December 22, 2020
President Trump will close his final year in office overseeing the deadliest year in the history of the United States. The devastating record, as reported by the Associated Press today, can be largely attributed to the coronavirus pandemic. It shatters the number of deaths recorded in the previous year and therefore marks the sharpest one-year rise since the 1918 flu. Yet the dissonance between this unequivocal catastrophe and the attitude held by Republicans couldn't be more pronounced. Look no further than the $900 billion stimulus bill Congress finally managed to pass on Monday for evidence of this gulf. The extra $300 unemployment benefit carved out in the package—exactly half of what Democrats wanted—will last only 11 weeks, meaning that this critical lifeline for some of the most vulnerable Americans will expire before a vaccine reaches large swaths of the general public. The bill, thanks to fierce opposition by Mitch McConnell, also doesn't include aid for state and local governments. My colleague Hannah Levintova explains how that's all but certain to give rise to more economic pain, long after the pandemic is over:
Meanwhile, Trump is lashing out at his perceived enemies and complaining about the Lincoln Project. A deal, after months of inaction, is far better than nothing. But as we finish the year with more grim milestones, what will it take for an economic package to match the unprecedented nature of the pandemic? —Inae Oh P.S. If you read this newsletter regularly, might you consider supporting our team's journalism with a year-end donation? We've got a big $350,000 goal this month—our CEO unpacks that here—and with just 10 days left, we're not yet halfway there. $5 or $500, your support makes our work possible, and we need your help to start closing that gap. In an era when many Americans have rejected reality, "facts are not enough." BY KIERA BUTLER
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BY JAHNA BERRY The National Restaurant Association is pouncing on studies showing the risks of dining out during a pandemic. BY KARA VOGHT
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SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE
Who in their right mind throws a soda at someone working in a fast-food restaurant’s drive-thru window—a worker who is six-months pregnant, during a pandemic, no less—all because they didn’t want ice in that drink? Tips rolled in from across the world after a witness saw what happened and asked if she could help. She’d approached the worker in suburban Atlanta, saw that she was shaken and soaked, and offered to support her. A social media post drew a huge response, reported by Tricia Escobedo of CNN. “I have a surprise for you,” the witness told the worker before mailing an envelope of cash. “She gave me the envelope and I couldn’t do nothing but cry because I wasn’t expecting that,” the worker said. A hat tip to Escobedo for amplifying the story. I’d shared this summer the news of a customer berating a barista for asking her to wear a mask, followed by $32,000 in tips; a $1,300 tip for a Texas server; an Arkansas worker landing a customer’s $1,200 stimulus check; bakery workers scoring a $1,000 tip in Florida; $93,000 for a server who’d defended customers on the receiving end of drunkenly spewed racist comments by another customer; $3,000 on a $124 tab for a New Orleans bartender; $1,600 on a $99 tab in Ottawa; $1,000 on a $43 tab at a New Jersey restaurant; $330 from one server to another; and a pizza deliverer welcoming $100 on a less-than-$30 tab. But the underlying pay structures, working conditions, and health care access aren’t equitable or sustainable, giving occasion to these headlines in the first place. If you have stories of support and solidarity, send them this way: recharge@motherjones.com. —Daniel King Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by forwarding it to a friend or sharing it on Facebook and Twitter.
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