Esther has to keep working to feed her family in Kenya but is worried about catching coronavirus.
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Monday, March 30, 2020
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Optimizing complex decision-making
When he began his engineering program at École Polytechnique in his hometown of Paris, Jean Pauphilet did not aspire to the academy.
“I used to associate academia with fundamental research, which I don’t enjoy much,” he says. “But slowly, I discovered another type of research, where people use rigorous scientific principles for applied and impactful projects.”
A fascination with projects that have direct applications to organizational problems led Pauphilet to the field of operations research and analytics — and to a PhD at the Operations Research Center (ORC), a joint program between the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing and the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Operations research models decision-making processes as mathematical optimization problems, such as planning for energy production given unpredictable fluctuations in demand. It’s a complex subject that Pauphilet finds exhilarating. “Operations in practice are very messy, but I think that’s what makes them exciting. You’re never short on problems to solve,” he says.
Working in the lab of Professor Dimitris Bertsimas, and in collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Pauphilet focuses on solving challenges in the health care field. For example, how can hospitals best make bed assignments and staffing decisions? These types of logistical decisions are “a pain point for everyone,” he notes.
“You really feel that you’re making peoples’ lives easier because when you’re talking about it to doctors and nurses, you realize that they don’t like to do it, they’re not trained at it, and it’s keeping them from actually doing their job. So, for me it was clear that it had a positive impact on their workload.”
Becoming an expert
As the son of two doctors, Pauphilet is already comfortable working within the medical field. He also feels well-prepared by his training in France, which allows students to choose their majors late and emphasizes a background in math. “Operations research requires versatility,” he explains. “Methodologically, it can involve anything ranging from probability theory to optimization algorithms and machine learning. So, having a strong and wide math background definitely helps.”
This mentality has allowed him to grow into an expert in his field at MIT. “I’m less scared of research now,” he explains, “You might not find what you were expecting, but you always find something that is relevant to someone. So [research] is uncertain, but not risky. You can always get back on your feet in some way.” It’s a mentality that’s given him the confidence to find, solve, and address operations problems in novel ways in collaboration with companies and hospitals.
Pauphilet, who plans to remain in academia, has found himself thinking about the different pedagogical philosophies in the U.S. and France. At MIT, he completed the Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program to become more familiar with aspects of teaching not typically experienced as a teaching assistant, such as designing a course, writing lectures, and creating assignments.
“Coming from France and teaching in the U.S., I think it’s especially interesting to learn from other peoples’ experience and to compare what their first experience of learning was at their universities in their countries. Also [it’s challenging] to define what is the best method of teaching that you can think of that acknowledges the differences between the students and the way they learn, and to try to take that into account in your own teaching style.”
Culture and community
In his free time, Pauphilet takes advantage of cultural and intellectual offerings in Cambridge and Boston. He frequents the Boston Symphony Orchestra (which offers $25 tickets for people under 40) and enjoys hearing unfamiliar composers and music, especially contemporary music with surprising new elements.
Pauphilet is an avid chef who relishes the challenge of cooking large pieces of meat, such as whole turkeys or lamb shoulders, for friends. Beyond the food, he enjoys the long conversations that these meals facilitate and that people can’t necessarily experience in a restaurant. (As an aside he notes, “I think the service in a restaurant here is much more efficient than in Europe!”). Still, Pauphilet enjoys going out to dinner at Cambridge-area eateries like the Faialense Sport Club, a Portuguese restaurant, or eating a Boston cream pie at Darwin’s Ltd. every Sunday.
Pauphilet is also the president of MIT’s French Club, which organizes a variety of events for around 100 French-speaking graduate students, postdocs, and undergraduates — from movie nights and barbecues to wine tastings and mixers with other Boston-area French groups. Though his undergraduate institution is well-represented at MIT, Pauphilet feels strongly about creating a network for those Francophones who may not have his luck, so they can feel as at home as he does.
Now at the end of his PhD, Pauphilet has the chance to reflect on his experiences over the past three and a half years. In particular, he has found a deep sense of community in his cohort, lab, and community here. He attributes some of that to his graduate program’s structure — which begins with two required classes that everyone in the cohort takes together — but that’s just one aspect of the investment in building community Pauphilet has felt at MIT.
“It’s a great environment. Honestly, I find that everyone is very mindful of students. I have a great relationship with my advisor that is not only based on research, and I think that’s very important,” he says.
Overall, Pauphilet attributes his significant personal and professional growth in grad school to learning in MIT’s collaborative and open environment. And, he notes, being at the Institute has affected him in another important way.
“I’m a bit nerdier than I used to be!”
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Rolling out remote learning
Moving some 1,200 MIT subjects to a remote teaching and learning model, launched today, has been less like flipping a switch and more like building the switch itself — with whatever was on hand. In short, it’s a very MIT kind of problem.
