The coronavirus whistleblower just spilled juicy details about the Trump administration’s catastrophic response

[View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter]( May 14, 2020 Hey cats and kittens, It’s Thursday, May 14, the birthday of David Byrne, who once [rode his bicycle to our New York office]( and said hello, and the day that coronavirus whistleblower Rick Bright is testifying before the Senate. We got a [sneak peek at his opening testimony]( yesterday, but this morning we saw the real thing live and in technicolor! It was [terrifying](. Last night we learned that the FBI had [executed a search warrant]( on Sen. Richard Burr in connection with the North Carolina Republican’s coronavirus-related investments. Today Burr [felt the consequences](. Here at Mother Jones, greatest magazine on Earth, we dug [into the Wuhan lab theory](, took apart [Donald Trump’s latest lie](, and, in San Francisco, asked if the city would ever address its [homelessness problem](. Godspeed! —Ben Dreyfuss [HarperOne]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [Whistleblower Rick Bright Details Failure to Act on Mask Shortages]( "I'll never forget…" BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG [Trending] [Amid an insider trading probe, Burr steps down as Intelligence Committee chair.]( [A Honduran man has died of COVID-19 after leaving an ICE jail plagued by the virus.]( ["Obamagate" is Trump's latest lie to smear Joe Biden.]( [The non-paranoid person's guide to viruses escaping from labs]( [HarperOne]( [The Big Feature] [Special Feature]( [If a Pandemic Can't Force San Francisco to Reckon With Homelessness, Nothing Can]( "You have the makings of a catastrophe." BY JULIA LURIE [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( [Recharge] SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE 20,000 Kids Have Learned Hip-Hop From One Revolutionary Network. Today’s Plague Won’t Stop It Either. Turning a pandemic into an opportunity for educational and artistic empowerment is what [Khafre Jay]( lives for, and his celebrated Hip Hop for Change network isn’t about to let today’s crisis ([just the latest]() short-circuit its mission. Before this pandemic, his grassroots group worked in schools and on the ground, teaching more than 20,000 kids the hopeful messages and inspiring beats of hip-hop as a human rights movement. Plague be damned, Jay is finding fresh ways to adapt: hosting a weekly Zoom for kids and teachers, sharing grant applications with unemployed artists, producing homemade hip-hop videos, and keeping people alive—[HipHopForChange.org]( has a directory of resources for kids to get food, rent, utilities, and health care. “We’re always thinking of how to take care of our staff, our people, our folks,” he tells me, including an [emergency fundraiser]( for artist-educators who’ve lost their jobs. His group just scored two grants, one to provide free programming to all public libraries in Oakland and the other for an environmental justice summit. “We’re bringing environmental and hip-hop people together who don’t normally get to rock out. It’s amazing to think that we’ve taught more than 22,000 kids. When you create hip-hop curriculum, kids are gonna ask you for it! These kids are starving for any kind of culturally relevant pedagogy. They want enrichment.” Hip Hop for Change also hosts women’s empowerment summits, after-school classes, and mentor workshops. But the funding isn’t stable. “We’re investing in a nonviolent movement of resilience. I want to get people trained up like Medgar Evers trained up his folks, to expand where kids don’t have stable access to hip-hop expression, to further babies knowing they’re beautiful.” Let [Jay know]( you [hear him](, check out [HipHopForChange.org](, and let me know how you think hip-hop can rally kids today at recharge@motherjones.com. —Daniel King Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755