2020-03-30: News Headlines

DLI (2020-03-30). Peace is the New Priority for Planet Earth after CoVid19 Crisis. indybay.org For decades Peace activists have been clamoring that the misplaced US priority on Militarism(wasting Trillions of dollars and narrowly focusing on imagined foreign enemies and/or real terrorists spawned by US policies)will decisively harm the health of citizens and the Planet itself. Sadly, 60 years after President Eisenhower warned of the danger of the Military Industrial Complex overshadowing the health and welfare of our society, the Peace agenda is still being sidelined to near extinction, both by the political ruling elite of Pentagon-Wall Street hucksters, and the compliant mainstream media outlets.

ADRIAN KUZMINSKI (2020-03-30). What's Wrong with Ranked Choice Voting. counterpunch.org An electoral reform popular with many political activists and commentators is ranked choice voting, also called cumulative or preferential voting. Instead of voting for just one candidate from a list, as we normally do, ranked choice voting allows each of us to vote for two or more candidates, ranking them respectively as first choice, second

RT (2020-03-29). 'We're going to make it through,' says anti-quarantine Cuomo as New York nears 60,000 Covid-19 cases. rt.com Covid-19 deaths in New York State rose by 237 overnight, bringing the Empire State's total fatalities to 965. Though the state has now recorded 59,513 infections, Governor Andrew Cuomo has insisted that NY will "make it through." | Cuomo announced the figures at a news conference on Sunday. As a result, he said that he has extended the state's 'PAUSE' directive until April 15. The directive requires all non-essential employees to work from home. One day earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a 14-day travel advisory for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, after the number of combined…

The Lancet (2020-03-28). [Editorial] Building on the PrEP victory. thelancet.com On March 15, the UK Department of Health and Social Care announced funding to make pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication available on the National Health Service in England for HIV prevention. This decision will be met, finally, with a sense of achievement by HIV activists and care providers, who have fought long and hard to make tenofovir-based PrEP drugs widely accessible in the UK, 8 years after the US Food and Drug Administration approved them and more than 4 years after WHO recommended their use for people at high risk of acquiring HIV.

Eliza Egret (2020-03-28). When death dealers make ventilators, we know it's time to end the arms trade. thecanary.co Peace activists might be relieved to hear that UK arms companies are Meanwhile, arms company Babcock is working with a medical equipment company to make thousands of ventilators. Babcock is now seemingly concerned with saving lives, rather t…

Staff (2020-03-27). Headlines for March 27, 2020. democracynow.org U.S. Leads World in Reported COVID-19 Cases as Hospitalizations Surge, Trump Doubts New York City's Need for 30,000 Life-Saving Ventilators, Politico: President Trump Failed to Follow Pandemic Playbook, Squandering Precious Time, Detroit and Chicago Join New Orleans as U.S. Coronavirus Hot Spots, House to Vote on Record-Shattering $2.2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package, Three Unaccompanied Migrant Children Test Positive for COVID-19, Jailed Asylum Seekers Stage Hunger Strike, Demanding Release During Pandemic, Activists Demand Release of Aging Prisoners as Coronavirus Spreads, Hospitals in Spain and Italy on th…

Dave Zirin (2020-03-27). Athlete Activists Respond to the Coronavirus Pandemic. thenation.com Athlete Activists Respond to the Coronavirus Pandemic…

Hiroyuki Hamada (2020-03-25). Feudal Japan's Edo and the US Empire. dissidentvoice.org After the warlord period of 15th century, Japan was united by a few families and then by a shogun family. The period is called the Edo period. They disarmed civilians and established a mild caste system. The country was closed except for a few ports controlled by the central government, travel restrictions were put in …

Staff (2020-03-20). Solidarity Not Charity: Mutual Aid & How to Organize in the Age of Coronavirus. democracynow.org As lockdowns and layoffs sweep the U.S., mutual aid groups are forming to protect and provide for the vulnerable, including the elderly, incarcerated, undocumented and unhoused. We look at the incredible community networks across the country that are coming together to protect their neighbors during the coronavirus pandemic — and how you can get involved. From Washington state to the Bay Area, Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota and New York City, thousands of mutual aid efforts are aimed at building solidarity, not charity. We speak with two longtime mutual aid organizers and activists in two hot spots of the pan…

Medea Benjamin (2020-03-02). Can the World's Second Superpower Rise From the Ashes of Twenty Years of War? zcomm.org If there is a lesson for peace-loving Americans in the Obama and Trump presidencies, it is that we cannot just walk out of the voting booth and leave it to a champion in the White House to end our wars and bring us peace. In the final analysis, it really is up to us…