Zoom Conference Call for Delaware Black-Owned Businesses Interrupted by Hackers Spewing Racist Rhetoric and Pornography

It seems as if nothing is truly safe online. A Zoom conference call that was set up by the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus last week was interrupted by hackers who forced their way in with racist language, Nazi imagery, and graphic pornography, according to Delaware Online.

Last Wednesday, the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus arranged a virtual conference event that was going to focus on helping black-owned businesses and organizations receive federal money. In an unexpected move, the Zoom-hosted call was taken over by a hacker who gained control and displayed a racial slur and porn.

The Zoom virtual “meeting” was an informal panel of eight state lawmakers, a few members of Congress, and several other officials. The meeting was a virtual information session to encourage African American businesses, churches, and not for profits to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program, a $349 billion program that the federal government launched to help small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly an hour into the Zoom conference call, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester is heard speaking about “the equity of this whole process” when the screen goes black and she disappears. The video screen stays black for about 2 minutes as participants continue meeting. Then, a white cursor appears on the black screen. A scribbling of the N-word in red appears across the screen, along with a drawing of a swastika.

“So I see someone has joined,” said Blunt Rochester, when she appeared back on the screen. “And you know what, we rebuke hate. We know that this—there’s a bigger plan here, and it’s all about love and caring for each other as a part of a large community. And so I am so grateful, I’m grateful for everybody that’s on this call. Because we know that that’s really what these times are showing us. It’s calling out who we really are. It’s not about who we say we want to be.”

Without skipping a beat, Blunt Rochester says, “So don’t worry folks, we’re going to be together in it, and we’re going to continue to work together. Stay strong, and thank you so much. And don’t forget the Census!”

The meeting was apparently a victim of “Zoom-bombing,” in which people crash public meetings with obscenities, racial slurs, or hate speech.

from Black Enterprise https://ift.tt/2WxELc8

US shelves detailed guide to reopening country

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A document created by the nation’s top disease investigators with step-by-step advice to local authorities on how and when to reopen restaurants and other public places during the still-raging outbreak has been shelved by the Trump administration.

The 17-page report by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team, titled “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,” was researched and written to help faith leaders, business owners, educators and state and local officials as they begin to reopen.

It was supposed to be published last Friday, but agency scientists were told the guidance “would never see the light of day,” according to a CDC official. The official was not authorized to talk to reporters and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

The AP obtained a copy from a second federal official who was not authorized to release it. The guidance was described in AP stories last week, prior to the White House decision to shelve it.

READ MORE: Racial toll of virus grows even starker as more data emerges

The Trump administration has been closely controlling the release of guidance and information during the pandemic spurred by a new coronavirus that scientists are still trying to understand, with the president himself leading freewheeling daily briefings until last week.

Traditionally, it’s been the CDC’s role to give the public and local officials guidance and science-based information during public health crises. During this one, however, the CDC has not had a regular, pandemic-related news briefing in nearly two months. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield has been a member of the White House coronavirus task force, but largely absent from public appearances.

Dr. Anthony Fauci (R), director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, while flanked by President Donald Trump during the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Brady Briefing room at the White House on March 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The dearth of real-time, public information from the nation’s experts has struck many current and former government health officials as dangerous.

“CDC has always been the public health agency Americans turn to in a time of crisis,” said Dr. Howard Koh, a Harvard professor and former health official in the Obama administration during the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009. “The standard in a crisis is to turn to them for the latest data and latest guidance and the latest press briefing. That has not occurred, and everyone sees that.”

The Trump administration has instead sought to put the onus on states to handle COVID-19 response. This approach to managing the pandemic has been reflected in President Donald Trump’s public statements, from the assertion that he isn’t responsible for the country’s lackluster early testing efforts, to his description last week of the federal government’s role as a “supplier of last resort” for states in need of testing aid.

White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany echoed that at a briefing Wednesday: “We’ve consulted individually with states, but as I said, it’s (a) governor-led effort. It’s a state-led effort on … which the federal government will consult. And we do so each and every day.”

The rejected reopening guidance was described by one of the federal officials as a touchstone document that was to be used as a blueprint for other groups inside the CDC who are creating the same type of instructional materials for other facilities.

READ MORE: Meat workers may defy Trump’s order to keep plants open

The guidance contained detailed advice for making site-specific decisions related to reopening schools, restaurants, summer camps, churches, day care centers and other institutions. It had been widely shared within the CDC and included detailed “decision trees,” flow charts to be used by local officials to think through different scenarios. One page of the document can be found on the CDC website via search engines, but it did not appear to be linked to any other CDC pages.

Some of the report’s suggestions already appear on federal websites. But the guidance offered specific, tailored recommendations for reopening in one place.

For example, the report suggested restaurants and bars should install sneeze guards at cash registers and avoid having buffets, salad bars and drink stations. Similar tips appear on the CDC’s site and a Food and Drug Administration page.

But the shelved report also said that as restaurants start seating diners again, they should space tables at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart and try to use phone app technology to alert a patron when their table is ready to avoid touching and use of buzzers. That’s not on the CDC’s site now.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the press briefing room with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force April 3, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Trump announced that Americans in virus hot spots should wear a mask when out in public as the death rate caused by coronavirus has nearly doubled in three days in New York City while the nation continues to reel from the impacts of COVID-19. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“You can say that restaurants can open and you need to follow social distancing guidelines. But restaurants want to know, ‘What does that look like?’ States would like more guidance,” said Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

The White House’s own “Opening Up America Again” guidelines released last month were more vague than the CDC’s unpublished report. They instructed state and local governments to reopen in accordance with federal and local “regulations and guidance” and to monitor employees for symptoms of COVID-19. The White House guidance also included advice developed earlier in the pandemic that remains important like social distancing and encouraging working from home.

