THREAD: This Scary Statistic Predicts Growing US Political Violence — Whatever Happens On Election Day buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
2/ The statistic incorporates measures of wage stagnation, national debt, competition between elites, distrust in government, urbanization, and the age structure of the population. It's spiking, like it did before the civil war. buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
3/ The US has also slid on a component of the Fragile States Index that measures social cohesion, and is now the worst in the G7 on that measure. buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
THREAD: Our #COVID19 surge tracker shows that cases are now rising again across most of the nation, including the northeast. (Gray means very few cases or less than 5% change in last two weeks). buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
2/ This chart shows daily case numbers for the US as a whole. The current surge isn't really a "third wave" because #COVID19 transmission never went down to low levels like it did in European countries now experiencing a genuine second wave. buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
3/ This animation helps reveal why the US never got things under control: Hotspots of #COVID19 transmission have moved from place to place over time. buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
THREAD: I've been talking to the climate and fire scientists who know better than anyone about what's happening on the West Coast. They are deeply upset, but not surprised. And they warn that this is not the "new normal." It's likely to get worse. buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
2/ The numbers are astonishing. In California, where I live, we've blasted through the record for area burned in a single year. buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
3/ But what's so alarming about 2020 isn't the total area burned. It's that this happened so quickly in less than a month. The fires now include the first, third, and fourth largest in state history. fire.ca.gov/media/11416/to… buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
2/ This week's rise in #COVID19 deaths was driven in part (but not entirely) by Monday spike due to change in reporting in Texas, which switched to working from death certificates rather than reporting from local health authorities. Texas daily death counts from @nytimes data:
3/ Here's a good thread on the change in #COVID19 deaths reporting in Texas:
THREAD: I spent almost a decade fighting a libel action to bring you this story. I hope it helps prevent further harm. buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
2/ In December 2010, after an investigation spanning more than a year, I published this story @newscientist detailing problems with a prenatal paternity test offered by a company called the Health Genetic Center in Toronto, Canada newscientist.com/article/mg2082…
3/ I spoke to women who’d been given results contradicted by tests run subsequently by accredited testing labs. Their lives were upended. One came close to aborting her fetus, based on an incorrect result.
THREAD: #BlackLivesMatter protests have not led to clear spikes in #COVID19 transmission. What does that mean? 1/ Here are trends in new cases (7 day rolling average) for some counties with large protests buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
2/ Mask wearing and the outside setting may have helped, but experts warned not to leap to the conclusion that all outside gatherings are safe buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…
3/ Other possible factors include relative youth of the protesters, and the fact that, even given the large size of many protests, most people in those cities were not crowded together buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…