2020-06-13: News Headlines

Eds. (2020-06-13). Community control Vs. defunding the police: A critical analysis. mronline.org Defunding the police might end the armed and uniformed force as we know it, but the ruling class will then hire mercenaries to protect their wealth and enforce their will.

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2020-06-12). In the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Towards A New World Order? The Global Debt Crisis and the Privatization of the State. globalresearch.ca This is the true picture of what is happening. Poverty is Worldwide. While famines are erupting in Third World countries, closer to home, in the richest country on earth, "millions of desperate Americans wait in long crowded lines for handouts"

Fight Back (2020-06-12). The time is now to join a revolutionary organization: Join Freedom Road Socialist Organization. fightbacknews.org If you have been out in the streets this past few weeks, the odds are good that you've been thinking about the difference between the kind of change this system has to offer, and the kind of change this country needs. Capitalism is failed system that thrives on exploitation, inequality and oppression. The reactionary and racist Trump administration has made the pandemic worse. The unfolding economic crisis we are experiencing is the worst since the 1930s. Monopoly capitalism is a dying system and we need to help finish it off. And that is exactly what Freedom Road Socialist Organization is working for. | Freedom…

WSWS (2020-06-12). Mass layoffs continue as 1.5 million file new US unemployment claims. wsws.org The continuing historically high weekly numbers of new filings for jobless benefits show that the economy is hemorrhaging jobs, even as workers are being recalled from temporary layoff as states reopen.

VINS (2020-06-11). Alternatives to Policing—The Case for Public Health and Community Development Investments. projectcensored.org By Amber Yang As outrage sparks over police brutality, systemic racism, and socio-economic inequality, activists are calling to defund police. Despite other calls for anti-bias training, civilian review processes, and…

WSWS (2020-06-11). Millions of Ukrainian migrant workers forced to search for employment in Europe under unsafe conditions. wsws.org Despite little health or legal protections, Ukraine's migrant workers are being forced to search for work in Europe's farms and factories to avoid unemployment and social destitution.

WSWS (2020-06-11). Fed to keep interest rates near zero indefinitely. wsws.org The Fed forecast the US economy would contract by 6.5 percent this year and unemployment would be 9.3 percent with the decline in second quarter GDP "likely to be the most severe on record."

WSWS (2020-06-11). Pandemic intensifies growing mental health crisis in Australia. wsws.org The government's promised spending displays the official contempt for those being devastated by mass unemployment and under-employment.

Martin Hart-Landsberg (2020-06-10). The economy: we are still in big trouble. mronline.org The announcement by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that the federal unemployment rate declined to 13.3 percent in May, from 14.7 percent in April, took most analysts by surprise. The economy added 2.5 million jobs in May, the first increase in employment since February. Most economists had predicted further job losses and a rise in …

W. T. Whitney, Jr. (2020-06-10). Economic collapse and unemployment councils—then and now. mronline.org Hunger, homelessness, and evictions were features of the Great Depression in the United States. Jobs disappeared and working conditions deteriorated. Some "250,000 teenagers were on the road." And how many others? By 1933 one third of farm families had lost their farms. Unemployment that year was 25 percent. The lives of working people were devastated.

W. T. Whitney, Jr. (2020-06-10). Economic collapse and unemployment councils — then and now. mronline.org Hunger, homelessness, and evictions were features of the Great Depression in the United States. Jobs disappeared and working conditions deteriorated. Some "250,000 teenagers were on the road." And how many others? By 1933 one third of farm families had lost their farms. Unemployment that year was 25 percent. The lives of working people were devastated.

teleSUR (2020-06-10). US Navy to Bar Confederate Flags From Ships, Aircraft, Bases. telesurenglish.net The United States Navy is working to ban the Confederate battle flag from all public spaces on Navy installations, ships, and aircraft it was announced Tuesday, as the military and the country grapples with questions about racial inequality. | RELATED: | The Navy made the move amid protests across the U.S. and other countries sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed on May 25 after four white police…

Adriaan Alsema (2020-06-10). Colombia's finance minister open to universal basic income, but fails to see urgency. colombiareports.com Colombia's finance minister promised Congress on Tuesday he would look into the possibility of implementing a universal basic emergency income in response to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus….

