#corcrafting

[cor-lapis-candy]

Imma just leave this here and let y'all run with it cause I'm haven ideas...

[gettothestabbing]

Don’t get the idea that the FDA is throwing all caution to the winds by letting people make their own hand sanitizer. Or freely empowering businesses to just go ahead and mix alcohol with aloe.

The FDA's permissiveness for making hand sanitizer is limited to "State-licensed pharmacies or Federal facilities." And it's not providing permission, per se, but announcing that it "does not intend to take action against compounders that prepare alcohol-based hand sanitizers for consumer use for the duration of the public health emergency." How magnanimous of the bureaucracy.

That’s understandable since the FDA recipe for hand sanitizer does list such exotic and formidable ingredients as “alcohol”, “glycerol”, “hydrogen peroxide”, and “water”.

What else? No that’s it.

[underground-hip-hop-affiliated]

B.A Badd X Corcraft  (prod. by @prodKill1)

[pregnantseinfeld]

I'm hearing from a close friend that NY state employees are being made to take and sign for a mask and hand sanitizer. This is mandatory even if they can provide their own. This might sound like a good thing, but you may recall a story from early March about NYS Clean Hand Sanitizer producing 100,000 gallons a week to fight price gouging.

Being made through prison labor.

Corcraft, the division of NY department of corrections in charge of production, pays an average ¢65 an hour. But some make as low as ¢16. According to a gothamist article on NY prison labor, pay hasn't risen since 1993.

Quoting the same article: "Governor Andrew Cuomo has the power to raise prisoners’ wages, either through executive action or the budget process."

Another article found NY prisoners were not allowed hand sanitizer because of it's alcohol content.

And here's recent data putting number of confirmed cases of NY inmates at 471, and inmate deaths at 16. With both number still on the rise.

So I hope you can understand our concern that state employees are having it pushed on them despite moral objections. Though we can't speak on behalf of all state departments of course.

We don't want the products of slave labor. Especially now, as they are being left to die.

[paoloxl]

Mentre le carceri italiane sono in rivolta, con dodici detenuti uccisi, negli Stati Uniti hanno pensato ad un utilizzo alternativo per i prigionieri: produrranno igienizzanti per lo Stato senza poterli utilizzare.

A New York, nonostante l’epidemia di Covid 19 sia ancora agli inizi, gli igienizzanti per le mani (come l’Amuchina) sono già introvabili in negozi, farmacie e online. Per ovviare a questo problema e disincentivarne la vendita sottobanco a prezzi gonfiati, il governatore Cuomo ha deciso di commissionarne la produzione a una controllata statale (Corcraft) in grado di produrne fino a 100,000 galloni al giorno. “I nostri prodotti sono più convenienti rispetto a quelli presenti sul mercato” si è vantato durante la conferenza stampa dello scorso 9 marzo (qua il video) “e hanno una qualità migliore”.

Il perché del prezzo è presto spiegato: a produrre l’igienizzante saranno i detenuti del penitenziario di Central Meadow, per un salario che varia tra i 30 centesimi e 1 dollaro l’ora. Il tredicesimo emendamento alla costituzione americana abolì infatti la schiavitù e i lavori forzati, ad eccezione che per i responsabili di determinati crimini. Questa modalità di lavoro, senza alcun tipo di tutela e con salari irrisori, è stata oggetto di aspre lotte da parte dei detenuti, con due scioperi negli anni passati che però non hanno sfondato il muro di gomma del complesso carcerario industriale.

I carcerati, oltre alle terribili condizioni di lavoro e alla paga irrisoria, non potranno neppure utilizzare l’igienizzante prodotto, perché’ a causa dell’elevato contenuto di alcool (75%) rientra tra i beni non ammessi all’interno del penitenziario. Insomma, che si ammalino pure ma solo dopo avere prodotto abbastanza igienizzante per il commercio esterno.

Ma la perversione del potere nei confronti dei detenuti non si ferma certo alla produzione di disinfettante in condizioni di schiavitù. I piani straordinari della municipalità di New York in caso di calamità naturali e pandemie, messi a punto nel 2008, prevedono che in caso di saturazione del sistema cittadino di smaltimento di corpi i detenuti del carcere di Rikers Island saranno impiegati per scavare le fosse comuni. Del resto in tali situazioni l’esercito più potente del mondo sarà impegnato a lanciare missili nucleari contro i tornado e a difendere negozi e supermercati da folle di cittadini affamati

Insomma, tra paradossi e meschinità, il carcere continua a essere uno dei principali terreni di sperimentazione del potere statale.

