January 1, Trump, GM Clash Over Defense Production Act

This Day In History | 1979

America experiences its worst nuclear disaster when a reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania fails. 

Good morning Middle America. 

President Trump let GM CEO Mary Barra how he really feels about the automakers efforts to combat COVID-19. 

 “As usual with ‘this’ General Motors, things just never seem to work out,” Trump wrote in a tweet. 

“They said they were going to give us 40,000 much-needed ventilators ‘very quickly.’ Now they are saying it will only be 6000, in late April, and they want top dollar.”

Also it seems like a lot of American refuse to listen to these stay at home orders. 

We have a heat map below that shows where people are moving around the country, according to cell phone data. 

Finally, something for your years. Bob Dylan release a new song. Well it’s new to us anyway. He didn’t really say when he recorded it, and its about the assassination of JFK. And it’s 17 mins long. Check out the link below. 

Read all about it!

-Fraser Dixon

Trump Bucks Business on Defense Production Act

(The Hill) – President Trump on Friday bucked the U.S. business community by using the Defense Production Act (DPA) to order General Motors to ramp up production of life-saving ventilators.

Trump’s move, which came after the business community lobbied against the use of the emergency powers, forces GM to prioritize ventilators after a deal with the White House faltered. 

“Our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course,” Trump said in a statement. “GM was wasting time. Today’s action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives.”  

Read more here

Cell Phone ‘Heat Map’ Shows How Much People are Still Traveling

(The Daily Dot) – A heat map highlighting cellphone location data within the U.S. is providing a frightening insight into the movements of humans amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

 The data, collected by location technology company X-Mode, was recently plugged into the geospatial data visualization platform known as Tectonix as part of an effort to track the coronavirus across the globe.

See it here

Bob Dylan Releases 17-Minute Song About JFK Assassination

(Variety) – For years, Bob Dylan fans have spoken in a sort of hushed awe about the longest song he ever released, “Highlands,” an album side-length 1997 track that ran 16 minutes and 31 seconds. Now, 23 years later, he’s slightly outdone himself. As the clock struck midnight on the east coast Friday morning, Dylan released a new song, “Murder Most Foul,” that has a running time just seconds shy of the 17-minute mark — and it’s an epic free association on the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Little information was given about the surprise track, except for a brief statement from Dylan himself:

“Greetings to my fans and followers with gratitude for all your support and loyalty over the years.

“This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting.

“Stay safe, stay observant and may God be with you.

“Bob Dylan”

Hear the song here