Mass Unemployment Is a Failure of Capitalism
Richard D. Wolff | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-11
The difficulties caused to workers by record unemployment during the pandemic are a product of capitalism. Most of the time, employers decide to hire or fire workers depending on which choice maximizes employers' profits. Profit, not the full employment of workers nor of means of production, is "the bottom line" of capitalism and thus of capitalists. That is how the system works. Capitalists are rewarded when their profits are high and punished when they are not. It's nothing personal; it's just business.
counterpunch.org/2020/05/11/mass-unemployment-is-a-failure-of-capitalism/
Trump responsible for deaths in US and globally because of Covid-19 response, says Chomsky
rt.com | 2020-05-11
Donald Trump is culpable for deaths in the US and beyond due to his Covid-19 pandemic response, according to Noam Chomsky, from making states deal with the crisis individually to cutting the World Health Organization funding. | The progressive activist and author is less than pleased with the president's coronavirus response, and insists his small government attitude and slashing of healthcare and research funds has put the US in a poor position to handle a pandemic. | …
rt.com/usa/488381-chomsky-trump-coronavirus-deaths/
No greater hypocrisy than Indian Govt's pronouncements on migrants: Sitaram Yechury
Newsclick | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-11
Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), talks about the Indian government's failure to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic, the hypocrisy in its policy on migrants and the steps it needs to take to address the crisis. He also talks about how the pandemic has led to a greater realization of the failures of capitalism and will spur fresh struggles for a more just system.
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/11/no-greater-hypocrisy-than-indian-govts-pronouncements-on-migrants-sitaram-yechury/
As the Earth Dies
Eve Ottenberg | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-11
The Robbery of Nature John Bellamy Foster and Brett Clark (Monthly Review Press) The earth is dying and capitalism is to blame. Facing this, one can opt for hope, as Marxist ecosocialists do, or one can succumb to pessimism fed by dark thoughts on human nature and the intractable, deadly persistence of our economic system…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/11/as-the-earth-dies/
The Bernie Sanders Movement, Its Historical Antecedents, and Its Legacy
Eugene E Ruyle | indybay.org | 2020-05-11
Online ZOOM Meeting. | LOG-IN INFORMATION AT OUR WEBSITE | ICSSMARX.ORG | OR EMAIL CUYLERUYLE [at] MAC.COM…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/08/18832926.php
Venezuela: Full Silvercorp Contract Unveiled, Guaido Involved
Telesur | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
According to the Washington Post, the document was provided by Venezuelan opposition officials on the condition that one of the attachments be redacted. Nonetheless, the text showcases the extent of the intervention financed by Juan Guaido and his supporters. | Some …
globalresearch.ca/venezuela-full-silvercorp-contract-unveiled-guaido-involved/5712434
Geopolitical Corridors: Did Iran Inadvertently Sacrifice "The India Chabahar Corridor" for the Sake of Afghan Border Security?
Andrew Korybko | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
The recent political crisis that exploded between Iran and Afghanistan after the former's security forces were accused of forcing over 50 of the latter's illegal immigrants into a river on their shared border (where the majority of them are thought …
globalresearch.ca/did-iran-sacrifice-chabahar-afghan-border-security/5712464
Bombshell: Crowdstrike admits 'no evidence' Russia stole emails from DNC server
Aaron Maté | thegrayzone.com | 2020-05-11
Crowdstrike, the firm behind the Russian email hacking allegation at the core of Russiagate, makes a bombshell admission: "We did…
thegrayzone.com/2020/05/11/bombshell-crowdstrike-admits-no-evidence-russia-stole-emails-from-dnc-server/
A Late-Breaking Bulletin From PBS: "For Many Americans, Health Insurance is Tied to a Job"
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-11
I would like to nominate the "Public" Broadcasting System's ("P"BS) "NewsHour" and its economics reporter Paul Solomon for the 2020 Piss Down Our Backs and Tell Us Its Raining Prize in broadcast journalism. Last Thursday, "P"BS "NewsHour" viewers got to see the show's longtime economics correspondent (Paul Solomon) give a chilling account of how newly…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/11/a-late-breaking-bulletin-from-pbs-for-many-americans-health-insurance-is-tied-to-a-job/
A Late-Breaking Bulletin From PBS: "For Many Americans, Health Insurance is Tied to a Job"
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-11
I would like to nominate the "Public" Broadcasting System's ("P"BS) "NewsHour" and its economics reporter Paul Solomon for the 2020 Piss Down Our Backs and Tell Us Its Raining Prize in broadcast journalism. Last Thursday, "P"BS "NewsHour" viewers got to see the show's longtime economics correspondent (Paul Solomon) give a chilling account of how newly unemployed people are disastrously losing their health insurance in the middle of a pandemic.
