2020-05-22: News Headlines

Richard Horton (2020-05-23). [Comment] Offline: Health in the unhappy time of COVID-19. thelancet.com It was a tragedy for anyone hoping to see COVID-19 become a catalyst for international solidarity. On the first day of the first-ever virtual World Health Assembly, held during the worst acute global health crisis since WHO's creation in 1948, Alex Azar, US Secretary of Health and Human Services, further damaged the credibility of the US Government as a constructive member of the international community. "We must be frank", he began. What followed was an astonishing series of unsubstantiated allegations.

Angus W Thomson, Amit D Tevar (2020-05-23). [Comment] Kidney transplantation: a safe step forward for regulatory immune cell therapy. thelancet.com On the basis of promising animal studies and following the translational path of immune cell therapy in oncology,1 the field of organ transplantation has begun preliminary investigations of infusing regulatory immune cells into graft recipients. These early trials aim to reduce patients' immunosuppressive drug burden and promote drug-free transplant tolerance. The ONE Study was established in 2011 as a multicentre collaborative effort (centres in France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the USA) to compare the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of regulatory cell-based medicinal products (CBMPs) when combined with redu…

Birgit Sawitzki, Paul N Harden, Petra Reinke, Aurélie Moreau, James A Hutchinson, David S Game, Qizhi Tang, Eva C Guinan, Manuela Battaglia, William J Burlingham, Ian S D Roberts, Mathias Streitz, Régis Josien, Carsten A Bà∂ger, Cristiano Scottà , James F Markmann, Joanna L Hester, Karsten Juerchott, Cecile Braudeau, Ben James, Laura Contreras-Ruiz, Jeroen B van der Net, Tobias Bergler, Rossana Caldara, William Petchey, Matthias Edinger, Nathalie Dupas, Michael Kapinsky, Ingrid Mutzbauer, Natalie M Otto, Robert àñllinger, Maria P Hernandez-Fuentes, Fadi Issa, Norbert Ahrens, Christoph Meyenberg, Sandra Karitzky, Ulrich Kunzendorf, Stuart J Knechtle, Josep Grinyó, Peter J Morris, Leslie Brent, Andrew Bushell, Laurence A Turka, Jeffrey A Bluestone, Robert I Lechler, Hans J Schlitt, Maria C Cuturi, Stephan Schlickeiser, Peter J Friend, Tewfik Miloud, Alexander Scheffold, Antonio Secchi, Kerry Crisalli, Sang-Mo Kang, Rachel Hilton, Bernhard Banas, Gilles Blancho, Hans-Dieter Volk, Giovanna Lombardi, Kathryn J Wood, Edward K Geissler (2020-05-23). [Articles] Regulatory cell therapy in kidney transplantation (The ONE Study): a harmonised design and analysis of seven non-randomised, single-arm, phase 1/2A trials. thelancet.com Regulatory cell therapy is achievable and safe in living-donor kidney transplant recipients, and is associated with fewer infectious complications, but similar rejection rates in the first year. Therefore, immune cell therapy is a potentially useful therapeutic approach in recipients of kidney transplant to minimise the burden of general immunosuppression.

Angela Saini (2020-05-23). [Perspectives] Stereotype threat. thelancet.com Among the disturbing statistics to have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the disproportionate impact in terms of death and severe illness on ethnic minorities in the UK and the USA. On April 7, 2020, it was reported that in the US city of Chicago, where the black population is roughly 30%, nearly 70% of COVID-19 deaths were in this demographic. A report released by the UK Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre on April 17, 2020, showed that 34% of patients in the UK receiving advanced respiratory support were non-white, despite the non-white population nationally being about 14%.

The Lancet (2020-05-23). [Editorial] The plight of essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. thelancet.com The COVID-19 pandemic has vividly highlighted how much society depends upon essential workers. Praise for the heroic work being done by health-care workers to save lives worldwide in dangerous, exhausting conditions is everywhere. But those same workers are often left unprotected by governments and systems that have failed to supply them with enough personal protective equipment (PPE), supplies, and resources to do their jobs. In April alone, there were an estimated 27 COVID-19-related health worker deaths in the USA, 106 in the UK, and 180 in Russia, with tens of thousands of infections.

