Daily Archives: April 29, 2020

2020-04-29: News Headlines

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. . . . |

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…

Andy Sullivan (2020-04-29). True Number of Americans Run Out of Work by Virus Maoists So Far 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…

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.

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…

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.

Ajamu Baraka (2020-04-28). Video: Venezuela and the Struggle Against Empire: Ajamu Baraka. globalresearch.ca Black Alliance for Peace National Organizer Ajamu Baraka discussed the role of U.S. activists in stopping the U.S. war machine during "An Inside View of Resistance to US Imperialism in Venezuela and How to Build International Solidarity," a webinar co-hosted …

Tanya Wadhwa (2020-04-28). Spike in gender-based violence during quarantine in Latin America and the Caribbean. peoplesdispatch.org Feminists and women's rights activists across the region say that women are at greater risk and urge the governments to step up measures to address all forms of gender-based violence…

ITV (2020-04-28). '60,000 Cancer Patients Could Die Because of Lack of Treatment or Diagnosis' — UK Oncologist on Coronavirus. anti-empire.com Following the news, you would be forgiven for thinking we had discovered an overnight cure for cancer, heart disease, diabetes and all the other serious illnesses that have taken far more loved ones than coronavirus ever will. | There is no doubt that we are in a tragic and unprecedented situation. | This ghastly virus has killed thousands of mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, friends and colleagues. Any death is regrettable and my thoughts go out to all of the families. | But unfortunately, during my 50 year fight with cancer, we've won many battles, but we've also lost many people before their time.

Dr. Daniel G. Murphy (2020-04-28). 'Front Line' Doctor in NYC: Covid Cases Peaked in Early April. End the Lockdown NOW! anti-empire.com I'm an emergency physician at St. Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx. I have been in the ER every day these last few weeks, either supervising or providing direct care. I contracted a COVID-19 infection very early in the outbreak, as did two of my daughters, one of whom is a nurse. We are all well, thank God. | COVID-19 has been the worst health-care disaster of my 30-year ≠career, because of its intensity, duration and potential for lasting impact. The lasting impact is what worries me the most. And it's why I now believe we should end the lockdown and rapidly get back to work. | From mid-March through mid-Apr…

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 activist Ben Yee. Hosted by Kim Brown.

RT (2020-04-28). Ukraine denies Armenian genocide, refers instead to 'tragic events of April'. rt.com Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar has urged government agencies to refrain from using the term 'genocide' when referring to the slaughter of Armenians a century ago, as it would go against Kiev's political interests. | An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1922. Bodnar outlined reasons for refusing to recognize the events as genocide in a letter to government officials, which was subsequently leaked on Facebook by a member of the Verkovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament. | According to Bodnar, these events do not fit the UN definition of genocide, which…

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…

Andrey Areshev (2020-04-27). Post-Corona World: Recrimination and Defederation. strategic-culture.org There are growing signs that the coronavirus pandemic will radically alter the geo-political map of the world. The governors, prime ministers, premiers, chief ministers, and administrators of sub-national governments have been almost unanimous in decrying the lack of support from central governments during the current Covid-19 crisis. Not least among these have been the governors of the American states of New York, Michigan, Washington, and other states and U.S. territories. | Welcome to the international empire of "Pandemia." This unstructured alliance of disbelievers in public health, skeptics of scientific pro…

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). Canada Resumes Selling Arms To Saudi Warmongers. therealnews.com Now in the midst of a crisis, Canada will lift its embargo and sell armored vehicles to the Saudi military, which is engaged in brutal repression inside the country and the ongoing war in Yemen.

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 (2020-04-22). 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 (2020-04-21). 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.

Max Blumenthal (2020-04-16). Coronavirus stimulus bill funds State Dept/USAID operations that once helped trigger polio outbreak in Syria. thegrayzone.com A look at recent USAID schemes from Pakistan to Syria shows US empire can be very hazardous to your health….

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…

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

John Balzar (2020-04-29). 1985 LA Times Poll Found 51% of Americans Supported Quarantining AIDS patients, 15% Wanted Them Tattooed. anti-empire.com Large numbers of Americans stand ready for strong new government action in the fight against the AIDS epidemic. | A Los Angeles Times Poll found that more than half of the adults in the nation support quarantining AIDS patients, nearly half would approve of ID cards for those who test positive for AIDS antibodies, more than a third would be willing to pay a one-penny national sales tax to finance greater research, and one in seven would favor such radical action as tattooing those with the disease. | The poll also found great public aversion to electing homosexuals, the largest AIDS risk group, to office. And…

2020-04-29: 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.)

