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Celerity

Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
March 24, 2020

Texas Has Banned Abortions During The Coronavirus Outbreak

Abortion providers argue that the procedure is “essential health care” and should remain available during the COVID-19 outbreak.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emaoconnor/texas-abortion-ban-coronavirus-outbreak

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ordered a ban on abortions in the state unless the life of the mother is threatened. The order came on Monday, a day after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said abortion did not qualify as “essential” care and ordered any scheduled procedures to be postponed amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“No one is exempt from the governor’s executive order on medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures, including abortion providers,” a statement from Paxton's office read. “Those who violate the governor’s order will be met with the full force of the law.” The order will expire April 21, but before then any medical worker providing abortion care can be fined $1,000 or face jail time of up to 180 days.

Paxton and Abbott are following in the footsteps of Ohio. On March 17, Ohio’s governor ordered the cancellation of all nonessential medical procedures; over the weekend, Ohio’s deputy attorney general, Jonathan Fulkerson, sent letters to several abortion clinics in the state, accusing them of being in violation of the order.

In Maryland, an order was slightly less clear. In a press conference about the state order suspending nonessential businesses and procedures Monday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan appeared to tell a reporter he considered abortion a nonessential service. Hogan’s office did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for clarification on the issue.

snip

https://twitter.com/ErinatThePost/status/1242118681104171008
March 24, 2020

Joe Biden Delivers Remarks on the Coronavirus pandemic

starts at 3:45



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Former Vice President Joe Biden is running for president to restore the soul of the nation. He believes it's time to remember who we we are. We're Americans: tough and resilient. We choose hope over fear. Science over fiction. Truth over lies. And unity over division. We are the United States of America. And together, there is not a singe thing we can't do. Join Team Joe today: http://www.joebiden.com/join
March 24, 2020

The Best Books of 2020 (So Far)

https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/best-books-of-2020



Another year, another one trillion new books coming out. The pace and sheer volume of book releases can be daunting, with every piece of marketing copy claiming that this will be the read that changes your life. How can you tell which is actually going to be worth your time? Leave that to us: we've been doing our homework, scouring publisher catalogues, scoping out early reviews, and doing the reading to suss out which books are actually the best of the year. Here are those titles that we think you should flag for your shelves, too. What else do you have going on?

Abigail by Magda Szabó (translated by Len Rix)

Release date: January 21

Why it's great: When Magda Szabó died in 2007, Hungary lost one of its finest, most nuanced literary voices. And yet, if you lived in the United States, you would hardly have known -- her hadn't been translated into English since 1995. That changed in 2015, when New York Review Books published Len Rix's 2005 translation of The Door in America, named one of The New York Times's top 10 books of the year. NYRB took the hint, publishing George Szirtes's 2014 translation of Iza's Ballad in 2016, Rix's translation of Katalin Street in 2017, and now, Abigail. There's an argument to be made that they saved the best for last, if indeed this is last. Universally beloved in Hungary, Abigail is the suspenseful coming-of-age story of Gina, the willful daughter of a Hungarian general who is sent from her home in Budapest to a religious boarding school in the country against her wishes on the eve of Nazi invasion. There, ostracized and miserable, her only hope is Abigail: a statue of an urn-bearing woman on the school's grounds believed to grant help to those who need it. Abigail is charming, gripping, and moving, in somewhat equal measure -- a feat in itself.


And I Do Not Forgive You by Amber Sparks

Release date: February 11

Why it’s great: Amber Sparks has been writing some of the weirdest, most majestic short fiction for years. Her first collection, May We Shed These Human Bodies, was published back in 2012 and has since become a classic of independent literature. In her latest and most rebellious collection, Sparks offers the full effect of what it’s like to be a woman living in modern day 2020. In doing so, you’ll find her exploring the gamut of imaginative conceits that science fiction, the supernatural, and the fabulist might offer but without losing sight of the storytelling and its characters at the center of each prism-like story. It’s a resounding success, a real demonstration of her range as a writer, just how wild her imagination is, and it’s the perfect book to read if you’re even a little bit angry. Sparks’ anger will combine with yours to become the escape from reality you need. The book is worth checking out for the story "The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines" alone.


The Black Cathedral by Marcial Gala (translated by Anna Kushner)

Release date: January 7

Why it's great: The first novel by Cuban author Marcial Gala to be translated into English is a strange and beautiful one, yet compulsively readable. Told by a chorus of mutually contradictory narrators -- think George Saunders's Lincoln In the Bardo, except with fewer ghosts (just one ghost narrator, in fact) -- the book chronicle the building of a grand cathedral and consequent congregation in the city of Cienfuegos at the behest of Arturo, the preacher and patriarch at the center of the Stuart family, whose stories center the tale. As the congregation balloons, so does the project, the cathedral growing taller and taller but never completed, while flirtations, betrayals, murders, and hauntings connect the Stuarts and their neighborhood in ways both bawdy and bleak. A difficult book to explain, and yet an impossible one to put down.

snip
March 24, 2020

Trump is going to go bonkers, as any firm related to him or his family is going to be banned from

getting money from the 500 billion USD slush fund (per Morning Joe just now).

Expect MASSIVE rump-raging very soon.

