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Category: Politics

Coronavirus infections are peaking again. Here’s how it’s different this time

Coronavirus infections are peaking again. Here’s how it’s different this time

The New York Times reports: The first wave of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States never really ended, and cases are surging again. But this time, a different and much bigger swath of the country is feeling the effects. The first peak came at the beginning of April: About 30,000 cases were reported per day, but the biggest hotspots were concentrated in just a few regions. With the right steps, public health experts said, there was still a chance…

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Young Americans are partying hard and spreading Covid-19 quickly

Young Americans are partying hard and spreading Covid-19 quickly

Bloomberg reports: Covid-19 is increasingly a disease of the young, with the message to stay home for the sake of older loved ones wearing off as the pandemic wears on. The dropping age of the infected is becoming one of the most pressing problems for local officials, who continued Wednesday to set curfews and close places where the young gather. U.S. health experts say that they are more likely to be active and asymptomatic, providing a vast redoubt for the…

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Trump is in power because as a nation we have lost our way

Trump is in power because as a nation we have lost our way

David Rothkopf writes: “Being president,” former First Lady Michelle Obama has said, “doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are.” In this moment, we may also need to acknowledge that presidents also reveal much about who we are. American presidents do not exist outside the systems or times that produced them. Great presidents—like Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and, arguably, Lyndon B. Johnson—have emerged when the nation has risen to meet challenging circumstances. And, granted, most presidents…

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Trump’s Mount Rushmore fireworks show is a Fourth of July attack on Indigenous people

Trump’s Mount Rushmore fireworks show is a Fourth of July attack on Indigenous people

Nick Tilsen writes: On Friday, President Donald Trump will continue his tour of racism and colonialism, moving from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the sacred Black Hills. Make no mistake, this visit is an attack on Indigenous people. I visit the Black Hills alongside many other Lakotas every year as part of a tradition we have maintained for thousands of years. Stretching from what is now known as South Dakota into Wyoming, they are a sacred place that I take my family…

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Black Lives Matter may be the largest movement in American history

Black Lives Matter may be the largest movement in American history

The New York Times reports: The recent Black Lives Matter protests peaked on June 6, when half a million people turned out in nearly 550 places across the United States. That was a single day in more than a month of protests that still continue to today. Four recent polls — including one released this week by Civis Analytics, data science firm that works with businesses and Democratic campaigns — suggest that about 15 million to 26 million people in…

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To the rest of the world, we’re now America the racist and pitiful

To the rest of the world, we’re now America the racist and pitiful

Robin Wright writes: The real saga of the Statue of Liberty—the symbolic face of America around the world, and the backdrop of New York’s dazzling Fourth of July fireworks show—is an obscure piece of U.S. history. It had nothing to do with immigration. The telltale clue is the chain under Lady Liberty’s feet: she is stomping on it. “In the early sketches, she was also holding chains in her hand,” Edward Berenson, a professor of history at New York University,…

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How an ancient Indian emperor replaced the sound of war with the sound of ethics

How an ancient Indian emperor replaced the sound of war with the sound of ethics

Sonam Kachru writes: In the Khyber valley of Northern Pakistan, three large boulders sit atop a hill commanding a beautiful prospect of the city of Mansehra. A low brick wall surrounds these boulders; a simple roof, mounted on four brick pillars, protects the rock faces from wind and rain. This structure preserves for posterity the words inscribed there: ‘Doing good is hard – Even beginning to do good is hard.’ The words are those of Ashoka Maurya, an Indian emperor…

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With new Covid-19 cases hitting a high, Trump revisits his fantasy: The virus will just go away

With new Covid-19 cases hitting a high, Trump revisits his fantasy: The virus will just go away

Philip Bump writes: Over the past five months, President Trump’s approach to the coronavirus pandemic has swerved around a bit, with the president at times embracing strict controls meant to contain the virus and, at others, the urgent need to scale back those controls to boost the economy. But there’s been no more consistent message from Trump than his most defiantly optimistic one: At some point, the virus will simply disappear. Speaking to Fox Business’s Blake Burman on Wednesday, the…