Da New York

Lorenzo

Redazione pisana Lotta Continua

[dmcreativestudio]

Cameron Rowland - Attica Series Desk

The Attica Series Desk is manufactured by prisoners in Attica Correctional Facility. Prisoners seized control of the D-Yard in Attica from September 9th to 13th 1971. Following the inmates’ immediate demands for amnesty, the first in their list of practical proposals was to extend the enforcement of “the New York State minimum wage law to prison industries.” Inmates working in New York State prisons are currently paid $0.10 to $1.14 an hour. Inmates in Attica produce furniture for government offices throughout the state. This component of govern - ment administration depends on inmate labor. Rental at cost: Artworks indicated as “Rental at cost” are not sold. Each of these artworks may be rented for 5 years for the total cost of the Corcraft products that constitute it.

[cloudtales]

A New York state university asked to cut ties with prison slavery

A New York state university asked to cut ties with prison slavery

Like many other U.S. states, New York requires government agencies to treat Corcraft, a state-owned prison company, as a “preferred source” for products. Corcraft produces a range of institutional products, from office furniture to soap dispensers using incarcerated labor. Among other state entities, schools such as City University of New York (CUNY), are required to use Corcraft furniture. In…

[worklabournewsresearch]

COVID-19 Affects California’s Inmate Firefighting Teams

“State prisoners are providing a key source of labor on the out-of-control Creek Fire in Fresno and Madera counties, as well as dozens of other fires around the state. Inmate ‘hand crews’ have for decades been used to fight California’s wildfires, but, lately, they’ve become controversial as the nation debates criminal justice reforms.”

“This summer, the inmate fire camp population is even smaller because of COVID-19. Gov. Gavin Newsom has been steadily shrinking the size of the prison population to reduce the spread of the disease inside the state’s prisons. The majority of releases were of people whose terms were already ending, though the state also expedited the release of inmates who were near the end of their sentence. The prison system also suspended intake from county jails, contributing to the decreased number of people held by the state.”

“That’s lead to even fewer inmates inside the fire camps. As of last week, there were only 1,969 inmates based out of the fire camps, 831 fewer than last year. Fire officials acknowledge the lack of inmate labor creates a labor shortage, so they’ve requested hand crew teams from out of state to help pick up the slack.”

Fresno Bee, September 9, 2020: “California prison camp inmates battle Creek Fire. Dangerous job pays a few dollars a day,” by Ryan Sabalow

NY Times, August 22, 2020: “Coronavirus Limits California’s Efforts to Fight Fires with Prison Labor,” by Thomas Fuller

COVID-19 and Prison Labor at large

“Under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, states are turning to prisoners for support. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on March 9 that the state prison system’s industrial arm, Corcraft, would help produce hand sanitizer. Other states followed. Incarcerated populations were put to work washing potentially contaminated hospital laundry; manufacturing protective equipment; disinfecting cleaning supplies; and digging mass graves. To date, nearly every state in the U.S. has announced that its incarcerated populations are contributing labor to the pandemic response.”

“Dependence on incarcerated workers in times of disasters is embedded throughout emergency management policy and practice at the local, state and federal levels. But that dependence may now be putting these prisoners at risk of illness or even death.”

“States and the federal government look to incarcerated populations to supply labor at a reduced cost, even as it may subject them to risk of harm and even death. The most visible example of this are the incarcerated who volunteer to fight fires. These firefighters in California are more likely to experience certain injuries, including fractures and dislocations, as well as inhalation of smoke and particulates, when compared to civilian firefighters.”

“Every day, the number of incarcerated persons and prison workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 grows.”

