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A Swiss company has offered to provide a golden army for a military style parade in front of the White House, deliciously fulfilling Trump's inauguration fantasy. i6s+4434
A missing filter... Picture or maybe in the air of the time that brews a little anguish, it grinds ideas by dint of filtering the words... the cunning life with a twist. Angel or mill?
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in conspiracy theories and misinformation about the scale of the pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease.[1][2][3] False information, including intentional disinformation, has been spread through social media,[2][4] text messages,[5] and mass media,[6] including the tabloid media,[7] conservative media,[8][9] state media of countries such as China,[10][11] Russia,[12][13] Iran,[14] and Turkmenistan.[2][15] It has also been spread by state-backed covert operations to generate panic and sow distrust in other countries.[16][17]
Misinformation has been propagated by celebrities, politicians[18][19] (including heads of state in countries such as the United States,[20][21] Iran,[22] and Brazil[23]), and other prominent public figures.[24] Commercial scams have claimed to offer at-home tests, supposed preventives, and "miracle" cures.[25][26] Politicians and leaders of some countries have promoted purported cures, while some religious groups said that the faith of their followers and God will protect them from the virus.[27][28][29] Others have claimed the virus is a lab-developed bio-weapon that was accidentally leaked,[30][31] or deliberately designed to target a country,[32] or one with a patented vaccine, a population control scheme, the result of a spy operation,[3][4] or linked to 5G networks.[33]
The World Health Organization has declared an "infodemic" of incorrect information about the virus, which poses risks to global health.[2]
Types and origin and effect
On January 30, the BBC reported about the increasing spread of conspiracy theories and false health advice in relation to COVID-19. Notable examples at the time included false health advice shared on social media and private chats, as well as conspiracy theories such as the origin in bat soup and the outbreak being planned with the participation of the Pirbright Institute.[1][34] On January 31, The Guardian listed seven instances of misinformation, adding the conspiracy theories about bioweapons and the link to 5G technology, and including varied false health advice.[35]
In an attempt to speed up research sharing, many researches have turned to preprint servers such as arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv or SSRN. Papers can be uploaded to these servers without peer review or any other editorial process that ensures research quality. Some of these papers have contributed to the spread of conspiracy theories. The most notable case was a preprint paper uploaded to bioRxiv which claimed that the virus contained HIV "insertions". Following the controversy, the paper was withdrawn.[36][37][38]
According to a study published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, most misinformation related to COVID-19 involves "various forms of reconfiguration, where existing and often true information is spun, twisted, recontextualised, or reworked". While less misinformation "was completely fabricated". The study found no deep fakes in the studied sample. The study also found that "top-down misinformation from politicians, celebrities, and other prominent public figures", while accounting for a minority of the samples, captured a majority of the social media engagement. According to their classification, the largest category of misinformation (39%) includes "misleading or false claims about the actions or policies of public authorities, including government and international bodies like the WHO or the UN".[39]
A natural experiment correlated coronavirus misinformation with increased infection and death; of two similar television news shows on the same network, one took coronavirus seriously about a month earlier than the other. People and groups exposed to the slow-response news show had higher infection and death rates.[40]
The misinformations have been used by politicians, interest groups, and state actors in many countries to scapegoat other countries for the mishandling of the domestic responses, as well as furthering political, financial agenda.[41][42][43]
Combative efforts
Further information: Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on journalism
File:ITU - AI for Good Webinar Series - COVID-19 Misinformation and Disinformation during COVID-19.webm
International Telecommunication Union
On February 2, the World Health Organization (WHO) described a "massive infodemic", citing an over-abundance of reported information, accurate and false, about the virus that "makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it". The WHO stated that the high demand for timely and trustworthy information has incentivised the creation of a direct WHO 24/7 myth-busting hotline where its communication and social media teams have been monitoring and responding to misinformation through its website and social media pages.[44][45][46] The WHO specifically debunked several claims as false, including the claim that a person can tell if they have the virus or not simply by holding their breath; the claim that drinking large amounts of water will protect against the virus; and the claim that gargling salt water prevents infection.[47]
In early February, Facebook, Twitter and Google said they were working with WHO to address "misinformation".[48] In a blogpost, Facebook stated they would remove content flagged by global health organizations and local authorities that violate its content policy on misinformation leading to "physical harm".[49] Facebook is also giving free advertising to WHO.[50] Nonetheless, a week after Trump's speculation that sunlight could kill the virus, the New York Times found "780 Facebook groups, 290 Facebook pages, nine Instagram accounts and thousands of tweets pushing UV light therapies," content which those companies declined to remove from their platforms.[51]
At the end of February, Amazon removed more than a million products claimed to cure or protect against coronavirus, and removed tens of thousands of listings for health products whose prices were "significantly higher than recent prices offered on or off Amazon", although numerous items were "still being sold at unusually high prices" as of February 28.[52]
Millions of instances of COVID-19 misinformation have occurred across a number of online platforms.[53] Other fake news researchers noted certain rumors started in China; many of them later spread to Korea and the United States, prompting several universities in Korea to start the multilingual Facts Before Rumors campaign to separate common claims seen online.[54][55][56][57]
The media has praised Wikipedia's coverage of COVID-19 and its combating the inclusion of misinformation through efforts led by the Wiki Project Med Foundation and the English-language Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine, among other groups.[58][59][60]
Many local newspapers have been severely affected by losses in advertising revenues from coronavirus; journalists have been laid off, and some have closed altogether.[61]
Many newspapers with paywalls lowered them for some or all their coronavirus coverage.[62][63] Many scientific publishers made scientific papers related to the outbreak open access.[64]
The Turkish Interior Ministry has been arresting social media users whose posts were "targeting officials and spreading panic and fear by suggesting the virus had spread widely in Turkey and that officials had taken insufficient measures".[65] Iran's military said 3600 people have been arrested for "spreading rumors" about coronavirus in the country.[66] In Cambodia, some individuals who expressed concerns about the spread of COVID-19 have been arrested on fake news charges.[67][68] Algerian lawmakers passed a law criminalising "fake news" deemed harmful to "public order and state security".[69] In the Philippines,[70] China,[71] India,[72][73] Egypt,[74] Bangladesh,[75] Morocco,[76] Pakistan,[77] Saudi Arabia,[78] Oman,[79] Iran,[80] Vietnam, Laos,[81] Indonesia,[73] Mongolia,[73] Sri Lanka,[73] Kenya, South Africa,[82] Somalia,[83] Thailand,[84] Kazakhstan,[85] Azerbaijan,[86] Malaysia[87] and Hong Kong, people have been arrested for allegedly spreading false information about the coronavirus pandemic.[88][73] The United Arab Emirates have introduced criminal penalties for the spread of misinformation and rumours related to the outbreak.[89]
Conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theories have appeared both in social media and in mainstream news outlets, and are heavily influenced by geopolitics.[90]
Accidental leakage
Virologist and immunologist Vincent R. Racaniello said that "accident theories – and the lab-made theories before them – reflect a lack of understanding of the genetic make-up of Sars-CoV-2."[91]
A number of allegations have emerged supposing a link between the virus and Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV); among these is that the virus was an accidental leakage from WIV.[92] In 2017, U.S. molecular biologist Richard H. Ebright expressed caution when the WIV was expanded to become mainland China's first biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory, noting previous escapes of the SARS virus at other Chinese laboratories.[93] While Ebright refuted several conspiracy theories regarding the WIV (e.g., bioweapons research, or that the virus was engineered), he told BBC China this did not represent the possibility that the virus can be "completely ruled out" from entering the population due to a laboratory accident.[92] Various researchers contacted by NPR concluded there was "virtually no chance" (in NPR's words) that the pandemic virus had accidentally escaped from a laboratory.[94] Disinformation researcher Nina Jankowicz from Wilson Center indicates the lab leakage claim entered mainstream media in United States during April, propagated by pro-Trump news outlet.[43]
On February 14, 2020, Chinese scientists explored the possibility of accidental leakage and published speculations on scientific social networking website ResearchGate. The paper was neither peer-reviewed nor presented any evidence for its claims.[95] On March 5, the author of paper told Wall Street Journal in an interview why he decided to withdrew the paper by the end of February, stating: "the speculation about the possible origins in the post was based on published papers and media, and was not supported by direct proofs."[96][97] Several newspapers have referenced the paper.[95] Scientific American reported that Shi Zhengli, the lead researcher at WIV, started investigation on mishandling of experimental materials in the lab records, especially during disposal. She also tried to cross-check the novel coronavirus genome with the genetic information of other bat coronaviruses her team had collected. The result showed none of the sequences matched those of the viruses her team had sampled from bat caves.[98]
In February, it was alleged that the first person infected may have been a researcher at the institute named Huang Yanling.[99] Rumours circulated on Chinese social media that the researcher had become infected and died, prompting a denial from WIV, saying she was a graduate student enrolled in the Institute until 2015 and is not the patient zero.[100][99] In April, the conspiracy theory started to circulate around on Youtube and got picked up by conservative media, National Review.[101][6]
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that one of the WIV's lead researchers, Shi Zhengli, was the particular focus of personal attacks in Chinese social media alleging that her work on bat-based viruses was the source of the virus; this led Shi to post: "I swear with my life, [the virus] has nothing to do with the lab". When asked by the SCMP to comment on the attacks, Shi responded: "My time must be spent on more important matters".[102] Caixin reported Shi made further public statements against "perceived tinfoil-hat theories about the new virus's source", quoting her as saying: "The novel 2019 coronavirus is nature punishing the human race for keeping uncivilized living habits. I, Shi Zhengli, swear on my life that it has nothing to do with our laboratory".[103] Immunologist Vincent Racaniello stated that virus leaking theory "reflect a lack of understanding of the genetic make-up of Sars-CoV-2 and its relationship to the bat virus". He says the bat virus researched in the institution "would not have been able to infect humans—the human Sars-CoV-2 has additional changes that allows it to infect humans."[91]
On April 14, the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, in response to questions about the virus being manufactured in a lab, said "... it's inconclusive, although the weight of evidence seems to indicate natural. But we don't know for certain."[104] On that same day, Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin detailed a leaked cable of a 2018 trip made to the WIV by scientists from the U.S. Embassy. The article was referenced and cited by conservative media to push the lab leakage theory.[43] Rogin's article went on to say that "What the U.S. officials learned during their visits concerned them so much that they dispatched two diplomatic cables categorized as Sensitive But Unclassified back to Washington. The cables warned about safety and management weaknesses at the WIV lab and proposed more attention and help. The first cable, which I obtained, also warns that the lab's work on bat coronaviruses and their potential human transmission represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic."[105] Rogin's article pointed out there was no evidence that the coronavirus was engineered, "But that is not the same as saying it didn't come from the lab, which spent years testing bat coronaviruses in animals."[105] The article went on to quote Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, "I don't think it's a conspiracy theory. I think it's a legitimate question that needs to be investigated and answered. To understand exactly how this originated is critical knowledge for preventing this from happening in the future."[105] Washington Post's article and subsequent broadcasts drew criticism from virologist Angela Rasmussen of Columbia University, which she states "It's irresponsible for political reporters like Rogin [to] uncritically regurgitate a secret 'cable' without asking a single virologist or ecologist or making any attempt to understand the scientific context."[43] Rasmussen later compared biosafety procedure concerns to "having the health inspector come to your restaurant. It could just be, ‘Oh, you need to keep your chemical showers better stocked.’ It doesn’t suggest, however, that there are tremendous problems.”[106]
Days later, multiple media outlets confirmed that U.S. intelligence officials were investigating the possibility that the virus started in the WIV.[107][108][109][110] On April 23, Vox presented disputed arguments on lab leakage claims from several scientists.[111] Scientists suggested that virus samples cultured in the lab have significant amount of difference compare to SARS-CoV-2. The virus institution sampled RaTG13 in Yunnan, the closest known relative of the novel coronavirus with 96% shared genome. Edward Holmes, SARS-CoV-2 researcher at the University of Sydney, explained 4% of difference "is equivalent to an average of 50 years (and at least 20 years) of evolutionary change."[111][112] Virologist Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, which studies emerging infectious diseases, noted the estimation that 1–7 million people in Southeast Asia who live or work in proximity to bats are infected each year with bat coronaviruses. In the interview with Vox, he comments, "There are probably half a dozen people that do work in those labs. So let's compare 1 million to 7 million people a year to half a dozen people; it's just not logical."[94][111]
On April 30, The New York Times reported the Trump administration demanded intelligence agencies to find evidence linking WIV with the origin of SARS-Cov-2. Secretary of State and former Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A) director Mike Pompeo was reportedly leading the push on finding information regarding the virus origin. Analysts were concerned that pressure from senior officials could distort assessments from the intelligence community. Anthony Ruggiero, the head of the National Security Council which responsible for tracking weapons of mass destruction, expressed frustration during a video conference that C.I.A. was unable to form conclusive answer on the origin of the virus. According to current and former government officials, as of April 30, C.I.A has yet to gather any information beyond circumstantial evidence to bolster the lab theory.[113][114] US intelligence officers suggested that Chinese officials tried to conceal the severity of the outbreak in early days, but no evidence had shown China attempted to cover up a lab accident.[115] One day later, Trump claimed he has evidence of the lab theory, but offers no further details on it.[116][117] Jamie Metzl, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, claimed the SARS-CoV-2 virus "likely" came from a Wuhan virology testing laboratory, based on "circumstantial evidence". He was quoted as saying, "I have no definitive way of proving this thesis."[118]
On April 30, 2020, the U.S. intelligence and scientific communities issued a public statement dismissing the idea that the virus was not natural, while the investigation of the lab accident theory was ongoing.[119][120] The White House suggested an alternative explanation, along with a seemingly contradictory message, that the virus was man-made. In an interview with ABC News, Secretary of State Pompeo said he has no reason to disbelieve the intelligence community that the virus was natural. However, this contradicted the comment he made earlier in the same interview, in which he said "the best experts so far seem to think it was man-made. I have no reason to disbelieve that at this point."[121][122][123] On May 4, Australian tabloid The Daily Telegraph claimed a reportedly leaked dossier from Five Eyes, which alleged the probable outbreak was from the Wuhan lab.[124] Fox News and national security commentators in the US quickly followed up The Telegraph story,[125][126] rising the tension within international intelligence community.[127] Australian government, which is part of the Five Eyes nations, determined the leaked dossier was not a Five Eyes document, but a compilation of open-source materials that contained no information generated by intelligence gathering.[128] German intelligence community denied the claim of the leaked dossier, instead supported the probability of a natural cause.[129][130] Australian government sees the promotion of the lab theory from the United States counterproductive to Australia’s push for a more broad international-supported independent inquiry into the virus origins.[127] Senior officials in Australian government speculated the dossier was leaked by US embassy in Canberra to promote a narrative in Australia media that diverged from the mainstream belief of Australia.[127][128][125]
Beijing rejected the White House's claim, calling the claim "part of an election year strategy by President Donald Trump’s Republican Party".[131] Hua Chunying, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, urged Mike Pompeo to present evidence for his claim. "Mr. Pompeo cannot present any evidence because he does not have any," Hua told a journalist during a regular briefing, "This matter should be handled by scientists and professionals instead of politicians out of their domestic political needs."[131][132] The Chinese ambassador, in an opinion published in the Washington Post, called on the White House to end the "blame game" over the coronavirus.[133][134] As of May 5, assessments and internal sources from the Five Eyes nations indicated that the coronavirus outbreak was the result of a laboratory accident was "highly unlikely", since the human infection was "highly likely" a result of natural human and animal interaction. However, to reach such a conclusion with total certainty would still require greater cooperation and transparency from the Chinese side.[135]
Anti-Israeli and antisemitic
Further information: Antisemitic canard
Iran's Press TV asserted that "Zionist elements developed a deadlier strain of coronavirus against Iran".[14] Similarly, various Arab media outlets accused Israel and the United States of creating and spreading COVID-19, avian flu, and SARS.[136] Users on social media offered a variety of theories, including the supposition that Jews had manufactured COVID-19 to precipitate a global stock market collapse and thereby profit via insider trading,[137] while a guest on Turkish television posited a more ambitious scenario in which Jews and Zionists had created COVID-19, avian flu, and Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever to "design the world, seize countries, [and] neuter the world's population".[138]
Israeli attempts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine prompted mixed reactions. Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi denied initial reports that he had ruled that a Zionist-made vaccine would be halal,[139] and one Press TV journalist tweeted that "I'd rather take my chances with the virus than consume an Israeli vaccine".[140] A columnist for the Turkish Yeni Akit asserted that such a vaccine could be a ruse to carry out mass sterilization.[141]
An alert by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the possible threat of far-right extremists intentionally spreading the coronavirus mentioned blame being assigned to Jews and Jewish leaders for causing the pandemic and several statewide shutdowns.[142]
Anti-Muslim
Further information: 2020 Tablighi Jamaat coronavirus hotspot in Delhi
In India, Muslims have been blamed for spreading infection following the emergence of cases linked to a Tablighi Jamaat religious gathering.[143] There are reports of vilification of Muslims on social media and attacks on individuals in India.[144] Claims have been made Muslims are selling food contaminated with coronavirus and that a mosque in Patna was sheltering people from Italy and Iran.[145] These claims were shown to be false.[146] In the UK, there are reports of far-right groups blaming Muslims for the coronavirus outbreak and falsely claiming that mosques remained open after the national ban on large gatherings.[147]
Bioengineered virus
It has been repeatedly claimed that the virus was deliberately created by humans.
