Monthly Archives: May 2020

Is It OK to Laugh During Dark Times? – The New York Times

Posted: May 6, 2020 at 6:59 am

In Its OK to Find Humor in Some of This, Alex Williams writes:

Unreasonably dark joke, read a coronavirus meme circulating on social media in recent weeks. Shouldnt we wait until after the pandemic to fill out the census?

The joke is dark, yes. But is it any darker than countless other coronavirus memes out there?

Even more pointed is a spoof movie poster for Weekend at Bernies, the 1989 film comedy about two buddies toting around a dead man on their partying adventures, called Weekend at Boris. It cast as the corpse Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, who at that point was still in intensive care for Covid-19, as the corpse.

Since the pandemic took hold, the internet has been awash with coronavirus-centric joke memes, Twitter wisecracks and self-produced comedy sketches shot with smartphones in shelter-in-place kitchens and living rooms. And thats not counting whats happening in private conversations during quarantine.

Laughing while others die may seem inappropriate, even tasteless, like concentration camp prisoners finding humor during the Holocaust. But in fact many did, according to a 2017 documentary, The Last Laugh.

Throughout history, humor has played a role in the darkest times, as a psychological salve and shared release. Large swaths of the population are living in isolation, instructed to eye with suspicion any stranger who wanders within six feet. And coronavirus jokes have become a form of contagion themselves, providing a remaining thread to the outside world for the isolated and perhaps to sanity itself.

Mr. Williams discusses a private Facebook group moderated by Lori Day, an educational psychologist and consultant in Newburyport, Mass., devoted to pandemic-themed videos and memes:

Its the kind of edgy humor people dont feel comfortable putting on their own Facebook wall, for the risk of having their parents say, How could you? Ms. Day, 56, said.

Tasteless or not, virus jokes provide her a fleeting distraction, and a needed smile, as the pandemic has put her life and consulting business on hold. Its very similar to the feeling I get looking at baby animals online, which is another thing I dose myself liberally with these days, Ms. Day said.

The same goes for other members of the group. Some members are ill with Covid-19. Theyre thanking me from their beds, she said. Theyre thanking me from their hospital rooms.

Humor can divide as well as unite generations, made plain on the social media each favors. Baby boomers and Gen-Xers seem to be gravitating toward were-all-in-this-together observational humor in the memes they post to Facebook (Anyone else starting to get a tan from the light in your refrigerator?), or gags that focus on specific villains (foot-dragging political leaders, say) and implicit solutions (throw the bums out!). Calm down, everyone, reads one such meme. A six-time bankrupted reality TV star is handling the situation.

As The Cut recently noted, the outpouring of coronavirus content among Generation Z types on TikTok runs the gamut: disgust, resignation, frustration, despair and hope. One could also add: barely concealed nihilism, perhaps a response to the discovery that members of that generation are coming of age in a world that suddenly seems even more messed up than already thought.

In one TikTok video, by a 20-year-old in California named Andreas, his mother finds him still in bed at 4 p.m. as he sings, Oh hi, thanks for checking in, Im still a piece of garbage.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

Is it OK to joke during dark times? When is it inappropriate, and when is it not? Should any topics be off limits in humor and comedy?

Do you ever laugh at coronavirus-related jokes or memes? Did you find any of the examples in the article funny? Were any inappropriate or offensive to you? Are you drawn to dark humor? If yes, why?

What role do laughter and humor play in your life? Mr. Williams writes that coronavirus jokes provide a remaining thread to the outside world for the isolated and perhaps to sanity itself. Do you agree? Is humor a coping mechanism for you?

What can we learn about the role of humor during the Black Plague, the Holocaust and Sept. 11? What does laughter tell us about what it is to be human?

What makes you laugh these days? Tell us your go-to sources for comedy. What are your favorite comedic movies, television shows and websites? Do you have a favorite comedian?

