2020-05-24: News Headlines

Elizabeth M. Hechenbleikner, Daniel V. Samarov, Ed Lin (2020-05-23). [Commentary] Data explosion during COVID-19: A call for collaboration with the tech industry & data scrutiny. thelancet.com The volume and speed of data generation in biomedical literature, social media, and other resources during the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented. This mountain of data is growing daily across PubMed, Twitter, Google Scholar, and the World Health Organization's COVID-19 database [1], naming a few. The recently published COVID-19 Twitter dataset may offer insights into multiple topics from compliance with social distancing to assembling homemade masks and mental health tips [2]. Beyond social media, the massive COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19) has been assembled from tech giants like Microsoft, the Allen I…

Judy Rohrer (2020-05-23). COVID-19 Reveals Viral Discrimination, Higher Ed Should Pay Attention. commondreams.org A sign asking Navajo residents to stay safe and warning of a curfew near the Navajo Nation town of Casamero Lake in New Mexico on May 20, 2020. – The Navajo Nation now has the highest per capita COVID-19 infection rate in the country after surpassing New York. (Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/gettyimages-1214296001.jpg

Ramzy Baroud (2020-05-22). Why Israel Fears the Nakba: How Memory Became Palestine's Greatest Weapon. counterpunch.org On May 15, thousands of Palestinians in Occupied Palestine and throughout the 'shatat', or diaspora, participated in the commemoration of Nakba Day, the one event that unites all Palestinians, regardless of their political differences or backgrounds. For years, social media has added a whole new stratum to this process of commemoration. #Nakba72, along with #NakbaDay

Brian Sankarsingh (2020-05-22). A Thought about Racial Tension. dissidentvoice.org I recently came across a tweet, where the tweet writer proclaimed: I am convinced that 90% of racial tensions remaining in the West would evaporate within 5 years if lefties\liberals stopped racializing everything, stopped obsessing over and judging based on skin colour and stopped re-opening stale historical wounds unnecessarily… My immediate thought was that I …

David Cole (2020-05-21). The Absurd Attacks on the ACLU. aclu.org On May 19, the National Review editors condemned the ACLU's "absurd" lawsuit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's new Title IX regulations, which govern sexual harassment and assault at schools that receive federal funding. They argue that we had sacrificed our principles by seeking to "weaken" due process standards. President Trump promptly retweeted it, though showed no evidence that he actually read it. But the National Review's criticism bears no relation to the lawsuit we actually filed. Our suit challenges provisions letting schools ignore serious claims of sexual harassment altogether. It does not…

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-05-22). 'A Misbegotten, Warped Freedom Obsession Is Killing Us': Video of Trumpian Anti-Mask Jerks Goes Viral. commondreams.org On social media Friday, author Anand Giridharadas shared what he called an "end-of-empire" video featuring a number of people refusing to wear face masks in public places, coughing on others, and claiming their "freedom" is being trampled by public health guidance. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-1214261292_1.jpg

Eoin Higgins, staff writer (2020-05-22). Michigan Flood, Says Group, Shows US Unprepared for 'Nightmarish' Threat of Nuclear Disaster Combined With Pandemic. commondreams.org "The prospect of a nuclear disaster prompting a mass evacuation during a viral pandemic reinforces the need for an energy policy focused on safe, clean and affordable renewable energy." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/flood_3.jpg

Poor People's Campaign (2020-05-24). Poor People's Campaign Virtual Town Hall: Voting, Poverty, Racism, Healthcare, COVID19. indybay.org Online via livestream: www.facebook.com/anewppc/

MoveOn, Amplifier Art (2020-05-24). MoveOn: Slide Show Livestream "Visual Love Letters" to Essential Workers on NYC Buildings. indybay.org Online via twitter…

Artists for Amazonia, Amazon Watch, others (2020-05-24). Artists United for Amazonia: Protecting the Protectors during COVID w/ Jane Goodall & more. indybay.org Online via livestream | www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6tWbDM0jAY | or | www.amazonemergencyfund.org/

The Canary (2020-05-23). Cummings has turned Johnson's 'very simple instruction' into a complicated nightmare. thecanary.co The government has insisted Dominic Cummings was well within the rules when he travelled 260 miles from London to his family home in Durham during the lockdown. Cummings said he wanted help from his family caring for his young son if he and his wife became too ill to do so alone. Michael Gove tweeted: Caring for your wife and child is not a crime.But when Boris Johnson introduced the UK lockdown he gave "a very simple instruction — you must stay at home". | Breaking the law?: | The rules, announced in a speech the prime minister made to the nation on March 23, stated that people would only be allowed…

RT (2020-05-24). Alyssa Milano goes on defensive after showing off her KNITTED mask (that does NOTHING to stop Covid-19). rt.com Actress and liberal activist Alyssa Milano has pushed back against an avalanche of online mockery, after she shared a photo of herself donning a visibly unreliable knitted mask.
| Actress and liberal activist Alyssa Milano has pushed back against an avalanche of online mockery, after she shared a photo of herself donning a visibly unreliable knitted mask. | The anti-Trump #Resistance 'heroine' urged her Twitter followers to don masks to stop the spread of Covid-19, and in…

RT (2020-05-23). 'Hitler's favorite alligator' dies at Moscow Zoo aged 84. rt.com A legendary alligator that survived World War II and was said to have been Adolf Hitler's favorite has finally breathed his last in Moscow.
| A legendary alligator that survived World War II and was said to have been Adolf Hitler's favorite has finally breathed his last in Moscow. | "Our Mississippi alligator Saturn has died of old age," Moscow Zoo announced on social media on Saturday. | The venerable reptile was believed to be aged around 84, which is an impressive feat,…

RT (2020-05-23). 'Someone dropped the ball': Suspect in beating of 75yo nursing home patient was moved to facility AFTER contracting Covid-19. rt.com The 20-year-old man accused of beating an elderly patient in a Detroit nursing home — captured in a shocking viral video — was inexplicably moved to the facility after testing positive for Covid-19. | The young man, who has not been named, was transferred from an Ann Arbor hospital to Detroit's Westwood Nursing Center last week after contracting the coronavirus, his father

RT (2020-05-22). 'Can this be for real?' Trump weighs in on SHOCKING VIDEO of 75yo being brutally beaten in Detroit nursing home. rt.com A disturbing video showing an elderly patient being punched repeatedly in the face in a Detroit nursing home until he bleeds has made waves online, leading to the suspect's arrest and attracting President Trump's attention. | The video, which has gained traction across social media, shows a young black male punching an elderly white man who's lying in bed. The beating continues until the victim, who is unable to put up any resistance, is bloodied. As the incident unfolds, the attacker starts hurling a barrage of insults at the elderly resident, calling him the n-word and telling him to "get the f**ck off" what…

sputniknews (2020-05-24). Grab and Run: Hyena Spotted Stealing Prey Out of Python's Mouth – Video. sputniknews.com Hyenas, being an important part of the African ecosystem, are formidable hunters. While some of their kind, like spotted hyenas, may kill as many as 95% of the animals they eat, others, like striped hyenas, are largely scavengers.