The Conversation, April 21, 2020: “States are putting prisoners to work manufacturing coronavirus supplies,” by J Carlee Purdum

Prison Policy Initiative, Updated September 11, 2020: Report on the Justice System Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Marshall Project, Updated September 18, 2020: “A State-by-State Look at Coronavirus in Prisons”

[anakbayanqueensny]

Break the Myth on COVID-19 [PART 1] . Queens, New York - Anakbayan Queens NY (ABQNY) urges the community to stay vigilant and calm as the fear of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) heightens. Break the myth on COVID-19 with up to date information by experts and researchers, facts, and due diligence for our communities. As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) “the novel coronavirus causes respiratory illness (like the flu) with symptoms such as a cough, fever and in more severe cases, pneumonia. The new coronavirus spreads primarily through contact with an infected person when they cough or sneeze, or through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose. You can protect yourself by washing your hands frequently and avoiding touching your face.” . 1. On Lack of Supplies - Due to the pandemic of COVID-19 (which “relates to geographic spread and is used to describe a disease that affects a whole country or the entire world”), there has been a gouging of prices on basic health commodities and rampant panic buying that is drying out supplies. The elderly and immunosuppressant are the most vulnerable with the least access to meet their basic needs. . 2. The Exploits of Prison Labor - There is exploitative use of prison labor to make [alternative] hand sanitizer as “Corcraft pays its workers an average of 65 cents per hour and as little as 16 cents per hour.” Workers and other incarcerated people are not being given information about the virus, their bodies and labor being further commodified by the rotten U.S. prison system. . 3. Workers at the Forefront - We see that the workers (such as nurses, doctors, medical providers, MTA subway workers) are being overworked amid the growing tensions and new protocol implementations. We as ABQNY uplift and stand in solidarity with the health workers that continue to aid any and all patients, the restaurants and service workers that continue to give care, and time to our communities, and much more. . #COVID19 #AnakbayanQueens #CommunityCare #QueensNYC #Makibaka #HuwagMatakot https://www.instagram.com/p/B9sJ3MTgMF1/?igshid=1o1eok7msnpcc

[cor-lapis-candy]

Mmm who else wants to think about perhaps a demon playing priest in a church, mayyybe even with Pantalone being said demon?? And playing said role, instead of joining the harbingers he takes to the church and enjoys the benefits of luring people under his control and wasting them away...

Haa, I just wanna think about him with like a long thin tail and swooping horns okay? And what better place then in a church to put a demon!

This is fully GN or I am pretty sure it is (feel free to correct me, and very obviously religious themed so if you're not down to clown in the priests gown this may not be for you!

He was the preacher, a man on the most holy soapbox calling to save the many that would listen, a true Reverand so the people whispered, the last person you would have thought to be a liar, a sinner, a soul burned in damnation and a thing with fingers dipped black in corruption. Yet here you are, pressed to the central altar, his human glamour cast aside and forgotten as his whip-thin tail curls around your wrists, a once soothing voice rumbling with menace as you try to tug it away, anything to give you room away from this thing.

But that's not how this starts, no. This starts with an offer, a suggestion, it starts with bait.

Your family, oh so new in the capital, called into his halls, offered into listening to the voices of his congregation and how they sing praises to the Tsaritsa, and hymns for the cryo archon, and yet there is one voice that carries the whole crowd. The preacher, a man of smiles and softly falling curled black hair, his robes pressed perfectly and a rosary hanging from his gloved fingers as he walks the rows, voices raising as he passes each pew, each line of people, true devotion made into form and yet when he passes your family, the silent ones amongst so many eager parish members.

"You are always welcome here, I am one of the few always on the grounds. I have nothing but time to spare for my dear lambs, we'll have you singing with us yet..."

He had been swift in pulling you from your family, offering an ear to voice what must be troubling you as you had been so quiet, almost silent in the songs he knew you would know, and offering teaching you how to sing the if you lacked the knowledge.

Always with gentle hands too warm for the chill of the eternal winter.

Those words should have been enough to keep you just cautious enough to stay away from the private lessons, but something in how he spoke made the offer too good to pass over. Thus you were always there, after services, helping, cleaning, singing, ignoring how Pantalone's hands felt pressed against your shoulders as he stood behind you, 'to keep you standing straight' was the reason you had been given.

But each lesson was bleeding further and further away from holy worship, where they had once started as help to light the candles now were spent on your knees before the central altar, hands clasped together, bound in Pantalone's rosary as he wanders the pews tending to those that linger, casting off curiosity with whispers of seeking penitence, emptying the hall before his own hands come to rest over your own, broad chest pressed to your back.

A position you would never think a preacher to take, not so casually.

You could feel the warmth of him seep into you, and yet you still shiver, voice silenced as he hums, a familiar song the same one he had been making you sing day in day out, words woven together in the old tongue, the meaning lost to you, never explained even as you had once begged for in the beginning. You had learned that day, when you had whined for the meaning and his hands had come to cup your face, drawing you close and smiling as you flushed, cooing about sins and attending a confession for the sheer greed for knowledge you had shown.

