It's curious, isn't it. It's now 6 months after impeached President Donald Trump said he was starting his 2020 physical.
He hasn't completed the routine medical examination he said he started in November.
The White House won't say why.
I wonder why. Read the rest
• Ruairi O Leocháin of Athlone Wildlife Apiaries decided to make a lego beehive "just for a bit of craic"
A beekeeper in Ireland put their coronavirus quarantine time to good use by crafting an elaborate, fully functioning beehive out of LEGOs. Read the rest
Your concerns about the privacy and security risks of using state-run coronavirus contact tracing apps? They're reasonable concerns. Read the rest
ProPublica reports the administration of Donald Trump has given coronavirus bailout funds to two different elite private jet companies which were owned or founded by individuals who donated to the Trump campaign. Read the rest
Shakespeare's Globe — a reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre opened by William Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain's Men in 1599 — has issued a plea for donations in the face of its pending insolvency and closure.
We hope to open the doors to our wooden O as soon as possible but in this unprecedented time for theatre, and as a charity that receives no annual government subsidy, we are in desperate need of donations to help us to continue to strive in the future.
[…]
We remain one of the most affordable and accessible theatres in the UK, despite many pressures, managing to retain our £5 Groundling ticket and over 50% of tickets in the Globe Theatre at £25 or less. Without your support, we will be unable to continue this work.
The BBC expanded on this, with some more quotes from a representative of the theatre:
In evidence to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, the theatre said: "Without emergency funding and the continuation of the coronavirus job retention scheme, we will spend down our reserves and become insolvent.
"This has been financially devastating and could even be terminal."
The original Globe Theatre also endured a plague, as well as some fires, and financial collapse. But letting such an historical monument — the place where the modern English language was essentially revolutionized — fall apart once again is a depressing indictment on our societal priorities.
Shakespeare's Globe theatre calls for urgent funds to avoid insolvency [BBC]
Image: Yair Haklai / Wikimedia Commons (CC 3.0) Read the rest
The New Yorker has a great new profile on singer-songwriter / human treasure Phoebe Bridgers, whose new album, Punisher, will be released on June 19. Any interview with Bridgers is a delight, even if you're not a fan of her work. But what really makes this article stick out is its relationship to coronavirus quarantine.
Author Amanda Petrusich initially follows the standard form for one of these type of marquee-musician magazine profiles — embedding herself in the subject's life over the course of a few months, getting them to open up about personal stuff as the journalist explores their home and discusses the creative process, et cetera. I don't mean that to sound flippant; Petrusich is an absolute master of that form. Except the form itself is threatened when Petrusich and Bridgers both end up quarantined (separately) shorter after the initial embedding begins. But Petrusich endures, and finds a way to make it work, using FaceTime to tour through Bridgers' life in Los Angeles and even speak with the singer's mother in her childhood bedroom. This is almost certainly made easier by the fact that Bridgers is already a candid and confessional artist, but it still makes for a very unique profile that illuminates both the artist at the center of it, and the unprecedented time at which the journalism was happening.
It's also available to listen to on Audm.
Phoebe Bridgers’s Frank, Anxious Music [Amanda Petrusich / The New Yorker]
What do we have here? Why, it's the 73rd Communique of the CPSUZOeD (May 2020), a rare video release from Soviet Unterzoegersdorf, with an important message about the coronavirus pandemic. Read the rest
Russia: 'US attacks are untenable'
A senior Russian official expressed support for the World Health Organization and Russia's ally China in an interview published Tuesday. Read the rest
• The Lancet says Trump's letter contains 'factually incorrect' details. Read the rest
“An Associated Press review of those states found that at least 10 states also share the names of everyone who tests positive.”
A review by the Associated Press found that public health officials “in at least two-thirds of U.S. states” are sharing the addresses of people who confirmed to have the coronavirus with first responders.
Widespread disclosure of who has tested positive is said to be intended to protect medical workers and first responders from exposure, but the practice sparks concerns involving racial profiling, privacy, and security. Read the rest
Somehow, not a surprise. Read the rest
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs said Friday that it will not stop use of hydroxychloroquine, an unproven malaria drug pushed by Trump, on veterans with COVID-19. Read the rest
A recent Rasmussen survey reveals that "nearly one-in-four GOP voters would prefer someone else" other than Trump to be the Republican presidential candidate this year. The survey also found that "Democrats are quite happy with the ongoing media coverage of the coronavirus. But Republicans continue to put their faith in Trump and see the media coverage as just another tool to attack him."
Image: Jumpstory/CC0 Read the rest
Watch live, as ousted Trump administration health official Rick Bright testifies on his whistleblower complaint before Congress. Read the rest
Today, in an exchange with a noted fan on Fox Business, impeached and manifestly unfit President Trump said a bunch of really dumb untrue things on live television that made no sense at all. Read the rest
