A field guide to Trump's dangerous rhetoric
All leaders are demagogues. You may not realize this, because we’ve come to associate the word “demagogue” with only dangerous populist leaders. But in Greek, the word just means “leader of the people” (dēmos “the people” + agōgos “leading”).
US sets coronavirus infection record; deaths near 224,000
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The U.S. coronavirus caseload has reached record heights with more than 83,000 infections reported in a single day, the latest ominous sign of the disease’s grip on the nation, as states from Connecticut to the Rocky Mountain West reel under the surge. The U.S. death toll, meanwhile, has grown to 223,995, according to the COVID-19 Dashboard published by Johns Hopkins University. The total U.S. caseload reported on the site Friday was 83,757, topping the 77,362 cases reported on July 16. The impact is being felt in every section of the country — a lockdown starting Friday at the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s reservation in South Dakota, a plea by a Florida health official for a halt to children’s birthday parties, dire warnings from Utah’s governor, and an increasingly desperate situation at a hospital in northern Idaho, which is running out of space for patients and considering airlifts to Seattle or Portland, Oregon. In the southern Idaho city of Twin Falls, St.
The wealthy are prepping for tax increases with these three strategies
The wealthy are preparing for tax increases, working with their accountants to give away money or shift their income to avoid some of the impact of higher rates. With rising deficits at the state and federal levels, as government spending soars and revenue drops from the Covid-19 crisis, taxes are likely to go up in coming years, especially for the highest earners. Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden told wealthy donors at a fundraiser Monday that he planned to forge ahead with his campaign plan to hike taxes on the wealthy.
So Many Coronavirus Patients Don't Get to Say Goodbye
Read: The pandemic broke end-of-life care Sometimes, a nurse or doctor managed to connect the patient with their loved ones before the tube went in. But dyspnea is a medical emergency, after all, so in many cases there was simply no time for that last call, or anyone available to arrange it. As the disease progressed, families were left clustering around a phone as a hospital worker held up the device for a final goodbye on FaceTime. Often, the family could talk to their loved one, but not vice versa.
Grief Films For Children
There’s no way to sugarcoat it: The pandemic has plunged the world into a crisis of grief. It has caused the deaths of more than 290,000 people in the United States, many of them grandparents and parents. In New York State alone, 4,200 children lost a parent or caregiver to Covid-19 between March and July, according to a study from the United Hospital Fund. (These were the most recent figures available on parental death from Covid.) For any family who lost a loved one this year, regardless of the cause of death, the pandemic has kept them from being able to properly mourn their loss.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Calls for Congress to Spend Stimulus Money
Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, gave a speech on Tuesday and, as a result, likely can expect a barrage of incoming tweets shortly. Put simply, Powell says that, due to the pandemic of which the president* told us not to be afraid, an economic calamity is looming unless a lot of somebodies in Washington get scared enough to freaking do something. From CNN: A second wave of coronavirus could "more significantly limit economic activity, not to mention the tragic effects on lives and well-being," Powell said.
Doomsday Clock Set At 100 Seconds To Midnight, Issuing Dire Warning Of Apocalypse
Topline: The Doomsday Clock was set 100 seconds to midnight Thursday—20 seconds closer than its previous time—indicating that the world is closer to the apocalypse than it has been since the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists began tracking it over 70 years ago. During a Thursday press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., former California governor Jerry Brown, Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, and former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon unveiled the clock’s new time.Rachel Bronson, the group’s president and CEO, said, “Today we feel no more optimistic” about the world’s outlook, and that the current environment is unstable due to inaction on climate change and a precarious nuclear landscape, and urged the world’s leaders to act on these two issues, or else disaster will occur.“If decision makers fail to act, citizens around the world should echo the words of climate activist Greta Thunberg and say, ‘How dare you?’” Big number: 17 minutes.
Data reveal deadliness of COVID-19, even in young adults
Even though all-cause mortality due to COVID-19 may not be known for a while, two new studies highlight that 173,300 (79.5%) of excess deaths from March through August were COVID related, with 4,535 deaths occurring from March through July in younger adults ages 25 to 44, or 38% of all excess deaths in that group. Data from the latter study helped inspire a New York Times editorial yesterday by the likely next director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and her colleagues, who tried to dispel the myth that the disease is not deadly in younger adults. The first study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that almost 220,000 excess deaths occurred between March and August, even after adjusting for a growing and aging US population. As the Annals researchers write, though, "Estimating the true burden of COVID-19 will require continued monitoring of excess deaths by cause.
These 10 Billionaires Have Gained The Most Money Since Trump’s 2016 Election
America’s first billionaire president has been great for the nation’s billionaires, especially these top 10 gainers. Donald Trump’s stint in the White House has been a smashing success for America’s billionaires, who were collectively worth $2.9 trillion the day Trump was elected and are now worth nearly $1 trillion more, thanks to a 60% rise in the U.S. stock market. An even more elite group of billionaires has had it especially good.
A dystopian robo-dog now patrols New York City. That's the last thing we need
The New York police department has acquired a robotic police dog, known as Digidog, and has deployed it on the streets of Brooklyn, Queens and, most recently, the Bronx. At a time that activists in New York, and beyond, are calling for the defunding of police departments – for the sake of funding more vital services that address the root causes of crime and poverty – the NYPD’s decision to pour money into a robot dog seems tone-deaf if not an outright provocation. As Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx, put it on Twitter: “Shout out to everyone who fought against community advocates who demanded these resources go to investments like school counseling instead. Now robotic surveillance ground drones are being deployed for testing on low-income communities of color with underresourced schools.”
The U.S. COVID-19 Death Toll’s True Extent
Read: What young, healthy people have to fear from COVID-19 Elledge’s analysis covers COVID-19 deaths through early October; by then, Americans had collectively lost about 2.5 million years of life. Three months later, he estimates, the total is probably about 4.5 million. Patrick Heuveline, a demographer at UCLA, estimates that by the end of 2020 there were enough deaths in the U.S. to lower life expectancy at birth to 77.7 years. In 2019, life expectancy was 78.8 years, which would mean a drop-off of roughly a year from 2019 to 2020, and, depending on as-yet-unavailable data about deaths last year, the drop-off could be even larger.
Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
In a candid conversation with Frank Rich last fall, Chris Rock said, "Oh, people don’t even know. If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets." The findings of three studies, published over the last several years in Perspectives on Psychological Science, suggest that Rock is right. We have no idea how unequal our society has become. In their 2011 paper, Michael Norton and Dan Ariely analyzed beliefs about wealth inequality. They asked more than 5,000 Americans to guess the percentage of wealth (i.e., savings, property, stocks, etc., minus debts) owned by each fifth of the population.
