buzzfeed--2020-10-10--“I Can’t Vote For Someone Who I Blame For The Death Of My Husband”: Meet The Coronavirus Widows

Thousands of Americans have lost a partner during the coronavirus pandemic .
Their grief — and anger — is driving some of them to the polls .
When Stacey Nagy ’ s 79-year-old husband David died from COVID-19 in July , she wasn ’ t just sad — she was angry .
And in an obituary published in her local Texas paper , the Jefferson Jimplecute , on July 30 , the 72-year-old said exactly why .
“ Family members believe David ’ s death was needless , ” Nagy wrote .
“ They blame his death and the deaths @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Trump , [ Texas Gov .
Greg ] Abbott and all the other politicians who did not take this pandemic seriously and were more concerned with their popularity and votes than lives.
” `` Dave did everything he was supposed to do , but you did not , '' she wrote .
`` Shame on all of you , and may Karma find you all !
” It has now been three months since David died , but Nagy ’ s pain has not subsided .
She lives with just her dogs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
She has also had to contend with hate mail she received after the obituary went viral .
She ’ s too worried about her safety to put a Joe Biden sign in her yard , but on Thursday , she hand-delivered her ballot to the Marion County clerk ’ s office , fueled by a desire to vote out the person she sees as responsible for her grief .
“ Trump has no sympathy , no empathy , and he doesn ’ t think about all the people that have died and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ left behind , ” Nagy told BuzzFeed News .
“ He is a sick , sick man , and I hope to god he is not reelected.
” “ The whole country is full of sad people who ’ ve lost loved ones , ” she said , “ and he doesn ’ t care.
” The pandemic has been a difficult and destabilizing time for all Americans , but none more so than people whose loved ones have died from the coronavirus .
The pain of losing a partner , though , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a spouse is a world-shattering , isolating experience — especially during a deadly pandemic , when you can not safely mourn with others and still have to worry about yourself or people you love getting sick .
As the country nears an election set to be in part a referendum on the Trump administration ’ s handling of a pandemic that has killed over 212,000 Americans , millions of grieving people — the loved ones left behind by the victims — will also be a voting bloc .
People who followed all the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have their spouses die have had to watch as the president and his allies shamelessly flout them .
Worsening their grief is the haunting feeling that their partners ’ deaths may have been preventable , that with stronger government action , with shutdown orders and mask mandates and travel bans being put in place sooner , their loved ones might still be alive .
“ I feel Tim ’ s death was preventable , ” said Andrea Mulcahy , 53 , whose 52-year-old husband died in July .
“ I think if action @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our government , both federal and state , he didn ’ t have to die.
” Mulcahy , who lives in Ocala , Florida , watched in shock over the past week as Trump himself became infected with the virus amid an outbreak in the White House caused by a flagrant disregard of social distancing guidance .
“ With everything happening with the president having COVID and his cavalier reaction to it , I just got really , really angry , ” she said .
“ His reaction to it was like a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us who ’ ve been dealing with this.
” Fueled by anger , she has now connected with COVID Survivors for Change , an organization of coronavirus victims ’ loved ones who are demanding politicians take better action to end the pandemic .
She is planning to get involved however she can to make sure Trump is not reelected .
“ [ Trump ] made you believe it could only affect elderly people , but my husband was 53 years old , ” said Sonya Polk Hall , a 49-year-old in New Orleans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ group started by a Survivors for Change member .
Hall ’ s husband , Mark , died in April .
The 30-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department became sick with COVID-19 after he assisted in moving people experiencing homelessness into hotels .
“ He didn ’ t have a bad heart .
He was not morbidly obese , ” she said .
“ He just took a physical on March 18 .
He was perfectly healthy.
” While Hall does n't particularly like either Biden or Trump , she did not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until after her husband died .
“ Because so many people follow [ Trump ] and believe in him , I think if he would have taken it more seriously , people would have taken it seriously , ” she said .
“ I think it would ’ ve calmed down the death toll.
” “ I had to pick the lesser of the evils , so to speak , ” she said , “ so that ’ s how [ Biden ] ended up with my vote.
” While some people whose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public denunciations of the president , others are simply too bereft , too exhausted from rebuilding their own lives to focus on rebuilding the country .
The only people who know their pain are others whose spouses died from the coronavirus — and some are finding each other .
Shortly after 37-year-old Lew Berry died from COVID-19 in April in northern Indiana , his wife , Brianna Berry , 31 , created a Facebook group , which she called “ COVID-19 Widows and Widowers Support Group.
” It now has 24 mostly women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but it has slowly grown over the past six months as more Americans die and more of their surviving partners seek support .
Many members found the group organically , just searching on Facebook ; others Berry found in separate support groups or through obituaries in the news .
The group has served as a safe haven for these people , said 28-year-old Tulsi Patel-Workoff of Huntington , New York , whose 33-year-old husband , Luke , died from the coronavirus in early April .
“ It ’ s comforting .
That ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ put it , ” Patel-Workoff said .
“ They ’ re going through everything I 'm going through .
I need that support from someone else going through it.
” “ We call each other when we ’ re having a difficult time , ” said Weehawken , New Jersey–based group member Natasha Gibbons-Hodkinson , 37 , whose husband Gregory died in April , at age 47 .
“ It ’ s been helpful to speak to others that feel what we ’ re experiencing.
” The group doesn ’ t talk politics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discuss how painful it ’ s been seeing individuals flouting social distancing guidelines and the government failing to enact measures that could have saved thousands of lives .
Even worse has been dealing with outright COVID-19 conspiracy theorists , some of whom sent Berry cruel messages after her husband ’ s obituary appeared in the news .
“ I ’ ve had multiple people tell me COVID is not real , blah blah blah , ” Berry said .
“ One of the widows I talked to , she ’ s been hearing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ big conspiracy theory and the hospitals are giving lethal injections.
’ It ’ s crazy stuff , like , who says that to people ?
” Michele Neff Hernandez , the founder of Soaring Spirits International , an organization that helps people dealing with the death of a spouse connect with one another , said the coronavirus news cycle makes things especially difficult for people whose partners died of COVID-19 .
“ What ’ s really been hard , I think , is news that it could ’ ve been better , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say the pandemic was handled in a different way and we shut down earlier , how many of their people might be alive ?
It ’ s a really hard thing to wrap your head around.
” Hernandez , whose husband died in a cycling accident in 2005 , said the “ what ifs ” are a common thing for people whose spouses have died , including herself , to struggle with : What if he had biked down a different street ?
What if he left 20 minutes later ?
“ But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ the world is saying ‘ what if.
’ ” The grief of people whose partners died from the coronavirus is not made easier by the constant avalanche of news about the pandemic .
This week , in particular , has been overwhelming for Berry , who started the Facebook group , given the flood of headlines about the outbreak at the White House .
“ It was kind of triggering , just all that in the news , ” she said .
Berry watched in horror as the president took a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agents to wave to fans outside his hospital .
She knew firsthand how deadly the virus was , but the president seemed almost nonchalant about risking the exposure of others .
Still , she hopes that , unlike her husband , Trump ’ s health improves .
“ You know , some people are saying he deserves to die from it , and while I don ’ t like him and don ’ t agree with him… I still wouldn ’ t wish that on my worst enemy , ” she said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus , even after he was sickened by it , are infuriating people whose spouses have died across the country .
After Trump tweeted Monday that he was leaving the hospital and that people shouldn ’ t let fear of the virus “ dominate ” their life , Amanda Kloots , a fitness influencer whose husband Nick Cordero died of COVID-19 complications in July , spoke out publicly against the president .
“ Unfortunately it did dominate our lives , didn ’ t it ?
” Kloots said in an Instagram post @ @ @ @ @ @ @ family ’ s lives and my family ’ s lives.
” “ I cried next to my husband for 95 days watching what COVID did to the person I love .
It IS something to be afraid of , ” she continued .
“ After you see the person you love the most die from this disease you would never say what this tweet says.
” Some people whose loved ones have died from the virus are channeling their grief into political action .
The most prominent people , though , have not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ children of COVID-19 victims .
That includes Kristin Urquiza , whose father died of COVID-19 in June and who went on to start the organization “ Marked by COVID , ” which organized a national “ week of mourning ” this week .
In August , Urquiza spoke at the Democratic National Convention , saying in a video message that her father was a Trump supporter who believed the president ’ s downplaying of the virus , and as a result , he went to a bar with friends .
“ Once the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we could open up and we were on the other side … my dad thought it was safe to start resuming normal activities , ” Urquiza told BuzzFeed News .
“ That ’ s why he got sick , and unfortunately had to pay the ultimate price.
” For Urquiza , political activism is a major part of her grieving process .
“ There are some grief circles out there that currently exist around COVID that are strict about not being political , and I understand that , but I would n't be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Urquiza said .
“ My anger about the policy failure , the leadership failure , the lies , I can ’ t stifle that , so I ’ m creating this additional space for people who are ready to channel their pain into purpose.
” Fiana Tulip , a 40-year-old Texan now living in Brooklyn , also got involved in Marked by COVID shortly after her mom , Isabelle Papadimitriou , 64 , died from the virus in July .
Tulip said she was surprised by how quickly after the loss @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ It was so fast for me , ” she said .
“ I spent the day that my mom died crying , but I also spent that day trying to get her back — which obviously isn ’ t reality , but that ’ s where my mind was going .
And the only thing I could think of was a change in leadership.
” Tulip said she ’ s hoping with all her heart that Biden wins the election and that she thinks it would bring her a sense of peace @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do this for my mom , ” Tulip said Chris Meagher , a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee , told BuzzFeed News that his party does expect that people whose loved ones died from COVID will make up a significant voting bloc .
“ People like Kristin Urquiza and others around the country who have lost family members are sharing their personal stories and raising their voices to talk about what ’ s at stake with this election , ” Meagher said .
Trump 's campaign said they were willing to campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ handling the pandemic .
`` As President Trump has said on multiple occasions , the loss of a single American life is tragic , '' spokesperson Courtney Parella said .
`` Coronavirus is a deadly enemy that has threatened us and our loved ones , but despite what the mainstream media and Democrats may peddle , President Trump and his administration faced this pandemic head on . ''
Hernandez , the Soaring Spirits International founder , isn ’ t surprised that not too many people whose spouses died from COVID-19 have yet entered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She expects they have such little energy to spare beyond working to get through the day .
“ You ’ ve seen people get fired up [ after loss ] , like with Mothers Against Drunk Driving , or people who have experienced gun violence , ” Hernandez said .
“ Sometimes they ’ re riled up and ready to go , and their grief fires that , but with COVID widows , it ’ s this exhausting , nonstop ride that you ’ re on and can not get off — and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Berry , too , is exhausted by the election news cycle .
Alone in her home in northern Indiana , she can ’ t help but wonder if her husband might still be here if Trump had acted differently — if , say , he ’ d been as honest with the country about the deadliness of the virus as he had been privately with Bob Woodward .
“ We know he knew [ about the virus ] in February , he ’ s admitted that .
We could ’ ve probably saved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve just made a mask mandate , and I ’ m upset by that , ” she said .
“ Maybe my husband would still be here .
That is something I have to struggle with.
” Berry said she has previously identified as a moderate , having voted for a mix of Democrats and Republicans in the past — but Trump ’ s handling of the pandemic has pushed her firmly to the left .
“ I can not vote for someone , ” she said , “ who I blame for @ @ @ @ @ @ @

