Black unemployment went up

While overall unemployment barely budged, unemployment among Black Americans went up, as this recession continues to exacerbate existing inequalities https://t.co/KMCv1ffnAQ pic.twitter.com/OVehIoG3sJ
— Julia Wolfe (@juruwolfe) March 5, 2021

Gulp… https://t.co/ihC99KOIbd
— Shawn Donnan (@sdonnan) March 5, 2021

Trump’s constant talk about the Black unemployment rate is absurd because there is no Trump policy that influenced that. It’s an impact of Obama’s economic recovery. https://t.co/WmsIV1V97p
— Young Daddy (@Toure) October 23, 2020

Virus poll update 3/5/21

Republicans and Democrats remain far apart in their assessments of the nature of the public health threat posed by the coronavirus. https://t.co/aiWZOcAbjx pic.twitter.com/46gb0LijDx
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) March 5, 2021

This USC tracking poll is a useful resource for tracking how much people are modifying their behavior as a result of COVID. The orange line, for instance, shows how many people say they're staying at home except for essential activities; currently ~45-50%.https://t.co/BT47WuNxZ4 pic.twitter.com/XTWcVlkc3C
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 7, 2021

Voter suppression update 3/5/21

A GOP lawyer admitted flat out to Supreme Court that voter suppression is necessary to help Republicans win elections.

Republicans actually have a long history of admitting to this right out in the open. Some choice examples here, in my book:https://t.co/015MYjfRHb pic.twitter.com/Xf511YUuqe
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) March 3, 2021

In 2024, for 1st time, Millennials and Gen Z (born after 81) will exceed baby boom & older (born before 64) as a % of eligible voters. But the wave of GOP voter suppression in red states could blunt their political emergence. Here's why. https://t.co/lkHxuDSmbm
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) March 2, 2021

Remember when John Roberts and four other Supreme Court justices gutted the Voting Rights Act because they said America had fixed all the racism? It doesn’t look so fixed with dozens of state legislatures considering voter suppression legislation to keep Black people from voting. pic.twitter.com/DYSentJeJr
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) March 2, 2021

“We are seeing the weaponization of Trump's Big Lie. All around the country, Republicans are pointing to the fact that so many of their voters believe the election was stolen as a reason to cut back on voting.”

– @AriBerman on the 200+ GOP proposals to curtail voting pic.twitter.com/C8FVjR40wN
— Alli Hedges Maser (@AllisonLHedges) March 2, 2021

The Republican Party is all in on being a vote-suppression machine in behalf of a minority party. @JVLast https://t.co/PMWWBUeLTt
— Todd Gitlin (@toddgitlin) March 2, 2021

"Their top political goal — voter suppression — is the only means by which they seek to capture power…In dozens of states, Republicans are frantic to enact voting restrictions…It is arguably the only public cause that truly excites them." https://t.co/JZppwcj5bY
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) March 1, 2021

None of the GOP proposals are random. They are precisely targeting the voters who support their opponents. https://t.co/NKV6Ad6nuH
— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) March 1, 2021

They mean business. "The avalanche of legislation raises fundamental questions about a minority of voters exerting majority control in US politics, with Rs winning the pop vote in 1 of the last 8 pres elections but filling 6 of 9 seats on the Supreme Court.https://t.co/rFKKYaFIpw
— Todd Gitlin (@toddgitlin) February 27, 2021

Republicans on Georgia’s Senate Ethics Committee just voted to repeal automatic voter registration, which 5 million of state’s 7.6 million voters used to register. More egregious voter suppression in Georgia
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) February 26, 2021

I am currently tracking voter suppression legislation in:
🗳️Arizona
🗳️Georgia
🗳️Iowa
🗳️New Hampshire
🗳️Missouri
🗳️Montana
🗳️Pennsylvania
🗳️Texas
This is a terrible new reality that I really hope there is the energy and commitment to fight.
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) February 26, 2021

You've probably heard about Georgia's proposed voting restrictions. Here's exactly what they would do and what their chances of passing are. https://t.co/gSoO5zUm6X
— Nathaniel Rakich (@baseballot) February 25, 2021

#NEW As of February 19th, Republican lawmakers from 45 different states have introduced over 250 new bills to restrict access to voting, a roughly 7x increase over proposals at this time last year. New restrictions are concentrated in the swing states.https://t.co/dw3S8IkG2u
— G. Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris) February 24, 2021

Shocking new data from @brennancenter: 253 bills introduced in 43 states this year to restrict voting access

