Hey everyone -- this is the regular weekly dispatch of quick clicks, news items and must-reads. I’m doing it exclusively for paying subscribers, as a personal thank you for your support. Email me and/or use the comments section in this post to give me any feedback about the newsletter in general, what you want to see etc. I want to hear from you directly. Again — thanks so much for supporting this project. Your support makes the project possible. - David
Quick clicks:
• I’ve summarized American politics in one single image right here.
• If you’re looking to stay involved in politics now that the Democratic presidential primary is winding down, check out all the Berniecrats running for office.
• Thank you, celebrities.
• Here’s something relatively rare: an interesting proposal from a Senate Republican.
• Compared to other industrialized countries, the United States’ fiscal response to the COVID crisis has been small.
• This dude is not wrong.
• When it comes to the small business lending program, you just can’t make this stuff up.
• My 9-year-old son has become obsessed with Rubik’s Cube, as you can see from this photo. He insisted to me the best in the world can solve them in seconds. I didn’t believe him. Then he showed me this and now my mind is blown.
Stuff I’m reading:
• Thanks to Covid-19, Neoliberal Globalization Is Unraveling (The Nation) — There’s a difference between globalism and internationalism. Bernie Sanders understands that, Joe Biden doesn’t — and that’s a big problem for Democrats in the 2020 general election.
• My Dad’s Friendship With Charles Barkley (WBUR) — Just read this article. I’m not even going to summarize it here. You’ll love it.
• 32 millionaire CEOs who scooped up taxpayer money meant for struggling small businesses (Popular Info) — my Substack colleague Judd Legum breaks open a big story about the Trump administration’s loans for small business.
• Bailout money bypasses hard-hit New York, California for North Dakota, Nebraska (Reveal) — were small business loans targeted towards states that are politically important for Trump?
• The Democrats Who Want to Bail Out the Oil Industry (Sludge) — this is happening during a climate crisis, and it’s not good.
• The Infection That’s Silently Killing Coronavirus Patients (New York Times) — an emergency room physician identifies COVID pneumonia as a major problem, and argues that there is a way we could more quickly identify early signs with a common medical device.
Stuff to Watch & Listen To:
• Did Amazon get caught lying to Congress about monopoly practices? (The Hill) — I was on The Hill’s morning show Rising to talk about some big news. Make sure to subscribe to Krystal and Saagar’s newsletter here.
• The Last Dance (ESPN) — I highly recommend the ESPN documentary series about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. It’s a great escape during these dark times — but it is also crushing my soul, because it is bringing back painful memories of Jordan totally steamrolling my beloved Philadelphia 76ers.
• Why Bernie Lost (Left Anchor) — I was on the Left Anchor podcast with The Week’s Ryan Cooper discussing what happened at the end of the Bernie 2020 campaign.
As always, thanks for pitching in to support this newsletter project. Please email me directly or use the comments to give me any feedback.
Rock the boat,
Sirota