In late February, before the coronavirus altered daily life and work in the U.S., Meghan Perdue, a digital learning lab fellow in Open Learning and an instructor in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, noticed some rumblings on the horizon: Universities in Asia were switching to teaching online as the virus took hold there. She shared her concerns with Krishna Rajagopal, dean for digital learning, who, in turn, looped in Ian A. Waitz, vice chancellor for undergraduate and graduate education, and Sheryl Barnes, director of residential education in Open Learning. They began thinking, hypothetically, of how MIT could address such a challenging situation. With the help of other digital learning lab fellows across MIT, they began planning in earnest, designing online learning workshops and developing best practices.
In early March, as the outbreak appeared to be turning into a global pandemic, Waitz formed the Covid-19 Academic Continuity Working Group as part of a broader emergency management effort to ensure academic, residential life, research, and business continuity at MIT. From the get-go, he advocated a “pen-knife and matches” approach, with a focus on “thinking less about technology and more about how to put learning first” in the event, as has now happened, that most of the students, faculty, and instructors would be living and working off-campus.
Building the switch
With that in mind, as part of the working group, Rajagopal launched an intense and evolving effort that has drawn upon experts in the Teaching and Learning Lab (TLL), Open Learning, Information Systems and Technology (IS&T), and departments across MIT. It has been a monumental task: How do you go from a physical classroom like 10-250 to a multipaned Zoom window or video segments and online problems? How do you balance when to use real-time teaching with asynchronous? How do you support faculty and students along the way? And how do you do all this under the intense time constraints imposed by the ever-changing responses to Covid-19?
In short order, IS&T, TLL, and Open Learning have collaborated to build a teaching resource site that provides soup-to-nuts instructions on preparing classes for remote delivery. The site also focuses on best practices; ensuring equity, diversity and inclusion; and maintaining community; despite the fact that students are engaging from around the globe.
Meanwhile, Vice President for IS&T Mark Silis and his team have been at the ready to bolster and retool the Institute’s technical backbone to align with virtual learning. In addition to negotiating MIT-wide licenses for Zoom, Slack, Piazza, and Gradescope, and expanded Dropbox allocations for file storage, Silis says, “we are pleased to report that we launched a beta version of a Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) program that will simplify the integration of Zoom, Piazza, and Gradescope with MIT’s Stellar and LMOD learning management environments for courses in which instructors plan to use live Zoom sessions for every class and recitation.” Rajagopal commented that IS&T’s “lightning-fast response to needs and never-say-impossible attitude has been astonishing.”
Equally adept at wrangling technology has been Sloan School of Management’s Wes Esser, Chief Technology Officer. Esser and his team have been eager to share their virtual learning expertise with the rest of the campus. Silis wrote in a blog post, “Sloan’s experience has been invaluable in their early embrace of the Zoom platform and its integration in the evolution of their academic programs. The ability to bring the Zoom platform to the entire MIT community within a matter of a few days, would simply not have been possible without our Sloan colleagues, and for that we all owe them a debt of thanks.”
Division of Student Life (DSL) also lent a hand, working with IS&T to ensure that students who needed access to technical tools to learn remotely, such as loaner laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots, would be ready for anything, from p-sets to office hours to live or recorded lectures.
One MIT
Throngs of faculty and other staff have come together to help make teaching and learning remote. Even before the decision was made to migrate to virtual instruction, faculty were on it, says Rajagopal. He had reached out to the instructional teams of the largest MIT classes to assess their readiness and to get a sense of how they were thinking about going remote. Appropriately, he says, “the response was magnificent and very MIT.” Faculty were already stepping up, with large economics, physics, and electrical engineering and computer science courses some of the first to make the switch.
For her part, Perdue has offered a steady drumbeat of workshops since early March to help faculty acclimate to teaching online. (To date, 15 two-hour workshops, and counting.) Likewise, two of Rajagopal’s key thought and action partners, Barnes and Janet Rankin, director of the Teaching and Learning Lab, have run webinars and fielded hundreds of questions about everything from how to build community in distributed learning environments, to team teaching, to creating video segments, to Zoom pedagogy. They turned their respective offices into tactical command centers, lending expertise and inspiration to faculty, instructors, and teaching assistants across campus.
Of course, not all modes of instruction translate easily to online platforms. “We also have labs, project classes, design classes, and performance classes and these will be a harder challenge,” Rajagopal says, “where instructors — and students — will need creativity and flexibility to achieve learning goals.” Some faculty have embraced these challenges early on. In 2.007, the iconic design and manufacturing course, professors Amos Winter and Maria Yang have worked to find creative solutions and silver linings, and planned for ways for students to build with at-hand materials. Likewise, in 8.13, the major lab class for physics juniors, Professor Gunther Roland was already confident that although students won’t be able to “twiddle the knobs,” they will achieve many of their learning goals via doing data analysis, writing a paper, and giving presentations.
