U.S. had biggest decline in life expectancy in nearly 80 years in 2020

U.S. had biggest decline in life expectancy in nearly 80 years in 2020

Live Science reports: U.S. life expectancy dropped a striking 1.5 years in 2020 — the largest decline since World War II — as a result of the high death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report, which is based on preliminary death data for all of last year, estimated that U.S. life expectancy fell from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77.3 years in 2020. That’s the…

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There’s no emotion we ought to think harder about than anger

There’s no emotion we ought to think harder about than anger

Martha C Nussbaum writes: There’s no emotion we ought to think harder and more clearly about than anger. Anger greets most of us every day – in our personal relationships, in the workplace, on the highway, on airline trips – and, often, in our political lives as well. Anger is both poisonous and popular. Even when people acknowledge its destructive tendencies, they still so often cling to it, seeing it as a strong emotion, connected to self-respect and manliness (or,…

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The course of the pandemic may depend on how many people are ultimately swayed to get vaccinated

The course of the pandemic may depend on how many people are ultimately swayed to get vaccinated

The New York Times reports: They acknowledged that they could have showed up months ago. Many were satisfied that they were finally doing the right thing. A few grumbled that they had little choice. On a single day this past week, more than half a million people across the United States trickled into high school gymnasiums, pharmacies and buses converted into mobile clinics. Then they pushed up their sleeves and got their coronavirus vaccines. These are the Americans who are…

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‘We could have prevented this’ The scientist Eric Topol on the Delta variant and its dangerous impact

‘We could have prevented this’ The scientist Eric Topol on the Delta variant and its dangerous impact

David Wallace-Wells writes: At present, there are two big anchors to conventional-wisdom thinking on the Delta variant: that those already vaccinated remain exceedingly well protected against the new, more transmissible strain; and that those who aren’t remain exceedingly vulnerable. But a third fact seems, to me, to be just as significant, in assessing the COVID risks the country faces going forward: that the age skew of the disease and the age skew of vaccine penetration, taken together, mean that the…

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GOP sees widening rift over promoting Covid shots

GOP sees widening rift over promoting Covid shots

Politico reports: The Republican Party is being torn apart by the debate over whether to more aggressively promote Covid-19 vaccines, pitting those alarmed by the virus’ resurgence against a faction that has spent weeks sowing fear about the immunization push. The deepening divide became apparent this week on Capitol Hill and across the party, with a contingent of prominent conservatives vocally advocating for the shots — even as others emphasized the need for the GOP to stick to principles of…

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The doctor who creates and profits from misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines

The doctor who creates and profits from misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines

The New York Times reports: The article that appeared online on Feb. 9 began with a seemingly innocuous question about the legal definition of vaccines. Then over its next 3,400 words, it declared coronavirus vaccines were “a medical fraud” and said the injections did not prevent infections, provide immunity or stop transmission of the disease. Instead, the article claimed, the shots “alter your genetic coding, turning you into a viral protein factory that has no off-switch.” Its assertions were easily…

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Why I’m sure Trump will run for president in 2024

Why I’m sure Trump will run for president in 2024

Michael Wolff writes: To write three books in four years about Donald Trump has been an immersion into his obsessions and fixations. This is why I know the obvious: Donald Trump will run for president again. This spring, in another of his compulsive bids for attention — indifferent to whether it is good or bad — he hosted me at Mar-a-Lago, even after I had written two unflattering books about him (one whose publication he tried to stop), for an…

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Bolsonaro once said he’d stage a military takeover. Now Brazilians fear he could be laying the foundation for one

Bolsonaro once said he’d stage a military takeover. Now Brazilians fear he could be laying the foundation for one

The Washington Post reports: In a television interview two decades ago, the fringe congressman didn’t hesitate to say it: If he were president, he would shut down the Brazilian congress and stage a military takeover. “There’s not even the littlest doubt,” Jair Bolsonaro said. “I’d stage a coup the same day [I became president,] the same day. Congress doesn’t work. I’m sure at least 90 percent of people would party and clap.” Now the congressman is president of Brazil, and…

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As pandemic worsens, ‘it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks,’ Alabama’s Republican governor says

As pandemic worsens, ‘it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks,’ Alabama’s Republican governor says

Politico reports: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued an impassioned plea for residents of her state to get vaccinated against Covid-19, arguing it was “time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks” for the disease’s continued spread. “I want folks to get vaccinated. That’s the cure. That prevents everything,” Ivey, a Republican, told reporters in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday. “Why would we want to mess around with just temporary stuff?” she said. “We don’t need to encourage people to just go halfway…

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Is climate change happening faster than expected? A climate scientist explains

Is climate change happening faster than expected? A climate scientist explains

Grist reports: Climate scientists have long warned that global warming would lead to extreme heat in many parts of the world. But the 120 degree Fahrenheit temperatures brought on by the heatwave in the Pacific Northwest in June were more in line with what researchers had imagined would occur later this century. “Astonished” is the word Michael Wehner, an extreme weather researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, used to describe his reaction to the heat in an interview with National…

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Arrest of a Trump friend, Tom Barrack, sends key message

Arrest of a Trump friend, Tom Barrack, sends key message

Norman Eisen, Claire Finkelstein and Richard Painter write: This week, Tom Barrack, who was the chair of Donald J. Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee, was charged with multiple crimes, including conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The prosecution is a welcome first step to rein in both foreign lobbying generally and the corruption seemingly surrounding the former president specifically, but much more is needed on both counts. Barrack allegedly tried to influence Trump’s 2016 campaign and…

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What the Ben & Jerry’s decision reveals about Israel

What the Ben & Jerry’s decision reveals about Israel

Yasmeen Serhan writes: No company does progressive politics quite like Ben & Jerry’s. The Vermont-based ice-cream maker has a reputation for corporate activism, owing to its support for a wide array of left-wing causes, including marriage equality, Occupy Wall Street, and Black Lives Matter. But when the company announced this week that it will no longer sell its products in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, it faced an outcome that every ice-cream maker fears most: a meltdown. The matter of Israel’s…

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Covid vaccines have higher approval in less affluent countries

Covid vaccines have higher approval in less affluent countries

Nature reports: People in low- and middle-income countries tend to be much more willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine than are those in the United States, according to an analysis that included poll results from a dozen countries. The analysis, reported on 16 July in Nature Medicine, found that 80% of individuals surveyed in ten low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) in Asia, Africa and South America were willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 65% in the United…

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Suddenly, (some) Republicans are all in on the vaccine

Suddenly, (some) Republicans are all in on the vaccine

Susan Glasser writes: Since the end of the Trump Presidency, Republicans have been ratcheting up the doom-and-gloom quotient in their rhetoric. By this spring, they settled on a narrative of permanent crisis—to be blamed on President Biden, of course. There was the Biden Border Crisis. The Crime Crisis. The Inflation Crisis and its corollary, the High-Gas-Price Crisis. The Critical-Race-Theory Crisis. Even, this week, the Ben & Jerry’s-Is-Mean-to-Israel Crisis. America under Biden, to hear them tell it, has become a hellscape…

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