From AZ to IA to GA to FL, GOP weaponizing Trump’s lies to suppress votes

Could be biggest rollback of voting rights since Jim Crow era https://t.co/NIl4l2Nx9D
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) February 24, 2021

All across country Republicans weaponizing Trump’s lies to make it harder to vote. This is one of most disgusting things I’ve ever seen & underscores why Dems must urgently pass John Lewis Voting Rights Act & For the People Act to stop voter suppression https://t.co/NIl4l2Nx9D
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) February 24, 2021

The fact that Republicans are doing this in Iowa – a state where sky-high turnout almost certainly benefited them up and down the ballot in 2020 – shows how weirdly ideological this push is. https://t.co/HufZ9GXrMQ
— Kevin Robillard (@Robillard) February 24, 2021

The towering wave of GOP voter suppression bills, based on Trump’s big lie of massive voter fraud, is reaching the shore. This is not only a shift in partisan balance but a frontal assault on voting rights. Will Manchin & Sinema let GOP filibusters shield this from any response? https://t.co/dcjhzhPMSw
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) February 24, 2021

Another red state moving bills making it more difficult to vote. Has there previously been a one-year barrage of this magnitude? Trump could not prove his claims of fraud in any court-but Rs are using them to justify a towering wave of voter suppression. Will Congress Ds resist? https://t.co/VVNggfD0dK
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) February 24, 2021

Climate update 3/5/21

The Gulf Stream is among the mightiest rivers you will never see, carrying far more water than all the world’s freshwater rivers combined. Some scientists fear global warming is causing Atlantic currents to weaken. https://t.co/jaD7EiphpJ pic.twitter.com/g0IMoi1Mma
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 3, 2021

The Texas power grid failure is a climate change cautionary tale https://t.co/YRmsi9Hmoq pic.twitter.com/sOk8lZkfCI
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) February 22, 2021

What does Texas's massive power outage have to do w/ climate change?

My conversation w/ Texas Tech climate scientist @KHayhoe, from today's GPS: pic.twitter.com/ieW28uM4Qp
— Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) February 21, 2021

This week's storms showed that American infrastructure isn't ready for climate change. https://t.co/GFVcxcL0nW
— NYT National News (@NYTNational) February 21, 2021

It begins with: “When hucksters tell you that the climate is always changing, they’re right, but that’s not the good news they think it is.”

What follows: a dazzling & spectacularly written tour d’horizon of the history of life on Earth—most of which is terrifying to our species https://t.co/1iM8Xbshg5
— Alexander Panetta (@Alex_Panetta) February 8, 2021

Recent blockbuster snow totals along East Coast may be tied to climate change https://t.co/g2TLX96VWA
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 5, 2021

Do you support or oppose the Biden administration re-joining the Paris Agreement, a pact reached among countries around the globe to limit climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions?

Support 63%
Oppose 33%

(Quinnipiac U. Poll, 1/28 – 2/1/21)https://t.co/K3LiwFoewK
— PollingReport.com (@pollreport) February 3, 2021

Today, fewer than 1 percent of cars on America’s roads are electric. But a seismic shift is underway. https://t.co/uRkpe3RQXb
— NYT Climate (@nytclimate) January 29, 2021

In Opinion

This color-coded map identifies the top climate risks across the globe. Select the country you live in to see what climate hazards you could face in 2040. https://t.co/JQpuj5LvHT
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 28, 2021

The thing older people think young people should be worried about is the debt. The thing young people are actually worried about is the climate. https://t.co/uQ1AHXOaHh pic.twitter.com/0o8qp3TKpP
— Philip Bump (@pbump) January 28, 2021

New research suggests that an estimated 28 trillion metric tons of ice have melted away from the world’s sea ice, ice sheets and glaciers since the mid-1990s, with the melt rate now about 57% faster than it was three decades ago https://t.co/U1licTgxFZ pic.twitter.com/Jhd3F6MRGd
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 26, 2021

NEW: Biden to bring the largest team of climate experts ever assembled in the White House. Paris, KXL, scientific integrity, SCC all first week issues.
"I underestimated the level of seriousness that these guys had,” one fossil fuel advocate told me. https://t.co/HSws9b1q5t
— Lisa Friedman (@LFFriedman) January 19, 2021

"Starting tomorrow, the highest levels of the federal government will stop intentionally, gleefully trying to make climate change worse," @yayitsrob writes: https://t.co/RciY4nhogj
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) January 19, 2021

