“Coronavirus Rhapsody,” written by Freddy Mercury, with new 2020 lyrics by Dana Jay Bein, sung by Raúl Irabién. Video post: Daniel Reyes; audio: Armando Olabuenaga.
In the pandemic year of 2020, children’s homes became their classrooms as America’s K-12 education went online. The curriculum included school active-shooter drills, required by law in most states. Lesson objective: in America’s gun culture, even your kitchen table isn’t safe. Will this be on the test?
More:
“Active-Shooter Drills Look Pretty Weird Over Zoom,” Monica Chin, The Verge
“School Shooting Drills Have Gone Virtual,” Dan Kois, Slate
Image (“Bacchus at Cocktail Hour, after Carvaggio”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Last month, Russia’s Gamaleya Institute announced that its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine is 92% effective, and Russia began mass vaccinations early this month. Many Russians have avoided getting innoculated, however. The rapid rollout of the vaccine leaves many Russians skeptical, but there may be another reason they’re staying away. Russia has one of the highest per capita rates of alcohol consumption in Europe, and Russian officials are saying the vaccinated should lay off the vodka for 42 days. A walk-back to 6 days followed, 3 days after each of the two injections, but that still may be too much for many hard-drinking Russians.
“First Lady Proudly Unveils White House Tennis Pavilion—as U.S. COVID Deaths Near 300K,” Arya Hodjat, Daily Beast
“Melania Trump faces backlash after revealing new White House tennis pavilion,” Kenya Evelyn, The Guardian
“Melania Trump’s Tennis Pavilion Announcement Brings Outrage: ‘How Many ICU Beds Will It Hold?'” Matthew Impelli, Newsweek
“‘Melania Antoinette’: First lady faces backlash after unveiling tennis pavilion at the White House,” The Telegraph via Yahoo News
Related:
“The number of COVID-19 deaths reported in the US nearly every day last week was higher than the death toll for the attack on Pearl Harbor,” Ryan Pickrell, Yahoo News
“The infamy of Japan’s attack at Pearl Harbor pales compared to what’s going on now.” Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun Times
“Donald Trump skipped the G20 summit’s ‘Pandemic Preparedness’ event to visit one of his golf clubs on the same day that a record 195,500 new Covid-19 infections were reported in a 24-hour period in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins.
The summit, attended by world leaders from across the globe, is being held virtually this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has now killed more than 250,000 Americans – by far the largest total in the world.
Trump’s apparent disinterest in the summit started earlier on Saturday when he started tweeting about the election results after the scheduled start time of the summit at 8am ET. The president appeared via video link during the summit’s opening remarks but by 10am, Trump was leaving the White House to go to his golf course outside of Washington DC, according to CNN.”
— “Trump skips G20 pandemic event to visit golf club as virus ravages US,” Lauren Aratani, The Guardian
More:
“G20 Meets On Coronavirus As Trump Makes 298th Golf Trip Of Presidency,” Andrew Solender, Forbes
“COVID-19: Donald Trump plays golf while world powers discuss pandemic at G20 summit,” Amy Coles, Sky News
“Trump skips G20 coronavirus meeting to play golf and tweet bogus election claims,” Dave Goldiner, NY Daily News
“G20 leaders close Riyadh summit with calls for coordinated response to coronavirus pandemic,” Kareem Fahim, Washington Post
“More than 1 million COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States over the last 7 days.
As cases continue to increase rapidly across the United States, the safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving is to celebrate at home with the people you live with.
Image (“Thanksgiving 2020, after Norman Rockwell”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Trump COVID-19 advisor Scott Atlas, MD, is not an epidemiologist or an infectious disease expert. He’s a renowned expert in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Dr. Atlas has no pandemic expertise and hasn’t practiced medicine in 10 years, but he’s a fellow in Health Care Policy at Stanford’s conservative Hoover Institution and bloviates on Fox News, so he’s the go-to White House medico. When it comes to coronavirus, Dr. Atlas wants to let lots of people get it to bring about “herd immunity.” Real pandemic experts estimate it would require the deaths of 2 million Americans to achieve “herd immunity” in the U.S.