Staff (2020-05-04). "It's Very Scary": COVID Surges in Meat Plants as Activists Demand Worker Safety & Meatless Mondays. democracynow.org At least 20 workers at meat processing plants have died from COVID-19, and around 5,000 have tested positive, but President Trump invoked an executive order to bar local governments from closing meat plants. We hear from meat plant workers and organizers about conditions during the pandemic and speak with Sindy Benavides, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, which is supporting the workers with a virtual town hall on food worker safety with presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and calling for Meatless May Mondays.

Peadar O'Cearnaigh (2020-05-04). Protesters block HS2 building sites amid ongoing coronavirus lockdown. thecanary.co Activists protesting the continued construction of the HS2 high-speed railway have blocked access to building sites in London and Warwickshire. A group called

RT (2020-05-04). May the 4th be with you to stay in: Darth Vader enforces Covid-19 lockdown in the Philippines. rt.com Darth Vader and his stormtroopers swapped spaceships for riverboats as they | made their way around Malabon City on the outskirts of Manila as local authorities tried to enforce the coronavirus lockdown. | The representatives of the galactic empire, or local officials in self-made disguise, were met with smiles and waves as they brought some light-hearted fun in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. | Muriel Baldago, an elected official dressed up like a stormtrooper, explained they were enforcing the government guidelines and delivering relief packages to residents in the permanently flooded Artex Compound area…

Matt Taibbi (2020-05-04). The Inevitable Coronavirus Censorship Crisis Is Here. anti-empire.com

Instead of asking calmly if hydroxychloroquine works, or if the less restrictive Swedish crisis response has merit, or questioning why certain statistical assumptions about the seriousness of the crisis might have been off, we're denouncing the questions themselves as infamous

| Earlier this week, Atlantic magazine — fast becoming the favored media outlet for self-styled intellectual elites of the Aspen Institute type — ran an

Rob Lyons (2020-05-04). Dear Lockdown Enthusiasts, Science Isn't What You Think It Is. anti-empire.com According to David Blunkett, a former senior cabinet minister in Tony Blair's governments, attempts to have a blanket lockdown on the over-70s are discriminatory. He believes that the current 'shielding' rules are too crude and need to be more nuanced. Whatever the merits of his ideas, his comments on the scientific advice that the government is receiving are interesting. | Speaking on BBC Radio 4's

Jeffrey A. Tucker (2020-05-04). Woodstock Occurred in the Middle of a Pandemic. anti-empire.com In my lifetime, there was another deadly flu epidemic in the United States. The flu spread from Hong Kong to the United States, arriving December 1968 and peaking a year later. It ultimately killed 100,000 people in the U.S., mostly over the age of 65, and one million worldwide. | Lifespan in the US in those days was 70 whereas it is 78 today. Population was 200 million as compared with 328 million today. It was also a healthier population with

The Babylon Bee (2020-05-04). Governor Unveils Innovative 37-Step Plan to Reopen State Over the Next 10 Years. anti-empire.com With many Americans eager to get back to work, state governors across the country are responding with their plans for giving everyone permission to be normal human beings again. One state governor is enjoying universal acclaim after unveiling his own innovative plan for getting his state reopened. | The new plan is called 'Our Vision for Health, Safety, Virtue, and Eternal Peace' and is a 37-step, 10-year plan for slowly opening up sections of the state economy. It reads as follows: | Form an exploratory committee to consult various experts on reopening things | Set date to hear recommendations from the explor…

Wolf Richter (2020-05-04). Bone-Chilling Charts of the Collapse in US Demand for Gasoline, Jet Fuel, and Diesel. anti-empire.com Oil companies are reporting financial fiascos every day: Today Exxon reported its first quarterly loss since 1999 ($610 million), on a "market-related" $2.9 billion write-down. "We've never seen anything like what the world is facing today," CEO Darren Woods said. | On Thursday, Texas-based shale-driller Concho Resources reported a quarterly loss of $9.3 billion, after writing down the value of its oil and gas assets by $12.6 billion. | Also on Thursday, it was reported that Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy, a pioneer in shale-drilling, was preparing to file for bankruptcy (what's taking so long?). | Still on…

