a 1year-old pet teacup pig who was vacationing with his family in Nantucket this summer, it led to a serious case of the munchies. One member of the family — none of whom would agree to be identified in this article — had recently been in Colorado, where he had acquired pot peanut butter cookies that were in his backpack. Nigel, who was described as having a

voracious appetite when sober, rooted them out and left the empty package as evidence.

“Very soon, we had a very stoned pig on our hands,” said one witness, a 54-year-old writer who lives in New York City. “He’s just wandering around the kitchen desperate for food, doing a lot of whining and oinking. Then eventually, he just passed out.”

Animals can sleep off a marijuana high in many cases, according to veterinarians interviewed, all of whom said they immediately suspect the substance when an incontinent pet shows up. Other common toxins, such as caffeine or pesticides, can be far more dangerous. But veterinarians say there’s growing concern about the increased potency of today’s marijuana edibles, many of which are made with butters or oils infused with highly concentrated tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Many also contain chocolate, which can be fatal to dogs.

Marijuana ingestion by animals can lead to vomiting, racing or slowed heart rates, tremors or even seizures. Veterinarians said it is usually treated by inducing vomiting or administering intravenous fluids or anti-nausea medications. In some cases, medications to control heart rates or tremors are necessary.

“Most of them just need a night of detox,” said veterinarian Shawn Thomas, who owns Tanasbourne Veterinary Emergency near Portland. The worst cases, Thomas said, involve owners who have also partaken. He recalled one standard poodle that was hospitalized for more than two days after devouring THC-infused butter. Its owner, Thomas said, didn’t quickly realize the dog was suffering because “he was blitzed out of his mind, too.”

“Ten years ago, we would have told you there’s no chance your dog is going to die of this,” he said.

“But now, I tell people, it’s so much stronger, and you have a fourpound Chihuahua and it could die.” n

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KLMNO WEEKLY

WORLD

Hunting the hunters in South Africa The nation’s reserves are turning to security firms to protect animals from poaching

K RISTA M AHR Marken, South Africa BY

T

here was a time when hunters paid good money to hunt animals like antelope and buffalo at Simon Rood’s wild-game reserve. But on a recent day, Rood watched as one of his staff stared into a tangle of driedout trees and waited to load his rifle during a training exercise. The quarry was something different.

“What do we eradicate?” Rood barked.

“Poachers!” shouted his employee.

Poaching has taken a devastating toll on iconic African wildlife, like the rhinoceros. In the early 20th century, there were about half a million rhinos in the wild internationally; today, there are fewer than 30,000 across Asia and Africa. The vast majority live in South Africa.

Protecting those animals has become a serious business. Rood decided several years ago to get out of the hunting industry and start a security company aimed at conserving wildlife. Now he uses his land to train anti-poaching guards that his firm, Nkwe Wildlife and Security Services, sends to work at private reserves.

“You can’t stop the poaching — that’s a pie in the sky. It’s about bringing the poaching to acceptable levels,” Rood said.

The slaughter has become an emergency for national parks as well as for South Africa’s private game reserves, where tourists come to stay at luxurious lodges and catch a glimpse of the Big Five: lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo and rhinos.

As of last year, 6,200 rhinos — roughly a third of the country’s rhino population — were living on private reserves, according to the Private Rhino Owners Association (PROA). So far, most of the slain rhinos have been killed in Kruger National Park, the largest game reserve in South Africa. But as the government has ramped up the famous park’s security, poachers have started looking elsewhere.

South Africa’s private security industry already employs nearly

PHOTOS BY MUJAHID SAFODIEN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES

TOP: Protected rhinoceroses roam in an enclosed area of the Kahya Ndlovu Lodge in Hoedspruit, in the Limpopo province of South Africa. ABOVE: The all-female anti-poaching team “Black Mambas” patrol a wildlife reserve in Limpopo.

500,000 guards in homes, malls and offices to supplement a police force overwhelmed by high crime.

In recent years, the anti-poaching industry has trained hundreds more guards to take on the menace in the country’s game parks.

“We’re talking about a global criminal syndicate, and it’s not getting smaller, it’s getting bigger,” says Karl Miller, chairman and chief executive of the GES Group, whose subsidiary in South Africa provides anti-poaching rangers and security personnel to look after 1,600 rhinos across the country. “They’re very well funded, and they’re very heavily armed.”

Between 2007 and 2014, the recorded number of rhinos poached in South Africa soared from 13 to 1,215, according to the government. The animals are killed for

their horns, which can fetch thousands of dollars per pound on the black market in Asia. In recent years, there has been a spike in demand in Vietnam, where the horns are used in what some locals say are cures for maladies as diverse as cancer and hangovers, as well as in such high-end ornaments as cups and bracelets.

The South African government has declared rhino poaching to be a “national priority crime,” and has rolled out initiatives to combat the problem, including boosting security in national parks and moving rhinos to safer areas. In the first eight months of 2016, more than 400 alleged poachers were arrested, according to the government, compared with 343 arrests in 2013 and 267 in 2012.

Although police investigate

poaching crimes that occur on public and private land, landowners largely furnish their own security. “Before, we could get away with having a couple of guys, not formally trained,” says Pelham Jones, chairman of the rhino owners’ association. “We are all now required to provide armed antipoaching units.”

Albi Modise, a spokesman for the country’s Department of Environmental Affairs, said “the security industry plays an important role when it comes to protection of rhino on private game reserves.”

Since 2009, South Africa’s private rhino owners have spent $115 million on security to protect the rhinos, Jones said.

He said that in the past seven years, there have been at least 20 armed attacks by poaching groups on park management or staff. One member of an anti-poaching unit was killed, he said.

Armed anti-poaching units working on private land must be registered with the government, as must their guns. They can legally use weapons on duty, but if they kill a poacher in self-defense, they can be charged with murder, according to security firm owners.

Miller, of GES, said rangers in the private industry sometimes won’t aim their weapons at poachers they encounter, for fear of legal repercussions, and will shoot over their heads instead. Although his staff workers are trained to respond to armed poachers, he says, some guards are less prepared, and that can embolden poachers.

“If it’s an ill-equipped, small unit, the poachers are going to see the soft spots.”

Coordination with police and authorities is improving, says Vincent Barkas, founder of Protrack Anti-Poaching Unit, a security firm. But he said the overall effort to stop rhino poaching remains too disjointed and that, ultimately, it’s the global trafficking syndicates that have the upper hand.

“They call it a rhino war, but we can’t fight a war,” Barkas says.

“We’ve got labor laws. We’ve got to pay overtime. We’ve got all these different rules to follow, and the poacher’s got no rules.” n

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11

WORLD

KLMNO WEEKLY

‘It will never be good here’

BY L OVEDAY M ORRIS AND K AREEM F AHIM

in Irbil, Iraq

A

t the evening service, the priest counseled forgiveness to a congregation with little reason to forgive. They were Christians from Mosul, brutalized by the Islamic State and betrayed, in some cases, by neighbors, and nothing — not the priest’s pleas, not his invocation of Cain and Abel — seemed likely to heal those scars.

Khalid Ramzi, a congregant, seemed to choke on the sermon.

