The Las Vegas Strip, in many ways a potential Coronavirus petri dish

During and after the 2008 Bush Great Recession, Nevada and its most populous city, Las Vegas, were hit especially hard. Home prices tumbled, foreclosures and home abandonments exploded, unemployment went through the roof, and construction dried up. Now during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Las Vegas faces even greater odds. At least during the Great Recession, visitors who had the means to visit Las Vegas could still do so, and workplaces that could stay in business financially weren’t forced to close for outside reasons. This time around, however, even folks who are flush with cash aren’t feeling lucky enough to get on an airplane, fly to Vegas, stay in a hotel, and partake of all of the options there, such as gambling, dining, dancing, etc. Hotels, restaurants, casinos and attractions are almost all closed. Conferences, sports events and concerts have been canceled. That puts many thousands of people in the area out of work, and worried about whether Las Vegas can ever recover from its Coronavirus hit, let alone recover in time to save the economy, their jobs and their homes.

Facebook, under fire for right wing extremism

Yesterday, Facebook announced that, beginning next week, it will begin enforcing “a ban on praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism on Facebook and Instagram.” Facebook’s statement indicates that, while the company has always sought to target “white supremacy,”

[w]e didn’t originally apply the same rationale to expressions of white nationalism and separatism because we were thinking about broader concepts of nationalism and separatism — things like American pride and Basque separatism, which are an important part of people’s identity.