Daily Archives: May 19, 2020

2020-05-19: News Headlines

Paul Antonopoulos (2020-05-19). Trump's Threat to End Relations with China: Is It a Distraction From His Coronavirus Mishandling? globalresearch.ca The anti-China campaign in the U.S. is nearing its climax. Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn wrote a letter to colleagues calling for them to be careful when working with Chinese officials, or better, to avoid contact with them. Last week, Republican …

Peter Koenig (2020-05-19). China's new Crypto-Currency: First Step to Full Dedollarization? dissidentvoice.org 'We'll cut off the whole relationship' —Trump threatened China in a recent Fox-Business interview, suggesting he may cut diplomatic relations with China and thereby saving US$ 500 billion. He didn't say how, though. Mr. Trump's anger referred to what he calls China's "mismanagement" of the corona crisis. This is consistent with the new China bashing …

Jack Wareham, Dylan Burgoon (2020-05-19). Leftist Perspectives on Zoom: Socialist Struggle while Social Distancing. counterpunch.org Social distancing regulations have made video-chatting a necessity for many students, office workers, and anyone interested in maintaining their relationships while quarantined. No one foresaw that video-chatting software would receive such a large boost in popularity in 2020—least of all Zoom Video Communications, a Silicon Valley-based tech corporation that, in the past few months, has seen a $1 billion valuation turn into a $40.3 billion market cap.

Eds. (2020-05-19). Race—a capitalist invention. mronline.org Scientists are struggling to understand how Covid-19 affects people differently. Socialist Worker shows that the construct of race has more basis in exploitation than biology.

David Trujillo, Ismael Parra (2020-05-19). Socialist lessons learned: The political shifts brought by the coronavirus. peoplesworld.org Rev. Dr. William Barber of the New Poor People's Campaign has been preaching: "This virus is teaching us that from now on, living wages, guaranteed health care for all, unemployment and labor rights are not far-left issues but issues of right vs. wrong and life vs. death." Expanding on those truths, here are some more …

Gareth Porter (2020-05-19). Washington's tall tale of Iranian-Al Qaeda alliance based on questionably sourced book 'The Exile'. thegrayzone.com A disinformation campaign aimed to justify the assassination of Qassem Soleimani by painting him and Iran as willing enablers of…

Gareth Porter (2020-05-19). Washington's tall tale of Iranian-al Qaeda alliance based on questionably sourced book, 'The Exile'. thegrayzone.com A disinformation campaign aimed to justify the assassination of Qassem Soleimani by painting him and Iran as willing enablers of…

Ramzy Baroud, Romana Rubeo (2020-05-19). What You Need to Know about the ICC Investigation of War Crimes in Occupied Palestine. counterpunch.org Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has, once and for all, settled the doubts on the Court's jurisdiction to investigate war crimes committed in occupied Palestine. On April 30, Bensouda released a 60-page document diligently laying down the legal bases for that decision, concluding that "the Prosecution has carefully considered the

Ramzy Baroud (2020-05-19). ICC Investigation of War Crimes in Occupied Palestine. zcomm.org Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has, once and for all, settled the doubts on the Court's jurisdiction to investigate war crimes committed in occupied Palestine.

Ted Rall (2020-05-19). 5 Things the Government Must Do Now to Avoid Collapse And/Or Revolution. counterpunch.org The COVID-19 medical and economic crisis remains mostly unaddressed by both the Republican and Democratic parties. They have only passed one piece of legislation that significantly helps workers: supplementing existing state unemployment benefits by $600 per week. Those additional payments expire in four months. Until then many people who are out of work will receive

Philip Giraldi (2020-05-19). News Stories Avoid Naming Israel. globalresearch.ca There are two stories that seem to have been under-reported in the past couple of weeks. The first involves Michael Flynn's dealings with the Russian United Nations Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. And the second describes yet another bit of …

South Front (2020-05-19). Video: ISIS Terrorists Attack Syrian Army Near Al-Sukhna. globalresearch.ca About 2 dozen Turkish-backed militants have been killed or wounded in a recent series of clashes in northern Syria. 14 of them were reportedly killed in a failed attack on positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near Kubrlik overnight …

Rabbie Dovid Weiss (2020-05-19). Zionists Should Return Entire Occupied Lands to Palestinians: Rabbi Weiss. globalresearch.ca In an interview with Mehr News Agency, Rabbi Weiss said the Israeli regime was established in Palestine by committing all kinds of crimes against its people, which is a violation of Jewish religious laws towards fellow human beings, adding that …

Stephen Lendman (2020-05-19). The Myth of a COVID-19 Vaccine to the Rescue. globalresearch.ca Aided by establishment media fear-mongering, the public mind is being manipulated to support COVID-19 mass vaxxing as a way to protect against coronavirus infections. | Unmentioned is that all vaccines are toxic and hazardous to human health. | Taking them risks contracting …