“We can’t fall into the same hole twice. We don’t want our children to be raised in violence and fear,” he said, standing outside the church in Irbil. “Only in our dreams can we go back to Mosul.”

When the militants swept into the city two years ago, Christians were ordered to convert, pay a tax or die. As the Islamic State pushed beyond the city, onto the plains of Nineveh, its advance scattered the rich patchwork of religious and ethnic minorities — Yazidis and Assyrians, Kurds and Shabaks — that made the area a microcosm of diverse Iraq and a place unlike perhaps any in the world.

Churches were torched. Yazidis were massacred or enslaved. Villages emptied as hundreds of thousands of people fled.

Iraqi forces advancing toward Mosul have recaptured some of the villages, raising the possibility of return for the minorities. But it is difficult to imagine the villages whole again, with their emptied streets and houses lying in ruin or despoiled by the militants.

A new order in Mosul and the surrounding region already has begun to take shape, before troops even have entered the city. With competing visions, powerful players including Turkey, Iran, the Kurds and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government are jostling for influence. The battle will forge its own reality, with the violence possibly sending hundreds of thousands of people searching for shelter away from their homes.

And the future of the region will be defined, in many ways, by who

AHMED JADALLAH/REUTERS

Two years of Islamic State rule in Mosul have religious minorities doubtful about going home decides to return.

In Shaqouli, an ethnically mixed village about 12 miles east of Mosul, a few villagers drove back two weeks ago, with one, Asem Hussein, making a forceful case that his neighbors will eventually follow. Some sort of munition had caved in his living room, leaving a tangle of concrete and rebar, and all he had been able to recover were a few blankets and an air conditioner that somehow had survived.

“I am going to rebuild it and stay, and we will rebuild all ruined Iraqi villages,” he insisted.

Shaqouli, he added, “will remain as mixed as it used to be — a mini-Iraq.”

But the mayor, Mamel Qassim, who is Kurdish, had written off the place as lost. It was partly personal: During the Islamic State occupation, the militants had used his house as their headquarters. As a result, it had been crushed by an airstrike, the debris littered with

copies of a weekly paper that the militants distributed.

It was more than that, though.

The Iraqi government — part of the sectarian political order that took hold after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 — was as weak as it ever had been, Qassim reckoned, and ill-equipped to protect minorities. Sunni Arabs from the village had fled or been forced to retreat toward Mosul along with the Islamic State, and the Kurds, like the mayor, had mostly moved to Irbil, in the semiautonomous Kurdish region.

Only the members of the Shabak minority, who were without any powerful patron or a region to call their own, seemed inclined to move back.

“It will never be good here,” said Qassim, adding that he intended to resign as mayor. “It will only get worse.”

Iraq’s news media has been awash with photos and videos in recent days showing soldiers re-

An Iraqi Christian prepares for the first Sunday Mass at the Grand Immaculate Church near Mosul since its recapture.

capturing churches desecrated by the militants — with the implicit message that it will soon be safe for Christians to return. In some of the Christian villages around Mosul, residents said they did intend to move back, but they portrayed the move as more a responsibility than a choice.

“We want to bring back the beauty of this area,” said Benham Shamani, a writer from Bartella, a majority-Christian town east of Mosul, invoking more than a thousand years of Christian heritage in the area.

“Only the original people of the area can return this beauty. Only the people of this area can rebuild it,” Shamani said.

In reality, though, Christians have been leaving Iraq for years, an exodus that began in earnest after the U.S.-led invasion. At the time, the country had around 1.5 million Christians; by the time of the Islamic State’s takeover of Mosul, they were believed to be fewer than 500,000. Now community leaders say at least a third of those who remained have left.

In 2014, France said it would grant asylum to Christians forced to flee Mosul. Some community leaders criticized the move, saying it would devastate what remains of Iraq’s Christians.

But even the community’s leaders concede it will be difficult to go back to Mosul.

To return to the city would be to “remember all the pain, all the threats, all the killing, all the letters with bullets inside. We’ll remember the looks on the street,” said another priest at the Irbil church, the Rev. Zakareya Ewas, as families milled about after the service.

Ewas, a Syriac Orthodox priest, fled Mosul as the militants took over in 2014. His brother moved to Jordan recently after struggling to find work in Irbil — and after hearing that his yogurt factory in the city had been wiped out in a coalition airstrike.

“Now there’s nothing for him to go back to,” Ewas said.

If the Christians of Mosul did return, he said, “it will be just to sell their houses and leave.” n

Talk of the nation Voters sound off about what they want — and don’t want — for the future PHOTOS AND INTERVIEWS

BY T.J. KIRKPATRICK/REDUX

Clodomir Jean-Louis, 27

DES MOINES

“People are very passionate about their views and who they want to support. They put a lot of stock into the people running for office, and once they get those people elected, they discon­ nect from the process. That’s the most serious crime of being a citizen in a country that requires its citizens to be engaged. In a demo­ cratic republic, it doesn’t work if people don’t pay attention. This country has a long history of injustice. We like to focus on the glory of having conquered the westward expansion and having the entire North American continent or piece of it to ourselves. American exceptionalism and all that, but really it’s, at the root, based on injustice. This election cycle seems to focus on pieces of that injustice, so I’m hopeful about that because that’s a national dialogue we have not seen before. Not on this scale. What I fear for the country is the sort of rhetoric I hear from most of the Republican candidates. Where we have the sort of policies that really alienate us on an international level. We truly are a nation of immigrants. America would not exist with­ out immigrants, so if you tell immigrants to stop coming here, what is America?”

TA L K O F T HE N A T IO N

Maggie Laube, 49

PERRYSBURG, OHIO

“I went to public schools, which were not very conservative, until I hit high school. I went to a Catholic school, which was very conservative.

Where you live, you kind of have the same beliefs because you’re in the same circum­ stances, so I saw both sides of it between [the] different schools. I mean, I’m conservative. I think conservative things offer more protec­ tion. I don’t ever want to be dependent on things like my mom had to be to survive, to make sure we had something to eat and a roof over our head. I want people to be able to sustain themselves. I value my vote. I will always vote. I’m not going to be told by any political party who to vote for. I’m not going to let somebody’s money tell me who is going to be the candidate. But I don’t think it matters what I believe and what I want. I could vote some­ body in; it’s not going to mean anything. Once they get in there, they’re going to go with whatever keeps them there. We’re at a point of pivotal change. I’m not afraid of change, I’m just afraid that what we see now is not a real change. It’s just more of the same.”

Carmen Mendoza, 44

ARLINGTON, VA.

“When Obama came into power, it was the first time I felt like an American, even though I’ve been here since I was a kid. I always felt like an outsider. Like there’s another president, an­ other white guy that’s going to take power, and hopefully the decisions they make are good for everybody, not just white middle America.

[Obama] was different. He wasn’t an old white dude. That’s where America is turning. There are people of mixed races now everywhere. It’s been there, but people ignored it. He brought all that to the surface. This is the America that made America what it is. You have to look and learn, then go forward. The faces of America are not white, blond kids with ponytails. When I go at my sisters’ schools and volunteer, and I see those faces, they’re from Somalia and Nigeria and El Salvador and Nicaragua. That’s the future of the country, and you have to accept that it’s changing. I still have the belief that when people go and vote, they look at their children and they want something better for them. All that rhetoric [Donald Trump] brought with his campaign, I don’t think it’s actually going to happen. But what he brought is this segregation. I don’t think that’s going away. He’s stirred something in society, and unless something gets done, it’s not going anywhere positively. That really terrifies me.”