Nature Medicine published an article arguing against the conspiracy theory that the virus was created artificially. The high-affinity binding of its peplomers to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) was shown to be "most likely the result of natural selection on a human or human-like ACE2 that permits another optimal binding solution to arise".[148] In case of genetic manipulation, one of the several reverse-genetic systems for betacoronaviruses would probably have been used, while the genetic data irrefutably showed that the virus is not derived from a previously used virus template.[148] The overall molecular structure of the virus was found to be distinct from the known coronaviruses and most closely resembles that of viruses of bats and pangolins that were little studied and never known to harm humans.[149]
In February 2020, the Financial Times quoted virus expert and global co-lead coronavirus investigator Trevor Bedford: "There is no evidence whatsoever of genetic engineering that we can find", and "The evidence we have is that the mutations [in the virus] are completely consistent with natural evolution".[150] Bedford further explained, "The most likely scenario, based on genetic analysis, was that the virus was transmitted by a bat to another mammal between 20–70 years ago. This intermediary animal—not yet identified—passed it on to its first human host in the city of Wuhan in late November or early December 2019".[150]
On February 19, 2020, The Lancet published a letter of a group of scientists condemning "conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin".[151]
Chinese biological weapon
India
Amidst a rise in Sinophobia, there have been conspiracy theories reported on India's social networks that the virus is "a bioweapon that went rogue" and also fake videos alleging that Chinese authorities are killing citizens to prevent its spread.[152]
Ukraine
According to the Kyiv Post, two common conspiracy theories online in Ukraine are that American author Dean Koontz predicted the pandemic in his 1981 novel The Eyes of Darkness, and that the coronavirus is a bioweapon leaked from a secret lab in Wuhan.[153]
United Kingdom
Tobias Ellwood said, "It would be irresponsible to suggest the source of this outbreak was an error in a Chinese military biological weapons programme ... But without greater Chinese transparency we cannot entirely completely sure."[154]
In February, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, chair of the Defence Select Committee of the UK House of Commons, publicly questioned the role of the Chinese Army's Wuhan Institute for Biological Products and called for the "greater transparency over the origins of the coronavirus".[154][non-primary source needed] The Daily Mail reported in early April 2020 that a member of COBRA (an ad-hoc government committee tasked with advising on crises[citation needed]) has stated while government intelligence does not dispute that the virus has a zoonotic origin, it also does not discount the idea of a leak from a Wuhan laboratory, saying "Perhaps it is no coincidence that there is that laboratory in Wuhan"; the Asia Times reported the story as if it were factual,[155] perhaps unaware of the reputation of the Daily Mail.
United States
Further information: Cyberwarfare in the United States and Propaganda in the United States
In January 2020, BBC News published an article about coronavirus misinformation, citing two January 24 articles from The Washington Times that said the virus was part of a Chinese biological weapons program, based at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).[1] The Washington Post later published an article debunking the conspiracy theory, citing U.S. experts who explained why the WIV was unsuitable for bioweapon research, that most countries had abandoned bioweapons as fruitless, and that there was no evidence the virus was genetically engineered.[156]
On January 29, financial news website and blog ZeroHedge suggested without evidence that a scientist at the WIV created the COVID-19 strain responsible for the coronavirus outbreak. Zerohedge listed the full contact details of the scientist supposedly responsible, a practice known as doxing, by including the scientist's name, photo, and phone number, suggesting to readers that they "pay [the Chinese scientist] a visit" if they wanted to know "what really caused the coronavirus pandemic".[157] Twitter later permanently suspended the blog's account for violating its platform-manipulation policy.[158]
Logo of the fictional Umbrella Corporation, which some internet rumours linked to the pandemic. The corporation was invented for the Resident Evil game series.
In January 2020, Buzzfeed News reported on an internet meme of a link between the logo of the WIV and "Umbrella Corporation", the agency that created the virus responsible for a zombie apocalypse in the Resident Evil franchise. Posts online noted that "Racoon [sic]" (the main city in Resident Evil) was an anagram of "Corona".[159] Snopes noted that the logo was not from the WIV, but a company named Shanghai Ruilan Bao Hu San Biotech Ltd (located some 500 miles (800 km) away in Shanghai), and that the correct name of the city in Resident Evil was "Raccoon City".[159]
In February 2020, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) suggested the virus may have originated in a Chinese bioweapon laboratory.[160] Francis Boyle, a law professor, also expressed support for the bioweapon theory suggesting it was the result of unintended leaks.[161] Cotton elaborated on Twitter that his opinion was only one of "at least four hypotheses". Multiple medical experts have indicated there is no evidence for these claims.[162] Conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh said on The Rush Limbaugh Show—the most popular radio show in the U.S.—that the virus was probably "a ChiCom laboratory experiment" and the Chinese government was using the virus and the media hysteria surrounding it to bring down Donald Trump.[163][164]
On February 6, the White House asked scientists and medical researchers to rapidly investigate the origins of the virus both to address the current spread and "to inform future outbreak preparation and better understand animal/human and environmental transmission aspects of coronaviruses".[165] American magazine Foreign Policy said Xi Jinping's "political agenda may turn out to be a root cause of the epidemic" and that his Belt and Road Initiative has "made it possible for a local disease to become a global menace".[90]
The Inverse reported that "Christopher Bouzy, the founder of Bot Sentinel, conducted a Twitter analysis for Inverse and found [online] bots and trollbots are making an array of false claims. These bots are claiming China intentionally created the virus, that it's a biological weapon, that Democrats are overstating the threat to hurt Donald Trump and more. While we can't confirm the origin of these bots, they are decidedly pro-Trump."[166]
Conservative commentator Josh Bernstein claimed that the Democratic Party and the "medical deep state" were collaborating with the Chinese government to create and release the coronavirus to bring down Donald Trump. Bernstein went on to suggest those responsible should be locked in a room with infected coronavirus patients as punishment.[167][168]
Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, promoted a conspiracy theory on Fox News that North Korea and China conspired together to create the coronavirus.[169] He also said people were overreacting to the coronavirus outbreak and that Democrats were trying to use the situation to harm President Trump.[170]
Hospital ship attack
The hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) deployed to the Port of Los Angeles to provide backup medical services for the region. On March 31, 2020, a Pacific Harbor Line freight train was deliberately derailed by its onboard engineer in an attempt to crash into the ship, but the attack was unsuccessful and no one was injured.[171][172] According to U.S. federal prosecutors, the train's engineer "[...] was suspicious of the Mercy, believing it had an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover".[173]
Population control scheme
See also: List of conspiracy theories § RFID chips
According to the BBC, Jordan Sather, a conspiracy theory YouTuber supporting the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory and the anti-vax movement, has falsely claimed the outbreak was a population control scheme created by Pirbright Institute in England and by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. This belief is held mostly by right-wing libertarians, NWO conspiracy theorists, and Christian Fundamentalists.[1][174]
Spy operation
Some people have alleged that the coronavirus was stolen from a Canadian virus research lab by Chinese scientists. Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada said that conspiracy theory had "no factual basis".[175] The stories seem to have been derived[176] from a July 2019 news article[177] stating that some Chinese researchers had their security access to a Canadian Level 4 virology facility revoked in a federal police investigation; Canadian officials described this as an administrative matter and "there is absolutely no risk to the Canadian public."[177]
This article was published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC);[176] responding to the conspiracy theories, the CBC later stated that "CBC reporting never claimed the two scientists were spies, or that they brought any version of the coronavirus to the lab in Wuhan". While pathogen samples were transferred from the lab in Winnipeg, Canada to Beijing, China, on March 31, 2019, neither of the samples was a coronavirus, the Public Health Agency of Canada says the shipment conformed to all federal policies, and there has not been any statement that the researchers under investigation were responsible for sending the shipment. The current location of the researchers under investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is not being released.[175][178][179]
In the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, a senior research associate and expert in biological warfare with the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, referring to a NATO press conference, identified suspicions of espionage as the reason behind the expulsions from the lab, but made no suggestion that coronavirus was taken from the Canadian lab or that it is the result of bioweapons defense research in China.[180]
U.S. biological weapon
Arab world
According to Washington DC-based nonprofit Middle East Media Research Institute, numerous writers in the Arabic press have promoted the conspiracy theory that COVID-19, as well as SARS and the swine flu virus, were deliberately created and spread to sell vaccines against these diseases, and it is "part of an economic and psychological war waged by the U.S. against China with the aim of weakening it and presenting it as a backward country and a source of diseases".[181] Iraqi political analyst Sabah Al-Akili on Al-Etejah TV, Saudi daily Al-Watan writer Sa'ud Al-Shehry, Syrian daily Al-Thawra columnist Hussein Saqer, and Egyptian journalist Ahmad Rif'at on Egyptian news website Vetogate, were some examples given by MEMRI as propagators of the U.S. biowarfare conspiracy theory in the Arabic world.[181]
China
Further information: Cyberwarfare by China, Propaganda in China, and Chinese information operations and information warfare
The Xinhua News Agency is among the news outlets that have published false information about COVID-19's origins.
According to London-based The Economist, plenty of conspiracy theories exist on China's internet about COVID-19 being the CIA's creation to keep China down.[182] NBC News however has noted that there have also been debunking efforts of U.S.-related conspiracy theories posted online, with a WeChat search of "Coronavirus is from the U.S." reported to mostly yield articles explaining why such claims are unreasonable.[183] According to an investigation by ProPublica, such conspiracy theories and disinformation have been propagated under the direction of China News Service, the country's second largest government-owned media outlet controlled by the United Front Work Department.[184] Global Times and Xinhua News Agency have similarly been implicated in propagating disinformation related to COVID-19's origins.[185][186]
Multiple conspiracy articles in Chinese from the SARS era resurfaced during the outbreak with altered details, claiming SARS is biological warfare. Some said BGI Group from China sold genetic information of the Chinese people to the U.S., which then specifically targeted the genome of Chinese individuals.[187]
On January 26, Chinese military enthusiast website Xilu published an article, claimed how the U.S. artificially combined the virus to "precisely target Chinese people".[188][189] The article was removed in early February. The article was further distorted on social media in Taiwan, which claimed "Top Chinese military website admitted novel coronavirus was Chinese-made bio-weapons".[190] Taiwan Fact-check center debunked the original article and its divergence, suggesting the original Xilu article distorted the conclusion from a legitimate research on Chinese scientific magazine Science China Life Sciences, which never mentioned the virus was engineered.[190] The fact-check center explained Xilu is a military enthusiastic tabloid established by a private company, thus it doesn't represent the voice of Chinese military.[190]
Some articles on popular sites in China have also cast suspicion on U.S. military athletes participating in the Wuhan 2019 Military World Games, which lasted until the end of October 2019, and have suggested they deployed the virus. They claim the inattentive attitude and disproportionately below-average results of American athletes in the games indicate they might have been there for other purposes and they might actually be bio-warfare operatives. Such posts stated that their place of residence during their stay in Wuhan was also close to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where the first known cluster of cases occurred.[191]
In March 2020, this conspiracy theory was endorsed by Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China.[192][193][194][195] On March 13, the U.S. government summoned Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai to Washington over the coronavirus conspiracy theory.[196] Over the next month, conspiracy theorists narrowed their focus to one U.S. Army Reservist, a woman who participated in the games in Wuhan as a cyclist, claiming she is "patient zero". According to a CNN report, these theories have been spread by George Webb, who has nearly 100,000 followers on YouTube, and have been amplified by a report by CPC-owned newspaper Global Times.[197][198]
Iran
Further information: Propaganda in Iran
Reza Malekzadeh, deputy health minister, rejected bioterrorism theories.
According to Radio Farda, Iranian cleric Seyyed Mohammad Saeedi accused U.S. President Donald Trump of targeting Qom with coronavirus "to damage its culture and honor". Saeedi claimed that Trump is fulfilling his promise to hit Iranian cultural sites, if Iranians took revenge for the airstrike that killed of Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani.[199]
Iranian TV personality Ali Akbar Raefipour claimed the coronavirus was part of a "hybrid warfare" programme waged by the United States on Iran and China.[200] Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of Iranian Civil Defense Organization, claimed the coronavirus is likely a biological attack on China and Iran with economic goals.[201][202]
Hossein Salami, the head of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed the coronavirus outbreak in Iran may be due to a U.S. "biological attack".[203] Several Iranian politicians, including Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Rasoul Falahati, Alireza Panahian, Abolfazl Hasanbeigi and Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi, also made similar remarks.[204] Iranian Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made similar suggestions.[205]
Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to the United Nations on March 9, claiming that "it is clear to the world that the mutated coronavirus was produced in lab" and that COVID-19 is "a new weapon for establishing and/or maintaining political and economic upper hand in the global arena".[206]
The late[207] Ayatollah Hashem Bathaie Golpayegani claimed that "America is the source of coronavirus, because America went head to head with China and realised it cannot keep up with it economically or militarily."[208]
Reza Malekzadeh, Iran's deputy health minister and former Minister of Health, rejected claims that the virus was a biological weapon, pointing out that the U.S. would be suffering heavily from it. He said Iran was hard-hit because its close ties to China and reluctance to cut air ties introduced the virus, and because early cases had been mistaken for influenza.[205]
Philippines
In the Philippine Senate, Tito Sotto has promoted his belief that COVID-19 is a bioweapon.
A Filipino Senator, Tito Sotto, played a bioweapon conspiracy video in a February 2020 Senate hearing, suggesting the coronavirus is biowarfare waged against China.[209][210]
Russia
Further information: Cyberwarfare by Russia and Propaganda in the Russian Federation
On February 22, U.S. officials alleged that Russia is behind an ongoing disinformation campaign, using thousands of social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to deliberately promote unfounded conspiracy theories, claiming the virus is a biological weapon manufactured by the CIA and the U.S. is waging economic war on China using the virus.[211][12][212] The acting assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, Philip Reeker, said "Russia's intent is to sow discord and undermine U.S. institutions and alliances from within" and "by spreading disinformation about coronavirus, Russian malign actors are once again choosing to threaten public safety by distracting from the global health response."[211] Russia denies the allegation, saying "this is a deliberately false story".[213]
According to U.S.-based The National Interest magazine, although official Russian channels had been muted on pushing the U.S. biowarfare conspiracy theory, other Russian media elements do not share the Kremlin's restraint.[214] Zvezda, a news outlet funded by the Russian Defense Ministry, published an article titled "Coronavirus: American biological warfare against Russia and China", claiming that the virus is intended to damage the Chinese economy, weakening its hand in the next round of trade negotiations.[214] Ultra-nationalist politician and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, claimed on a Moscow radio station that the virus was an experiment by the Pentagon and pharmaceutical companies. Politician Igor Nikulin made rounds on Russian television and news media, arguing that Wuhan was chosen for the attack because the presence of a BSL-4 virus lab provided a cover story for the Pentagon and CIA about a Chinese bio-experiment leak.[214] An EU-document claims 80 attempts by Russian media to spread disinformation related to the epidemic.[215]
According to the East StratCom Task Force, the Sputnik news agency was active publishing stories speculating that the virus could've been invented in Latvia, that it was used by Communist Party of China to curb protests in Hong Kong, that it was introduced intentionally to reduce the number of elder people in Italy, that it was targeted against the Yellow Vests movement, and making many other speculations. Sputnik branches in countries including Armenia, Belarus, Spain, and in the Middle East came up with versions of these stories.[216]
Venezuela
Constituent Assembly member Elvis Méndez declared that the coronavirus was a "bacteriological sickness created in '89, in '90 and historically" and that it was a sickness "inoculated by the gringos". Méndez theorized that the virus was a weapon against Latin America and China and that its purpose was "to demoralize the person, to weaken to install their system".[217]
COVID-19 recovery
It has been wrongly claimed that anyone infected with COVID-19 will have the virus in their bodies for life. While there is no curative treatment, infected individuals can recover from the disease, eliminating the virus from their bodies; getting supportive medical care early can help.[279]
COVID-19 xenophobic blaming by ethnicity and religion
Main article: List of incidents of xenophobia and racism related to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic
File:IOM - Fighting Stigma and Discrimination against Migrants during COVID-19.webm
UN video warns that misinformation against groups may lower testing rates and increase transmission.
