Daily Archives: June 1, 2020

2020-06-01: News Headlines

Mirinda Crissman (2020-06-02). Behind the Walls: Prisoner resistance roundup. workers.org Prisoners are acting to protect themselves and each other in the middle of the global pandemic as they protest inhuman cages across the country and across the world. In the brutal facilities of incarceration in the U.S. alone, there have been hundreds of recorded actions related to COVID-19 since late . . . |

Staff (2020-06-02). Thousands In Baltimore March For Justice For George Floyd. therealnews.com Protesters blocked streets and highways to demand politicians end police brutality and economic violence amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Staff (2020-06-02). Independent Autopsy Concludes George Floyd's Death Was A Homicide. therealnews.com An independent autopsy released by Floyd's family raises serious questions about the previous findings, which implied underlying health issues were responsible for his death. Forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht says police should never place downward pressure on a person in a prone position…

Staff (2020-06-02). Social Justice Is The Way To End Riots. therealnews.com Eddie Conway talks with Jacqueline Luqman about the myths surrounding peaceful protests, uprisings, economic oppression and capitalism, valuing property over people, and the country's founding on violence.

_____ (2020-06-02). Dominic Cummings 'spare cottage' — no planning consent, pays no council tax. truepublica.org.uk TruePublica Editor: Dominic Cummimgs — the highly controversial Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, made it clear that he had stayed at a "spare cottage" at his father's farm when he addressed allegations that he had broken lockdown restrictions in April. The subsequent 'Rose Garden' interview turned into a media fiasco and demonstrated not just …

news.un (2020-06-02). 'Dogged pragmatism' needed to save Ocean: UN Special Envoy. news.un.org 'Dogged pragmatism' is needed to save the Ocean as the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, according to the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean.

_____ (2020-06-02). New laws to criminalise public interest information. truepublica.org.uk By TruePublica Editor: A new Declassified report published only a few days ago goes to show the situation we find our selves in right now. In the midst of a crisis, while the commentariat are lobbing rocks at each other over the endless scandals and the media are focused on the pandemic — the government …

Scott Owen (2020-06-01). On Sheep, Shepherds, Wolves and Other Political Creatures. counterpunch.org Noam Chomsky was recently recorded in an interview saying that the Bernie Sanders campaign was "an extraordinary success" that "completely shifted the arena of debate and discussion" in the United States. While I agree with Chomsky when he says in the same Democracy Now interview that "If Trump is reelected, it's an indescribable disaster. It

Ahmed Abdulkareem (2020-06-01). US Considers New Weapons for Saudi Arabia as Kingdom Renews Yemen Border Bombings. mintpressnews.com YEMEN-SAUDI BORDER — At seven years old, Radhiah Issa's wide-eyed screams of panic and fear were understandable. Even an adult would be forgiven for waking up in a heated panic after discovering much of their body wrapped in blood-soaked bandages and laying in an unfamiliar room. Radhiah was in the family home of a Yemeni doctor who had scraped together whatever medical supplies he could in a heroic effort to render first aid and perform emergency surgery on Radhiah, who was seriously injured last Wednesday by a Saudi artillery shell while she stood amid her family's grazing sheep near her home in the Shada…

Alan Macleod (2020-06-01). National Security "Experts" Blame Russia for the George Floyd Protests. mintpressnews.com The latest instance of American social disharmony being blamed on Moscow is part of a long tradition, where some see an invisible Russian hand whenever it is useful.