LoadHelp (2020-05-04). Protesters in London Take Part in Group Hug in Defiance of Lockdown. The Po-Po Gets on Their Case. anti-empire.com The crowd outside New Scotland Yard, close to the Houses of Parliament, were seen hugging each other as others held signs reading: "My body, my choice." | Another at the protest in central Around 20 people appeared to be in the crowd, which included young children. | Police told the protesters to go home before arresting a man who did not comply. Gatherings of any sort are banned under the UK's rules to slow the sp…

Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J.S. Davies (2020-05-04). Trump Must Choose Between a Global Ceasefire and America's Long Lost Wars. commondreams.org As of May 1, there were 7,145 cases of COVID-19 in the US military, with more falling sick every day. (Photo: Military Times/DoD) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …

Santa Cruz News (2020-05-04). May Day Caravan in Santa Cruz. indybay.org #COLA4ALL activists in Santa Cruz organized a May Day Caravan to support those "striking and fighting for their right to live in this city". Beginning on the UC Santa Cruz campus to support the striking COLA graduate students, the caravan traveled downtown to the Santa Cruz Main Jail, and then on to support Food Not Bombs at Front and Laurel Streets. (Photos taken downtown by Keith McHenry of Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs.)…

Staff (2020-05-04). Activists Demand Worker Safety Plans as COVID-19 Surges in Meat Plants. truthout.org At least 20 workers at meat processing plants have died from COVID-19, and around 5,000 have tested positive, but President Trump invoked an executive order to bar local governments from closing meat plants. We hear from meat plant workers and organizers about conditions during the pandemic and speak with Sindy Benavides, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, which is supporting the workers with a virtual town hall on food worker safety with presumptive Democratic presidential candidate…

Thomas Hon Wing Polin (2020-05-04). The South China Sea: Beyond the Smoke 'n Mirrors. counterpunch.org As the American Empire continues to intensify its many-fronted aggression against China, the South China Sea has become a potential flashpoint. The latest "freedom-of-navigation" (translation: freedom-of-provocation) sail-past by a US Navy destroyer was "expelled" by PLA forces, Chinese media reported. More confrontations are expected in that strategic maritime stretch. Despite the importance of the South

Tyler Durden (2020-05-03). Pompeo Demands Countries Block Airspace to Iran's Sanctions-Busting Air Bridge to Venezuela. anti-empire.com The US is going on the offensive once again against Venezuela, this time attempting to break up growing Iranian cooperation and assistance to Caracas. The two so-called 'rogue states' recently targeted for US-imposed regime change are helping each other fight coronavirus as well as Washington-led sanctions. Specifically Tehran has ramped up cargo deliveries related getting Venezuela's derelict oil refineries fully operational. | Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in new statements has called on international allies to block airspace specifically for Iran's Mahan Air, currently under US sanctions, and which has in…

BBC (2020-05-03). The COVID Rouge Covers a Spanish Beach in Bleach 'to Protect the Children'. anti-empire.com Authorities in a Spanish coastal resort have apologised after spraying a beach with bleach in an attempt to protect children from coronavirus. | Zahara de los Atunes, near Cadiz, used tractors to spray more than 2km (1.2 miles) of beach with a bleach solution a day before Spain allowed children out of lockdown for the first time. | Environmentalists say the move caused "brutal damage" to the local ecosystem. | Spain has been badly affected by the coronavirus, with 23,800 deaths. | It recently announced a four-phase plan to lift its stringent lockdown measures and return to a "new normality" by the end of June.

