Sturgis Motorcycle Rally expected to draw hundreds of thousands despite COVID—again

[View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter]( August 6, 2021 I noticed something interesting about the headlines on the New York Times homepage today. "[Hiring Was Strong in July, as U.S. Added 943,000 Jobs](" "[Analysis: This Is the Job Market We've Been Waiting For](" And then, farther down the page: "[No Work, No Food: Pandemic Deepens Global Hunger](" To be fair, the print version of today's paper included the global hunger story on A1, with the stories about the thriving United States economy relegated, I assume, to the business section. (I can't say for sure. I don't get the Times in print. I only looked at a [PDF]( of the front page.) Still, the juxtaposition of those headlines reminded me of the US's sense of immunity to the struggles of much of the rest of the world. Case in point: The US, where most people who want a COVID vaccine can get one, remains a [global hotspot](, with more cases per 100,000 people than Canada, Australia, Mexico, China, Japan, and Brazil, to name just a few. Here, Delta is raging, and the [Sturgis Motorcycle Rally]( is on. Our general sense of security, combined with our seeming unwillingness to address issues that don't immediately threaten us—or to address even the ones that do—drives my constant sense of dread about climate change. I'm pessimistic about our country's ability to rise to a challenge that feels distant and difficult to comprehend. Vox came out with a [good piece]( today about how to deal with this feeling. Check it out if the climate anxiety—and general existential malaise—is getting to you, too. Oh, yeah, and enjoy your weekend. —Abigail Weinberg Advertisement [World Animal Protection]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [Hundreds of Thousands Are Expected at Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Starting Today—Last Year’s COVID Spread Be Damned]( BY MADISON PAULY [Trending] [Team Biden quietly approved a fat subsidy for one of America's top coal suppliers]( BY CHRIS D’ANGELO [Myanmar opposition leader: We need more help from Biden to defeat the military junta]( BY DAVID CORN [Purdue Pharma drove the opioid crisis. The American Medical Association still took millions from it.]( BY JULIA LURIE [In the end, Cuomo goes full Trump]( BY NATHALIE BAPTISTE Advertisement [World Animal Protection]( [Weekend Reads] [Special Feature]( [The Real Source of America’s Rising Rage]( We are at war with ourselves, but not for the reasons you think. BY KEVIN DRUM [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( [Recharge] SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE [What’s Behind the Deep-State Plot Against National Happiness Day This Weekend]( The deep state is coming for National Happiness Happens Day this Sunday, observed [every August 8]( since 1999, according to senior government officials with knowledge of the matter, who say the day is in jeopardy. Five independently corroborated whistleblowers at the highest levels of office warn of a cabal of conspirators operationalizing a plot to torpedo happiness day and replace it with National What’s the Fuss Day, National Go Back to Bed Day, and National Don’t Even Bother Getting Out of Bed Day. The plan’s adherents, according to screenshots from an internal slide deck posted on encrypted anti-happiness message boards, obtained by Mother Jones’ Recharge editors, claim that “more happiness for more people would destabilize our designs on the consolidation of capital and power.” But a Justice Department official, on condition of anonymity, tells us, “Don’t rush to conclusions. There are even-deeper-state countermeasures underway to interrupt this lurid anti-happiness plot by expanding National Happiness Happens Day to two (2) days a year. Three (3) is also on the table.” This is a developing story. Enjoy the [day](. Send Sunday flares to 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](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755