Monthly Archives: April 2020

2020-04-30: News Headlines

Prof Michael Hudson (2020-04-30). Video: How the US Makes Countries Pay for Its Wars: Economics of American Imperialism with Michael Hudson. globalresearch.ca Economist Michael Hudson explains how American imperialism has created a global free lunch, where the US makes foreign countries pay for its wars, and even their own military occupation. | Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the economics of Washington's empire, …

Jackie Salo (2020-04-30). Lockdowns-Boosting WHO Now Lauds Sweden as a 'Model' for Other Countries to Copy Going Forward. anti-empire.com The World Health Organization lauded Sweden as a "model" for battling the coronavirus as countries lift lockdowns — after the nation Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHO's top emergencies expert, said Wednesday there are "lessons to be learned" from the Scandinavian nation, which has largely relied on citizens to self-regulate. [This would be the same Mike Ryan who argued authorities would need to enter people's homes and forcefully take away infected fami…

repost (2020-04-30). 4/30/20: 45th Anniversary of Victory in Vietnam. indybay.org On April 30, 1975, the "little people in black pajamas" of Vietnam defeated the mightiest, most despicable war machine the world had seen since Nazi Germany, namely the US military, as they chased the US military and their local lackeys onto helicopters, boats and planes, causing celebrations around the world, including here in the Bay Area where we, who opposed the war machine and resisted the draft, danced in streets. Today, Vietnam has ZERO deaths from the coronavirus because it has SOCIALIZED medicine. For more, see www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/30/a-letter…

Chauncey K. Robinson (2020-04-30). Seeking justice during COVID-19: Black man killed while jogging in Georgia. peoplesworld.org A 25-year-old Black man was shot and killed while jogging after being pursued by two white men in Brunswick, Georgia. Over two months have passed since the incident, and still no one has been charged for his murder. Friends, family, and activists are looking for answers in Ahmaud Arbery's death, but they are afraid the …

Marko Marjanoviƒá (2020-04-30). It's No Coincidence That COVID-19 First Popped Up in Wuhan, But Not in the Way You Think. anti-empire.com The American/Western conspiracy theory is that COVID-19 is an "escaped bio-weapon" which found its way out Wuhan's biosafety level 4 laboratory which is only one of two such institutions in China. | The corresponding Chinese conspiracy theory is that COVID-19 is an American "bio-weapon" spread by the US delegation to the 2019 Wuhan Military Games. | Why someone would use a virus that is as good as spreading as the common cold, and equally unlikely to make a healthy person significantly ill as a "weapon" is unknown. | And yet it's not a coincidence that the virus seemingly first popped up in Wuhan as a German d…

Marko Marjanović (2020-04-30). Italy to Speedily Abandon Mind Virus Lockdown, Bend the Knee to Sweden's Open Model. anti-empire.com

Fighting "the invisible enemy"

| Conte has announced a gradual reopening of Italy starting next Monday. However, reading the schedule it becomes apparent it's not very gradual at all, instead it is quite quick: | Italy has outlined plans to ease the restrictions it imposed seven weeks ago to curb the spread of the coronavirus. | Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the measures would be relaxed from 4 May, with people being allowed to visit their relatives in small numbers. | People will be allowed to move around their own regions – but not between different regions | Funerals are set to resume,…

Roger D. Harris (2020-04-30). Et tu? Progressive Boomers Are Now Preaching Pro-Biden Lesser-Evilism. mintpressnews.com At a time when an independent progressive movement is needed more than ever, the sheepdogs of a bygone era are trying to herd a new generation of activists into the Democratic Party.

Workers World Party (2020-04-29). International Workers' Day: Find an action! workers.org May Day — International Workers' Day — will be celebrated on May 1 across the U.S. despite the challenges imposed by the pandemic. Activists in many cities are protesting from their cars about a range of key working-class issues, including health, safety and economic well-being in the context of COVID-19. . . . |

John Kelly (2020-04-29). Washington Post: 'The Key to Escaping Lockdown? Sleep in Your Guest Room and Pretend It's a Trip'. anti-empire.com Surely our headline was satire? | We wish, it's actually Nice view. I'm sure that's standard for locked-down Americans.