counterpunch.org/2020/05/11/a-late-breaking-bulletin-from-pbs-for-many-americans-health-insurance-is-tied-to-a-job/
COVID-19: Global Pandemic & Climate Disruption With Mike Davis
Speak Out Now | indybay.org | 2020-05-11
Online Zoom meeting, see details here: speakoutsocialists.org/townhall-davis-5-16/…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/10/18832968.php
World's Super Rich Buying Pandemic Escape Mansions in New Zealand
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-11
A number of the planet's richest people, including billionaire co-founder of Paypal Peter Thiel, are escaping to New Zealand to shelter in luxury bunkers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
mintpressnews.com/super-rich-buying-covid-19-pandemic-mansions-new-zealand/267406/
Victory in Europe Day: These American Corporations Aided Nazi Germany
Alan MacLeod | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
May 8 marks the 75th anniversary of the Allied armies' victory in Europe, the day when they accepted the formal surrender of Nazi Germany after a bitter, six-year-long struggle that saw tens of millions killed in fighting, famines or …
globalresearch.ca/victory-europe-day-american-corporations-aided-nazi-germany/5712411
New Facial Recognition Software Predicts You're a Criminal Based on your Face
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-11
The latest technological development appears to be an updated, "algorithmic phrenology," repackaging a dangerous idea for the 21st century, all the more noteworthy because they are trying to sell it to law enforcement as an unbiased tool helping society.
mintpressnews.com/new-facial-recognition-software-predicts-youre-a-criminal-based-on-your-face/267436/
Guaidó's mercenary hit contract on Venezuela's Maduro mirrors official US bounty, authorizes death squad killings
Alan MacLeod | thegrayzone.com | 2020-05-11
The leaked contract between Juan Guaidó and the Silvercorp USA mercenary firm closely resembles a DEA bounty placed on the…
thegrayzone.com/2020/05/10/guaido-mercenary-contract-venezuelas-maduro-us-bounty-death-squad/
'Justice is Indivisible': Placing Palestine Back at the Center of Muslim Discourse in the West
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-11
It was nearly twenty years ago at a Muslim conference in Washington D.C. that I heard the distressing argument that Palestine should not be made a central topic in the American Muslim political agenda. The point, which took many by surprise, was enunciated by a young American Pakistani Muslim academic, whose name is not important…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/11/justice-is-indivisible-placing-palestine-back-at-the-center-of-muslim-discourse-in-the-west/
'Justice is Indivisible': Placing Palestine Back at the Center of Muslim Discourse in the West
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-11
It was nearly twenty years ago at a Muslim conference in Washington D.C. that I heard the distressing argument that Palestine should not be made a central topic in the American Muslim political agenda. The point, which took many by surprise, was enunciated by a young American Pakistani Muslim academic, whose name is not important…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/11/justice-is-indivisible-placing-palestine-back-at-the-center-of-muslim-discourse-in-the-west/
Leaked UK Doc Shows Mandated Remote-Working Plan for Obese Brits
Zero Hedge | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
Being fat obese can double someone's risk of going to the hospital for severe COVID-19 symptoms, a new report published by the University of Glasgow concluded this week. With that being said, a leaked document from the UK government obtained …
globalresearch.ca/leaked-uk-doc-shows-mandated-remote-working-plan-obese-brits/5712437
Effects of US Lockdowns v. Lifting Them
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
A University of Pennsylvania Wharton School model isn't encouraging. | Its analysis is world's apart from what the Trump regime suggests. | Wharton warned that if US lockdowns are lifted nationwide, businesses reopen, and pre-COVID-19 activities resume, eight million cases and 350,000 …
globalresearch.ca/effects-us-lockdowns-lifting-them/5712404
Indifference Toward Public Health and Welfare in America. The COVID-19 Healthcare Fiasco
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
The US is the only developed nation without some form of universal healthcare coverage. | The world's richest country is indifferent toward the rights, needs, and welfare of its ordinary people in more normal times. | It's much the same at times …
globalresearch.ca/indifference-toward-public-health-welfare-america/5712460
Trump Regime Further Escalates War on China by Other Means
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
In early April, China's official People's Daily broadsheet slammed the Trump regime's unacceptable restrictions imposed on the country's journalists in the US. | It called hostile US actions a "clumsy performance (that) further exposed the hypocrisy of the self-styled advocate of …
globalresearch.ca/trump-regime-escalates-war-china-other-means/5712405
Reinventing History a US Specialty. The Role of the Soviet Union In Defeating Nazi Germany
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
The power of endlessly repeated propaganda gets most people to believe almost anything
"COVID-19 Has Been Racialized": Black Scholar Jill Nelson Arrested for Chalking "Trump = Plague"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-11
Black and Brown communities are being disproportionately targeted and policed in New York City's response to the spread of COVID-19. We speak with author and activist Jill Nelson, who was herself arrested by NYPD in April for writing "Trump = Plague" in chalk on an abandoned building in her Washington Heights neighborhood. The 67-year-old scholar was handcuffed, taken to the police station and held for five hours. Now she is speaking out. The president is "telling us that as people of color, and older people, we should just die," says Nelson. "It's ridiculous."
