[Commentary] Data explosion during COVID-19: A call for collaboration with the tech industry & data scrutiny
Elizabeth M. Hechenbleikner, Daniel V. Samarov, Ed Lin | thelancet.com | 2020-05-23
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…
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30121-8/fulltext?rss=yes

COVID-19 Reveals Viral Discrimination, Higher Ed Should Pay Attention
Judy Rohrer | commondreams.org | 2020-05-23
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 …
commondreams.org/views/2020/05/23/covid-19-reveals-viral-discrimination-higher-ed-should-pay-attention?cd-origin=rss

Why Israel Fears the Nakba: How Memory Became Palestine's Greatest Weapon
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-22
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…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/22/why-israel-fears-the-nakba-how-memory-became-palestines-greatest-weapon/

British Muslims don't need the government to tell them to spend Eid at home
Afroze Fatima Zaidi | thecanary.co | 2020-05-22
As Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, draws to a close, Muslims everywhere are preparing for their most significant annual celebration. Eid-al-Fitr, shortened to Eid, will likely be observed on 24/25 May by Muslims in the UK.However, this Eid will be like no other due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, given the celebration is usually marked with shopping, congregational prayers, and visits to family and friends."Celebrate Eid at home": Earlier in the week, 10 Downing Street put out promoted tweets encouraging Muslims to "Celebrate Eid at home this year and help control the virus":
thecanary.co/feature/2020/05/22/british-muslims-dont-need-the-government-to-tell-them-to-spend-eid-at-home/

A Thought about Racial Tension
Brian Sankarsingh | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-05-22
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 …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/05/a-thought-about-racial-tension/

A Tale of Two Pandemics
Robert Reich | commondreams.org | 2020-05-22
Systematic inequality in America has produced two very different pandemics. (Photo: Screenshot/Youtube) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2020-05-22_at_10.59.28_am.png …
commondreams.org/views/2020/05/22/tale-two-pandemics?cd-origin=rss

The Absurd Attacks on the ACLU
David Cole | aclu.org | 2020-05-21
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…
aclu.org/news/womens-rights/the-absurd-attacks-on-the-aclu

'A Misbegotten, Warped Freedom Obsession Is Killing Us': Video of Trumpian Anti-Mask Jerks Goes Viral
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-05-22
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 …
commondreams.org/news/2020/05/22/misbegotten-warped-freedom-obsession-killing-us-video-trumpian-anti-mask-jerks-goes?cd-origin=rss

Michigan Flood, Says Group, Shows US Unprepared for 'Nightmarish' Threat of Nuclear Disaster Combined With Pandemic
Eoin Higgins, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-05-22
"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 …
commondreams.org/news/2020/05/22/michigan-flood-says-group-shows-us-unprepared-nightmarish-threat-nuclear-disaster?cd-origin=rss

Poor People's Campaign Virtual Town Hall: Voting, Poverty, Racism, Healthcare, COVID19
Poor People's Campaign | indybay.org | 2020-05-24
Online via livestream: www.facebook.com/anewppc/…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/22/18833179.php

MoveOn: Slide Show Livestream "Visual Love Letters" to Essential Workers on NYC Buildings
MoveOn, Amplifier Art | indybay.org | 2020-05-24
Online via twitter…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/22/18833185.php

Artists United for Amazonia: Protecting the Protectors during COVID w/ Jane Goodall & more
Artists for Amazonia, Amazon Watch, others | indybay.org | 2020-05-24
Online via livestream | www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6tWbDM0jAY | or | www.amazonemergencyfund.org/…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/23/18833222.php

Cuomo Denounced for Order Sending Thousands of COVID Patients to Nursing Homes
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-23
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is facing new criticism after the Associated Press reported Friday that a state directive led to over 4,300 still recovering coronavirus patients being sent to New York's "already vulnerable nursing homes." | "It was a death sentence," tweeted Daniel Choi, a doctor at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/No…
truthout.org/articles/cuomo-denounced-for-order-sending-thousands-of-covid-patients-to-nursing-homes/

Cummings has turned Johnson's 'very simple instruction' into a complicated nightmare
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-05-23
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

Alyssa Milano goes on defensive after showing off her KNITTED mask (that does NOTHING to stop Covid-19)
rt.com | 2020-05-24
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.com/usa/489604-alyssa-milano-knitted-mask-coronavirus/

'Hitler's favorite alligator' dies at Moscow Zoo aged 84
rt.com | 2020-05-23
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.com/russia/489595-hitler-alligator-death-moscow-zoo/

'Someone dropped the ball': Suspect in beating of 75yo nursing home patient was moved to facility AFTER contracting Covid-19
rt.com | 2020-05-23
The 20-year-old man accused of beating an elderly patient in a Detroit nursing home

'Can this be for real?' Trump weighs in on SHOCKING VIDEO of 75yo being brutally beaten in Detroit nursing home
rt.com | 2020-05-22
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…
rt.com/usa/489408-nursing-home-attack-detroit/

Grab and Run: Hyena Spotted Stealing Prey Out of Python's Mouth – Video
sputniknews.com | 2020-05-24
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.
sputniknews.com/viral/202005241079405197-steal-and-run-hyena-spotted-stealing-prey-out-of-pythons-mouth-video/