Новости за 03.03.2021

Even the most cautious voices now seem to agree that we’ve reached a turning point in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. With three vaccines authorized, and a production deal recently brokered by the Biden administration between the pharmaceutical giants Merck and Johnson & Johnson, the available supply is ramping up. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s coronavirus czar, said that vaccination may be open to all Americans by April. President Biden has set a similar marker for May.

“No” is probably not a word the world’s second-richest man is all that accustomed to hearing. Bill Gates, one might imagine, exists in a world of near-limitless possibility. When he throws money at things, they often happen: from an elaborate meal prepared by personal chefs to a revolution in personal computing. Why should the climate crisis be any different?

Is there a more embarrassing column on the internet than the Publisher’s Note at Harper’s? This is where you can find the addled musings of John “Rick” MacArthur, the mercurial proprietor of what was once one of this country’s most influential liberal magazines but in recent years has taken a reactionary turn in response to the social justice movements on the left—specifically the #MeToo movement, of which MacArthur is an outspoken opponent, but also identity-based politics more broadly. MacArthur... Читать дальше...

In 2009, during Barack Obama’s tumultuous first year in the White House, the telecommunications giant Comcast bought NBC Universal, raising the alarm of antitrust activists. As a report released earlier this year by the American Economic Liberties Project, an anti-monopoly think tank in Washington, put it, the merger heralded an era when only corporate goliaths “would have sufficient bargaining leverage to produce and sell content, leading to the erosion of independent production houses and cable... Читать дальше...

The Supreme Court appears poised to uphold two voting restrictions from Arizona in a challenge brought by Democrats under the Voting Rights Act. In oral arguments on Tuesday, the court’s six conservative justices seemed ready to make it harder to bring a claim under the Voting Rights Act provision in question—though just how high they might set the threshold, and how much voter suppression could slip away under it, remains unclear.

In April of last year, I sat down in front of my computer for a Zoom call with my supervisor at the small technology consulting firm where I was an analyst. It was supposed to be one of those routine check-ins, but I quickly realized something was off when the CEO appeared on my screen. The rest followed what by now has become a familiar script for millions of people: mentions of pandemic belt-tightening, layoffs, condolences, and notably, no severance. I was cast out into the growing army of the unemployed. Читать дальше...

“You make that gown look good,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told Dr. Elizabeth Dufort in front of reporters back in May of last year, as she tested the governor for Covid-19 during one of his PowerPoint-packed, dad-joke-heavy coronavirus press conferences. When Dr. Dufort asked him to lift his head up and close his eyes, Cuomo paused—“Why do I need to close my eyes?” he asked—and mugged for the press, “You can question the doctor.” The doctor may have known that she was signing up for the governor’s spectacle. Читать дальше...

On Monday evening, Chris Cuomo began his CNN nightly show, Prime Time, with an unsurprising announcement. He would not be covering the day’s biggest story: the sexual harassment allegations that had been made against his brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. “Obviously, I’m aware of what’s going on with my brother,” Chris Cuomo said. “Obviously, I cannot cover it because he is my brother. Now, of course, CNN has to cover it. They have covered it extensively, and they will continue to do so.”