Link:

Is It OK to Laugh During Dark Times? - The New York Times

Posted in Nihilism | Comments Off on Is It OK to Laugh During Dark Times? – The New York Times

I thought I was being safe. Then I found out I had been exposed to coronavirus. – Grist

Posted: at 6:59 am

the illusion of certainty

This essay was first published in our semi-weekly newsletter, Climate in the Time of Coronavirus, which you can subscribe to here.

A few weeks ago, I got sick. My whole body ached so persistently that the only place I could really be comfortable was in a bath, which isnt really sustainable over long periods of time unless youre one of those merpeople. My lymph nodes protruded so far out of my neck that the skin around my jaw felt tight and painful. I was so tired I ended up sleeping between 12 and 18 hours a day.

While I was writhing around between my couch and my bed, the only other human Id seen up close in a month told me that hed been diagnosed with COVID-19. So the coronavirus had in all likelihood found me!

#GivingTuesdayNow action alert: All gifts matched for 24 hours!

Help Grist raise $5,000 in 24 hours by clicking the image above

I thought I had protected myself reasonably well mask on, limited trips to the grocery store, a few walks on quiet streets, and seeing exactly one(!) other person. That felt safe enough; we both lived alone, worked from home, didnt see anyone else barring basic errands. I thought I was being smart and cautious, taking what felt like a small, garden-variety risk to sustain just enough human interaction to keep me reasonably sane. But it turns out theres no place you can be truly safe from coronavirus.

As Grists advice columnist, a substantial percentage of the questions I receive are from readers seeking certainty about the threat of climate change. What will happen? When will it happen? Where will it happen? And what can I do to ensure that it will not happen to me? It is a completely reasonable human response to a huge, difficult-to-comprehend threat. You want to know how to protect yourself; what the risk to you is.

I dont attempt to answer any of those queries. There is no way to do so; these readers are seeking an impossible assurance. Climate change and coronavirus are inescapable for the same reason: They will each transform society, wholly and against our will, and humans can do our very best to prepare and adapt. But even with the very best preparation and adaptation, the utmost cautiousness, you have no idea what or when or where you will experience its impacts.

I think every generation believes they are living through unprecedented change, and I dont think mine is particularly special. This change, the pandemic, is certainly really sudden and strange. The warming climate isnt sudden at all, and yet its no less threatening. I will continue to do my best to prepare for and adapt to and mitigate, where I can, the impacts of climate change. I thought I had done what I reasonably could to mitigate at least for myself the risks of contracting coronavirus, and that went out the window so spectacularly I have to laugh.

All things considered, I was fortunate. After three days of feeling wretched, I feel completely fine now. My friends experience was much worse. Our illnesses started on the same day, but his symptoms were more severe and lasted much longer. I waited fretfully for his symptoms to subside, prickly with the guilt that I had had it so much easier.

Im aware we were both lucky to recover at all.

I might never be 100 percent certain that I ever actually had It, as I was denied a test (my doctor said Im young, healthy, and my treatment would have been the same regardless) and antibody tests remain elusive. But why does it matter to me now? The promise of immunity, of course, of some form of protection; that its over, I faced the threat, it was fine, and now I no longer have to worry. The badge of having survived COVID unscathed is perhaps the most coveted security blanket of the moment.

And yet, I am under no illusion that I have any real power over whats coming, with regard to climate change. and I dont really think that was ever the goal. Who has ever been able to control the future, anyway? But please do not misunderstand that to be an expression of nihilism or defeat. I have not given up, to the contrary; I am ready for a future that I know I cannot imagine.

As a nonprofit news outlet, we set an ambitious goal to raise $5,000 in the next 24 hours. Donate today, and all gifts get matched.

Did you know were one of the few news outlets dedicated exclusively to people-focused environmental coverage? We believe our content should remain free and accessible to all our readers.

If you dig our work and agree news should never sit behind a paywall only available to a select few, donate today to help sustain our climate coverage.