Alan Macleod (2020-06-01). Agent Provocateurs: Police at Protests All Over the Country Caught Destroying Property. mintpressnews.com The United States is on fire. Since the police killing of George Floyd on May 26, millions have taken to the streets in protest, clashing with police. At least 11 people have died, and thousands have been arrested. 15 states (plus Washington, D.C.) have called in the National Guard to quash protests raging in over 100 cities. Violence has been widespread, particularly in the epicenter Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed, with buildings engulfed in flames, stores looted and vehicles destroyed. | While protestors are undoubtedly responsible for some share of the destruction, the country's law enforcement officials…

Paul Antonopoulos (2020-06-01). Libyan War Escalates as Regional Powers Attempt to Gain Stronger Influence. globalresearch.ca Alarms are sounding in Europe as Turkey, Russia and Arab states could potentially agree on shared influence in Libya, and therefore the entirety of the eastern Mediterranean, according to some experts. This comes as European states have no influence over …

Andre Vltchek (2020-06-01). Almost Everywhere in the World Separatists are treated as Terrorists. dissidentvoice.org The Hong Kong rioters and other violent so-called opposition figures are up for a big surprise soon: their actions may simply not be tolerated anymore. In fact, they might become illegal. But not because, as the White House and the Western mass media are continuously trumpeting, "China is governed by the Communist Party", but simply …

B'Tselem (2020-06-01). Palestine: Even During a Pandemic, Israeli Soldiers Shoot Holes in Water Tanks at Kafr Qadum. globalresearch.ca In recent weeks, soldiers have repeatedly shot holes in water tanks on the roofs of homes in Kafr Qadum. The shooting takes place during the weekly protests against the closure of the eastern exit from the village, which connects the …

Miko Peled (2020-06-01). Lessons from Palestine: America's People of Color Need a Sustained Resistance Movement. mintpressnews.com The notion of an ongoing resistance by people of color in the US sounds outlandish but might be what is needed in order to rid America of its racist and violent attitudes.

Kathy Kelly (2020-06-01). Our Disaster: Why the United States Bears Responsibility for Yemen's Humanitarian Crisis. commondreams.org Sanaa, Yemen. 30th Apr, 2020. A health worker wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant on the hands of people at a market in the old city of Sanaa, amid concerns of the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). (Photo: Hani Al-Ansi/dpa/Alamy Live News.) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2020-06-01_at_10.02.36_am.png

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2020-06-01). Pompeo Reups Threats to ICC Over US, Israel War Crimes Probes, Showing White House 'Determined to Prevent' Accountability. commondreams.org "You'll see in the coming days a series of announcements not just from the State Department, from all across the United States government, that attempt to push back against what the ICC is up to," said the secretary of state. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/pompeo-icc-announcements.jpg

Staff (2020-06-01). Defund Police: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Says Budgets Wrongly Prioritize Cops Over Schools, Hospitals. democracynow.org Calls to defund the police mount after police erupted into violence this weekend in response to widespread protests across the nation, arresting more than 4,000 people and attacking demonstrators with tear gas and rubber bullets. As police departments face increasing criticism for using excessive force on protesters, we get response from Professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, renowned scholar Professor Cornel West and attorney Bakari Sellers.

Staff (2020-06-01). "America Has Looted Black People. We Learned It from You" Says Women's March Activist Tamika Mallory. democracynow.org In a powerful address among people in Minneapolis protesting the police murder of George Floyd, activist and former Women's March co-chair Tamika Mallory demanded, "Charge the cops. … Charge them in every city across America where our people are being murdered."

Staff (2020-06-01). "My Vanishing Country": Mass Protests Rise from 400 Years of Systemic Racism, Says Bakari Sellers. democracynow.org As mass unrest engulfs the U.S., we speak with attorney and political commentator Bakari Sellers, whose new memoir "My Vanishing Country" was just published. One of the central moments in the book is the Orangeburg massacre of 1968, when police opened fire on a crowd of students gathered on the campus of South Carolina State University to protest segregation at Orangeburg's only bowling alley. When the shooting stopped, three Black students were dead, 28 students were wounded. The nine officers who opened fire that day were all acquitted. The only person convicted of wrongdoing was Bakari Sellers's father, Clevel…

Staff (2020-06-01). A Class Rebellion: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor on How Racism & Racial Terrorism Fueled Nationwide Anger. democracynow.org In the largest nationwide uprising since the 1960s, protesters shut down cities across the United States over the weekend following the police killing of George Floyd, an African American man in Minneapolis. "These are not just repeats of past events," says scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. "These are the consequences of the failures of this government and the political establishment … to resolve these crises."