When Stacey Nagy’s 79-year-old husband David died from COVID-19 in July, she wasn’t just sad — she was angry. And in an obituary published in her local Texas paper, the Jefferson Jimplecute, on July 30, the 72-year-old said exactly why.
“Family members believe David’s death was needless,” Nagy wrote. “They blame his death and the deaths of all the other innocent people, on Trump, [Texas Gov. Greg] Abbott and all the other politicians who did not take this pandemic seriously and were more concerned with their popularity and votes than lives.”
"Dave did everything he was supposed to do, but you did not," she wrote. "Shame on all of you, and may Karma find you all!”
It has now been three months since David died, but Nagy’s pain has not subsided. She lives with just her dogs for company and has been terribly lonely. She has also had to contend with hate mail she received after the obituary went viral. She’s too worried about her safety to put a Joe Biden sign in her yard, but on Thursday, she hand-delivered her ballot to the Marion County clerk’s office, fueled by a desire to vote out the person she sees as responsible for her grief.
“Trump has no sympathy, no empathy, and he doesn’t think about all the people that have died and all the families the dead people have left behind,” Nagy told BuzzFeed News. “He is a sick, sick man, and I hope to god he is not reelected.”
“The whole country is full of sad people who’ve lost loved ones,” she said, “and he doesn’t care.”
The pandemic has been a difficult and destabilizing time for all Americans, but none more so than people whose loved ones have died from the coronavirus. The pain of losing a partner, though, is uniquely devastating. The death of a spouse is a world-shattering, isolating experience — especially during a deadly pandemic, when you cannot safely mourn with others and still have to worry about yourself or people you love getting sick.
As the country nears an election set to be in part a referendum on the Trump administration’s handling of a pandemic that has killed over 212,000 Americans, millions of grieving people — the loved ones left behind by the victims — will also be a voting bloc. People who followed all the rules of social distancing only to still have their spouses die have had to watch as the president and his allies shamelessly flout them. Worsening their grief is the haunting feeling that their partners’ deaths may have been preventable, that with stronger government action, with shutdown orders and mask mandates and travel bans being put in place sooner, their loved ones might still be alive.
“I feel Tim’s death was preventable,” said Andrea Mulcahy, 53, whose 52-year-old husband died in July. “I think if action had been taken a lot sooner by our government, both federal and state, he didn’t have to die.”
Mulcahy, who lives in Ocala, Florida, watched in shock over the past week as Trump himself became infected with the virus amid an outbreak in the White House caused by a flagrant disregard of social distancing guidance.
“With everything happening with the president having COVID and his cavalier reaction to it, I just got really, really angry,” she said. “His reaction to it was like a slap in the face for those of us who’ve been dealing with this.”
Fueled by anger, she has now connected with COVID Survivors for Change, an organization of coronavirus victims’ loved ones who are demanding politicians take better action to end the pandemic. She is planning to get involved however she can to make sure Trump is not reelected.
“[Trump] made you believe it could only affect elderly people, but my husband was 53 years old,” said Sonya Polk Hall, a 49-year-old in New Orleans, a member of a Facebook support group started by a Survivors for Change member.
Hall’s husband, Mark, died in April. The 30-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department became sick with COVID-19 after he assisted in moving people experiencing homelessness into hotels. “He didn’t have a bad heart. He was not morbidly obese,” she said. “He just took a physical on March 18. He was perfectly healthy.”
While Hall doesn't particularly like either Biden or Trump, she did not know how she would vote in November until after her husband died.
“Because so many people follow [Trump] and believe in him, I think if he would have taken it more seriously, people would have taken it seriously,” she said. “I think it would’ve calmed down the death toll.”
“I had to pick the lesser of the evils, so to speak,” she said, “so that’s how [Biden] ended up with my vote.”


buzzfeed--2020-10-10--"The Vampire Diaries" Stars Paul Wesley And Matthew Davis Debated Politics On Twitter And It Got Ugl

"The Vampire Diaries" Stars Paul Wesley And Matthew Davis Debated Politics On Twitter And It Got Ugly

But it did n't end there .
Matthew then shared screenshots of tweets he 'd been receiving from people who @ @ @ @ @ Wesley fans .
Matthew tagged the Tell Me a Story star in them , with @ @ @ @ @ fans are real class .
You should be proud . ''

But it didn't end there. Matthew then shared screenshots of tweets he'd been receiving from people who he assumed to be Paul Wesley fans. Matthew tagged the Tell Me a Story star in them, with this caption, "Your fans are real class. You should be proud."


buzzfeed--2020-10-11--Demi Lovato Said She Finally Has "The Boobs She Wanted" After Resolving To Eat Whatever She Wants

`` If I was in my hotel room at night , [ my management team ] would take the phone @ @ @ @ @ so that I could n't call room service .
Or if there was fruit in @ @ @ @ @ it out because that 's extra sugar .
Like , we 're not talking about @ @ @ @ @ and stuff like that .
It 's like , it was fruit . ''

