Trump Says the Coronavirus Is No Big Deal. The Disease Won’t Stay On Message.
Gripas Yuri/Abaca via ZUMA Press 2:30 p.m. ET: Trump on Saturday announced the first death inside the US from the coronavirus. The victim was a woman in her 50s with underlying health problems, he said, adding that additional cases are likely. 5 p.m. ET: Turns out the victim was a man. On Wednesday, in front…
You Do Not Need a Three-Month Supply of Spam
Why are people stockpiling canned goods and water? The coronavirus, of course. But does that make any sense? Are we really expecting the virus to lead to a collapse of the country, a collapse so complete that water utilities stop functioning and truckers all stop making deliveries? I understand the logic behind stockpiling an extra…
US and Taliban Sign Deal for Withdrawal of American Forces From Afghanistan
Afghans celebrate the Taliban ceasefire that began a week ago. Will it continue during the 14-month withdrawal of US forces? Nobody knows.Xinhua via ZUMA We have signed a peace deal with the Taliban! Or, more accurately, we have signed a peace deal with the IEoAwinrbtUSaasaikatT, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by…
The CDC Screwup, Explained Very Briefly
Test results from a PCR assay of a herpes virus.Mohammad Hadi Sadeghian et al., Open access I finally got curious about how and why the CDC managed to botch COVID-19 testing so badly. The answer isn’t complicated, but I still have questions. The whole story is pretty short. The CDC test is a PCR¹ assay,…
Medicare for All May Not Be the Poison Pill Biden and Buttigieg Are Banking on
Bernie Sanders points at Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg during a Democratic presidential primary on February 19, 2020, in Las Vegas.John Locher/AP South Carolinians who turned on the television this week likely watched a 30-second ad in which Pete Buttigieg explains that some of his opponents in the Democratic presidential primary “say it’s Medicare for…
We Asked an Epidemiologist the Questions People Have Been Googling About Coronavirus
Mother Jones illustration Misinformation about the novel coronavirus has been running rampant ever since the respiratory ailment emerged in Wuhan, China, late last year. Here at Mother Jones, we’re all about setting the record straight. Google recently revealed the top questions that people have been asking about the epidemic. We took that as our cue…