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MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
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@ NYTimes.com coronavirus live updates for NY region, May 5
Fifteen children, many of whom had the coronavirus, have recently been hospitalized in New York City with a mysterious syndrome that doctors do not yet fully understand but that has also been reported in several European countries, health officials announced on Monday night.
Many of the children, ages 2 to 15, have shown symptoms associated with toxic shock or Kawasaki disease, a rare illness in children that involves inflammation of the blood vessels, including coronary arteries, the city’s health department said.
None of the New York City patients with the syndrome have died, according to a bulletin from the health department, which describes the illness as a “multisystem inflammatory syndrome potentially associated with Covid-19.” [....]
By Anne Branigan @ TheRoot.com, May 4, WITH VIDEO
As thousands of New Yorkers hit city parks this weekend to revel in warm spring weather, footage of the violent arrest of three people, two of whom were accused of not following social distancing guidelines, has sparked an internal NYPD investigation.
The arrests, captured on cell phone video and on security cameras, took place in the East Village late Saturday afternoon, the New York Daily News reports. Footage of the arrests shows multiple plainclothes officers aggressively confronting two people, 31-year-old Shakiem Brunson and 22-year-old Ashley Serrano outside a deli. As officers converge on the pair, bystanders shout in protest, telling the police Brunson and Serrano weren’t doing anything wrong [....]
The Netflix documentary “Becoming,” chronicling Michelle Obama’s book tour, is light on newsworthy Trump attacks, focusing instead on the former first lady’s next chapter.
By Kevin Fallon @ DailyBeast.com, May 4
[....] While Trump is casually referenced from the first minutes and the mood of the country scores the film’s entire conversation, it’s not until roughly two-thirds through the film that she addresses her negative feelings about his 2016 victory directly. Twice, she talks about how painful it is to her that black voters didn’t turn out to vote for Hillary Clinton, calling the decision not to vote more painful to her than those who voted for Trump.
“It takes some energy to go high, and we were exhausted from it. Because when you are the first black anything…” she said, referencing anecdotes from her Becoming book. “So the day I left the White House and I write about how painful it was to sit on that [inauguration] stage. A lot of our folks didn’t vote. It was almost like a slap in the face.”
“I understand the people who voted for Trump,” she continued. “The people who didn’t vote at all, the young people, the women, that’s when you think, man, people think this is a game. It wasn’t just in this election. Every midterm. Every time Barack didn’t get the Congress he needed, that was because our folks didn’t show up. After all that work, they just couldn’t be bothered to vote at all. That’s my trauma.”
It should be no surprise that Becoming isn’t a Trump-bashing attack ad, though some might have wanted that [....]
After nearly two months stuck at home, citizens say the new rules don’t go far enough to save the economy or their mental health
By Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo & Angela Giuffrida in Orvieto @ TheGuardian.com, May 3
[....] Last week, after Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, outlined plans to slowly ease the country’s quarantine, millions of people were overcome with feelings of anger and disappointment as their hopes were dashed by what many described as a “false reopening”.
Italians will now be able to travel within regions to visit relatives, provided they wear masks, but schools, hairdressers, gyms and many other commercial activities will stay closed; cafes and restaurants will offer takeaways only; and all travel between regions will be banned except for work, health or emergency situations. Restrictions on funerals have been relaxed, with a maximum of 15 mourners allowed to attend, but masses and weddings will have to wait.
For this reason, last Friday, Pietro Demita, a stylist in Lecce whose company is a leading wedding dress designer, set fire to his entire collection in protest against the lockdown, which has brought the wedding industry to near-collapse [....]
“It seems they’re having a good laugh at our expense,” says Costantino Montalbano, 31, a hair stylist in Palermo. “It’s as if they’re telling us to go out, but to stay at home. All this time locked up has affected our mental health, but it’s also hit us hard in the wallet. If we don’t return to normality soon, coronavirus will have killed not only thousands of people, but the entire economy as well.” [....]
Bush warns of ‘emotional isolation’ and of partisan politics; Critics credit Bush for speaking to entire nation about unity
By counting fatalities in care homes early on, authorities understood how vulnerable elderly people are to Covid-19