The Men Leading Trump’s Coronavirus Response Should Terrify You
Gripas Yuri/ZUMA President Donald Trump has been scrambling to project confidence and cool-as-a-cucumber calm after the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control issued a warning earlier this week that outbreaks of coronavirus in the United States are inevitable. His various statements have rattled many, sparking worries that Trump is undermining government scientists in order to prevent further…
Lead Is Bad For Swedish Children Too
Matt Yglesias points out today that a Swedish paper about lead poisoning in children has finally been accepted for publication, and this gives me an excuse to republish what I wrote a few years ago when it was still a working paper. Here it is. Just as in the US, Sweden phased out leaded gasoline…
Coronavirus Is Deadlier Than the Flu
Just in case you’re curious, it’s true that the mortality rate of the COVID-19 virus is about 2 percent so far. However, it’s not true that this is the same mortality rate as the flu. In the United States, here’s the CDC’s estimate: This comes to about 0.13 percent, a small fraction of the COVID-19…
The Most Racist Thing I Saw Today Was Republicans Telling Lucy McBath and Lauren Underwood They’re “For Sale”
During Tuesday night’s debate in South Carolina, former New York City Mayor and billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg almost said what he was probably thinking: That he “bought” the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives when he spent $100 million through his super PAC on Democrats during the 2018 midterms. Let’s just go on the…
Donald Trump Just Announced Mike Pence Will Lead the Response to Coronavirus
President Donald Trump with Vice President Mike Pence after a news conference with members of the coronavirus task force at the White House in Washington on WednesdayGripas Yuri/ZUMA At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump announced Vice President Mike Pence will oversee the administration’s coronavirus response. Pence “has got a certain talent for…
American Conservatives Have Fallen in Love with the Right-Wing Son of Brazil’s President
Eduardo Bolsonaro in São Paulo on October 14, 2019.Roberto Casimiro/Zuma In October, Eduardo Bolsonaro made a shocking statement. The son of Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right authoritarian president of Brazil, suggested in an interview that his country may need to return to the tactics employed by its former military dictatorship to help crush his father’s enemies…