Coronavirus Pandemic Prompts Global Mental Health Crisis as Millions Feel Alone, Anxious & Depressed
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-14
Is the coronavirus pandemic generating a mental illness crisis? Millions face isolation, poverty and anxiety. We speak with psychology professor and author Andrew Solomon, as the United Nations calls on governments to put mental health "front and center" in their response to the crisis.
www.democracynow.org/2020/5/14/andrew_solomon
Dispatch from the Frontlines: Gender Inequality and COVID-19 (CPCC)
Congressional Progressive Caucus Ctr & others | indybay.org | 2020-05-14
Online livestream & Zoom…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/13/18833009.php
Working class democracy and centralism
Makasi Motema | workers.org | 2020-05-14
Painting shows V. I. Lenin speaking to soldiers and civilians. We are taught in school that the United States is a democracy, but this claim is completely divorced from the reality of class struggle. The wealthy ruling class, which owns the greater proportion of our economy through the stock market . . . | Continue reading Working class democracy and centralism at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/05/48598/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=working-class-democracy-and-centralism-ww-commentary
Nuclear Weapons: Stopping the War That No One Wants (livestream)
The Commonwealth Club | indybay.org | 2020-05-14
Online via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/11/18832982.php
US Jobless Rate Broke Depression-Era Record–but Most Media Missed It
Dave Lindorff | fair.org | 2020-05-13
The New York Times (5/9/20) featured a chart of job losses that stretched all the way down the front page. | The Bureau of Labor Statistics' eagerly awaited Friday morning Official Unemployment Rate report for April–what editors generally call the BLS's "headline" rate of unemployment –was definitely headline-worthy. This was especially evident in the next day's New York Times (5/9/20), which ran a bar chart of historic unemployment going back to 1946 across the top of the front page, and then a long red bar down the right-hand column of the entire page showing job losses for April. | It was a drama…
fair.org/home/us-jobless-rate-broke-depression-era-record-but-most-media-missed-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=us-jobless-rate-broke-depression-era-record-but-most-media-missed-it
American Weapons Manufacturers Are Thriving Even as the US Economy Suffers
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-13
The economy has crashed. A nationwide pandemic that has (officially) claimed some 84,000 Americans has also resulted in an estimated 36 million filing for unemployment insurance and millions frequenting food banks for the first time. Yet business is booming for one unlikely industry; weapons manufacturers are busier than ever and are even advertising for tens of thousan…
mintpressnews.com/american-weapons-manufacturers-thriving-even-as-us-economy-suffers/267510/
Poverty Forces Chileans to Cook in 'the Common Pot'
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-13
Chile's economic crisis unleashed by President Sebastian Piñera's neoliberal policies and exacerbated by the pandemic revived images that had not been seen in Chile since the time of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990). | RELATED: | Chile Records Highest Number of COVID-19 Cases in 24 Hours | Thousands of people living in poor neighborhoods eat ev…
telesurenglish.net/news/Poverty-Forces-Chileans-to-Cook-in-the-Common-Pot-20200513-0004.html
Essential For Survival: The Need Of Global Solidarity
The People's Collective | indybay.org | 2020-05-13
People are dying, every day. Many people are dying too early. People are dying through war, poverty, disease, lack of healthcare or lack of food. People are dying of starvation. Now, in the year 2020, a new disease is spreading around the globe, killing hundreds of thousands and affecting everybody's life.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/11/18832973.php
IndustriALL questions violations of worker rights by Shell in Nigeria
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-13
82% of oil giant Shell's workforce in Nigeria is sourced through labor contractors. As per IndustriALL, the workers "live in poverty with no job security, poor healthcare and little regard for health and safety."
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/13/industriall-questions-violations-of-worker-rights-by-shell-in-nigeria/
IndustriALL questions violations of worker rights by Shell in Nigeria
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-13
82% of oil giant Shell's workforce in Nigeria is sourced through labor contractors. As per IndustriALL, the workers "live in poverty with no job security, poor healthcare and little regard for health and safety."
