2020-04-13: News Headlines

RT (2020-04-13). Billionaire Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta says he did 45,000 workers 'a favor' by laying them off quickly. rt.com Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta claimed he was doing 45,000 members of staff "a favor" by laying them off quickly as the Houston Rockets mogul discussed the impact of the coronavirus crisis on his restaurant and casino empire. | Fertitta, 62, said he was "holding up pretty damn good" when discussing the affects of the Covid-19 on "But I've got 45,000 employees out there that we've had to furl…

RT (2020-04-13). 'Game-changing machine': Russian military get first batch of modernized T-90M tanks (VIDEO). rt.com With better protected turret, more powerful engine and a sighting system that guarantees high precision in nighttime, the modernized T-90M tank has now made it into the Russian army. | The first batch of the new war machines, called 'Proryv' (breakthrough) has been delivered to the elite Taman Armored Division near Moscow. | The arrival to their place of basing has been filmed by the Defense Ministry's Zvezda channel and featured the sad trend of the current time, as servicemen were seen wearing protective masks over the raging and deadly Covid-19 pandemic. | "Those are game changing machines," Sergey Kisel…

David Daley (2020-04-13). Republicans Admit They Lose When Elections Are Fair and Free. zcomm.org Interview on gerrymandering and voting rights that have fired up a generation of activists fighting for free and fair elections…

Ed Ott (2020-04-13). Bailout the Pension System. zcomm.org This fight needs to start now and it needs to start with the unions, the progressive elected and working class activists…

Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J. S. Davies (2020-04-13). UN Ceasefire Defines War As a Non-Essential Activity. counterpunch.org At least 70 countries have signed on to the March 23 call by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for a worldwide ceasefire during the Covid-19 pandemic. Like non-essential business and spectator sports, war is a luxury that the Secretary General says we must manage without for a while. After U.S. leaders have told Americans for

Joachim Hagopian (2020-04-12). One World Governance and the Council on Foreign Relations."We Shall have World Government… by Conquest or Consent." globalresearch.ca The fact is the Council on Foreign Relations has been controlling US foreign policy for almost a century, and chief among its most obvious agendas has been building and maintaining US Empire's global unipolar hegemony and military strength at all cost.

Rachel M. Cohen (2020-04-12). The Last Stimulus Ignored Climate. Activists Are Determined That Won't Happen in the Next One. commondreams.org A demonstrator holds a placard reading "time is running out" during a global youth climate action strike in Barcelona, on September 27, 2019 at the end of a global climate change week. (Photo by JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Staff (2020-04-11). Will This Public Health Crisis Lead to a Voting Rights Crisis? truthout.org Welcome to Moyers on Democracy. | Bill's guest in this episode is the journalist David Daley. His best-selling first book, Ratf**ked — Why Your Vote Doesn't Count, showed how Republicans used gerrymandering to lock up control of many state and local government for years, possibly — decades — and remains their strategy. In his most recent book — Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy — he travels America to report on the grassroots activists devoted to voting r…

Binoy Kampmark (2020-04-10). A Victory for the Fogeys: Bernie Sanders Drops Out. dissidentvoice.org Champagne corks will be popping in the Trump Empire for good reason. Whatever happens come November, the exit of Senator Bernie Sanders from the US presidential race will be a relief. The fractured republic can be reassured that the Democrats have not moved on, stuck, as it were, in the glades of vengeful melancholia and …

Medea Benjamin (2020-04-04). Saudi's Brave Women Pull Back the Curtain on Crown Prince MBS. zcomm.org The bogus trial against Loujain al-Hathloul should compel governments around the world to put more pressure on the Saudis and demand al-Hathloul's immediate and unconditional release…

Venezuela Analysis (2020-02-06). Embassy Protection Collective: "We Are Not the Ones Who Violated the Law" theantimedia.com In this exclusive interview, VA talks to the activists who defended the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC ahead of their trial.

Suzanne O'Keeffe (2019-07-24). MPP National Director Nick Brana arrested with XR. peoplesparty.org with Extinction Rebellion climate activists | MPP National Director Nick Brana arrested with Extinction Rebellion climate activists after supergluing themselves to Congress in mass civil disobedience: | Washington, D.C. — Movement for a People's Party National Director Nick Brana was arrested during a protest to block Congress and demand that they join the countries of the UK and Canada and declare a climate emergency. | Brana and 15 people affiliated with the climate action group Extinction Rebellion (XR) glued themselves to three underground tunnel entrances leading to the Capitol, blocking access…