Très Johnson, 46

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA

“If you work really hard, you can make some­ thing happen. I’ve spent 21/2 years diving into this business [a coffee shop], and I’ve created my own livelihood. I get out of my life what I put into it now, and when I talk to immigrants when they come into the country, that’s what their dream is, too. I was politically active when I was 18 years old. I didn’t care about turning 16 and being able to drive, and I didn’t care about turning 21 and being able to drink. I cared about turning 18 and being able to be a part of the voting process. And I got to vote one time, and then I lost my rights. My criminal past slowed me down from moving forward. You start to overthink things and don’t fix the problems, and then at some point I woke up and I’m like, ‘Okay, it’s time to fix this and not blame the system anymore.’ So I broke the law 25 years ago. If I want a gun now to protect myself or whatever, I’m not allowed that same right as some meathead militia man that’s overtaking government offices. Why does he get to protect himself where I can’t? I paid my debt. I’ve done everything. I have a reconciled relationship with the person that I ripped off.

So at what point do I get to be an American again?”

TA L K O F T HE N A T IO N

Kelly Coffee, 38

AUSTIN

“When you don’t agree with someone, people take it as personal attacks. There’s a mentality in this country of ‘It’s us against them.’ No matter what side you’re on. The media focuses on the sensationalism because, let’s be honest, the media is in the business of making money.

What sells? Outrageous, sensationalized sto­ ries. Then everybody gets more divisive and we’re more away from that inclusiveness Amer­ ica was supposed to be about. It’s gotten way lost. We’ve gotten back into a civil war. It’s not the North and the South, it’s the reds and the blues. We want to blame everybody else for something. We want to blame ISIS for this, we want to blame so­and­so for guns and mass murders. It’s easy to point fingers at somebody else instead of yourself. I’m not pessimistic.

Things can be better. There’s more good in the world than bad. Most people just want to live their lives and pay their bills and love their children. They don’t want to be scared. I understand the importance of Barack Obama being president. Not only will little black and African American boys and girls grow up and realize that they can be president, but little white kids will grow up and accept the idea of a black man being president because it won’t mean anything to them.”

Harry Roberts Sr., 89

ORANGEBURG, S.C.

“I’ve lived all of my life in South Carolina, born in 1927. I like to see the right people going in, the right man going in so that we can get this country back on an even keel, because there’s so many things going on. The civil rights is all right, but when they separated the schools down here and the blacks went to school with the whites, trouble started. The mixtures like that and all these foreign people coming in over here, and the government let them come in.

They’re going to take jobs away from the young people, and it just ain’t going to mix. We’re going to have a war, right here. All these people that’s got their cities and stuff bombed out, we don’t have room to accept them. You’ve got so many young people now that does not have a college education. I like Donald Trump. The things that he’s saying is something that we really ought to do. Lower the drug costs, lower the food costs and put the right man in Washington. And of course, the man that goes in, it’s going to take him two years to straighten out the things that Obama’s done. I’m not prejudiced. Most of my customers are black.

The only thing I care about is what color is your money.”

Rita Cheng, 49

POTOMAC, MD.

“People are very skeptical because they saw their parents lose money in the stock market.

They saw their parents lose equity in their home. They saw their parents lose their jobs. I’d like skepticism to come down, and I’d like trust to come up. I don’t know how to do that, other than it takes time to rebuild people’s trust. I believe America is a place of opportunity. Many people from across the world come here to get educated. Talking about opportunity, one thing that does concern me — I’m a certified financial planner — I’m concerned about debts. I’m concerned about global debts in Japan and in Europe. I’m also concerned about our debt here, because debt can impact our opportunity set. I was the first in my family to go to school. I didn’t borrow any money. My parents didn’t borrow any money. I worked. I was able to graduate from school debt­free. That’s [not] possible today. I’m multicultural: My dad is Chinese, and my mom is Irish and Czech. My dad came here with $17 and landed in Wiscon­ sin. He told me it was so cold and he didn’t even have a coat, but he made something of himself.

I would like us to really focus on what does make America great. It’s not perfect, but we have a lot to be thankful for.”

TA L K O F T HE N A T IO N

Nelson Vazquez, 60

CLEMSON, S.C.

“We have these candidates who are very family­ oriented and very positive, and you’ve got one especially that’s very negative, so my overall view is trying to see what comes out of this that can make families stronger. That’s really my hope, because with 70 percent of black mothers raising kids without fathers, [40] percent of the Latinos. When your family is stronger, your neighborhood is stronger, your community is stronger, your state is stronger, the country is stronger. But it is still difficult to think that it’s going to be all that positive. I left Miami and the big city to be in a community like Clemson, where there’s a lot of family values. That was my part in giving my children a good surrounding of other families. I just think that the way that this country was founded, that they had Chris­ tian values, that’s what brought this country together. And those values coincide with family values, so that would be my biggest hope: that that can improve rather than disintegrate, which is what I think has been happening.”

Morris Christie, 61

PHILADELPHIA

“I’m a veteran. I fought for people to come here to be free, so how you going to say you don’t want people to come here to have a chance?

That’s wrong. They ain’t saying nothing they going to do education­wise, or nothing, you know? Trump’s saying: If your mother and father can’t send you to college, that ain’t their problem. That ain’t no leader, and I hate to see how the presidential election is going. What’s with politicians? They want to cut funds on this and that, they’re shutting the schools, shutting libraries, shutting youth programs. There’s only one way for kids to go, and that’s the streets. My parents had it hard bringing me up, but I said I was going to amount to something because of the respect I had in my home.

Politicians don’t care no more about the chil­ dren’s educations, but they’re building prisons and jails, and closing youth centers, and closing schools. I hope if somebody do get in office they’ll think of the American people instead of overseas all the time. Help us here first. There’s people starving in America. I’m going to be honest, what I see coming. We had the Civil War, now it’s going to be overthrow the govern­ ment. If ISIS don’t do it, somebody’s going to because minimum wages ain’t take care of no families now.”

Demri Scott, 20

CASTLE PINES, COLO.

“What I find pleasure in life is doing what I do for College Republicans: I love doing outreach on [the George Washington University] cam­ pus. Sometimes the Republican Party is missing out on the values that it once stood for, and that frustrates me, but [it’s] also why I want to be more involved in the party. Politics nowadays is not about policy anymore, especially this elec­ tion. How do you expect to make your party look good, or expect people to understand your policy, if you’re just bashing the other side constantly? It’s good to be critical of your political affiliation, and I’m critical of the Republican Party because I care. Many of the girls in my sorority are Democrats and they know I’m a Republican, but they still love me and appreciate me for who I am. We realize we have the same goal, to make America great.

Maybe not in Trump’s sense, or Hillary’s sense, but we respect each other. After November, I want the country to be able to look past people’s differences. You’re not a good or a bad person because you’re a Democrat or a Republican.