Andy Sullivan (2020-04-29). True Number of Americans Run Out of Work by Virus Maoists Could Be 10 Million Higher at 36 Million. anti-empire.com Millions of Americans who have been thrown out of work during the coronavirus pandemic have been unable to register for unemployment benefits since the U.S. economy entered a free fall, according to a poll released on Tuesday. | The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found in an online poll that for every 10 people who have successfully filed unemployment claims, three or four people have been unable to register and another two people have not tried to apply at a time of acute economic crisis. | Official U.S. statistics show that 26.5 million people have applied for unemployment benefits since mid-March, w…

David H Freedman (2020-04-29). "One of the Most Influential Scientists Alive" Read This 2010 Profile of Dr. Ioannidis, the COVID Doomsday Cult Slayer. anti-empire.com Excerpt: Indeed, given the breadth of the potential problems raised at the meeting, can any medical-research studies be trusted? | That question has been central to Ioannidis's career. He's what's known as a meta-researcher, and he's become one of the world's foremost experts on the credibility of medical research. He and his team have shown, again and again, and in many different ways, that much of what biomedical researchers conclude in published studies—conclusions that doctors keep in mind when they prescribe antibiotics or blood-pressure medication, or when they advise us to consume more fiber or les…

Ian Miles Cheong (2020-04-29). New Zealand Government Bans Online Book Purchases as 'Non-Essential'. anti-empire.com Besides video games and Netflix, books are the only things any of us have left to keep us sane besides conversations with our significant others on Facetime. Yes, there's plenty to do—plenty of options to fill the time in between trips to the grocery store and reading news about the Chinese coronavirus, and books fill a void that otherwise goes unfilled, leaving only anxiety to take its place. | Books are essential in lockdown, but the New Zealand government doesn't think so. Under the onerous orders of Jacinda Ardern, a leader praised for her ability to lead the country through this global struggle unde…

teleSUR (2020-04-29). Guatemalans Stage a Funeral Procession to Protest. telesurenglish.net After staging a funeral procession through the streets of Guatemala City on Tuesday, social activists and workers came together in the Constitution Square to denounce the poor management of the health emergency by RELATED: | "Basic services were c…

Medea Benjamin (2020-04-28). During Coronvrius: Cuba to the rescue, but don't tell the American people. mronline.org Anti-Cuba zealots in the Trump administration have been enticing Cuban doctors working overseas to defect, paying journalists to write negative stories, slapping sanctions on Cubans in charge of the program, and strong-arming countries to expel Cuban doctors.

Staff (2020-04-28). Stir Crazy! Episode #23: The Empire State. therealnews.com On today's show: TRNN Digital Director Charles Lenchner. We're also joined by founding member of the Chinatown Collective which hosts the Charm City Night Market Leandro Lagera and Democratic State Committeeman and activist from Manhattan's 66th Assembly District Ben Yee. Hosted by Kim Brown.

Staff (2020-04-27). Headlines for April 27, 2020. democracynow.org Global Coronavirus Deaths Top 207,000 as Hard-Hit European Nations Start Relaxing Lockdowns, States Prepare to Reopen Economies as Cases Continue to Mount, Doctors See Rise in Strokes Caused by Coronavirus; CDC Expands List of Possible Symptoms, Oakland Police Tackle and Detain Unhoused Outreach Workers, Poison Control Center Calls Spike After President Trump Suggests Injections of Disinfectant, WHO Warns Against Issuing "Immunity Passports", Activists Hold "Cancel the Rent" Protests Around the Country, Coronavirus Outbreak Reported at Tyson Foods Meat Processing Plant, "Larry King Live" Tape from 1993 Supports T…

Staff (2020-04-24). Activists Win Earth Day Victory Against Dirty Trash Incinerator. therealnews.com Activists held a die-in at the incinerator to demand its closing while wearing face masks and gloves to protect against COVID-19.

Alice Herman (2020-04-24). Wisconsin's Fight Against the F-35s. progressive.org Activists continue to push back against the Air Force's decision to locate fighter planes in Madison.

Staff (2020-04-23). Stir Crazy! Episode #20: The Empire Strikes Back! therealnews.com On today's show: TRNN visual producer Andrew Corkery, "By Any Means Necessary" co-host Jacqueline Luqman, TRNN investigative reporter Stephen Janis, and special guest DC consultant Dante Atkins. Hosted by Kim Brown.