Emma Teng, the T.T. and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Asian Civilizations, has been one of the many department leaders rallying her colleagues. “I feel my unit is prepared to begin the ‘best possible’ remote teaching on Monday,” she says. “We have the right policies, right technologies, right supports, and right spirit to enter into this endeavor. Not that there won’t be glitches, but after the experiences of the past two weeks people are ready to roll with the glitches as well!”
Expressing her gratitude to all those working behind the scenes to virtualize instruction, she says, “No one wished to find themselves in this place, but this group and so many others have worked tirelessly to make it the best it could possibly be.”
As collaboration has and will continue to be the key ingredient for success, Open Learning created an open community site for faculty to work together and share ideas and tips, which has seen lively traffic since it launched. Contributors have chimed in on topics like preventing Zoombombing (when interlopers disrupt an online class); how to conduct office hours and recitations; and even how to turn your cellphone into an overhead camera.
Staying connected to the Infinite — and each other
The parallel to remote teaching is, of course, remote learning. With that in mind, the Office of the Vice Chancellor (OVC) created a website for students which helps students navigate their new academic and social landscape. The website focuses on learning styles, well-being, and ensuring that classes still have that MIT feel. And in a letter to students Rajagopal and Waitz reminded students to be flexible too: “Don’t be surprised if you encounter a kid or two in the background, spouses and partners might pop in and out of view, as may pets, and everything will not always go according to plan.”
To help students stay connected, the Division of Student Life, OVC, and other campus partners are launching a collaborative effort to match every student with a Student Success Coach. Over 500 volunteers from across MIT have come forward to serve in this new support role. Through weekly one-on-one meetings, coaches will listen to how students are doing — as learners, and overall — and connect them to each other and to MIT in ways that will help them succeed.
“You can think of this as a way to keep students connected to the Infinite,” says Lauren Pouchak, director of special projects in the OVC, who is working with Elizabeth Cogliano Young, associate dean and director of the Office of the First Year, and Gus Burkett, senior associate dean in DSL. The three are leading an effort “to create a new kind of fabric, now that the physical campus is gone.”
And now that classes are underway, they and the hundreds of staff who helped implement remote learning at MIT can pause, briefly, and catch their collective breath. There is much more to be done. There will be hiccups along the way. And there will be unexpected lessons learned and opportunities, too.
“None of us have ever done this before, so we will navigate together,” says Rajagopal. “We will be making course corrections all the time. We will plan as we go, and then change our plan. We will be creative, flexible, and we will deliver to our students something that we can be proud of.”
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Ciara tears up as Russell Wilson reveals prayer that brought them together
It is no secret that Russell Wilson and Ciara have become relationship goals and now they have truly solidified that status.
On Friday, Ciara and Wilson talked to Lala Anthony on Instagram Live, and it was not long before the conversation came up about the highly requested prayer that helped Ciara and Wilson come together. Ciara set the record straight.
READ MORE: Russell Wilson’s mother Tammy encouraged him to love Ciara’s son as his own
“That’s the thing, I prayed many nights,” she admitted. “The thing is like, people always say ‘the prayer’ it’s not one prayer it’s multiple prayers, especially when you’re going through a big transition in life. I was a single mom in it and that something I never envisioned, never imagined. And at that point you’re at a time in your life where you have to think about exactly where you are and where you wanna go.”
Anthony remembered a time when Ciara advised her to “envision it, speak it, believe in it,” which the singer emphasized as the key to getting exactly where you want to be.
Shortly after, Wilson jumped into the conversation to bring up a point that many may have missed.
“The funny thing is everybody asks what the prayer was for Ciara, but nobody really asks me what the prayer was for me,” he said.
“Ultimately though, I never forget like being in a space like ‘what do I really want?’ ‘What am I looking for?’ And I think…I wanted a relationship, a long-lasting relationship, I wanted love, I wanted kids, I wanted family. I didn’t want perfection, I want the perfect thing for me.”
READ MORE: Third time’s the charm: Ciara and Russell Wilson announce third baby on the way
According to Wilson, prior to meeting Ciara, he wrote down his five non-negotiables for what he was looking for in an ideal partner: He wanted a woman of faith, a woman who is faithful, an independent woman, a woman to love him the way his mother loved his dad on his deathbed, a woman that could tilt the room.
“I wasn’t gonna settle for three for five or four for five, we was going for five for five,” Wilson admitted.
Anthony said with Ciara he got all of those things asked for.
“I got five for five, plus some more,” he answered.
Ciara began to tear up and we all did along with her.
The couple is the parents of two children and recently announced that they have another baby on the way.
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Activists celebrate civil rights icon Joseph Lowery: ‘We must never forget him’
The civil rights community was reeling this weekend from the loss of icon Rev. Joseph Lowery, 98, who died Friday at home in Atlanta, Ga., after battling years of health challenges.