You’re a good person because you do good things.” n

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2016

16

KLMNO WEEKLY

CULTURE

The kiss These babies who were held or smooched by presidential candidates are all grown up BY

M AY- Y ING L AM

“H

ere is a beautiful specimen of young American childhood,” Andrew Jackson declared as he ex­ amined a dirty­faced baby handed to him at a campaign stop in the early 1800s. It would have been the beginning of the most sacred of campaign traditions, baby kissing, except Jackson foisted the boy on a nearby politician with a directive, “Kiss him,” and scooted away. ¶ We know, of course, why moments with children are such a part of campaigning: It’s humanizing for the candidate. But we generally don’t know about the lives these babies and children go on to lead, or how they ended up in the political spotlight in the first place. Here are four stories of the anointed few.

Fleure Fraser Fleure Fraser was only 3 on June 29, 1999, but she remembers the most important parts of that day. She recalls practicing for the community center dance recital.

She remembers the girls’ parents had worked together to make their pink outfits sparkly, and when it was finally time to perform at the Del Mar Fair, she gave it everything she had.

But when asked about what happened after she got off stage and was whisked away by strangers, Fraser draws a blank. She doesn’t remember being planted in front of presidential candidate George W. Bush as he ate a Cinnabon, or being kissed on the lips by him.

Bush’s appearance at the fair north of San Diego was part of a three-day, seven-city tour through California to go where Republican presidential nominees often ran into trouble: in pursuit of the Latino vote.

That day, political strategist and image guru Mark McKinnon was shooting footage to soften Bush’s image as the candidate roved the fairgrounds. An aide pointed Fleure out to Bush, who knelt to kiss her.

These days, Fraser, 20, is in her last semester at Cuyamaca College

in El Cajon, Calif. She is preparing to apply to nursing school to work toward becoming a midwife.

Fraser has been brought up with a robust media diet including CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. Discussions about the politics of the day are frequent in the Fraser household, but she is having trouble mustering much excitement about her first opportunity to vote in a presidential election.

Her initial excitement about Hillary Clinton’s candidacy waned after seeing Clinton take so many selfies with celebrities. And she feels that there has been a lack of respect for opposing candidates and supporters.

But disappointments with this election aside, Fraser knows she will be there on Election Day to cast her lukewarm ballot.

Kate & Lindsay Handy “BUSH,” the stickers on the twins’ hats declared. The candidate laughed uproariously as he wrangled the girls for a photo op, grabbing hold of one awkwardly by the leg. The twins’ mother, Kathleen Anderson, had prepared them for this moment: chic matching dresses in navy with red accents — subtle but patriotic.

And matching stockings, match-

IAN MADDOX FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

CHAD KIRKLAND FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Fleure Fraser, 20, met George W. Bush in 1999.

Lindsay Handy, left, and Kate Handy, 17, posed with Bush as infants in 2000.

ing shoes and, since it was a wintry day in Provo, Utah, matching headwear.

Anderson had checked her 7year-old son out of school, driven an hour from Salt Lake City and waited patiently for George W. Bush on March 9, 2000. When she arrived, she noticed half a dozen campaign workers pointing at her 7-month-old daughters, Kate and Lindsay. So it was no surprise that after the candidate delivered his stump speech, he made a beeline to Anderson and asked to take a photo with her daughters. A swarm of photographers surrounded them, and the clatter of

camera shutters filled the air.

Bush had particular cause to smile: Sen. John McCain, Bush’s rival and the most formidable roadblock on the path to the Republican presidential nomination, had conceded earlier that day.

Now in their last year of high school, Kate and Lindsay, 17, are busy with classes, varsity cheerleading and figuring out the next chapters of their lives. Lindsay is leaning toward getting a degree in interior design, while Kate is trying to decide whether to become a teacher, cheerleading coach or lawyer.

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CULTURE

WILLIAM DESHAZER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

DARREN HAUCK FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Most of their political knowledge comes from Anderson, who was appointed director of communications for Donald Trump’s Utah campaign operation in August. The girls are just starting to become politically aware. They say they will become more tuned in once they are of voting age.

“I don’t want to be the mother who tells my kids how to think and what to say,” Anderson said.

Luke Ervin Luke Francis Ervin was a serious-minded baby. When he was told to eat, he ate. When he was told to sleep, he slept.

This is the same intensity that Luke brought to a chance encounter with presidential candidate Bill Clinton on July 21, 1992. He had a habit of making strong eye contact with the people around him, and Clinton was no exception. In this sea of constituents, handlers and photographers, Luke appears to be the only one really looking closely to see who this man is.

His aunt, Mary Rodgers, had brought the 5-month-old along as she dropped her daughter off at volleyball camp. That morning, Rodgers didn’t know that the Clinton team had set up at Seneca

Luke Ervin, 24, with Bill Clinton in 1992.

Nick Poulos, left, and John Poulos, 28, encountered Michael Dukakis in 1988.

High School in Louisville. Luke made his national debut in a primary-colored onesie covered in jaunty baseball players — the backup in case of vomit.

After the photo was snapped, Clinton delivered a peck on the infant’s bald head and returned him to Rodgers. Luke’s aunt was already leaning toward voting for Clinton, but the intense spark between the candidate and her nephew solidified her conviction.

Twelve days before, Clinton had chosen Sen. Al Gore as his running mate. Six days after that, the Democratic National Convention officially nominated them to the ticket. Then, for nearly a week, the pair and their spouses toured the American heartland. The Louisville stop was on the docket for the next-to-last day.

Ervin, of course, has no memory of these events. But he decided to take a close look at Clinton once again in 2013. When his history professor at Centre College in Danville, Ky., assigned a research paper on a topic of his choosing, Ervin decided to look into why Clinton’s approval ratings ascended in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. (“It turns out that Clinton was holding and kissing people other than just babies such as myself at campaign events,” he wrote in the introduction.) He ended up presenting it at the 2014 Kentucky Political Science Association annual meeting.

Today, Ervin, 24, is in his final year of law school at the University of Louisville, following in his father’s footsteps. He plans to vote for Hillary Clinton but isn’t sure what to expect from Bill should he become the first first gentleman.

“Hopefully he . . . will be very supportive of Hillary and doesn’t cause any distractions,” he said.

Nick and John Poulos It was Nick and John Poulos’s first Palm Sunday on April 3, 1988, and for the occasion their mother had chosen slick velvet ensembles and tiny tuxedo shirts. It was also the day the 3-month-old twins would unexpectedly meet presidential hopeful and darling of the Greek community Michael Dukakis at the church where the family worshiped in Wauwatosa, Wis. Despite being just two days away from the Democratic primary in Wisconsin, the priest’s wife, Toula Trifon, remembers Dukakis barely uttered a word about politics. In-

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stead, the Massachusetts governor floated around, mingling with parishioners young and old. During the post-service luncheon, Trifon tied an apron around him and stuck a serving spatula in his hand (he was put in charge of the baked cod and onions).