Staff (2020-04-22). Chileans Who Took to Streets Against Inequality & Climate Crisis Say Virus Lockdowns Won't Stop Them. democracynow.org Months ago, the streets of Santiago and other Chilean cities were alive with a vibrant mass protest movement that drew hundreds of thousands and even led the U.N. climate summit to be relocated to Madrid, Spain, last December. Now the public spaces of Santiago are largely empty as citizens shelter in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But the protest movement against austerity and right-wing President Sebastián Piñera lives on as activists find new ways to organize online. We go to Santiago, Chile, to speak with Angela Valenzuela, a 350.org organizer who has been active both in the country's uprising and in…

Staff (2020-04-22). Greta Thunberg: Climate Activists Have Not Lost Hope Amid Pandemic. We're Changing How We Organize. democracynow.org Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg spoke in an Earth Day live stream hosted by the Nobel Prize Museum about how the Fridays for Future school strikes movement she launched is responding to the coronavirus pandemic. "Within the Fridays for Future movement, there's still this sort of big sense of resistance, and people are thinking, 'We will get out of this. And when we do, we will continue, and we will do everything we can that is possible in that situation to continue to push even harder,'" says Thunberg. "I feel like many people have not lost their sense of hope. We have just changed the way we do things. W…

Staff (2020-04-21). Death Trap Jail: Pepper-Sprayed, Otay Mesa Detainees Demand Release as COVID-19 Spreads Inside. democracynow.org We look at the mounting number of COVID-19 cases inside immigration jails across the country and one of the largest outbreaks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego, run by private prison company CoreCivic. Prisoners were told to sign contracts, written only in English, in exchange for receiving face masks. When some refused to sign, guards pepper-sprayed them. This comes as activists say hundreds imprisoned in detention centers in California are on hunger strike. We get an update from Ruth Mendez, community activist and volunteer with Otay Mesa Detention Resistance.

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…

Susan Price (2020-04-29). Malaysian activists say 'let Rohingya boats land'. greenleft.org.au

2020-04-30: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media! (Copy the text of the postee below, then paste it on social media and the story images will also appear.)

Video: How the US Makes Countries Pay for Its Wars: Economics of American Imperialism with Michael Hudson
Prof Michael Hudson | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-30
Economist Michael Hudson explains how American imperialism has created a global free lunch, where the US makes foreign countries pay for its wars, and even their own military occupation. | Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the economics of Washington's empire, …
globalresearch.ca/video-how-us-makes-countries-pay-its-wars-economics-american-imperialism-michael-hudson/5711354

Lockdowns-Boosting WHO Now Lauds Sweden as a 'Model' for Other Countries to Copy Going Forward
Jackie Salo | anti-empire.com | 2020-04-30
The World Health Organization lauded Sweden as a "model" for battling the coronavirus as countries lift lockdowns

4/30/20: 45th Anniversary of Victory in Vietnam
repost | indybay.org | 2020-04-30
On April 30, 1975, the "little people in black pajamas" of Vietnam defeated the mightiest, most despicable war machine the world had seen since Nazi Germany, namely the US military, as they chased the US military and their local lackeys onto helicopters, boats and planes, causing celebrations around the world, including here in the Bay Area where we, who opposed the war machine and resisted the draft, danced in streets. Today, Vietnam has ZERO deaths from the coronavirus because it has SOCIALIZED medicine. For more, see www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/30/a-letter…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/30/1883270…

Et tu? Progressive Boomers Are Now Preaching Pro-Biden Lesser-Evilism
Roger D. Harris | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-30
At a time when an independent progressive movement is needed more than ever, the sheepdogs of a bygone era are trying to herd a new generation of activists into the Democratic Party.
mintpressnews.com/et-tu-progressive-boom…

Seeking justice during COVID-19: Black man killed while jogging in Georgia
Chauncey K. Robinson | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-30
A 25-year-old Black man was shot and killed while jogging after being pursued by two white men in Brunswick, Georgia. Over two months have passed since the incident, and still no one has been charged for his murder. Friends, family, and activists are looking for answers in Ahmaud Arbery's death, but they are afraid the …
peoplesworld.org/article/seeking-justice…

Italy to Speedily Abandon Mind Virus Lockdown, Bend the Knee to Sweden's Open Model
Marko Marjanović | anti-empire.com | 2020-04-30