Staff (2020-06-01). Headlines for June 1, 2020. democracynow.org Minneapolis Protests at Epicenter of Nationwide Uprising Met with More Police Violence, Louisville Police Shoot and Kill Man at Protest, New Yorkers Take to Streets Around City, Shut Down Traffic as NYPD Arrests Hundreds, Attacks Peaceful Crowds, Rep. Joyce Beatty and Two Columbus City Officials Pepper-Sprayed by Ohio Police, Video Shows 9-Year-Old Seattle Child in Distress After Reportedly Being Maced by Police, Protesters Rally in Front of Capitol, White House, as Trump Retreats to Presidential Bunker, Black Sacramento Teen Recovering After Being Shot in Face with Rubber Bullet, Atlanta Police Officers Fired Af…

Staff (2020-06-01). "America's Moment of Reckoning": Cornel West Says Nationwide Uprising Is Sign of "Empire Imploding" democracynow.org As thousands from coast to coast took to the streets this weekend to protest the state-sanctioned killing of Black people, and the nation faces its largest public health crisis in generations and the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression, professor Cornel West calls the U.S. a "predatory capitalist civilization obsessed with money, money, money." He also makes the connections between U.S. violence abroad and at home. "There is a connection between the seeds that you sow of violence externally and internally."

RT (2020-06-02). Piles of BRICKS mysteriously sprouting near riot hotspots all over US have journalists demanding answers. rt.com Stacks of bricks left seemingly unattended in riot hotspots across the US – as if begging to be snatched and thrown by unruly mobs – have protesters and journalists wondering whether the violent street clashes are orchestrated. | It's not every day one sees a stack of bricks just lying around unattended, especially when there's no construction to be seen – but a rash of reports of pallets of bricks turning up as if by magic in over half a dozen cities over the weekend has investigators trying to get to the bottom of who's seemingly giving would-be rioters the tools they need to turn what began as peaceful prot…

en.mehrnews (2020-06-02). Signs of decline of 'Great Satan' has become 'more apparent' than ever: Shamkhani. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jun. 02 (MNA) — Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council [SNSC] Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani said that the signs of decline of the Great Satan, the United States, has become more apparent than ever.

en.mehrnews (2020-06-02). Social distancing in Tehran Bazaar. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jun. 02 (MNA) — Iranian Headquarter for the battle against CIVID-19 declared home quarantine as a way to prevent the spread of the disease at the beginning of the pandemic. Currently, with limitations lifted, it is necessary to observe social distancing in crowded places such a Tehran Bazaar.

sputniknews (2020-06-02). Florida Police Chief Urges Community to Use Guns Against Looters Breaking Into Homes. sputniknews.com Earlier on Sunday, the US National Guard was put on heightened alert in 15 states and in Washington DC, as several of the protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd evolved into violent rioting with buildings and cars set on fire, windows smashed and violent police confrontations with protesters gathered in front of the White House.

sputniknews (2020-06-02). Coronavirus Pandemic to Reduce US GDP By Almost $16Trln Over Next Decade, Budget Office Says. sputniknews.com WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) output will fall by almost $16 trillion, or more than 5 percent less than what was projected at the beginning of this year because of the economic impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in a projection.

sputniknews (2020-06-02). Mining Firm Apologizes After Blowing Up 46,000-Year-Old Aboriginal Caves in Australia. sputniknews.com Multinational mining corporation Rio Tinto has apologized for destroying a 46,000-year-old sacred site belonging to local indigenous people in Australia in order to expand an iron mine.

_____ (2020-06-02). Steven Donziger Challenged A Corporate Polluter And Won, Now They're Trying To Ruin Him. popularresistance.org Texaco was the first oil company to drill in the Amazon. To maximize profits, and because they thought they could get away with it, they did not take any steps to protect local communities or the environment from their toxic waste. For a long time, they did get away with it. Then a group of lawyers and organizations worked with locals to sue Chevron, which bought Texaco, and won a $9.5 billion judgment. Chevron refuses to pay and instead has gone after the lawyer, Steven Donziger, in unprecedented ways with a vengeance. We speak with Donziger and Paul Paz y Miño of Amazon Watch.

