2020-06-18: News Headlines

Stephen Lendman (2020-06-18). The Plot to Make Trump a One-Term President? Why Do They Want him Out? Will a Biden Presidency Make a Positive Difference? globalresearch.ca Why would perhaps a majority of the US ruling class want Trump defeated in November? | Even though he's far from a prototypical Western leader — a businessman/reality TV personality turned politician — he aided and abetted the greatest wealth transfer …

Staff (2020-06-18). Why You Should Give a F*ck | Ep. 2 | Unemployment. therealnews.com We take a look at what it means to be unemployed, while diving deeper into the impact unemployment can have on daily life.

_____ (2020-06-18). US Trails World In Coronavirus Response And Almost Everything Else. popularresistance.org Data from around the world on how nations are handling Coronavirus makes clear that, as in most things (this claim is documented below), the United States is exceptionally awful. Among wealthy countries, only Sweden, which has chosen to intentionally allow the disease to spread, has done worse. A handful of countries in Latin America and the Middle East are doing worse than the United States, though some are doing better. As in many world rankings, as documented below, the United States looks fair to middling as a third-world country, but off-the-charts terrible as a wealthy country — much less as a country…

_____ (2020-06-18). What Would The Black Panthers Think Of Black Lives Matter? popularresistance.org The U.S. ruling class, whose capitalist system is the historical midwife of modern racism, is not threatened by the racialist and black-capitalist BLM. But just to make sure that black anger is kept within safe political boundaries, a critical, cash-rich arm of concentrated wealth agreed last year to lavishly fund the group and a significant number of black middle class-led policy and advocacy groups coming in under its rubric. | In August 2016, when I first heard that BLM had scored $100 million from the Ford Foundation and other elite philanthro-capitalists (including the Hill-Snowden Foundation, the NoVo Found…

yenisafak (2020-06-18). Merkel urges EU compromise on COVID-19 recovery package. yenisafak.com German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on EU member states to reach a quick compromise on the COVID-19 economic recovery package, and warned that the bloc is facing the biggest challenge since its foundation.Addressing lawmakers in parliament on Thursday, a day before a key summit of European leaders via videoconference, Merkel said the coronavirus crisis has deepened inequality within the EU, indicating the bloc was vulnerable."Cohesion and solidarity in Europe have never been as important as they are now," she stressed, adding that no country can withstand this crisis alone.Merkel urged EU members, which ex…

yenisafak (2020-06-18). NGO sounds alarm on use of wild plants to cure COVID-19. yenisafak.com Wild plant species are under pressure due to its usage to treat COVID-19 and make money, according to the report published by the international wildlife watchdog TRAFFIC on Thursday."Wild plant species used in herbal treatments of COVID-19 are set to come under heightened harvesting pressure, both as a result of increased demand and because of more people turning to wild harvesting as an alternative source of income during times of high unemployment and economic crisis," TRAFFIC said.The report asserted that herbal products containing wild plant ingredients are used to prevent and treat COVID-19 in South America,…

Alan MacLeod (2020-06-17). "It Will Take Me Just Under Twenty Five Years to Pay off the First Surgery" — Journalist Blinded by Cops Speaks Out. thealtworld.com "The only reason I'm dealing with this so well is I think poverty and low wage work …

Graham Peebles (2020-06-17). Global Issues Require United Action and a Reinvigorated UN. dissidentvoice.org Whatever corner of the world one happens to live in, the most pressing issues of the day affect everyone. Pandemics/epidemics and the environmental emergency; war and terrorism; poverty and food insecurity; overpopulation and the displacement of persons. Such crises cannot be limited by borders or controlled by nation states; no government or corporate power can …

Massoud Nayeri (2020-06-17). Bipartisan Deadlock: Working People and Youth Must Call for President Trump's Resignation Now! Joe Biden is Not An Alternative. globalresearch.ca The deep and insolvable differences among the wealthy elite indicate that the next U.S. President will be in the office by use of force, not through election and votes. Both the Democratic and Republican parties are preparing the American people …

Chuck Collins (2020-06-17). Move Charity Dollars to the Front Lines. counterpunch.org Congress should pass a three-year "Emergency Charity Stimulus" to move $200 billion to frontline working nonprofit groups by increasing payout requirements for private foundations and donor-advised funds. These billions have already been paid for by tax breaks taken by wealthy donors. This is $200 billion that won't add a penny to what taxpayers will pay.