David Agren (2020-05-23). [World Report] Mexican President López Obrador draws doctors' ire. thelancet.com President López Obrador later apologised after his comments were denounced by Mexican medical associations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. David Agren reports from Mexico City.

Geoff Watts (2020-05-23). [Obituary] Robert McCredie May. thelancet.com Physicist turned ecologist and UK Chief Scientific Adviser. He was born in Sydney, NSW, Australia, on Jan 8, 1936, and died of pneumonia in Oxford, UK, on April 28, 2020, aged 84 years.

Kjell Tullus, Nader Shaikh (2020-05-23). [Review] Urinary tract infections in children. thelancet.com Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in children are among the most common bacterial infections in childhood. They are equally common in boys and girls during the first year of life and become more common in girls after the first year of life. Dividing UTIs into three categories; febrile upper UTI (acute pyelonephritis), lower UTI (cystitis), and asymptomatic bacteriuria, is useful for numerous reasons, mainly because it helps to understand the pathophysiology of the infection. A single episode of febrile UTI is often caused by a virulent Escherichia coli strain, whereas recurrent infections and asymptomatic bacteriur…

Richard Lane (2020-05-23). [Perspectives] Helena Legido-Quigley: proponent of health systems strengthening. thelancet.com As Associate Professor in Health Systems at Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore, Helena Legido-Quigley was able to observe at first-hand how the country responded to its first COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year. "It was striking how well Singapore was prepared, a legacy from the SARS era, with a dedicated infectious diseases hospital and 6 months of supplies of personal protective equipment and ventilators. The public health response was fast and efficient with good governance and effective health-risk communication", she says.

Timothy Riddles, Nivene Saad, Helen Benham (2020-05-23). [Clinical Picture] Alternative causes of ankle pain in a patient with enthesopathy and X-linked hypophosphataemia. thelancet.com A 43-year-old Australian-born, white man was referred to our unit because of increasing pain in both his ankles. The pain had developed approximately 7 days earlier. 3 days before the pain started, he had been admitted to hospital with cellulitis of his upper arm; he had been treated for septicaemia and acute kidney injury caused by an infection with Streptococcus pyogenes.

Talha Burki (2020-05-23). [World Report] England and Wales see 20‚Äà000 excess deaths in care homes. thelancet.com PPE shortages, lack of testing, and a vulnerable population have seen care homes in England and Wales become hotspots of the COVID-19 epidemic. Talha Burki reports.

F. William Engdahl (2020-05-22). Seeds of Destruction: The Diabolical World of Genetic Manipulation. globalresearch.ca "Control the oil, and you control nations. Control the food, and you control the people."* -Henry Kissenger | "

South Front (2020-05-22). Video: Turkey Supported GNA Confronts Libya's LNA: Turkish Drones Destroy LNA Pantsir Systems. globalresearch.ca Over the past days, forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) and Syrian militants supported by the Turkish military continued developing momentum against the Libyan National Army (LNA) in northern Libya. | After capturing the Watiya Air Base from the …

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2020-05-22). England Falsifies COVID Data: Tens of Thousands of Coronavirus Tests were "Double-counted" globalresearch.ca According to a recent "Tens of thousands of

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2020-05-22). England Falsifies COVID Data: More than A Hundred Thousand Coronavirus Tests were "Double-counted" globalresearch.ca According to "Tens of thousands of

Tony Murphy (2020-05-22). Why socialist countries take lead in fighting COVID-19. workers.org This is a slightly edited version of a talk given during the"What Road To Socialism?" webinar held by Workers World Party on May 16. The coronavirus crisis has made it clear that society is run by workers. Our party is called Workers World Party precisely because those who produce the . . . |