www.democracynow.org/2020/5/11/jill_nelson_nypd_arrest_trump_plague
Trump Death Clock: Creator Eugene Jarecki Says "Reckless Mishandling" of COVID-19 Must Be Quantified
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-11
As the death toll from COVID-19 in the United States surpasses 80,000, an unusual new billboard called the Trump Death Clock in New York City's Times Square keeps tally of lives lost to government inaction. "What we found was that there was an amazing and very dark truth underlying the numbers that spoke to reckless mishandling of a pandemic by the president and his team, and we felt that ought to be quantified," says Eugene Jarecki, the award-winning documentary filmmaker, author and activist behind the project.
www.democracynow.org/2020/5/11/eugene_jarecki_trump_death_clock
"Weaponized and Racialized": Police Departments Use COVID-19 to Target Black & Brown Communities
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-11
Viral images have shone a spotlight on uneven policing. Some show police officers distributing masks to White residents in crowded New York City parks
Fake Coronavirus Data, Fear Campaign. Spread of the COVID-19 Infection
Prof Michel Chossudovsky | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
Do not let yourself be misled by the fear campaign, pointing to a Worldwide coronavirus calamity with repeated "predictions" that hundreds of thousands of people are going to die. | According to the WHO, the death rate pertaining to Seasonal Influenza globally is between 6 to 12 times higher than COVID-19.
globalresearch.ca/fake-coronavirus-data-fear-campaign-spread-of-the-covid-19-infection/5708643
Fake Coronavirus Data, Fear Campaign. Spread of the COVID-19 Infection
Prof Michel Chossudovsky | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
Do not let yourself be misled by the fear campaign, pointing to a Worldwide coronavirus calamity with repeated "predictions" that hundreds of thousands of people are going to die. | According to the WHO, the death rate pertaining to Seasonal Influenza globally is between 6 to 12 times higher than COVID-19.
globalresearch.ca/fake-coronavirus-data-fear-campaign-spread-of-the-covid-19-infection/5708643
Pompeo Likens Iran To Nazis On 2nd Anniversary Of US Nuclear Deal Exit
Zero Hedge | iranian.com | 2020-05-11
Perhaps attempting to ensure the anti-Iran 'maximum pressure' campaign remains front and center, even in the midst of a pandemic and historic unemployment, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has resorted to the one of the most common
Afghanistan Not to Release More Taliban Prisoners Until Reciprocated by Armed Group
sputniknews.com | 2020-05-11
New Delhi (Sputnik): The Afghanistan government and the Taliban signed a US-mediated peace pact in February. As part of the agreement both sides agreed to release prisoners
Bosnia report exposes institutions, individuals who deny Srebrenica genocide
yenisafak.com | 2020-05-11
Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday released a report on denial of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, in which over 8,300 Muslims were killed by Serbian forces. | The report, written by historian Monica Hanson Green, includes many details about the war in Bosnia in 1992-1995, subsequent war crimes trials, and the media outlets and people who deny the genocide. | Emir Suljagic, head of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, which published the report, said that the problem of genocide denial is very important. | "We took a new responsibility to raise awareness of the genocide. This report is the first step in this," said Suljagi…
yenisafak.com/en/world/bosnia-report-exposes-institutions-individuals-who-deny-srebrenica-genocide-3519174
Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic, America's Billionaires Thrive and Prosper
Lawrence Wittner | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-11
Although most Americans currently face hard times, with unemployment surging to the levels of the Great Depression and enormous numbers of people sick or dying from the coronavirus pandemic, the nation's super-rich remain a notable exception. Financially, they are doing remarkably well. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, between March 18 and April 28,…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/11/amid-the-coronavirus-pandemic-americas-billionaires-thrive-and-prosper/
A Dirty Military Incursion into Venezuela
Prof. Vijay Prashad | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
In the early morning hours of Sunday, May 3, speedboats left the Colombian coastlines and headed toward Venezuela. These boats had no authorization to cross the maritime border. They landed on the Venezuelan coastline at La Guaira. This was clearly …
globalresearch.ca/military-incursion-venezuela/5712489
COVID-19 strike wave enters third month
Martha Grevatt | workers.org | 2020-05-11
Workers at 50 locations across Florida struck McDonald's, Starbucks and other fast-food restaurants on May 6. What united them was the failure of these multibillion-dollar enterprises to correct hazardous working conditions that put workers at risk of contracting COVID-19. Some of these McDonald's workers are also part of a statewide . . . | Continue reading COVID-19 strike wave enters third month at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/05/48519/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=covid-19-strike-wave-enters-third-month