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Covid-19 cases rose by nearly 50 percent last month, led by states that reopened first

Covid-19 cases rose by nearly 50 percent last month, led by states that reopened first

The Washington Post reports: Coronavirus infections in the United States surged nearly 50 percent in June as states relaxed quarantine rules and tried to reopen their economies, data compiled Wednesday showed, and several states moved to reimpose restrictions on bars and recreation. More than 800,000 new cases were reported across the country last month, led by Florida, Arizona, Texas and California — bringing the nation’s officially reported total to just over 2.6 million, according to data compiled by The Washington…

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Trump would do anything for Putin. No wonder he’s ignoring the Russian bounties

Trump would do anything for Putin. No wonder he’s ignoring the Russian bounties

Michael McFaul writes: Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to have paid Taliban rebels in Afghanistan to kill U.S. soldiers. Having resulted in at least one American death, and maybe more, these Russian bounties reportedly produced the desired outcome. While deeply disturbing, this effort by Putin is not surprising: It follows a clear pattern of ignoring international norms, rules and laws — and daring the United States to do anything about it. Putin sees the United States as his central enemy….

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Facebook can’t be reformed

Facebook can’t be reformed

Charlie Warzel writes: “We know we have more work to do.” That was the line from numerous Facebook representatives last week in reaction to the #StopHateForProfit advertising boycott campaign. Intended to pressure the company to curb hate speech and misinformation, the boycott has been joined by several high-profile brands, including Unilever and Verizon, and could make a rare dent in Facebook’s ad revenue. The campaign seems to be having an effect. On Friday, Facebook announced that it would add labels…

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Gun demand is off the charts in America

Gun demand is off the charts in America

Bloomberg reports: U.S. consumers are rushing to buy guns as the Covid-19 pandemic and protests over police brutality combine with U.S. presidential politics to fuel unprecedented demand. Firearm background checks compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a proxy for gun purchases, jumped to a record in June as street demonstrations spread around the U.S. That extended a surge that began in March as the coronavirus prompted lockdowns across the country. The boom is lifting the shares of gunmakers Smith…

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Trump refuses to lead as pandemic gets worse and allies desert him on masks

Trump refuses to lead as pandemic gets worse and allies desert him on masks

Stephen Collinson writes: Most Presidents would try to stop the United States from barreling toward disaster. But Donald Trump has nothing to say and no answers to mitigate a calamity unfolding on his watch that he seems resolved to ignore. On the day when the government’s top infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci said he would not be surprised to see the US record 100,000 new coronavirus cases per day, Trump refused to break his deafening silence. And the day after…

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U.S. buys up world stock of key Covid-19 drug remdesivir

U.S. buys up world stock of key Covid-19 drug remdesivir

The Guardian reports: The US has bought up virtually all the stocks for the next three months of one of the two drugs proven to work against Covid-19, leaving none for the UK, Europe or most of the rest of the world. Experts and campaigners are alarmed both by the US unilateral action on remdesivir and the wider implications, for instance in the event of a vaccine becoming available. The Trump administration has already shown that it is prepared to…

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Trump on Twitter inflames an already burning culture war

Trump on Twitter inflames an already burning culture war

Josh Dawsey writes: President Trump returned from his Virginia golf course Saturday afternoon and turned his Twitter feed into a crime blotter. In less than five minutes, the president posted 15 fliers from the United States Park Police to his 82.6 million followers, complete with grainy photos of Americans suspected of vandalism at Lafayette Square. The images hearkened to the kinds of posters one would see on the wall of a local post office. The president’s messages about protesters and…

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Russia did pay extremists to attack U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, Taliban sources confirm

Russia did pay extremists to attack U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, Taliban sources confirm

Business Insider reports: Taliban commanders have confirmed that Russia has offered financial and material support to its members in exchange for attacking US forces in Afghanistan. The practice was first reported on Friday by The New York Times, which cited US intelligence officials. President Donald Trump has since strongly denied that he was told of this intelligence and attacked its credibility, characterizing the existence of Russian bounty payments as fake. But three separate Taliban sources told Insider they were aware…

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