COVID-19-related xenophobic attacks have been made against people the attacker blamed for COVID-19 on the basis of their ethnicity. People who are considered to look Chinese have been subjected to COVID-19-related verbal and physical attacks in many other countries, often by people accusing them of transmitting the virus.[281][282][283] Within China, there has been discrimination (such as evictions and non-service in shops) against people from anywhere closer to Wuhan (where the pandemic started) and against anyone perceived as being non-Chinese (especially those considered African), as the Chinese government has blamed continuing cases on re-introductions of the virus from abroad (90% of reintroduced cases were by Chinese passport-holders). Neighbouring countries have also discriminated against people seen as Westerners.[284][285][286] People have also simply blamed other local groups along the lines of pre-existing social tensions and divisions, sometimes citing reporting of COVID-19 cases within that group. For instance, Muslims have been widely blamed, shunned, and discriminated against in India (including some violent attacks), amid unfounded claims that Muslims are deliberately spreading COVID-19, and a Muslim event at which the disease did spread has received far more public attention than many similar events run by other groups and the government.[287] White supremacist groups have blamed COVID-19 on non-whites and advocated deliberately infecting minorities they dislike, such as Jews.[288]
False causes
5G
5G towers have been burned by people wrongly blaming them for COVID-19.
Openreach engineers appealed on anti-5G Facebook groups, saying they aren't involved in mobile networks, and workplace abuse is making it difficult for them to maintain phonelines and broadband.
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In February 2020 BBC News reported that conspiracy theorists on social media groups alleged a link between coronavirus and 5G mobile networks, claiming that Wuhan and Diamond Princess outbreaks were directly caused by electromagnetic fields and by the introduction of 5G and wireless technologies. Some conspiracy theorists also alleged that the coronavirus outbreak was a cover-up for a 5G-related illness.[33] In March 2020, Thomas Cowan, a holistic medical practitioner who trained as a physician and operates on probation with Medical Board of California, alleged that coronavirus is caused by 5G, based on the claims that African countries were not affected significantly by the pandemic and Africa was not a 5G region.[289][290] Cowan also falsely alleged that the viruses were wastes from cells that are poisoned by electromagnetic fields and historical viral pandemics coincided with the major developments in radio technology.[290] The video of his claims went viral and was recirculated by celebrities including Woody Harrelson, John Cusack, and singer Keri Hilson.[291] The claims may also have been recirculated by an alleged "coordinated disinformation campaign", similar to campaigns used by the Internet Research Agency in Saint Petersburg, Russia.[292] The claims were criticized on social media and debunked by Reuters,[293] USA Today,[294] Full Fact[295] and American Public Health Association executive director Georges C. Benjamin.[289][296]
Professor Steve Powis, national medical director of NHS England, described theories linking 5G mobile phone networks to COVID-19 as the "worst kind of fake news".[297] Viruses cannot be transmitted by radio waves. COVID-19 has spread and continues to spread in many countries that do not have 5G networks.[279]
After telecommunications masts in several parts of the United Kingdom were the subject of arson attacks, British Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the theory that COVID-19 virus may be spread by 5G wireless communication is "just nonsense, dangerous nonsense as well".[298] Vodafone announced that two Vodafone masts and two it shares with O2 had been targeted.[299][300]
By Monday April 6, 2020 at least 20 mobile phone masts in the UK had been vandalised since the previous Thursday.[301] Because of slow rollout of 5G in the UK, many of the damaged masts had only 3G and 4G equipment.[301] Mobile phone and home broadband operators estimated there were at least 30 incidents of confronting engineers maintaining equipment in the week up to April 6.[301] There have been eleven incidents of attempted arson at mobile phone masts in the Netherlands, including one case where "Fuck 5G" was written, as well as in Ireland and Cyprus.[302][303] Facebook has deleted multiple messages encouraging attacks on 5G equipment.[301]
Engineers working for Openreach posted pleas on anti-5G Facebook groups asking to be spared abuse as they are not involved with maintaining mobile networks.[304] Mobile UK said the incidents were affecting attempts to maintain networks that support home working and provide critical connections to vulnerable customers, emergency services and hospitals.[304] A widely circulated video shows people working for broadband company Community Fibre being abused by a woman who accuses them of installing 5G as part of a plan to kill the population.[304]
YouTube announced that it would reduce the amount of content claiming links between 5G and coronavirus.[299] Videos that are conspiratorial about 5G that do not mention coronavirus would not be removed, though they might be considered "borderline content", removed from search recommendations and losing advertising revenue.[299] The discredited claims had been circulated by British conspiracy theorist David Icke in videos (subsequently removed) on YouTube and Vimeo, and an interview by London Live TV network, prompting calls for action by Ofcom.[305][306]
On April 13, 2020, Gardaí were investigating fires at 5G masts in County Donegal, Ireland.[307] Gardaí and fire services had attended the fires the previous night in an attempt to put them out.[307] Although Gardaí were awaiting results of tests they were treating the fires as deliberate.[307]
There were 20 suspected arson attacks on phone masts in the UK over the Easter 2020 weekend.[297] These included an incident in Dagenham where three men were arrested on suspicion of arson, a fire in Huddersfield that affected a mast used by emergency services and a fire in a mast that provides mobile connectivity to the NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham.[297]
Ofcom issued guidance to ITV following comments by Eamonn Holmes after comments made by Holmes about 5G and coronavirus on This Morning.[308] Ofcom said the comments were "ambiguous" and "ill-judged" and they "risked undermining viewers' trust in advice from public authorities and scientific evidence".[308] Ofcom also local channel London Live in breach of standards for an interview it had with David Icke who it said had " expressed views which had the potential to cause significant harm to viewers in London during the pandemic".[308]
Some telecoms engineers have reported threats of violence, including threats to stab and murder them, by individuals who believe them to be working on 5G networks.[309] West Midlands Police said the crimes in question are being taken very seriously.[309]
On April 24, 2020 The Guardian revealed that an evangelical pastor from Luton had provided the male voice on a recording blaming 5G for deaths caused by coronavirus.[310] Jonathon James claimed to have formerly headed the largest business-unit at Vodafone, but insiders at the company said that he was hired for a sales position in 2014 when 5G was not a priority for the company and that 5G would not have been part of his job.[310] He left the company after less than a year.[310]
Mosquitoes
It has been claimed that mosquitoes transmit coronavirus. There is no evidence that this is true; coronavirus spreads through small droplets of saliva and mucus.[279]
Petrol pumps
A warning claiming to be from the Australia Department of Health said coronavirus spreads through petrol pumps and that everyone should wear gloves when filling up petrol in their cars.[311]
Shoe-wearing
There were claims that wearing shoes at one's home was the reason behind the spread of the coronavirus in Italy.[312]
Resistance/susceptibility based on ethnicity
There have been claims that specific ethnicities are more or less vulnerable to COVID-19. COVID-19 is a new zoonotic disease, so no population has yet had the time to develop population immunity.[medical citation needed]
Beginning on February 11, reports, quickly spread via Facebook, implied that a Cameroonian student in China had been completely cured of the virus due to his African genetics. While a student was successfully treated, other media sources have noted that no evidence implies Africans are more resistant to the virus and labeled such claims as false information.[313] Kenyan Secretary of Health Mutahi Kagwe explicitly refuted rumors that "those with black skin cannot get coronavirus", while announcing Kenya's first case on March 13.[314] This myth was cited as a contributing factor in the disproportionately high rates of infection and death observed among African Americans.[315][316]
There have been claims of "Indian immunity": that the people of India have more immunity to the COVID-19 virus due to living conditions in India. This idea was deemed "absolute drivel" by Anand Krishnan, professor at the Centre for Community Medicine of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He said there was no population immunity to the COVID-19 virus yet, as it is new, and it is not even clear whether people who have recovered from COVID-19 will have lasting immunity, as this happens with some viruses but not with others.[317]
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed the virus was genetically targeted at Iranians by the U.S., and this is why it is seriously affecting Iran. He did not offer any evidence.[318][22]
Religious protection
A number of religious groups have claimed protection due to their faith, some refusing to stop large religious gatherings. In Israel, some Ultra-Orthodox Jews initially refused to close synagogues and religious seminaries and disregarded government restrictions because "The Torah protects and saves",[319] which resulted in an 8 times faster rate of infection among some groups.[320] The Tablighi Jamaat movement organised mass gatherings in Malaysia, India, and Pakistan whose participants believed that God will protect them resulted the biggest rise in COVID-19 cases in a number of countries.[321][29][322] In Iran, the head of Fatima Masumeh Shrine encouraged pilgrims to visit the shrine despite calls to close the shrine, saying that they "consider this holy shrine to be a place of healing."[323] In South Korea the River of Grace Community Church in Gyeonggi Province spread the virus after spraying salt water into their members' mouths in the belief that it would kill the virus,[324] while the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu where a church leader claimed that no Shincheonji worshipers had caught the virus in February while hundreds died in Wuhan later caused in the biggest spread of the virus in the country.[325][326]
In Somalia, myths have spread claiming Muslims are immune to the virus.[327]
Unproven protective and aggravating factors
Vegetarian immunity
[icon]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2020)
Claims that vegetarians are immune to coronavirus spread online in India, causing "#NoMeat_NoCoronaVirus" to trend on Twitter.[328][better source needed] Eating meat does not have an effect on COVID-19 spread, except for people near where animals are slaughtered, said Anand Krishnan.[329] Fisheries, Dairying and Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh said the rumour had significantly affected industry, with the price of a chicken falling to a third of pre-pandemic levels. He also described efforts to improve the hygiene of the meat supply chain.[330]
Efficacy of hand sanitiser, "antibacterial" soaps
Washing in soap and water for at least 20 seconds is the best way to clean hands. Second-best is a hand sanitizer that is at least 60% alcohol.[331]
Claims that hand sanitiser is merely "antibacterial not antiviral", and therefore ineffective against COVID-19, have spread widely on Twitter and other social networks. While the effectiveness of sanitiser depends on the specific ingredients, most hand sanitiser sold commercially inactivates SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.[332][333] Hand sanitizer is recommended against COVID-19,[279] though unlike soap, it is not effective against all types of germs.[334] Washing in soap and water for at least 20 seconds is recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as the best way to clean hands in most situations. However, if soap and water are not available, a hand sanitizer that is at least 60% alcohol can be used instead, unless hands are visibly dirty or greasy.[331][335] The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration both recommend plain soap; there is no evidence that "antibacterial soaps" are any better, and limited evidence that they might be worse long-term.[336][337]
Alcohol (ethanol and poisonous methanol)
Contrary to some reports, drinking alcohol does not protect against COVID-19, and can increase health risks[279] (short term and long term). Drinking alcohol is ethanol; other alcohols, such as methanol, which causes methanol poisoning, are acutely poisonous, and may be present in badly-prepared alcoholic beverages.[338]
Iran has reported incidents of methanol poisoning, caused by the false belief that drinking alcohol would cure or protect against coronavirus;[339] alcohol is banned in Iran, and bootleg alcohol may contain methanol.[340] According to Iranian media in March 2020, nearly 300 people have died and more than a thousand have become ill due to methanol poisoning, while Associated Press gave figures of around 480 deaths with 2,850 others affected.[341] The number of deaths due to methanol poisoning in Iran reached over 700 by April.[342] Iranian social media had circulated a story from British tabloids that a British man and others had been cured of coronavirus with whiskey and honey,[339][343] which combined with the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers as disinfectants, led to the false belief that drinking high-proof alcohol can kill the virus.[339][340][341]
Similar incidents have occurred in Turkey, with 30 Turkmenistan citizens dying from methanol poisoning related to coronavirus cure claims.[344][345]
In Kenya, the Governor of Nairobi Mike Sonko has come under scrutiny for including small bottles of the cognac Hennessy in care packages, falsely claiming that alcohol serves as "throat sanitizer" and that, from research, it is believed that "alcohol plays a major role in killing the coronavirus."[346][347]
Cocaine
Cocaine does not protect against COVID-19. Several viral tweets purporting that snorting cocaine would sterilize one's nostrils of the coronavirus spread around Europe and Africa. In response, the French Ministry of Health released a public service announcement debunking this claim, saying "No, cocaine does NOT protect against COVID-19. It is an addictive drug that causes serious side effects and is harmful to people's health." The World Health Organisation also debunked the claim.[348]
Ibuprofen
A tweet from French health minister Olivier Véran, a bulletin from the French health ministry, and a small speculative study in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine raised concerns about ibuprofen worsening COVID-19, which spread extensively on social media. The European Medicines Agency[349] and the World Health Organization recommended COVID-19 patients keep taking ibuprofen as directed, citing lack of convincing evidence of any danger.[350]
Helicopter spraying
In some Asian countries, it has been claimed that one should stay at home on particular days when helicopters spray disinfectant over homes for killing off COVID-19; no such spraying is taking place.[351][352]
Cruise ships safety from infection
Main article: COVID-19 pandemic on cruise ships
Claims by cruise-ship operators notwithstanding, there are many cases of coronaviruses in hot climates; some countries in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and the Persian Gulf are severely affected.
In March 2020, the Miami New Times reported that managers at Norwegian Cruise Line had prepared a set of responses intended to convince wary customers to book cruises, including "blatantly false" claims that the coronavirus "can only survive in cold temperatures, so the Caribbean is a fantastic choice for your next cruise", that "[s]cientists and medical professionals have confirmed that the warm weather of the spring will be the end of the [c]oronavirus", and that the virus "cannot live in the amazingly warm and tropical temperatures that your cruise will be sailing to".[353]
Flu is seasonal (becoming less frequent in the summer) in some countries, but not in others. While it is possible that the COVID-19 coronavirus will also show some seasonality, it is not yet known.[354][355][356][medical citation needed] The COVID-19 coronavirus spread along international air travel routes, including to tropical locations.[357] Outbreaks on cruise ships, where an older population lives in close quarters, frequently touching surfaces which others have touched, were common.[358][359]
It seems that COVID-19 can be transmitted in all climates.[279] It has seriously affected many warm-climate countries. For instance, Dubai, with an year-round average daily high of 28.0 Celsius (82.3°F) and the airport said to have the world's most international traffic, has had thousands of cases.
Vaccine pre-existence
It was reported that multiple social media posts have promoted a conspiracy theory claiming the virus was known and that a vaccine was already available. PolitiFact and FactCheck.org noted that no vaccine currently exists for COVID-19. The patents cited by various social media posts reference existing patents for genetic sequences and vaccines for other strains of coronavirus such as the SARS coronavirus.[360][4] The WHO reported as of February 5, 2020, that amid news reports of "breakthrough" drugs being discovered to treat people infected with the virus, there were no known effective treatments;[361] this included antibiotics and herbal remedies not being useful.[362] Scientists are working to develop a vaccine, but as of March 18, 2020, no vaccine candidates have completed Phase II clinical trials.[citation needed]
Miscellaneous
Name of the disease
Social media posts and internet memes claimed that COVID-19 means "Chinese Originated Viral Infectious Disease 19", or similar, as supposedly the "19th virus to come out of China".[477] In fact, the WHO named the disease as follows: CO stands for corona, VI for virus, D for disease and 19 for when the outbreak was first identified (31 December 2019).[478]
Bat soup
Some media outlets, including Daily Mail and RT, as well as individuals, disseminated a video showing a Chinese woman eating a bat, falsely suggesting it was filmed in Wuhan and connecting it to the outbreak.[479][480] However, the widely circulated video contains unrelated footage of a Chinese travel vlogger, Wang Mengyun, eating bat soup in the island country of Palau in 2016.[479][480][481][482] Wang posted an apology on Weibo,[481][482] in which she said she had been abused and threatened,[481] and that she had only wanted to showcase Palauan cuisine.[481][482] The spread of misinformation about bat consumption has been characterized by xenophobic and racist sentiment toward Asians.[90][483][484] In contrast, scientists suggest the virus originated in bats and migrated into an intermediary host animal before infecting people.[90][485]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misinformation_related_to_the_COVID...
Salamanca is a city in northwestern Spain, the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the community of Castile and León. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988
Built between 1513 and 1733, the Gothic cathedral underwent restoration work in 1992. It is a generally a tradition of cathedral builders and restorers to add details or new carvings to the facade as a sort of signature. In this case after conferring with the cathedral, quarry man Jeronimo Garcia was given the go-ahead to add some more modern images to the facade including an astronaut floating among some vines. Among the other recently added images are a dragon eating ice cream, a lynx, a bull, and a crayfish.
Despite there being clear documentation of the astronaut being a recent addition, the astronaut has already fueled ideas of ancient space travel, and alien interventions in easily influenced minds.
Twitter: @brobphoto
Hoy, mientras paseaba por la V Región, mi "hora preferida" para tomar fotos me ha alcanzado en Papudo, cerca de Zapallar. En esta localidad, destaca particularmente el chalet Recart ahora ocupado como edificio consistorial por la Municipalidad, pero mantiene su elegancia y aristocracia al contemplarlo desde tierra o la bahía, desde donde sigue siendo una construcción notable. Los nuevos edificios no han logrado opacarlo con su altura y ya constituye una marca del skyline de Papudo, con la firma de Joshua Smith Solar.