Richard D. Wolff (2020-05-22). An Old Story Again: Capitalism vs. Health and Safety. counterpunch.org The U.S. president recently ordered meatpacking employees back into workplaces plagued by coronavirus. He did not order the employers to make their slaughterhouses safe. GOP-proposed legislation exempts employers from lawsuits by employees sickened or killed by coronavirus infections at workplaces. The GOP is mostly silent about requiring employers to maintain safe or healthy workplaces. Employers

Mark Weisbrot (2020-05-22). Lives Depend on Argentina's Debt Talks. zcomm.org Creditors should accept the reality that unsustainable debt burdens only lead to worse crises up the road. At this crucial moment in the global pandemic and recession, many lives may depend on this understanding…

commondreams (2020-05-22). ACLU Asks Supreme Court to Deny Bureau of Prisons Request to Block Order That Will Save Lives. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Deirdre Griswold (2020-05-22). What is a Marxist-Leninist party? workers.org This is a slightly edited version of a talk given during a discussion with members and candidates of Workers World Party on May 17. Many parties calling themselves Marxist and Leninist have come and gone. WWP is here and growing, after more than 60 years of struggle. This is due . . . |

Alan MacLeod (2020-05-22). With Iran Defying US Sanctions on Venezuela, Trump Must Choose Between Two Different Cowardly Paths. thealtworld.com Washington's illegal and deadly sanctions on Venezuela continue. However, President Nicolas Maduro has found an ally from across the world in …

Max Blumenthal (2020-05-22). 'Los amigos americanos': Nuevos documentos revelan el espionaje de la CIA contra Julian Assange y el papel del financista de Trump. thegrayzone.com Una investigación exclusiva de The Grayzone revela nuevos detalles sobre el papel crítico que la compañía Las Vegas Sands del…

Whitney Webb (2020-05-22). As Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Takes the Lead, The Issue of "Gene-editing Vaccines" globalresearch.ca More and more frequently, government officials, political pundits and self-appointed "global health experts" like billionaire Bill Gates have been instructing the public that mass gatherings and any semblance of "normalcy" will not return until a vaccine for the novel coronavirus …

Vijay Prashad (2020-05-22). The Bouficha appeal against the preparations for war. mronline.org On 23 March, the UN Secretary General António Guterres called for a ceasefire. 'The fury of the virus', he said, 'illustrates the folly of war'. In a recent report, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) wrote that the 'call for a global ceasefire has not had the desired result'.

Vijay Prashad (2020-05-22). How the United States Government failed to prepare for the Global Pandemic. mronline.org On March 20, just after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic on March 11, the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) sent a cable to U.S. State Department instructing officials how they should speak about China and the novel coronavirus, according to the Daily Beast, which obtained the cable.

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2020-05-22). Cuomo Order That Sent Estimated 4,300 Covid-19 Patients to Nursing Homes Denounced as 'Single Dumbest Decision Anyone Could Make'. commondreams.org www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/cuomo-covid.jpg

Jeffrey St. Clair (2020-05-22). Roaming Charges: Shallà≤: 120 Days of COVID. counterpunch.org As the USA approaches an official tally of 100,000 dead from COVID-19, let us recall that this bracing toll is still 467,000 fewer deaths than the number of Iraqi children who died as a result of the Bush/Clinton economic sanctions (not to mention the ongoing war itself.)

Staff (2020-05-22). Headlines for May 22, 2020. democracynow.org Unemployment Claims Reach 38.6 Million in Worst U.S. Economic Crisis Since Depression, As Millions Lose Jobs, the Billionaire Class Sees Wealth Soar by $434 Billion During Pandemic, COVID Cases Spike in Brazil, Mexico, India & Indonesia as Outbreak Grows in Global South, World Bank: 3 Billion People Don't Have Access to Clean Water & Soap, U.S. COVID Death Toll Tops 95,000, Trump Refuses to Wear Mask in Front of Media at Ford Plant in Michigan, Report: Striking Racial Divide Found in Nursing Homes Impacted by COVID Outbreak, COVID Racial Data Tracker Documents How Pandemic Is Devastating Communities of Color, Pol…

Toby Blomé (2020-05-22). Memorial Day Peace Caravan. indybay.org Sponsored by CODEPINK | All invited to join Peace Caravan, with cars decorated with anti-war relevant signs and colorful visuals. We'll travel across the Golden Gate Bridge, thru the Presidio, and end up at Sen. Dianne Feinstein's SF Home for: Rally, Press Conference and Memorial Altar.