Dukakis was still sporting the apron when he was photographed by the Associated Press at Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church, arms overflowing with the twins. Orbiting them in the picture were those who would watch them grow up over the years and become adults, now 28. Nick is a manager at his father’s auto business; John, a senior financial adviser at Dell. Father Theodore, in shadow at Nick’s left, would later baptize them as infants and marry John and his wife, Nina, in 2015. At the time, Dukakis was in a battle with Jesse Jackson to be the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. He hadn’t yet been dragged down by a Republican ad showing Dukakis in a battle tank wearing an ill-fitting helmet, grinning and pointing. And he hadn’t been pilloried for a controversial furlough program or for his clinical response to a debate question on the use of the death penalty if his wife were raped and killed.

All that would smother Dukakis’s message about the power of the American dream and how his father, a Greek immigrant, had attained it. The Poulos boys’ father, Chris, came from similar beginnings. Chris Poulos arrived in the United States from his native Greece with just $52 — and a little note in his wallet that explained, because he didn’t know English, who he was and that he was headed to Milwaukee to join his sister.

Once he set foot in Wisconsin, Poulos put down roots and worked hard. He met his wife, Mary, with whom he raised four children and built the family business, Chris’ Auto Service.

John fears that the opportunities that made his father’s accomplishments possible no longer exist because of the direction of the economy and the problems he hears his friends are having finding jobs. And he worries those opportunities still won’t be there for his son, Christos, nearly a year old.

Both brothers are dissatisfied with the tenor of this presidential campaign.

“A lot of what I hear is just rhetoric,” John said. n

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BOOKS

Rock’s first intellectual sophisticate N ONFICTION

P HOMEWARD BOUND The Life of Paul Simon

By Peter Ames Carlin Henry Holt.

415 pp. $32

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REVIEWED BY

M ICHAEL L INDGREN

aul Simon was never very happy about his appearance. According to Peter Ames Carlin’s biography “Homeward Bound,” as early as 1966 the young singer “became skilled with his comb, developing new and increasingly convoluted patterns to cover the pink top of his otherwise bushy head.” The alchemy of pop stardom is a curious process, and few stories are as unlikely and as absorbing as that of the Jewish kid from Queens turned folk superstar. Fresh off 2012’s “Bruce,” his take on another quintessentially American subject, Carlin provides a brisk and engaging overview of Simon’s career and protean musical output.

The son of a Newark bandleader and a schoolteacher, the young Simon found his way to rock-n-roll via the radio dial, just as many a future star was doing in bedrooms from Liverpool to Los Angeles. A precocious talent, he teamed up with another neighborhood youth named Artie Garfunkel for a shortlived stab at pop stardom, recording the marginal hit “Hey, Schoolgirl” as Tom and Jerry in 1957.

When his fling with teen-pop stardom flamed out, Simon decided to forgo performance for a foray into the labyrinthine undercurrents of the record industry as a songwriter and producer.

Carlin’s account of this early, near-anonymous phase of Simon’s career is both the most fascinating and the most telling part of the story. Working in the Brill Building, the famed laboratory of the nascent rock industry, Simon found himself alongside other architects of the new sound such as Carole King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was an education in a cheerfully cutthroat approach to songmaking, full of outright theft and baldfaced one-upmanship, built on simulating and repackaging the heat and flash of black music for a white teenage audience. Carlin doesn’t make the point explicit, but the lessons learned in the grimy studios and

JOHN BRIGHT/THE WASHINGTON POST

Paul Simon performs in 1999 in Bristow, Va. “Homeward Bound” particularly shines when exploring the early part of his career.

offices of midcentury Manhattan would shape Simon’s assumptions and methods for the duration of his career.

The fast-and-loose rules of ’60s pop also ended up kick-starting Simon and Garfunkel’s rise into the pop stratosphere. It’s a good story, and Carlin tells it well: In 1964, the duo recorded a lifeless folkie debut album called “Wednesday Morning, 3 AM,” which went nowhere until Columbia Records executive Tom Wilson decided to rerecord a bit of portentous minor-key poetry called “The Sound of Silence” with electric instruments and drums, in the style of Bob Dylan and the Byrds. Within a year, Simon and Garfunkel were “rock’n’roll’s first intellectual sophisticates,” the ragingly popular “elite practitioners of a new pop art form. . . . Poets. Visionaries. Sages.”

For the most part, “Homeward Bound” is crisp and well-paced, not long on psychological depth or detailed analysis, but generally lu-

cid and evocative. Carlin is especially good when writing about the music, describing Simon’s 1973 classic solo tune “Kodachrome” as “revving the engine with a spinning riff . . . piano jangling, drums kicking, horns blaring.”

Carlin is admirably evenhanded when faced with Simon’s sometimes acrid personality; the singer’s acts of sudden generosity often “made it seem impossible for such kindness and compassion to exist within the consciousness of the same man,” and one comes to feel that this mixture of the ruthless and the sensitive is the engine of his entire artistic being. His fractious side surfaces most regularly in his dealings with Garfunkel, who in Carlin’s telling comes across as moody, cerebral and defensive. Chronicling the pair’s half-century dance of partnership and separation, the central dynamic in both men’s lives, is the first challenge faced by any Simon biographer.

The second, of course, is the

fraught, maddening, complex phenomenon that was 1986’s “Graceland” — “this astonishing, troublesome record,” Carlin calls it — which remains the defining achievement of Simon’s career and the apotheosis of both his most brilliant talents and of his darkest, most exploitive instincts.

Simon’s inescapable hit album was built on rhythms he had recorded in then-apartheid South Africa with a coterie of musicians skilled in indigenous genres such as mbaqanga and famo. The resulting music, as effervescent as it was, raised potent issues about cultural appropriation that remain as trenchant today as they were then.

To understand is not to condone; nonetheless, the primary insight supplied by “Homeward Bound” is in the context of Simon’s long history as a musical and cultural magpie. At some point, Carlin reports, “Paul stopped worrying about how he’d be received by musicians and singers he traveled to work with. They all knew he was a big star and that he paid extremely well for their time and help. If he wanted to project their sound and their names to his enormous audience, how could that be a problem?” This is intentionally disingenuous, of course, and the best Carlin can do in the end is to provide a carefully neutral account of the contretemps, observing mildly that “Paul never cared that much about politics.”

Not surprisingly, the long anticline of Simon’s post-“Graceland” career is the dullest part of the book. Simon seems to be content to cede the stage to his younger successors, and the author follows him into a stately late-middle-age eminence, not without a slightly smirking description of his looks as “somewhere between a domesticated rock star and a stylishly hip literature professor.” These days, it can be hard to tell the difference. n Lindgren is a frequent contributor to The Washington Post.

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BOOKS

KLMNO WEEKLY

A suffocating experience for all

Pat Conroy’s final, poignant words

F ICTION

N ONFICTION

T

l

REVIEWED BY

R ON C HARLES

wenty-five years ago, long before billionaires started blasting rockets into outer space, our coolest plan for getting out of here was Biosphere 2. Funded by the scion of an oil baron, the $150 million complex rose from the Arizona desert like something Ray Bradbury might have dreamed up over a tall glass of Tang: a self-contained ecosystem where eight intrepid humans could explore how to someday colonize other planets.

As an experiment, it was wildly — some might say, hilariously — ambitious. A number of reputable scientists were involved, but the project glimmered with New Age pixie dust, too, which made it easy to mock. Some of the socalled Biospherians had previously lived on a commune where they produced avant-garde plays.

