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OVERVIEW of the WEEK in the U.S. Conclusion. Brace yourselves laddies and lassies! Politics and pandemics do not mis well. NOTE: next week will be a micro-analysis of the family clusters of Pittsburgh, New York metro, Detroit metro, Baltimore-Annapolis, Boston-Cape Cod, Philly metro, Chicago and Colorado. The next macro analysis will be in two weeks. Congratulations to my first cousin (once removed), Mr George Henry Kolarchick . From Birmingham, Michigan, my studly cousin is matriculating at  the University of Michigan ; when he arrives in Ann Arbor remains unclear. An uncertain week under review. During the week, other events over-shadowed the ominous trends in infection and mortality rates of the COVID-19 epidemic across the U.S. During much of the week, the tone within American society seemed to turn noticeably pessimistic w ith a sense that the United States is losing control of the epidemic. The Trump Amdinistration continues to blame China for the lagging performance of ...

Opinion July 25, 2020 Good morning. I’m Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, July 25, 2020. This will be my final newsletter of March 2020 before August begins. Let’s take a look back at the week in Opinion. Donald Trump is no Adolf Hitler. Or Benito Mussolini. Or Augusto Pinochet. Those are among the historical disassociations I’ve seen in response to some of the reader letters sounding the loudest rhetorical alarm possible (for example, today’s letters are headlined, “Portland finally proves it: Trump is pulling us into fascism”) in response to the federal thuggery on display in Portland, Ore. They aren’t wrong: Literally, Trump is none of those men. And that means nothing. Needless to say, any historical comparison between Trump and the autocrats who preceded is primarily between their actions, and in this regard, we have reason to worry. Beyond the literal sense, we know that Trump is no Hitler or Mussolini because we can look back at the full arc of those dictatorships and see the d...

Weekly common-sized mortality among thirty-three (33) states and six (6) territories as at 24th July 2020 Note Status of 'low' to 'very high' in red-font means elevated since previous week (not a good change) Idaho still safest region followed by Vermont  Northeast levelled off with marginal risk presently very low South and Southwest (S. / S.W.) with slight moderation in infection rate S. / S.W. growth rate in deaths still > 10% per week in five sample states S. / S.W. death toll as high as 150-200,000 next three months vaccine roll-out, effectiveness crucial U.S. static poo l rate declining from 9.5% to 8.2% , still 1.5x the global rate moderate improvment in U.S. mortality run-rate at 3.5% , better than global rate Global static pool rate from 6.8% to 5.3%; run-rate at 3.9% U.S. critical care patients (leading mortality indicator) up 16% to 19,100 One hundred, fifty health experts want the United States to shut down again. The Preisdent's message for s...