RT (2020-05-22). 'You ain't black' if you support Trump over me — Joe Biden to BLACK radio host. rt.com Joe Biden seems to have appointed himself the US' top racial scientist, telling a prominent black radio host that if he considers voting for Donald Trump instead of himself, then he "ain't black." | In a bizarre and often contentious interview, Joe Biden sat down with 'The Breakfast Club' host Charlamagne Tha God to discuss all things African-American, including the rumor that he's considering choosing a black female running mate for this year's election. | Charlamagne grilled Biden from the outset. An outspoken supporter of Bernie Sanders, he has previously hounded Biden for "avoiding" a sit-down interview on…

Paul Street (2020-05-22). How Obama Could Find Some Redemption. counterpunch.org What would redemption look like for Barack Obama? First, it would entail admitting something unpleasant: his own deep complicity in the deadly ascendancy of the neofascist Donald Trump, who Noam Chomsky aptly calls "the most dangerous criminal in human history." To no small extent, Trump owes his disastrous and malevolent presidency to the silver-tongued Obama's eight years of White House service to the rich and powerful.

Andrew Korybko (2020-05-22). Poland is America's Main Partner in Europe: The Talk About US Nukes in Poland Proves that Warsaw Trumps Berlin for Washington. globalresearch.ca It's unimportant whether US nukes will eventually be deployed to Poland or not since the very fact that this scenario is seriously being discussed by both American and Russian diplomats proves that Warsaw trumps Berlin for Washington and that Poland …

Stephen Lendman (2020-05-22). Deal Breaking Trump Regime Abandons Open Skies Treaty (OST). globalresearch.ca Throughout his time in office, Trump proved he's more a deal breaker than observer of international law, treaties and agreements. | He abandoned the landmark 1987 INF Treaty with Russia, the 2016 Security Council adopted JCPOA, the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, …

Ahmed Abdulkareem (2020-05-22). Yemen: Aden Succumbs to COVID-19 as Saudi Coalition Infighting Distracts From Relief Efforts. mintpressnews.com The lives of civilians in Aden are being pushed into the abyss not only due to epidemic, disease, and fallout from flash floods but because of violent clashes between opposing factions of the Saudi-led Coalition.

Yves Smith (2020-05-22). The lockdown protestors are not working class. mronline.org Sarah Jones, in The Coronavirus Class War in New York Magazine, does a neat, tidy job of kneecapping the notion that the anti-lockdown protests are manned by workers who want to get back to their jobs so they can start making money again.

Rob Urie (2020-05-22). Why Russiagate Still Matters. counterpunch.org A thought experiment with a purpose is to ask: if a group of former Directors of the CIA, NSA and FBI put forward a story about a malevolent foreign power acting against the U.S. without providing evidence that their story is true, who would believe them? While this wasn't precisely the setup for Russiagate, all

Marc Levy (2020-05-22). On Meeting Bao Ninh: "These Good Men Meant as Much to Me as Yours Did to You" counterpunch.org Three years after the Americans abandoned Vietnam, in the depths of the Jungle of Screaming Souls, NVA veterans search for the remains of men and women killed in combat. So begins The Sorrow of War, by Bao Ninh. In 1995, when reading my paperback copy, I would fall into a trance, feel as if I were floating above my bed. What was happening, I did not know. Several months later, traveling in Southeast Asia, I invented reasons not to locate Bao Ninh.

Staff (2020-05-22). Inside America's Cash-Hungry Plainclothes Police Units. therealnews.com Breonna Taylor, an EMT, was shot eight times in a botched no-knock drug raid. PAR interviews an ex-cop who tells the truth about drug raids, warrants, and asset forfeiture, and speaks with cop watcher Laura Shark.