"If I was in my hotel room at night, [my management team] would take the phone out of the hotel room so that I couldn't call room service. Or if there was fruit in my room, they would take it out because that's extra sugar. Like, we're not talking about brownies and cookies and candies and stuff like that. It's like, it was fruit."


buzzfeed--2020-10-11--Dax Shepard Opened Up About Being Back In AA And The Lesson He's Teaching His Daughters From It

`` For the last eight weeks , maybe , I do n't really know , I 'm on them all @ @ @ @ @ to be on them at some dosage because I have a prescription , '' he @ @ @ @ @ I 'm also augmenting that .
And then all the prescriptions run out , and @ @ @ @ @ 30 mil Oxys that I 've bought . ''

"For the last eight weeks, maybe, I don't really know, I'm on them all day. I'm allowed to be on them at some dosage because I have a prescription," he explained. "And then I'm also augmenting that. And then all the prescriptions run out, and I'm now just taking 30 mil Oxys that I've bought."


buzzfeed--2020-10-11--14 People Shared Photos Of Their Bodies After Giving Birth, And It's The Definition Of Beauty And St

14 People Shared Photos Of Their Bodies After Giving Birth, And It's The Definition Of Beauty And Strength

`` Moms , we seriously need to give ourselves more credit ... and grace !
Snapping back is awesome , @ @ @ @ @ body to take its time and heal how it wants to for as long as @ @ @ @ @ ’ s no deadline .
In the meantime , be proud of all it has @ @ @ @ @ human , then birthing that human , then nourishing and sustaining the life of that @ @ @ @ @ is so taboo to talk about , but I DARE you to change the narrative @ @ @ @ @ rock that FUPA/those stretch marks/that loose skin with pride .
I know I will !
@ @ @ @ @ got time to be sucking in all day !
🥴😩🤣 '' You can follow Troy @ @ @ @

8.
"Here I am seven days postpartum with my son. I struggled with the new reality that he wasn’t in my belly. Even though I had him in my arms, I still found myself rubbing my belly, expecting to feel his strong kicks or his little butt nestled in my ribs. For the first time in nine months, my body was 'mine' again — and I wasn’t sure I was ready for that. Every day I became more grateful for the soft mom belly that was his cushion as we nursed, and for my sore, painful, and swollen boobs that fed him endlessly. He’s now 15 months old, and I’m still amazed at what my body was able to do and how different every inch of me is to this day."


buzzfeed--2020-10-11--“I Can’t Vote For Someone Who I Blame For The Death Of My Husband”: Meet The Coronavirus Widows


buzzfeed--2020-10-11--Dozens Of Black Employees Said They Faced Racism At Planned Parenthood, An Internal Audit Found

Black employees at Planned Parenthood ’ s national wing feel that they have been held to a different standard than the organization ’ s white employees and that they are often expected to work more and given less leeway , an internal assessment obtained by BuzzFeed News found .
The assessment , which was commissioned by Planned Parenthood , was presented over a video meeting to Planned Parenthood Federation of America ’ s ( PPFA ) employee resource group Network of Black Associates on Wednesday .
It was based on interviews conducted over the summer with 64 current and 12 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ divisions and levels of PPFA .
A contracted group called Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance ( AORTA ) conducted and presented the assessment , which overall found that the organization ’ s Black employees feel that Planned Parenthood ’ s treatment of them internally does not line up with its social justice–driven mission .
Black employees told AORTA they regularly experienced acts of racism and anti-Blackness from their white colleagues but found that when they reported problems to human resources , there was “ no meaningful consequence or accountability for racial harm , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The employees said they had been experiencing these issues and bringing them to management ’ s attention for years , but felt that little had been done to change the problems .
“ The urgency of this moment , the urgency of the reckoning that we ’ ve all known was coming … the deep urgency of what we need to do inside of [ Planned Parenthood ] , stepping into leadership in this moment , I have never felt more urgent , and I ’ ve never actually felt more free @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Johnson , who is Black and has served as president for just over four months , said at the beginning of the meeting .
“ And I want that feeling of freedom to give us all the covers to do the work that we need to do.
” Johnson took over as acting president of Planned Parenthood in 2019 , following the dramatic dismissal of the reproductive rights giant ’ s former president , Leana Wen .
AORTA ’ s findings line up with an investigation published by BuzzFeed News in August , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Planned Parenthood ’ s state affiliate chapters , as well as at NARAL Pro-Choice America , another major reproductive rights group .
Twenty-six sources at both organizations told BuzzFeed News at the time that they regularly faced racism at work and were belittled by their bosses , while their non-Black colleagues were not , and felt they often had nowhere to turn for help with these issues .
They also said they were unable to move up within the organization , while their white colleagues were promoted .
Each of Planned Parenthood @ @ @ @ @ @ @ independently from each other and from PPFA , the national healthcare provider and advocacy organization .
AORTA ’ s assessment pertained only to employees of PPFA , but the issues faced by Black staffers were strikingly similar to those on the affiliate level .
In response to a request for comment , PPFA provided BuzzFeed News with extensive information on its efforts to improve pay equity and transparency , including several kinds of audits and reviews analyzing pay by race and gender .
It also pointed to its recognition of staff unions in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offices .
PPFA also referred to information provided to BuzzFeed News in August , which detailed the extensive `` diversity , equity , and inclusion '' ( DEI ) work the organization has been doing for the past few years .
This included many kinds of DEI and race equity trainings for staffers and managers , an annual “ Solidarity Conference ” for staffers of color nationwide , and one-on-one coaching and classes with AORTA , including a “ study circle on Black Feminism , ” which focuses on intersectionality .
“ Planned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is committed to confronting the organization ’ s legacy of white supremacy head on , and the cultural assessment conducted by AORTA is an important component of the comprehensive and meaningful work we are undertaking to create belonging and equity , ” Melanie Newman , Planned Parenthood ’ s head of communications and culture , wrote in an email to BuzzFeed News on Friday .
“ Leaking the cultural assessment findings is a breach of trust and of the intended safe space for Black colleagues to be seen , heard , and understood @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; but abusing the trust of colleagues is harmful to the culture change work that is underway.
” The Planned Parenthood employees who spoke to BuzzFeed News this week said that they greatly appreciated Wednesday ’ s presentation ; they found it validating and satisfying to see their experiences in print and understand that they are not alone .
However , they said , the issues AORTA found have existed for years , and it ’ s hard for them to believe that this newest effort will actually create change .
“ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surprising to you that the collective experience of Black staff at Planned Parenthood is as heavy as it is , ” Autumn Brown , an AORTA staff member who presented the findings said at the beginning of Wednesday ’ s meeting , a recording of which was obtained by BuzzFeed News .
“ What we were looking for was to understand ... what is the collective experience of being Black at Planned Parenthood ?
Because regardless of the individual facts of the individual incidences , if we have enough incidences that look like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Y.
” Around 60 people tuned into the meeting , according to employees who were on the call .
This was the first time the findings were being presented , and AORTA and Planned Parenthood are preparing abridged versions to present in larger staff meetings , as well as presentations for Planned Parenthood ’ s board and leadership .
Johnson , head of HR Dannette Hill , and George Walker , the group ’ s vice president of DEI , were present at the meeting , along with PPFA 's other Black senior @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say this has been a three-year journey .
We have been fighting for the opportunity to do this cultural assessment for years .
It was n't possible under other presidents , ” Hill said , adding that HR had asked for an assessment like AORTA 's in the past but wasn ’ t able to move forward with it until Johnson took over .
She also referenced “ the power of having Alexis here as a partner who is not just in the movement , but understanding of the importance of this work.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the top of the meeting , promised her staff that the changes would happen .
“ There was not a thing that I saw [ in the assessment ] that I was n't familiar with in my own life ... or even here at Planned Parenthood , quite frankly , ” Johnson said .
“ It really means a lot that you all opened up in this way .
I never want our pain to be either in vain or just to check a box .
”

