Stories to Wash Hands By [The Memory Palace/Nate DiMeo]: “20 stories, each 20 seconds, to accompany you in the proper washing of hands.”
Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic
++ Calls by the music industry to put copyright filters on the entire Internet are a terrible idea. Existing filters are utter failures at finding copyrighted material and “they also flag and block entire libraries' worth of legit materials.” Copyright filters will do the EXACT OPPOSITE of what they intend: They will encourage copyright abuse, stifle legitimate free expression and creativity and – because they cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year to implement – they will block startups from competing with the big incumbent internet companies.
++ Apartment buildings didn’t cause the pandemic.
++ “Reopen” websites are backed by the Koch brothers and other grifters behind the Tea Party, GOP and conmen who stir up fears that guns are going to confiscated.
++ Charter gives its field techs $25 gift cards to restaurants – which aren’t open – instead of hazard pay or PPE, and it requires back-office staff to come to work in the office. Now at last 230 Charter employees have Covid-19 and the company is under investigation by the NY Attorney General.
++ Disney heiress Abigail Disney says the company’s top executives ought to forego bonuses rather than furlough 100,000 front-line workers.
Trump is going down hard in November
Everyone is in denial about November [Daniel W. Drezner/The Washington Post]
We’re only in the second inning of the pandemic. Getting a little breather now, things are looking like they’re getting better, but most of the crisis is still ahead of us.
And Trump can be counted on to make things worse. That is his biggest liability as a President. Not his numerous character flaws – jerk, crook, racist, narcissist, serial and compulsive liar. No, Trump’s biggest liability as a President is that he’s an incompetent moron. He’s an idiot. Even worse, he THINKS he’s a super-competent genius. And that’s going to be even more obvious in November than it is today.
"World on Fire"
Last night we watched about 15 minutes of the second episode “World on Fire,” a British miniseries about the Nazi conquest of Europe, told from the vantage point of ordinary people.
Then we turned off the TV.
I loved the first episode of the program and was extremely impressed by it, but somehow we’re not feeling like watching “World on Fire” when the world seems like it’s on the verge of burning.
A view into an alternate universe
A big part of my job is – or was – attending conferences. When I learn – or learned – about an interesting-looking conference, I put it in my calendar.
And now that calendar is a view into an alternate universe, one where I continued to work at my previous job, and coronavirus did not happen.
Today in that alternate universe, I am returning from the Open Networking Edge Summit in Los Angeles.
With the nation healthy, tranquil and prosperous, our President turns his attention to thoughtful media criticism.
Trump tunes in to ‘Morning Joe,’ says he sees ‘hatred and contempt’ [Kyle Balluck/The Hill]
Barr Threatens Legal Action Against Governors Over Lockdowns [Chris Strohm/Bloomberg]
Even before the coronavirus crisis began, I thought of the Republican Party as a criminal racist death cult. Really looking to be proven wrong on that one.
McConnell slams brakes on next round of coronavirus aid [Burgess Everett/Politico]
Captain of the “Titanic” says he will not begin lowering the lifeboats until all the deck chairs are arranged just so.
Whole lotta love: Robert Plant gave a big donation to a company that makes PPE [Erica Banas/WMMR]