Today, while I was walking along V Región, my "favorite moment of the day to take photos" has reached me in Papudo, near Zapallar. In this locality, stands out mainly the Recart House, now a days consistorial building from Council Hall. It holds its elegance and aristocracy as you contemplate it from land as well from the bay. It continues being a notable construction. New buildings have not darken its height and It constitutes already a Papudo's skyline sign, with famous Joshua Smith Solar architect signature.
taken @ rocky bay in co.cork, ireland - 90 degrees anticlockwise from this shot and this shot.
there was a stiff breeze of the ocean, a fairly big surf out at sea and the tide was coming in which all seemed to contribute to the sea foam formation. when we first got to the beach about an hour before this shot it was only just starting to form
Q. What makes sea foam?
A. "Like a bathtub full of bubbles, sea foam needs two ingredients," said Dr. Elizabeth L. Venrick, a marine ecologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., "something to decrease the surface tension of the water, like bubble bath, and something to froth it up, like water running into the tub."
In the ocean, the "bubble bath" is usually dissolved organic material, she said, and strong surface winds or the breaking of waves on the beach stir up the water with air to make bubbles.
"The organic material comes from a number of sources, usually a concentration of biomass, like the phytoplankton bloom that causes red tide or a fish kill," Dr. Venrick said. (A bloom is an increase in the numbers of some species or complex of species that then die or are eaten, releasing organic material.) The material can also come from sewer spills and other terrestrial runoff, she said.
In addition, there are a number of mechanisms that concentrate the foam, which is commonly blown up on the beach, for example.
Sea foam is seldom seen in the open ocean, she said, because most areas do not support high concentrations of plankton, etc., though there are spots where the right conditions for an organic bloom occur.
"This is an important area of research," Dr. Venrick said. "What is the concentration and composition of organic material out there? It is hard to determine."
Q & A from the New York Times
Not as extreme as this occurrence of seafoam in Australia :-)
Ricky : “I've already got snow in my boots and I haven't even left the back door... The snow out in our yard reaches above Dallas and Brodie's bellies... That means it's over my head. I wanted to make a snowman! This is bullsh--"
Me : “RICKY! Do you want to help Dad shovel?? He's out there now. You can do the front stoop where it's not as deep.."
Ricky : “No thank you. I'm going to go inside and draw a picture of the magnificent snowman I had planned.. Is someone going to light the pellet stove? We really need a fire on a snow day.. I'll tell Dad to light it when he comes in. He likes having things to do.."
Me : “I'm sure he'll love you adding to his to do list.."
There's a bit of what seems to be disinformation going around about whether NPP and ToonMe are Kremlin-sourced data harvesters.
Snopes.com has looked into this, and the answer appears to be, no actually. So for now, at any rate, our sites seem to be safe.
www.snopes.com/news/2022/05/11/new-profile-pic-app/
Aside from all that, any preferences with these?
Ring Around the Rosie
Pockets Full of Posies
Ashes, Ashes
We All Fall Down
Despite what Americans witnessed during the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, it’s not altogether surprising this event continues to be up for interpretation. During the Trump presidency, “alternative facts” were the official dictum emanating from the Oval Office and official Washington. They continue to be central to American politics even after Trump left office.
Interpretations of “Ring Around Rosie,” this familiar children’s nursery rhyme, offer comparisons with Republicans’ perceptions of the attempted coup. To my friends and myself, who walked around in circles reciting this nursery rhyme, it was simply a game devoid of any deep meaning. Many folklorists believe its true sense was much grimmer: references to the Black Death of 1357 or the Great Plague of 1665 (“Rosie” was the round rash, one of the first signs of the plague; pockets full of flowers warded off the disease; with ashes and everyone falling down, the death and ultimate cremation of the victims). Yet others see it as a simple children’s courtship game of love.
We can only surmise the real meaning behind this rhyme. But televised and visual records of the January 6 Capitol assault offer infallible proof of its intent. People died, and the crowd chanted “Hang Mike Pence” (while constructing gallows), “Take the Capitol,” and “Stop the Steal,” while searching for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and calling Black Capitol police officers the n-word.
Unlike “Ring Around the Rosie,” our understanding of the Capitol riot isn’t just a scholarly difference of opinion. Academics researching the rhyme’s origins, whether it be a grim telling of history or just a game, encourage discourse as a way of understanding history and our connection to it. The Republican Party, however, isn’t interested in any further inquiry into the insurrection. They’re telling us what the meaning should be, and they are ready to move on, specifically to retake the Senate and House in the 2022 midterm elections. Winning is their only goal. And they ignore anything that distracts voters from the failings of the Trump Administration, which are really failings of the GOP. All hands on deck to stack that deck with conservative voters using Gerrymandering and state and local laws to suppress the votes of people of color. It’s their only platform.
Democrats are calling for a bipartisan, independent commission, modeled after the 9/11 Commission, to investigate causes and security lapses that led to deaths and the sacking of the building. Republicans, like Representative Paul Gosser, reduce its ominous nature by calling the rioters “peaceful patriots.” While the gaslight award goes to Georgia Republican House member Andrew Clyde, who refers to it as “a typical tourist visit.” They think it’s obvious who we should believe.
On May 28, 2021, only 6 GOP Senators voted with Democrats to establish an investigative panel, not enough to survive a Republican filibuster. So, that independent investigation is dead.
Our biggest concern is what to make of the GOP. A majority of Americans hoped the results of the 2020 election would finally bury Trumpism. But as Chauncey DeVega wrote in Salon, the GOP isn’t in disarray. They’re united on their assault on American democracy. State parties are censuring those Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the storming of the Capitol. The twice-impeached, one-term president still runs the party. Although without his social media bully pulpit, his ability to scare moderate party members into submission for fear of a Trump-anointed primary challenger still reigns.
After the January 6 insurrection, many expected the GOP to face a reckoning. DeVega states, “The media has desperately tried to find ‘good,’ ‘decent,’ ‘reasonable’ and ‘responsible’ Republicans who will ‘save’ their party from Donald Trump.” In her defiance of Trump, many characterized arch-conservative Liz Cheney as her party’s (and our country’s two-party system) savior. But her positions are far from centrist. DeVega calls Cheney a “friendly fascist.”
So, what can the American people look forward to? New York Times opinion writer, Ross Douthat, offers us three theories. The first, the “maximalist,” suggests the Democrats will either enact major electoral reforms that will weaken the Republican Party, or Trump and his supporters will make good on their promise to steal the 2024 election. Like Cheney, non-Trumpist Republicans should continue to speak out against Trump’s attempts to destroy our democracy. Biden should give up on bipartisanship and kill the filibuster to enact voter reforms.
In the second “moderate” path, the Democrats’ goal should be to hold on to the House and Senate in 2022 by showing voters the party is open to bipartisanship, a focus on the economy, and opposes obstructionists. Concentrating on the moderation of the Democrat Party rather than more extreme measures will be attractive to suburban voters in 2022. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will undoubtedly beg to differ.
The third way relies on sensible Republicans doing nothing. According to Andrew Prokop, writing for Vox, if these moderate officeholders speak out against Trump’s lies, they could lose to Trump loyalists in the primaries. Then there’d be no one in the party to curb extremism. If they can outlast Trump, they can play the same restraining role they played in 2020 when the Supreme Court and important Republican governors and secretaries of state refused to go along with Trump’s election lies.
Douthat can’t tell us which theory will prevail. Given the idiosyncratic nature of Trump’s approach, all three are plausible. “Which means,” he says, “in our era of guaranteed surprises, all three will probably be rendered irrelevant by some turn of events between now and 2024.”
We are recovering from a sustained and dangerous plague. We have lost many and are hesitant to simply and joyfully throw caution to the wind. I still keep my mask handy and will use it outside my protective bubble for the foreseeable future. COVID-19, with its mask-deniers and anti-vaxxers, shattered any illusion of trust I had in my fellow Americans. Trump and his sycophants did the same to any sense I entertained about American Exceptionalism. It’s depressing that as the constant danger of the pandemic recedes, it reveals the extreme danger of the GOP’s metamorphosis.
Ashes, ashes. We all fall down.
Feel free to pass this poster on. It's free to download here (click on the down arrow just to the lower right of the image).
See the rest of the posters from the Chamomile Tea Party! Digital high res downloads are free here (click the down arrow on the lower right side of the image). Other options are available. And join our Facebook group.
Follow the history of our country's political intransigence from 2010-2020 through a seven-part exhibit of these posters on Google Arts & Culture.
In ... 1994 a [Ku Klux] Klan member applied to participate in [Missouri's] highway cleanup program and "adopt" a stretch of Interstate 55 south of St. Louis. The Missouri Department of Transportation rejected the application, claiming that under the federal Civil Rights Act, it could refuse the use of federal money to "further or subsidize racial discrimination."
However, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that Missouri's refusal to allow the Klan to participate in the Adopt-a-Highway program was unconstitutional, and when the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed that finding on appeal in March 2000, the state had to erect signs announcing the Klan's sponsorship of a portion of I-55. The Missouri Legislature then voted to name the stretch of highway adopted by the Klan the "Rosa Parks Highway," in honor of the civil rights hero from Alabama whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in 1955 led to her arrest and then a boycott of the Montgomery bus system.
text from the Snopes web site. rest of the story here
Technically this isn't the stretch named for Rosa Parks, this is a little bit farther south. But I was traveling it this weekend, and passed the signs for the highway, and remembered that Missouri did something right, and sort of cheered for us, and returned home and last night read the news that she had died.
Here's hoping that she's being driven in style wherever she is.
CONSPIRACY !!
www.snopes.com/fact-check/justin-trudeaus-eyebrow/
.
Not allowed to be used by Huffington Post and Toronto Star
copyright © Mim Eisenberg/mimbrava studio. All rights reserved.
I like the blurred background more than the actual refraction.
Warning!
Be aware of the koobface virus that is attacking Facebook users:
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/05/BU0R...
Confirmed by snopes:
www.snopes.com/computer/virus/koobface.asp
I hope to catch up with you all later. However, we're under a tornado watch, so I'm going to be shutting down and unplugging the computer now. :-( Thank you for dropping by.
See my shots on flickriver:
This excellent sculpture by Patricia Piccinini, which has entered into Urban Legend, was being set up at the outstanding Mass MoCA museum in northwestern Massachusetts. Check out some of her other pieces here...
Today is 'Buy Nothing Day' as well as 'Black Friday'.
Adbusters: Buy Nothing Day | Snopes: Black Friday
This is the 4th year that I have put together a list of my favorite songs of the year based on my “meta-review” of every “best of” and “most popular” list I could find.
This year, I listened to songs from more than 50 such year-end lists, including the lists from music-savvy friends, President Obama’s year-end favorites list, NYT, the Guardian, NPR, Rolling Stone, Spin, Pitchfork, Megacritic, the various Billboard charts, Robert Christgau (the Dean Emeritus of rock critics), and many more
Last year, I discovered Popnable, a Bulgarian ranking service that shows the top songs by YouTube views from more than 90 countries. For the first time, it truly became possible for me to hear the most popular pop songs from all over the world.
Popnable also enormously expanded the number of songs that become contenders for the annual favorites list. I’ve always had a hard limit of 100 songs on the annual favorites list, but 2019 was the first year that I actually had to apply it.
Of course, this is my personal favorites list, which I do not pretend is any kind of “best of” list. Everyone’s personal preferences are different.
I tend to be biased in favor of traditional country music, Americana, trap, reggaeton, punk, garage bands/lofi, strong bass lines, feedback and distortion, sweet harmonies, hooks, echo, short songs, and silly juvenile songs (especially about sex).
I tend to be biased against long songs, slow songs (especially shoe gaze), intellectual jazz, remakes, modern country music, old school hip hop, gangsta rap, political songs, songs that use the N-word and the B-word, heavy production (autotuning, syndrums, etc.), and most of all songs that are not on Spotify. But there are many songs on this list that overcome my negative biases.
The entire 2019 list, except one song (#99) is available as a public Spotify playlist called “2019 Snopes Favorites”. I find that links to Spotify often don’t work, but you might try it here –
open.spotify.com/playlist/7sgQQHQGEjHsCznyRTXJXF?si=vkIyV...
Here is the 2019 list, in reverse order, with a little commentary on each song.
100. Patient O - Paper Cut –
When I was assembling this list, this classic garage band song made the first two cuts on its own merits. However, once I did some research about the band, all objectivity vanished and there was no doubt the song was going to make the 2019 list.
The sweet-voiced lead singer, Tess Majors, was stabbed to death in December in NYC by a 14-year-old boy. Tess, a freshman at Barnard, was 18 when she died. The band was from Charlottesville, Virginia.
99. Mandili Trio - Samshoblo (The Motherland)
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Za95GJ_Bo&list=RDo-Za95GJ_B...
This is the only song on this list that is not on Spotify. The Mandili Trio is three young women who film themselves (apparently with a hand-held cell phone) walking around the Georgia countryside singing folk songs and shamelessly flirting with the camera. I think they’re a big deal in Georgia (they dominate the Popnable Georgia chart).
98. Stella Donnelly – Tricks
Donnelly (now 27) grew up in small towns in Wales and Australia.
97. The HU – Yuve Yuve Yu
The HU combine heavy metal with traditional Mongolian throat singing.
96. Santana - Do You Remember Me
A time machine back to 1969.
95. Vampire Weekend - Harmony Hall
Preppy band from the late 2000s comes back with more catchy pop.
94. Big Thief – Not
Big Thief is a four-piece band whose members mostly are Berklee College of Music grads. They make complicated and atmospheric, but hooky, music.
93. Dyler - Kan Yo Mkan
Dyler is coming out of the same post-Millenial genre as the better known Lil Nas X and 100 Gecs. At 16, he was an Instagram influencer who was prosecuted by the Saudi government for posting a (non-revealing) photo of himself sitting on the toilet.
At 18, he is making sprung, Tik Tok(ish) rap songs that are going to #1 on the Popnable Saudi Arabia chart.
92. Angelica Garcia - Jicama
Beautiful, wispy song from a Richmond, Virginia singer of Mexican and Salvadoran ancestry. Thanks to President Obama for bringing Ms. Garcia to my attention on his interesting 2019 faves list.
91. Dejan Matic - Gde Ste Sada Prijatelji (Where Are You Now Friends)
In listening to the Popnable charts for the various former Yugoslavia countries, I’ve really gotten to like the sound of the chant-like songs in Serbo-Croatian (as the common language used to be called).
Dejan Matic and his twin brother, who both went blind shortly after their birth, are popular singers in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
90. Anitta – Combatchy
Very popular Brazilian pop singer. “Combatchy” currently has more than 58 million plays on Spotify.
89. Dona Onete – Jamburana
Dona Onete had a long career as a Brazilian history teacher, folklorist, and author of children’s books. She cut her first album when she was 73 years old. She was 81 when she recorded “Jamburana.”
88. FLA - Ice Cream Man
The Popnable charts are very educational. Who would have guessed that the Mongolian pop charts are dominated by Atlanta/Colombia-style trap? “Ice Cream Man” is very catchy, but also don’t miss FLA’s “Ilt Lit,” his hilariously obscene declaration (in English) of his love for trap.
87. Orville Peck - Dead of Night
Orville Peck is a pseudonym for a (self-declared) gay country singer who performs wearing a fringed Lone Ranger mask to conceal his identity. He sounds very much like the Magnetic Fields, whose “69 Love Songs” is one of my favorite albums.
86. Tinariwen & Cass McCombs - Kel Tinawen
Tinariwen are Tuareg musicians from northern Mali who have been performing since 1979. Cass McCombs is an eclectic American musician who has performed with bands ranging from the Decemberists to Cat Power to the Meat Puppets.
85. Rat Queen - Northeast Ohio Rocks
It’s hard to find out much about Rat Queen. Their Bandcamp page says they are Eleanor Linafelt and Robyn Newcomb and that they are “sometimes in D.C.” But some googling suggests they are from Wooster, Ohio. “Northeast Ohio Rocks” is their most popular song on Spotify, but it currently has only 2,000 plays (which is very unfair).
84. Miranda Lambert - It All Comes Out in the Wash
If you wear a white shirt to a crawfish boil
Stonewashed jeans while you're changing the oil
When you find yourself dating the bridesmaid's ex
You accidentally bring him to the wedding, whoops
If you pour yourself a Merlot to go
You dip your fries in your ketchup on a bumpy road
You spill the beans to your mama, sister got knocked up
In a truck at the 7-Eleven, don't sweat it
'Cause it'll all come out, all come out in the wash
83. Nella - Voy
Originally from Venezuela, Nella is another talented grad of the Berklee College of Music. Voy is from her debut album.
82. Sailors – Wamlambez
“Wamlambez” has been a huge hit in Kenya, with numerous homemade tribute videos popping up, including one of a former prime minister and another of mourners at a funeral dancing the wamlambez. There is even a Chipmunks version of the song.
