America Archives - Morbidoptimism

on October 12, 2020October 12, 2020house

Penguin Random House, PEN America team up to Book the Vote

NEW YORK (AP) — Neil Gaiman, Anita Hill and Ann Patchett will be among the contributors to Book the Vote, an online initiative to provide information on the electoral system, voting registration and civic topics.

© Provided by Associated Press
FILE – Anita Hill attends the 10th annual DVF Awards in New York on April 11, 2019. Hill, Neil Gaiman and Ann Patchett will be among the contributors to Book the Vote, an online initiative to provide information on the electoral system, voting registration and civic topics. Book the Vote (bookthevote.com) is a collaboration among Penguin Random House, PEN America, the non-profit organization When We All Vote and the literary retailer Out of Print, which is owned by Penguin Random House. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File)

Book the Vote is a collaboration among Penguin Random House, PEN America, the non-profit organization When We All Vote and the literary retailer Out

on October 8, 2020October 8, 2020home improvement

Why Home Improvement Has Surged And How It’s Changing America : NPR

“It used to be a backyard. Now it’s a summer oasis,” says Astoria Camille of the water feature she built in her mother’s Kansas City, Mo., backyard using an old stock tank and 53 bags of pea gravel.

Frank Morris/KCUR

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Frank Morris/KCUR

The sound of power tools is roaring in neighborhoods across the United States.

In the Brookside neighborhood in central Kansas City, Mo., John Buhr has do-it-yourself projects going from top of the garage to the basement.

“As soon as COVID hit, we needed someplace the kids could play,” Buhr says, noting that neighborhood parks were closed. “So we put a playhouse down [in the

on October 8, 2020October 8, 2020house

Trump’s Covid-plagued White House proves testing alone can’t keep America safe

President Donald Trump’s White House continues to rack up positive tests, from Hope Hicks to Stephen Miller. On Tuesday, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany (and two of her aides) tested positive for SARS-CoV2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. Despite knowing that she was in close contact with both the president and top adviser Hope Hicks prior to their diagnoses, McEnany not only refused to quarantine, but even continued to give briefings with reporters without a mask.

I felt safer reporting in North Korea than I currently do reporting at The White House. This is just crazy.

— Ben Tracy (@benstracy) October 5, 2020

Her stated reason for this behavior, up until Monday afternoon? She hadn’t tested positive yet.

This behavior highlights a fundamental and dangerous misunderstanding of the point of Covid-19 tests — and their limitations. If we don’t know how to interpret and respond to tests, we risk the kind

on October 7, 2020October 7, 2020interior

Interior Secretary’s View: ‘Made in America’ starts with Minnesota mining

Failed policies from previous administrations undercut the American manufacturing and mining industries, putting Americans out of work and China in the driver’s seat to control the products we rely on every day for electric power, communications, internet connectivity, and national security. President Donald Trump has championed policies to bring these jobs back to the United States, and his administration is continuing to take major steps forward to ensure our rightful place in the mining, processing, and manufacturing of critical minerals.

Following President Trump’s Executive Order 13817 in 2017, the Department of the Interior produced a list of 35 minerals — including rare earth elements and other metals such as lithium, indium, tellurium, gallium, and platinum-group metals — and determined that the supply chains for these critical minerals are vital to our nation’s national security and economic vitality.

The United States used to be the leader in mineral production and processing.

on October 6, 2020October 6, 2020garden

Trevor Noah Says ‘White House Rose Garden Is Like the Wet Market of America Right Now’ (Video)

Trevor Noah dissected last week’s “super-spreader” White House event on Monday’s “Daily Show,” joking that the recent positive COVID-19 test results that have been revealed for President Trump and dozens of people who are in close contact with him mean that “The White House Rose Garden is like the wet market of America right now.”

“Turns out, while you’ve spent the last seven months hugging your grandma through a giant condom, Trump and his friends are having no-mask cocktail receptions, indoors, where the guest of honor is COVID-19,” the Comedy Central late-night host said, referring to the Sept. 26 celebration for Trump’s Supreme Court pick Judge Amy Coney Barrett. “And now at least 30 people in Trump’s circle have tested positive for COVID-19. You realize that means there’s been more infections at the White House over the last day than in New Zealand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia combined.”

Noah

on October 6, 2020October 6, 2020garden

Trevor Noah Says ‘White House Rose Garden Is Like the Wet Market of America Right Now’ (Video)

Noah

on October 5, 2020October 5, 2020house

Voice Of America White House Bureau Chief Investigated By Political Appointees : NPR

An investigation by political appointees into Steve Herman, the Voice of America’s White House bureau chief, for anti-Trump bias is the latest act that may break federal laws promising its journalistic independence.

Voice of America

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Voice of America

Two political appointees at the federal agency that oversees the Voice of America recently investigated one of its most prominent journalists to make the case he was biased against President Trump, NPR has learned.

They compiled an extensive report deemed “confidential” on VOA White House bureau chief Steve Herman, claiming that in his reporting and tweets that Herman had been unfair to Trump and had broken the broadcaster’s standards and social media policies.

on October 4, 2020October 4, 2020house

How the White House is trying to convince America that Trump’s illness isn’t a big deal

In case that point was somehow lost on observers, campaign aides like Jason Miller made it more explicitly.

The tacit message of the tweet: Even the virus can’t keep this guy down.

But Miller’s presentation of what’s shown is obviously questionable. For one thing, while he boasts that Trump didn’t need a teleprompter, the president can be seen looking down at the sheet of paper in front of him, almost certainly to consult notes about what he plans to say.

This is not a big deal, of course, and, technically, it doesn’t conflict with Miller’s representation that no teleprompter was used. But that Miller pointedly uses this as a point of contrast with former vice president Joe Biden, Trump’s opponent in the upcoming election, is ironic. After all, Trump’s campaign has repeatedly criticized Biden’s use of written notes or alleged that he was referring to notes as he gave public

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