Lowery rose to prominence during the civil rights movement, joining forces with Martin Luther King Jr. to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
READ MORE: Joseph Lowery, civil rights leader and MLK aide, dead at 98
Rashad Robinson, founder of the Color of Change civil rights organization, told The Grio in an exclusive interview that he’d met Lowery several times and once organized an event that Lowery headlined.
“I have so much respect for him—from his work and leadership alongside legends to his ongoing work later for criminal justice, voting rights, gay rights and more,” Robinson said. “Whether the issue was here in the U.S.A. or abroad, he always fought for the oppressed and spoke up for human rights. He also had a great sense of humor. He was quick.”
Activist Mary Liuzzo Lilleboe told The Grio in a telephone interview that people like Lowery and Bernard Lafayette, a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, were the “backbone and spirit” of the civil rights movement. She said the organizers worked hard behind the scenes and did not seek attention or glory.
READ MORE: Black people who have died from COVID-19
Liuzzo Lilleboe is the daughter of the late Viola Liuzzo, a Detroit homemaker who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan during the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery marches. After Liuzzo’s death, members of the civil rights community embraced the Liuzzo children, particularly the late Evelyn Gibson Lowery.
“I was thinking about the people that I met, these kinds of leaders, and what it is about them that almost fascinated me and it’s their focus and devotion,” said Liuzzo Lilleboe, who is the national outreach coordinator for the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island.
“They accepted suffering without retaliation for the sake of the cause,” she said.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was a disciple of Dr. King, echoed the sentiments of Liuzzo Lilleboe that younger people must keep Lowery’s legacy alive. Jackson told The Grio exclusively through a text from a spokesperson, “We love him and miss him so much already. We must never forget him.”
Jackson said of Lowery, “In our tradition, he walked the dusty roads of the South, crying out for justice in the land of the world. He never stopped fighting for those whose backs were against the wall.”
The people of Lowery’s generation—those who were on the front lines of demonstrations and sit-ins that put them at the end of a police baton and landed them in jail— today are facing health challenges. U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who had his skull cracked by state troopers during the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march, is 80 and battling stage four pancreatic cancer. Jackson, 78, is battling Parkinson’s Disease. Both were among those people who worked so that the current generation could vote, go to school or work. The COVID-19 pandemic, particularly dangerous for elderly people with underlying health challenges, is elevating icons like Lowery to the level of precious jewels.
Based on social media reactions, it appears that younger leaders and activists like Robinson know the impact of Lowery’s work.
“If you’re a person of color in America (any color) currently living free of Jim Crow oppression you need to teach your children about Joseph Lowery,” tweeted Anthony Bradley, author of Ending Overcriminalization and Mass Incarceration.
Thanks @ajc!! If you’re a person of color in America (any color) currently living free of Jim Crow oppression you need to teach your children about #JosephLowery. So many post-1955 minorities (all colors) don’t do enough to honor these Jim Crow survivors & Civil-Rights heroes! pic.twitter.com/1Av4f1Cq3x
— Anthony Bradley (@drantbradley) March 28, 2020
Lisa Sharon Harper, host of the Freedom Road Podcast, posted to Twitter that she met Lowery on the set of the Ava DuVernay film Selma.
“He was at once towering and kind,” Harper wrote. “America would not be America without the work and witness of Rev. Dr. Lowery.”
Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery has passed from life to life. A giant of the Civil Rights Movement, Rev. Dr. Lowery helped form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which led the mass movement work under the leadership of Rev. Dr. King. 1/ #ripjosephlowery https://t.co/3Ebttjn8Qc
— Lisa Sharon Harper (@lisasharper) March 28, 2020
Robert Harvey, superintendent of the East Harlem Tutorial Program, tweeted, “May he find the freedom that he pursued on earth.”
Rest in peace Dr. Lowery. Thank you for your life of service and sacrifice for our people. Civil rights leader Joseph Lowery dies at 98 https://t.co/uZWCAlNrdu via @11AliveNews
— Melanie Campbell (@coalitionbuildr) March 28, 2020
Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, asked tweeted a touching message in Lowery’s memory.
Rest in peace Dr. Lowery. Thank you for your life of service and sacrifice for our people. Civil rights leader Joseph Lowery dies at 98 https://t.co/uZWCAlNrdu via @11AliveNews
— Melanie Campbell (@coalitionbuildr) March 28, 2020
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Georgia Nurse Quit Her Job After Having To Work The “Corona Floor”
A video by a nurse in Albany, Georgia, went viral recently after explaining why she quit her job at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. Melissa Thomas Scott, the nurse, has a pre-existing condition. She is a triple-negative breast cancer survivor and was diagnosed at age 31.
“I just quit my job. I clocked in. I find out that I’m being sent to a corona floor when they know that I have kids at home, who I can’t send away,” an emotional Scott said.
