Stephan: The American neoliberal vampire economic system was already coming unglued before the Covid-19 pandemic broke no matter what the stock market had to say. But the grotesque mismanagement of this crisis has brought that failure to create equitable economics into its own crisis. Consider unemployment; this report lays it out.
What should have happened, of course, is what happened during the Great Depression under Roosevelt: the creation of the Works Project Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and a host of other programs. Trump and those around him couldn't see this because they don't see the importance of social wellbeing. And so we have a depression level unemployment level with none of the Rooseveltian creativity and guidance. As a result, the virus crisis, I think, is just a first step in the restructuring of American economics. To me that's not the issue, it is going to happen. The question is: How long is this restructuring going to take?
Rectangles are painted on the ground to encourage homeless people to keep social distancing at a city-sanctioned homeless encampment across from City Hall in San Francisco, California, on May 22, 2020, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty
The rash of layoffs sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and statewide lockdowns are expected to increase homelessness by up to 45%, according to a new analysis by an economist at Columbia University.
The analysis estimates that about 250,000 people could be left homeless as a result of skyrocketing unemployment. The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that there were 568,000 homeless people in the country in January, before the outbreak.
Stephan: This is how I see the mask protest movement. First, Trump created a manliness issue and made mask-wearing its symbol. For men who overcompensate because of insecurity about their maleness it was irresistible, and they were joined by the women who choose to associate with such men. Second, when the anti-mask movement is combined with not believing in evolution, (40%), and believing in Biblical literalism (30%), we are being told there is somewhere between 30% to 40% of the American population who do not live in a fact-based world. The Great Schism Trend is on display.
In the last few weeks a spate of American stores have made headlines after putting up signs telling customers who wear masks they will be denied entry. On Thursday, Vice reported on a Kentucky convenience store that put up a sign reading: “NO Face Masks allowed in store. Lower your mask or go somewhere else. Stop listening to [Kentucky governor Andy] Beshear, he’s a dumbass.”
Another sign was posted by a Californian construction store earlier this month encouraging hugs but not masks. In Illinois, a gas station employee who put up a similar sign has since defended herself, arguing that mask-wearing made it hard to differentiate between adults and children when selling booze and cigarettes.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump finally caved and wore a face mask yesterday – something he didn’t want to “give the press the pleasure of seeing”. But while it is gratifying to see the emperor finally forced to wear clothes, you’ve got to wonder to what extent the virus will spread thanks to the actions of citizens insisting on protecting their “freedom” over the right of others not to get sick.
Stephan: At this point, I would say it is about a 60% / 40% chance as to whether we as a species overcome our greed, stupidity, and Abrahamic thinking that we have dominion over the earth, before the environmental shift we are creating becomes a catastrophe. Today I would say it was 60% we don't.
Brazilian rainforest clearcutting Credit: Charlie Rogers / Moment / Getty
As the COVID-19 virus was spreading around the world, deforestation in the world’s rainforests rose at an alarming rate, the German arm of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said in a study published on Thursday.
The study, which analyzed satellite data of 18 countries compiled by the University of Maryland, found that deforestation rose by 150% this March compared 2017-2019 average for the same calendar month.
Around 6,500 square kilometers (2,510 square miles) of rainforest were felled in March alone — an area seven times the size of Berlin, the WWF said.
“This indicates that we’re dealing with a coronavirus effect on the exploding rates of deforestation,” Christoph Heinrich, the head of nature conservation with WWF Germany, said in a statement.
Indonesia Forests Hit Hardest
The forests most heavily hit by deforestation in March were in Indonesia, with more than 1,300 square kilometers lost.
The Democratic Republic of Congo saw the second-largest forest loss with 1,000 square kilometers followed by Brazil with 950 square kilometers.
The Brazilian non-profit research institute Imazon told news […]
Stephan: Donald Trump is worried about the upcoming election so he is doing everything he can to open churches this weekend in support of his willfully ignorant Magas, most of whom are Fundamentalist White Protestants. These are the folks you see defying common sense and their community responsibility by openly going around without masks. Like everything Trump does his interest in opening churches is entirely self-referential; he couldn't care less about the peasants in their anti-intellect churches.
In fact, as a result of the Maga churches opening, I predict you will see a marked increase in the incidence of Covid-19 in those communities. In the interest of full disclosure this is a pretty solid prediction because the data shows this is exactly what has happened in the past.
Summary
What is already known about this topic?
Large gatherings pose a risk for SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
What is added by this report?
Among 92 attendees at a rural Arkansas church during March 6–11, 35 (38%) developed laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, and three persons died. Highest attack rates were in persons aged 19–64 years (59%) and ≥65 years (50%). An additional 26 cases linked to the church occurred in the community, including one death.
What are the implications for public health practice?
Faith-based organizations should work with local health officials to determine how to implement the U.S. Government guidelines for modifying activities during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent transmission of the virus to their members and their communities.
On March 16, 2020, the day that national social distancing guidelines were released (1), the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) was notified of two cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from a rural county of approximately 25,000 persons; these cases were the first identified in this county. The two cases occurred in a husband and wife; the husband is the pastor at a local church (church A). The couple (the index […]
Stephan: Republicans don't like democracy, and they are willing to put their money where their mouths are. If you are an urban woman, a person of color, a young voter, they don't want you to vote. It's that simple.
AP Photo/Morry Gash
The Republican Party is building a program to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers in over a dozen states to conduct anti-”voter fraud” efforts, which means monitoring polls and challenging votes and voter registrations, according to the New York Times.
The party, backed by President Donald Trump, is spending $20 million on its efforts, which intends to recruit up to 50,000 volunteers in 15 states to “monitor polling places and challenge ballots and voters deemed suspicious,” the Times reports. The money is also intended to fight Democratic-backed lawsuits against alleged voter suppression efforts on the part of Republicans.
The GOP appears to be capitalizing on a 2018 federal court decision allowing a decades-long consent decree to expire, which had barred the Republican National Committee from pursuing certain “ballot security” measures. In that effort in New Jersey in 1981, the RNC started a “ballot security task force” of armed, off-duty police officers to patrol minority-majority precincts in Newark and Trenton.