COUNT ME IN

See the original post:

I thought I was being safe. Then I found out I had been exposed to coronavirus. - Grist

Posted in Nihilism | Comments Off on I thought I was being safe. Then I found out I had been exposed to coronavirus. – Grist

Trump to launch first 2020 ad blitz after erupting over reelection woes – POLITICO

Posted: at 6:57 am

The offensive marks a new and more urgent stage in the campaign. Concerned about appearing overly political in the middle of a public health crisis, the reelection effort had resisted going on the air during the coronavirus. The change of course comes amid growing worry among top Republicans about the president's political prospects this fall.

Republicans for weeks have been grappling with how to position Trump for November as the coronavirus consumes his reelection campaign. While the Republican National Committee has waged a massive effort aimed at highlighting Trumps leadership, reelection aides have embraced a tougher approach. In the coming weeks, the campaign is expected to launch a swing state barrage aimed at portraying Biden as cozy with China, where the virus originated.

With attention focused squarely on the White Houses response to the virus and Biden holed up at home in Delaware and largely outside the spotlight Trump aides worry the election is turning into a referendum on the incumbent. Attacking Biden could help change the dynamic, they argue.

Further magnifying the sense of alarm has been a concerted, multimillion-dollar Democratic ad blitz portraying Trump as ineffective in his handling of the pandemic. The liberal super PAC Priorities USA started airing a commercial this week declaring that Trump was "failing America."

The internal debate over how to improve the president's standing has intensified in recent weeks. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, Trump's 2016 campaign manager, has advocated for airing positive commercials highlighting Trump's leadership rather than China-themed attack ads against Biden.

The president decided recently to delay an anti-Biden broadside. He has wondered aloud whether he risks damaging Biden too early by hitting him now instead of waiting until closer to the election.

The deliberations underscore the degree of unpredictability the pandemic has injected into the race. Trump planned to run on a booming economy. Instead, coronavirus has triggered staggering job losses and sowed deep uncertainty about when a rebound might come.

Senior Republicans have been watching Trumps daily briefings with growing alarm, and many winced last week when he suggested that injecting people with disinfectant and sunlight might help ward off the virus.

During a phone session with Trump to update him on his poll numbers last week, Parscale and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel urged the president to scale back his daily briefings. Trump has seemed to take the advice, holding fewer sessions with the media and being more disciplined when he does.

Trump aides say public opinion of his handling of the pandemic has stabilized in recent days.

The reelection campaign has a massive war chest nearly $100 million as of the end of March, about four times as much as Biden. In addition to airing TV commercials, the campaign will be running online ads and launching a phone-banking effort echoing a similar positive message.

Parscale, who directed the digital effort on Trump's 2016 campaign, has told people he is particularly focused on TV, saying it will have a bigger impact on the election than online advertising. With Americans at home, Parscale has privately said he views television as an ideal medium to reach voters and make the case for Trump's presidency.

Americans can see that President Trump has been in command and leading the nation through the coronavirus crisis, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said of the forthcoming positive advertising campaign. This ad reinforces that.

Read this article:

Trump to launch first 2020 ad blitz after erupting over reelection woes - POLITICO

Posted in Donald Trump | Comments Off on Trump to launch first 2020 ad blitz after erupting over reelection woes – POLITICO

The incurious case of Donald Trump | Daily Sabah – Daily Sabah

Posted: at 6:57 am

U.S. President Donald Trump knows one thing for sure: Even if the U.S. opens for business as usual, the economy will not likely bounce back fully in time for the November elections. And, with 30 million people on the list for government dole-out payments, no sitting president could hope to make it back from the ballot box.

Perhaps this very fear is what is propelling the recent bout of nervous jokes conjuring up sorcerous solutions to the COVID-19 nightmare, not to mention the whole Bleachgate affair. As with any panicky politician, Trump has a tendency for two things: Blaming others for his problems and giving the impression of being fully in control of a situation over which he has little. He claims to have seen evidence giving him a high degree of confidence that the Chinese manufactured the new type of the coronavirus in a laboratory in Wuhan, subsequently releasing it either accidentally or on purpose. Even his latest press secretary the fourth in four years couldnt help but blurt out that the intelligence report was nothing but an estimate. So, Kayleigh McEnany keep your resume handy.