You would wait till the humming became more pronounced before you joined in, everything so learned and perfected, not a single move out of time, not a single thought of how the candles that had been lit were now so dimmed, no flickering light to cast shadows against the walls, only the feeling of the beads weaving around your fingers and the warmth of Pantalone at your back, or they had been.

Soon the beads are being unwound, placed on the altar as wide palms encircle your waist.

"You are so devoted, so easy to lead and so eager to follow, aren't you? But I wonder if the lamb at my alter is as pure as they seem, unfaltering in the face of sin, ready and strong against all that could damn them..."

"I-"

"Shhh, shh, no words little one, just shh. We will test your voice, your faith, and your dedication to me and our archon divine."

"Reverand?"

You catch it out of the corner of your eye, the shift but it is too late, the once gloved hands were now digging into your waist tipped in black nails, no black claws, fingers just as dark as the gloves he had once worn, they flex and tear into the clothes you had worn to the service.

"Oh no little lamb, you know what comes now, what you must do... But once I'm done, there will be no holy man, nor Acrchon strong enough to save you."

The weight of the man, no, the thing behind you keeps you pinned, knees boxed in by its own, chest pressed to the lip of the altar as it further bends into your space. From the corner of your eye, you can see it, the once welcoming face of the Reverand now morphed, soft black curls hiding the flick and curl of horns, once warm eyes nothing more than ash grey things staring you down.

"Now, now that's no way to look at your Shepard, all I wished for is to guide you and you were so eager for it. Now lest your voice fail you, there is singing to be done, hmm"

No matter the strength you may have had, there was no getting away from this thing that wore the face of the Reverand, mind denying the very idea of it being the same person, but when you push away his thin black tail wraps tighter around your wrists, keeping you pinned with only its tight coil. One of the clawed hands that were still at your waist is quick to move upwards, wrapping around your throat, pressing lightly and making the world spin, your head tipping back against the broad chest behind you.

"That's it, relax little one, I know, I know it's all so scary, but you sing so sweetly for me, now let me guide you once more. After all, I still have so much yet to teach you..."

Even as his grip eases, the hand around your throat holds steady, keeping you bent in an awkward position before the world tilts again and your pressed face down on the altar. Body pinned by strong hands, one on your neck and the other your hip, the tail that had held your wrist slipping away, somewhere unseen.

A voice in the back of your head whispers of dreams, and falsehoods, yet that voice still sounds so much like the thing behind you, so much like him, Pantalone. Who would begrudge you if you listened? If you gave in and let the thing, the man that had lead you so far lead you further?

Even if he was leading you down into the abyss with him and his honeyed words, who could ever think to condemn you if they could not see you, not a single witness to the way you shudder and whine as sharp teeth dig into you neck, as bruises bloom an clothes are shed, as the purity of this churches alter is stained with tears and cum.

Not a single member of the parish would ever see who you bend and buck into the press of their beloved preachers cock, you were his lamb, his lost soul to guide, and if anyone ever thought to ask him of you it would be nothing but a soft smile and penitent words on the sins you were working to repent for. Who would ever come to look behind his stand to the small room tucked away just for him to look for little old you, his dear sweet lamb...

[jeramymobley]

Coronavirus: Brand Moves for Tuesday March 10

In a fast-moving global crisis such as the current coronavirus outbreak, brands have an important role to play. Staying true to their ambition creates a perception of integrity. Reputations can be made by activating brand purpose during a crisis – and just as quickly lost by perceived opportunism. Moves that create value for communities, customers and employees are both bold and smart. Bold, because they may come at a short term cost to profit or margin. A tough call – but consider the cost of a damaged reputation.

Here is a set of topical snapshots of how some notable brands are tackling this challenge successfully.

Pharmacy, Health & Beauty

US Pharmacy and health chain CVS have waived fees for home delivery of prescription medications so that patients can avoid coming to the pharmacy for refills or new prescriptions. In addition to all COVID-19 diagnostic testing and all telemedicine visits being available with no co-pay, Aetna, a CVS Health company, now offer 90-day maintenance medication prescriptions for insured and Medicare members. Aetna will also waive early refill limits on 30-day prescription maintenance medications for all members administered through CVS Caremark.