Elliot Henney (2020-05-03). Washingtonians Play Dumb — Take Advantage of a State-Sanctioned Military Worship to Get Fresh Air. anti-empire.com Editor's note: The Imperial military sidelined by the Covid craze trying to get in on some of that action by engaging in public health worker worship, which has temporarily displaced the cult of the military and of the police. Washingtonians similarly taking advantage of the military and health worker worship event to get out and rub shoulders and get some sunshine (without the risk of police, informants or social media condemnation). |
| If there was a stay-at-home order in place for Washington, D.C., you certainly wouldn't have thought so this morning. | Despite orders from local leaders to not gather i…

Daniel Hannan (2020-05-03). Public Opinion, Not Scientific Advice, Is What Is Keeping Us in Lockdown. anti-empire.com

"The whiff of pestilence throws us back onto our most basic Stone Age heuristics: stay away from strangers, avoid risk, hoard food, keep your children close. These basic promptings will always prove stronger than academic papers"

| What has come over us? Is Covid-19 turning us into a nation of authoritarians? Are we secretly

Marko Marjanović (2020-05-03). Europe's Largest? 3500 Protest Anti-Virus Overreach in Slovenia. anti-empire.com As in the rest of Europe (except Belarus) protest is not permitted in Slovenia. Cycling however, is since recently again allowed. So Slovenians had the mind they would mess with the government by taking their again-permitted once-daily bicycle ride and do it all at once. | A mass of 3500 cyclists rode through the center of the city and circled in front of the parliament building. | | On the one hand, a bicycle protest (and largely masked) is somewhat lame, certainly compared to the

Daniel Villarreal (2020-05-03). South Dakota Throws a Surprise Parade for Swedish-Way Governor. anti-empire.com Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem had an impromptu parade thrown in her honor on Tuesday in the capitol city of Pierre. A local construction company organized the parade to show appreciation for her handling of the coronavirus epidemic. | Noem, the state's first female governor, was The parade, organized by John Morris of Morris Inc. construction…

repost (2020-05-03). 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……

Rebecca Burns (2020-05-03). May Rent Is Due, and Hundreds of Thousands of Tenants Are Going on Strike. zcomm.org Activists and some members of Congress are calling for rent to be canceled, as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks economic havoc…

Marko Marjanović (2020-05-02). Bosnian Croats Ask the Russian Military for Anti-Virus Help, Bosnian Muslims Block It. anti-empire.com The political leader of the Bosnian Croats, Dragan Čović

Joel Kotkin (2020-05-02). The War of Two Middle Classes. anti-empire.com Politicians across the Western world like to speak fondly of the "middle class" as if it is one large constituency with common interests and aspirations. But, as Karl Marx observed, the middle class has always been divided by sources of wealth and worldview. Today, it is split into two distinct, and often opposing, middle classes. First there is the yeomanry or the traditional middle class, which consists of small business owners, minor landowners, craftspeople, and artisans, or what we would define historically as the bourgeoisie, or the old French Third Estate, deeply embedded in the private economy. The oth…

Lindsey Snell (2020-05-02). "Turkey Lied to Us." Erdogan's Syrian Mercenaries in Libya Are Desperate to Leave. anti-empire.com "I just got back from Libya yesterday," said Zein Ahmad*, a Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) militant in Afrin. "But I had been trying to leave for more than a month." When the Libyan National Army (LNA) neared Tripoli in April 2019, the rival UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli called on Turkey for military support. | Turkish forces began heavily recruiting militants from SNA factions in Syria to fight on their behalf, and began flying hundreds to Libya every week. The exact number of Syrian militants Turkey has sent is unknown, but estimates range from 5,000 to 17,000. Flights c…

Kurt Nimmo (2020-05-02). German Lawyer Sent to Psychiatric Ward for Organizing Protest Against COVID-19 Lockdown. globalresearch.ca First published on April 16, 2020 | In the Soviet Union, activists were sent to state psychiatric wards. According to the state, any and all opposition to government policy was considered a form of mental illness. |

Fight Back (2020-05-02). Philippines: CPP denounces arrest of 76 activists, volunteers on Labor Day. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines. | The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounces the arrest of 76 activists and relief volunteers by police elements in Metro Manila and Iloilo on Labor Day. | "The Duterte regime marked Labor Day with mass arrests to stifle dissent and muffle criticism in its desperation to cover up its ineptness and failure to address the hunger and plight of the working class amid the Covid-19 pandemic," said CPP Chief Information Officer Marco L. Valbuena. | "Using the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse, Duterte is…