“Wamlambez” is the most popular song of the popular “gengeton” genre of music. Gengeton is characterized by its own slang words (all with dirty meanings).
kiss100.co.ke/wamlambez-lolo-lalez-here-is-an-updated-she...
The Kenyan government has attempted to ban “Wamlambez” and other gengeton songs.
www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46371971
The YouTube video for “Wambalez” is joyfully in-your-face.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilnOAwKuZLQ
81. Sault - Don’t Waste My Time
Sault released two hooky, funky albums in 2019, but is not releasing any information about who they are.
80. Paul Cauthen - Cocaine Country Dancing
Country music appears to be branching out to varieties of substance abuse other than alcoholism.
79. The Paranoid Style - An Endless Cycle of Meaningless Behavior
“Endless Cycle,” by DC’s The Paranoid Style, is about Ayn Rand, Alan Greenspan, and Paul Ryan.
78. Mdou Moctar - Kamane Tarhanin
Guitar hero Mdou Moctar is a Tuareg musician from Niger. “Kamane Tarhanin” is very good, but his live show is in a different universe. Go see him live if you ever have a chance.
77. The Golden Glows - When I Went to Leland
The Golden Glows recorded an album of remakes of the field work songs of prisoners at Parchman Prison in Mississippi. “When I Went to Leland” is a complete reworking of this field recording by Alan Lomax in 1947. research.culturalequity.org/get-audio-detailed-recording....
76. The Regrettes - California Friends
The Regrettes are a punky four-piece power pop band from LA. Except for the drummer, they are all women.
75. NOËP featuring Chinchilla - fk this up
I still tell my English as a Second Language classes that the F-word is a highly offensive word that they should never use, but I feel like I’m lying to them. The F-word is so ubiquitous in pop music, movies, podcasts, etc. that it really can’t be viewed as a curse word any more.
NOËP is an electro-pop musician from Tallinn, Estonia. Chinchilla is a female singer from London who styles herself as an “urban”singer (whatever that means).
74. Oumar Konate & Makan Camara - Koima Djinn
Omar Konate is a superstar in Mali.
73. The bird and the bee - Hot for Teacher
Boy-girl hipster duo from LA with a swing band-ish update on Van Halen’s classic, with new, more literate, but even smarmier lyrics.
72. Bones UK - Pretty Waste
Somewhat bizarrely, Bones UK, whose most listened-to song on Spotify has only 6 million plays and whose 2019 debut album was self-released, was nominated for a 2020 Grammy for “Best Rock Performance.” They didn’t win, but still it’s weird.
71. Blackbear - hot girl bummer
This sweetly melodic pop song prominently features the F-word. Blackbear is really Matthew Tyler Musto, who grew up in Florida, Atlanta, and LA.
70. Better Oblivion Community Center - Dylan Thomas
Better Oblivion Community Center is a two person group with longtime emo star Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) and indie musician Phoebe Bridgers.
69. 21 Savage - a lot
21 Savage is an Atlanta rapper. He uses the N-word a lot more often than I’m comfortable with, but this is a hooky and funny (if disturbingly self-loathing) song.
68. Purple Mountains – That’s Just the Way That I Feel
David Berman of the Silver Jews had been a recluse with chronic depression for over a decade when he formed a new band, Purple Mountains, and recorded a jaunty album filled with erudite and witty wordplay about how much he wanted to die. He died of suicide the day before the Purple Mountains were to begin their tour in support of the new album.
“The end of all wanting is all I’ve been wanting,
And that’s just the way that I feel. ”
It’s a brilliant, funny, sad album.
67. Sneaks - Holy Cow I Never Saw a Girl Like Her
Sneaks is DC-based musician Eva Moolchan. She deserves huge credit for realizing that the great hook of “Holy Cow I Never Saw a Girl Like Her” could be fully explored in only 55 seconds.
66. Lana Del Rey - hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but I have it
Honestly, I’m really kind of embarrassed to have not one but two Lana Del Rey songs on this year’s fave list.
65. Blake Shelton - God’s Country
Blake Shelton’s producers are masters of the echo chamber (or whatever the modern electronic equivalent of an echo chamber is).
64. Sego - Neon Me Out
Originally two guys from Provo, Utah, Sego is now a bass-heavy four-member band based in LA.
63. that dog. - Just the Way
LA-based alt-rock band. Lead singer Anna Waronker is the daughter of recording industry fat cat Lenny Waronker, so I’d love to be able to dismiss them as no-talent beneficiaries of nepotism, but they’re actually really good.
62. Midland - Cheatin’ Songs
Midland’s 2019 album “Let It Roll” fell well short of their brilliant 2017 neo-traditional country “On the Rocks,” but “Cheatin’ Songs” is a really good reworking of one of the most well worn country genres. “Sometimes her jacket smells like cigarettes, but she hates the smoke.”
61. Hamada Helal - Ashrab Shay
I listened to a boatload of hits in Arabic from the Popnable charts this year and my ears got familiar with the circular rhythms of those pop songs. This one by Hamada Helal, an Egyptian singer, was my favorite.
60. Lana Del Rey - Fuck it I love you
Lake Placid, New York’s brightest star. And Lake Placid has hosted the Winter Olympics twice, in 1932 and 1980.
59. Enzo Inshall – Vanodherera
Zimbabwean dancehall chanter. He has gotten in trouble with the government for videos that were perceived as having excessive sexual innuendo.
58. Our Native Daughters - Black Myself
Our Native Daughters is a superstar group made up of four female African-American (biracial?) musicians. Rhiannon Giddens (formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops) is one of the best musicians working in America today. Allison Russell (who’s actually Canadian) makes gorgeous music with her husband as the Birds of Chicago. Leyla McCalla is very talented New Orleans-based folk musician.
“Black Myself” is by Amethyst Kiah, from Johnson City, Tennessee, a banjo player who is the only member of Our Native Daughters whose work I’m not familiar with.
57. Ashley McBryde - One Night Standards
In the 21st century, it’s not only the girls who all get prettier at closing time.
56. The Shivas - Gloria
The Shivas are a hard working, steadily touring band from Portland, Oregon.
55. The Lumineers – Gloria
The Lumineers are a very popular folk rock band from Denver. They specialize in shimmering beautiful multi-part harmonies. They’ve toured with Tom Petty and U2.
54. Miranda Lambert - Tequila Does
Miranda Lambert had a great year, topped by this classic country alcoholic song. “Hand me a sombrero, 'cause Jose Cuervo is taking me home tonight.” She has two songs on this year’s faves list.
53. Injury Reserve featuring Rico Nasty – Jawbreaker
Injury Reserve is a hip hop trio from Tempe, Arizona.
52. Rhiannon Giddens (with Francesco Turrisi) - Brown Baby
My wife and I have been worshipful fans of Rhiannon Giddens ever since she led the string band Carolina Chocolate Drops (we saw them play on the high school football field in Fredericksburg, Virginia before an audience of maybe 75 people; Toni talked to them afterward about maybe coming to her elementary school to play for the students and they were open to the idea).
It’s not that surprising to see Giddens progress to being maybe the most impressive musician working in America today. In 2019, she put together the African-American female super group Our Native Daughters and made the brilliant album “There Is No Other,” with Francesco Turrisi, a jazzy Italian multi-instrumentalist. Giddens glides between traditional music of the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Arabic world and it’s breathtaking.
51. Ace Mo & John FM - Where They At???
There have been more house music “where the _____ girls at?” songs than I can keep up with. Ace Mo and John FM carry the meme to a whole new level, starting with the fairly standard, “Where the black girls at, nomadic girls at, Puerto Rican girls at, Dominicana girls at” to the somewhat more quirky, “Romani girls at, Estonian girls at,” to the truly bizarre, “where the cop killers at,” “exotic dancers at,” “where the freedom fighters at,” “where the sex workers at,” “where the brown berets at,” and on and on for a full 7 entertaining minutes.
50. Craig Finn – Blankets
Craig Finn is the front man for the Hold Steady. I think I prefer his less staccato, more atmospheric storytelling on his solo albums.
49. Rhiannon Giddens (with Francesco Turrisi) - Little Margaret
The New Yorker ran this fascinating biographical piece on Rhiannon Giddens this past year: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/rhiannon-giddens-an...
Giddens has five songs on this year’s faves list – three with Francesco Turrisi and two with her supergroup Our Native Daughters.
48. 100 gecs – ringtone
100 gecs is an American experimental musical duo, originally from suburban St. Louis. This is one of two 100 gecs songs on this year’s list.
47. Lizzo – Boys
Lizzo seems like she came out of nowhere this year to become a superstar, but her first album was released in 2013 and Time magazine named her a “musician to watch” in 2014. She has two songs on this year’s faves list.
46. Michete - Come Get It, Daddy
Homophobes and the humorless should avoid this song.
45. Spoon - No Bullets Spent
Austin’s finest haven’t put out an album since 2017, so this fine single was very welcome.
44. Sevdaliza – Martyr
Sevdaliza (born Sevda Alizedah) was born in Tehran, but moved to the Netherlands at age 5. After playing basketball in college and for the Dutch national team, she began to make highly polished, sinuous music.
43. Todrick Hall - Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels
Hall is a former American Idol contestant and has appeared on several RuPaul-related shows. He played Lola, a drag queen cabaret performer, in the Broadway production of Kinky Boots.
42. Blanco Brown - The Git Up
“The Git Up,” Brown’s debut single, has more than 161 million plays on Spotify and hit #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Several critics have called it a sequel to “Old Town Road.”
41. black midi - Near DT, MI
black midi is a guitar-heavy band from London, with strong influences from Eighties groups (notably the Cure), and an impressively talented drummer. Their debut album Schlagenheim is very good, but it frankly feels underpowered compared to their blistering live performances.
The critical buzz about black midi started with this compelling 26-minute live video released by Icelandic radio station KEXT, which is way better than the studio album:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMn1UuEIVvA
Their live performance here in DC at U Street Music Hall was also far superior to their studio album (which is not to say the studio material isn’t excellent, but that this is an amazing live group).
40. Sefa & DopeNation – Shuga
Sefa is a rising star in Ghana. She is a big girl who plays off a flagrantly sexpot image, as the “Shuga” video makes clear (she’s the lady in the orange swimsuit):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPcT0fhSpG0
She believes that fashion and music go hand in hand and is committed to wearing racy clothes that slay every day. “I just prove to people that your size doesn’t matter. Where what you love and love what you wear. Because it doesn’t matter what you wear, how well you rock it makes it nice.”
www.pulse.com.gh/lifestyle/fashion/20-questions-on-fashio...
Sefa also released a long video interview declaring her intention to finally lose her virginity in 2019, at age 24.
www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/entertainment/I-m-still-a-...
39. Tove Lo - Glad He’s Gone
Tove Lo is a Swedish grunge-pop singer who has battled YouTube because of the sexual content of some of her videos. She was on my 2016 and 2017 faves lists and returns this year with this explicit but decidedly anti-sex song.
38. Ed Sheeran featuring Camila Cabello - South of the Border
Sheeran released an album of duets with other big pop stars. The duet with former Fifth Harmony member Camila Cabello was the best of the bunch.
37. Rhiannon Giddens (with Francesco Turrisi) - Pizzica di San Vito
There are many excellent performances of the traditional Italian tarantella, “Pizzica di San Vito,” but Giddens’ and Turrisi’s sparse take is unique.
36. Morgan Wallen - Whiskey Glasses
- Alcoholic country music is alive and well (and well represented on this year’s list).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjBp30kjzTc
35. that dog. - If You Just Didn’t Do It
The song with punchy melodies and crisp songwriting is the second from that dog on this year’s list. Apparently, the group was a big deal in the Nineties, though I don’t remember ever hearing of them before.
34. Orezi & Sheebah - Sweet Sensation
Nigerian pop star Orezi and Ugandan pop star Sheebah team up for this sweet reggaeton tribute to … ummm … good sex.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZThZa6Ti8Y
33. La Santa Cecilia - I’ve Been Thinking
La Santa Cecilia is a Grammy-winning, self-described bolero-punk/bossa-nova/soul band based in LA. The fathers of three of the four members died this year and “I’ve Been Thinking” is about their grief.
32. Chuck Mead - Shake
Mead, a native of Lawrence, Kansas, was formerly a member of BR549, a virtuoso country group active from 1993 to 2006. “Shake” is from Mead’s fourth solo album, Close to Home, which has 11 songs on it. The album is so good that 8 of the 11 songs from Close to Home made my first cut of my favorite songs from 2019. I finally got it down to only two Mead songs on the final list, but it was tough.
31. Our Native Daughters - Moon Meets the Sun
The Songs of Our Native Daughters by “supergroup” Our Native Daughters is an exploration of female African-American history. As you’d probably expect from such an intellectual enterprise, some of the songs come across as a little academic. But two songs (both on this year’s list) “Black Myself” and “Moon Meets the Sun” are gems.
“You put the shackles on our feet, But we're dancing, You steal our very tongue..., You steal our children, But we're dancing, You make us hate our very skin But we're dancing, But we're dancing.”
30. Tanya Tucker - I Don’t Owe You Anything
Tucker’s 2019 comeback was delightful. Her Grammy-winning “Bring My Flowers Now” was the last song cut from this year’s 100 faves list. “I Don’t Owe You Anything” is even better, the perfect “drop dead, asshole” song.
29. Stef Chura - 3D Girl - My girl is three dimensional
“3D Girl” is great, although I have to admit that its lyrics are so cryptic that I have no idea what it’s about.
Detroit-based Stef Chura’s second album Midnight is produced by Will Toledo, frontman of Car Seat Headrest, one of my favorite current bands. Chura has a tough, spiky, guitar-driven sound that is reminiscent of Courtney Barnett and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Car Seat Headrest.
Midnight is terrific. Chura has three songs on this year’s list and it took a real effort to limit her to only three songs.
28. Poppy - Concrete
Poppy grew up in Nashville and relocated to LA when she was 18, where she established a wildly popular YouTube channel “Poppy.” She has also created a member organization known as “PoppyChurch.” Poppy has also published a graphic novel and has starred in The Jester’s Tale, “an augmented reality experience.”
Poppy is deeply silly, but “Concrete” is a good song. Some critics have called it part of the “baby metal” genre, but I’d say she’s channeling Queen. (Update: My son informs me that Poppy is the creation of a male Svengali. So were the Monkees.)
27. Arthur Hanlon - Como Suena el Piano
Irish-American from Detroit who has become a prominent Latin jazz band leader.
26. YG, Tyga & Jon Z - Go Loko
Mariachi meets trap (warning for sensitive ears, this song is filthy).
25. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - For Real
I miss Tom Petty so much.
24. DakhaBrakha - ПЛИВе ЧОВеН
I have no idea what this gorgeous song by a group from Kiev is about. Google translates the title (in Ukrainian) as “Swimming Man.”
23. Purple Mountains – Darkness and Cold
Purple Mountains have three songs on this year’s faves list. All three are so witty that they are fun to listen to, even though they’re all about deep depression and suicide. But the promotional video for “Darkness and Cold” is hard to watch:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZKMa-ByLBQ
22. Mikolas Josef - Abu Dhabi
Josef (a Czech) has spent years busking throughout Europe. This insanely catchy song should be his breakthrough to the big time, but it inexplicably has fewer than 2 million listens on Spotify.
21. Stef Chura - Scream
- Detroit girl (watch the video)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0X5tCHTJvg
20. Billie Eilish - Bury a Friend
It’s fascinating that Billie Eilish and her brother were homeschooled. I can’t say they are particularly well adjusted socially.
19. Fontaines D.C. - The Boys in the Better Land
“You're not alive until you start kicking, When the room is spinning and the words ain't sticking, And the radio is all about a runaway model, With a face like sin and a heart like a James Joyce novel, Saying "Sister, sister, how I missed ya, missed ya, Let's go wrist to wrist and take the skin off of my blister.” If you're a Rock Star, Porn Star, Superstar, Doesn't matter what you are, get yourself a good car, get outta here.”
Despite their name, Fontaines D.C. are Irish and have nothing to do with Washington, D.C. They added “D.C.” to their name when they learned that another band in LA had the same name. “D.C.” stands for “Dublin City.”
18. Mountain Goats - An Antidote to Strychnine
Cult hero John Darnielle (who is the only consistent member of the Mountain Goats – one of my top five active bands) has a podcast called “I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats.”
17. Dry Cleaning - Magic of Meghan
This cerebrally jagged tribute to Meghan Markle is the polar opposite of the Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen.”
16. girl in red - bad idea
- From Wikipedia:” Marie Ulven Ringheim (born 16 February 1999), known professionally as Girl in Red (often stylized in all lowercase as girl in red), is a Norwegian indie pop singer-songwriter…. Ringheim has been named a "queer icon" by Paper, and a "phenomenon" that is "one of the most astute and exciting singer-songwriters working in the world of guitar music" by New York Times. She is known for appealing to young teenagers with her "bedroom pop anthems about queer romance and mental health." Her music, which is made from the comfort of her bedroom has amassed over 150 million streams as of October 2019.”
girl in red has two songs on this year’s faves list.