British ethical beauty retailer Lush is encouraging people to wash their hands for free in its stores, in a bid to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The UK government has flagged hand washing as an effective way to stop the coronavirus and other illnesses spreading. Lush is badging the offer as a public service via posters displayed in store windows. “The simplest thing you can do to not get a virus is to regularly wash your hands,” said Lush’s chief executive, Mark Constantine. “So we’re saying people can come in off the street and wash their hands in our place. We’ve got loads of soap and plenty of hot water. If people just get into the habit of washing their hands properly, it will make a dramatic difference to public health.”

“NYS Clean” is New York State’s response to hand sanitizer shortages throughout the state and price gouging online in light of the coronavirus outbreak. The product is made up of 75 per cent alcohol – 5 per cent more ethanol than Purell– and the bottle is cheaper than similar brand-name products on New York shelves. “NYS Clean” is probably so budget-friendly due to being manufactured by prison inmates via Corcraft, the Division of Correctional Industries’ brand.

Technology

Despite an ongoing and not entirely successful battle to tackle fake news and misleading posts about the virus, Facebook has attempted to take at least some moral high ground by giving the World Health Organization free ads on its platform, and offering to continue paying hourly workers if they can’t work remotely – a promise matched by several other tech firms. It has also canceled several major events and closed its Seattle office after a contractor there tested positive.

WhatsApp has launched a collaboration with Singapore’s minister of health that allows people to get updates on coronavirus via text. (The country has also been dealing with virus-related misinformation on the platform, including about supposed deaths in Singapore that actually haven’t happened.) The partnership started last month, and a WhatsApp spokesperson said hundreds of thousands of people in Singapore have so far signed up for the service. Now, WhatsApp is in talks with health ministries in 15 other countries, and the spokesperson said the company expects to launch additional partnerships as early as this week. WhatsApp has even created in-app stickers meant to reinforce good hygiene.

Cloudflare is offering its Cloudflare for Teams, a suite of security tools, to small businesses affected by the coronavirus free for six months. It’s also helped launch an industry effort, called OpenforBusiness.org, to support small companies. Other remote conferencing solutions such as Zoom, Google Hangouts and Webex are also benefiting from the widespread move towards employees working from home; several are now offering free or reduced deals.

Apple has been sending care packages to employees quarantined in Wenzhou and Hubei. The packages contain food, sanitisers and face masks, according to a post on Chinese social media site Weibo, and include an iPad to “facilitate children’s online learning or help pass the time during the prolonged stay at home”, as stated by a letter from Apple enclosed in each parcel. The letter also acknowledges the mental strain employees may be suffering due to their protracted isolation by offering (presumably remote) counselling services while China’s lockdown continues. Meanwhile, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has offered employees at most of its global offices the ability to work from home and called the coronavirus outbreak an “unprecedented event” and a “challenging moment.” Cook told employees at several global offices to “please feel free to work remotely if your job allows”. Beyond encouraging work from home, Cook said Apple is “making a major effort to reduce human density and ensure those teams that are on-site can do their work safely and with peace of mind.”

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have shown a marked difference in opinion on the virus. “In the past week, COVID-19 has started to behave a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about,” wrote Gates on his blog. “I hope it’s not that bad, but we should assume that it will be until we know otherwise.” Meanwhile Musk tweeted curtly: “The coronavirus panic is dumb”. While Musk’s often divisive views don’t seem to impact the image of his brands Tesla and SpaceX, it’s a stark contrast.

Film, TV & Streaming

Chinese film distributor Huanxi has decided to release its much-anticipated comedy tentpole movie Lost in Russia online for free. Lost in Russia, directed by and starring comedy superstar Xu Zheng, was widely expected to be one of the big winners of China’s 2020 New Year box office, which, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, had been forecast to generate as much as $1 billion in ticket sales over the coming week. Huanxi told the anxious Chinese populace to “stay safely at home and watch Lost in Russia with your mom.” Aside from the obvious promotional impact, and public health benefits, Huanxi’s move has an interesting business logic. Underlying the plan is a surprise new deal with internet powerhouse ByteDance, the company behind China’s wildly popular Toutiao and Douyin services and international social media phenomenon TikTok.

