A lot of people are saying Fiona Apple released the best album of year.
She said fetch the fucking bolt cutters. Epic Records

ICYMI: Gov. Inslee gave a good, presidential retort to Trump's dangerous LIBERATE tweetstorm. Catch up on the afternoon's COVID-19 headlines here.

Spotted on the streets this afternoon during my daily two-block walk. This one covered up a message written to “Cap” Hill.

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CB

Many prisoners are being released due to coronavirus: One of those prisoners is Michael Cohen.

Well, this is depressing: Not the best news out of South Korea. From the Guardian's live blog:

Dr Anthony Fauci made the point that it’s a “reasonable assumption” that someone with antibodies for the virus, they’ve had the infection and are protected. But scientists aren’t sure how long that antibody protection lasts.

In South Korea, a growing number of recovered patients appear to be relapsing. Korean authorities reported that 163 patients have tested positive for the virus after making a full recovery.

“We need to be humble and modest that we don’t know everything” about Covid-19, Fauci said.

Media layoffs continue: Today, Vox announced they are furloughing over 100 employees for three months. That amounts to about 9% of its workforce. The media company is wide, owning properties from Eater to New York magazine to Polygon to Vulture.

I don't like this: "On April 14, in the journal Science, Harvard researchers suggested the epidemic could last through 2022—not just into the fall, and the election, but all the way into the midterms."

What are you up to on 4/20? Consider signing up for this pot cupcake event we're throwing on Monday.

The past few weeks, this speech where Bill Gates warned that an infectious virus is the greatest threat to humankind has been trending online...

Bill standing in front of Public Enemy No. 1 in 2015.
Bill standing in front of Public Enemy No. 1 in 2015. TED

Now conspiracy theorists are making crazy shit up about Bill Gates:

Mr. Gates, 64, the Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist, has now become the star of an explosion of conspiracy theories about the coronavirus outbreak. In posts on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, he is being falsely portrayed as the creator of Covid-19, as a profiteer from a virus vaccine, and as part of a dastardly plot to use the illness to cull or surveil the global population.

This is only going to matter to a select group of people: But to that group of people, you're welcome. I gasped so many times watching this.

(WIP) I designed a Zelda-Inspired Dungeon on my island! from r/AnimalCrossing

Rep. Pramila Jayapal said Cancel the Rents! She co-sponsored "legislation that would cancel all residential rent and mortgage payments during the coronavirus emergency," reports Daniel Beekman for the Seattle Times.

It's not a good time to be a gallery: But what about a virtual gallery? Welcome to Occupy White Walls, an "art platform of the future" where "gamers have created some 50,000 galleries covering some 215 million virtual square feet," estimates the New York Times.

The White House has announced $19 billion in emergency aid to farmers: “The program will include direct payments to farmers as well as mass purchases of dairy, meat and agricultural produce, to get that food to the people in need,” Trump said during his Friday press conference.

Fiona Apple released a new album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, and broke the internet: Critics freaked out, too. Here's a round-up of praise:

  • "Fiona Apple’s fifth record is unbound. No music has ever sounded quite like it." — Pitchfork

  • "This seems not so much an album as a sudden glorious eruption; after eight long years, an urgent desire to be heard." — Guardian

  • "Fetch The Bolt Cutters is a delirious yawp of a record, a singular plunge into a whole galaxy of feelings." — Stereogum

  • "Basically, you’d need to go back to the later parts of Nina Simone’s catalog to find another pop vocalist as eager as Apple is to make such a show of unprettiness—a shared result, perhaps, of exiling oneself from a business you can’t stand." — Los Angeles Times

    • And here's a round-up of Fetch the Bolt Cutters memez, courtesy of Vulture:





    One final note for the week: A Flashback Friday!