Black employees at Planned Parenthood’s national wing feel that they have been held to a different standard than the organization’s white employees and that they are often expected to work more and given less leeway, an internal assessment obtained by BuzzFeed News found.
The assessment, which was commissioned by Planned Parenthood, was presented over a video meeting to Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s (PPFA) employee resource group Network of Black Associates on Wednesday. It was based on interviews conducted over the summer with 64 current and 12 former Black Planned Parenthood employees in all divisions and levels of PPFA. A contracted group called Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance (AORTA) conducted and presented the assessment, which overall found that the organization’s Black employees feel that Planned Parenthood’s treatment of them internally does not line up with its social justice–driven mission.
Black employees told AORTA they regularly experienced acts of racism and anti-Blackness from their white colleagues but found that when they reported problems to human resources, there was “no meaningful consequence or accountability for racial harm,” a slide in the presentation read. The employees said they had been experiencing these issues and bringing them to management’s attention for years, but felt that little had been done to change the problems.
“The urgency of this moment, the urgency of the reckoning that we’ve all known was coming … the deep urgency of what we need to do inside of [Planned Parenthood], stepping into leadership in this moment, I have never felt more urgent, and I’ve never actually felt more free,” Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson, who is Black and has served as president for just over four months, said at the beginning of the meeting. “And I want that feeling of freedom to give us all the covers to do the work that we need to do.”
Johnson took over as acting president of Planned Parenthood in 2019, following the dramatic dismissal of the reproductive rights giant’s former president, Leana Wen.
AORTA’s findings line up with an investigation published by BuzzFeed News in August, which detailed allegations of racism and discrimination at Planned Parenthood’s state affiliate chapters, as well as at NARAL Pro-Choice America, another major reproductive rights group. Twenty-six sources at both organizations told BuzzFeed News at the time that they regularly faced racism at work and were belittled by their bosses, while their non-Black colleagues were not, and felt they often had nowhere to turn for help with these issues. They also said they were unable to move up within the organization, while their white colleagues were promoted.
Each of Planned Parenthood’s 49 state affiliates is run independently from each other and from PPFA, the national healthcare provider and advocacy organization. AORTA’s assessment pertained only to employees of PPFA, but the issues faced by Black staffers were strikingly similar to those on the affiliate level.
In response to a request for comment, PPFA provided BuzzFeed News with extensive information on its efforts to improve pay equity and transparency, including several kinds of audits and reviews analyzing pay by race and gender. It also pointed to its recognition of staff unions in their Washington, DC, and Miami offices. PPFA also referred to information provided to BuzzFeed News in August, which detailed the extensive "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) work the organization has been doing for the past few years. This included many kinds of DEI and race equity trainings for staffers and managers, an annual “Solidarity Conference” for staffers of color nationwide, and one-on-one coaching and classes with AORTA, including a “study circle on Black Feminism,” which focuses on intersectionality.
“Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s leadership is committed to confronting the organization’s legacy of white supremacy head on, and the cultural assessment conducted by AORTA is an important component of the comprehensive and meaningful work we are undertaking to create belonging and equity,” Melanie Newman, Planned Parenthood’s head of communications and culture, wrote in an email to BuzzFeed News on Friday. “Leaking the cultural assessment findings is a breach of trust and of the intended safe space for Black colleagues to be seen, heard, and understood. Holding leadership accountable publicly is welcome; but abusing the trust of colleagues is harmful to the culture change work that is underway.”
The Planned Parenthood employees who spoke to BuzzFeed News this week said that they greatly appreciated Wednesday’s presentation; they found it validating and satisfying to see their experiences in print and understand that they are not alone. However, they said, the issues AORTA found have existed for years, and it’s hard for them to believe that this newest effort will actually create change.
“I imagine that little of it will be surprising to you that the collective experience of Black staff at Planned Parenthood is as heavy as it is,” Autumn Brown, an AORTA staff member who presented the findings said at the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting, a recording of which was obtained by BuzzFeed News. “What we were looking for was to understand ... what is the collective experience of being Black at Planned Parenthood? Because regardless of the individual facts of the individual incidences, if we have enough incidences that look like X, we know that that means Y.”
Around 60 people tuned into the meeting, according to employees who were on the call. This was the first time the findings were being presented, and AORTA and Planned Parenthood are preparing abridged versions to present in larger staff meetings, as well as presentations for Planned Parenthood’s board and leadership. Johnson, head of HR Dannette Hill, and George Walker, the group’s vice president of DEI, were present at the meeting, along with PPFA's other Black senior leaders.
“I first want to say this has been a three-year journey. We have been fighting for the opportunity to do this cultural assessment for years. It wasn't possible under other presidents,” Hill said, adding that HR had asked for an assessment like AORTA's in the past but wasn’t able to move forward with it until Johnson took over. She also referenced “the power of having Alexis here as a partner who is not just in the movement, but understanding of the importance of this work.”
Johnson, who spoke only at the top of the meeting, promised her staff that the changes would happen.
“There was not a thing that I saw [in the assessment] that I wasn't familiar with in my own life ... or even here at Planned Parenthood, quite frankly,” Johnson said. “It really means a lot that you all opened up in this way. I never want our pain to be either in vain or just to check a box.”


buzzfeed--2020-10-11--No, That Trump Video Isn’t Green-Screened

Trump is actually standing outside the White House in his latest video .
On Thursday , President Donald Trump tweeted a video of himself in front of the White House , talking about a variety of topics from the military to how the experimental antibody cocktail he received is a cure for COVID-19 .
The video appears to have been shot in front of the White House , but it also looks unnatural in a way that inspired some to claim it was filmed in front of a green screen .
But that ’ s not the case .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ standing outside on his own , the White House told BuzzFeed News .
Green screen truthers pointed to the way that the trees behind him moved as evidence of some sort of Weekend at Bernie 's shenanigans .
Instead of smooth , natural movement , the leaves of the trees appear to briefly stop on occasion as though they were part of a video loop .
Suspicious !
But video experts told BuzzFeed News that while the trees behind Trump might appear to be part of a video loop , they probably are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of digital forensics , image analysis , and human perception at UC Berkeley , agreed , telling BuzzFeed News the video does appear to include compression artifacts .
“ Most compression standards employ ‘ predicted ’ frames that use the content and motion from previous frames to encode the data on subsequent frames , ” Farid explained .
“ This saves quite a bit of file/transfer size because not all of the data has to be encoded .
At the same time , these predicted frames tend to be of lower quality because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such , most compression standards interlace the predicted frames with higher-quality non-predicted frames .
This creates occasional perceptual ‘ skips ’ as frames of varying quality are displayed.
” This is why the trees behind Trump might appear to some to be part of a video loop .
Farid and Williams both noted that the crisp shadows in the video appear to be consistent with the movement of the sun .
Reached for comment , a spokesperson for the White House told BuzzFeed News that the video was indeed filmed on the South @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to October 2020 , where even the simplest of things — trees blowing in the wind , a hiccup , a walk to a helicopter — raise questions .

Hany Farid, a professor of digital forensics, image analysis, and human perception at UC Berkeley, agreed, telling BuzzFeed News the video does appear to include compression artifacts.
“Most compression standards employ ‘predicted’ frames that use the content and motion from previous frames to encode the data on subsequent frames,” Farid explained. “This saves quite a bit of file/transfer size because not all of the data has to be encoded. At the same time, these predicted frames tend to be of lower quality because the prediction is not perfect. As such, most compression standards interlace the predicted frames with higher-quality non-predicted frames. This creates occasional perceptual ‘skips’ as frames of varying quality are displayed.”
This is why the trees behind Trump might appear to some to be part of a video loop. Farid and Williams both noted that the crisp shadows in the video appear to be consistent with the movement of the sun.
Reached for comment, a spokesperson for the White House told BuzzFeed News that the video was indeed filmed on the South Lawn of the White House.
Welcome to October 2020, where even the simplest of things — trees blowing in the wind, a hiccup, a walk to a helicopter — raise questions.


buzzfeed--2020-10-12--Truths Most People Wouldn't Dare Tell Parents-To-Be About Living With A Baby

`` If you ca n't breastfeed , it 's OK .
There is so much 'Breast is best ' pressure @ @ @ @ @ breastfeed for any reason , you feel guilty as hell .
But FORMULA FEEDING IS @ @ @ @ @ it exists ! ''
`` YOU DO N'T HAVE TO BREASTFEED .
You do n't @ @ @ @ @ if you do n't like things near your tits .
You do n't need an @ @ @ @ @ any justification .
It is no one 's business . ''
`` Not every mom @ @ @ @ @ well .
Lots of babies do n't latch on , your milk production may be @ @ @ @ @ does NOT mean you 're a failure if you have to use formula . ''