Nigel Bouvart (2020-05-02). Buffalo, N.Y., banner drop on May Day 2020. workers.org In honor of International Workers Day, local activists adorned several overpasses with radical demands on behalf of the working class, including calls for rent cancellation and universal healthcare. Credit: Oscar Elliot |

Leanna First-Arai (2020-05-02). Amid shutdowns, youth climate activists are writing the curriculum for a just economic recovery. nationofchange.org "Organizing is intertwined with our survival as a people, and that can't take a back seat."

yenisafak (2020-05-03). Mehmet the Conqueror: Genius emperor of Ottomans. yenisafak.com Among the billions of people who have walked the earth since the dawn of humanity, only a few are rightfully remembered for their exceptional skills and impact on history, and among these is Mehmet II, the Ottoman emperor who had the honor of conquering Istanbul and thus earning the title "conqueror."Mehmet the Conqueror was only 21 years old when he sent the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire to the dusty pages of history and leveled up a Turkish state into an empire that would rule regions in multiple continents for centuries to come.Much like other leading historical figures still remembered and respected, an i…

yenisafak (2020-05-03). Syrian tycoon Makhlouf says security forces are arresting his employees. yenisafak.com Sanctions-hit Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf on Sunday said that security forces are arresting employees at his diversified companies in what he said were "mounting pressures" on him days after Syrian authorities asked him to repay hefty taxes."Today pressures began in an unacceptable ways and the security forces, in an inhumane way, are arresting our employees," Makhlouf said in a video.Makhlouf, a maternal cousin of President Bashar al-Assad and widely considered part of the president's inner circle, has a business empire that ranges from telecoms and real estate to construction and oil trading. He had played a bi…

Sam Pizzigati (2020-05-02). Our Slaughterhouses Not Just for Cattle, Hogs, and Poultry Anymore. Add People. commondreams.org We face meatpacking empires bigger than any Upton Sinclair ever contemplated. More powerful, too. (Photo: Anthony Albright/flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …

Staff (2020-05-01). Caravan for Life: Protesters in Puerto Rico Demand More Tests & Resources to Combat the Coronavirus. democracynow.org On Thursday in Puerto Rico, activists in dozens of cars held a "Caravan Por La Vida," or "Caravan for Life," through San Juan to demand the government provide more COVID-19 tests and sufficient resources for people to stay at home during the pandemic. At least 92 people have died from COVID-19 in Puerto Rico, and last week the island was reporting a testing rate lower than any U.S. state, at an abysmal average of 15 tests a day for every 100,000 people. No one in Puerto Rico has received $1,200 checks from the government, according to San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. Police stopped the caravan and said their sou…

a guest author (2020-05-01). Workers' Revolutionary and Anti-Imperialist International Manifesto. workers.org Workers World Party has endorsed this international declaration for May Day, initiated by the Party of Liberation of Argentina and others, and endorsed as of April 30 by the parties listed at the end. This May 1, fight together against imperialism. Activists in San Juan, Puerto Rico, hold up wooden . . . |

Mark Engler (2020-05-01). When Undocumented Activists Infiltrated ICE. thenation.com When Undocumented Activists Infiltrated ICE…

Fight Back (2020-04-30). May Day in MN – Twin Cities to celebrate online. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – Activists will gather virtually to celebrate May Day here, on Saturday, May 2. The 4 p.m. gathering is taking the place of the originally scheduled annual May Day dinner celebration, which the Twin Cities branch of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) has held for over 20 years. | Local fighters are video-recording presentations, which will be interspersed with photos and footage from the year's demonstrations. The video will be shared for a watch party on May 2. | This year's FRSO organizers state, "On May Day, we join with workers from around the world and celebrate the shared strug…

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 …

Roger D. Harris (2020-04-30). Baby Boomers for Biden Recant Left Legacy. dissidentvoice.org Former members of the leading Vietnam War-era peace organization in the US, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), recently circulated an open letter warning today's young activists to — as the adage goes — do as I say and not as I did. Back in the '60s and '70s, these former leaders led the way …

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.