Amid an orgy of media coverage, they strode into their three-acre Eden dressed like extras from “Battlestar Galactica.” Not surprisingly, after a few years, the enterprise collapsed under problems you probably have in your own home: way too many cockroaches and not enough oxygen.

As one survivor later reported, “We suffocated, starved and went mad.”

Given the elements of this bizarre story, it’s hard to believe that T.C. Boyle waited so long to write a novel about Biosphere 2.

After all, the environmental impetus behind the project reflects his long-held concerns about our ailing planet. And it offers just the kind of sweaty isolation he’s drawn to: a high-tech steel-andglass version of the sanitariums and communes he’s written about in “The Road to Wellville,” “Riven Rock,” “A Friend of the Earth,” “Drop City” and other entertaining novels.

Boyle follows the plight of Biosphere 2 fairly closely, drawing on news reports and books by several participants, but, of course, he transforms the history

with his own creative vision.

Unfortunately, that vision is shockingly uncompelling.

Thwarted by culty alliances, administrative paranoia and a dollop of charlatanism, the real Biosphere 2 failed for reasons that now seem clear. But how a writer as exciting as Boyle could produce such a dull novel remains a mystery. As it drags on for more than 500 pages, “The Terranauts” inspires a sense of tedium that could only be matched by being trapped in a giant piece of Tupperware.

Part of the problem stems from the novel’s structure. Hitting these satirical targets would seem as easy as shooting fish in the Terranauts’ fake lake, but the story comes to us entirely through three aggressively selfjustifying narrators who alternate chapter by chapter.

It’s like watching “The Bachelor: Terrarium Edition.” The adolescent souls in these adult bodies are numbingly petty — and the novel offers no relief from their flat voices, their obvious confessions, their poisonous jealousy. In chapter after chapter, these scientists drone on about who’s hooking up, who’s sneaking into whose room, who didn’t smile back, who’s being so mean!

Clearly, Boyle intends to demonstrate the social and psychological decay that gradually corrupts this utopian project — that gradually corrupts all utopian projects — but his narrators exhibit none of the development we need to draw us along. The narrators are just as gossipy and smallminded at the beginning as they are at the very distant end of the novel.

Sadly, the man who designed the Terranauts’ home remembered to pack everything in this little space except irony, which turns out to be even more essential to our survival than oxygen is to theirs. n Charles is the editor of Book World.

O THE TERRANAUTS

By T.C. Boyle Ecco. 528 pp. $26.99

A LOWCOUNTRY HEART Reflections on a Life of Writing

By Pat Conroy Nan A. Talese/ Doubleday. 300 pp. $25

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REVIEWED BY

S COTT G RABER

n March 3, 2016, I found myself standing next to my longtime friend Pat Conroy, who was lying in bed in the difficult process of dying. A week earlier, Pat had decided that he was going to leave the hospital, return to his home on Battery Creek in Beaufort, S.C., and let the pancreatic cancer take its course. His wife, Cassandra, had decided to open their home to anyone who arrived with ham biscuits, lemon squares or pimento cheese sandwiches.

The scene was not entirely serene.

While family and friends flowed in and out of the room where he lay, overloaded furniture collapsed, the septic tank failed and a sprinkler head was severed by a car. The failure of the septic system meant that Pat’s view of the marsh was blocked by a cohort of hard-hat-wearing workers wielding shovels and driving backhoes.

As we held Pat’s hand and tried to say something profound, there was a visual chaos that might have been a metaphor for Pat’s remarkably productive, provocative, meaningful life. There was also genuine melancholy.

The melancholy had a lot to do with the fact that this person of bottomless energy and charm was slipping away. We knew that soon there would be an end to the mellifluous words that had filled so many books, and our lives.

What I didn’t know was that Pat had written elegant essays that would be published as “A Lowcountry Heart.”

At first glance, the table of contents might suggest a sweepingup of bits, pieces and unrelated prose. But as one engages the book, one finds Pat returning to the threads that ran through his earlier writing. There are essays on beautiful, talented women (“A Few Things I Wish I Had Told Ann Patchett”); essays on his lifelong ambivalence about Vietnam (“Vietnam Still Haunting Me”); final thoughts on fiction, memoir-

writing and the relative nature of truth (“Pat Conroy Speaks to Meredith Maran”).

But the heart of the book is in the eulogies.

When Pat Conroy was scheduled to give remarks at any funeral, word would spread, filling the pews at First Presbyterian, St. Helena or Brick Baptist. Pat would always begin by saying something breathtakingly candid about the deceased. At the funeral for his father, a Marine fighter pilot, for example, he began by saying his father was very good at killing Chinese soldiers in Korea, and knew they were dead because “he could see that they were on fire.”

After this first salvo of truthtelling, he would explain the essence of the person who was displayed in the prone position in the front of the sanctuary. “A Lowcountry Heart” gives us the essence of Thomas Nugent Courvoisie, Barbara Warley and Heyward Siddons. He tells us why they were important, why they mattered, why he loved them.

Pat and I were classmates at the Citadel in the early 1960s, but when my father died in 1996, Pat reached out and began calling me at night.

“I don’t think I have the ability to really love anyone,” he said to me once.

“Jesus Christ. You love everyone,” I said as I paced in the dark.

“I’m a writer. I judge character for a living. I’m telling you I don’t think I have the capacity for love.”

“A Lowcountry Heart” offers unimpeachable evidence that Pat Conroy was wrong about that: He loved just about everyone he met.

But his enduring romance was with those people who bought his books and stood in line for his signature.

“A Lowcountry Heart” is Pat’s last offering — a victory lap for the legion of readers who bought his books and stood in line to get them signed. It will not disappoint. n Graber is a lawyer in Beaufort, S.C.

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OPINIONS

Candidates should pay for all my extra therapy GIGI ANDERS

I normally see my therapist, Mario, every week. Over the years, he’s become like a big brother to me, the kind of mensch who looks out for you, listens, remembers every detail, gives you smart and sensitive feedback, and cares.

Perfect, right?

Well, it has been. Until late September turned into October. That’s when the nightmare began: This psychotic, all­encompassing, toxic presidential election began driving me absolutely over­the­top crazy. It was more than Mario could handle in 50 minutes once a week.

ISTOCKPHOTO

a freelance journalist in New Jersey, is the author of “Jubana!” and “Little Pink Raincoat.”

The touchy issues being bandied about in newspapers, social media and personal conversations — particularly, immigration and minorities’ and women’s rights — sent me into hyper, unstoppable rants.

(Admittedly, being home alone with a sinus infection, bronchitis and unlimited time spent in the company of CNN and MSNBC didn’t help my outlook.) Political malaise gradually dominated our sessions, compelling me to request an extra weekly appointment until Nov. 9.

Are you beginning to see the real cost of this election? For me, it means paying my therapist double.

And I’m not alone in my angst.

An ABC News poll of likely voters found nearly half reported the election was a source of stress in their lives.

And a survey for the American Psychological Association found many respondents felt the same way.

“We’re seeing that it doesn’t matter whether you’re registered as a Democrat or Republican: U.S. adults say they are experiencing significant stress from the current election,” Lynn Bufka, APA’s associate executive director for practice research and policy, said in a statement.