15. "If you can't breastfeed, it's OK. There is so much 'Breast is best' pressure that if you can't breastfeed for any reason, you feel guilty as hell. But FORMULA FEEDING IS FINE! That's why it exists!"
—squeezme88
"YOU DON'T HAVE TO BREASTFEED. You don't even have to try it if you don't like things near your tits. You don't need an excuse, a reason, any justification. It is no one's business."
—jacquelines2
"Not every mom and baby take to nursing well. Lots of babies don't latch on, your milk production may be slow, and it definitely does NOT mean you're a failure if you have to use formula."
—heatherbrownh


buzzfeed--2020-10-12--Demi Lovato Said She Finally Has "The Boobs She Wanted" After Resolving To Eat Whatever She Wants


buzzfeed--2020-10-11--Judges Aren’t Buying Trump’s Claims Of Widespread Voter Fraud

WASHINGTON — On the campaign trail and online , President Donald Trump is pushing debunked and unsupported claims that mail-in voting leads to widespread fraud .
But in court , far from the bluster of his rallies and Twitter rants , a growing number of judges have examined the evidence he ’ s presented to back those claims and found it unconvincing .
On Saturday , US District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan in Pittsburgh tossed a lawsuit filed by Trump ’ s campaign and the Republican National Committee that challenged some of Pennsylvania ’ s plans to make it easier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus pandemic .
Specifically , Trump and the RNC argued the state shouldn ’ t be able to set up drop boxes where voters can return ballots — as opposed to sending them back by mail — and count ballots if the voter ’ s signature doesn ’ t match the one that election officials have on file .
Ranjan wrote that , at most , the campaign and the RNC presented a “ chain of theoretical events ” to show how Pennsylvania ’ s election policies could lead to voter fraud .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ bring a lawsuit , they have to show some kind of harm , and without more than speculation about what might happen in the future , Trump ’ s lawsuit couldn ’ t clear that bar , the judge concluded .
“ While Plaintiffs may not need to prove actual voter fraud , they must at least prove that such fraud is ‘ certainly impending.
’ They haven ’ t met that burden .
At most , they have pieced together a sequence of uncertain assumptions , ” wrote Ranjan , who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and confirmed in July 2019 .
Federal judges in Montana , Nevada , and New Jersey reached similar conclusions in rulings over the past month that rebuffed Trump campaign lawsuits against states that adopted new rules and practices to expand mail-in voting during the pandemic .
The campaign hasn ’ t pursued appeals in those other cases so far , but Matthew Morgan , the campaign ’ s general counsel , released a statement on Saturday saying they planned to take the Pennsylvania case to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Circuit .
“ Clearly , we disagree with the Western District ’ s decision on unsecure drop boxes , and President Trump ’ s team will immediately file an appeal to the Third Circuit to continue our fight to protect every Pennsylvania voter .
We look forward to a swift Third Circuit decision that will further protect Pennsylvania voters from the Democrats ’ radical voting system , ” Morgan said .
A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar ’ s office did not immediately return a request for comment .
Boockvar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ guidance to county election officials that allowed for ballot drop boxes and directing officials to count ballots even if the voter ’ s signature didn ’ t match what was on file .
The Trump campaign and Republicans have notched wins in some cases filed against state and local election officials who have tried to make it easier for people to vote by mail .
In Iowa , for instance , state judges in four cases blocked county officials from sending out ballot request forms to voters with information already filled in from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Woodbury County gave weight to Republicans ’ fraud theory , writing that there was a reasonable chance that sending out pre-filled applications would make it easier for potential fraudsters to request ballots that they weren ’ t legally entitled to get .
“ While the Defendants claim that voter fraud with absentee ballots is almost nonexistent , it is also the type of fraud that is almost impossible to detect , ” Judge Patrick Tott wrote in an Aug. 28 ruling .
But in the federal court cases brought by Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voting in Montana , Nevada , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania , judges have found Republicans ’ claims of widespread fraud too speculative to justify blocking those plans altogether .
In the latest case in Pennsylvania , the Trump campaign and the RNC argued that voter fraud — for instance , one person casting more than one ballot — would dilute the power of other , lawful votes .
They claimed fraudsters would take advantage of unmanned drop boxes and the state ’ s decision to effectively lift the signature match requirement .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ exhaustive overview of the evidence submitted by both sides ; the parties filed more than 300 exhibits with the court .
He found that the evidence that Trump and the RNC submitted — which included a New York Post article claiming to describe the firsthand anonymous account of someone who committed voting fraud ; officials in Philadelphia accidentally allowing 40 people to vote twice in this year ’ s primary election ; and photographs that appeared to show people putting multiple ballots in a mailbox — was “ speculative ” and “ scant.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the RNC were right that stationing guards at drop boxes , increasing poll watchers , and checking ballot signatures would help prevent voter fraud , it wasn ’ t the court ’ s job to “ contradict the reasoned judgment of democratically elected officials.
” “ [ T ] he Court finds that the election regulations put in place by the General Assembly and implemented by Defendants do not significantly burden any right to vote .
They are rational .
They further important state interests .
They align with the Commonwealth ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not run afoul of the United States Constitution .
They will not otherwise be second-guessed by this Court , ” the judge wrote .
In Montana , US District Judge Dana Christensen dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Trump campaign , RNC , and state Republicans challenging Gov .
Steve Bullock ’ s decision to allow counties to carry out the November election by mail-in ballots .
Christensen noted that at a hearing in the case , lawyers for the campaign and Republican challengers “ were compelled to concede that they can not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fraud in Montana in any election during the last 20 years.
” “ In many respects , this case requires the Court to separate fact from fiction , ” Christensen wrote in the Sept. 30 order .
“ Central to some of the Plaintiffs ’ claims is the contention that the upcoming election , both nationally and in Montana , will fall prey to widespread voter fraud .
The evidence suggests , however , that this allegation , specifically in Montana , is a fiction.
” In New Jersey , state lawmakers approved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ registered voters a mail-in ballot , and adopted other measures aimed at supporting the expansion of mail-in voting .
The Trump campaign sued and asked for an injunction blocking provisions that would allow election officials to begin counting mailed ballots 10 days before Election Day and to accept ballots without a clear postmark up to two days after Nov. 3 .
On Oct. 6 , US District Judge Michael Shipp denied the campaign ’ s request .
Shipp noted that there were , in fact , real allegations of voter fraud in New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that someone had stolen ballots from mailboxes and that ballots were bundled and sent from a single location .
But the judge pointed out in a footnote that the evidence of past voter fraud presented by Trump ’ s campaign didn ’ t relate to issues with ballots received without a postmark , or mail-in ballots counted before Election Day .
“ Plaintiffs offer no instances of voter fraud resulting from ballots cast after Election Day , or any reason to suspect that a fraudulent ballot or a ballot cast after Election Day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Shipp wrote .
In Nevada , the Trump campaign , RNC , and state Republican party sued over a law the state legislature adopted this year directing local election officials to send ballots to all active registered voters .
On Sept. 18 , US District Judge James Mahan dismissed the case , finding that the claims that the state ’ s plan would lead to voter fraud were not only speculative , but also not specific to the Republican challengers .
Trump ’ s campaign and the RNC submitted news articles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mail-in voting this year , as well as evidence that Nevada had to contend with a large number of ballots deemed undeliverable during the June primary election .
But he wrote that the Republican challengers failed to show that even if there was a risk of vote dilution , that their members specifically would be affected and not all voters .
“ Not only have plaintiffs failed to allege a substantial risk of voter fraud , the State of Nevada has its own mechanisms for deterring and prosecuting voter fraud , ” Mahan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not allege that those mechanisms would fail and that they would need to divert resources accordingly .
”