15. Stef Chura - Sweet Sweet Midnight
Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest duets with Chura on this song about a friend who died while on vacation. The melodies and screams are both good.
14. 100 gecs - stupid horse
Best YouTube reader comment on “stupid horse” (from JoetheToe):
“The 21st century has peaked, cancel the next 81 years.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSZI6sYgXCA
13. Natti Natasha - Oh Daddy (Spanglish version)
Cover songs are usually a turnoff for me. But this transmogrification of Richie Valens’ “Donna” (1958) by Dominican star Natti Natasha is exhilarating.
12. Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello - Señorita
It seems like Cuban-American Cabello did duets with every singer in the world this year. She should gotten lead billing on this seductive song.
Apparently, she and Mendes are now a thing:
www.justjared.com/2020/02/15/shawn-mendes-camila-cabello-...
11. Otoboke Beaver - Don’t light my fire
There is a tradition of good Japanese noise bands, but these three women are the best ever. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkWfFXnLpYg
10. Chuck Mead - Billy Doesn’t Know He’s Bad
“Psychopathy is a constellation of psychological symptoms that typically emerges early in childhood and affects all aspects of a sufferer’s life including relationships with family, friends, work, and school. The symptoms of psychopathy include shallow affect, lack of empathy, guilt and remorse, irresponsibility, and impulsivity.”
09. Gary Clark, Jr. - This Land
Ordinarily, I would dock even a great song a few notches for overt political content, but this song so perfectly fits my politics (and my anger about where we are) that I made an exception and left it alone and undocked as one of my ten fave songs of 2019. WARNING: This song features repeated use of the n-word and not the bowdlerized version of the word that ends with an “a.”
08. Lizzo - Juice
“Gotta blame it on the goose”
07. Kevin Morby - Oh My God
My wife actively participated in the final stage of assembling this year’s favorites list, once I’d culled the candidates down to the last 250 or so songs. As soon as I cued up this ethereal song by Kevin Morby, Toni immediately said, “That really sounds like that Ethiopian nun” -- referring to Ethiopian composer (and nun) Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, who is still alive at age 93 and is well worth googling to discover her amazing body of work. Toni’s right, Morby is clearly channeling Guebrou here.
[NOTE: A big thank you to Matt Fenton, my favorite opposing counsel of the year, for turning me on to Morby.]
06. The Specials - 10 Commandments
Around 1980, we bought a used 1976 Volvo from a guy we found in the Washington Post classified ads. It was by far the nicest car we’d ever had (I think it cost more than a thousand dollars). But it turned out that 1976 was the only lemon year that Volvo ever had. Problems were unending. The air conditioning broke on a nightmarishly hot family trip to Mississippi (Elizabeth screamed her protest for hours).
But the silver lining was that a tape got stuck in the Volvo’s cassette player and couldn’t be ejected for months -- and it was the Specials’ wonderful first album.
“10 Commandments” is a worthy successor to that opinionated and beautiful masterpiece. How many other bands from 1979 are still making great music with sharp elbows?
05. Movimiento Feminista - Un Violador en tu Camino
Live from Chile - www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zad42X6Rpg
04. Billie Eilish - Bad Guy
“In the United States, "Bad Guy" ended the record-breaking 19-week run of "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus.” [Billboard headline]
Eilish has two songs on this year’s faves list.
03. Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus - Old Town Road
“Winner's Circle: Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' Breaks Record With 17th Week Atop Billboard Hot 100” [Billboard headline]
02. girl in red - dead girl in the pool
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzq4TEU-wHo FWIW - girl in red also had the #2 song on my faves list from 2018 (“i wanna be your girlfried”)
01. Purple Mountains - Margaritas at the Mall
The Purple Mountains album is really a solo album by David Berman (formerly of the Silver Jews). Coupled with the last episode of The Good Place, this album might make 2019-2020 the era of the jaunty, life-affirming suicide.
“How long can a world go on under such a subtle God? How long can a world go on with no new word from God?”
There is a restaurant in Valparaiso, called Cocoloco, that it really worths a visit. Placed at the top of a 20 floor building, it has a rotating upper floor that lets you having a 360° view in a bit more than an hour, while you're dinning. Food quality is higher and of course, this is paid. Still, it is advisable 100% and, in my opinion, a must-see and ideal place for a romantic dinner.
This is one of its views. As ever, I recommend, bigger sive view.
Hay un restaurante en Valparaiso, llamado Cocoloco, que realmente merece la pena ser visitado. Situado en la última de un edificio de 20 plantas, posee una elevación superior giratoria que te permite, en poco más de una hora, tener una vista de 360° de toda la zona, mientras cenas. La calidad de la comida es superior con un precio asequible. Recomendable 100% es, en mi opinión, lugar obligado de visita e ideal para una cena romántica.
Esta es una de sus vistas. Al ser panorámico, recomiendo ver en tamaño grande.
Copyright Susan Ogden
Tussock Moth Caterpillar, munching on leaves of my Crocosmia (Lucifer’s Cross). The sunlight on the leaking liquid from the leaf veins made little bokeh dots!!
These furry little fellows are the ones that cause problems...not so much for the plants, but for the people that handle them. They are poisonous! I was so surprised!!
I see them during the summer and early autumn ...and they come in other pretty color....the coolest one i ever saw was black and vivid orange with a bit of white ...very appropriately autumn Halloween coloring!!
i looked up information to see what was up with these ...this is what i found:
The hairs on the caterpillar are long and bristle-like and spread out in tufts down the sides. Two long, sharp, black pencil-like hairs protrude near the front and rear of the creature, and these hairs are connected to poison glands, which excrete venom on contact.
Contact with the venom does not generally cause too much of a problem. A nettle or poison ivy-type rash often occurs, which can range from mild with slight reddening of the skin, to burning, swelling and pain, none of which should keep you away from your gardening duties for too long. Hypersensitive individuals may, of course, experience more severe symptoms that could include swelling and nausea. Washing the infected area with soap and water, taking antihistamines, or using ammonia, calamine lotion, or an ice pack can help to alleviate most minor symptoms fairly quickly. People who do experience more severe reactions, however, should seek expert medical advice as soon as possible.
Brought to you by Snopes and me, as a concerned friend and contact!! ;) hmbt!!
According to this urban legend...
if you eat a tapeworm.. you're gonna lose weight ultra quick ! ;)
So I tried it.. and it works ! :)))
*sigh*
*if only*
ok.. so.. I lied.. the tapeworm is called "photoshop" and no real pound were lost in the process! :(
Texture by : playing with brushes.
To any snopes viewers, this is not the walmart in the article.
No idea why they used this photo, this walmart is still open.
There's a bit of what seems to be disinformation going around about whether NPP and ToonMe are Kremlin-sourced data harvesters.
Snopes.com has looked into this, and the answer appears to be, no actually. So for now, at any rate, our sites seem to be safe.
www.snopes.com/news/2022/05/11/new-profile-pic-app/
Aside from all that, any preferences with these?
Welcome October! Welcome Halloween! The Jack-O-Lanterns are flying in on Autumn's breezes to prepare us for a spooky good time!
This is photo 1 of 31 in this year's set: "The 31 days of Halloween 2012"
www.flickr.com/photos/motorpsiclist/sets/72157631595732868/
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PLEASE JOIN MY GROUP: HALLOWEEN Forever! + Your Scary Stories! Post all year round!
www.flickr.com/groups/1454417@N21/
An 18+ Adult group for photos (and your original Halloween art) of your costumes, decorations, parties, treats, etc.
Contribute your Scary Story (true is best) and for this year I've added a section for you to describe your Seance experiences!
Trick or Treat!
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HALLOWEEN INFO:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
THE TRUTH ABOUT HALLOWEEN CANDY POISONINGS, ETC:
www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/needles.asp
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The above photo one shot SOOC.
Want more? See my new set, "Drawing with Light:"
www.flickr.com/photos/motorpsiclist/sets/72157630589237982/
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Kinetic: Relating to, caused by, or producing motion.
These are called “Kinetic” photographs because there is motion, energy, and movement involved, specifically my and the camera’s movements.
I choose a light source and/or subject, set my camera for a long exposure (typically around 4 seconds), focus on my subject and push the shutter button. When the shutter opens I move the camera around with my hands...large, sweeping, dramatic movements. And then I will literally throw the camera several feet up into the air, most times imparting a spinning or whirling motion to it as I hurl it upward. I may throw the camera several times and also utilize hand-held motion several times in one photo. None of these are Photoshopped, layered, or a composite photo...what you see occurs in one shot, one take.
Aren’t I afraid that I will drop and break my camera? For regular followers of my photostream and this series you will know that I have already done so. This little camera has been dropped many times, and broken once when dropped on concrete outside. It still functions...not so well for regular photographs, but superbly for more kinetic work.
To read more about Kinetic Photography click the Wikipedia link below:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_photography
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Albeit supremely risky this is one of my favorite ways to produce abstract photographs.
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My photographs and videos and any derivative works are my private property and are copyright © by me, John Russell (aka “Zoom Lens”) and ALL my rights, including my exclusive rights, are reserved. ANY use without my permission in writing is forbidden by law.
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There's a bit of what seems to be disinformation going around about whether NPP and ToonMe are Kremlin-sourced data harvesters.
Snopes.com has looked into this, and the answer appears to be, no actually. So for now, at any rate, our sites seem to be safe.
www.snopes.com/news/2022/05/11/new-profile-pic-app/
Aside from all that, any preferences with these?
Vicksburg, Mississippi (est. 1825, pop. 23,542) • Facebook • MS Delta • The Town & the Battle —NY Times
• Jefferson Finis Davis (1808-1889) • born at Fairview, Kentucky, 8 mos. before Abraham Lincoln was born 125 mi. away at Hodgenville, KY • last of 10 children in family • named after Thomas Jefferson
• Davis's father, Samuel Emory Davis, served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War • family moved to Wilkinson Co., Mississippi, 1812 • enrolled in Catholic school of Saint Thomas at St. Rose Priory, Kentucky 1816 • attended college at age ten • enrolled at Transylvania University, 1821 • U.S. Military Academy cadet, graduated 23rd of 34 in the class of 1828 • commissioned as second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, 1st Infantry Reg.
• served under future U.S. president Col. Zachary Taylor • at the conclusion of the Black Hawk War, assigned to escort American Indian war leader Black Hawk to prison, 1832 • in his autobiography, the chief stated that Davis had treated him "with much kindness" —Autobiography of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak (Black Hawk)
• in June, 1835, having resigned his commission, Davis married Col. Taylor’s daughter, Sarah Knox "Knoxie" Taylor • 3 mos. after the wedding, she died of malaria
• developed Brierfield Plantation at Davis Bend, MS • was situated beside his brother Joseph's Hurricane Plantation • by 1860 he owned 113 slaves [slave quarters photo] • adopted his brother's trial by peers self-government system, used to adjudicate disputes & offenses • this was atypical of American slaveholders • the plantation also had a resident black preacher, "Uncle Bob," a slave unsuited for field work yet a favorite of his master: "He was as free from guile and as truthful a man as I ever knew." —Jeffn. Davis
• in 1845 Davis married 18 yr. old Varina Banks Howell (1826-1906), granddaughter of New Jersey Governor Richard Howell & Kezia Burr Howell, who was related to both theologian Jonathan Edwards & Aaron Burr, 3rd Vice President of the U.S. • educated at her home in Natchez, MS & at Madame Grelaud's French School in Philadelphia • hometown friend, Sarah Ellis, was a classmate
• Varina soon learned 2 things about her new husband: 1) he was a traditionalist regarding gender roles & expected her to comply with his wishes, and 2) he loved his late wife Knoxie more than he loved her (their honeymoon included a visit to Knoxie's grave) • nevertheless, Varina enjoyed the privilege & affluence of life as Mrs. Jefferson Davis —Encyclopedia Virginia
• “He never had with soldiers, children or negroes any difficulty to impress hiself upon their hearts.” —Varina Davis • his kindness was occasionally misinterpreted: one of Davis's slaves told Varina that after his 1st wife died she prepared dinner for him, but the meal didn't suit his taste • cheerfully declining, his lighthearted attempt to spare her feelings offended her: "Master did me mighty mean dat time; he orter cussed me, but it was mean to make fun of me."
• though known as a prickly personality with bouts of depression, Davis's courteous treatment of black people impressed: "I got a lesson in the treatment of negroes when I was a young man returning South from Harvard. I stopped in Washington and called on Jefferson Davis... We walked down Pennsylvania Avenue. Many negroes bowed to Mr. Davis and he returned the bow. He was a very polite man. I finally said to him that I thought he must have a good many friends among the negroes. He replied, 'I cannot allow any negro to outdo me in courtesy.'" —R.W. Milsaps in "Jefferson Davis, the Negroes and the Negro Problem," by Walter L. Fleming
• the couple had 6 children, only one of whom bore offspring & lived a full life span • their youngest child, Varina Anne “Winnie” Davis (1864-1898), was born in the Confederate White House & later gained fame as the “Daughter of the Confederacy” [postcard]
• in 1846 at age 38, Davis resigned from his MS house seat to lead the Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican-American War • at the Battle of Monterrey, 1847, led a successful charge on the La Tenería fort • fought bravely at the Battle of Buena Vista & was shot in the foot • declined both a federal commission as brig. gen. & command of a militia brigade, arguing that the Constitution gives the power of appointing militia officers to the states, not the federal govt.
• appointed to U.S. Senate, 1848 • appointed Secty. of War by U.S. Pres. Franklin Pierce, 1853 • modernized the army • re-entered the Senate in 1857, but following Mississippi's Jan., 1861 secession from the union, tendered his resignation & delivered a Farewell Address:
"... “we are about to be deprived in the Union of the rights which our fathers bequeathed to us.”
"I hope … for peaceful relations with you, though we must part. They may be mutually beneficial to us in the future, as they have been in the past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring disaster on every portion of the country."