The Execution of Julian Assange
Patrick Anderson | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-11
I do not respect anyone who has not been to prison." Julian Assange once said to Renata Avila, a Guatemalan human rights activist who serves as legal counsel for WikiLeaks. "What he meant," Avila says, "was that being in prison means that you have made so much trouble for the system that the only way for the system to deal with you is to lock you up and try to silence you." | After a decade of being shuttled from house arrest to confinement in an embassy to Belmarsh Prison to, if the United States government ge…
mintpressnews.com/opinion-media-execution-julian-assange/267393/
San Quentin Gets Car Caravan Protest
Leon Kunstenaar | indybay.org | 2020-05-11
Protesters demand end to "Covid-19 death camps."
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/09/18832943.php
US continues deportation of Haitians tested positive of COVID-19
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-11
A group of over 100 Haitian nationals are set to be deported from the United States by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), on Monday, May 11. This is scheduled to happen despite requests from the Haitian government to wait until the spread of COVID-19 subsides. Among those being deported, at least five individuals are known to have tested positive for COVID-19 very recently. | The Haitian government panel assigned to direct the nation's pandemic response requested that the US government avoid deportations until the pandemic is contained. The presidential panel consisting of medical professionals and…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/11/us-continues-deportation-of-haitians-tested-positive-of-covid-19/
US continues deportation of Haitians tested positive of COVID-19
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-11
A group of over 100 Haitian nationals are set to be deported from the United States by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), on Monday, May 11. This is scheduled to happen despite requests from the Haitian government to wait until the spread of COVID-19 subsides. Among those being deported, at least five individuals are known to have tested positive for COVID-19 very recently. | The Haitian government panel assigned to direct the nation's pandemic response requested that the US government avoid deportations until the pandemic is contained. The presidential panel consisting of medical professionals and…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/11/us-continues-deportation-of-haitians-tested-positive-of-covid-19/
In Haiti/ICE is spreading COVID-19
G. Dunkel | workers.org | 2020-05-11
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency charged with deporting people from the United States, scheduled five deportations to Haiti on May 11 from the Pine Prairie Detention Center in Louisiana. The agency claims the five individuals have either tested positive for COVID-19 or show signs of having the disease. (Miami . . . | Continue reading In Haiti/ICE is spreading COVID-19 at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/05/48501/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=in-haiti-ice-is-spreading-covid-19
First ICE detainee dies of COVID-19 in San Diego
wsws.org | 2020-05-11
Lacking basic sanitation and living in squalor, infections among immigrants in ICE custody have skyrocketed.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/11/immi-m11.html
Hundreds of COVID-19 infections in German meatpacking plants
wsws.org | 2020-05-11
Immigrants from Romania, who are the main workers in the German meatpacking industry, are now being struck down by COVID-19.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/11/geme-m11.html
Ethiopian migrants hit hard by pandemic
yenisafak.com | 2020-05-11
A large number of Ethiopians living abroad have been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, with their lives turned upside down, leaving them barely able to survive.Some are not able to pay their rent and bills, some have run out of food and some are relying on credit for survival as the virus impacts the global economy.Having migrated has changed their lives, and the pandemic has become a formidable obstacle blocking their every step.In 2019 alone, over a million citizens have fled Ethiopia due to economic hardships in the country, according to the latest data of the International Organization for Migrat…
yenisafak.com/en/world/ethiopian-migrants-hit-hard-by-pandemic-3519184
Chomsky, Sanders, Others Launch Progressive International
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-11
A coalition of left-leaning intellectuals, activists, and political leaders from around the world officially launched Monday the Progressive International with the support of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 and the Sanders Institute. | RELATED: | COVID-19: Seeds of Revolution Grown on Capitalism's Corpse? | "Never before has international solidarity been more necessary–and more absent," General Coordinator of the PI David Adler said, adding that "only a common internat…