WASHINGTON — On the campaign trail and online, President Donald Trump is pushing debunked and unsupported claims that mail-in voting leads to widespread fraud. But in court, far from the bluster of his rallies and Twitter rants, a growing number of judges have examined the evidence he’s presented to back those claims and found it unconvincing.
On Saturday, US District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan in Pittsburgh tossed a lawsuit filed by Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee that challenged some of Pennsylvania’s plans to make it easier for residents to vote remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, Trump and the RNC argued the state shouldn’t be able to set up drop boxes where voters can return ballots — as opposed to sending them back by mail — and count ballots if the voter’s signature doesn’t match the one that election officials have on file.
Ranjan wrote that, at most, the campaign and the RNC presented a “chain of theoretical events” to show how Pennsylvania’s election policies could lead to voter fraud. For a plaintiff to have standing to bring a lawsuit, they have to show some kind of harm, and without more than speculation about what might happen in the future, Trump’s lawsuit couldn’t clear that bar, the judge concluded.
“While Plaintiffs may not need to prove actual voter fraud, they must at least prove that such fraud is ‘certainly impending.’ They haven’t met that burden. At most, they have pieced together a sequence of uncertain assumptions,” wrote Ranjan, who was nominated by Trump to the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and confirmed in July 2019.
Federal judges in Montana, Nevada, and New Jersey reached similar conclusions in rulings over the past month that rebuffed Trump campaign lawsuits against states that adopted new rules and practices to expand mail-in voting during the pandemic. The campaign hasn’t pursued appeals in those other cases so far, but Matthew Morgan, the campaign’s general counsel, released a statement on Saturday saying they planned to take the Pennsylvania case to the US Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.
“Clearly, we disagree with the Western District’s decision on unsecure drop boxes, and President Trump’s team will immediately file an appeal to the Third Circuit to continue our fight to protect every Pennsylvania voter. We look forward to a swift Third Circuit decision that will further protect Pennsylvania voters from the Democrats’ radical voting system,” Morgan said.
A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar’s office did not immediately return a request for comment. Boockvar’s office was responsible for crafting guidance to county election officials that allowed for ballot drop boxes and directing officials to count ballots even if the voter’s signature didn’t match what was on file.
The Trump campaign and Republicans have notched wins in some cases filed against state and local election officials who have tried to make it easier for people to vote by mail. In Iowa, for instance, state judges in four cases blocked county officials from sending out ballot request forms to voters with information already filled in from registration records on file. A judge in Woodbury County gave weight to Republicans’ fraud theory, writing that there was a reasonable chance that sending out pre-filled applications would make it easier for potential fraudsters to request ballots that they weren’t legally entitled to get.
“While the Defendants claim that voter fraud with absentee ballots is almost nonexistent, it is also the type of fraud that is almost impossible to detect,” Judge Patrick Tott wrote in an Aug. 28 ruling.
But in the federal court cases brought by Trump’s campaign challenging statewide policies around mail-in voting in Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, judges have found Republicans’ claims of widespread fraud too speculative to justify blocking those plans altogether.
In the latest case in Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign and the RNC argued that voter fraud — for instance, one person casting more than one ballot — would dilute the power of other, lawful votes. They claimed fraudsters would take advantage of unmanned drop boxes and the state’s decision to effectively lift the signature match requirement.
Ranjan’s 138-page opinion includes an exhaustive overview of the evidence submitted by both sides; the parties filed more than 300 exhibits with the court. He found that the evidence that Trump and the RNC submitted — which included a New York Post article claiming to describe the firsthand anonymous account of someone who committed voting fraud; officials in Philadelphia accidentally allowing 40 people to vote twice in this year’s primary election; and photographs that appeared to show people putting multiple ballots in a mailbox — was “speculative” and “scant.”
Ranjan wrote that even if Trump and the RNC were right that stationing guards at drop boxes, increasing poll watchers, and checking ballot signatures would help prevent voter fraud, it wasn’t the court’s job to “contradict the reasoned judgment of democratically elected officials.”
“[T]he Court finds that the election regulations put in place by the General Assembly and implemented by Defendants do not significantly burden any right to vote. They are rational. They further important state interests. They align with the Commonwealth’s elaborate election-security measures. They do not run afoul of the United States Constitution. They will not otherwise be second-guessed by this Court,” the judge wrote.
In Montana, US District Judge Dana Christensen dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Trump campaign, RNC, and state Republicans challenging Gov. Steve Bullock’s decision to allow counties to carry out the November election by mail-in ballots. Christensen noted that at a hearing in the case, lawyers for the campaign and Republican challengers “were compelled to concede that they cannot point to a single instance of voter fraud in Montana in any election during the last 20 years.”
“In many respects, this case requires the Court to separate fact from fiction,” Christensen wrote in the Sept. 30 order. “Central to some of the Plaintiffs’ claims is the contention that the upcoming election, both nationally and in Montana, will fall prey to widespread voter fraud. The evidence suggests, however, that this allegation, specifically in Montana, is a fiction.”
In New Jersey, state lawmakers approved a plan this year to send all registered voters a mail-in ballot and adopted other measures aimed at supporting the expansion of mail-in voting. The Trump campaign sued and asked for an injunction blocking provisions that would allow election officials to begin counting mailed ballots 10 days before Election Day and to accept ballots without a clear postmark up to two days after Nov. 3.
On Oct. 6, US District Judge Michael Shipp denied the campaign’s request. Shipp noted that there were, in fact, real allegations of voter fraud in New Jersey during the May primary, including that someone had stolen ballots from mailboxes and that ballots were bundled and sent from a single location. But the judge pointed out in a footnote that the evidence of past voter fraud presented by Trump’s campaign didn’t relate to issues with ballots received without a postmark, or mail-in ballots counted before Election Day.
“Plaintiffs offer no instances of voter fraud resulting from ballots cast after Election Day, or any reason to suspect that a fraudulent ballot or a ballot cast after Election Day is more likely to lack a postmark,” Shipp wrote.
In Nevada, the Trump campaign, RNC, and state Republican Party sued over a law the state legislature adopted this year directing local election officials to send ballots to all active registered voters. On Sept. 18, US District Judge James Mahan dismissed the case, finding that the claims that the state’s plan would lead to voter fraud were not only speculative, but also not specific to the Republican challengers.
Trump’s campaign and the RNC submitted news articles detailing issues other states faced in expanding mail-in voting this year, as well as evidence that Nevada had to contend with a large number of ballots deemed undeliverable during the June primary election. But he wrote that the Republican challengers failed to show that even if there was a risk of vote dilution, that their members specifically would be affected and not all voters.
“Not only have plaintiffs failed to allege a substantial risk of voter fraud, the State of Nevada has its own mechanisms for deterring and prosecuting voter fraud,” Mahan wrote. “Here, plaintiffs do not allege that those mechanisms would fail and that they would need to divert resources accordingly.”