Scott explained to her supervisor that she had to put her safety and health first, especially for her children whose ages range from a newborn to age 17, but her concerns were not accepted.
“My manager sent me to a floor that is being tested for corona. She knows my health history. She knows all of this. I quit. I care about the patients and all but my family and my life, they matter. They come first. She knows my health history. I told her that my kids don’t have anybody to go to. I can’t send my kids away like everybody else. I’m done. I’m leaving,” she continued.
The Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital announced in a press release Wednesday, the same day that Scott quit, that they were caring for 357 patients have tested positive thus far, and many “critically ill Covid-19 patients” and reached capacity in three intensive-care units.
“As this public health crisis in southwest Georgia gets more severe, we have been reaching out to other hospitals in our part of the state,” the system’s CEO, Scott Steiner, said. “I am pleased that every one of our regional partners we spoke to in the last 24 hours agreed to assist by accepting patient transfers from us.”
Nurse quits after a supervisor attempts to send her to the Covid-19 floor knowing her previous health conditions.
Melissa Thomas Scott/FB
Posted by Wonder Wombman 2 on Thursday, March 26, 2020
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La. governor loses 33-year-old Black woman staffer to COVID-19 complications
A 33-year-old member of the Louisiana governor’s staff has passed away due to complications from coronavirus, according to a statement released Saturday by his office.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said April Dunn, who served with his office of disability affairs, died Saturday, reports television news station KNOE. Dunn, who worked with businesses to make their staffs more inclusive, was instrumental in helping to pass Act 833 of 2014, which provides an alternative pathway to diplomas for individuals with disabilities. She also served as chairwoman of the Louisiana Developmental Disabilities Council.
READ MORE: Black people who have died from COVID-19
“It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of our dear April,” Edwards said the statement. “She brightened everyone’s day with her smile, was a tremendous asset to our team and an inspiration to everyone who met her. She lived her life to the fullest and improved the lives of countless Louisianans with disabilities.”
April Dunn was 33. She served in @LouisianaGov's Office of Disability Affairs and was a long-time advocate for people with disabilities.
She contracted #COVID19 and she passed away today.
Please keep her family and her #TeamJBE family in your prayers. https://t.co/PytX2vPydb
— Christina “Stay 🏠, y’all” Stephens (@CEStephens) March 29, 2020
“April worked hard as an advocate for herself and other members of the disability community,” the governor continued, “and when I created the State As A Model Employer Taskforce, April told me how much she wanted to be part of it because of her struggles to find meaningful employment. I was proud to have an advocate like April on the task force and on my staff. She set a great example for how other businesses could make their workforce more inclusive. I ask the entire state to join us in prayer for April’s mother Joanette and her grandmother Gloria.”
READ MORE: Black woman immunologist leads charge to develop COVID-19 vaccine
It was unclear how long Dunn had been dealing with coronavirus symptoms.
The U.S. recently became the epicenter of coronavirus cases and CNN has reported that in the United States, deaths related to the virus have exceeded 2,000 with over 100,000 confirmed cases. In Louisiana alone, there are over 3,000 confirmed cases with the number steadily increasing. Orleans Parish has the highest amount of coronavirus cases in the state per-capita as reported by NOLA.com.
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Black woman immunologist leads charge to develop COVID-19 vaccine
A Black woman doctor is heading up a research project to find a vaccine for coronavirus, as the disease continues to spread across the globe, killing thousands.
Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett, a viral immunologist with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is leading the charge to develop a vaccine, with her team having started their research in January when the magnitude of the virus was beginning to be realized, according to Black Enterprise. She is the scientific lead for a coronavirus team based in Seattle, Wa., the report says.
READ MORE: Black people who have died from COVID-19
She was quoted in a recent interview with the New York Times about the race to find a vaccine for the virus. “If you can block the spike protein from binding to a cell, then you’ve effectively prevented an infection,” she told the newspaper.
Meet The Black Woman Taking the Lead to Develop a Vaccine For COVID-19 https://t.co/rRKdjBSTlG
— Black Enterprise (@blackenterprise) March 26, 2020
Over the years, Dr. Corbett and her team have studied the effects of SARS and MERS viruses, particularly looking at spike proteins, Black Enterprise reports. She also helped develop experimental vaccines that never made it to market because those viruses had successfully been contained with the help of public health measures.
READ MORE: Georgia nurse quits over COVID-19: ‘My family and my life, they matter’
With similarities among the SARS and MERS viruses, and coronavirus, Dr. Corbett believes that those experimental vaccines could be a jumping off point in the search for a solution to the current global health pandemic, writes the news outlet. The first human trials are already underway.
Dr. Corbett has over 10 years of research experience and received a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences with a secondary major in sociology in 2008. In 2014, she obtained her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Recently, the United States became the epicenter of confirmed coronavirus cases with thousands of infections being reported by several states. On Saturday, Donald Trump failed to issue a quarantine order for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, but instead opted to issue a strong travel advisory to be implemented by the states’ governors, the New York Times reported.