Kathy Kelly (2020-06-01). Our Disaster: Why the United States Bears Responsibility for Yemen's Humanitarian Crisis. counterpunch.org An entire generation of Yemeni children has suffered the traumas of war, many of them orphaned, maimed, malnourished, or displaced. The United Nations reports a death toll of 100,000 people in that nation's ongoing war, with an additional 131,000 people dying from hunger, disease, and a lack of medical care. A report from Save the Children, issued in November 2018, estimated

Martha Grevatt (2020-06-01). Cleveland car/pedestrian action demands prisoner release. workers.org Cleveland May 29 — Today a combination car/pedestrian protest in downtown Cleveland called for the Cuyahoga County Jail to release more prisoners and end "inhumane treatment." Similar actions have been taking place around Ohio, which has the highest COVID-19 prisoner death rate in the country. This demonstration was called by . . . |

Stephen Lendman (2020-06-01). The Great COVID-19 Vaccines to the Rescue Hoax. "Making A Billion Dollars" vs. "Harmful Side Effects" globalresearch.ca Instead of serving the public interest by reporting truthfully on major issues, establishment media serve as press agents for powerful interests. | Their managed news misinformation and disinformation includes the myth of barbarians at the gates to support endless wars on …

Stephen Lendman (2020-06-01). Rage Against the United States of Institutionalized Inequality and Injustice. globalresearch.ca Public rage in dozens of US cities goes way beyond the killing of African American George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. | Like countless others in the US, Floyd was a victim of institutionalized racism, inequality and injustice….

Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J. S. Davies (2020-06-01). Who Are the Secret Puppet-Masters Behind Trump's War on Iran? counterpunch.org On May 6th, President Trump vetoed a war powers bill specifying that he must ask Congress for authorization to use military force against Iran. Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign of deadly sanctions and threats of war against Iran has seen no let-up, even as the U.S., Iran and the whole world desperately need to set aside

Howard Lisnoff (2020-06-01). Is the Pandemic Creating a Resurgence of Unionism? counterpunch.org Since Ronald Reagan fired air traffic controllers (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization) en masse at the beginning of his presidency "("Reagan fires 11,000 striking air traffic controllers, August 5, 1981," Politico, August 5, 2017), unions, which had already seen a decline because of the expansion of the global economy, saw membership numbers begin a precipitous decline ("The PATCO Strike,

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-06-01). 'They Need Our Help': As CBO Projects $16 Trillion GDP Loss Due to Pandemic, Sanders and Schumer Demand Relief for Working Families. commondreams.org Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer demanded to know on Monday how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can remain committed to passing no additional coronavirus relief for working families. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/unemployment_coronavirus_1.jpg

Richard D. Wolff (2020-06-01). Why the Neoliberal Agenda Is a Failure at Fighting Coronavirus. zcomm.org Where neoliberalism is strong, governmental preparations for and copings with coronavirus were weak, too late, and too little: as in the U.S., the UK, and Italy, among others…

Jan Oberg (2020-06-01). The Corona — An Opportunity to Replace Militarist Security with Individual and Human Security. globalresearch.ca Parts 1 and 2: introductory, diagnosis | Part 3: the fraudulent threat analysis that fuels militarism | Part 4: some theories and concepts about human security and how those concepts differ fundamentally from state-anchored dominant military policies | Read: …

Fight Back (2020-06-01). Central Florida FRSO condemns Florida curfews. fightbacknews.org In response to the nationwide uprisings in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, Florida cities and counties along the I-4 corridor, such as Tampa, Orlando, and Polk County, have announced curfews in an attempt to deescalate protests. In addition, Governor Ron DeSantis has deployed the National Guard to Tampa. The Central Florida District of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns these measures as they are motivated by aims to suppress the popular movements against the continuing brutality of the police against the African American community. | Tampa mayor Jane "Cover-up" Castor announced on Ma…

Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers (2020-06-01). Nationwide Uprising Against Failed State Triggered By Police Killings. dissidentvoice.org The nationwide uprising sparked by the murder of George Floyd and other recent racially-motivated events is a response to the bi-partisan failed state in which we live. It comes in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic and the largest economic collapse in the US in more than a century. These three crises have disproportionately impacted …

Kevin Zeese (2020-06-01). Nationwide Uprisings Against Failed States Triggered by Police Killings. globalresearch.ca The nationwide uprising sparked by the murder of George Floyd and other recent racially-motivated events is a response to the bi-partisan failed state in which we live. It comes in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic and the largest economic …

Brasil de Fato (2020-06-01). CoronaShock: The greatest crisis in the history of capitalism. peoplesdispatch.org Vijay Prashad talks to Brasil de Fato on the nature of the crisis COVID-19 has brought, the obscene structural discrimination and loot that characterize capitalism, and the path before the Left during and after these times…

Black Alliance for Peace (2020-06-01). From George Floyd Back to the Structural Violence of Capitalism. dissidentvoice.org Third degree murder for 3/5 for a devalued life Knee in throat air gone, gasping dying under the color of law! George Floyd had no chance! The gang of state sponsored assassins had already signed his death warrant! They think we should be grateful for watered down justice that has not and will never be …

Brasil de Fato (2020-06-01). Protests against Bolsonaro end up in repression and confrontation with far-right. peoplesdispatch.org For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, anti-fascist groups linked to organized soccer fans in Brazil took to the streets to demand that President Jair Bolsonaro step down from office, and fight against demonstrations organized by far right supporters, who are attacking the Legislative and Judiciary Power. | In Sà£o Paulo, as soccer fan supporters held a pro-democracy demonstration on Avenida Paulista, in the central region of the capital, this Sunday May 31, and were repressed by the Military Police. During the demonstration, military policemen started a confrontation against the protesters…

Eds. (2020-06-01). Under the Blacklight: The Fire This Time. mronline.org Join Kimberlé Crenshaw and guests Alicia Garza, Robin D. G. Kelly, Devon Carbado, and Maria Moore for part ten of the "Under the Blacklight: The Intersectional Vulnerabilities COVID Lays Bare" series. Click here for more information. The Under the Blacklight series has interrupted mainstream discourse in order to advocate for a more egalitarian politics and a more …

Eric A. Gordon (2020-06-01). Smithfield's Farmer John food factory and others hit with COVID-19 in L.A. peoplesworld.org LOS ANGELES—Smithfield Foods has been in the news lately. Their pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., became a Midwestern epicenter for coronavirus among its workforce this spring. Inadequate and heartless worker protection soon allowed the infection to spread throughout the state's largest city. Now its meatpacking plant in Vernon, a small but separately incorporated …

Editor (2020-06-01). EDITORIAL: En una grave crisis económica, lecciones de los más oprimidos. workers.org Estados Unidos se encuentra en una crisis económica histórica y aplastante, acelerada por la pandemia de COVID-19. Si bien la Oficina de Estadísticas Laborales informó el 21 de mayo que la tasa oficial de desempleo era del 14,7 por ciento, ese mismo día la revista Fortune, una voz de la . . . |

Hayley Brown — Dean Baker (2020-06-01). The Impact of Upward Redistribution on Social Security Solvency. counterpunch.org Economic inequality in the US has ballooned since the early 1980s. Wage and salary growth at the top of the earnings distribution has significantly outpaced that at the bottom and middle, resulting in decades of unabated upward redistribution of income. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated this divide. In addition to the immediate problems

Henry Giroux (2020-06-01). Racial Domestic Terrorism and the Legacy of State Violence. counterpunch.org The sheer brutality of George Floyd's death at the hands of a viciously violent cop symbolizes the unadulterated racism of a culture that looks away in the face of police violence against Black people but also a society in which a form of racialized domestic terrorism has become normalized.