Music: Jorja Smith — ‘Rose Rouge’
Trump’s America is slipping away
Ronald Brownstein writes: Donald Trump is running for the presidency of an America that no longer exists. Trump in recent weeks has repeatedly reprised two of Richard Nixon’s most memorable rallying cries, promising to deliver “law and order” for the “silent majority.” But in almost every meaningful way, America today is a radically different country than it was when Nixon rode those arguments to win the presidency in 1968 amid widespread anti-war protests, massive civil unrest following the assassination of…
Solving the climate crisis is about everything and everyone
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson writes: The Black Lives Matter movement is not a distraction from saving the planet. We can’t solve the climate crisis without people of color, but we could probably solve it without racists. Whether it’s Hurricane Katrina or air pollution, storms and exposure to toxins cause much greater harm to communities of color. (Although, yes, in the longer term, climate change is coming for us all, even if you have a bunker in New Zealand.) So it follows…
Supreme Court rules large swath of Oklahoma is Indian reservation
The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that much of eastern Oklahoma falls within an Indian reservation, a decision that could reshape the criminal-justice system by preventing state authorities from prosecuting offenses there that involve Native Americans. The 5-to-4 decision, potentially one of the most consequential legal victories for Native Americans in decades, could have far-reaching implications for the people who live across what is now deemed “Indian Country” by the high court. The lands include…
America is refusing to learn how to fight the coronavirus
David Wallace-Wells writes: Just before the holiday weekend, on the day that Donald Trump stood beneath Mount Rushmore and warned against “a merciless campaign to wipe out our history” and the day before his Washington, D.C., fireworks display generated air pollution 15 times the EPA standard and roughly equivalent to the choking megacities of India and China, the state of Arizona reached a terrible pandemic milestone. For the first time in its history, indeed for the first time in any…
Women are most affected by pandemics — lessons from past outbreaks
Clare Wenham et al write: Women are affected more than men by the social and economic effects of infectious-disease outbreaks. They bear the brunt of care responsibilities as schools close and family members fall ill. They are at greater risk of domestic violence and are disproportionately disadvantaged by reduced access to sexual- and reproductive-health services. Because women are more likely than men to have fewer hours of employed work and be on insecure or zero-hour contracts, they are more affected…
Doctors are better at treating Covid-19 patients now than they were in March
The Verge reports: In early March, most doctors in the United States had never seen a person sick with COVID-19. Four months later, nearly every emergency room and intensive care physician in the country is intimately familiar with the disease. In that time, they’ve learned a lot about how best to treat patients. But in some cases, they’re still taking the same approach they did in the spring. “There’s so much that’s different, and so much that’s the same,” says…
Retractions and controversies over coronavirus research show that the process of science is working as it should
A high-profile paper on the risks of hyrdoxychloroquine was recently and rightfully retracted. AP Photo/John Locher, By Mark R. O’Brian, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York Several high-profile papers on COVID-19 research have come under fire from people in the scientific community in recent weeks. Two articles addressing the safety of certain drugs when taken by COVID-19 patients were retracted, and researchers are calling for the retraction of a third paper that evaluated behaviors that mitigate coronavirus…
Music: Kansas Smitty’s — ‘Sunnyland’
Trump Tulsa rally ‘likely’ source of virus surge, local health official says
The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa that drew thousands of people in late June, along with large protests that accompanied it, “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said Wednesday. Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and another 206 cases on Tuesday. Although the health department’s policy is to not publicly identify individual settings where people may…
Churches were eager to reopen. Now they’re a major source of new coronavirus cases
The New York Times reports: Weeks after President Trump demanded that America’s shuttered houses of worship be allowed to reopen, new outbreaks of the coronavirus are surging through churches across the country where services have resumed. The virus has infiltrated Sunday sermons, meetings of ministers and Christian youth camps in Colorado and Missouri. It has struck churches that reopened cautiously with face masks and social distancing in the pews, as well as some that defied lockdowns and refused to heed…
Facebook ad boycott organizers met with Zuckerberg. It was ‘nothing more than a PR exercise’
CNN reports: Civil rights and activist groups blasted Facebook’s leadership on Tuesday after meeting with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives to discuss the demands of a large advertiser boycott that now includes hundreds of brands. “The meeting we just left was a disappointment,” said Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change. “[Facebook] showed up to the meeting expecting an ‘A’ for attendance.” Free Press, a media activist group and one of the organizers of the #StopHateForProfit campaign to…
Jack Posobiec, promoted by Trump, collaborated for years with white supremacists, neo-fascists and antisemites
SPLC Hatewatch reports: Jack Posobiec, a correspondent for One America News Network (OANN) whose work has been embraced by President Trump, collaborated for years with white supremacists, neo-fascists and antisemites, a Hatewatch investigation has determined. Posobiec’s ties to far-right extremists travel beyond borders into Europe. His connections to white supremacy are too numerous to compile into one article, so Hatewatch is running a series of stories on the correspondent’s ties to the movement and promotion of it. This first story…
Mexico border towns try to protect themselves from infected Americans crossing amid Covid-19 fears
The Guardian reports: As he campaigned for the presidency, Donald Trump promised to build a “big beautiful wall” along the US-Mexico border, claiming it would keep migrants out of the country and stop everything from drugs to disease. But with Covid-19 cases surging on both sides of the frontier, towns in northern Mexico are pleading to restrict cross-border movement – this time to stop tourists and travellers bringing in coronavirus from the US. Over the weekend, townspeople in Sonoyta on…
I read Kanye West’s interview about his ‘presidency’ aspirations so you don’t have to
J’na Jefferson writes: I personally don’t think anyone should be giving Kanye any attention, and talking about him or making fun of him instead of encouraging him to get help doesn’t do anyone any favors. As a former fan, I’ve done a very good job of not viewing much about this “presidential run” over the last few days for my own sanity. However, I’ve got a job to do, dammit, and if that means destroying my wellbeing while doing it,…
What can bonobos teach us about the nature of language?
Lindsay Stern writes: One spring day in 2005, a yellow school bus carrying six passengers turned onto a freshly paved driveway seven miles southeast of downtown Des Moines, Iowa. Passing beneath a tunnel of cottonwood trees listing in the wind, it rumbled past a life-size sculpture of an elephant before pulling up beside a new building. Two glass towers loomed over the 13,000-square-foot laboratory, framed on three sides by a glittering blue lake. Sunlight glanced off the western tower, scrunching…