telesurenglish.net/news/Chomsky-Sanders-Others-Launch-Progressive-International–20200511-0012.html
Black Scholar Jill Nelson Arrested for Chalking "Trump = Plague" in New York
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-11
Black and Brown communities are being disproportionately targeted and policed in New York City's response to the spread of COVID-19. We speak with author and activist Jill Nelson, who was herself arrested by NYPD in April for writing "Trump = Plague" in chalk on an abandoned building in her Washington Heights neighborhood. The 67-year-old scholar was handcuffed, taken to the police station and held for five hours. Now she is speaking out. The president is "telling us that as people of color, and old…
truthout.org/video/black-scholar-jill-nelson-arrested-for-chalking-trump-plague-in-new-york/
UN Condemns Killings of Ex-FARC, Social Leaders in Colombia
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-11
The United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia condemned Saturday the murder of the 24th ex-combatant of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), expressing its "concern" over the systematic killings. | RELATED: | Killings of Social Activists Continues in Colombia | The Revolutionary Alternative Force for the Commons (FARC) party denounced that Wilder Marin's body was found "wrapped in a burning mattress" in the northwestern municipality of Bello. | The demobilized ex-combatant…
telesurenglish.net/news/UN-Condemns-Killings-of-Ex-FARC-Social-Leaders-in-Colombia-20200511-0010.html
Federal Appeals Court Allows US Military Base Construction in Okinawa Despite Environmental Concerns
Rebecca Salamacha | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the US military can construct a base in Okinawa, Japan, despite environmental activists' concerns over the base's construction threatening the local dugong population. The activists filed suit under the National Historic Preservation Act …
globalresearch.ca/federal-appeals-court-allows-us-military-base-construction-okinawa-despite-environmental-concerns/5712479
UK: Johnson Criticized for Opening Economy Amid Pandemic
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-11
The United Kingdom union leader Keir Starmer criticized on May 10 the opening of the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic that has affected the world. | RELATED: | Indigenous, Activists Protest as KXL Pipeline Construction Begins | Johnson announced a progressive quarantine relaxation plan and economic, productive, and leisure activities resumption this week. The United Kingdom decreed an emergency quarantine on March 23 due to the virus outbreak. | "I think what the count…
telesurenglish.net/news/uk-johnson-criticized-for-economic-restart-amidst-pandemic-20200511-0002.html
UK: Johnson Criticized for Opening Economy Amid Pandemic
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-11
The United Kingdom union leader Keir Starmer criticized on May 10 the opening of the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic that has affected the world. | RELATED: | Indigenous, Activists Protest as KXL Pipeline Construction Begins | Johnson announced a progressive quarantine relaxation plan and economic, productive, and leisure activities resumption this week. The United Kingdom decreed an emergency quarantine on March 23 due to the virus outbreak. | "I think what the count…
telesurenglish.net/news/uk-johnson-criticized-for-economic-restart-amidst-pandemic-20200511-0002.html
Fears of Bolsonaro's Threat to the Amazon Realized as New Data Shows Rainforest Destruction Up 55%
Jessica Corbett | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
"Bolsonaro is not only turning a blind eye as land grabbers, illegal loggers, and miners continue to plunder Indigenous territories during the pandemic, he plans to make things easier for them." | *** | Greenpeace on Friday warned of far-right Brazilian President …
globalresearch.ca/fears-bolsonaro-threat-amazon-realized-new-data-shows-rainforest-destruction/5712426
Holy Land: Heads of Churches Voice Concern About Israel's Planned Annexation of West Bank Land
PHHLC | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
As a result of the stagnation of the Peace Process in the Middle East between the Israelis and Palestinians, an array of plans for Israel to unilaterally annex West Bank land, backed mainly by right-wing factions, raises serious and catastrophic …
globalresearch.ca/heads-churches-voice-concern-israel-planned-annexation-west-bank-land/5712474
Selected Articles: Catholic Clergy Warns that COVID-19 Is Used as "Pretext" to "Control People"
Global Research News | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-11
A future without independent media leaves us with an upside down reality where according to the corporate media "NATO deserves a Nobel Peace Prize", and where "nuclear weapons and wars make us safer" | | | If, like us, this is a …
globalresearch.ca/selected-articles-three-cardinals-join-global-appeal-decrying-crackdown-on-basic-freedoms-over-coronavirus/5712496