Fighting "the invisible enemy"

| Conte has announced a gradual reopening of Italy starting next Monday. However, reading the schedule it becomes apparent it's not very gradual at all, instead it is quite quick: | Italy has outlined plans to ease the restrictions it imposed seven weeks ago to curb the spread of the coronavirus. | Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the measures would be relaxed from 4 May, with people being allowed to visit their relatives in small numbers. | People will be allowed to move around their own regions – but not between different regions | Funerals are set to resume,…
anti-empire.com/italy-to-speedily-abando…

It's No Coincidence That COVID-19 First Popped Up in Wuhan, But Not in the Way You Think
Marko Marjanović | anti-empire.com | 2020-04-30
The American/Western conspiracy theory is that COVID-19 is an "escaped bio-weapon" which found its way out Wuhan's biosafety level 4 laboratory which is only one of two such institutions in China. | The corresponding Chinese conspiracy theory is that COVID-19 is an American "bio-weapon" spread by the US delegation to the 2019 Wuhan Military Games. | Why someone would use a virus that is as good as spreading as the common cold, and equally unlikely to make a healthy person significantly ill as a "weapon" is unknown. | And yet it's not a coincidence that the virus seemingly first popped up in Wuhan as a German d…
anti-empire.com/its-no-coincidence-that-…

International Workers' Day: Find an action!
Workers World Party | workers.org | 2020-04-29
May Day

Guatemalans Stage a Funeral Procession to Protest
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-29
After staging a funeral procession through the streets of Guatemala City on Tuesday, social activists and workers came together in the Constitution Square to denounce the poor management of the health emergency by President Alejandro Giammattei administration. | RELATED: | Guatemala: President Giammattei Reaches 100 Days in Office | "Basic services were c…
telesurenglish.net/news/Guatemalans-Stag…

New Zealand Government Bans Online Book Purchases as 'Non-Essential'
Ian Miles Cheong | anti-empire.com | 2020-04-29
Besides video games and Netflix, books are the only things any of us have left to keep us sane besides conversations with our significant others on Facetime. Yes, there's plenty to do–plenty of options to fill the time in between trips to the grocery store and reading news about the Chinese coronavirus, and books fill a void that otherwise goes unfilled, leaving only anxiety to take its place. | Books are essential in lockdown, but the New Zealand government doesn't think so. Under the onerous orders of Jacinda Ardern, a leader praised for her ability to lead the country through this global struggle unde…
anti-empire.com/new-zealand-government-b…

"One of the Most Influential Scientists Alive" Read This 2010 Profile of Dr. Ioannidis, the COVID Doomsday Cult Slayer
David H Freedman | anti-empire.com | 2020-04-29
Excerpt: Indeed, given the breadth of the potential problems raised at the meeting, can any medical-research studies be trusted? | That question has been central to Ioannidis's career. He's what's known as a meta-researcher, and he's become one of the world's foremost experts on the credibility of medical research. He and his team have shown, again and again, and in many different ways, that much of what biomedical researchers conclude in published studies–conclusions that doctors keep in mind when they prescribe antibiotics or blood-pressure medication, or when they advise us to consume more fiber or les…
anti-empire.com/one-of-the-most-influent…

Washington Post: 'The Key to Escaping Lockdown? Sleep in Your Guest Room and Pretend It's a Trip'
John Kelly | anti-empire.com | 2020-04-29
Surely our headline was satire? | We wish, it's actually verbatim: | Nice view. I'm sure that's standard for locked-down Americans.
anti-empire.com/washington-post-the-key-…

True Number of Americans Run Out of Work by Virus Maoists Could Be 10 Million Higher at 36 Million
Andy Sullivan | anti-empire.com | 2020-04-29
Millions of Americans who have been thrown out of work during the coronavirus pandemic have been unable to register for unemployment benefits since the U.S. economy entered a free fall, according to a poll released on Tuesday. | The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found in an online poll that for every 10 people who have successfully filed unemployment claims, three or four people have been unable to register and another two people have not tried to apply at a time of acute economic crisis. | Official U.S. statistics show that 26.5 million people have applied for unemployment benefits since mid-March, w…
anti-empire.com/true-number-of-americans…

During Coronvrius: Cuba to the rescue, but don't tell the American people
Medea Benjamin | mronline.org | 2020-04-28
Anti-Cuba zealots in the Trump administration have been enticing Cuban doctors working overseas to defect, paying journalists to write negative stories, slapping sanctions on Cubans in charge of the program, and strong-arming countries to expel Cuban doctors.
mronline.org/2020/04/28/during-coronvriu…

