Coronavirus Growth in Western Countries: July 2 Update
Here’s the coronavirus death toll through July 2. Why are Sweden and the UK having such a hard time making the final push below 2 deaths per million? The raw data from Johns Hopkins is here. The Public Health Agency of Sweden is here.
How Real Conspiracies Inspired False Rumors About Flooding Black Communities With Fireworks
An amateur fireworks display in Brooklyn from June.Stephanie Keith/Getty For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.John Williams had just finished his fourth novel and was trying to figure out how to sell it. His 1967 book, The Man Who Cried I Am, focused on a CIA plot to stave…
Megha Majumdar Has Written a Thriller for the Least Summery Summer Ever
Mother Jones illustration; Elena Seibert For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.In the opening pages of Megha Majumdar’s new novel, A Burning, Jivan witnesses a terrorist attack at a train station in Kolkata, India. Scrolling through Facebook later, she sees a clip of a woman wailing that nearby…
The Trump Files: When Democrats Courted Donald
Mother Jones illustration; Shutterstock For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.This post was originally published as part of “The Trump Files“—a collection of telling episodes, strange but true stories, and curious scenes from the life of our current president—on July 28, 2016. Democrats weren’t always bashing Donald Trump.…
How Steve Reich Made Music Out of White Complicity
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.In the spring of 1964, the New York Times reported that six young Black men were indicted for the murder of a shopkeeper. The article is short on context, clipped, half-said. Two years later, James Baldwin, in his essay “A Report From Occupied Territory,”…
Wildland Firefighters Are Risking Their Mental Health
In 2015, Danny Brown discovered his friend, Dave Ruhl’s burnt corpse lying among the lava rocks after the Frog Fire erupted in Modoc National Forest in northern CA. For the past 4 years, Danny has not only battled PTSD and the effects of that traumatic day but also the BLM after they forced him into…