Giraffes are in far greater danger than people might think

Giraffes are in far greater danger than people might think

Ed Yong writes: Until recently, giraffes have suffered from surprising scientific neglect. Few researchers have studied them in the wild, so even basic aspects of their lives remain mysterious. Perhaps that’s because giraffes live in what researchers suspect are protean societies lacking the cohesiveness of elephant herds or lion prides. Whatever the reason, one of the world’s most conspicuous creatures has somehow been overlooked. The same goes for its impending extinction. And without fanfare, many other major animal groups—insects, birds,…

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America shuts down

America shuts down

Politico reports: Financial markets are careening. Public tours of the very symbols of American political power — the White House, Capitol Hill and Supreme Court — are being put on hold while some congressional offices are shuttering altogether. Campaign rallies are being canceled. Professional sports leagues have suspended play. And Broadway is shutting down. Each day, more and more employees are working remotely at companies large and small. Even the White House is considering mass teleworking. Schools are being closed…

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‘This is preeminently the time to speak the truth’

‘This is preeminently the time to speak the truth’

Cass R. Sunstein writes: The coronavirus epidemic has produced several different kinds of crises. It is of course a public health crisis, first and foremost. But it’s also an economic crisis, an international-relations crisis and a crisis of public morale. Fear is widespread and mounting. The U.S. has not been here before, but it has been in the vicinity. In some ways, the closest analogy is to the Great Depression. There was no pandemic, of course, but the economic crisis…

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Trump’s coronavirus speech sparks ‘total chaos’ in his own administration

Trump’s coronavirus speech sparks ‘total chaos’ in his own administration

The Daily Beast reports: President Donald Trump’s Oval Office address Wednesday evening was supposed to calm concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. Instead, it sparked panic and confusion. Not just among the markets, U.S. travelers, and international leaders but within his own administration, as well. Two officials in the U.S. State Department told The Daily Beast that foreign service officers and diplomats were unprepared for the president’s announcement and spent the early hours of Thursday scrambling to figure out…

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Trump is ensuring the worst possible outcome for the coronavirus crisis

Trump is ensuring the worst possible outcome for the coronavirus crisis

David Frum writes: At every turn, President Trump’s policy regarding coronavirus has unfolded as if guided by one rule: How can I make this crisis worse? Presidents are not all-powerful, especially not in the case of pandemic disease. There are limits to what they can do, for good or ill. But within those limits, at every juncture, Trump’s actions have ensured the worst possible outcomes. The worst outcome for public health. The worst outcome for the American economy. The worst…

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Coronavirus infections frequently spread by people yet to show symptoms

Coronavirus infections frequently spread by people yet to show symptoms

The Guardian reports: Many coronavirus infections may be spread by people who have recently caught the virus and have not yet begun to show symptoms, scientists have found. An analysis of infections in Singapore and Tianjin in China revealed that two-thirds and three-quarters of people respectively appear to have caught it from others who were incubating the virus but still symptom-free. The finding has dismayed infectious disease researchers as it means that isolating people once they start to feel ill…

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Trump’s travel ban sidesteps his own European resorts

Trump’s travel ban sidesteps his own European resorts

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s new European travel restrictions have a convenient side effect: They exempt nations where three Trump-owned golf resorts are located. Trump is already under fire for visiting his properties in both countries as president, leading to U.S. taxpayer money being spent at his own firms. The president has been saddled with lawsuits and investigations throughout his term alleging that he’s violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause by accepting taxpayer money other than his salary. The U.S. government…

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As many as 10,000 in Britain may already have coronavirus, says prime minister

As many as 10,000 in Britain may already have coronavirus, says prime minister

The Guardian reports: Up to 10,000 people may already have coronavirus in Britain and many families should expect to lose loved ones before their time, Boris Johnson warned on Thursday as he set out measures less stringent than those taken by other countries. Medical, scientific and public health experts criticised the steps outlined to tackle what the prime minister described as the “worst public health crisis for a generation”, including ending school trips abroad, stopping older and vulnerable people taking…

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EU condemns Trump travel ban as Italy death toll passes 1,000