• the South's secession from the U.S.A. came as no surprise; in fact a few areas, both south & north had already flirted with it • to many Southerners, Lincoln's ascent to the U.S. Presidency & his promise to end the extension of slavery portended a congress increasingly hostile to the South & ultimately, the death of southern sovereignty, threatening to not only stain the South's honor-shame culture with despised Yankee values, but also eradicate the ancient engine of its economy— legal slavery
• although abolitionism had been gaining traction in the U.S. & Britain since the 17th c., in the South the common perception of human bondage was framed by scientific racism, creating a world view in which white supremacy was conventional wisdom affirmed by consonant bits of history & scripture, i.e., it was predictable homo sapiens behavior, ideology serving self-interest, tribal loyalty muting conscience, save for the rare radicals north & south who believed all races to be equally evolved, dismissing the long-held conceit later known as the White Man's Burden
"My own convictions as to negro slavery are strong. It has its evils and abuses... We recognize the negro as God and God's Book and God's Laws, in nature, tell us to recognize him - our inferior, fitted expressly for servitude... You cannot transform the negro into anything one-tenth as useful or as good as what slavery enables them to be." —Jeffn. Davis
"[Slavery] was established by decree of Almighty God... it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation... it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts." —Jeffn. Davis
• though Abraham Lincoln opposed slavery, his antebellum view of white supremacy was similar to that of Davis:
“I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races … I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be a position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.” —Abraham Lincoln, 4th Debate, Charleston, IL, 18 Sep 1858
• Davis was appointed Major General of the Army of Mississippi, then elected provisional President of the Confederate States of America by acclamation • inaugurated 18 Feb, 1861 • appointed General Robert E. Lee to command the Army of Northern Virginia
"All we ask is to be let alone." —Jeffn. Davis
• the choice of a relatively moderate* President —Davis— over ardent secessionist Fire-Eaters, suggests a general desire for peaceful coexistence with the North, a reasonable choice (if available) given the Union's overwhelming advantages in population, weapons, transportation & industrial capacity
*apparently Davis's moderate outlook did not include abolitionists; to make a point, he once suggested that the use of lynch law might be an appropriate way to deal with them
• Davis's desire to avoid war notwithstanding, Lincoln — determined to preserve the Union — forced the Confederates to make a choice by dispatching ships to resupply Fort Sumter, which South Carolina viewed as a violation of its sovereignty
• neither side wanted to be perceived as the aggressor but Lincoln's strategy left the South little choice • hoping for recognition & support from sympathetic European powers, Davis & all but one member of his cabinet chose to defend the legitimacy of the Confederacy by force of arms • Secty. Of State, Robert Toombs, dissented:
"Mr. President, at this time it is suicide, murder, and will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet's nest which extends from mountain to ocean, and legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary; it puts us in the wrong; it is fatal." • hostilities at Ft. Sumter began 12 April, 1861
• Varina Davis Howell became the Confederacy’s first (& only) First Lady • she staunchly defended her husband during the war • was pro-slavery & quietly pro-Union, retaining her friendships with the spouses of key figures in the Lincoln administration • indicative of her popularity, Confederate founders of Virginia City, MT, named their town Varina before a Unionist judge renamed it Virginia
• Varina's "very dark" complexion [photo] inspired members of Richmond's elite to describe her as a "squaw", a term that among mid-19th century whites had not only racial but also sexual connotations • she was also criticized for addressing her husband by his first name
• in his journal, Confederate Lt. James Malbone wrote that she was "dark complected" & had "very very brown skin, dark eyes" & "high cheek bones, wide mouth." • while some historians have speculated that Varina was a Quadroon, research has thus far failed to produce conclusive evidence of African ancestry -First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis's Civil War, by Joan E. Cashin
• in Feb., 1864, Varina saw an octaroon boy being beaten by a black woman • she interceded & brought the boy home to the Confederate White House • he identified himself as Jim Limber • Varina gave him clothes belonging to their son, Joe • arranged for his freedom • may have adopted him • he came to be known as Jim Limber Davis • 3 mos. later the First Family's five-year-old son, Jefferson Davis, Jr., died after a 3-story plunge from a balcony, which the President ordered torn down the following day
• drawing on his West Point training, the battle-hardened president took personal charge of Confederate war plans, appointing generals and issuing orders • was unable to find a strategy to defeat the overwhelmingly superior Union force • diplomatic initiatives failed to gain recognition from any foreign country, although he was able to secure desperately needed arms from Britain • he had no answer, however, for the collapsing Confederate economy
• on 27 March, 1865, Varina, Jim & the Davis children fled Richmond to avoid a Union Army assault • on 10 April, the day after Confederate Gen. Robt. E. Lee's surrender to Union Gen. U. S. Grant, Jefferson Davis followed with a cadre of advisors, intending to join up w/Gen. Kirby Smith in Texas to wage guerilla warfare against Union occupation troops • with a $100K bounty on his head, he reunited with his family, 7 May
• on 10 May, encamped near Irwinville, GA, the group was awakened by gunfire • Varina urged her husband to escape • he accidentally (or intentionally) threw on his wife's raglan, which could pass for a man's coat • Varina threw her shawl over his head & sent her female servant with a bucket to walk w/Davis as if they were fetching water
• according to Union Col. Benjamin D. Pritchard, who was entering the encampment at the time, a woman loudly called after them, “Bring me a bucket of water — quick! We want to wash our faces.” and then, as if to a sentry, “Let my old woman-servant pass and bring us a bucket of water — we want to get up and dress ourselves.” • the Union soldiers saw through the ruse, captured Davis & arrested him as a suspect in the 15 April assassination of Abraham Lincoln —New York Times, 22 Nov, 1873
• U.S. Secty. of War Edwin Stanton was notified of the capture • was told that Davis had tried to escape disguised as a woman • immediately issued orders to have the wardrobe delivered to him • not content to wait for the evidence, he mocked up a mannequin wearing the presumed female garments & invited the press in for a photo op —The Confederate Image by Mark E. Neely Jr.
• though the Confederacy had been defeated, its infrastructure obliterated & its currency worthless, for many in the North, closure demanded further revenge • the press obliged with countless schadenfreude-inducing caricatures of Davis's capture, such as The Head of the Confederacy on a New Base & A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, all depicting Davis as a cowardly, cross-dressed villian • the gleeful mocking offered respite from the wartime anger expressed in various images of the Confederate President hanging from a gallows, which were published throughout the war
• songs about the incident were written, e.g., Jeff in Petticoats • caricaturists continued to vie for the most emasculating possible portrayal of Davis in drag, & P.T. Barnum installed a waxwork tableau of the scene at his American Museum
• in 1861, a southern political cartoonist had similarly exploited the alleged Baltimore Plot to assassinate Pres. Lincoln • en route to Washington, the president was heavily guarded & apparently wearing a disguise as his train passed through Baltimore unannounced & without incident • nevertheless, German immigrant Adalbert Volck (1828-1912) couldn't resist
• when Stanton finally received Davis's now notorious "female disguise," instead of the "hoopskirt, sunbonnet and calico wrapper" described in the press he saw this • he jotted down "Shawl, waterproof and spurs worn by Jeff. Davis on the day of his capture, May 10, 1865" • stashed the evidence at the War Dept., not to be seen again until 1945, allowing the myth of the cowardly Confederate President to continue • President in Petticoats —ICP Museum • though the mocking hurt Davis deeply, he chose not to address it publicly
• "I have long since ceased to combat falsehood... borne upon the wings of hate and vilification." —Jeffn. Davis
• Davis was transported to Fort Monroe, VA, aka "Freedom Fortress for having remained under Union control throughout the war & freeing every slave that passed though its gates • imprisoned there for ~2 yrs. • indicted for treason • maintained he hadn't committed treason because his state had legally seceded, therefore he was no longer a U.S. citizen • amid fears that a trial might validate the constitutionality of secession, President Andrew Johnson pardoned former Confederates from the crime of treason
Fortress Monroe, Virginia, August 21, 1865
My Dear Wife,
…To morrow it will be three months since we were suddenly and unexpectedly separated... I sought permission to write to you that I might make some suggestions as to your movements and as to domestic arrangements… It is to be inferred that you have decided and I think wisely not to return to our old home, at least in the present disturbed condition of society. Thus you have the world before you but not where to chose, as the loss of our property will require the selection to be, with a view to subsistence.
Should I regain my liberty before our "people" have become vagrant there are many of them whose labor I could direct so as to make it not wholly unprofitable. Their good faith under many trials, and the mutual affection between them and myself make me always solicitous for their welfare and probably keeps them expectant of my coming. Should my fate be not to return to that country you can best be advised by Brother Jos. as to what and how it should be attempted, if any thing may be done. Always understand however that I do not mean that you should attempt in person to do any thing in the matter. I often think of “old Uncle Bob” and always with painful anxiety. If Sam has rejoined him he will do all in his power for the old man’s comfort and safety.
…If my dear Margaret is with you give to her my tenderest love, she always appears to me associated with little Winnie. Kiss the Baby for me, may her sunny face never be clouded, though dark the morning of her life has been.
My dear Wife, equally the centre of my love and confidence, remember how good the Lord has always been to me, how often he has wonderfully preserved me, and put thy trust in Him.
Ever affectionately your Husband
Jeffn. Davis
• in May, 1866, Varina visited U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson in Washington to request better care for her husband, then took up permanent residence at Ft. Monroe • on 13 May, 1867, $100K bail bond for Davis posted & accepted, signed by Cornelius Vanderbilt, Horace Greeley, & radical abolitionist Gerrit Smith, who had helped fund John Brown in 1859 but believed that the North bore some responsibility for slavery • Davis was released • The Pardon of Jefferson Davis and the 14th Amendment —Constitution Daily • Varina Davis - Refugee, The American Civil War Museum
“It has been said that I should apply to the United States for a pardon, but repentance must precede the right of pardon, and I have not repented.” —Jeffn. Davis, 1881
• postwar, the Davis family suffered from financial difficulties • moved to the Peabody Hotel, Memphis [photo] • Davis was elected president of Carolina Life Insurance Co. @ $12K/yr. • company went bankrupt during the Panic of 1873 • attempted to revive Brierfield Plantation with little success • Joseph Davis eventually sold his Davis Bend plantation to his former slave, Ben Montgomery (1819-1877), an inventor & planter whose cotton won the $500 1st place prize at the 1870 St. Louis Fair
• Ben's son, Isaiah T. Montgomery [photo] founded the town of Mound Bayou, MS • "...I am willing that the Negro should be disfranchised because he is ignorant, but I am not willing that he should be disfranchised because he is Black. And if intelligence is to be made a test of suffrage I insist that the White man shall submit to the same requirements that are imposed upon the Black man." — Isaiah T. Montgomery Tells His Own Story• Montgomery & Sons (W.T. Montgomery & Co.) mercantile store [photo]
• Varina’s old friend & Philadelphia classmate, Sarah Ellis Dorsey offered the Davises a cottage at Bouvoir, her gulf front Biloxi, MS estate • rumors of a Dorsey/Jeff Davis affair persisted
• diagnosed with terminal cancer, Dorsey bequeathed Beauvoir to Davis • while residing there, he wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, published in 1881 • Sarah Anne Ellis Dorsey: A Woman of Uncommon Mind —Mississippi History Now
• the family lived at Beauvoir throughout the 1880s • in spite of abundant evidence to the contrary, Davis still claimed that southern planters had treated slaves humanely & he continued to believe in the virtue of the South’s “Lost Cause” even as Varina moved past it
• Winnie rejoined her family after completing studies in Germany & France • became a favorite of Confederate veterans • attended reunions w/her father • at Beauvoir, she celebrated her 18th birthday with her family & Oscar Wilde • Davis's summation of the evening: "I didn't like the man." —Winnie Davis, Oscar Wilde and Nineteenth Century Celebrity
• Winnie's engagement to Syracuse, NY patent attorney Alfred Wilkinson caused a public furor thorughout the South • Wilkinson was not only a Yankee but also the grandson of abolitionist Samuel Joseph May • though Jefferson & Varina gave half-hearted blessings to an eventual marriage, the couple's 1890 engagement didn't last long • neither Winnie nor Fred ever married • Winnie Davis: Daughter of the Lost Cause by Heath Hardage Lee • Winnie Davis's "Italian Journal"
• Davis remained at Beauvoir until his death in 1889 • Varina was said to have been too grieved to consider a burial site • he was temporarily interred at Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans after a grand funeral procession through a crowd estimated at 200,000 lining the streets of New Orleans [photo] • Varina later chose Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond as the President of the Confederacy's final resting place
• on 28 May, 1893, a funeral train, arranged by Varina, departed with Davis's remains, his 2 surviving daughters, a number of dignitaries & a military escort commanded by Gen. Stephen D. Lee • also on the train was Davis's former slave, "Uncle Bob" Brown, who was reported to have "wept uncontrollably" at the sight of flowers laid by children beside the tracks at Beauvoir • Varina awaited the cortège in Richmond where a crowd of ~75,000 lined the streets when the train arrived • Jefferson Davis was laid to rest with taps & a 21 gun salute
• his American citizenship was restored by Congress, 1978 • in signing the law, President Jimmy Carter called it “the last act of reconciliation in the Civil War” • photo: 3 Davis generations at Beauvoir
• in 1889, Varina and Winnie moved to New York to pursue writing careers • lived in various residential hotels, finally settling in the Gerrard Hotel • Varina wrote articles for Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper, the New York World • Pulitzer, a Jewish immigrant from Hungary, was married to Jefferson Davis’s cousin, Kate Davis
• in her articles, Varina advocated reconciliation between the North & South (as had her husband) • shocked many fellow southerners when she declared it God’s will that the North won the war • formed a friendship with another former First Lady, Ulysses S. Grant’s widow, Julia, whose southern acculturation (both born to slaveholding families) provided the two with much common ground while living in Manhattan • The Two Julias —New York Times • Christmas in the Confederate White House by Varina Davis • the published novels of Varina Anne Jefferson Davis
• in Atlanta, July 1898, Winnie became ill following an appearance in pouring rain at a Confederate Vet Reunion • travelled by train to Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island • joined her mother at the Rockingham Hotel, where they summered every year • Winnie's cold was followed by pneumonia • she died 18 Sep, age 34 • Varina, devastated, never recovered
• on 16 Oct, 1906, the annivarsary of the deaths of her sons William & Jeff in 1872 & 1878, Varina died of pneumonia at the Majestic Hotel, NYC • the mayor of New York sent a large contingent of mounted police to accompany the procession to the railroad station alongside members of New York's United Confederate Veterans Camp • General Frederick Grant, son of Julia and President Ulyses Grant, ordered a detachment of federal troops to join the escort, the first time in U.S. history a woman was given this honor
• the bronze statue of Pres. Jefferson Davis holding a Confedrate flag and a crumpled piece of paper (Confederate Constitution?) was sculpted by English born American sculptor, Henry Hudson Kitson (1863-1947)
• Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg (1863) • the 47-day Union siege ended in the Confederate surrender of the city • victory here & at Port Hudson, LA, gave the Union control of the Mississippi River • park includes 1,325 historic monuments & markers, 20 miles (32 km) of Civil War era trenches & earthworks, 144 cannons & the USS Cairo, a restored gunboat... read on
• originally established in 1899 • 5th national military park under the control of the U.S. War Department • ownership transferred to the U.S. Department of the Interior & the National Park Service, 1933 • 8th oldest National Park • Facebook
• Vicksburg's State Memorials • the military leaders of the Battle of Vicksburg [photos] • Civil War photos —Pinterest
• National Register # 66000100, 1966
Lovely and decorative but #poisonous to humans and many animals.
There are many news accounts of people dying from accidental or intentional oleander poisoning. However the story about the Boy Scout troop dying after using oleander sticks for hot-dogs seems to be an urban legend. Snopes has traced similar stories going back many generations but no reliable account.
Scientific tests indicated that too little toxin would be absorbed to cause serious harm. Still, don't try it.
I found the plant in the neighborhood and made the photo early enough in the morning that it was still in the shade.
I am mad at myself. See, the moon doesn't go there. It is much farther to the left. It's way out of the frame. But I moved it. I wanted you to see it with the pretty clouds and the sunset, the way I saw it, with my wide-angle eyes. But I couldn't fit it all in the frame of the camera.
I hate being false.
We can debate whether photography has always been nonfiction. I say it's mostly nonfiction in the journalism world, that airbrushing out a leg that walked in front of your shot is not a crime; it's an editing decision. It is not the equivalent of removing "not" from the phrase, "He is not a war hero," turning it into, "He is...a war hero."
The intention is clarity in the former, focus, the removal of material that doesn't belong, that isn't instrumental to the event. It's deception in the latter.
Putting the moon in this spot is deceitful. But what's my motive? That you will think it's a pretty picture. Sometimes the motive determines the intensity of the deceit or cancels it entirely. My motive here was to create an artful photograph. And it does no harm.
But I am bothered because I, of all people, used an urban legend in a political discussion. I have never done that. Ever. Snopes and Urban Legends are bookmarked and well used. But I recently saw several writerly pieces discussing something that was easily fact-checkable, so I took it for granted that the writers had done their jobs.
There are no police out here on the Internet. There are no facts checkers. It's why for the seventeen years I taught college composition I refused to allow students to use sources that were not real-life magazines. Magazines have facts checkers on staff. They can't afford to get things wrong.
I just wrote a book full of historical facts and folklore. I have hundreds of notes and was responsible for checking them and rechecking them. You would think a giant publishing company employs facts checkers, but they don't. It's all on me.
So just to make sure I wasn't misrepresenting anything, I hired a facts checker. She's a research librarian, and she's agreed to look it all over. Because how would that be if I passed myself off as a cake enthusiast but got all my dates wrong? It would be embarrassing. No one would blame the publisher. It's my name on the cover.
Why doesn't this pride and self-consciousness extend to the blogosphere, especially where political debates are concerned? You lose all your credibility with me if you're spouting evil urban legends.
I write this now because I am guilty, for the first time EVER, of repeating a rumor. Though I spent all those years teaching students to check and recheck, and though I run every forwarded email I get through the Snopes filter (even doing a reply-all with a link to the rumor's debunking), I didn't do it in a conversation with Michael Bowman last night on Sarah Bloom's Facebook.
We watched the debates together, somewhat accidentally, and got into a heated discussion about John McCain's use of his POW status to give the appearance that he has experience in winning a war. I quoted something I'd read several places, from what I thought were reputable sources.
And now I am embarrassed, humiliated, and ashamed.
It's not the mistake. It's the type of mistake. It's the irony of it.
So I have sworn off politics for the next few months and will only discuss what ought to be discussed in Rocktober, my birthday month:
Food. Beer. Music. Birds. Shopping. The Sun's Ups and Downs. Cake. Serena. Bahhhhhhhb.
You know, things I know to be true beyond a shadow of a doubt. Things that make no pretenses, that are what they are.
Things that I love. Like the sliver of a moon.
Sudan Archives at Union Stage on March 11, 2020 was the last live music I saw during that terrible year. But I did manage to assemble a short list of my favorite songs from that year though it took me forever to finish it.
Here's the little essay I wrote about my 2020 favorite songs list (note that this was written in November 2021 and the numbers of Spotify listens are as of that time).
------------------------------------
This is my favorite songs list for 2020. Yes, I know it’s November 2021, but I do have some excuses.
First, 2020 was kind of a difficult year, but that might just be me.
Second, I don’t think the music in 2020 was quite as compelling as in other recent years. My 2020 favorites list has only 33 songs, while the 2019 list had 100 songs. So I was a little less inspired to listen during the two years I’ve been whittling this list down. That said, I think the 33 songs that made the cut in 2020 are fantastic.