FUCK TRUMP

March 23, 2020

Unemployment could reach 30% in the U.S., says St. Louis Fed's Bullard

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/unemployment-could-reach-30-in-the-us-says-st-louis-feds-bullard-2020-03-22

‘This is a planned, organized partial shutdown of the U.S. economy in the second quarter. The overall goal is to keep everyone, households and businesses, whole... It is a huge shock and we are trying to cope with it and keep it under control.’


That’s Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard explaining to Bloomberg News why he sees the U.S. unemployment rate hitting 30% in the coming months as the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.

If his gloomy jobs projection proves to be true, unemployment would be worse than it was during the Great Depression and three times worse than the 2007-’09 recession, according to Reuters. Bullard also said he expects an unprecedented 50% plunge in gross domestic product.

“Everything is on the table,” he said, referring to additional lending programs from the Federal Reserve. “There is more that we can do if necessary... There is probably much more in the months ahead depending on where Congress wants to go.”

snip
March 23, 2020

Republicans are going for it ALL, trillions to the top 0.1%, & destroy the entire social safety net

They will bank on COVID-19 wiping out huge swathes of the elderly and working poor, then claim that the 5-6 Trillion USD (per multiple US Dem Senators just now on MSNBC) they just 'spent' (stole) is the reason they have to shut it all down.

McTurtle is going to try and go for THE kill shot. THANK FUCK we took back the House or there would literally be NOTHING we could do to stop it.

I am underselling the panic I have just heard in Senator after Senator's voices.

March 22, 2020

Highsnobiety Staff Share Their Self-Isolation Reading List

https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/best-inspirational-books/

Once you’ve finished binging your favorite Netflix series and every cat video on YouTube, you’re going to need something more to combat quarantine boredom. Having your reading list stacked is an educational and inspirational way to wile away the hours. ⁠



Work From Home is a new vertical dedicated to life and culture in the strange and unprecedented situation of self-quarantine that many of us are dealing with right now. From what to watch to how to get a fit off and how to not think about anything, this is our guide to the great indoors. For updates on the spread of Covid-19 and how to keep yourself safe and informed, consult WHO and the CDC. As we’re all spending our days indoors at the moment, it’s easy to feel bored and uninspired — particularly once you’ve finished binging your favorite Netflix series and every cat video on YouTube. Unless, of course, your reading list is pre-stacked with inspirational and motivating books.

Whether your goal is to finish the book you were reading last summer, revisiting one of your favorite reads, or finding something new, there’s no time like the present to up your literary intake. Reading will not only help you escape your living quarters but it’s scientifically proven to boost your mental and physical health. So, if you’re looking ways to stay sane while you’re self-isolating, picking up a good book should be on top of your to-do list. For those lacking ideas, the Highsnobiety teams in both Berlin and New York City offices have shared what’s on their reading list. This time, we asked staff to share the books that have inspired them the most — motivational reads, philosophy books, memoirs, novels, or poems.

Scroll down for the best inspirational books to read while you self-isolate.



“The modern time we live in is full of weird and fearful shit, and this book helps you make sense of it all. Rather than tackle the complex topics of religion and politics, it explains why our brains make us act the way they do. It’s a wildly refreshing psychological and behavioral take on the two topics that nobody wants to talk about, and it’s a great way to change your perspective this year. It’ll help you understand yourself, develop compassion for people who aren’t like you, and the best part: it’ll make you look f**cking intelligent when the homies see it on your coffee table.”

— Naina Kamath, Digital Distribution Manager



“Maggie Nelson’s memoir, The Argonauts, isn’t technically an inspirational book. I don’t even know if you would call it a memoir. But it’s definitely one of the most helpful books I’ve ever read. It pretty fundamentally changed the way I thought about love and family and sex and gender. Nelson writes so beautifully about art, literature, the limitations of language, and even her own butthole. Something this poetic and thoughtful feels especially valuable right now.”

— Isabelle Hore-Thorburn, Weekend Staff Writer



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much more at the link
March 21, 2020

NYT : Without bold action, U.S. could be overwhelmed, researchers say.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/world/coronavirus-updates-usa-world.html#link-59a70b06



Even if the United States cuts its rate of transmission in half — a tall order — some 650,000 people might become infected in the next two months. That was the conclusion of Columbia University researchers who used a New York Times database of known cases and Census Bureau transportation data to model how the outbreak could evolve. The estimates are inherently uncertain, and they could change as the United States adopts additional measures to control the outbreak.



https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/20/us/coronavirus-model-us-outbreak.html



The coronavirus has infected far more people in the United States than testing has shown so far, and stringent measures to limit social contact in parts of the country not yet seeing many cases are needed to significantly stem the tide of illness and death in the coming months.

Those are the conclusions of Columbia University researchers who used a New York Times database of known cases and Census Bureau transportation data to model how the outbreak could evolve based on what is known about the virus. The estimates are inherently uncertain, and they could change as America adopts unprecedented measures to control the outbreak. But they offer a stark warning: Even if the country cut its rate of transmission in half — a tall order — some 650,000 people might become infected in the next two months.

The growth is driven by Americans with mild symptoms who are carrying and spreading the virus without being aware that they have it, the researchers say. The number of undetected cases — 11 times more than has been officially reported, they estimate — reflects how far behind the United States has fallen in testing for the virus.

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Gender: Female
Hometown: London
Home country: US/UK/Sweden
Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
Number of posts: 43,341

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