EU condemns Trump travel ban as Italy death toll passes 1,000

The Guardian reports: The EU has condemned Donald Trump’s unilateral ban on travel from 26 European countries as urgent efforts to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic continued to upend daily life for millions of people around the world. Ireland, Austria, Turkey and Norway on Thursday joined the growing list of countries to close all schools, universities and kindergartens, while Italy – by far the hardest-hit European nation – said its death tally rose to 1,016 from 827,…

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Trump is reluctant to declare an emergency after having repeatedly compared coronavirus with the flu

Trump is reluctant to declare an emergency after having repeatedly compared coronavirus with the flu

Who knows what this means, but it sounds good to me! https://t.co/rQVA4ER0PV — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 8, 2020 Politico reports: President Donald Trump is reluctant to declare an expansive emergency to combat the escalating coronavirus outbreak, fearful of stoking panic with such a dramatic step, according to three people familiar with the situation. Instead, the president is expected to sign within days a more limited designation to allow the federal government to cover small business loans, paychecks for…

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White House demand for secrecy excludes government experts from coronavirus deliberations

White House demand for secrecy excludes government experts from coronavirus deliberations

Reuters reports: The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials. The officials said that dozens of classified discussions about such topics as the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions have been held since mid-January in a high-security meeting room at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), a key…

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Wuhan officials tried to cover up covid-19 — and sent it careening outward

Wuhan officials tried to cover up covid-19 — and sent it careening outward

Dali L. Yang writes: Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, was getting ready in early January for the Jan. 6-17 “two sessions,” where local and provincial leaders would gather to discuss the state of affairs at the local/provincial levels. These sessions take place annually throughout China, and authorities mobilize stability maintenance systems to get rid of troublemakers and forestall protests. Local authorities are also motivated by the desire to hide undesirable developments from Beijing. When experts from Beijing arrived to…

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‘It’s just everywhere already’: How delays in testing set back the U.S. coronavirus response

‘It’s just everywhere already’: How delays in testing set back the U.S. coronavirus response

The New York Times reports: Dr. Helen Y. Chu, an infectious disease expert in Seattle, knew that the United States did not have much time. In late January, the first confirmed American case of the coronavirus had landed in her area. Critical questions needed answers: Had the man infected anyone else? Was the deadly virus already lurking in other communities and spreading? As luck would have it, Dr. Chu had a way to monitor the region. For months, as part…

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Sanders supporters can actually get a lot of what they want via Biden

Sanders supporters can actually get a lot of what they want via Biden

Jamelle Bouie writes: [I]f the goal is to move America to the left — to craft and pass policies that help ordinary people — then a Biden candidacy isn’t the end of the game. He represents an opportunity. You can see what this might look like in Virginia, where the Democratic majority in the General Assembly just finished its legislative session. In 2017, Virginia Democrats faced a difficult choice about the future of the party. Would they nominate a forceful,…

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‘Assault on democracy’: A sitting federal judge takes on John Roberts, Trump and Republicans

‘Assault on democracy’: A sitting federal judge takes on John Roberts, Trump and Republicans

The Washington Post reports: Lynn S. Adelman, a U.S. district judge in Milwaukee, has riled conservatives by publishing a blistering critique of the Supreme Court’s record under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., focusing on a string of decisions that he argues have fostered “economic inequality,” “undermined democracy” and “increased the political power of corporations and wealthy individuals” at the expense of ordinary Americans. Adelman also criticized President Trump, who he wrote ran as a populist but failed to deliver…

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For nine years, multinationals like Shell and Bayer funded a prominent climate denier

For nine years, multinationals like Shell and Bayer funded a prominent climate denier

Follow the Money reports: Frits Böttcher would later refer to it as a ‘historic moment’. On December 21, 1989, the retired chemistry professor visited Shell’s headquarters in Amsterdam. That day, Shell supervisory director Jan Choufoer was going to introduce him to the head of the company: managing director Huub van Engelshoven. Böttcher was highly regarded in the Netherlands. He’d been teaching at Leiden University for decades, and he was on various supervisory boards: Pakhoed, Hoogovens, Elsevier Scientific publishers and 11…

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