This was the month when Americans who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus lost their patience with the almost 100 million eligible Americans who have not been. Covid cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are rising again — this time mostly in red states with large unvaccinated populations. And after a couple months that felt something like normal, restrictions, including mask requirements for indoor spaces and all schools, are being re-imposed. …

Political polarization is nothing new in America, but recent studies show that a greater number of people are migrating further toward the extreme ends of the spectrum. Instead of a bell curve, the distribution of Americans along the political spectrum these days looks more like a dumbbell.

A key reason why we are shepherding ourselves to opposite poles lies in how we attain information. Psychologists have established that the brain is prone to confirmation bias, which is a subconscious tendency to summarily accept or reject evidence based on our beliefs. …

This weekend, Fox News “personality” Tucker Carlson, on a family trip with his daughter, went to a fishing store called Dan Bailey’s Outdoor Company in Montana. There, a local fly fishing guide named Dan Bailey — amusingly, not the Dan Bailey of Dan Bailey’s Outdoor Company; he was somehow a different Dan Bailey entirely — saw Carlson and confronted him, telling the broadcaster:

“Dude, you are the worst human being known to mankind. I want you to know that. What you have done to this state, to the United States, to everything else in this world. I don’t care that…

You can sense it in some quarters of the burgeoning racial justice community — a feeling of dread that the movement has stalled a little over a year since the murder of George Floyd.

For most who express this concern, the evidence they point to is the fall-off of public protest since last summer.

“Why aren’t we in the streets every week?” many demand to know.

Naturally, they have their own answer. Most people they insist “weren’t serious” about change and were only performative activists — unlike them.

They, of course, are ready for the revolution.

Because sure they are.

…

Over the past few weeks, the number of Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths has risen sharply in the United States, particularly in states with low vaccination rates. While the vaccines do not offer perfect protection against being infected with Covid , they significantly reduce your chances of getting infected and, more important, they shrink your chances of being hospitalized, let alone dying, from Covid to almost nothing. That’s why, in the U.S., more than 90% — and perhaps as many as 99% — of Covid deaths over the past few months have been among unvaccinated people.

Despite this, a surprisingly…

POLITICS

Well, that was a mildly interesting but overall uneventful evening. If you could get past the odd and constant reminders by the president that he was “not kidding, “not joking,” and “not being facetious” — we know, Joe, you’re not kidding! — there were some important takeaways from last night’s CNN Town Hall with President Biden. (If you missed it, you can watch Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 online.) Immediately, there was a deluge of criticism from Trumpland, the right, and the Mean Girls on Twitter, who mostly lambasted CNN for the town hall being too softball and…

When Americans are born on third base and think they hit a triple.

I’m in line at the Target pharmacy watching a woman edge a baby stroller back and forth. Lena, the pharmacy tech, tilts her screen toward the woman and points. The information hits hard. The woman’s hands fly everywhere and nowhere, snapped masts with torn sails. I watch as she cycles the stages of grief: This is a mistake. Fix it! Is there a generic? A coupon? Please. She leaves empty-handed.

Lena tells me the baby’s medicine was too expensive, even with the woman’s insurance. …

It comes in waves. A friend here, a co-worker there, getting curious about one conspiracy theory or another until they follow one too many trailheads, and end up over the edge. It’s a casualty of living in disorienting times, we tell ourselves. It will eventually pass.

But the hardest part is when the people we’ve traditionally looked to for their brilliance and insights fall into this paranoid trap, as well. They leave us wondering how this could happen to people smarter than ourselves. …