Female scientists focus on a secret weapon to fight climate change: Moms https://t.co/uj2cvi4g4A
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 14, 2021

2020 rivaled hottest year on record, pushing Earth closer to a critical climate threshold https://t.co/jQGRj1nP9A
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 14, 2021

A Trump administration official has posted a series of debunked claims questioning the established science of climate change. His reports are not on a government website, but they purport to be the copyrighted work of the White House. https://t.co/6ZfMZRav4E
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 12, 2021

Could paying farmers to store carbon help the climate and save farms? https://t.co/fib8tMpi7C
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) December 28, 2020

Vaccine update 3/5/21

U.S. scientists doubtful of one-shot regimen for Pfizer, Moderna COVID vaccines: WSJ https://t.co/1u4UMkjBYz pic.twitter.com/o5nNGLixkO
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 7, 2021

When will children be able to get COVID-19 vaccines? It depends on the child's age, but some teenagers could be rolling up their sleeves before too long. https://t.co/6yqvWxEDc1
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 4, 2021

Amid fierce criticism of inequitable access to Maryland’s limited COVID-19 vaccines, the state’s Baltimore Convention Center mass vaccination clinic will prioritize people from underserved areas of Baltimore City https://t.co/FXOekJmFFR
— Colin Campbell ☀️ (@cmcampbell6) March 1, 2021

A rural Black community the road from Mar-a-Largo was completely left out of the vaccine rollout. When the state finally set up local sites, they made them open to all with no appointment needed – and so wealthy white people drove in from afar https://t.co/xGyHYnmve4
— Olivia Goldhill (@OliviaGoldhill) March 4, 2021

Good run-down from an actual virologist on the question of vaccines and transmission.https://t.co/DQYdpPD2Uu
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) February 24, 2021

The news here really is amazing. Pfizer will deliver 13 million doses/ week by mid-March.
2 billion doses for whole world by end 2021https://t.co/OymJFUhVCe
— David Frum (@davidfrum) February 23, 2021

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Washington Post (@washingtonpost)

What do vaccine efficacy numbers actually mean? https://t.co/0JlBNCLbGa pic.twitter.com/uO9WZbAWy4
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) March 7, 2021

Vaccine statistics 3/5/21

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Washington Post (@washingtonpost)

We're really at an inflection point here.

Pfizer increasing deliveries to 14m/week by mid-March.

Moderna aiming to ramp up to 40m/month by April.

J&J (one dose) delivering 20m doses in March. https://t.co/RlOkFLsZVP
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 28, 2021

Which data reporter wants to map vax doses against wait times at polls https://t.co/WeJcEhBDWo
— Erin Kissane (@kissane) February 16, 2021

The Biden administration has really ramped up vaccines: closing in on 2 million shots per day for the past 5 days. 1 in 9 Americans have had a first shot, and more than 52 million shots have been administered. Thank goodness competence is back:https://t.co/QTutNvPvZH pic.twitter.com/938SnBwyIO
— Amy Siskind 🏳️‍🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) February 15, 2021

Coronavirus outbreaks update 3/5/21

One year ago today was the Biogen conference at the Marriott Long Wharf, which one study linked to 300,000 coronavirus infections worldwide.
— WBZ NewsRadio (@wbznewsradio) February 26, 2021

Add it to the list – doesn’t really matter if restaurant, camp, choir, ice hockey – same underlying factors. Every time.

—> time indoors
—> no mask/poor masking
—> no/low ventilation https://t.co/1SLfKaoVbH
— Joseph Allen (@j_g_allen) February 24, 2021

Wow this is so crazy who ever could have guessed that a bunch of people breathing heavily in the same room for an hour would spread a highly contagious airborne virus. https://t.co/xFouJVSqrR
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) February 24, 2021

“A federal lawsuit alleges that corrections officials have mishandled an outbreak of the coronavirus at the Chesapeake Detention Facility in Baltimore City, leading to one-third of its inmates and staff members contracting the virus in less than one month.” from @PDavis_LLC https://t.co/VmEFS1mzfO
— Phillip Jackson (@phillej_) February 22, 2021

Virus outbreak leads U-Md. to move classes online and keep students in dorms https://t.co/lxxtXH6rGJ
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 20, 2021

New study suggests Mardi Gras ignited mass coronavirus outbreak of 50k+ cases in New Orleans–likely seeded by *a single traveler* arriving just before festivities kicked into high gear. https://t.co/HKEh9MARtM
— Bryn Stole (@brynstole) February 10, 2021

