How COVID-19 is affecting society

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Nation’s tenants vow to cough on rent cheques

OTTAWA - With vast numbers of Canadians suddenly out of a job and no sign of relief from most landlords, the nation’s tenants have collectively vowed that if they must still pay rent, that rent cheque is getting coughed on hard.

www.thebeaverton.com

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Republicans' prioritizing money over lives isn't new or shocking; a bigger point is that the Texas lt-gov's suggestion to sacrifice the old so that the young can have better 401k's is based on the already-outdated idea that this disease is only a threat to old people.

It is now a widely-known fact that this illness can hospitalize, and kill young people.

A Brooklyn principal has died due to complications from the coronavirus — the first known death of a city public schools staffer tied to the pandemic, officials said Monday.

Dezann Romain, 36, led the Brooklyn Democracy Academy in Brownsville, a transfer school that serves students who have dropped out or fallen behind in credits in traditional high school settings.

“It is with profound sadness and overwhelming grief that we announce the passing of our sister, CSA member Dezann Romain, Principal of Brooklyn Democracy Academy, due to complications from Coronavirus,” the union said in a statement.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Brazil has still not much official anti measures, so in Rio de Janeiro gangs now declared lock down and its enforcing on their own:

 

[Brenda Archer]

Brazil has still not much official anti measures, so in Rio de Janeiro gangs now declared lock down and its enforcing on their own:

The old saying about the government being the official gang comes to mind.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

A little good news in the face of ugly things like greed.

Sikhs prepare over 30,000 free meal packets for Americans in self-isolation

New York [USA], Mar 24 (ANI): The Sikh Center of New York prepared and packaged more than 30,000 home-cooked meals for Americans in coronavirus self-isolation.

www.aninews.in

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Mayors in Italy are loosing their patience of people wanting to still go out:

 

[Brenda Archer]

Mayors in Italy are loosing their patience of people wanting to still go out:

I don’t blame them a bit!!

 

[Isabeau]

Republicans' prioritizing money over lives isn't new or shocking; a bigger point is that the Texas lt-gov's suggestion to sacrifice the old so that the young can have better 401k's is based on the already-outdated idea that this disease is only a threat to old people.

It is now a widely-known fact that this illness can hospitalize, and kill young people.

If everyone needs medical attention at the same time, it won’t be only “old people sacrificing themselves” and others affected by the virus. There are many others who won’t get the medical help they need because hospitals and clinics will be overwhelmed. Collateral damage?

 

[Free]

Mayors in Italy are loosing their patience of people wanting to still go out:

>> You are not Will Smith in I Am Legend.

Nobody should want to be.

 

[Free]

Oof.

 

[Free]

Giant effing assholes.

Exclusive: Elite hackers target WHO as coronavirus cyberattacks spike

Elite hackers tried to break into the World Health Organization earlier this month, sources told Reuters, part of what a senior agency official said was a more than two-fold increase in cyberattacks.

www.reuters.com

WHO Chief Information Security Officer Flavio Aggio said the identity of the hackers was unclear and the effort was unsuccessful. But he warned that hacking attempts against the agency and its partners have soared as they battle to contain the coronavirus, which has killed more than 15,000 worldwide.

The attempted break-in at the WHO was first flagged to Reuters by Alexander Urbelis, a cybersecurity expert and attorney with the New York-based Blackstone Law Group, which tracks suspicious internet domain registration activity.

Urbelis said he picked up on the activity around March 13, when a group of hackers he’d been following activated a malicious site mimicking the WHO’s internal email system.

 

[Sredni Eel]

Zombie apocalypse has more traffic.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

If I still drank I'd be boycotting his pubs anyway, because of his support for Brexit, but if that wasn't enough reason.

Millionaire Wetherspoon’s boss says staff might want to work for Tesco

Tim Martin doesn’t reassure employees they will be paid regular wage during lockdown - despite pub company having £1.8 billion turnover

www.independent.co.uk

To quote Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co,

“This man,” said McTurk, with conviction, “is the Gadarene Swine.”

 

[Innula Zenovka]

That's nice of them...