buzzfeed--2020-10-11--Cory Booker Is Trying To Keep Up With The News

And so this Wednesday , the back-to-back Zoom marathon-slash-maelstrom that is a typical day inside the senator ’ s house , a multi-family home in Newark ’ s Central Ward that he now shares with his girlfriend , the actor and activist Rosario Dawson , began in the dark , before dawn , around 5:50 a.m .
He got out of bed , padded to his office , opened his computer , and started recording videos .
There are always videos to do — a backlog of ‘ thank you ’ messages and pre-recorded clips for different groups ( the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee ) whose events he can ’ t attend .
When Booker ’ s digital director woke up sometime before 7 a.m. , there were 15 videos in his inbox .
Next : “ text messages and emails , which have piled up considerably.
” Next : reading for the Supreme Court hearings set to begin this month .
By then , Dawson was awake .
The couple had about 20 minutes together in the kitchen .
She made something to eat while Booker , a proponent of intermittent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ threw in coffee , pure cacao oil , and organic vegan ghee — his own “ bulletproof coffee , ” an energy-boosting keto-influencer favorite .
“ Breakfast was basically sitting at the table with my cell phone — which is a bad thing to do for a relationship , ” Booker said in an interview later that day .
This may be true , but could anyone blame him ?
Like most of the country , Booker wasn ’ t even up last Friday when Trump , around 1 a.m. , tweeted that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ positive for COVID-19 , setting off a week of chaos and confusion .
Keeping track of the days since that moment , even from the safe remove of a kitchen table , has been a bewildering exercise , with big , unbelievable developments unfolding with rapid speed in small , incremental updates , flitting casually across a screen .
You open Twitter , scroll , then swipe away .
You see the president , newly tanned , talking about China and Regeneron-for-all and how “ perfect ” he feels .
By the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential debate will be held virtually , Donald Trump has already pulled out , and Joe Biden is planning his own televised town hall in its place .
There is a vague sense at all times that , somewhere , someone new has tested positive for the coronavirus .
Perhaps you , too , are experiencing a form of “ insomnia or something.
” Twenty-three days from the election , it is an insane time to be a human in America .
It is another kind of bizarre insanity to be experiencing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deliberative body in Washington , where at least three Republican senators have contracted COVID-19 while the Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continues to plow ahead with a Supreme Court nomination .
“ I am literally jumping from Zoom to Zoom , to conference call , to SCOTUS prep — I mean , this is a very intense , compressed time for me , ” Booker said .
Usually , he would be surfing Twitter or checking push alerts from the New York Times .
Now Booker ’ s chief of staff , Matt Klapper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or between meetings “ to let me know , ‘ Hey , this colleague of yours has COVID , ’ ” so that in his next Zoom , “ people aren ’ t telling me the news , ” he said .
“ It is almost comical.
” Booker , a hyperactive former mayor of Newark who is up for reelection this year in the Senate , is living a particular kind of insanity — some of it self-imposed , some not .
He is running at the top of the ticket in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ competitive House races he is “ really committed to helping.
” He is a surrogate for Senate candidates around the country and has dedicated “ chunks ” of his day to virtual events for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris .
In the Senate , he is preparing “ a week of really intense hearings ” for the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett .
He is finding co-sponsors for new bills via text message .
He is checking on friends who have contracted COVID , such as former New Jersey governor Chris Christie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Booker from the hospital .
“ There 's been a lot of false rumors out there circulating , ” he said .
“ He is fighting through [ that ] as well.
” At the same time , Booker ’ s own campaign is negotiating the terms of a possible debate with his GOP opponent , Rik Mehta , a Trump-styled Republican who , as it turns out , was a guest at the famous Bedminster fundraiser that the president attended hours before announcing he had tested positive for the virus .
( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has never once uttered Mehta ’ s name aloud during his Senate reelection bid , is “ ignoring ” him .
“ I do n't even know who Rick Mehta is , ” the state ’ s Democratic governor , Phil Murphy recently said . )
Also at the same time , Booker just moved in with his significant other .
This is a first for the 51-year-old .
The couple has been dating since 2018 but spent most of the pandemic on separate coasts — Dawson helping take care of her father @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work from Newark .
In late August , with her dad in tow , Dawson loaded an RV with boxes and house plants , and drove the 29-foot-long , 13-foot-tall bus across the country .
She resettled her father in New York City and moved into Booker ’ s home in the Central Ward — a simple house , three stories of yellow-brown brick .
Booker has only ever shared it with the 24-hour security detail assigned to him while he served as mayor of the city — with Newark officers occupying the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the third .
“ This is the first time in my life I 've really lived with somebody — and obviously Rosario and I are enjoying and adjusting to that , right ?
” he said now .
Whatever “ adjustment ” period might normally take place during such life events has , in this household , been somewhat tabled until Election Day : “ I think we both realize that this is a ‘ batten-down-the-hatches , ’ ‘ get-to-Nov.-3 ’ kinda thing.
” Booker ’ s description of remote work , where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into arbitrary divisions between work and life , takes on its own frenetic pace : mornings with Dawson are short , rare , bursts together in the kitchen table ; evenings are “ crashing with Rosario ” ; small blocks of time in his daily schedule are reserved for “ PERSONAL TIME.
” Dawson , a hard-line progressive who backed Bernie Sanders until the bitter end of the Democratic primary in 2016 before supporting Booker in his own presidential bid last year , is busy with her own Zoom calls .
“ She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both of us needed silence , so I 'm in my office , trying to talk more quietly than I normally do on my Zoom , and she 's in the other room recording a long PSA for Iowa congressional candidate J.D .
Sholten , in Spanish .
It 's happened multiple times , where we both just need quiet because we 're both doing reams of work .
So I think we ’ re both bonding in that.
” She ’ s unpacked her clothes and immediate belongings .
But elsewhere in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waiting to be opened .
“ We already know we 're not gon na get to it until after the election , ” he said .
Meetings and calls began again after breakfast : a conference call with reporters for the Biden campaign ahead of Harris ’ s debate against Vice President Mike Pence ; fundraising “ call time ” ; a Supreme Court prep call ; more pre-recorded videos .
“ In some ways , the unique circumstances of this year have enabled Sen. Booker to do more events for more candidates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a single day in August where he did a virtual tour of the country , joining six Democratic candidates for events in states ranging from Virginia , to Pennsylvania , Colorado , and Nevada .
From Booker , this is not a surprising approach .
His tendency is to meet an intense moment by redoubling his own intensity , which can overwhelm his staff and occasionally overcomplicate any given situation .
As mayor , he worked from City Hall during the day and shadowed police patrols through the night .
As senator , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of some of the stories he told on the campaign trail , he wrote a memoir in part to excavate his own life , collecting “ recorded testimony ” from various “ sources ” to corroborate his biography .

Cory Booker couldn’t sleep. “Insomnia or something,” an aide explained.
And so this Wednesday, the back-to-back Zoom marathon-slash-maelstrom that is a typical day inside the senator’s house, a multifamily home in Newark’s Central Ward that he now shares with his girlfriend, the actor and activist Rosario Dawson, began in the dark, before dawn, around 5:50 a.m. He got out of bed, padded to his office, opened his computer, and started recording videos.
There are always videos to do — a backlog of thank-you messages and prerecorded clips for different groups (the Jack and Jill South Jersey chapter, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee) whose events he can’t attend. When Booker’s digital director woke up sometime before 7 a.m., there were 15 videos in his inbox. Next: “text messages and emails, which have piled up considerably.” Next: reading for the Supreme Court hearings set to begin this month.
By then, Dawson was awake. The couple had about 20 minutes together in the kitchen. She made something to eat while Booker, a proponent of intermittent fasting, took out the blender and threw in coffee, pure cacao oil, and organic vegan ghee — his own “bulletproof coffee,” an energy-boosting keto-influencer favorite.
“Breakfast was basically sitting at the table with my cellphone — which is a bad thing to do for a relationship,” Booker said in an interview later that day.
This may be true, but could anyone blame him?
Like most of the country, Booker wasn’t even up last Friday when Trump, around 1 a.m., tweeted that he and the first lady had tested positive for COVID-19, setting off a week of chaos and confusion.
Keeping track of the days since that moment, even from the safe remove of a kitchen table, has been a bewildering exercise, with big, unbelievable developments unfolding with rapid speed in small, incremental updates, flitting casually across a screen. You open Twitter, scroll, then swipe away. You see the president, newly tanned, talking about China and Regeneron-for-all and how “perfect” he feels. By the time you learn that next week’s presidential debate will be held virtually, Donald Trump has already pulled out, and Joe Biden is planning his own televised town hall in its place. There is a vague sense at all times that, somewhere, someone new has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Perhaps you, too, are experiencing a form of “insomnia or something.” Twenty-three days from the election, it is an insane time to be a human in America. It is another kind of bizarre insanity to be experiencing the spiral of government from inside its main deliberative body in Washington, where at least three Republican senators have contracted COVID-19 while the Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continues to plow ahead with a Supreme Court nomination.
“I am literally jumping from Zoom to Zoom, to conference call, to SCOTUS prep — I mean, this is a very intense, compressed time for me,” Booker said. Usually, he would be surfing Twitter or checking push alerts from the New York Times. Now Booker’s chief of staff, Matt Klapper, has had to interrupt him during or between meetings “to let me know, ‘Hey, this colleague of yours has COVID,’” so that in his next Zoom, “people aren’t telling me the news,” he said. “It is almost comical.”
Booker, a hyperactive former mayor of Newark who is up for reelection this year in the Senate, is living a particular kind of insanity — some of it self-imposed, some not. He is running at the top of the ticket in New Jersey, where there are five competitive House races he is “really committed to helping.” He is a surrogate for Senate candidates around the country and has dedicated “chunks” of his day to virtual events for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In the Senate, he is preparing “a week of really intense hearings” for the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett. He is finding co-sponsors for new bills via text message. He is checking on friends who have contracted COVID, such as former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who has kept in touch with Booker from the hospital. “There's been a lot of false rumors out there circulating,” he said. “He is fighting through [that] as well.”
At the same time, Booker’s own campaign is negotiating the terms of a possible debate with his GOP opponent, Rik Mehta, a Trump-styled Republican who, as it turns out, was a guest at the famous Bedminster fundraiser that the president attended hours before announcing he had tested positive for the virus. (Mehta has claimed that Booker, who has never once uttered Mehta’s name aloud during his Senate reelection bid, is “ignoring” him. “I don't even know who Rick Mehta is,” the state’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, recently said.)
Also at the same time, Booker just moved in with his significant other.
This is a first for the 51-year-old. The couple has been dating since 2018 but spent most of the pandemic on separate coasts — Dawson helping take care of her father in Los Angeles, Booker doing Senate work from Newark. In late August, with her dad in tow, Dawson loaded an RV with boxes and house plants, and drove the 29-foot-long, 13-foot-tall bus across the country. She resettled her father in New York City and moved into Booker’s home in the Central Ward — a simple house, three stories of yellow-brown brick. Booker has only ever shared it with the 24-hour security detail assigned to him while he served as mayor of the city — with Newark officers occupying the second floor, and Booker living on the third.
“This is the first time in my life I've really lived with somebody — and obviously Rosario and I are enjoying and adjusting to that, right?” he said now.
Whatever “adjustment” period might normally take place during such life events has, in this household, been somewhat tabled until Election Day: “I think we both realize that this is a ‘batten-down-the-hatches,’ ‘get-to-Nov.-3’ kinda thing.”
Booker’s description of remote work, where days can seem both endless and compressed into arbitrary divisions between work and life, takes on its own frenetic pace: mornings with Dawson are short, rare, bursts together in the kitchen table; evenings are “crashing with Rosario”; small blocks of time in his daily schedule are reserved for “PERSONAL TIME.”
Dawson, a hardline progressive who backed Bernie Sanders until the bitter end of the Democratic primary in 2016 before supporting Booker in his own presidential bid last year, is busy with her own Zoom calls. “She's in the bedroom recording, but both of us needed silence, so I'm in my office, trying to talk more quietly than I normally do on my Zoom, and she's in the other room recording a long PSA for Iowa congressional candidate J.D. Sholten, in Spanish. It's happened multiple times, where we both just need quiet because we're both doing reams of work. So I think we’re both bonding in that.”
She’s unpacked her clothes and immediate belongings. But elsewhere in the house, there are still boxes waiting to be opened.
“We already know we're not gonna get to it until after the election,” he said.
Meetings and calls began again after breakfast: a conference call with reporters for the Biden campaign ahead of Harris’s debate against Vice President Mike Pence; fundraising “call time”; a Supreme Court prep call; more prerecorded videos. “In some ways, the unique circumstances of this year have enabled Sen. Booker to do more events for more candidates,” an aide said, citing a single day in August where he did a virtual tour of the country, joining six Democratic candidates for events in states ranging from Virginia to Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Nevada.
From Booker, this is not a surprising approach. His tendency is to meet an intense moment by redoubling his own intensity, which can overwhelm his staff and occasionally overcomplicate any given situation. As mayor, he worked from City Hall during the day and shadowed police patrols through the night. As senator, after reporters and critics questioned the veracity of some of the stories he told on the campaign trail, he wrote a memoir in part to excavate his own life, collecting “recorded testimony” from various “sources” to corroborate his biography.