Stir Crazy! Episode #23: The Empire State
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-04-28
On today's show: TRNN Digital Director Charles Lenchner. We're also joined by founding member of the Chinatown Collective which hosts the Charm City Night Market Leandro Lagera and Democratic State Committeeman and activist from Manhattan's 66th Assembly District Ben Yee. Hosted by Kim Brown.
therealnews.com/stories/stir-crazy-episo…

Wisconsin's Fight Against the F-35s
Alice Herman | progressive.org | 2020-04-24
Activists continue to push back against the Air Force's decision to locate fighter planes in Madison.
progressive.org/dispatches/wisconsin-fig…

Activists Win Earth Day Victory Against Dirty Trash Incinerator
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-04-24
Activists held a die-in at the incinerator to demand its closing while wearing face masks and gloves to protect against COVID-19.
therealnews.com/stories/activists-earth-…

Stir Crazy! Episode #20: The Empire Strikes Back!
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-04-23
On today's show: TRNN visual producer Andrew Corkery, "By Any Means Necessary" co-host Jacqueline Luqman, TRNN investigative reporter Stephen Janis, and special guest DC consultant Dante Atkins. Hosted by Kim Brown.
therealnews.com/stories/stir-crazy-episo…

Greta Thunberg: Climate Activists Have Not Lost Hope Amid Pandemic. We're Changing How We Organize
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-22
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg spoke in an Earth Day live stream hosted by the Nobel Prize Museum about how the Fridays for Future school strikes movement she launched is responding to the coronavirus pandemic. "Within the Fridays for Future movement, there's still this sort of big sense of resistance, and people are thinking, 'We will get out of this. And when we do, we will continue, and we will do everything we can that is possible in that situation to continue to push even harder,'" says Thunberg. "I feel like many people have not lost their sense of hope. We have just changed the way we do things. W…
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/22/greta_thu…

Greta Thunberg: Climate Activists Have Not Lost Hope Amid Pandemic. We're Changing How We Organize
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-22
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg spoke in an Earth Day live stream hosted by the Nobel Prize Museum about how the Fridays for Future school strikes movement she launched is responding to the coronavirus pandemic. "Within the Fridays for Future movement, there's still this sort of big sense of resistance, and people are thinking, 'We will get out of this. And when we do, we will continue, and we will do everything we can that is possible in that situation to continue to push even harder,'" says Thunberg. "I feel like many people have not lost their sense of hope. We have just changed the way we do things. W…
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/22/greta_thu…

Chileans Who Took to Streets Against Inequality & Climate Crisis Say Virus Lockdowns Won't Stop Them
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-22
Months ago, the streets of Santiago and other Chilean cities were alive with a vibrant mass protest movement that drew hundreds of thousands and even led the U.N. climate summit to be relocated to Madrid, Spain, last December. Now the public spaces of Santiago are largely empty as citizens shelter in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But the protest movement against austerity and right-wing President Sebastián Piñera lives on as activists find new ways to organize online. We go to Santiago, Chile, to speak with Angela Valenzuela, a 350.org organizer who has been active both in the country's uprising and in…
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/22/angela_va…

Chileans Who Took to Streets Against Inequality & Climate Crisis Say Virus Lockdowns Won't Stop Them
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-22
Months ago, the streets of Santiago and other Chilean cities were alive with a vibrant mass protest movement that drew hundreds of thousands and even led the U.N. climate summit to be relocated to Madrid, Spain, last December. Now the public spaces of Santiago are largely empty as citizens shelter in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But the protest movement against austerity and right-wing President Sebastián Piñera lives on as activists find new ways to organize online. We go to Santiago, Chile, to speak with Angela Valenzuela, a 350.org organizer who has been active both in the country's uprising and in…
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/22/angela_va…

Malaysian activists say 'let Rohingya boats land'
Susan Price | greenleft.org.au | 2020-04-29
Healthcare Refugees & migrants Alex SalmonIssue 1263 Malaysia COVID-19 Rohingya refugeesApril 29, 2020A boat carrying 200 Rohingy…
greenleft.org.au/content/malaysian-activists-let-rohingya-boats-land