Taliban pledges not to kill healthcare workers

A Taliban spokesperson said they will cooperate and coordinate with international health organisations and WHO to combat the virus. Afghanistan currently has 22 confirmed virus cases.

www.dailymail.co.uk

“You talk about your coronavirus in the West as a disease,” said Haji Taj Mohammed, 82, a former Mujahideen commander from the village who fought against the Russians and whose son was killed in Arghandab by the Americans. “We joke about the term: you are our corona. You fill our graveyards.”

Yet the differing death count does not dictate the level of rancour towards the two superpower enemies. “Our hatred of infidels is not governed by how many they killed of us,” added Haji Mir Mohammed Agha, 72, who was a senior Mujahideen group commander and fought against the Soviets before he became a Taliban commander. He was eventually imprisoned by the US for seven months in the infamous Bagram detention facility.

“Our feelings towards our enemies are related more to feelings of betrayal and in this regard the Americans, who promised stability and reconstruction but delivered division and ruin, are worse in our minds than the Russians who never claimed to be anything other than our enemies,” he added.

Afghan village of Joy Lahor defeated two superpowers of Russia and America | World | The Times

Afghan village of Joy Lahor defeated two superpowers of Russia and America Despite massive losses, there is immense pride in sacrifice Afghan villagers say they feel greater rancour towards Americans ...

www.evernote.com

 

[Free]

Afghan village of Joy Lahor defeated two superpowers of Russia and America | World | The Times

Afghan village of Joy Lahor defeated two superpowers of Russia and America Despite massive losses, there is immense pride in sacrifice Afghan villagers say they feel greater rancour towards Americans ...

www.evernote.com

Not sure I get the point. If it's due to my quip, they're pledging to not kill WHO and other health care workers, and they are typically going to be something other than American or Russian. Or even Western.

 

[Free]

Snopes forced to scale back fact-checking in face of overwhelming COVID-19 misinformation

“Yes, publishing less may seem counterintuitive.”

www.theverge.com

Fact-checking organization Snopes has been forced to scale back its routine content production and special projects, as the amount of misinformation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed its fact-checkers.

In a blog post that was later published as a series of tweets, the organization said the pandemic is “overwhelming” its small team and that it can’t ask them to ramp up productivity at a time when everyone’s personal lives are being placed under such strain. “Yes, publishing less may seem counterintuitive,” the organization wrote, “but exhausting our staff in this crisis is not the cure for what is ailing our industry.” Going forward, it said it intends to focus its efforts “only where we think we can have a significant impact.”

 

[Free]

Oi!

Tokyo Olympics postponed until 2021

The Tokyo Olympics have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, marking the first time in history that the start of the Games will be delayed.

olympics.nbcsports.com

The IOC and Tokyo Olympic organizers agreed to move the Tokyo Games to 2021.

It will mark the first time in history that the start of an Olympics will be delayed to another year. The Opening Ceremony will not be held on July 24 as scheduled, but on an undetermined 2021 date, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the [World Health Organization] today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community,” according to a joint statement from the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.

 

[Free]

Amazon suspends more than 3,900 selling accounts over coronavirus price gouging

In response to growing concerns Amazon announced Monday a suspension of more than 3,900 selling accounts in the United States for violating the company's fair pricing policies.

Amazon removed over half a million offers from its stores for coronavirus-based price gouging and suspended thousands of accounts to tighten its grip on people trying to make a profit off a shortage of supplies.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Not sure I get the point. If it's due to my quip, they're pledging to not kill WHO and other health care workers, and they are typically going to be something other than American or Russian. Or even Western.

But they'll probably be foreign, which up there can mean someone from 20 or 30 miles away.

As I understand it, up in the kind of areas the Taliban control, or to which they control access, everyone's pretty xenophobic, and not without reason, and any organised groups of outsiders trying to enter their clan's territory are likely to arouse suspicion and hostility, particularly if they seem to be arriving with the blessing of the government in Kabul.

The Taliban's announcement is, now I come to think about it, probably very good news for the WHO workers, not simply for the obvious reason but also the fact the Taliban regard the outsiders as neutrals to whom they'll give safe passage probably makes the clan chiefs and local warlords more willing to accept their presence, too.

In the past the Taliban have made life very difficult, at times, for medical workers when they distrust the government initiatives that have brought them to the area, visiting harsh reprisals on villagers who have anything to do with them, so this announcement is more reassuring than it sounds, I think.