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Cardi B vows to free ‘Tiger King’ star Joe Exotic from prison
Cardi B has vowed to free the incarcerated star of the hit Netflix series, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness by launching a GoFundMe campaign.
During a Twitter rant on Thursday, Cardi voiced support for Joe Exotic, who was sentenced to a total of 22 years in federal prison on murder-for-hire charges. He allegedly agreed to pay $3,000 to an undercover FBI agent to kill a competitor and Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin, according to Newsweek.
Exotic was convicted last year on 21 counts, which included the alleged plot to kill Baskin and euthanizing five tigers.
READ MORE: Netflix’s ‘Tiger King’ doc is messy and a must watch
“Bout to start a gofundme account for Joe. He shall be free,” she wrote.
Bout to start a gofundme account for Joe .He shall be free.
— iamcardib (@iamcardib) March 28, 2020
But on Sunday, it was not clear if she had set up the account to launch the campaign.
In addition to her believing in Exotic’s innocence, Cardi also expressed suspicion about Baskin, sharing a meme that claims she had her millionaire husband killed and fed to their tigers. Police have not been able to prove the theory claim and it is one that she has long denied, TMZ reported.
“Who you think is more wrong? Narcissist joe? Or Greedy Carol? And Why?” Cardi tweeted. Tiger King is a docuseries that follows the life of Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic. Exotic was an Oklahoma zookeeper, who, prior to his incarceration, also doubled as a singer and even a gubernatorial candidate.
— Jᴇɴ♡ – fan account (@ribbononmybox) March 27, 2020
Exotic has filed a $94 million lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service claiming he was unfairly targeted and discriminated against him when he was charged with several animal cruelty offenses, according to TMZ.
Of the $94 million he has requested, he wants $15 million for false arrest, false imprisonment, discrimination, malicious prosecution, selective enforcement and death of his mother, Shirley Schreibvogel, WBNS reported.
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Sanders’ African American Aides Blame Top Officials For Snubbing Voters
Bernie Sanders’ campaign had energy, positivity, and youth—then the primaries started. Since then, Joe Biden has taken a healthy lead toward the Democratic nomination. Now Sanders’ top aides and allies say the problem may have been a problematic chain of command.
According to a NewsOne report, Some of Sanders’ top aides and allies say losses in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia were predictable because of bad decisions made at the top.
“I knew that our campaign had not done the work it needed to do,” Donald Gilliard, the deputy state political director for South Carolina told The Washington Post.
Gilliard added that he felt the campaign’s strategy was “geared toward white progressives,” which left black voters behind.
Ivory Thigpen, the co-chair for Sanders in South Carolina, believes that it was Sander’s delivery that hurt him in the state.
“I think the distinguishing attitude for Sanders, that you didn’t see associated with Biden, was an angry white man,” Thigpen told The Post. “In the African American culture, nonverbal communication and body language is huge and I think being accessible would have made up for it.”
Others believe the biggest issue was a disconnect between local and national leadership. One of the most visible figures taking harsh criticism is Nina Turner, the national co-chair for the campaign.
Turner became one of the most prominent black allies in the campaign by traveling across the country, introducing Sanders at rallies and helping him shape the campaign’s African American voter outreach in states like South Carolina.
However, some in the campaign felt she was wrong for the job when it came to outreach in the state. “She didn’t know the state,” said Gilliard, who parted ways with the campaign after South Carolina’s Feb. 29 primary.
Other complaints included not advertising enough on local black radio and television stations, unseasoned strategies, and missed opportunities to bring Sanders in for face-to-face meet-ups with black leaders and voters in southern states.
Mal Hyman, a former congressional candidate in South Carolina, argued, “Inexperienced state leadership was very slow to respond and to take any risk or broaden our base or to push for some of the what we thought were common-sense suggestions.”
After being deadlocked in African American voter support, Sanders suffered defeats in the South to Joe Biden, who campaigned heavily in the southern states.
Sanders’ campaign tried its hardest to do damage control. Phillip Agnew, a prominent black activist and campaign surrogate, was brought in as a senior adviser. Additionally, Turner worked hard to gain the endorsement of Rev. Jesse Jackson, but it may have been too late.
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Twitter convinced Fox News’ Judge Jeanine Pirro was ‘tipsy’ on-air
Judge Jeanine Pirro is being accused of slurring her words and coming off toasty during her Saturday’s episode of her Fox News show, Justice with Judge Jeanine, sparking her name and #DrunkJeanine to trend on Twitter Sunday morning.
The controversy started after Pirro arrived late to her show Saturday evening, appearing about 15 minutes after the episode began. Fox News anchor Jackie Ibanez filled in during the first quarter, The Wrap reported. When Pirro finally appeared, her hair was disheveled, which some pointed out was of the character for the host.
