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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them

In response to the ideological cataclysm resulting from the coronavirus, the race has begun to replace a dying Neoliberalism. Three lines of thinking are emerging to fill that void. One is that the emergency necessitates extraordinary measures, but the basic structure of production and consumption is sound, and the problem lies only in determining the moment when things can return to “normal.” This is the dominant opinion among political and business elites. Representative of this outlook is the infamous Goldman Sachs-sponsored teleconference involving scores of stock market players in mid-March of this year, which concluded that “there is no...

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When the oppressed have no acceptable way to fight back against their oppression

A riot is the language of the unheard – The uncomfortable truth is that, sometimes, violence is the only answer left. When you are oppressed there is no acceptable way to fight against your oppression. You get branded “unpatriotic” for peacefully taking a knee to protest against police brutality. You get vilified for using boycotts as a non-violent tool of resistance. You get called “THUGS” when, after the murder of yet another unarmed black man by the police, you protest in the streets. The sickening video of George Floyd being killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, which...

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A response to questions about “The Myth of Anti-Whiteness”

A reader of my recent column THE MYTH OF ANTI-WHITENESS: WHEN TELLING THE TRUTH IS MISCHARACTERIZED AS ATTACKING WHITES questioned my assertion about Germans and Italians not being placed in interment camps. They pointed out to me that anyone can Google about internment and discover that “some 600,000 Italians who were undocumented were detained, relocated, stripped of property, placed under curfew” among other things. I appreciate any critiques and decided to investigate claims of Italians and Germans being placed in internment camps in the United States. They were, but the numbers were very small and there is no real...

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Study shows Wisconsin’s April 7 in-person election resulted in explosion of new COVID-19 infections

A new study published on May 18 showed a strong correlation between the April 7 in-person primary election in Wisconsin and an increase in coronavirus infections in the state, bolstering calls for a robust national vote-by-mail system for November. Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Ball State University found clear spikes in cases in counties that had the most in-person voting locations on April 7, and found that far fewer new cases were confirmed in counties with widespread absentee ballot voting. Though public health experts had urged against holding the election due to the risks, the in-person voting was...

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Poverty, Misery, and Death: What the new American exceptionalism means during a pandemic

No other nation has endured as much death from COVID-19 nor nearly as a high a death rate as has the United States. With 4.25% of the world population, America has the tragic distinction of accounting for about 30% of pandemic deaths so far. And it is the only advanced nation where the death rate is still climbing. Three thousand deaths per day are anticipated by June 1. No other nation has loosened lockdowns and other social-distancing measures while deaths are increasing, as the US is now doing. No other advanced nation was as unprepared for the pandemic as...

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Us vs. Them: The pandemic has transitioned from public health crisis to partisan quarrel

As the pandemic moves from public health crisis to partisan flashpoint, the debate over the coronavirus response in the United States is becoming increasingly nasty and, in some cases, violent. It is not just the clusters of gun-toting protesters at state capitols. In sporadic incidents across the country, disputes over emergency measures have turned into shootings, fistfights and beatings. Stories abound of intimidation over masking. And armed right-wing groups have threatened contact tracers and people who they say “snitch” on neighbors and businesses violating health orders. Researchers who study the links between polarization and violence stress that these incidents...

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