Los Angeles Faces Down Covid-19: The Nation

Driving past the Fountain Valley hospital south of Los Angeles, you see something new: a huge white tent in what was the parking lot. To Angelenos, it looks something like the tent that appears downtown Beverly Hills for the Vanity Fair Oscar party. But this one, and others like it outside hospitals throughout Southern California, is not a party tent; it’s a temporary structure designed to deal with the overflow of Covid-19 cases at the hospital—a “triage tent.” . . .
continued at TheNation.com, 4-16-2020, HERE

 

Mike Davis: Is Coronavirus Ushering in a New World Order? plus Barbara Ehrenreich on low-wage work

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Mike Davis talks about the fragmentation of Europe, the marginalization of the WHO, the danger to Africa, and whether China will emerge less powerful in the world economy because of the rise of economic nationalism.  Mike wrote about the avian flu in The Monster at Our Door.
Also Barbara Ehrenreich reports on her experiment in trying to survive on low wage work.  Her classic essay, “Nickel and Dimed,” is the lead piece in her new book, a collection of essays titled Had I Known.  We recorded this interview when Nickel and Dimed was published, in 2002.  4-16-2020

The Good News from Wisconsin: John Nichols; plus Harold Meyerson on Bernie and Biden

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Despite massive Republican efforts to prevent Democrats from voting in the Wisconsin primary, the Democrats won–by a huge margin. John Nichols explains how they did it — and the implications for November.
Also: Harold Meyerson comments on Bernie’s endorsement of Biden on Sunday – and the skepticism of some of Bernie’s supporters about Biden, as well as the apparent reluctance of some progressive leaders to join Bernie in the endorsement.  4-16-2020

Set the Night on Fire: the LA Free Press – LA Review of Books

The underground press of the Sixties is often described as self-indulgent; critics said it “trampled the tenets of accuracy and fairness,” while the mainstream media of the era is often portrayed as bland and cautious, and as practicing a phony objectivity. That was not true of the newspaper landscape in Los Angeles. The LA Times was firmly and loudly right-wing, while the LA Free Press (the “Freep”), the first underground paper of the era, and the most successful, was often a voice of reason, albeit a passionate one. A simple comparison of the coverage of the 1965 Watts uprising reveals a great deal.. . .
Excerpt from “Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties,” continued at the LA Review of Books HERE

Verso Books and the LA Review of Books: Mike Davis, Jon Wiener and Tom Lutz talk about “Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties”

Virtual book launch: Tuesday, April 14, 2020: WATCH HERE
Please join us for the virtual book launch of Mike Davis and Jon Wiener’s new book, Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties. Joining Davis and Wiener in conversation is Tom Lutz, founder and editor-in-chief of Los Angeles Review of Books and author, most recently, of Born Slippy. They will discuss Set the Night on Fire and its many resonances for urban communities today, the recent effects of COVID-19 on Los Angeles, and take live questions from the audience.
Sponsored by Verso Books, Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Democratic Socialists of America Los Angeles.

 

What the Pentagon Knew about the Coronavirus—in 2017: Ken Klippenstein, plus Amy Wilentz on Jared and Laila Lalami on “The Other Americans”

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The Military Knew Years Ago That a Coronavirus Was Coming.  The Pentagon warned the White House about a shortage of ventilators, face masks, and hospital beds in 2017, according to a document obtained by Ken Klippenstein, The Nation’s Washington Correspondent – but of course Trump ignored the warning.
Also: Jared Kusher has a new job on the White House coronavirus task force—and Ivanka is at home, reading “The Odyssey” and playing the guitar.  Amy Wilentz comments – she’s our Chief Jared Correspondent.
Plus: Nation columnist Laila Lalami talk about her novel “The Other Americans”–it’s about the suspicious death of a Moroccan immigrant in a small town in California.  It’s a family saga, a murder mystery, and a love story. And it’s out now in paperback. 4-3-2020

John Nichols: Wisconsin votes–or tries to; plus Bob Edelman on Cold War Sports and Laila Lalami

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Republicans forced Wisconsin to go ahead with an election on Tuesday, despite the coronavirus, after rejecting the proposals to extend voting by mail. John Nichols reports — he says it’s a frightening example of what they will try to do in November to reduce the Democratic vote.
Also: The Cold War was fought in many ways: it was a traditional political and military confrontation, but it was also a cultural contest, on a global scale –
and one of the most important arenas in the cultural contest was sports. historian Robert Edelman explains: he’s co-editor of the new book The Whole World Was Watching: Sport in the Cold War.”
Plus: Nation columnist Laila Lalami talks about her novel “The Other Americans.” it’s about the suspicious death of a Moroccan immigrant in a small town in California. It’s a family saga, a murder mystery, and a love story. And it’s out now in paperback.  4-10-2020

Mike Davis: Science v. Politics of the Coronavirus; plus Rebecca Solnit on Becoming a Feminist

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Mike Davis talks about who gets forgotten in a pandemic—and about the political, and economic, obstacles to making faster progress on effective anti-viral medication and a vaccine.  Mike is the author of many books, including City of Quartz and The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu.
Also: Rebecca Solnit talks about how she became a feminist, and a writer—in San Francisco in the eighties, “the queerest city in the world.”  Her new book, a memoir of sorts, is Recollections of My Nonexistence.  4/2/20

Republicans and the Virus Economy: Harold Meyerson; plus E.J. Dionne, Katha Pollitt & Gail Collins

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Harold Meyerson reports that Republicans in the Senate voted against expanded unemployment benefits almost unanimously. And the bailout support for big banks and corporations has many fewer restrictions than the small business funding support. But moments of crisis are also moments of opportunity, and number one on the Dem’s list should be Medicare for All.
Also: E. J. Dionne, the Washington Post columnist, talks about what it’s going to take to beat Trump in the Age of the Coronavirus – his new book is called “Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country.”
Also, Katha Pollitt has some advice about how to spend all those hours at home – watching movies on TV — and reading the classics.
And finally, the great Gail Collins of the New York Times op-ed page talks about the adventures of older women. Her book, “No Stopping us Now,” is out in paperback. 4/2/20

E.J. Dionne: The Coronavirus and the election; plus Melina Abdullah on Black Lives Matter and Katha Pollitt on “Contagion”

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What’s our strategy for beating Trump in November?  Is the Coronavirus making that easier, or harder?  E.J. Dionne analyzes the effect of the virus on politics – he’s a columnist for the Washington Post, and his new book is Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates can Unite to Save Our Country.
Also: How the coronavirus is changing the issues, and the tactics, of Black Lives Matter – a conversation with Melina Abdullah, one of the founders of the LA chapter and a professor of Pan-African Studies at Cal State LA.
Plus: Katha Pollitt has some recommendations about what to watch, and read, during those days at home, starting with the classics–Defoe’s “Journal of the Plague Year” and “The Decameron” by Boccaccio.  3/25/20