READ MORE: Joseph Lowery, civil rights leader and MLK aide, dead at 98
Judge Jeanine Pirro appears disheveled, tipsy after Fox News show delayed for ‘technical difficulties’ https://t.co/3cqvxbnAnS pic.twitter.com/40jUogVPoI
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) March 29, 2020
As Pirro apologized for what she deemed “technical difficulties,” it was hard not to notice that her words were slurring as she spoke.
“Just the other … day the president talked, or was hoping, about the possibility of reopening everything on Easter Sunday, uh, in a way where we could kind of come out of this quarantine, as loose as it may be, that we’re involved in,” she said in a clip.
Many people on social media had a lot to say about Pirro’s appearance and speculated that the Fox News personality was intoxicated.
Vox journalist Aaron Rupar took to Twitter last night to share his thoughts about the state Pirro was in during the broadcasting of her show.
“OMG. What is Fox News doing putting someone on the air in the condition?” He tweeted.
Judge Jeanine missed the first segment of her show tonight because of “technical difficulties” and then hosted the rest of it in this condition pic.twitter.com/KxGGBXUkly
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 29, 2020
“Has anyone noticed that a number of Trump’s most passionate fans (“Judge” Jeanine, Giuliani, Kudlow) often appear to be drunk as a skunk when they defend him on TV?” The Nation correspondent, Jeet Heer tweeted in response to Rupar.
Has anyone noticed that a number of Trump's most passionate fans ("Judge" Jeanine, Giuliani, Kudlow) often appear to be drunk as a skunk when they defend him on TV? https://t.co/mlKghFoKSB
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) March 29, 2020
New York Daily News columnist, Mike Lupica suggested Pirro’s show be renamed, “Happy Hour with Judge Jeanine.”
New name for show: Happy Hour with Judge Jeanine.
— Mike Lupica (@MikeLupica) March 29, 2020
As of Sunday, Fox News had not commented about Pirro’s appearance.
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African American Organizations Join Forces For 2020 Census Campaign
The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation is joining forces with several national and state organizations to launch a social media campaign to get African Americans to fill out the 2020 census.
The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation’s Unity Diaspora Coalition, the National Urban League’s Black Census Roundtable, and more than 40 national and state-based partner organizations have launched Black Census Week. A weeklong social media initiative focused on promoting and encouraging the black population (native and foreign-born) to participate in the 2020 Decennial Census by being counted via online phone or mail before Census Day on April 1.
“Count Me Black!” is the theme for this year’s initiative and it aims to aggressively utilize a variety of social media platforms to get African Americans to fill out the census.
The initiative originally contained door knocking and getting in front of people but turned to social media due to social distancing guidelines set due to the coronavirus outbreak.
African Americans, immigrants, LGBTQ+, children, and the elderly have been historically undercounted in past census counts. This has led to millions of federal dollars diverted away from hundreds of programs that support African Americans.
It wasn’t until 2013 that the census included same-sex couples living together on the form. Before 2013, same-sex couples counted as unmarried partners, even when couples reported themselves as spouses.
Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, believes African American participation in the census is a must.
“These are indeed trying times for our nation, as we endure the uncertainty of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Campbell said in a press release. “It is times like these that stress even more that each and every person needs to be counted so that we receive the resources and assistance that are due for our communities.
“For that reason, we all MUST participate in the 2020 Decennial Census. Despite the challenges each of us are personally facing, participating in the census has been made much easier for us through the use of social media and digital technology. We must take the time and make sure we are counted and say ‘Count Me Black!'”
The campaign formally launched Monday via teleconference and Marc Morial, National Urban League president and CEO, stressed, “This pandemic is as bad as we feared it would be, but we must move forward. We must encourage our people to fill out the forms online. The census is power and we must be counted.”
Morial said earlier this year that African Americans need to be more aware and woke in 2020.
The NCBCP Unity Diaspora Coalition will focus on encouraging “undercounted” groups to be counted online, by phone, or mail, including focusing on seniors and African American workers, men, women, and immigrants.
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Apollo Theater Will Hold Amateur Night Auditions Exclusively Online
Now it’s even easier for folks to make an impression from home in order to make it in front of one of the toughest crowds in the world. For the first time ever, the famed Harlem-based Apollo Theater is having prospective amateurs audition exclusively online for its prestigious and most famous talent show, Apollo’s Amateur Night!
Apollo Theater has announced that for the first time in its 86-year history, Amateur Night auditions will be done exclusively through online submissions. The auditions will be for the upcoming summer and fall 2020-21 season. The auditions are switching to the online format due to the ongoing concern with the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak.
Starting immediately, contestants who can display whatever talent, be it singing, dancing, rapping, playing an instrument, or performing stand-up or spoken word can submit a pre-recorded audition clip up to five minutes in length. The hopeful performers will get the opportunity to take on the world-famous Apollo stage later this year and compete for the Grand Prize of $20,000.
