Chris Martenson

by Harvey WassermanThe 2020 TrumpVirus pandemic that is killing so many of us today has deep roots in World War I and the Woodrow Wilson Influenza that killed 50,000,000 back then.Along with mass death, both viruses have brought fascism to America. To avoid a full-on replay, we need to know how.Like today’s TrumpVirus catastrophe, the global pandemic of 102 years ago was almost entirely avoidable. It was not an innocent accident or Act of Nature.

Man In The Middle by Nancy OhanianPeople think of Massachusetts as an all blue state. It isn't. There's a Republican governor. And although Hillary won in a landslide in 2016, Trump still got over a million votes (33.5%). And in 2018, Republican Geoff Diehl won 36.2% of the vote statewide against Elizabeth Warren in the U.S.

This-- above-- was an anti-lockdown protest by right-wing haters/idiots in Suffolk County a few days ago, where there have been 42,050 confirmed cases (4th worst county in New York State) and 1,709 deaths. I know these people. I grew up among them. Believe me, there are no Einsteins in this crowd. In 2016, New York went for Hillary 58.8% to 37.5%. Suffolk County was a very different story. Trump won 328,403 (52.5%) to 276,953 (44.3%).

Rasmussen never comes off as a legitimate polling firm and is often considered an arm of the Republican Party committees. Not this week, though. They reported that 23% of Republicans wish the GOP had another nominee instead of Trump.

L.A. County announced that stay at home orders would remain in place 'til at least August 1. I don't see much enforcement in L.A. and everything I read indicates that outside the Bay Area there's no real enforcement anywhere. For example, Elon Musk, the selfish white South African billionaire-- and asshole-- still hasn't been arrested for reopening his factory. And California wonders why the numbers just keep climbing and climbing. A few weeks ago, California only had 880 or so cases per million. Those days are gone.

Different politicians are handling the pandemic in different ways. Denialism has been pretty rampant though. And it doesn't work. Nebraska's crackpot governor, Pete Ricketts, is unquestionably one of the worst governors confronting the coronavirus-- and his state is starting to suffer in a really major way now.

Late yesterday, NBC News broke an interesting story. The White House has been hiding a secret report showing coronavirus cases spiking in Trump country.

New York has over 17,500 confirmed COVID cases per million people. That's more than any country in the world. By that sensible metric, the dozen worst-hit countries so far are:

The Goldman Sachs chief investment officer, Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, sent out guidance for the firms investors called "The First Wave Crests, and there were some interesting insights you might find useful. He noted, correctly that "the first wave of daily new COVID-19 infections and fatalities has crested in many of the heavily impacted countries, such as Spain, Italy, Germany and France as well as heavily hit U.S. states, such as New York.

Face To Face by Nancy OhanianPlease think of this post as a continuation the 5AM piece on anomie. I had a few questions about what anomie is.