Meanwhile, John Stankey, AT&T’s chief operating officer and president, this week acknowledged his TV business could see a boost. “Maybe if a few more people are going to be staying home, they might find more utility in watching TV for a period of time here that might help us in the short term,” Stankey said. AT&T is launching its HBO Max streaming service in May.

In China, Nike Training Club partnered with Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to stage a live-streamed workout event for those who can’t access gyms or workout facilities. The event encouraged people to keep active and focus on their health during the crisis, by providing them with workout routines designed to strengthen their muscles, and in turn, their immune system.

Hospitality & Grocery

Starbucks, unusually in the hospitality sector, offers paid sick leave for its employees. Many companies, however, don’t. But another chain, Darden Restaurants, has said it is now providing paid sick leave for hourly workers across all of its chains, which include Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse. Employees will accrue one hour of sick leave for every 30 worked, and the pay rate will be based on the worker’s 13-week average. The company said it has been working on the policy for a while, but sped up the process due to the outbreak.

Meanwhile grocery chain Trader Joe’s is allowing sick workers to get reimbursed for their time off, in an effort to fight the coronavirus outbreak. The retailer is encouraging employees who have symptoms or do not feel well to stay home until they have been symptom-free for at least 24 hours.

Delivery & ride-hailing

There has been widespread concern about the lack of sick pay for “gig economy” workers for such brands as Uber Eats and Grubhub, raising the spectre of infected workers cooking, packaging and delivering food because they can’t afford to take unpaid leave.

However, US ride-hailing and food delivery companies including DoorDash and Instacart are apparently “in discussions” to compensate drivers and delivery personnel affected by the novel coronavirus. Ubersaid on Saturday it will offer compensation to drivers and delivery people diagnosed with the coronavirus or placed in quarantine for up to 14 days, and a Lyft spokeswoman said the company has decided to provide funds to drivers infected or quarantined by a public health authority.

Airlines & Travel

Many airlines are now offering waivers or refunds for travellers wishing to change or cancel flights – but terms and conditions are often restrictive and usually exclude flights purchased before coronavirus concerns surfaced in late February or early March. There have also been environmental concerns over “ghost flights” – empty planes flown purely to keep valuable airport slots open thanks to aviation regulations. However, the European Commission seems likely to relax these rules shortly.

British budget airline EasyJet, which has cancelled a number of flights to Italy, has put employees on unpaid leave, halted promotions and recruitment and paused non-mandatory training programs. Emirates, too, has asked staff to take up to a month of unpaid leave.

Qantas, however, has reduced its international flying capacity by a quarter for the next six months and chief executive, Alan Joyce – Australia’s highest paid executive, who took home nearly $24m in 2018 – will take no salary this financial year. Annual management bonuses have also been scrapped, and the chairman and board will take no, or significantly reduced, fees.

With two virus outbreaks on cruise ships hitting the headlines, that industry has been badly hit – but Carnival Cruise Line is trying to fight back by offering guests that don’t reschedule their trips shipboard credits valued at $100 per cabin on three- and four-day cruises, $150 per cabin on five-day cruises and $200 per cabin for cruises set for six days (or longer). Carnival is also allowing guests scheduled on trips between March 9 and 31 to move their bookings up to three days before their departure date.

Trip.com, China’s largest online travel platform, is feeling so much pain from the coronavirus outbreak that CEO Jane Sun and chairman James Liang will stop taking salaries to help the company cope with losses. Trip owns and operates Ctrip and Skyscanner.

Luxury & Fashion

While fashion shows have been cancelled and much of the largely Milan-based industry is in lockdown, international brands across the luxury sector have been  giving money to charities and local Chinese governments in a bid to battle the coronavirus – with more than $2.88bn already donated by businesses around the globe. Luxury conglomerate LVMH contributed 16m yuan ($2.3m) to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation to help ease the medical supplies shortage in Wuhan, while French luxury group Kering donated 7.5m yuan ($1.08m) to assist the Hubei Red Cross Foundation’s efforts in tackling the virus.

Beauty brands are also stepping up to support the cause, with L’Oréal, Estée Lauder and Shiseido all providing funds for boosting dwindling supplies – such as masks, goggles and protective clothing. Also playing a significant part in donations are jewellery brands, including Austrian crystal giant Swarovski and Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook.