CP Editor (2020-05-22). Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time. counterpunch.org

Louis Proyect (2020-05-22). What Stanford University and Fox News Have in Common. counterpunch.org On April 21, Fox News's Laura Ingraham, one of Donald Trump's most vociferous supporters, spoke to Stanford University physician-professor John Ioannidis about COVID-19. She prefaced the interview with reference to the pandemic as a nothing-burger: And new antibodies testing on the West and East Coast shows that the true infection rate may be 55 times

Andrew Levine (2020-05-22). If Nancy Pelosi Is So Great, How Come Donald Trump Still Isn't Dead in the Water? counterpunch.org To hear Democratic Party propagandists and anti-Trump Republicans on the cable networks tell it, Nancy Pelosi is the shrewdest, most politically savvy Democrat in living memory. MSNBC is the worst, and Rachel Maddow is the worst of the worst, but, in effect, they all speak with one voice, and they all agree that the woman

Pete Dolack (2020-05-22). Work is Inevitable But its Organization is Not. counterpunch.org All human societies, from the most primitive to the most modern, have an important commonality — the need to work. Water, food, shelter and other basics of life don't arrive as gifts. Work is required to secure them and to raise the next generation. So fundamental is this basic principal of human life that generations

Joseph Natoli (2020-05-22). Will Things Fall Apart Now or in November? counterpunch.org "[T]he Republican fraud drumbeat could lay the groundwork for Mr. Trump and his supporters to reject the election results should he lose." — Michael Wines, "Republicans to Pursue a Crackdown on Voting," The New York Times, May 19, 2020. Bill Maher has been asking this question for a long time now: "How will we get

Matthew Stevenson (2020-05-22). Our Friend Eugene Schulman. counterpunch.org Our friend Gene Schulman died today. He was in his ninetieth year. Mercifully, he was only critically ill for less than twenty-four hours. Yesterday he had an aneurysm; last night he refused heroic, life-saving surgery on his heart; and today he is dead. He would rather still be with us, I am sure, but at

David A. Schultz (2020-05-22). America and the Rise of the Chinese Century. counterpunch.org News of America's global supremacy and victory as well as demise are often premature. In 1942 journalist Henry Luce described the coming years as the American Century. And it looked like he was right despite some setbacks. Yet coming out of the coronavirus and the Trump presidency, this time maybe the end of the American

Staff (2020-05-22). Can Public Education Survive COVID-19? therealnews.com The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted apartheid conditions in US public schools.

CounterSpin (2020-05-22). Diane Ravitch on Pandemic School Privatization. fair.org Media…

Tim Anderson (2020-05-22). How the Pandemic Defrocked Hegemonic Neoliberalism. thealtworld.com The global pretensions of the USA and the UK have been stripped naked by the virus and responses to it. These profit-driven systems failed to protect lives. Only the fabricated anti-China hysteria and the pseudo-science of the pandemic sceptics hides this. In a diverse post neoliberal world, strong public health systems will be crucial. | The COVID19 pandemic has laid bare the human disaster that is hegemonic liberalism, a project of the Anglo-American powers. In terms of the basic protection of human life the virus has made it plain that there are few countries whose performance is as bad as that of the USA and…

G. Dunkel (2020-05-22). Imperialism and the right to self-determination. workers.org This is a slightly edited version of a talk given during the"What Road To Socialism?" webinar held by Workers World Party on May 16. One of the five features V.I. Lenin, leader of the Russian Revolution, laid out in his 1916 book, "Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism," was the . . . |

Arielle Robinson (2020-05-22). Why I joined Workers World. workers.org This is a slightly edited version of a talk given during the"What Road To Socialism?" webinar held by Workers World Party on May 16. Arielle Robinson speaking during What Road to Socialism Webinar, May 16. I was introduced to Workers World Party when I first moved to Atlanta from Derry, . . . |