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/13/industriall-questions-violations-of-worker-rights-by-shell-in-nigeria/
Dispatch from the Frontlines: Gender Inequality and COVID-19 (CPCC)
Congressional Progressive Caucus Ctr & others | indybay.org | 2020-05-13
Online livestream & Zoom…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/13/18833009.php
What Does Politics Demand of Black Women? w/ Rep. Barbara Lee & others (livestream)
The Commonwealth Club | indybay.org | 2020-05-13
Online via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/10/18832970.php
Nuclear Weapons: Stopping the War That No One Wants (livestream)
The Commonwealth Club | indybay.org | 2020-05-13
Online via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/11/18832982.php
If we must die, don't let it be from COVID-19
Tanuke Smith | peoplesworld.org | 2020-05-13
Not much has changed in the Black community. The strategy of controlling wealth, access to healthcare, and the demise of African Americans is still as calculated as ever. The mainstream media reports daily on the death rate in Black communities, stemming from crime, police brutality, or COVID-19. As April arrived, the cruel face of reality …
peoplesworld.org/article/if-we-must-die-dont-let-it-be-from-covid-19/
The welfare state – anchor of stability in the crisis
Joseph Woss | indybay.org | 2020-05-13
Work, income and wealth must be distributed more fairly, and a number of "rules of the game" in our society must be changed. The upheaval forced by the crisis will hopefully force even hard-boiled defenders of the existing to rethink – if only because otherwise dramatic distribution conflicts threaten.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/11/18832972.php
Low-Balling the Unemployed in the Era of the 2020 Great Recession
Jack Rasmus | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-13
This past Friday, May 8, the US Labor Dept. released its latest jobless figures. The official report was 20 million more unemployed and an unemployment rate of 14.7%. Both mainstream and progressive media reported the numbers: 20 million more jobless and 14.7%. But those numbers, as horrendous as they are, represent a gross under-estimation of…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/13/low-balling-the-unemployed-in-the-era-of-the-2020-great-recession/
Why Unemployment under Trump is way worse than Numbers Suggest
John Buell | zcomm.org | 2020-05-12
"If the protesters really wanted to protect workers, wouldn't they be demanding laws that replaced lost wages? Other developed countries have passed exactly those sorts of measures, putting their economies into a holding pattern as the pandemic passes."
zcomm.org/znetarticle/why-unemployment-under-trump-is-way-worse-than-numbers-suggest/
[Research Paper] Mapping of variations in child stunting, wasting and underweight within the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2000–2017
ISDBICC | thelancet.com | 2020-05-12
CGF indicators have improved in India, but there are substantial variations between the districts in their magnitude and rate of decline, and the inequality between districts has increased in a large proportion of the states. The poor correlation between the national surveys for CGF estimates highlights the need to standardise collection of anthropometric data in India. The district-level trends in this report provide a useful reference for targeting the efforts under NNM to reduce CGF across India and meet the Indian and global targets.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30061-4/fulltext?rss=yes
Women, Migrants & Blacks Most Affected by COVID-19 in Latam
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-12
The COVID-19 pandemic will make a bad economic situation worse for women, Indigenous, black people and migrants in Latin America, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) warned Tuesday. | RELATED: | Universal Basic Income to Help Most Affected by COVID-19: ECLAC | The agency of the United Nations said in a report that unequal access to potable water, sanitation, healthcare, and housing could also mean higher rates of infection and death among these…
telesurenglish.net/news/Women-Migrants–Blacks-Most-Affected-by-COVID-19-in-Latam—20200512-0020.html
Women, Migrants & Blacks Most Affected by COVID-19 in Latam
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-12
The COVID-19 pandemic will make a bad economic situation worse for women, Indigenous, black people and migrants in Latin America, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) warned Tuesday. | RELATED: | Universal Basic Income to Help Most Affected by COVID-19: ECLAC | The agency of the United Nations said in a report that unequal access to potable water, sanitation, healthcare, and housing could also mean higher rates of infection and death among these…
telesurenglish.net/news/Women-Migrants–Blacks-Most-Affected-by-COVID-19-in-Latam—20200512-0020.html
Universal Basic Income to Help Most Affected by COVID-19: ECLAC
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-12
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said Tuesday that to face the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, governments must guarantee immediate temporary monetary transfers to satisfy basic needs, sustain the consumption of households and achieve a solid and relatively rapid recovery in the region. | RELATED: | COVID-19 Will Lead to Biggest Economic Hit in Latam's History | ECLAC's Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena presented at a vi…
telesurenglish.net/news/ECLAC-Basic-Income-to-Help-Most-Vulnerable-by-COVID-19s-Effects-20200512-0017.html
Essential For Survival: The Need Of Global Solidarity
The People's Collective | indybay.org | 2020-05-12
People are dying, every day. Many people are dying too early. People are dying through war, poverty, disease, lack of healthcare or lack of food. People are dying of starvation. Now, in the year 2020, a new disease is spreading around the globe, killing hundreds of thousands and affecting everybody's life.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/11/18832973.php
Survival of our public postal service threatened
Dave Welsh | workers.org | 2020-05-12
Fifty years ago, wildcatting postal workers shut down the U.S. mail for a week in the 1970 Great Postal Strike over poverty-level wages. President Nixon tried to use Army and National Guard soldiers to break the strike
The Censorship of Inequality in the Covid-19 Era: How Corporate and Market-Based Metrics Rule the News, and Why it Matters
Project Censored | projectcensored.org | 2020-05-12
By Anthony DiMaggio The old adage that "the more things change the more they stay the same" seems particularly appropriate to media coverage in the Covid-19 crisis. Old patterns of media…
projectcensored.org/the-censorship-of-inequality-in-the-covid-19-era-how-corporate-and-market-based-metrics-rule-the-news-and-why-it-matters/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-censorship-of-inequality-in-the-covid-19-era-how-corporate-and-market-based-metrics-rule-the-news-and-why-it-matters
Shelter-in-Place and Internet Inequality: What's the Connection?
