Health Care

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Camus’ novel of a lethal contagion in the North African city of Oran is filled with characters all too recognizable today: indifferent or incompetent officials, short sighted and selfish citizens, and lots of great courage. What not even Camus could imagine, however, is a society in the midst of […]

Epidemics

Despite the Opposition of Some, The Science is Clear: Masks Stop the Spread of Coronavirus and should be Mandatory

The Conversation

By Jeremy Howard | I’m a data scientist at the University of San Francisco and teach courses online in machine learning for fast.ai. In late March, I decided to use public mask-wearing as a case study to show my students how to combine and analyze diverse types of data and evidence. Much to my surprise, […]

Donald Trump

Dr. Bright to Congress: With 85,000 already Dead, US Gov’t Coronavirus Inaction threatens us with “Darkest Winter in Modern History”

Juan Cole

The testimony of Dr. Rick Bright on Thursday was a remarkably low-key affair given the bombshell revelations Ruiz divulged of the paralysis, inaction and frankly stupidity of the Trump administration regarding the looming coronavirus catastrophe back in January and February. We all saw Trump himself say stupid things like that the virus was a hoax […]

Democracy

Democracy is not a Luxury in Times of Pandemic

Elizabeth F. Thompson

Washington, D.C. (Special to Informed Comment) – While some pundits extol the virtue of strong government (i.e., dictatorship) in fighting Covid-19, Middle Eastern activists are once again mobilizing to insist that democracy is not a luxury in a time of pandemic. “Systems of government that are more democratic and transparent will keep citizens safe,” argues […]

Epidemics

Who is “Essential” to our Covid-19 World? A Military Spouse’s Perspective on Fighting this Pandemic

Tomdispatch

By Andrea Mazzarino | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – “When he first came home, it was tough.” So Aleha, the wife of an airman in Colorado, told me. She was describing her family’s life since her husband, who lives with chronic depression, completed a partial hospitalization program and, in March, along with other members of […]

African-Americans

Covid-19: No, we’re not all in this Together; Some Americans are being put at much Greater Risk

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – There is a meme circulating in this time of pandemic that we are all in this together, that Covid-19 is, as New York Governor Cuomo stated, the “great equalizer.” From one vantage point, this appears to be true: last week a staff person to Vice President Pence and […]

Afghanistan

If only we Had that $6.4 Trillion we wasted on Iraq and Afghanistan to Lift the Economy and Fight Coronavirus

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Wouldn’t it be nice if the richest country in the world had some resources stored up to deal with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and the worst health crisis since the 1918 Influenza Pandemic that killed 600,000 Americans? I mean, we had a $21 trillion a year […]

Education

Neoliberalism starved our Classrooms of Resources for 50 Years, and then Covid-19 Budget Cuts Hit

Tomdispatch

By Belle Chesler | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – Do you hear that silence? That’s the absence of footsteps echoing through our nation’s public school hallways. It’s the silence of teaching in a virtual space populated with students on mute who lack a physical presence. It’s the crushing silence of those who are now missing, who […]

Donald Trump

Your Crazy Uncle Sam strikes again, Vetoing Global Peace to own the ChiComs

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Under Trump, America has officially become the world’s crazy uncle Sam. On Friday, the US used its veto power to block a United Nations resolution calling for a global ceasefire during the coronavirus pandemic. The resolution had been called for by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The move left all the […]