The president’s executive order on social media will kick off a heated debate over free speech on the internet that will, in all likelihood, lead to nothing. This manufactured dispute is a distraction for the media, and it will almost certainly be an effective one. It would be in everyone’s interest – including its own – if Twitter pulled the plug on this specious debate, banned Trump for repeated and egregious violations of its rules, and helped us all focus on what’s more important.
More than 100,000 people in the United States have died of Covid-19, more than any other nation in the world. The figure is probably an undercount.
More than 1.7 million people in the US have had confirmed cases of Covid-19, more than any other nation in the world. The figure is almost certainly an undercount.
The US federal government completely botched the rollout of testing for the coronavirus at the beginning of the pandemic, and continues to lag in providing adequate testing for its populace.
Before the pandemic, more than 38 million Americans were living in poverty.
More than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment in the past 10 weeks.
Before the pandemic, 11.2 million US children lived in a food-insecure household.
Experts project that pandemic-related unemployment could increase the number of children experiencing food-insecurity to between 12.4 million and 18 million, or one out of every four children.
The Covid-19 mortality rate for black Americans is more than twice as high as the rate for white, Latino and Asian Americans.
More than 60,000 healthcare workers in the US have been infected with the coronavirus and nearly 300 have died.
US hospitals laid off 1.4 million healthcare workers in April.
There is no federal plan to address any of this.
The death toll keeps rising.