The claim that the Chinese are manufacturing viruses for which there is no known cure in a lab that was founded and co-operated by a French institute is so outrageous that the director of national intelligence, head of the U.S.' top spy agency, made a rare public statement invalidating the claims and backing the international scientific community's consensus that COVID-19 had natural origins. Trump should have asked the U.S. own biological warfare labs whether they would produce infectious agents before developing a vaccine against them.

But Trump strongly believes that China wants him to lose his reelection bid in November. Four years ago, it was Russia. Previously, he has accused Chinese officials of covering up the fact of the virus early on, claiming they could have stopped the disease from spreading.

Believing yourself to be a perfect being whose only shortcomings can be blamed on others is another psychological flaw Trump displays strongly, according to various psychiatrists and mental health experts who assessed him three years ago. In the end, he was deemed to be dangerous by the end of the 360-page report. Perhaps, in his mind, had the Chinese warned him in time, even before the outbreak, he would not have wasted one good month golfing around.

It used to be hard to imagine a U.S. president going around blasting the media with a barrage of insults, coining the terms Lamestream Media" and "fake news. He gets into acrimonious rows with reporters who, displaying mutual feelings in turn, interrupt him unceremoniously and rudely. As Conrad Clack wrote in the National Review Online: He detests most of them, and most of them detest him.

A lack of leadership at the White House has led to a lack of consensus on state reopenings in the U.S., as well as a number of missteps worldwide. The second and strongest comebacks of the virus namely, in Hokkaido, Japan's second-largest island, and in Germany are the result of the atmosphere created by the untimely rush to reopen the U.S. economy.

Trump seems to be imprudently rushing people to go back to work as soon as possible, filling metros and trains, restaurants and cafes to the brim. Americans may not be as naturally prone to bending rules as those in the Mediterranean and Middle East region but they are not exactly Swiss, either. Over the last couple of weeks, they have proven that social distancing is not their strongest point when fighting contagious diseases ignoring both the risk posed by the virus and logic itself.

With much at stake, the grown-ups in the room minus the vice president should do their best to allow the largest economy in the world to resume its role as a global leader.

What the U.S. needs is to assign as many health workers as possible to the task of tracing all individuals who have been in contact with those infected over the past two weeks and isolate those who test positive in hospitals. Many EU countries are not doing this because they do not have the resources. But for the U.S., this is feasible.

Now more than ever it is clear: When America sneezes, the world catches a cold.

See the original post here:

The incurious case of Donald Trump | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah

Posted in Donald Trump | Comments Off on The incurious case of Donald Trump | Daily Sabah – Daily Sabah

Tourism collapse threatens Pacific islands with deepening poverty – PoliticalLore.com

Posted: at 6:55 am

The absence of tourists on the Pacific islands has plunged the local population into deepening poverty, according to a new report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Thousands of jobs in micronations such as Fiji, Samoa and Tonga are dependent on visitor numbers, which have fallen to zero amid the coronacrisis.

The collapse of global tourism due to the coronavirus epidemic threatens tp plunge masses of people into poverty, especially in small island states across the Pacific.

In its recently-released report, ILO follows a half-yearly forecast by the International Monetary Fund, which slashed global growth projections and predicted a slump unparalleled since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

According to ILO, half the global workforce1.6 billion peopleis in immediate danger of having their livelihoods smashed by the coronacrisis.

Of the total global working population of 3.3 billion, about 2 billion work in the informal economy, often on short-term contracts, freelance or self-employment, and have already suffered a 60 percent collapse in their wages in the first month of the crisis.

The small Pacific economies rely only on the touristic sector, so, thousands of jobs have been lost, with resorts and hotels, and even some airports, closing. Fiji, Palau, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga and the Cook Islands are all heavily dependent on travellers.

The ANZ Bank estimates Fiji, where tourism directly employs 150,000 people, will lose about a quarter of all jobs in the country, while Vanuatu will suffer the loss of 40 percent of jobs.

