The American pandemic is careening out of control. Yesterday, the United States reported more than 52,000 new cases of the coronavirus, setting a new all-time daily record, according to the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic. The surge has put the country’s supply of coronavirus tests under strain, especially in some of the worst-hit states, such as Arizona, Texas, Florida, and California.
Last month, biotech firm Moderna Therapeutics reported very, very early positive results from a Phase 2 trial of their COVID-19 vaccine. This week it was the turn of more established drug maker Pfizer to announce that their vaccine showed similar promise and that they were also heading into Phase 3 studies in the next two weeks. These two vaccines are just two of better than 80 vaccine efforts that have been announced around the world.
Hello, and happy early Independence Day to all who observe!
(And, of course, as an erudite consumer of this missive, I know you’ll observe in a responsible, socially-distanced way. Because Lockdown 2: The New Batch is going to suck enough as it is.
They can’t trust the GOP not to sabotage efforts to help Americans, so they’re trying to do something about it.
The guardsman posted a photo of himself standing in front of a military vehicle inscribed with one of the neo-fascist group’s slogans during a protest.
Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.Reading can feel hard right now. It’s as if the books themselves got heavier and longer, and closed off like clams. If you’re struggling to pry one open, let us help: Today, 11 writers and editors from around our newsroom offer inspiration from their own reading lists.
Cain was diagnosed just over a week after he appeared at Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa.
Plus: How to best support a pre-teen who recently came out to his parents as trans.
The Atlantic staff writers James Hamblin and Kaitlyn Tiffany join the senior editor Paul Bisceglio for a conversation on the science of COVID-19, its spread, and our new social norms.
Champion Sports’ model is now almost 25 percent off.
In the widespread protests that followed the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25, statues of and memorials to Confederate soldiers and generals were vandalized or torn down. Some of the many statues of Christopher Columbus were targeted as well, as voices rose against historic and systemic racism and oppression. State and local governments then began acting to remove even more Confederate statues from public places.
The U.S. Army says it has a suspect in custody in connection with the disappearance of Vanessa Guillén, a missing 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier whose family says her remains were likely found in a shallow grave near the Texas Army base. A second suspect in the case — a soldier who the Guillén family lawyer named as Aaron Robinson — killed himself in Killeen, Texas, as officers approached.
Amid a mass uprising against racism and state violence, social movements are not just fighting hostility and backlash from President Trump, but also dealing with a “Biden problem,” according to historian, author and activist Barbara Ransby. “I think it’s fair to say that Joe Biden is not our dream candidate, by any means,” she says. “We should be critical of Joe Biden. We should be ready to hold Joe Biden accountable come January.
As tribal governments call on President Trump to cancel his Mount Rushmore Independence Day celebration, we look at why Native Americans have long pushed for the removal of the monument carved into the sacred Black Hills and designed by a sculptor with ties to the Ku Klux Klan. “This place is very, very sacred to our people,” says Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of the NDN Collective.
She has $100,000 in loans from a master’s program that kicked her out.
I know there must be a better way to manage this.
“We’re back to where we started. … It’s a lot of work we’re just losing.
“People are just a lot more mean. It seems a lot more hostile.
Comforting genre fiction without over-the-top plot lines.
The agency also left open the possibility it would issue an emergency use authorization for a vaccine.
“I am quite concerned about what we are seeing evolve in four states,” Anthony Fauci told the Senate health panel, without naming the states.
The coronavirus threat put on hold a billion-dollar research program focused on new forms of addiction treatment.
An extension would give taxpayers until Oct. 15 to file their returns, though they would still have to pay what they owe by July 15.
The acting chair of the CEA will leave Trump without another senior economist as discussions start about a new economic aid package.
“We have a long road ahead of us to get those people back to work,” Jerome Powell said earlier this week.
“Significant uncertainty remains about the timing and strength of the recovery,” Powell said.
He said that “almost all businesses” understand the $600 additional benefit is “a disincentive.
New York police have closed in on peaceful protesters camped outside City Hall who are demanding $1 billion be cut from the police department’s $6 billion budget, as the city approaches its July 1 budget deadline. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a budget deal that would move $1 billion in NYPD funding in an apparent nod to protesters’ demands, but organizers say they’re not satisfied.