And of course, Bufka said, all

the political arguments you overhear or get into, the provocative or nasty comments on social media and the constant media bombardment only make it worse.

This is the psychological landscape that confronted me — and Mario. We are both immigrants and political refugees — I from Cuba, he from Argentina — so we understand each other based on shared background, identity and language.

Mario considers himself my “keeper” and is there for me through all my weeks’ meshugas: career, love, health and the daily struggle of being an adult in the world.

But these past few weeks have been something else.

At the beginning of October, once my favorite month, I came down with what felt like the worst flu in the history of humanity: body aches, exhaustion, sore throat, coughing, laryngitis, fever, runny nose, migraines. My teeth hurt; every sound but the purr of my cat, Lilly, deafened me; and the smell of coffee made me sick.

(That last one meant that whatever I had was Really Serious.)

This is what put me in front of the TV and into the initial stages of CNN commentator psychosis.

Days passed, and my confined contagion consisted of sleep, Cream of Wheat, applesauce, tea, emails, texts from my mother telling me to hydrate, Facebook, feeding Lilly, TV news, more TV news and multiple phone sessions with Mario, who said to watch Comedy Central instead of the news. I was too far over the edge to listen.

What ailed me wasn’t some mild form of free-floating election blues. No. This election and its coverage consumed me.

It changed me physiologically.

I’d watch and read the news and grind my teeth. I’d squeeze my hair. I’d drop my head into Lilly’s belly and refuse to budge despite her literally sharp protests. Even my favorite TV commentator, Van Jones, couldn’t make it better, and he is awesome.

Mario upped my anti-anxiety meds and added a short-term dose of an antidepressant, and I continued to talk to him and vent. A lot. I became artificially calmer and less depressed, but I was still politically possessed.

The aftermath of each debate, and then that appalling Al Smith dinner, sent me into psychic paroxysms. I’d spend every last of my 100 weekly therapeutic minutes in a Munchian position: that solitary, abstracted being, screaming alone on a lonely bridge.

Certain words, phrases and names sent me into Pavlovian freakouts: rigged, temperament, locker room, sue, access, Hollywood, “Access Hollywood,” polls, down-ballot, Kellyanne, Billy, Rudy.

When I was able to go to Mario’s office and our session’s time was up, I’d drop into the patients’ sofa like an exhausted, post-tantrum toddler.

And so I came to pay my therapist double to exorcise this political malignancy from my being so I could, you know, function.

Sort of.

Is that right? Is that fair? I didn’t ask for this sicko election.

It was foisted upon me. I am innocent. And I want my money back. I want both candidates to reimburse me for all that extra mileage, all those extra minutes and all those pricey pills.

Or maybe just Huma Abedin.

I doubt her check would bounce.

I’ve been taking my prescriptions faithfully, and I’m slowly starting to feel better.

Also, I turned off the TV. Silence is the best sound ever.

And if I start getting psycho election coverage flashbacks when I go vote on Tuesday or have the urge to discuss politics with Van on Twitter, I’m resistant. A refill of my antianxiety medication awaits. n

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OPINIONS

KLMNO WEEKLY

TOM TOLES

We must fix the Voting Rights Act F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER JR. a Republican from Wisconsin, is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

On Tuesday, Americans will elect a president without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. The last time that happened they were deciding between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater — more than a half-century ago.

In 2013, the Supreme Court declared that voter discrimination was no longer a problem and effectively struck down the only portion of the act designed to stop discrimination before it affects an election. The court let stand the provisions of the act that allow lawsuits after a discriminatory law takes effect, but unfortunately, the United States has learned the hard way that there is no satisfactory cure for discrimination after an election occurs.

At issue is a practice known as pre-clearance. Under the 1965 law, jurisdictions with a history of discrimination had to submit changes in voting practices to the Justice Department for review. But in 2013’s Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down the trigger used to determine which jurisdictions would be subject to pre-clearance, effectively removing this safeguard.

Along with Sen. Patrick J.

Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), I introduced the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2015 to modernize the original law and to respond to the Supreme Court’s objections in Shelby County. The bill recognizes the importance of pre-clearance, but applies it evenly across all 50 states. Under the new law, any state or jurisdiction that demonstrates a consistent pattern of discriminatory voting practices would be subject to pre-clearance. When the discrimination stops, the jurisdiction would automatically be freed from the requirement.

This bill offers a modern and thoughtful response to voter discrimination that ensures the minimal possible federal interference in state elections.

Unfortunately, despite the legislation having more than 100 co-sponsors, Congress still has not acted on it.

To not act at all suggests they

believe that Congress should not allow federal oversight of local elections no matter how discriminatory and unfair those elections are. I do not believe that is an acceptable position.

The country is already suffering from Congress’s failure to modernize the Voting Rights Act. Without the full law in place, Americans face unnecessary legal battles, confusion and inefficiency at the polls, and a potentially discriminatory election process.

To date, there have been a number of significant cases brought against states regarding election laws — some with litigation still pending as Election Day approaches. The case League of Women Voters et al. v. the State of North Carolina challenged the state’s new voting laws, which implemented a state voter ID requirement and made changes to early voting and same-day voter registration practices. In Arizona, litigants brought suit against the Arizona secretary of state’s office, challenging polling-place closures in Maricopa County, which reduced locations by 70 percent since 2012 — opening only 60 polling stations in the 2016 primary election compared with more than 200 in 2012 and 400 in 2008.

Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, these cases would have been reviewed directly by the Justice Department, eliminating the need for costly litigation and ensuring that election laws were settled before Election Day. The Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2015 would not only restore Section 5 and pre-clearance practices, but also help relieve complications caused by state and local changes to voting laws. It would modernize the VRA to apply to all states equally and include transparency provisions, such as requiring officials to give public notice within 48 hours of certain voting changes that are made 180 days before a federal election. This would help reduce hours-long wait times for voters, give the public ample time to adjust to changes in polling locations and secure proper identification in states that require it.

The right to vote is fundamental to a successful, prosperous nation. It is imperative that the process is fair, accessible and protected from discrimination, doubt and partisan gamesmanship. If voters are worried about rigged elections, Congress must act with urgency to pass the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2015. n

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2016

22

OPINIONS

BY MARGULIES

Cubs stared into abyss — and won THOMAS BOSWELL is a Washington Post sports columnist.

CLEVELAND — The Chicago Cubs won the World Series here Wednesday night for the young, the old and the long dead, too. Of course these Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-7, in 10 thrilling, brainwarping innings in Game 7 for themselves, for their own joy and glory.

But as they have been reminded endless times in the past seven months of this baseball season, they also won the Cubs’ first title since 1908 for the citizens of a nation without borders. They lifted the silly “curse” of Murphy the Goat and roused the spirits of a worldwide legion of interwoven sufferers who share a passion and an affliction — a lifelong freely chosen Cubness.

Because this game went beyond the baseball surreal, because it provided forgetfulness and forgiveness for several Cubs who might have been enormous goats, including reliever Aroldis Chapman and Manager Joe Maddon, it seemed to encapsulate the team’s long history of staring into the abyss.

Only this time, at long last — it only took a century or so — the abyss blinked.

At 12:47 a.m., after 4 hours 28 minutes, the mound mob scene began. Just a guess: It was better

than the one in 1908.