Another @JohnsHopkins frat (Phi Psi) threw a party last night after last weekend’s WAWA party caused an outbreak of 60+ cases. Considering there’s almost certainly going be several student/frat Superbowl parties tmw we’re about to see an even bigger spike all thx to JHU reopening
— JHU Sit-in Day 35 (@TheGarlandSitIn) February 7, 2021

An unprecedented run of federal executions at the end of the Trump administration likely acted as a virus superspreader, according to an @AP analysis. https://t.co/GzamFSyxw7
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 5, 2021

What constitutes a close contact? #Coronavirus variant in Barrie, Ont. outbreak upends conventional wisdom of spread, by @kahowlett https://t.co/RsKUw6otm8 via @globeandmail #COVID19 #cdnhealth #B117
— André Picard (@picardonhealth) February 1, 2021

State officials report more than 100 inmates have contracted the virus at the Chesapeake Detention Facility, the state-run lockup for men and women awaiting federal trial.https://t.co/vm4EymvlGH
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) February 3, 2021

Vaccine polls update 3/5/21

More people are willing to get the vaccine. Republicans are still lagging but Trump could have done something to help if he had gotten his vaccination publicly. Republicans are a real obstacle to ending the pandemic – they oppose funding and many won’t take the vaccine.

NEW: Almost one-third of Republicans tell pollsters they ‘definitely won’t’ get vaccinated — a number that isn’t budging.

Meet the GOP voters who could decide herd immunity. https://t.co/yjZiWUQzKU
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) March 8, 2021

Amount of people hesitant to get Covid-19 vaccine dropping rapidly | Analysis by CNN's Harry Enten https://t.co/GA74cNWsp2
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) March 6, 2021

NEW: 69% of the public intends to get a COVID vaccine or already has, up significantly from 60% in November, according to new Pew polling. https://t.co/tjWFu3IjPE
— Axios (@axios) March 5, 2021

This is why it was so damaging and selfish that the Trumps didn’t publicize getting their vaccines. https://t.co/tlMu9y4NGA
— Christina Reynolds (@creynoldsnc) March 2, 2021

A new Kaiser poll shows only 41% of Republicans say they want a vaccine as soon as possible or have already gotten it, tied for the lowest demographic group in the survey. https://t.co/ecxeYa65ku
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) March 1, 2021

We asked people in prison how they feel about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The majority of respondents said they would get vaccinated, but decades of subpar medical care have led many respondents to harbor a deep distrust of medical staff. https://t.co/JjcbviH9zC
— The Marshall Project (@MarshallProj) March 1, 2021

Black vax hesitancy makes headlines, but the most reluctant group by far is white Republicans–a much larger group. https://t.co/WPqjSlHNpt pic.twitter.com/ytKlpOSQv4
— Deen Freelon (@dfreelon) March 1, 2021

This is encouraging news—->>
“public becoming more enthusiastic about getting a COVID-19 #vaccine.” https://t.co/3EXBceBp7M
— LenaSun (@bylenasun) February 26, 2021

A majority of Americans, 55%, now say they have either received at least one dose of the vaccine or they want it was soon as possible, up from 47% in January and 34% in December, according to a new @KFF poll.
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) February 26, 2021

New Yahoo News/YouGov poll: COVID-19 vaccine acceptance is rising — except among Republicans https://t.co/SzzKYOYUvS pic.twitter.com/h6SIaGhOV9
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) February 24, 2021

NEW: 71% of Americans are now willing to get #COVID19 vaccines, Gallup poll finds (up from 65% in late December)
— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) February 10, 2021

About 1 in 3 Americans say they likely won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new AP-NORC poll. Some experts say that’s bad news for any hope of achieving herd immunity in the U.S. https://t.co/G6gSNYKNiL
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 10, 2021

Covers: Those Lonely, Lonely Nights

New Orleans singer-songwriter-guitarist Earl King recorded his “Those Lonely, Lonely Nights” in 1955. Johnny “Guitar” Watson covered it in 1955, too. I knew it first from the version on 1972’s Dr. John’s Gumbo, a great album of New Orleans covers by musicians who now lived in Los Angeles. I saw Earl King live twice and he was excellent.

Where Biden needs to be on TV

President Biden needs to be on Fox News. That’s the only way he will reach the Trump cult. Viewers will see that he is not the doddering old fool that his opponents have portrayed him to be. It will also give him an opportunity to explain his ideas and swat down lies that the Trump cult has spread about it. Most Republicans do not believe he was elected legitimately. This may help change their minds.