_____ (2020-06-17). Report: Unemployment by Christmas could reach over 3 million. truepublica.org.uk Boris Johnson has been warned 10 per cent of the British workforce could be unemployed by the end of December, due to the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis. A ten per cent unemployment figure would mean 3.3 million people out of work in the UK. These levels (numerically, not a percentage of population) have …

yenisafak (2020-06-17). 'Turkish social aid program reached over 6M households'. yenisafak.com The Turkish state helped millions of families through social assistance programs and offered financial support worth billions of dollars during the COVID-19 outbreak, a top government official said on Wednesday.The government launched the Social Protection Shield program to cater to citizens' needs during the pandemic, Zehra Zumrut Selcuk, Turkey's family, labor and social services minister, told Anadolu Agency's Editor's Desk.She said the program includes services such as short-time work allowance, unemployment benefits, cash support, and social assistance.According to the minister, the government has so far ex…

Staff (2020-06-17). Post-COVID Economy May Have More Robots, Fewer Jobs and Intensified Surveillance. truthout.org Spurred on by the coronavirus pandemic, global capitalism is on the brink of a new round of worldwide restructuring based on a much greater digitalization of the entire global economy and society. This restructuring began in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession but the changing social and economic conditions brought about by the pandemic will vastly accelerate the process. It is likely to heighten the concentration of capital worldwide and worsen social inequality. Enabled by digital appli…

Morning Star (2020-06-16). Huge anti-government protests sweep Lebanon. peoplesworld.org Huge protests swept Lebanon June 13 as demonstrators called on the government to resign. Demonstrators marched through Beirut demanding an end to the country's sectarian political system, where positions of power are allocated between different factions, and action over an economic crisis that has seen the currency collapse and yawning inequality. A bank was set …

Staff (2020-06-16). Henry Giroux: Black Lives Matter Rebellions Are Pushing for Structural Change. truthout.org A protester kneels and holds up a fist as he and others demonstrate against the death of George Floyd by closing down and blocking traffic on I-395 in Washington, D.C., on June 15, 2020.Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images | In this interview, Henry A. Giroux argues that the current rebellions taking place across the globe offer new hope for both educating people about the interrelated registers of racism, militarism, neoliberalism and scandalous inequality. This is a diverse political rebellion in…

Prabhat Patnaik (2020-06-16). Imperialism and India's food economy. mronline.org The problem before metropolitan capitalism therefore is: how to acquire control over the use of this tropical land-mass in order to obtain the products it needs?>

Mark Gruenberg (2020-06-16). Unions launch massive car caravan for racial, economic justice. peoplesworld.org The nation's unions will launch a massive car caravan on June 17 — and not just in the Nation's Capital — for racial and economic justice. "Facing front line worker deaths, record unemployment and continued racial injustice, working people from coast to coast are demanding action," the AFL-CIO, which led the caravan organizing, says. From …

The Canary (2020-06-16). Johnson scraps international development department in Foreign Office merger. thecanary.co The prime minister has announced he is to scrap the Department for International Development (DfiD) in a merger with the Foreign Office.The move, which has come under fire from former international development secretaries and Opposition MPs, will see the creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.Boris Johnson, in a statement to MPs, said it was "outdated" to keep the departments separate.He told the Commons: "We must now strengthen our position in an intensely competitive world by making sensible changes.Aid will be overseen by the Foreign Secretary as part of the shake-up (L(Phot) Joel Rouse/M…

The Canary (2020-06-16). Sturgeon warns against 'reckless relaxation' of lockdown measures. thecanary.co There must not be a "reckless relaxation" of coronavirus lockdown measures to get Scotland's economy moving again, first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said. | It comes as official figures show the number of Scots out of work increased by 30,000 to 127,000 over the period February to April. | With unemployment rising, she said an extension to the UK government's furlough scheme, in which public funds have paid the wages of hundreds of thousands of Scots, is almost certainly essential. | The impact of the job retention scheme means the latest figures are "likely to be an underestimate of the full impact of Covid-19"

news.un (2020-06-16). COVID-19: UN agencies warn against rising hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean. news.un.org The number of people in Latin America and the Caribbean living in extreme poverty could surpass 83 million this year due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a significant rise in hunger, according to a UN report released on Tuesday.

WSWS (2020-06-16). UK: Pandemic produces surge in household debt, accelerates child poverty. wsws.org Tens of thousands of jobs have already gone, and job losses are expected to mount as companies take advantage of the situation to impose long-term restructuring plans.

Dean Baker (2020-06-16). The Unemployment Insurance System is Badly Broken. counterpunch.org 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

WSWS (2020-06-16). White House demands end to $600 per week emergency unemployment pay. wsws.org The Trump administration's plan to cut unemployment assistance in July is a naked ploy to force workers back into factories that are hotbeds of COVID-19.

