The US hit a new record high in new coronavirus infections this week, with more than 77,000 cases reported on Thursday. Florida, South Carolina, and Texas also reported their largest one-day spikes in fatalities.

See also: Texas ICUs are overwhelmed with coronavirus patients, some of whom are being transported to open beds in far-flung locales.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has banned cities and counties from imposing mandatory masks, voiding existing orders to wear masks in public, and has also filed a lawsuit to block Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms's decision to require masks and roll back reopenings.

Federal law enforcement has been detaining protestors in Portland, Ore., by grabbing them off the streets and taking them away in unmarked minivans.

Related: According to an internal memo, the federal anti-protest operation in Portland has been carried out by Border Patrol.

Leaked documents show police knew far-right extremists posed the real threat at protests, versus Barr's antifa menace.

You wouldn't know it from the media coverage, but Black Lives Matter protests are continuing across the country.

We lost two civil rights icons yesterday: Rep. John Lewis, at 80, and C.T. Vivian, at 95.

Security officials say Russian hackers are targeting US, UK, and Canadian organizations involved in COVID-19 vaccine development.

Seeking better relations with Russia, Trump furnishes Russia with intelligence to target Chechen asylum seekers.

"The US has devolved in ways we couldn’t have imagined." Masha Gessen describes what "a criminal state pattern" looks like.

The crux of a 2018 presidential covert action on CIA cyber operations is that NSC approval is no longer required.

Nearly 50 years of atomic tests make the US the "most nuclear-bombed country in the world." Now Trump is floating the idea of resuming nuclear testing on US soil.

Headline of the week? “We’re stuck in a lockdown work from home purgatory.”

Airbnb asked employees to embody its brand—which made layoffs during the pandemic feel even more like betrayal.

Tired of looking out your window? Enjoy someone else's view in these crowdsourced videos.

Outdoor space is at a premium in the pandemic—and low-income New Yorkers are often left without easy access to large parks.

Falling fertility rates mean nearly every country could have shrinking populations by the end of the century.

“Everyone has their own life, their own story, if you listen.” Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe explains the empowerment of portraiture.

Nearly half of adults say self-doubt is one of the top three challenges they'd face if they enrolled in postsecondary education.

White composers wrote 99% of the pieces in the Royal Schools of Music exam syllabuses.

New York’s Shakespeare in the Park won’t be held this year, so its production of Richard II has been retooled for the radio with much of the same cast.

See also: King Lear with sheep.

"My brain is 100 places at once." Michaela Coel, creator of the stunning series I May Destroy You that’s currently rolling out on HBO, describes how her own sexual assault informed writing the show.

The merch that saved the museum: masks with details from work in their collections.

Camp ToB 2020 Quarantine Edition merch is available at the TMN Store. (Sustaining Members get 50% off!)

Zappos begins selling single shoes and mixed-size pairs to serve customers who use prosthetics.

Magazines like Playboy and GQ are making a more open-ended, gender-fluid masculinity more mainstream.

The more conventional-minded someone is, the more it seems to them that “it’s safe for everyone to express their opinion.”

Magic School Bus author Joanna Cole has died at 75.

"I was trying to take pictures...I was just getting silhouettes." Some ultra-black fish absorb 99.956% of light that reaches them.

After his ex-wife conquered "the Everest of speleology," a caver turned to coding and wrote the classic video game Adventure.

Dramatic photos of Comet NEOWISE above Mount Hood, by Lester Tsai.

Researchers say the moon is 85 million years younger than previously thought, and only took a few thousand years to form.

Thirty years ago, a homeowner dug up the largest known meteorite to land in Germany—it's just been sitting in his yard ever since.

"Do UFOs fascinate you?" The CIA has a Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room.

Lovely illustrations from vintage home catalogs.