Stephen Lendman (2020-05-19). Trump Sacks Another Regime Official, a Policy of Purging Critics. globalresearch.ca On Friday, Trump sacked State Department Inspector General Steve Linick — reportedly for launching an investigation into how Pompeo runs things. | A White House statement said Pompeo "recommended the move" — to quash an inquiry into his management of the …

Stephen Lendman (2020-05-19). Sports Without Fans in the Stands. globalresearch.ca MLB, the NBA, NFL, NHL, and NCAA tout the surreal idea of playing in empty stadiums. | The roar of the crowd for home teams is part of the game. | I don't follow sports like I did long ago after my …

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2020-05-19). After the Lockdown: A Global Coronavirus Vaccination Program… globalresearch.ca The tendency is towards a Worldwide lockdown spearheaded by fear and media disinformation. Currently, hundreds of millions of people Worldwide are under lockdown. | What is the next step in the evolution of the COV-19 Crisis? A multibillion dollar coronavirus vaccination program to be implemented in the wake of the Lockdown.

Mike Whitney (2020-05-19). Is the Lockdown the Greatest Policy Disaster in U.S. History? globalresearch.ca "Lockdowns are meant to condition people to obey without question. A nation of people who just do what they are told by the "experts" without question is a nation ripe for a descent into total tyranny." —Ron Paul | Donald Trump…

Philip A Farruggio (2020-05-19). Right Off the Right Wing Radar Screen! globalresearch.ca Ok, let me be perfectly clear here. I know, from years of studying the real American history from writers like Parenti, Chomsky, Zinn, Chossudovsky, even Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznik, that the fix has always been in. Meaning, that this …

Junaid S. Ahmad (2020-05-19). Afghanistan: Will U.S. Finally Withdraw? globalresearch.ca Al Jazeera reports Monday: " He said today: "With the recent spate of attacks in Afghanistan, the so-called 'peace agreement' between the U.S. and the Taliban signed just a few weeks…

WSWS (2020-05-19). US courts revoke emergency protections in coronavirus pandemic. wsws.org Over the past week, the US Supreme Court and the Texas Supreme Court have issued a series of antidemocratic decisions that place countless lives at risk and increase the hardships faced by workers in the coronavirus pandemic.

Eds. (2020-05-19). Let evidence, not talk radio, determine whether the outbreak started in a lab. mronline.org The president and his secretary of state made a startling claim last week: that there is enough evidence to suggest with a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology is the source of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Daniel Warner (2020-05-19). The World Trade Organization and the Demise of Multilateralism. counterpunch.org Seventy-five years after the creation of the United Nations in the wake of the Second World War, the recent resignation of the director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Roberto Azevedo, does not bode well for the international trading system, multilateralism and International Geneva. The organization has had several setbacks even before the pandemic: The

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2020-05-19). 'Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm' Amphan Barrels Towards India, Bangladesh. commondreams.org Meteorologists say there's "catastrophic storm surge potential." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/amphan.jpg

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2020-05-19). 'More Testing, Not More Bombs': 29 House Democrats Demand Cuts to Pentagon Budget Amid Pandemic. commondreams.org www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-11911594031.jpg

Staff (2020-05-19). Headlines for May 19, 2020. democracynow.org Trump Claims He Is Taking Hydroxychloroquine Despite FDA Warnings, Navajo Nation Has Highest Coronavirus Infection Rate in the U.S., 60-Year-Old Burmese Refugee Becomes Eighth COVID-19 Victim at Colorado Meat Plant, 74-Year-Old Man at California ICE Prison Dies of Suicide, Trump Attacks WHO as U.S. and China Trade Barbs over Pandemic Response, Early COVID Vaccine Trials Show Positive Results, Outbreak at Refugee Center in Germany Infects at Least 70 people, France and Germany Propose 500 Billion-Euro Coronavirus Assistance Fund for EU, Sà£o Paulo's Hospitals "Near Collapse" as Brazil Becomes Third Most Infe…

Staff (2020-05-19). "Whitening of the Media": As Pandemic Cuts Ravage Newsrooms, Diversity Is "First Thing That Goes" democracynow.org At a time when many journalists are risking their lives to cover the coronavirus, media companies are slashing jobs and salaries. Over the past week, hundreds of journalists at Vice, Quartz, The Economist, BuzzFeed and Condé Nast have been laid off. In April, The New York Times estimated 36,000 employees of news media companies had been laid off, furloughed or had their pay reduced since the arrival of the pandemic. We speak with award-winning journalist and former editor of The Denver Post, Gregory Moore. He says, "Advertising has fallen out of these newspapers because of the economic shutdown, and it has led to…