Big Brands vs Price-Gouging

The Consumer Brands Association, which represents brands and companies including Colgate-Palmolive, Coca-Cola, General Mills and Clorox, has written to US Attorney General William Barr urging him to take action on sellers taking advantage of the coronavirus outbreak. The letter comes as Amazon, Walmart and other e-commerce companies have struggled to curb third-party sellers overcharging for products that have spiked in demand amid the spread of the coronavirus. “If price gouging continues over the coming months, more and more Americans will become unwilling and/or unable to pay excessive prices for these products,” wrote Bryan Zumwalt, executive vice president of public affairs for the Consumer Brands Association. “This will decrease the likelihood that individuals will take recommended and necessary preventative actions.”

Amazon has said that it has removed hundreds of thousands of “high-priced offers” and suspended thousands of sellers who have engaged in price gouging on its marketplace.

Tackling Fake Claims

The US Food and Drug Administration said on Monday that it had warned seven companies to stop selling products that claim to cure or prevent the coronavirus, saying such products were a threat to public health because they might prompt consumers to stop or delay appropriate medical treatment. It was the first time that the agency, along with the Federal Trade Commission, had issued warning letters for unapproved products related to the coronavirus, which causes the illness COVID-19. The companies that received the warnings were Vital Silver; Quinessence Aromatherapy; GuruNanda; Xephyr (N-Ergetics); Vivify Holistic Clinic; Herbal Amy; and The Jim Bakker Show, a joint statement said. The products cited in the letters were teas, essential oils, tinctures and colloidal silver.

The post Coronavirus: Brand Moves for Tuesday March 10 appeared first on brandchannel:.

[baileye]

Cameron Rowland’s “New York State Unified Court System” (2016).

In a much-discussed 2016 exhibition titled “91020000” at the New York nonprofit Artists Space, Cameron Rowland (b. Philadelphia, 1988) exhibited furniture and other objects fabricated by inmates often working for less than a dollar an hour, as well as heavily footnoted research on the mechanics of mass incarceration. The New York State Department of Corrections sells these commodities under the brand name Corcraft to government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Artists Space was eligible to acquire the benches, manhole cover rings, firefighter uniforms, metal bars and other objects comprising the exhibition, which Rowland rents to collectors and museums instead of selling them. The spare installation recalled those of the Minimalist sculptor Donald Judd, while Rowland’s politically driven approach to Conceptualism and focus on racial injustice garnered comparisons to Kara Walker and the American light and text artist Glenn Ligon. The New Yorker traced Rowland’s artistic ancestry back to “Duchamp, by way of Angela Davis.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/t-magazine/most-important-contemporary-art.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

[weeklyrapgods-blog]

B.A Badd Displays His ‘A.R.T Work’ EP to the Hip Hop World B.A Badd employs the traditional themes of punchlines and grimy subject matter in tandem with his Millineal state of mind to offer a contemporary take on East Coast Hip-Hop.

[bigyack-com]

New York Launches Its Own Hand Sanitizer

The sanitizer will cost $6 a gallon to make and is not expected to go on general sale (Representational)New York: New York -- under a state of emergency following a coronavirus outbreak -- on Monday launched its own brand of hand sanitizer, made by jail inmates.Governor Andrew Cuomo said 100,000 gallons of "NYS Clean" would be produced a week by prisoners, who already manufacture soap, to meet shortages."This is a superior product," said Cuomo, as the gel was unveiled from behind a curtain at a press conference."It has a very nice floral bouquet," he added, after rubbing some on his hands.The product, which has an alcohol content of 75 per cent, will be provided for free to government agencies, schools, the public transportation system and prisons, Cuomo said.It is part of the government's "Corcraft" scheme where prisoners make dozens of products including cleaning supplies, bedding and clothes.The sanitizer will cost $6 a gallon to make and is not expected to go on general sale.The announcement came as the number of confirmed cases in the state rose to 142, the vast majority of them in Westchester County, just north of New York City. There have been 19 confirmed cases in the Big Apple.The United States has at least 22 deaths from the coronavirus and 566 confirmed cases, according to a Johns Hopkins tally.No one in New York state has yet died from the virus but eight people have been hospitalized.Thousands of students at schools and universities were staying home this week after a suburb of Westchester shut its public schools and New York's Columbia University, Hofstra University and Yeshiva University suspended classes.Elsewhere, the Southern District of New York said Monday it would not allow anyone who had visited China, South Korea, Japan, Italy and Iran in the last 14 days to enter any of its courthouses.(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Read the full article