Dean Baker (2020-06-10). Ending Emergency Unemployment Insurance Supplements. cepr.net The Republicans have been working hard to ensure that the $600 weekly supplement to unemployment insurance benefits, which was put in place as part of the pandemic rescue package, is not extended beyond the current July 31 cutoff. They argue that we need people to return to work. They do have a point. The supplement …

_____ (2020-06-13). The Right To Refuse Unsafe Work Is More Important Than Ever. popularresistance.org The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a heavy toll on workers. Reports of job hazards grow increasingly dire as several governors and President Trump push past CDC guidelines to "reopen" the economy while forecasts predict soaring infections and deaths. | Some states at the direction of the Labor Department threaten termination of unemployment benefits for workers fearing return to dangerous jobs. A disturbing June 5 New York Times' report reveals how far those machinations have gone. The result: workers fired without pay or benefits or trapped in a deadly vice between poverty and disease. | In short, the news is terri…

_____ (2020-06-10). Defund The Police, Then Abolish It. popularresistance.org The United States' powder keg of racial capitalism, searing inequality and violent policing, compounded by the state's ruinously indifferent response to a global pandemic and a sputtering economy, has finally exploded. Mass protest has shaken the country, with more than 40 cities instituting curfews and 23 states calling in a total of 17,000 National Guard troops to stamp out the uprisings. | The eruption of righteous fury pulsating around the US represents a historic moment not seen since America's last mass urban rebellions, the "long hot summer" of 1967 and the 1968 uprisings following Martin Luther King Jr.'s…

yenisafak (2020-06-10). HBO Max pulls 'Gone with the Wind' over racist portrayals. yenisafak.com HBO Max has removed war epic film "Gone with the Wind" from its recently launched streaming service over its depiction of slavery, parent WarnerMedia said on Wednesday, joining other media companies that have pulled controversial TV shows as demand for racial sensitivity increases across the country.The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police triggered protests in the United States against racial inequality, while also forcing companies to check deep-seated racism prevalent in popular shows and films that are deemed insensitive.ViacomCBS Inc did not renew "Cops" and Netflix Inc pulled "Little Bri…

sputniknews (2020-06-10). COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rise in Several States, While Millions of Americans Remain Uninsured. sputniknews.com On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Dr. Margaret Flowers, physician and co-editor of Popular Resistance.

RT (2020-06-11). Country band Lady Antebellum joins woke mob, apologizes and changes name because… slavery. rt.com US country music band Lady Antebellum have changed their name after "personal reflection" and conversations with their "closest black friends" amid widespread protests over the death of George Floyd. | The Grammy-winning group announced the change through social media on Thursday, with a long statement from members Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. They will now be called Lady A. | "We've watched and listened more than ever these last few weeks, and our hearts have been stirred with conviction, our eyes opened wide to the injustices, inequality and biases black women and men have always faced and…

Staff (2020-06-12). Headlines for June 12, 2020. democracynow.org India Coronavirus Cases Surge Amid Global Rise in COVID-19, Graves on Copacabana Beach Mark 40,000 COVID-19 Deaths in Brazil, Guatemala City Hospitals Near Collapse Amid Surge in Coronavirus Patients, Oregon Pauses Lifting of Coronavirus Lockdown as Cases Hit New High, Another 1.5 Million U.S. Workers Filed Unemployment Claims Last Week, One Minneapolis Officer Charged in George Floyd's Killing Released on Bond, Minneapolis Police Chief Suspends Union Talks Following George Floyd's Killing, Austin City Council Votes to Reinvest Police Funds, Restrict Police Use of Force, Texas Grand Jury to Hear Case of Austin Of…