In the Cook Islands, tourism makes up 70 percent of the countrys gross domestic product. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a three-month interruption in travel and trade will mean the Pacific economies contract this year, with Tonga forecast for zero growth.

Taking into account that more than three in four tourism jobs are informal in these countries, thousands of families became just beggars. ILO director-general Guy Rider noted that the economic and social effects of the pandemic discriminate above all against those who are at the bottom end of the world of work, those who dont have protection, those who dont have resources and the basics of what we would call the essentials of a normal life.

According to New Zealand journalist David Robie, many governments in the Pacific, as well as elsewhere, are imposing tough controls under cover of fighting the coronavirus pandemic to strengthen creeping authoritarianism. The moves are no doubt in preparation for growing social unrest.

Concerns have also been raised about Vanuatu, where the government declared it illegal for media outlets to publish reports on coronavirus without government approval, citing the need to prevent the spread of misinformation about the disease.

Continue reading here:

Tourism collapse threatens Pacific islands with deepening poverty - PoliticalLore.com

Posted in Micronations | Comments Off on Tourism collapse threatens Pacific islands with deepening poverty – PoliticalLore.com

Facebook removes QAnon fringe conspiracy groups ahead of 2020 election – The Verge

Posted: at 6:54 am

Facebook removed a small cluster of groups and pages promoting the QAnon conspiracy in April, calling it part of a coordinated inauthentic behavior campaign around the 2020 US elections. It appears to be one of Facebooks first announcements about cracking down on QAnon-related content, and it suggests Facebook views at least a few corners of QAnon as deliberate manipulation not just false information.

QAnon is an expansive conspiracy theory that claims President Donald Trump is secretly planning to arrest high-profile Democratic politicians and celebrities for pedophilia or cannibalism. It originated on an independent message board but has found a home on Facebook, which still hosts a wide range of QAnon-related pages. According to a new report from Facebook, though, the company took down five pages, 20 accounts, and six groups linked to individuals associated with the QAnon network known to spread fringe conspiracy theories.

Facebook says it found the pages while investigating its platform ahead of the election. Coordinated inauthentic behavior refers to pages and accounts that mislead people about their identity and intentions, whether or not the information they spread is accurate. While the most famous examples involve foreign interference from countries like Russia, the QAnon pages are described as part of a domestic, non-governmental effort.

QAnon has gained some popularity among Trumps admirers. The presidents new choice for intelligence chief apparently follows accounts that promote the theory on Twitter, and Trump himself has retweeted messages from QAnon-supporting Twitter users. But several members have also apparently committed crimes while investigating the theory, including an accused murderer who claims to have been radicalized by QAnon and a woman who was recently arrested carrying more than a dozen illegal knives.

Facebook has seemingly become more comfortable removing misinformation since the coronavirus pandemic, but it doesnt appear to have a stance against authentic QAnon believers. That puts it at odds with at least one other social network: Reddit, which banned major QAnon subreddits for inciting harassment and posting personal information.

Besides the QAnon pages, Facebook also removed another small US-based network linked to anti-immigrant group VDARE, along with a much larger number of pages and accounts linked to unrelated organizations in Russia, Iran, and Georgia. It touted its efforts as the work of a cross-disciplinary team built to disrupt sophisticated influence operations aimed to manipulate public debate, but also simpler tactics like spam and fake engagement.

Continue reading here:

Facebook removes QAnon fringe conspiracy groups ahead of 2020 election - The Verge

Comments Off on Facebook removes QAnon fringe conspiracy groups ahead of 2020 election – The Verge

Here is Why You Should Sell Facebook Inc (FB) Today – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 6:54 am

We have been telling our readers not to invest in the S&P 500 ETFs and instead invest in the top 5, top 10, or top 20 hedge fund stocks because these large-cap stocks historically outperformed index funds. Warren Buffett doesn't like hedge funds because of their high fees and recommends index funds. However, investors don't have to pay hedge funds anything to invest in their top 10 stock picks. Let's take a look at how our approach fared recently.

