Malawista: A ‘Category 5’ mental health crisis is coming
Whenever a hurricane nears our shores, the government implements a system to track the disaster, including assigning a score on a scale of one to five to assess its severity and to guide disaster preparedness efforts. A storm reaching a magnitude of 3 or higher has the potential for devastating damage and loss of life. No such scale exists to warn us of the psychological dangers of our current crisis. (Balt Sun)
King: Are Washington’s covid-19 policies as fair as they can be?
Editorial: Brandon Scott’s afro: Hair does not make the mayor
Mayor Brandon Scott’s perfectly round and combed out Afro has caught the attention of many and caused a buzz around town — and even a bit nationally. The style is certainly distinct in the suited-up world of politics, and, at first glance, indicative of a COVID world, where lots of us are wearing our hair a little longer than normal. Except this afro isn’t just reflective of somebody skipping the barbershop. It is deliberate, with expertly-shaped edges. A statement. (Balt Sun)
Bernstein: Resolve to sing Baltimore’s praises in the new year
Everyone who loves Baltimore is well aware of the problems and challenges facing her citizens. We understand the terrible legacy that structural racism has inflicted on families and the social fabric. We are aware of the crime, the grime, the public schools struggling to meet kids’ multi-faceted needs. We know our taxes are higher than surrounding jurisdictions — and we know why, too. (Balt Sun)
Editorial: Pandemic underscores need to release more elderly prisoners
The pandemic has once again shined light on the debate of whether housing prisoners into their advanced years is the best use of resources. In normal times, elderly inmates pose a strain on the state’s prison system. They tend to be more costly to care for because of age-related medical conditions, and research has found that many older incarcerated people could be released with little threat to public safety. (Balt Sun)
McArdle: Half-measures won’t protect us from the new covid-19 variant
Editorial: Zoom is complicit in Chinese repression
Many in this country know Zoom as a venue for mundane mid-pandemic work meetings, or check-ins with Grandma. For others, however, the video-conferencing app has been a critical tool for political organizing, including across borders — or it would be, if the company’s adherence to the dictates of the authoritarian Chinese regime weren’t getting in the way. Justice Department officials brought criminal charges on Friday against a Zoom executive for allegedly working with President Xi Jinping’s government to shut down calls as well as accounts that ran afoul of stringent censorship requirements, including commemorations of the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square. (Wash Post)
Boot: No vaccine can end America’s pandemic of ignorance and irrationality
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