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…

True Number of Americans Run Out of Work by Virus Maoists So Far 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…

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-…

"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…

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…

Video: Venezuela and the Struggle Against Empire: Ajamu Baraka
Ajamu Baraka | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-28
Black Alliance for Peace National Organizer Ajamu Baraka discussed the role of U.S. activists in stopping the U.S. war machine during "An Inside View of Resistance to US Imperialism in Venezuela and How to Build International Solidarity," a webinar co-hosted …
globalresearch.ca/video-contradictory-role-u-s-left-struggle-against-empire/5711074

Spike in gender-based violence during quarantine in Latin America and the Caribbean
Tanya Wadhwa | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-04-28
Feminists and women's rights activists across the region say that women are at greater risk and urge the governments to step up measures to address all forms of gender-based violence…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/04/28/spike-in-…

'Front Line' Doctor in NYC: Covid Cases Peaked in Early April. End the Lockdown NOW!
Dr. Daniel G. Murphy | anti-empire.com | 2020-04-28
I'm an emergency physician at St. Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx. I have been in the ER every day these last few weeks, either supervising or providing direct care. I contracted a COVID-19 infection very early in the outbreak, as did two of my daughters, one of whom is a nurse. We are all well, thank God. | COVID-19 has been the worst health-care disaster of my 30-year ≠career, because of its intensity, duration and potential for lasting impact. The lasting impact is what worries me the most. And it's why I now believe we should end the lockdown and rapidly get back to work. | From mid-March through mid-Apr…
anti-empire.com/front-line-doctor-in-nyc…

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 activist Ben Yee. Hosted by Kim Brown.
therealnews.com/stories/stir-crazy-episo…

Ukraine denies Armenian genocide, refers instead to 'tragic events of April'
rt.com | 2020-04-28
Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar has urged government agencies to refrain from using the term 'genocide' when referring to the slaughter of Armenians a century ago, as it would go against Kiev's political interests. | An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1922. Bodnar outlined reasons for refusing to recognize the events as genocide in a letter to government officials, which was subsequently leaked on Facebook by a member of the Verkovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament. | According to Bodnar, these events do not fit the UN definition of genocide, which…
rt.com/news/487169-ukraine-armenian-geno…

Post-Corona World: Recrimination and Defederation
Andrey Areshev | strategic-culture.org | 2020-04-27
There are growing signs that the coronavirus pandemic will radically alter the geo-political map of the world. The governors, prime ministers, premiers, chief ministers, and administrators of sub-national governments have been almost unanimous in decrying the lack of support from central governments during the current Covid-19 crisis. Not least among these have been the governors of the American states of New York, Michigan, Washington, and other states and U.S. territories. | Welcome to the international empire of "Pandemia." This unstructured alliance of disbelievers in public health, skeptics of scientific pro…
strategic-culture.org/news/2020/04/27/po…

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…

Canada Resumes Selling Arms To Saudi Warmongers
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-04-22
Now in the midst of a crisis, Canada will lift its embargo and sell armored vehicles to the Saudi military, which is engaged in brutal repression inside the country and the ongoing war in Yemen.
therealnews.com/stories/canada-lifts-emb…

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…

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…

Death Trap Jail: Pepper-Sprayed, Otay Mesa Detainees Demand Release as COVID-19 Spreads Inside
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-21
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.
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/21/otay_mesa…

Coronavirus stimulus bill funds State Dept/USAID operations that once helped trigger polio outbreak in Syria
Max Blumenthal | thegrayzone.com | 2020-04-16
A look at recent USAID schemes from Pakistan to Syria shows US empire can be very hazardous to your health….
thegrayzone.com/2020/04/16/coronavirus-s…

Saudi's Brave Women Pull Back the Curtain on Crown Prince MBS
Medea Benjamin | zcomm.org | 2020-04-04
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…
zcomm.org/zmagazine/saudis-brave-women-p…

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

1985 LA Times Poll Found 51% of Americans Supported Quarantining AIDS patients, 15% Wanted Them Tattooed
John Balzar | anti-empire.com | 2020-04-29
Large numbers of Americans stand ready for strong new government action in the fight against the AIDS epidemic. | A Los Angeles Times Poll found that more than half of the adults in the nation support quarantining AIDS patients, nearly half would approve of ID cards for those who test positive for AIDS antibodies, more than a third would be willing to pay a one-penny national sales tax to finance greater research, and one in seven would favor such radical action as tattooing those with the disease. | The poll also found great public aversion to electing homosexuals, the largest AIDS risk group, to office. And…
anti-empire.com/1985-la-times-poll-found…