In 2019, the top 10 hedge fund stocks returned 41.4% and beat the S&P 500 Index funds by 10.1 percentage points. You could have been 10% richer if you had followed our recommendation in 2019. Things didn't change much in 2020. The top 10 hedge fund stocks returned 1% in 2020 (through May 1st) and beat the S&P 500 Index funds by an additional 12.9 percentage points. If you had been listening to our advice, you wouldn't have noticed the effects of the coronavirus crash in your portfolio at all. Also, you would have been 12.9% richer.

Bill Miller of Miller Value Partners

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is one of the top 10 stocks among hedge funds. Actually Facebook ranked #1 for most of 2019 until it settled at #2 at the end of December. Facebook shares also returned more than 2% this year, so, we really like Facebook. However, when we read legendary value investor Bill Miller's 2020 Q1 investor letter, his reasoning made perfect sense. In the following video you can watch why Bill Miller thinks it doesn't make sense today to invest in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)and 6 other recession stocks that performed well so far this year.

Bill Miller is no ordinary investor. His hedge fund returned 120% in 2019. Bill Miller came to fame for beating the S&P 500 Index for 15 straight years when he was at Legg Mason.

Disclosure: No positions in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

More here:

Here is Why You Should Sell Facebook Inc (FB) Today - Yahoo Finance

Comments Off on Here is Why You Should Sell Facebook Inc (FB) Today – Yahoo Finance

Facebook is jumping on Zoom’s video chat surge with Messenger Rooms, promises it’s "secure and encrypted" – CBS News

Posted: at 6:54 am

Facebook is jumping into the video chat game with Messenger Rooms, a new feature that allows up to 50 people to take part in a video chat, even if they don't have Facebook accounts. The social media giant hopes to tap into the explosive success seen by video communications app Zoom, which has been used by millions all over the world as coronavirus lockdowns have pushed work, school and social lives into the digital sphere.

Zoom, which has seen a meteoric rise in users since the coronavirus pandemic began, has been plagued byreports of hackers disrupting meetings and classes, sometimes shouting racial slurs and displaying pornographic images.

Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan said the oversight was in part the result of their lack of preparedness for such a huge influx of new users, and hecalled that a "mistake" during an April 2 appearance on "CBS This Morning." The company said it was taking steps to improve security for its users.

Stan Chudnovsky, head of Facebook Messenger, told CBSN anchors Vladimir Duthiers and Anne-Marie Green that Messenger Rooms would not have such issues when it's rolled out in the U.S., despite a lack of end-to-end encryption.

"We are definitely very secure and encrypted, from the client to the server and from the server to another client," he said.

What that means, he explained, was that the new app is "not accessible by hackers any more than it can be accessed by anybody else when you are using your email" because joining a conference requires the user to be emailed a link.

The way Messenger Rooms is set up, a user emails a link to up to 50 people. If a member does not have an account, they are taken to a browser window where they are prompted to enter their first name before continuing on to the video chat.

The name, Chudnovsky said, is only required so the users can keep track of participants.

He said Facebook was "uniquely positioned" to provide communications services that connect people online, and that video calling has been a part of Facebook's products for years.

Naturally, with Facebook's well-documented history of privacy issues, questions may arise over the privacy of Messenger Rooms users, particularly those without Facebook accounts.

"It actually doesn't give us data that actually we wouldn't have had before," Chudnovsky said. "And we are most definitely not listening or watching anything that's happening over there."

He said the company would not be harvesting any specific information outside of what it is already known to collect in regular operations and Messenger video calls.

"Whatever happens in your living room needs to stay in your living room," he said.

Chudnovsky compared using Messenger Rooms to a "normal video call," with the content of the call staying between the user and whoever they are speaking to.

"That's one of the reasons why we though the name 'Rooms' is perfect, because you're there with your friends and with your loved ones, with people you are close to," he said. "And when you're there, whatever has been said, it's been said between you and the people that you care about and it should stay between you and people you care about."

From that standpoint, Chudnovsky said Facebook has "no access to whatever conversation you're having with your friends."

