RICHARD POWERS – THE OVER-STORY.  Mr. Powers writes:

• The wrong people have all the rights…
• At a fire, you want to observe the handful of people screaming PUT IT OUT when everybody else is happy watching things burn
• Say the planet is born at night, and it runs for one day… Anatomically modern man shows up four seconds before midnight. The first cave paintings appear three seconds later.

IMPRESSIVE. A recent PBS special on the Vatican shows the Pope not only washing the feet of the poor during Holy Week but then actually kissing those feet.

THANKS TO THE LITTLE LIBRARIES.  A few years ago, a good citizen inspired others to set up “little libraries” in their neighborhood – yard storage spaces where people could place books they had finished reading to be picked up by others.    As local libraries close, we are indebted to these sources.  We found several detective stories by James Patterson, who has sold more than 300 million copies, often in collaboration with others. A philanthropist, he is said to have a yearly income of about $95 million.

A SIGN OF THE TIMES?  Someone’s clever play on words, The Aging of Aquarius…

A SMART CONGRESS? Representative  Bill Pascrell   of New Jersey deplores the lack of evenhanded information to elected representatives. He cites the growth of corporate lobbying, whose expenses ballooned [between 1983 in 2013] from $200 million to $35 billion.  He asserts that the Federal government spends $9 4 billion on information technology…while Congress itself spends zero on independent assessments of technology issues!

IN THE NEWS

The Marshall Project 

COVID-19: A Survival Guide for Incarcerated People (“Tips on how to protect yourself from the virus within the limits of prison or jail.”)

 The Intercept 

ICE’S Immigration Detainees Protested Lack Of Coronavirus Precautions — And Swat-Like Private-Prison Guards Pepper-Sprayed Them (“On the morning of April 9, 24-year-old Carlos was feeling some of the typical symptoms of Covid-19: weakness, nausea, headaches, and pain in his throat. Carlos, whose name has been changed for fear of retaliation by correctional staff, is currently detained at the Stewart Detention Center, a privately run U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in rural Georgia.”)

 Texas Tribune

  70% of Texas prisoners tested have the coronavirus. Experts say it’s time for more testing and fewer inmates. (“Some of the nation’s biggest COVID-19 outbreaks have been in prisons and jails, and they can quickly spread to surrounding communities. Are Texas prisons doing enough to protect inmates, staff and the public?”)

 Washington Post 

As virus spreads in jails and prisons, correctional officers fear for themselves and their loved ones (“Nationwide, defense attorneys and other advocates have been pushing for the release of many inmates as they fear the spread of the virus in detention facilities. But corrections workers and their unions say more must be done to protect them as well.”)

Editorial: Privacy amid a pandemic may look a little different (“THE VERY idea of the government amassing location data about millions of citizens is anathema to America’s strong sensibility for civil liberties — except, perhaps, if America is in the throes of an epidemic and the data is being amassed to help stop the disease’s spread.”)

Three people charged in killing of Family Dollar security guard over mask policy (“A Family Dollar store security guard was fatally shot in Flint, Mich., on Friday after telling a customer her child had to wear a face mask to enter the store, the prosecutor’s office said.”)

Justice Department sides with church over virus restrictions (“The Justice Department has filed a statement of interest siding with a Virginia church suing the state’s governor over restrictions because of the coronavirus.”)

VICE 

New York Is Seeing a ‘Frightening’ Increase in Domestic Violence Calls (“Calls to New York’s domestic violence hotline rose by 30% in April, compared to the same month last year.”) …New York Daily News