How fitting, after all of this, that the Cubs would become the first team since 1985 to have the fortitude to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a World Series. And the first since 1979 to win the final two games on the road.

No one season erases a century of lousy teams, bad management and a half-dozen famous choke jobs, including defeats in the NLCS in 1984 and 2003 when the Cubs held three-run leads but lost and did it with haunting misplays, whether by first baseman Leon Durham or one of their own fans. But this season, with its balm and blessings aplenty, will have to serve — and considering the style with which this whole affair was completed — it should more than suffice.

From now on, wherever two or three Cubs fans are gathered together and still wonder, smacking their foreheads, how Jose Cardenal once missed a game because his eyelids were

KLMNO WEEKLY

BY HALL

stuck together, there will be joy and relief whenever Nov. 2, 2016, is recalled. And there will be amazement, too, that they were resilient and hopeful for so long — and perhaps just a touch dopey for sticking with America’s biggest bunch of baseball losers.

Poor Cleveland. Now it is the leader in frustration, without a World Series title since 1948.

Perhaps there has never been a World Series in which there was as much or perhaps more focus on the fans of the two teams, both living and long departed.

In the past 40 years, there has certainly never been a World Series crowd so divided in loyalty.

The cause: Enormous numbers of Cubs fans paid huge prices for tickets on the secondary market.

Among the reveling Cubs fans was Kevin O’Brien, a Chicago lawyer wearing a vintage Bruce Sutter jersey.

“If you count from birth, which I do, I’ve been a Cubs fan for 55 years,” he said. “My mom’s 82, and she’s been a Cubs fan all her life, too. She used to clean the Wrigley Field bleachers after games in the ’40s and ’50s to get free tickets to the next game.

“So I was stuck. The whole family are Cubs fans — brothers, sisters, cousins,” said O’Brien, who was asked how much he had paid for his ticket since he was, in

a sense, representing all branches of his family. “Too much. Not going to say,” he said. “But my wife is happy it was less than her engagement ring 26 years ago.”

When the Cubs fell behind 3-1 in this series, some Cubs fans simply hoped this series would be extended back to Cleveland for a sixth game so that they could glimpse their team in a World Series for the first time since 1945 even if the Cubs ultimately lost.

“In Wrigley Field, tickets were $3,000, $4,000 or $5,000. I live there, and I couldn’t get into my own park,” said Eddie Opitz, 58, a truck driver from Mount Prospect, Ill., who found a much cheaper ticket here for the Cubs’ victory in Game 6. “I called my wife this morning. Last week was our 25th wedding anniversary.

She said, ‘So you’re coming home today, right?’ I said, ‘Errrrrr . . . ’ ” “I wish it wasn’t Cleveland we had to beat. What they’ve gone through all these years is so much like us,” Opitz said long before that final winning pitch. “Wish it could’ve been the Yankees.”

But after 108 years, the Cubs and their fans have come to a decision: They won’t be picky.

They will just take this World Series — and its incredible final Game 7 — in their loving arms and toddle off into a long and blissful winter. n

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2016

23

LAWS

KLMNO WEEKLY

Your ballot selfie may be illegal BY

A BBY O HLHEISER

J

ustin Timberlake flew from Los Angeles to Memphis, his home town, recently so he could vote early in the 2016 elections. We know this because Timberlake decided to encourage his Instagram followers to also go out and vote by posting a selfie from the voting booth, his electronic ballot visible in the background.

“There could be early voting in your town too. If not, November 8th!” Timberlake wrote. “Choose to have a voice! If you don’t, then we can’t HEAR YOU! Get out and VOTE!” Great idea for a “go vote” message from someone with millions of Instagram followers, right? Not quite, because in Tennessee, it’s illegal to take photos or videos in a polling place.

Timberlake has since deleted the incriminating selfie after a day of confusion over whether the star would face any legal consequences for posting it (he won’t).

But the confusion sums up the state of the laws across the country that govern voter selfies, as a recent review from the Associated Press of each state’s policy makes clear. It’s illegal in 18 states to take them, the AP found in their review in late October. Ballot selfies are legal in 19 other states, plus the District of Columbia, even if many of those states appear to frown upon the practice.

And in a few states, like California, existing bans have gone to court in a series of last-minute battles to clarify whether voters will be able to snap selfies with their ballots on Tuesday.

For the rest of the country, though, the answer to the question “Can I take a selfie with my ballot?” is basically some degree of “Who knows?”

In Texas, the law prohibits photographs within 100 feet of a polling station, but it says nothing about snapping and posting a picture of a mail-in ballot. Oklahoma officials told the Associated Press that the law appears to ban it, but the penalties for violating the law

Can you take that ballot selfie?

People love documenting their participation in democracy by taking and sharing a ballot selfie. But are they legal?

DATA COMES FROM AN ASSOCIATED PRESS REVIEW OF EACH STATE’S STANCE ON BALLOT SELFIES, PUBLISHED OCT. 23, 2016. WE’VE UPDATED THIS MAP TO REFLECT ANY CHANGES SINCE THEN.

by posting a ballot selfie aren’t clear. In Missouri, voters are banned from showing their ballots to anyone else if the “intent is to show how they voted,” the AP writes. The Missouri secretary of state’s office told AP that ballot selfies were a “gray area” under that prohibition.

Those are the easier ones to explain. California recently passed a bill repealing its ban on voters showing others their filled-in ballots — a 125-year-old law that, according to the AP, the state has never actually enforced — but it won’t go into effect until after this Election Day. This past week, a federal judge denied the American Civil Liberties Union’s request to allow voter selfies on Tuesday in the state.

Even in Connecticut, a state that the AP listed as a place where voter selfies are “legal,” based on a statement to them from the Connecticut secretary of state’s office, officials have the power to ban behavior that “threatens the or-

derly process of voting or the privacy of another voter’s ballot” at their discretion, which could presumably include ballot selfies.

Other states have gone to court to determine whether it’s okay to ballot-selfie, with photo-sharing supporters arguing that it’s a right under the First Amendment. A federal judge banned Indiana from enforcing its law against ballot selfies last year. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit struck down New Hampshire’s 2014 ban in September.

Just weeks before the election, a federal judge ruled that Michigan couldn’t enforce its ban on ballot photographs. But it looks like the Michigan ban is back on the books again, for now, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati ruled that the state could enforce its ballot selfie ban on Tuesday after all.

Michigan was just one of a handful of states facing lastminute court challenges to their bans. A judge refused to block New

THE WASHINGTON POST

York’s ballot selfie ban on Thursday. In Colorado, a federal judge was still considering whether to block the ban there as of Friday morning.

A lot has changed since 2014, when The Intersect first looked at the legality of ballot selfies. For one thing, several states appear to have clarified their policy on the practice, either through the legislative process or through statements to, for instance, the AP for their recent review. But the tension that makes this such a weird issue to resolve is still more or less the same: “It’s a very unusual case,” says Jeffrey Hermes, the deputy director of the Media Law Resource Center in New York. “Usually banning political speech would be a violation of the First Amendment.

But with photography at polling places, there’s an intersection of two fundamental aspects of democracy: freedom of speech and the integrity of the voting process.” n

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2016

24

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