"And we are not using it in any way, shape or form to help any other parts of the businesses," he said.

Read more:

Facebook is jumping on Zoom's video chat surge with Messenger Rooms, promises it's "secure and encrypted" - CBS News

Comments Off on Facebook is jumping on Zoom’s video chat surge with Messenger Rooms, promises it’s "secure and encrypted" – CBS News

Facebook to add gift cards, jobs and donation tools to its COVID-19 Community Help hub – TechCrunch

Posted: at 6:54 am

Facebook is expanding its Community Help hub to better serve local communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The hub has already seen significant usage by those requesting food, supplies and information about local resources, as well as use by volunteers and groups willing to lend a hand. Now, Facebook is adding more features to the hub to allow people to support local businesses, blood banks, nonprofits and more.

As part of Facebooks efforts with Giving Tuesday, it will roll out these new additions on May 5th, it says.

Typically, the Giving Tuesday charitable giving event is held on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the U.S. after Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales wrap. But in response to the unprecedented need caused by the pandemic, Giving Tuesday announced an emergency day of giving, called Giving Tuesday Now.

This new event happens tomorrow, May 5th, and already has a number of partners and supporters, including Facebook, as well as PayPal, Americas Food Fund, Ford, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CDC Foundation, LinkedIn, United Way, GoFundMe and many others.

Starting tomorrow, Facebook users will be able to go to Community Help at facebook.com/covidsupport in order to buy gift cards to local businesses, sign up to donate to local nonprofits and fundraisers, sign up to be a donor at local blood banks and find local job opportunities.

In some cases, Facebook already built the technology and formed partnerships needed to launch these features. For example, Facebook began its work to connect Facebook users with blood banks back in 2017, then expanded the blood donations feature to the U.S. last June.

It also offers a fundraising platform of its own and announced last month it was working on tools that would allow businesses to offer gift cards to their customers via its platform. It has been working on its jobs portal since 2018, too.

On Tuesday, these efforts are being centralized in the Community Help hub, which will give them increased visibility.

Facebook is not the only platform helping local businesses and nonprofits by rolling out new features.

Neighborhood social network Nextdoor also recently launched tools to allow businesses to promote their fundraisers and gift cards; Yelp just added a way for businesses to promote their virtual services; and Instagram has introduced a range of tools for businesses, including those for connecting customers to Facebooks gift cards or stickers for food ordering and more.

The revamped Community Help section is live, while the social media campaign about it is live tomorrow, May 5, 2020.

Original post:

Facebook to add gift cards, jobs and donation tools to its COVID-19 Community Help hub - TechCrunch

Comments Off on Facebook to add gift cards, jobs and donation tools to its COVID-19 Community Help hub – TechCrunch

Jackson Maynard to announce congressional candidacy during Facebook Live event Thursday – The Suburban Times

Posted: at 6:54 am

Washington residents are invited to participate in aFacebook Live event on Thursday, May 7, at 10 a.m.to hear how Jackson Maynard plans to help guide Washingtons 10th Congressional District out of the COVID-19 crisis and into economic recovery.

The event will feature Maynard, a Republican from Olympia, outlining the issues he sees as vital to returning the district to its pre-pandemic prosperity. The three points of Maynards plan are:

Maynard will then spend time answering questions and listening to comments and concerns.

Attendees can visitwww.facebook.com/MaynardforCongress/live/a few minutes prior to 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 7, to participate.

Jackson Maynard is the General Counsel for the Building Industry Association of Washington. During his 19 years as a practicing attorney, he kept the community safe as a prosecutor, worked as a construction lawyer for a state transportation agency and advised the Washington State Senate as a staff counsel. With his wife, Heidi, he has raised three daughters who attend public school in Olympia.

Related

Go here to read the rest:

Jackson Maynard to announce congressional candidacy during Facebook Live event Thursday - The Suburban Times

Comments Off on Jackson Maynard to announce congressional candidacy during Facebook Live event Thursday – The Suburban Times