WSWS (2020-06-16). Nearly 24,000 Ohioans told to return unemployment payments. wsws.org State authorities demanded that thousands of workers give back "overpaid benefits" they have received since the start of the economic crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

_____ (2020-06-16). Act On Dr. King's Call To Tackle Evils Of Racism, Economic Exploitation And War. popularresistance.org Martin Luther King, Jr. King called us to address "Three major evils—the evil of racism, the evil of poverty and the evil of war" to the consternation of the establishment. It is time to tell the truth about the US-Russian relationship and US complicity in driving the nuclear arms race if we are ever to reverse it as well as the race to weaponize space. Perhaps, by addressing the triple evils, we can fulfill King's dream and the mission envisioned for the United Nations, to end the scourge of war! At a minimum, we should be promoting UN Secretary-General António Guterres' call for a global ceasefire while o…

_____ (2020-06-16). Corporations Now Love 'Black Lives'—But What About Their Own Black Workers? popularresistance.org Never underestimate US business community's capacity for hypocrisy. | That's one of the lessons to be drawn from the explosive reaction to George Floyd's murder. As demonstrators began flooding streets, corporate PR departments flew into rapid response mode, issuing a flurry of agonized, apologetic pledges to do more to combat racism and inequality. | Such statements may, on a personal level, be sincere: the depth of righteous pain and anger expressed by African Americans has induced widespread soul-searching, even in executive suites. Yet this high-profile hand-wringing is used to uncouple the outpouring of outr…

The Canary (2020-06-16). Racism has contributed to risk of BAME communities dying from Covid-19 — report. thecanary.co Racism and social inequality have contributed to the increased risk of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities (BAME) contracting and dying from Covid-19, according to a new study. | The report — from Public Health England (PHE) and based on stakeholder engagement with 4,000 people — found that historic racism may mean people are discriminated against when it comes to personal protective equipment (PPE) and may result in people from BAME backgrounds being less likely to seek care or demand better protection. | The report points to a raft of recommendations from stakeholders, including the need to…

WSWS (2020-06-15). The protests against police murder: The way forward. wsws.org The fight against police violence must be connected to the struggles of the working class, in the United States and internationally, against inequality, war and the capitalist system.

Dr. Hakim (2020-06-15). Listening to our Anger and Angst. dissidentvoice.org The family of a killed protester demand fair distribution of bread (Credit: Tolo News) COVID-19 is clarifying a significant source of global anger and angst: inequality. At the start of the COVID-19 crisis, Afghanistan had 300 ventilators, only one ventilator for every 110,000 Afghans. As a medical physician, I gasped, my heart racing at the …

_____ (2020-06-15). To Deal With Police, We Must Understand Why They Even Exist. popularresistance.org The recent protests across the country following the murder of George Floyd have elevated the demands to defund and abolish the police. This comes on the heels of the nationwide resurgence of a movement for community control of police led by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. We speak with author and activist Max Rameau of Pan African Community Action about the role of police in the bigger picture of the evolution of human beings as protectors of private property and wealth, the pitfalls of defunding police if this dynamic is not addressed and what community control of police looks lik…

The Canary (2020-06-15). Johnson's racial inequality commission written on 'back of a fag packet' says Lammy. thecanary.co Boris Johnson's pledge to establish a cross-government commission on racial inequality is a "back of a fag packet" plan designed to "assuage the Black Lives Matter protest", Labour has claimed. | Shadow justice secretary David Lammy said there have been several reviews into racism in the UK in recent years — and the announcement of another makes it feel like "we want figures, data — but we don't want action". | Johnson, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities would look at "all aspects of inequality — in employment, in health outcomes, in academic and a…

Eoin Higgins, staff writer (2020-06-15). UN Human Rights Council Agrees to Hold Hearing Focused on 'Racial Inequality and Discrimination' That Characterizes American Society. commondreams.org "The protests the world is witnessing are a rejection of the fundamental racial inequality and discrimination that characterise life in the United States for black people." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/blm2_0.jpg

G. Dunkel (2020-06-15). Racism, lack of jobs as workers face social pandemic. workers.org June 12 — On June 5, President Donald Trump was over the moon with joy. The numbers were "stupendous," "AMAZING" and "INCREDIBLE." The Dow Jones stock index was up by 829 points, or 3.2 percent, so speculators who bet right made billions. It didn't last. June 11 saw a decline . . . |

Michael T. Hertz (2020-06-15). Creating a mixed race legal system. nationofchange.org We should swear an oath that our children will never need to experience a George Floyd death, and the unfairness and inequality that we have today shall be no more.

_____ (2020-06-15). Members Of Congress Receive COVID-19 Small Business Loans. popularresistance.org Members of Congress obtained disaster loans for their businesses through the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). | The program has been embroiled in controversy since it launched in March. Large corporations received multimillion-dollar loans. Minority-owned businesses were shut out of aid. Seventy-four members of Congress own businesses or have relatives or spouses who own businesses. Of this number, only 14 of them responded to repeated inquiries stating that they did not apply for federal loans, including those with considerable wealth. The CARES Act does contain a conflict of in…

Staff (2020-06-15). Trump Adviser Complains Boost in Unemployment Benefits Is Too Generous. truthout.org With the U.S. jobless rate still at levels not seen since the Great Depression and coronavirus-induced mass layoffs