2020-05-23: News Headlines

WSWS (2020-05-23). Wealth of US billionaires soars as pandemic expands, nearly 40 million unemployed. wsws.org The class logic at play in the homicidal push to reopen the US economy before the spread of the coronavirus has been controlled is becoming increasingly clear.

Paul Antonopoulos (2020-05-22). Dramatic Increase in Global Poverty Generated by Coronavirus Crisis. No Scaling Back of US Militarism. globalresearch.ca The World Bank warns that there is a global poverty increase as tens of millions of people have fallen back into poverty because of the pandemic. Up to 60 million people worldwide may fall into extreme poverty due to the …

Heather Gray — Jonathan King (2020-05-22). Coronavirus and Other US Health Threats? Fund Public Health Not Foreign Wars. counterpunch.org How is it that in the richest nation on Earth we don't have enough masks, gowns, virus tests, and ventilators to serve our front-line healthcare providers in this coronavirus pandemic? Part of the answer is that the nation's wealth has been mis-allocated between military and civilian needs over the past four decades. All of the

Niles Niemuth (2020-05-22). US Unemployment Insurance Claims Approaches 40 Million… globalresearch.ca The United States Department of Labor reported on Thursday that more than 2.4 million Americans applied for unemployment insurance last week, bringing the total number of new claims to 38.6 million since mid-March, when social distancing measures and statewide stay-at-home …

Fight Back (2020-05-22). 3.6 million more applied for unemployment last week. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – On Thursday, May 21, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that 2.4 million more people have applied for state unemployment insurance, or UI, in the week ending May 16. In addition, about 1.2 million people applied for the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, set up by the recent CARES act for the self-employed. This increase of 3.6 million applications for unemployment benefits means that a total of more than 47 million people have lost their livelihood in the last eight weeks. | Where is the good news? Well for the second week in a row, new claims for state unemployment benefits drop…

Jeff Jurgens (2020-04-30). U.S. Organizations React to Global Military Spending Report. peaceaction.org Joint Statement: U.S. organizations react to global military spending report April 27, 2020 Our diverse group of 39 think-tanks, non-profits, faith-based organizations, and advocacy groups based in the United States find the exorbitant amount of money spent on militaries worldwide to be an irresponsible and harmful use of global wealth. The Global Military Expenditures Report …

Staff (2020-05-22). Mike Davis: Workers Face "Sophie's Choice" Between Income & Health as 50 States Reopen Amid Pandemic. democracynow.org All 50 states will be at least partially reopened this Memorial Day weekend, as the U.S. death toll from the COVID-19 outbreak tops 95,000 and some states prepare for a surge in cases. We're joined by historian and writer Mike Davis, who says in Jacobin that "Reopening the Economy Will Send Us to Hell."

Staff (2020-05-22). Headlines for May 22, 2020. democracynow.org Unemployment Claims Reach 38.6 Million in Worst U.S. Economic Crisis Since Depression, As Millions Lose Jobs, the Billionaire Class Sees Wealth Soar by $434 Billion During Pandemic, COVID Cases Spike in Brazil, Mexico, India & Indonesia as Outbreak Grows in Global South, World Bank: 3 Billion People Don't Have Access to Clean Water & Soap, U.S. COVID Death Toll Tops 95,000, Trump Refuses to Wear Mask in Front of Media at Ford Plant in Michigan, Report: Striking Racial Divide Found in Nursing Homes Impacted by COVID Outbreak, COVID Racial Data Tracker Documents How Pandemic Is Devastating Communities of Color, Pol…

Poor People's Campaign (2020-05-23). Poor People's Campaign: Virtual Mass Meeting on Poverty Amidst Pandemic. indybay.org Online via livestream…

Poor People's Campaign (2020-05-23). Poor People's Campaign Virtual Town Hall: Voting, Poverty, Racism, Healthcare, COVID19. indybay.org Online via livestream: www.facebook.com/anewppc/

RLCAUSC (2020-05-23). Inequality & Vulnerability in Crisis. indybay.org Live Stream…

The Commonwealth Club (2020-05-23). Climate Change and the 2020 Election during the Pandemic. indybay.org Online via livestream…

Staff (2020-05-22). Corporations' COVID Response Is Class War Waged From the Top. truthout.org Journalists aren't supposed to "bury the lede." But when death is the topic and corporate power is the culprit, the connection routinely goes unmentioned. | Class war — waged methodically from the top down — is so constant and pervasive that it might seem unremarkable. The 24/7 siege to make large companies more profitable and the wealthy more wealthy is going on all around us. In the process, it normalizes avoidable death as a cost of doing business. | Overall, news media are part of that normali…

RT (2020-05-23). 'Hate-filled left on display': BBC historian rejoices over 'rich white men' dying from pestilence. rt.com A BBC contributor has lit a powder keg of social media rage after reveling in the fact that wealthy, middle-aged white men died in higher numbers during an epidemic that hit Britain in the 16th century.
| A BBC contributor has lit a powder keg of social media rage after reveling in the fact that wealthy, middle-aged white men died in higher numbers during an epidemic that hit Britain in the 16th century. | Louise Raw, who describes herself as "resident historian on BBC Radio London," an…