Staff (2020-05-19). Harvard Doctor: As States Rush to Reopen, Lack of COVID-19 Testing Is "Achilles Heel" for U.S. democracynow.org President Trump claimed Monday he's been taking the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, even though multiple studies show the drug can be dangerous and is not an effective treatment for COVID-19. This comes as the U.S. COVID-19 death count tops 90,000 and all 50 U.S. states prepare to partially reopen by Memorial Day. We speak with Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of Harvard University's Global Health Institute, who says that testing needs to vastly improve in order for widespread reopenings. He calls the lack of accurate tests in the U.S. the nation's "Achilles heel," saying, "The testing saga will go down as one…

Freedom Socialist Party Bay Area (2020-05-19). Poetry in the Time of the Pandemic & Other Earthly Ills. indybay.org Zoom (access registration after ticket purchase)…

en.mehrnews (2020-05-19). Only Palestinians can, should decide for Palestine: Foreign Ministry. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, May 19 (MNA) — Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its twitter account on Tuesday wrote that only Palestinians whether Muslim, Christian, or Jew with a national referendum can and should decide for Palestine.

Media Lens (2020-05-19). An Illusion Of Protection: The Pandemic, The "Criminal" Government And Public Distrust of The Media. dissidentvoice.org Any notion that the UK government actually considers that its primary responsibility is to protect the health and security of the country's population ought to have been demolished in 2020. The appalling death toll that continues to mount during the coronavirus pandemic is largely rooted, not merely in government 'incompetence', but in criminal dereliction of …

Elijah Magnier (2020-05-19). Israel strikes Syria to keep the USA in the Levant. 20 years after the unconditional Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, what has been achieved? (2). thealtworld.com Following its defeat in the second war on Lebanon, Israel discovered that its only way to suppress Hezbollah would …

Anthony Monteiro (2020-05-19). The revolutionary legacy of Malcolm X. peoplesworld.org Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little May 19, 1925, was assassinated Feb. 21, 1965, and buried El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. He is the most remarkable figure in the African-American nationalist tradition and one of the more important figures in the entire struggle for democracy and Black liberation. In many respects, his legacy defines modern day revolutionary African-American …

Chris Wright (2020-05-19). Learning from the Great Depression. counterpunch.org According to Mark Twain (supposedly), history doesn't repeat itself, but it frequently rhymes. He was right. Donald Trump, for example, rhymes with Mussolini. The decline of organized labor in recent decades rhymes with its decline in the 1920s. And the coming depression will rhyme, in many respects, with the Great Depression. For decades, in fact,

Melvin Goodman (2020-05-19). How the New York Times Enhances Trump's Propaganda. counterpunch.org The mendacity of Donald Trump is without parallel in the history of American presidential politics. His lies, as tabulated by the Washington Post's fact checker, number in the thousands. U.S. truth tellers have become Trump's favorite targets as Inspectors General, federal judges, intelligence officers, and the nation's media face constant punishment and harassment from the White

Sam Pizzigati (2020-05-19). Civil Disobedience, Billionaire-Style. counterpunch.org Last week, billionaire Elon Musk defied local public health officials and reopened his flagship Tesla auto assembly plant in Fremont, California. Public safety officials had ordered that plant shut down — over Musk's fierce opposition — almost two months earlier. "Dumb" concern about the coronavirus, Musk had ragedwith that shutdown impending, had morphed into a

Walden Bello (2020-05-19). The Race to Replace a Dying Neoliberalism. counterpunch.org The morning will come When the world is mine. Tomorrow belongs to me! From Cabaret In response to the cataclysm occasioned by the coronavirus, three lines of thinking are emerging. One is that the emergency necessitates extraordinary measures, but the basic structure of production and consumption is sound, and the problem lies only in determining

Emile Schepers (2020-05-19). Trump deportation frenzy threatens the lives of thousands. peoplesworld.org The hostility of President Donald Trump and his entourage toward immigrants from the poorer countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean has long been notorious. It is at the root of a whole series of repressive policies aimed at those communities, including mass deportation and the horror of "children in cages" at the …

John Raby (2020-05-19). Mine Wars: 'Matewan Massacre' a century ago embodied miners' struggles. peoplesworld.org MATEWAN, W.Va. (AP) — The bullet holes in the brick wall of a former post office serve as a reminder of how Appalachian coal miners fought to improve the lives of workers a century ago. Ten people were killed in a gun battle between miners, who were led by a local police chief, and a …

Gilbert Mercier (2020-05-19). COVID-19 Great Depression: Global Ecosocialism Is the Way Out. dissidentvoice.org Suffering in numbers The abstract science of mathematics is a language like music. But while music is in the realm of pure emotion, the language of mathematics only speaks to the mind not the heart. Numbers and equations do not lie. They are not, by essence, subjective. This being said, when the numbers are those …

Eds. (2020-05-19). COVID-19: Through the eyes of workers in the U.S. mronline.org Sarah Jaffe, with co-journalist Michelle Chan, interviews U.S. workers of all stripes for their podcast "Belabored" for Dissent Magazine. The following interviews are excerpts from their series on COVID-19 stories, republished with permission.

