Rep. Maxine Waters slams Pres. Trump on handling of Covid-19 outbreak

Rep. Maxine Waters (California 43rd District) took to Twitter to slam President Trump for his handling of the Covid-19 outbreak, especially for the lack of PPE (personal protective equipment) for healthcare professionals.

Rep. Maxine Waters:

Trump, you incompetent idiot! You sent 18 tons of PPE to China early but ignored warnings & called COVID19 concerns a hoax. You've endangered doctors, nurses, aids, orderlies, & janitors - all risking their lives to save ours. Pray 4 forgiveness for the harm that you're causing!

Washington, DC mayor issues stay-at-home order

Today, due to an increasing number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Washington, DC and across the region and the nation, Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a stay-at-home order for the District of Columbia. This order reinforces the Mayor’s direction to residents to stay at home except to perform essential activities.

“Our message remains the same: stay home,” said Mayor Bowser. “Staying at home is the best way to flatten the curve and protect yourself, your family, and our entire community from COVID-19. Many people want to know how they can help right now, and for most people this is how – by staying home.”

The Mayor’s Order specifies that residents may only leave their residences to:

• engage in essential activities, including obtaining medical care that cannot be provided through telehealth and obtaining food and essential household goods;
• perform or access essential governmental functions;
• work at essential businesses;
• engage in essential travel; or
• engage in allowable recreational activities, as defined by the Mayor’s Order.

Any individual who willfully violates the stay-at-home order may be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, subject to a fine not exceeding $5,000, imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both.

The stay-at-home order goes into effect on April 1, 2020 at 12:01 am.

Spike Lee releases the script of his unmade Jackie Robinson film online

On Sunday Oscar winning director Spike Lee went online to present film and baseball fans with the script of his unmade Jackie Robinson film.

Lee described the film as a “dream project”. The plan back in 1996 was for the director to again team up with Denzel Washington for their take on the life and legacy of the Brooklyn Dodgers legend who shattered MLB’s color barrier.

Sadly, for fans of cinema and baseball Spike says that Denzel said he was too old to play Robinson and the project never happened.

Read the full script here: jackie-robinson-spike-lee-script

Stephon Marbury trying to get 10 million N95 masks from China for N.Y.

Former New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury is trying to arrange a deal that would deliver 10 million N95 masks to New York City.

Marbury told the New York Post that he arranged for a supplier in China to sell the masks for $2.75 each, nearly two-thirds less than their standard price tag.

"At the end of the day, I am from Brooklyn," Marbury told the Post from Beijing, where he coaches the Chinese Basketball Association's Royal Fighters. "This is something that is close and dear to my heart as far as being able to help New York."

Marbury added: "I have family there in Coney Island, a lot of family ... who are affected by this, so I know how important it is for people to have masks during this time."

Marbury has reached out to Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams to help coordinate the sale.

[SOURCE: ESPN]

Barack Obama statement on the passing of civil rights leader Rev.Joseph Lowery

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, who was often called the “dean” of the America's civil rights movement, died Friday at the age of 98.

In 1957, as racial tensions rose across the United States, Lowery helped start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference civil rights organization with King. Their work helped lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which President Lyndon Johnson signed. Lowery later served as the SCLC's president for more than two decades.

Former President Barack Obama released the following statement via Twitter on Lowery's passing:

Rev. Joseph Lowery was a giant who let so many of us stand on his shoulders. With boundless generosity, patience, and moral courage, he encouraged a new generation of activists and leaders. Michelle and I remember him fondly today, and our love and prayers are with his family.

What a joy it was to watch him pray and preach. I took heart in him saying, “We ain’t going back. We’ve come too far, marched too long, prayed too hard, wept too bitterly, bled too profusely, and died too young to let anybody turn back the clock on our journey to justice.”

We are grateful for what he did for this country. He carried the baton longer and surer than almost anybody. It falls to the rest of us now to pick it up and never stop moving forward until we finish what he started—that journey to justice.