“Digital technology has enabled us to stay more connected than ever before, and during these uncertain times it is incredibly vital for the Apollo Theater to continue to engage with artists and audiences around the world,” said Kamilah Forbes, Apollo Theater executive producer in a written statement. “We’re devastated by the loss the pandemic has had on the arts community, and we want to celebrate the talent and hard work artists have put into their craft. Amateur Night represents this, and we want to keep the spotlight shining on these talented individuals.”
In 2017, the Apollo Theater first incorporated online auditions to extend access to artists from all around the globe and diversify the talent featured in the original, large-scale talent show. Now they receive thousands of online auditions on a yearly basis. Still, the majority of contestants who make it to the Apollo stage still do so the traditional way.
Contestants who are under the age of 17 can also submit their digital audition to compete in the Child Star of Tomorrow category and a $5,000 prize. More details on the online audition process can be found at https://www.apollotheater.org/amateur-night/auditions/.
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Georgia nurse quits over COVID-19: ‘My family and my life, they matter’
In a video that has gone viral, a Georgia nurse with pre-existing conditions quit her job at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital due to concerns over the coronavirus.
Melissa Thomas Scott is a nurse in Albany, GA and is currently receiving widespread support on the internet after she shared her breaking point. On Wednesday, she took to Facebook Live after being assigned to the “Corona floor” for a 12-hour shift at Putney.
Scott, who worked in the hospital’s acute care area, is a triple-negative breast cancer survivor and was diagnosed in 2012 at age 31. She explained having to put her safety and health first, especially for her children who are between the ages of 1 and 17.
READ MORE: Retired nurse becomes first COVID-19 fatality in Illinois
“I just quit my job. I clocked in. I find out that I’m being sent to a Corona floor when they know that I have kids at home, who I can’t send away, to you know, get away from me,” Scott said.
The 39-year-old added that her supervisor was aware of her concerns, but it was not taken into consideration.
“My managers sent me to a floor that is being tested for Corona. She knows my health history. She knows all of this. I quit. I care about the patients and all but my family and my life, they matter. They come first. She knows my health history. I told her that my kids don’t have anybody to go to. I can’t send my kids away like everybody else. I’m done. I’m leaving,” she said.
The hospital announced in a press release Wednesday, the same day that Scott quit, that they were caring for “critically ill Covid-19 patients” and reached capacity in three intensive-care units. 357 patients have tested positive thus far.
READ MORE: Two Georgia health care workers dead from coronavirus
“As this public health crisis in southwest Georgia gets more severe, we have been reaching out to other hospitals in our part of the state,” the system’s CEO, Scott Steiner, said. “I am pleased that every one of our regional partners we spoke to in the last 24 hours agreed to assist by accepting patient transfers from us.”
Watch Scott’s Facebook Live video below.
Nurse quits after a supervisor attempts to send her to the Covid-19 floor knowing her previous health conditions. 👑📸 Melissa Thomas Scott/FB
Posted by Wonder Wombman 2 on Thursday, March 26, 2020
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Former NFL Player Myron Rolle Is Now A Doctor Fighting COVID-19
Myron Rolle has gone from Tennessee Titans safety to doctor on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The former Florida State football player and Rhodes scholar is now a third-year resident at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Rolle, a neurosurgery resident, is now in the position to help during the pandemic since operating rooms are being turned into ICUs because of the increasing number of coronavirus patients.
“I went down to the emergency department, and as I was walking through the emergency department I was seeing so many individuals with respiratory distress and respiratory compromise, and the numbers are staggering,” Rolle told ESPN. “Our neurosurgical floor has been transformed into a floor just full of COVID-19 patients.
“It is hectic, that’s for sure.”
After graduating from college in 2 1/2 years, Rolle spent his senior year at Oxford University after receiving one of the 32 Rhodes Scholarships awarded each year. Rolle earned a Masters of Science Degree in Medical Anthropology. He was then drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round in 2010, but never played a regular season game. In 2013, Rolle decided to retire and pursue a medical degree.
“There were lots of emotions rolling through my body while counting down the hours, waiting to open that envelope,” Rolle told the Miami Herald. “I felt much more anxious than I did during the draft.”
In 2017, Rolle was accepted into the Harvard Medical School neurosurgery program at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“Football has never left me,” Rolle said. “I still wake up in the morning and think of the operating room like a game, like it’s showtime, let’s perform. I gotta do what I gotta do because people are counting on us right now. This is our time to help very sick people. So that motivation continues to drive me every single day.”
Former Titans DB Myron Rolle left the NFL to attend medical school back in 2013.
Now, Rolle is a neurosurgery resident who is seeing the impact COVID-19 is having on the healthcare industry. pic.twitter.com/hGj9B8mJva
— ESPN (@espn) March 28, 2020
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