Trump’s Tulsa Rally Is Looking Increasingly Disastrous, Top Health Official Warns
President Trump at a rally in February.Brian Cahn/ZUMA For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.As the Trump campaign barrels through growing opposition to its plans to hold its first rally since the lockdown began in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the city on Wednesday reached yet another grim milestone: 96 new…
Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, Drops a Powerful Music Video Demanding Change
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Some mayors dance around the core challenges of the moment, while other mayors dance—and sing, and rally—to meet them. Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, released a video for “What We Want,” his recent EP’s title track. He appears onstage with…
The Rich Still Aren’t Spending Like They Used To
Here’s a fascinating chart from the New York Times: First of all, it’s interesting to see how fast spending plummeted: it declined by a third within the space of less than two weeks. That’s unreal. Second, it shows how effective the UI bonus payments have been. These payments go to the unemployed, who are largely…
The US Lags Way Behind Europe in COVID-19 Mortality
I saw a post today comparing COVID-19 cases in the United States to the European Union, but since I don’t really trust case counts I skipped by it. Still, it got me curious, so I decided to take a look at COVID-19 deaths in the US vs. the EU. What I got was two curves…
Retail Sales Returned (Almost) to Normal in May
Here’s some pretty good news. Retail sales rebounded very nicely in May: Retail sales declined by $79 billion between February and April, but recovered 81 percent of that loss in May. This is only a single month, and it’s not evidence of a “v-shaped” recovery—not yet, anyway—but it’s still good to see. With money from…
Consumer Protection Panel Actually Wants to Deregulate Wall Street, Lawsuit Alleges
Graeme Sloan/AP For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.In October 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—tasked with enforcing federal regulations on financial institutions—announced the creation of a new task force to conduct an “objective and independent evaluation” of current financial regulations. On Tuesday, the watchdog group Democracy Forward…