Xinhua News Agency (2020-05-19). OMS: Largo camino por recorrer pues riesgo de COVID-19 sigue siendo elevado. peoplesworld.org GINEBRA, 18 may (Xinhua) — La mayor parte de la población mundial sigue siendo susceptible a la COVID-19 y hay un largo camino por recorrer pues el riesgo sigue siendo elevado, dijo hoy el director general de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS). "Este es un enemigo peligroso, con una peligrosa combinación de rasgos. …

Mark Gruenberg (2020-05-19). AFL-CIO sues Trump's OSHA to force firms to protect workers from virus. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—Fed up with the Trump government's refusal to force firms to protect workers from the coronavirus, the AFL-CIO is suing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to force it to do so. The suit, filed May 18, in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for D.C., which handles most cases involving federal agencies and their …

pip.hinman (2020-05-19). Making up 28% inside, First Nations inmates are still at threat from COVID-19. greenleft.org.au

The Canary (2020-05-19). Ministers face pressure as councils and teachers question school reopening date. thecanary.co Ministers are facing increasing pressure from council leaders and teaching unions to reconsider their plans to open primary schools in England to more pupils from next month. | Calderdale Council in West Yorkshire has joined a number of local authorities in advising its schools against reopening more widely to Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils from 1 June amid safety concerns. | Solihull Council, believed to be one of the first Conservative-led local authorities to question the government's proposed start date, has warned that some school places may not be ready for the first week of June. | It came as a poll f…

The Canary (2020-05-19). MPs 'risk becoming 650 super-spreaders' if forced to return to Westminster. thecanary.co Plans for MPs to return to Westminster next month risk creating 650 Covid-19 "super-spreaders", a Labour MP has warned. | Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg has It comes as MPs learned that the planned multibillion-pound renovation of the Palace of Westminster is set for a review due to…

The Canary (2020-05-19). Rees-Mogg says resisting return of MPs to Commons is an attempt to 'stymie' government. thecanary.co Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg has accused Labour of opposing the return of MPs to Westminster in order to "stymie" the government.Ahead of a meeting with Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle, senior politicians from opposition parties and representatives of the unions, Rees-Mogg claimed that parliament was not able to do its job properly under the current arrangements.Critics of Rees-Mogg's approach have warned that returning to Westminster would put staff and MPs at risk of spreading coronavirus and fly in the face of the advice to work from home wherever possible. | Hybrid proceedings mean that MPs will be able to pa…

The Canary (2020-05-19). Grenfell Inquiry to resume when possible, but not for several weeks. thecanary.co The latest stage of the Grenfell Inquiry will not resume until at least July — more than three years after the west London tower block blaze that killed 72 people.The second phase of the investigation was halted on 16 March by chair Martin Moore-Bick as the coronavirus swept through Europe, with at least one panel member falling ill with suspected Covid-19 and concerns over the safety of other participants.The panel had spent more than a month hearing evidence from witnesses to examine the circumstances and causes of the disaster — on 14 June 2017 — before proceedings were drawn to an abrupt end.

The Canary (2020-05-19). Harriet Harman says Covid-19 contact tracing app assurances do not cut the mustard. thecanary.co New laws to protect the privacy of personal information gathered by the coronavirus contact tracing app are a "no brainer" — and can be adopted quick enough without disrupting its rollout, Harriet Harman has said.The Joint Committee on Human Rights — which Harman chairs — has a bill drafted and ready for introduction, amid concerns about the data such an app can gather and who can access it.Using Bluetooth, the app keeps an anonymised log of other people also using the app who have been in close contact with the user.If someone shows symptoms, they can inform the app, which will instruct anyone who…

The Canary (2020-05-19). IT experts unconvinced on effectiveness of Covid-19 contact tracing app. thecanary.co Less than a quarter of IT experts believe the UK's coronavirus (Covid-19) contact tracing app will be effective, according to a survey.Just under half (45%) said they were undecided about it, while almost a third (32%) believe the tool will not be useful in helping to contain Covid-19.The app is currently being trialled on the Isle of Wight as part of the government's "test, track and trace" strategy to ease the country out of lockdown.Health secretary Matt Hancock had indicated that a roll-out across the rest of England was on the cards for mid-May, but Downing Street has said the aim is to launch more widely in…