A person close to the White House’s coronavirus task force said the CDC documents were never cleared by CDC leadership for public release. The person said that White House officials have refrained from offering detailed guidance for how specific sectors should reopen because the virus is affecting various parts of the country differently. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The CDC is hearing daily from state and county health departments looking for scientifically valid information with which to make informed decisions.

Still, behind the scenes, CDC scientists like those who produced the guidance for “Opening Up America Again″ are working to get information to local governments. The agency still employs hundreds of the world’s most respected epidemiologists and doctors, who in times of crisis are looked to for their expertise, said former CDC director Tom Frieden. People have clicked on the CDC’s coronavirus website more than 1.2 billion times.

States that directly reach out to the CDC can tap guidance that’s been prepared but that the White House has not released.

“I don’t think that any state feels that the CDC is deficient. It’s just the process of getting stuff out,” Plescia said.

___

Stobbe reported from New York. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

___

The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The post US shelves detailed guide to reopening country appeared first on TheGrio.

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Zoom Conference Call for Delaware Black-Owned Businesses Interrupted by Hackers Spewing Racist Rhetoric and Pornography

It seems as if nothing is truly safe online. A Zoom conference call that was set up by the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus last week was interrupted by hackers who forced their way in with racist language, Nazi imagery, and graphic pornography, according to Delaware Online.

Last Wednesday, the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus arranged a virtual conference event that was going to focus on helping black-owned businesses and organizations receive federal money. In an unexpected move, the Zoom-hosted call was taken over by a hacker who gained control and displayed a racial slur and porn.

The Zoom virtual “meeting” was an informal panel of eight state lawmakers, a few members of Congress, and several other officials. The meeting was a virtual information session to encourage African American businesses, churches, and not for profits to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program, a $349 billion program that the federal government launched to help small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly an hour into the Zoom conference call, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester is heard speaking about “the equity of this whole process” when the screen goes black and she disappears. The video screen stays black for about 2 minutes as participants continue meeting. Then, a white cursor appears on the black screen. A scribbling of the N-word in red appears across the screen, along with a drawing of a swastika.

“So I see someone has joined,” said Blunt Rochester, when she appeared back on the screen. “And you know what, we rebuke hate. We know that this—there’s a bigger plan here, and it’s all about love and caring for each other as a part of a large community. And so I am so grateful, I’m grateful for everybody that’s on this call. Because we know that that’s really what these times are showing us. It’s calling out who we really are. It’s not about who we say we want to be.”

Without skipping a beat, Blunt Rochester says, “So don’t worry folks, we’re going to be together in it, and we’re going to continue to work together. Stay strong, and thank you so much. And don’t forget the Census!”

The meeting was apparently a victim of “Zoom-bombing,” in which people crash public meetings with obscenities, racial slurs, or hate speech.

from Black Enterprise https://ift.tt/2WxELc8

Misty Copeland Launching Virtual Ballet Performance to Benefit Dancers Affected by COVID-19

American Ballet Theatre (ABT) Principal Dancer Misty Copeland is creating a special dance performance aimed at providing funds for professional ballet dancers worldwide to maintain living expenses amidst COVID-19.

Read more...

from The Root https://ift.tt/2yB5gFG

Michigan Security Guard Killed Over Face Mask Argument Honored as Parent of the Year

The Michigan security guard who was killed after refusing to allow a customer to enter the Family Dollar where he worked was recently named parent of the year at Madison Academy in Burton, according to ABC News.

Calvin Munerlyn, 43, died last week after he was shot while working as a security guard at Family Dollar in Flint.

“When we need something, we are going to call ‘Duper.’ When we need somebody to do security at graduation, we need somebody to come up fix his famous oodles, so he would come up during lunch and fix those. Fundraisers, whatever it is that we need, Mr. Munerlyn was there for the kids,” Madison Academy Principal Christel Drew told ABC 12 News.

“We have four of their children here, two of their other children graduated from Madison Academy, so the Munerlyns are our family,” said Drew, who added that the award would be renamed the “Super Duper” parent award in Calvin Murelyn’s honor. 

On Friday, Murelyn told  Sharmel Teague’s daughter she couldn’t enter the store because she lacked a face mask, according to Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton. Before leaving, Teague, 45, got into a heated argument and spat on Murelyn. Shortly after, two men entered.

Teague, her 44-year-old husband, Larry, 44, and Ramonyea Bishop, 23 were charged with first-degree premeditated murder and gun charges. Larry Teague is also charged with violating Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order mandating that all customers and employees must wear face coverings inside grocery stores, Leyton said. In most states, a face mask is required to enter a store to try to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Leyton announced charges against three suspects in Munerlyn’s shooting on Monday. Two of them, 44-year-old Larry Edward Teague and 23-year-old Ramonyea Bishop, remain at large.

“It is important that the governor’s order be respected and adhered to, and for someone to lose their life over it is beyond comprehension,” Leyton said in a statement.

As of Monday, Michigan has a reported 43,754 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 4,049 deaths due to complications from the coronvavirus.

“The hostile tone that we have seen in recent days on television and in social media can permeate our society in ways we sometimes don’t fully realize or anticipate,” Leyton told reporters Monday. “Decisions like staying home when we can, wearing a mask when going to the store, and staying a safe distance from those around us—these should not be political arguments. They don’t necessitate acts of defiance, and we simply cannot devolve into an us versus them mentality.”

Munerlyn’s mother, Bernadett, said she wants justice for her son.Ho

“They didn’t have to take my baby and it wasn’t that serious,” she said during a candlelight vigil. “All you people just have to do is listen to the law, listen to the governor. Just stay home. If you don’t have to come out, then you wouldn’t need a mask unless you’re out getting groceries or necessities. All my baby was doing was his job.”

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