Beau Peters | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-05-12
Photo Source: Unsplash As most of the world is forced to stay home, internet and technology play essential roles in almost every aspect of the population's shelter-at-home lives. The internet keeps loved ones communicating and in touch, informs people of what's going on in the world, connects students to their teachers and professors, and provides …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/05/shelter-in-place-and-internet-inequality-whats-the-connection/
No HEROES here: Democrats seek tax breaks for rich donors & lobbyists in $3 TRILLION Covid-19 wishlist bill
rt.com | 2020-05-12
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's proposed $3 trillion coronavirus aid bill contains massive tax breaks for wealthy Democrat donors and lobbyists but precious little for working Americans, and has an odd preoccupation with cannabis. | Dubbed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, the bill is gargantuan in scope and size
Nuclear Weapons: Stopping the War That No One Wants (livestream)
The Commonwealth Club | indybay.org | 2020-05-12
Online via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/11/18832982.php
What Does Politics Demand of Black Women? w/ Rep. Barbara Lee & others (livestream)
The Commonwealth Club | indybay.org | 2020-05-12
Online via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/10/18832970.php
Norway dipping into its massive piggy bank to battle Covid-19 crisis
rt.com | 2020-05-12
Norway is set to withdraw $41 billion from its sovereign wealth fund to cushion the blow to the economy from the coronavirus crisis that has resulted in falling oil prices and the highest unemployment in the country in 75 years. | Known officially as the Government Pension Fund, it is the world's biggest wealth fund, worth over $1 trillion. The government announced on Tuesday that it will have to sharply increase spending from the fund, to avoid "sharper downturn and to help healthy companies through the crisis." | According to the Finance Ministry's mid-year fiscal review, the revised budget calls for the use…
rt.com/business/488429-norway-wealth-fund-cash-withdrawal/
The welfare state – anchor of stability in the crisis
Joseph Woss | indybay.org | 2020-05-12
Work, income and wealth must be distributed more fairly, and a number of "rules of the game" in our society must be changed. The upheaval forced by the crisis will hopefully force even hard-boiled defenders of the existing to rethink – if only because otherwise dramatic distribution conflicts threaten.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/11/18832972.php
Low-Balling the Unemployed in the Era of the 2020 Great Recession
Jack Rasmus | zcomm.org | 2020-05-12
The real unemployment rate is not the U-3 figure of 14.7% but easily 25% today. And the real total jobless are not the U-3 20 million, or even 23 million, but somewhere between 35-40 million… and rising…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/low-balling-the-unemployed-in-the-era-of-the-2020-great-recession/
Low-Balling the Unemployed in the Era of the 2020 Great Recession
Dr. Jack Rasmus | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-12
This past Friday, May 8, the US Labor Dept. released its latest jobless figures. The official report was 20 million more unemployed and an unemployment rate of 14.7%. | Both mainstream and progressive media reported the numbers: 20 million more jobless …
globalresearch.ca/low-balling-unemployed-era-2020-great-recession/5712585
Pandemic Causes Loss of 20,500,000 Jobs, Unemployment at 14.7 Percent
Dean Baker | zcomm.org | 2020-05-12
The good news here is the large percentage of workers who expect to be called back by their employer, but the steps by the government to contain the pandemic and support the recovery are less encouraging…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/pandemic-causes-loss-of-20500000-jobs-unemployment-at-14-7-percent/
As unemployment soars to Depression-era levels, Canada's unions endorse reckless back-to-work drive
wsws.org | 2020-05-12
Nearly 7.6 million workers–equivalent to one-third of the country's total labour force–have applied for the federal government's meagre, temporary Canadian Emergency Response Benefit.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/12/cajo-m12.html
The Pandemic's Catastrophic Hit to the Labor Market
Dean Baker | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-12
Temporary layoffs make up 78.3 percent of unemployment. As expected, the April jobs report showed a catastrophic hit to the labor market stemming from the pandemic. The economy lost another 20,500,000 jobs in April after losing 870,000 jobs in March. This is an order of magnitude higher than any previous two-month decline on record. The…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/12/the-pandemics-catastrophic-hit-to-the-labor-market/
Trump Labor Dept. Pushes States to Help Employers Report Workers Who Stay Home
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-12
With the stated goal of rooting out " waste and fraud" in the unemployment insurance system, President Donald Trump's Department of Labor is openly encouraging ongoing state efforts to help employers report workers who refuse to return to their jobs out of fear of contracting the cor…
truthout.org/articles/trump-labor-dept-pushes-states-to-help-employers-report-workers-who-stay-home/
Tax-havened companies bailed out while poverty doubles amidst pandemic
Susan Price | greenleft.org.au | 2020-05-12
Economy Astrid PaulssonIssue 1265 Sweden COVID-19 extreme poverty tax havensMay 12, 2020In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the world is…
greenleft.org.au/content/tax-havened-companies-bailed-out-while-poverty-doubles-amidst-pandemic
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov Holds Press Conference After CIS Foreign Ministers' Meeting – Video
sputniknews.com | 2020-05-12
The regular meeting of foreign ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) took place on Tuesday via teleconference amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
sputniknews.com/world/202005121079278083-russian-foreign-minister-lavrov-holds-press-conference-after-cis-foreign-ministers-meeting—video/