buzzfeed--2020-10-11--"The Vampire Diaries" Stars Paul Wesley And Matthew Davis Debated Politics On Twitter And It Got Ugl


buzzfeed--2020-10-12--This Dentist Went Viral After Demonstrating How Much Toothpaste You Actually Need When Brushing

We also asked Dr. Gao if all toothpastes were essentially the same or if there is a certain type he @ @ @ @ @ like shampoo .
If you think about it as a product to clean your teeth @ @ @ @ @ your hair — then , yes , all toothpaste serves this purpose .
However , @ @ @ @ @ to treat a specific condition , such as gum disease , then certainly some types @ @ @ @ @ do so more than others by virtue of their ingredients , '' he explained .

We also asked Dr. Gao if all toothpastes were essentially the same or if there is a certain type he recommends. "Toothpaste is like shampoo. If you think about it as a product to clean your teeth — just as shampoo cleans your hair — then, yes, all toothpaste serves this purpose. However, if you’re looking to treat a specific condition, such as gum disease, then certainly some types of toothpastes are able to do so more than others by virtue of their ingredients," he explained.


buzzfeed--2020-10-12--14 People Shared Photos Of Their Bodies After Giving Birth, And It's The Definition Of Beauty And St


buzzfeed--2020-10-12--This Woman With Dyslexia Challenged People On TikTok To Read Like Her And It's Eye Opening

BuzzFeed also spoke to Lindsay , who said that whenever she posts about her dyslexia , her DMs get flooded @ @ @ @ @ she gives them hope .
`` It was clear to me that they feel how @ @ @ @ @ used to think there was no way I could be successful because I can ’ @ @ @ @ @ feel that it is important that I help them , and others , understand how @ @ @ @ @ dyslexic in our school system .
I want to shed light on how resilient and @ @ @ @ @ , '' she explained .

BuzzFeed also spoke to Lindsay, who said that whenever she posts about her dyslexia, her DMs get flooded with people telling her that she gives them hope. "It was clear to me that they feel how I used to — I used to think there was no way I could be successful because I can’t even spell. I feel that it is important that I help them, and others, understand how hard it is to be dyslexic in our school system. I want to shed light on how resilient and successful people with dyslexia are," she explained.


buzzfeed--2020-10-12--How Do You Protect Your Posture If Work Or School Keeps You At A Computer All Day?

Maybe you invested in something small but effective .
For example , a ton of Amazon reviewers swear by this @ @ @ @ @ attaches to your desk chair .
Read more : 23 Products For Anyone Whose Back @ @ @ @ @

Maybe you set quick alarms on your phone every other hour as a reminder to get up — or get out, while the weather is still nice! Or you make it a rule to walk around while taking calls.


buzzfeed--2020-10-13--This Dentist Went Viral After Demonstrating How Much Toothpaste You Actually Need When Brushing


buzzfeed--2020-10-12--26 Costco Snacks Nutritionists And Dietitians Actually Swear By

`` Choose the guac for a healthy dose of anti-inflammatory fats , or the hummus for a fiber and protein @ @ @ @ @ t go wrong with either option .
Keep both in your fridge along with ready-to-eat @ @ @ @ @ snack that will keep you satisfied until your next meal . ''
—Rachel Beller , @ @ @ @ @ of Beller Nutrition , and creator of Transformation Masterclass '' Aside from all the fresh @ @ @ @ @ I love the mini hummus and guacamole cups .
They are portioned for a snack @ @ @ @ @ ( I like the RW Garcia Lentil Crackers ) or with a bag of mini @ @ @ @ @ like that the hummus has protein and fat to keep you full , and the @ @ @ @ @ fats . ''

To help guide you through the aisles of your fave bulk store, we reached out to several nutritionists and dietitians to ask them which snacks they buy and love at Costco. Here's what they said!


buzzfeed--2020-10-12--Everything You Need To Know About Demisexuality

Demisexuals fall into the subcategory of `` graysexuals '' , or people who are on the asexuality spectrum and still @ @ @ @ @ occasions .
`` Because of that fluidity , demisexuals may engage in partnered sexual activity @ @ @ @ @ out of a desire for intimacy , rather than sexual need or desire , '' @ @ @ @ @ like any spectrum , sexual desire can vary quite a bit for both demisexuals and @ @ @

To sum up? When it comes to sexual identity and orientation, says Hall, the most supportive and inclusive thing you can do is to simply trust that people know what they want (or don’t want) in their own individual relationships.


buzzfeed--2020-10-12--Everything You Need To Know About Asexuality

Broadly speaking , an asexual ( or `` ace '' ) is someone who typically does n't experience sexual attraction @ @ @ @ @ .
Depending on the person , that might look like : • Someone who never @ @ @ @ @ ) • Someone who 's attracted to people romantically , but not sexually ( or @ @ @ @ @ likes platonic relationships ( or ) • Someone who can experience sexual arousal without wanting @ @ @ @ @ person .

Even though it's starting to show up more frequently in pop culture — like on Bojack Horseman or— not everyone knows what it means to identify as asexual.