Third, and probably most important, I went way way (way) overboard in trying to listen to just about everything that was popular (somewhere in the world) or that (some obscure) critic (somewhere) liked. I ended up with a starting list of more than 8,000 songs, which got weeded down to the 33 songs listed here. That was insane overkill, which I won’t repeat. I do enjoy hearing music from all over the world (Balkan and Punjabi rap are fantastic, although none of those songs made my final cut), but I need to accept that I can’t sample everything. My 2021 starting list will be a sane number.
As always, my list is narcissistically idiosyncratic to the point of silliness, so I’ve included the number of Spotify listens for each song to let anyone who actually reads the list know when I’ve completely gone down a totally obscure rabbit hole.
DISQUALIFIED SONGS
Every year, a few songs get disqualified in the final cut because I find out that they were actually released in earlier years. Usually, this isn’t noteworthy as the songs are pretty far down on the list anyway. But this year, there were two songs that would have made my top ten that were disqualified because they were released before 2020. So I thought I’d mention these two songs before getting to the actual list.
CalledOutMusic - “I Am Free” (2018)
In the US, contemporary Christian music is a marginal genre and almost all of the music is pretty dreadful. But in Ghana and Nigeria and in the English-speaking expatriate African community in Europe, the genre is massively popular (when we were in Ghana on vacation, the muzak in our upscale hotel was 100% Christian contemporary) and the music is far better. CalledOutMusic is Samuel Nwachukwu, a Nigerian expatriate who moved to Hampshire, England when he was 12. “I Am Free” is a wonderful song that you should know about.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gSCNRRrIkw (2018 concert in Amsterdam)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gSCNRRrIkw (2020 concert in Lagos)
Adolphus Bell - “Black Man’s Dream” (2005)
“Black Man’s Dream” was going to be my #1 song of 2020 -- a perfect commentary on the moment -- until I learned that it was released in 2005 and that Adolphus Bell, who I’d never heard of, died of lung cancer in 2013. There was a lot of talk of racial reckoning in 2020, but I don’t know anyone who articulated the problem better than Mr. Bell.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=29bPMgWXLTc
2020 Favorite Songs List
Here is a link to the Spotify playlist of these songs. There are also YouTube links to almost all of the songs.
open.spotify.com/playlist/6Upn38EGMgdx2tH0TzLRru?si=e95af...
If that doesn’t work (Spotify links don’t usually work for me for some reason), then search on Spotify for “2020 Snopes Favorites.” It's a public playlist.
33. The Exbats - “I Got the Hots for Charlie Watts” [Spotify listens - 16,000]
RIP Charlie, I can’t believe the Stones are going to try to continue without you.
(The Exbats are a father-daughter Arizona band, which is at least vaguely creepy. At the very least.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p_skCEDj_A
32. Shishi - “Burbulas ir Burbuliene” (Lithuanian, “Bubble and Bubble”) [Spotify listens - 45,000]
Shishi is a three-piece all-female band from Vilnius. Even in translation I can’t really figure out what this song is about. The band’s literature says it is a take on a traditional children’s song about Mrs. Bubble cheating on her husband Mr. Bubble. The neighbors and the Devil somehow get involved. It seems that a good time was had by all.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR8ged-gdZ0
31. Kelsea Ballerini - “Love Me Like a Girl” [Spotify listens - 2 million]
Buried on an album of treacly mainstream country songs (including the big hit “Homecoming Queen”), this is a lovely “difference feminism” song about perceived gender differences. She didn’t even bother to make a video about this one, so she probably didn’t see a market for it, which is sad but not surprising.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCTyBKTo7EA
30. La Ventaja, with Alfredo Olivas - “Los Inadaptados” (Spanish, “The Misfits”) [Spotify listens - 24 million]
The lyrics insist that there are no losers in the world and who cares if the singer decides to “piss off and relax.” La Ventaja is a band that has long specialized in narcos corridos, songs inspired by the lives of Mexican drug traffickers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=byPVkYWG0xQ
29. The Cold Stares - “Just Beyond the Dawn” [Spotify listens - 351,000]
Damn, Led Zeppelin was a great band and I have often wished they would make just one more song. Now they have.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmMKywVN_UM
28. Lithics - “Hands” [Spotify listens - 118,000]
Best math rock song of 2020. In a minor upset, the band’s from Portland, not Austin.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=619EkxN1J-g
27. Breland - “My Truck” [Spotify listens - 51 million]
Breland is a country music singer from New Jersey.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezqTO4xaH6A
26. Enzo Ishall - “Ndiwonereiwo” [Spotify listens - 46,000]
Enzo Inshall is a pop star in Zimbabwe. For reasons I don’t understand, “Ndiwonereiwo” has exactly the same rhythms as “funk carioca” (aka “baile funk” and “favela funk”), an incredibly aggressive genre of music from the Brazilian favelas in the 1980s and 1990s (possibly the angriest music ever made). This is much gentler, but the distinctive rhythms are just as insistent and just as catchy.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=29oIaQGZkog
25. Kamaiyah - “Pressure” [611,000]
For whatever reason (perhaps it was the never-changing crass materialism, narcissism, misogyny, and violence) mainstream hip-hop did not play well with me in this year of the pandemic and of racial reexamination. But this rap song from Oakland is charming (if thoroughly narcissistic).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWZTpzmnQzU
24. Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn - “Four Seasons Medley: Four Seasons/Dark Ocean Waltz” [Spotify listens - 29,000]
Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn have performed this song in concert for several years now, but I think this qualifies as a 2020 release because they haven’t put a studio version on an album before. Abigail is originally from Evanston, Illinois. Wu Fei is originally from Beijing. Abigail and Wu Fei now both live in Nashville. The yelps on this song are magnificent. [The first of two songs by Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn on this list.]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgd1ebFX5V4
23. Stealth - “Howlin’” [Spotify listens - 400,000]
Stealth is a white bluesman from Birmingham, England. You might say “cultural appropriation,” and I say, “What about Eric Burdon?” And if you don’t love the Animals, we probably don’t need to be talking about music.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSq00areoVE
22. Rhiannon Giddens - “Don’t Call Me Names” [Spotify listens - 462,000]
Rhiannon Giddens is probably the most talented singer performing today. Even when she unnecessarily pulls her punches, as she does on this song in the “Positively 4th Street” diss-your-ex genre, the pure genius still shines through. Yes, she was named after the Fleetwood Mac song.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H_oHAqTbbs (just the audio)
21. Tautumeitas - “Spodrē manu augumiņu” [Spotify listens - 69,000]
Tautumeitas is a five-woman Latvian band combining traditional Latvian music with modern rhythms. Google’s translation of Latvian is not exactly perfected, but I like this snippet anyway: “Jump, sun, early in the morning; Kaladu Kaladu; Polish my body; Kaladu, Kaladu; Jump, sun, early in the morning”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvK33Rn6JNo (silly video, but kind of charming)
20. Sura Iskenderli - “Hayalet” (Turkish, “Ghost”) [Spotify listens - 7 million]
Sura Iskenderli is a 26-year-old Turkish pop singer who was born in Azerbaijan. Like many great pop singers (hello Tom Petty), she has no problem with theatrical and embarrassingly over-the-top emotionality. (I listened to literally hundreds of other over-the-top songs from the Middle East and Central Asia, but this one cut through the treacle.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw0aLVKO3yk
19. Boys Noize, with Rico Nasty - “Girl Crush” [Spotify listens - 2 million]
Boys Noize is basically the Monkees or Poppy, a Potemkin village with a corporate mastermind behind the Wizard of Oz’s curtain. In this case, the Svengali is Alexander Ridha, a German who was born in Hamburg and now lives in Berlin. He has been a force in the electro-house genre for more than a decade now. Think "Steppin' Stone" and "Daydream Believer."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gew3tIPSbOA
18. Sam Hunt - “Hard to Forget” (radio edit) [Spotify listens - 119 million]
Good old-fashioned, gimmicky, alcohol-drenched Nashville lyrics, plus a terrific sample of a Webb Pierce classic.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxhv_HsEIl4
17. Waxahatchee - “Lilacs” [Spotify listens - 9 million]
There are two Waxahatchee songs on my 2020 list. This one is a beautiful song about a lover’s quarrel. At least I think that’s what it’s about, but it’s pretty poetic, so I might be wrong. (The video offers no clues, it’s an exercise video.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaA7I7B1pOk
16. Rvssian (with Shenseea & Swae Lee, featuring Young Thug) - “IDKW” [Spotify listens - 8 million]
Rvssian is a big-time Jamaican producer, working mostly in the reggaeton and trap genres. “IDKW” is an echoey, sensual male-female call-and-response piece. It was released in January 2020 and feels very much pre-Covid (and the ass-centric video even more so).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZMA4TnEyWs
15. Against All Logic - “Fantasy” [Spotify listens - 3 million]
Against All Logic is the name under which Brooklyn experimental composer Nicholas Jaar releases his music. Very Philip (Glass and Spector) music.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxmnMlo91Lc (I don’t think there is an official video for this song, but I liked this unofficial one).
14. Anitta (with Cardi B & Myke Towers) - “Me Gusta” [Spotify listens - 148 million]
Spanglish song of the year, oddly by a Brazilian singer. Rolling Stone calls Anitta “unabashedly bilingual and bisexual,” but judging by this song she’s at least trilingual and these days who can count all the sexes (or the ridges on her incredibly defined abs)?
Not to be confused with the much inferior “Me Gusta” by Shakira.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIbjHtE4fd8
13. HAIM - “Summer Girl” [Spotify listens - 46 million]
It seems like I’ve been vaguely aware of HAIM forever, without really knowing who they are. Googling indicates they are three sisters from the San Fernando Valley who have been playing as HAIM since 2007 and that this early Lou Reed-ish song was intended by one of the sisters as a pick-me-up for her boyfriend who had been diagnosed with testicular cancer (he’s okay now, reportedly).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjuA_o6Jzyo
12. Halsey - “Experiment on Me” [Spotify listens - 14 million]
Best pop-friendly fem-punk song of 1982.
“I’m pretty like a car crash / I’m ugly as a lullaby / You really want to try it / Experiment on me.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc7IgQLL988
11. Joseph C. Phillips, Jr., with Rebecca L. Hargrove & Numinous - “The Grey Land: Don’t” [Spotify listens - fewer than 1,000]
This really ought to be awful. Joseph Phillips is in that pretentious group of New York composers who survive off grants from organizations like the Brooklyn Arts Council Arts Grant Fund. But this tight little gem of operatic geometry is exhilarating and there are other great moments in the full piece (along with more than a little tedium).
www.numinousmusic.com/about-the-grey-land.html - No video is available of this song, the link is to promo trailers for the entire The Grey Land opera.
Keeping this song out of the top 10 for 2020 was really hard for me.
10. Waxahatchee - “Fire” [Spotify listens - 14 million]
That’s what I wanted
It’s not as if we cry a river, call it rain
West Memphis is on fire in the light of day
Give me something, it ain’t enough
It ain’t enough
Katie Crutchfield, the leader of Waxahatchee and author of “Fire” told an interviewer, “The song’s written to me, to myself. It’s about the internal dialogue of shame surrounding mistakes you’ve made in the past and how we spiral and beat ourselves up when we slip.”
That’s a little abstract. To me the song is about the time when I was in elementary school and we went over to West Memphis with my Aunt Jewell to watch the greyhounds race. (Jewell is now 84 and is still a gambler. But I don’t think at the West Memphis dog track.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEyYlyRr2_U
9. Justin Bieber with Chance the Rapper - “Holy” [545 million]
What can I say? It’s a really good song, even with the silly rap/scat singing sequence toward the end (and the risible “runnin’ to the altar like a track star” refrain). I hear the Leonard Cohen and Jeff Buckley estates are considering teaming up in an infringement lawsuit against Bieber (nah, I made that up … but maybe they ought to think about it, this is clearly “inspired” by “Hallelujah”).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvPsJFRGleA
8. Matt Maeson with Lana Del Rey - “Hallucinations” [Spotify listens - 99 million]
Best Chainsmokers song of 2020 (see footnote). According to Maeson’s Wikipedia entry (which might be a total goof), Maeson is from Virginia Beach, where he was raised by parents who played in Christian heavy metal bands. He got his start in music playing in his parents’ ministry, at places like prisons and biker rallies.
Footnote: Maeson originally released this song in 2018 (when it was not on my radar), but he did a remix with Lana Del Rey that went to #1 in 2020, so I’m counting it as eligible for this list.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=etLDHjqN1gU (live version with Lana Del Rey from 2019)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy9sXy5oHjw (2020 remix version)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=doRUhDIB29s (original 2018 version)
7. Eminem with Ed Sheeran [Spotify listens - 116 million]
This thoughtful and balanced disquisition on third wave feminism is also sorta catchy.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwqehOwhxeE
6. Miles Guo - “Fight for Hong Kong” [Spotify listens - 59,000]
Martial song of the year.
At one time this was the theme song for Steve Bannon’s podcast (it might still be as I’m not a regular listener). As you’d expect, Miles Guo’s biography is impressively sketchy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guo_Wengui
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMBeTgSMrs4 [you’ll want to watch this one, look for the cute little dog]
5. Mt. Joy - “Strangers” [Spotify listens - 35 million]
Not much to say about this one. Great keyboards and, obviously, he’s not over her. He ought to join Sam Hunt (#18) for a drink.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSRgGAHIa8Y (exceptionally dumb video)
4. Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn - “Ho Hey/Cluck Old Hen” [Spotify listens - 16,000]
Sadly, Wu Fei (on Chinese zither) and Abigail Washburn (on banjo) are stuck in the non-lucrative world music ghetto.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKd0nm9ALLk
3. S.G. Goodman - “The Way I Talk” [Spotify listens - 758,000]
I remember when I first came up North:
“She said that I know the way you’re thinking when you hear the way I talk
When you hear the way I talk
When you hear the way I talk”
Plus, some feedback in a feedback-starved time.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNBzPrFTPtE (video is worth watching)
2. Rosalia - “Juro Que” [Spotify listens - 30 million]
Rosalia has been on my favorites list before and I expect her to be on it for years to come. She has branched out beyond her flamenco roots, but I hope that she always comes back home to flamenco, as she does in Juro Que.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtym36PG6R8
1. Hayley Williams - “Sudden Desire” [Spotify listens - 7 million]
I usually don’t read much about the artists on these lists until I start to write up the final list. So my mindset in listening to this song throughout 2020 and 2021 was a serious version of “this is a catchy version of a thoughtful and balanced disquisition on third (second is more likely?) wave feminism.”
So I was pretty surprised when I researched Hayley Williams and learned that she is the sexpot lead singer of the Nashville pop band Paramore. She has her own line of makeup and temporary hair dyes, and has often won reader’s polls for “sexiest” and “hottest” female singer.
I still think this is a thoughtful and balanced disquisition on second wave feminism.
Williams is from Mississippi (which I would have given extra points for if I’d known it).
There's a bit of what seems to be disinformation going around about whether NPP and ToonMe are Kremlin-sourced data harvesters.
Snopes.com has looked into this, and the answer appears to be, no actually. So for now, at any rate, our sites seem to be safe.
www.snopes.com/news/2022/05/11/new-profile-pic-app/
Aside from all that, any preferences with these?
Special thanks to Doug, aka "Mississippi Snopes" for sharing the obvious.
Now, "Oh No" girl is "Water Girl"!
There's a bit of what seems to be disinformation going around about whether NPP and ToonMe are Kremlin-sourced data harvesters.
Snopes.com has looked into this, and the answer appears to be, no actually. So for now, at any rate, our sites seem to be safe.
www.snopes.com/news/2022/05/11/new-profile-pic-app/
Aside from all that, any preferences with these?
The Summit chairlift at Snow King Mountain, Jackson, Wyoming
A smiling mom and daughter riding high above town without any safety restraint!
Source:
snowbrains.com/summit-chairlift-snow-king-wyoming/
While this photograph was questioned by many over the years, it is indeed legitimate!!
References:
www.snopes.com/fact-check/snow-king-chairlift/
cowboystatedaily.com/2023/05/04/vintage-photos-of-wyoming...
Victoria Crowned Pigeon (Goura victoria). View On Black
"I just washed my hair and I can't do a thing with it!"
"Oh, yeah! It's been so long since you've washed your hair that you have flowers growing out of your scalp!"
"Those aren't flowers. I'm trying out the latest Swiffer duster."
"Did you hear that Swiffer dusters are poisonous to dogs? Cats, too."
"Good."
"Just testing you. That's actually an Internet myth. Check out www.snopes.com"
"Oh, yeah? Did you know that there really is a bird called a snipe?"
"I don't believe it. Didn't you ever see 'Spin and Marty'?"
"Are you kidding? That was only my favorite series on the Mickey Mouse Club!"
"Yeah, especially when Annette was on it!"
"Annette was never in 'Spin and Marty'!"
"Oh, yes she was!"
"Was not!"
"Was!"
"Was not!"
"Oh, just get yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again!"
If you've never seen the series or even if you have, check out Spin and Marty and share a piece of my childhood.