Senate Democrats Blast Pentagon Over Coronavirus “Failure”
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper speaks alongside President Trump. Alex Wong/Getty For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Ten Senate Democrats are blasting the Defense Department’s response to the coronavirus crisis, criticizing leaders in a letter released Monday for a “slow and disjointed response” that left troops at risk. “Civilian…
New York Has Finally Promised to Close Some Streets to Cars
New York’s Sixth Avenue is nearly free of cars in mid-April.Richard B. Levine/Levine Roberts/ZUMA For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Residents of New York City, the nation’s coronavirus hot spot, will soon be able to walk, run, skate, and bike on the city’s already vacant streets. Mayor Bill…
Today Brings More Weird Tap Dancing About COVID-19 Testing
NBC News For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Chuck Todd asked Dr. Deborah Birx this morning about scaling up COVID-19 testing: Birx said the task force intends to continue working with states to scale up testing for those sick with the virus. “At the same time,” she added,…
Who Invented the Phrase “Social Distancing”?
The World Health Organization would like to retire the phrase “social distancing” in favor of “physical distancing.” Their logic is impeccable: viruses are transmitted when you get physically close to another person, not when you’re chatting on FaceTime or holding a virtual meeting on Zoom. As long as you’re physically separate, you should feel free…
Trump’s Briefings Have Spent Hours on Self-Praise and Personal Attacks—and Just Minutes on COVID-19 Victims
Drew Angerer/Getty For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Some intrepid reporters at the Washington Post have waded through transcripts of all 35 White House coronavirus press briefings since March 16 and analyzed more than a day’s worth of President Donald Trump’s statements. What they found isn’t pretty, but…
Are We Falling Behind on R&D?
Alex Tabarrok is unhappy about the amount of money we’re spending on R&D to fight COVID-19: The latest relief bill contains another $320 billion in small business relief and $25 billion for testing. Finally, we get some serious money to actually fight the virus. But as Paul Romer pointed out on twitter, this is less…