Jeff Bezos recently became the first person in history to amass $200,000,000,000 in wealth. But in 2019, Amazon paid just 1.2% in US taxes. That was up from 0% the previous two years.
Republican Adoration of Murder
SD Gov Kristi Noem Ignores Virus Precautions, Leads SD to one of the Worst Outcomes
Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota has repeatedly dismissed coronavirus control measures. Masks? Meh. Distancing? Meh. This is the result (compared to Vermont, also led by a Repulican governor who enacted sensible precautions):
One of the things happening in South Dakota is an infection rate that’s among the worst in the nation, at about 8,000 cases per 100,000 people.
In Vermont, another small, rural state with a Republican governor, Gov. Phil Scott has embraced safety measures, and the differences are pretty stark. Like South Dakota, Vermont has fewer than 1 million residents, most of whom don’t live in cities. It has about 500cases per 100,000 people. That’s the lowest rate in the nation.
Trumpism After Trump? How Fox News Structures Republican Attitudes
From PRRI:
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s 2020 electoral loss, one key question is what kind of future the unique style of politics he carved out has in the Republican Party. Colloquially, this question is often put this way: What becomes of Trumpism after Trump?
[It ain’t pretty…see the charts included by PRRI]The Madness of the Trump Cult
Here’s a startling, and concerning, portrait of Trump supporters and their acceptance of Trump madness.
Why Republican voters say there’s ‘no way in hell’ Trump lost (Reuters)
What to Do About Leftists: Kill Them
Starting in the 1960s, a US-sponsored campaign of disinformation and violence was used around the world — with deadly results. It was known as “the Jakarta Method.” The tactic originated in Indonesia, with the help of the CIA. “The Jakarta Method is the intentional mass murder of leftists or people accused of being leftist,” journalist Vincent Bevins told Inside Edition Digital. “It was such a big success that it inspired movements elsewhere around the world, specifically in Latin America.”
Trump Defeated, the Entire World is Elated
The Irish Daily Mirror:
Australia’s Victoria has no cases for 8th day
As the United States sets new record-breaking infections, other parts of the world (not led by incompetent and willfully ignorant morons) have had great success in controlling coronavirus.
Thank Trump, Kushner, et al.
Study: Partisanship and Response to Coronavirus (Worse Among Republicans/Faux News Watchers)
Although few things bind groups together like a common obstacle, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a deeply partisan flavour in the United States (and seemingly continues to do so). Here we found that partisanship is associated with differences in physical distancing behaviour at the level of US counties—and that this degree of physical distancing may have impacted counties’ subsequent COVID-19 infection and fatality growth rates. This suggests that partisanship might be an important risk factor for the current pandemic and, potentially, for other public health crises.